one-thousand miles per hour

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Vancouver Island Regional Correctional Centre

this is the photo of the correctional centre in victoria which wasn’t confisicated. fun!
everything from friday afternoon until about three on sunday went by too fast. there was beer, pizza, bad movies, friends, nachos, sleepovers, ghouls, people, yummy pho, magic: the gathering. then, after dropping christopher off at home sunday afternoon, time seemed to stand still. from three until bedtime seemed to last forever. i probably should have used my time more wisely than just washing clothes and catching up on my television, but i didn’t. i figure i’m entitled to one slackass evening a week.
today’s plans include trying to get used to the time change, picking up my camera from the nikon people and then carving a pumpkin at christopher’s. i’m a party animal, i am. whee.

dorks are people, too

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after a very rough day, i somehow managed to make it through until 4pm. that’s when i headed across town to meet up with travis and jen to play some magic and eat some sushi (and get in some kitty-love with his cat, amy). i was crazy early at our rendezvous point, but luckily for me, christopher was in the neighbourhood and he came to meet me. we stopped in the nearby pub for a quick drink and then entered the lair of gaming geeks to purchase a deck for jen.
chris will no doubt go on about the overwhelming dorkiness and how he felt like just entering such a place erroded his cool quotient, but i think the puppy dog like eagerness of the two guys who everso intensely helped us was kind of sweet. in a totally dorky way, of course.
then it was off to travis’ place where chris somehow made a beeline for the copy of the Schoolhouse Rock dvd on the shelf. we subjected jen to four or five grammar rock songs & “i’m just a bill” before sittng down at the table to indoctrinate her into the goodness of collectable card gaming.
i think everyone had a good time. i know *i* certainly did. the deck i bought was awesome and the slow pace we took to teach jen helped me remember a lot of things i thought i’d long-ago forgotten about the game. i won the last game, but i’m pretty sure that’s only because clint had to leave halfway through to catch his bus.
i didn’t get home until well after midnight and asleep until well after 1am, so i’m a very tired girl today. my head feels very weird and all i want to do is go home and get back into bed. thank goodness i have nothing planned for tomorrow daytime, so i can stay in bed for as long as i damn well please. it’ll be lovely. lovely, i say.
the nikon people called yesterday & my camera is ready to pickup. unfortunately, i have lunch plans and there’s no way i’m going to negotiate the knight street bridge on a friday night after work, even if i could get out of here a little early. i’ll just have to go monday (which kind of sucks since it means i won’t have the d70 for the parade of lost souls tomorrow night). what was surprising is they said three days for sensor cleaning turnaround and they called just shy of 24 hours after i dropped it off. yay nikon!
sorry for the haircut blogging these days. i can’t seem to find any time to dedicate to anything more thoughtful. i can’t seem to find time for much of anything these days. i spent the morning listening to a local radio station trying to give $100,000 away to some lucky listener. i realized that that kind of money would solve a lot of my stresses by eliminating my debt, pay for a new car in cash. i could afford things to make my life more comfortable like a new couch and mattress, things to make my life more fun like vacations to places not on this continent, things to enhance my creativity like a photo printer and craft-related sundries. alas, i didn’t win the hundred g’s. some guy named brock did. brock. what kind of name is that? anyway, yeah… if anyone has a hundred-grand they don’t need, i could use it to change my life. thanks.

hump this!

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christopher & i christened my new yellow formica & chrome dining table (photos sometime, i’m sure) with its first meal: linguine with meat sauce & garlic bread. yay! and yummy! i haven’t cooked for a long while. it was really nice to have dinner in for a change. i believe i’m going to have to do that more often.
yesterday, i participated in the ten/twentyfour project. not officially, so i won’t be submitting my photos to the gallery, but i followed along on my own. i hope to have the photos up on flickr by the end of the week. it was both weird and really fun having the camera with me at work all day. i got some shots i really like and some which aren’t so hot, but isn’t that always the way? i actually can’t wait to share them with the internets.
today, my d70 is going to the nikon service centre. the two-year warranty expires in five days (holy crap! i’ve had it for two years already? crazy), so i’m taking it in for its one free sensor cleaning. i took out the memory card & the battery, removed the lens, the strap and the lcd protector. i can’t believe how small and light it is without all that stuff on/in it. i’m very excited at the prospect of a shiny-clean sensor, though. i just wish i didn’t have to drive to richmond to get it done. hm… maybe i’ll stop by ikea while i’m in the neighbourhood!

no time, here’s a meme

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DO YOU SNORE?   yes.
ARE YOU A LOVER OR A FIGHTER?   pouter.
WHAT’S YOUR WORST FEAR?   i don’t know if i’ve ever quantified that.
AS A KID, WERE YOU A LEGO MANIAC?   i had tinker toys, not lego. *sob*
WHAT DO YOU THINK OF “REALITY” TV?   i’m an addict: survivor, the amazing race, america’s next top model, project runway.
DO YOU CHEW ON YOUR STRAWS?   i used to, pens too, but not anymore.
WERE YOU A CUTE BABY?   yup. i wonder what happened.
IS THE SINGLE LIFE FOR YOU?   uh… no. not being single is much better, even though it means there’s less time for chores and general slothfulness.
WHAT COLOR IS YOUR KEYBOARD?   beige-grey
DO YOU SING IN THE SHOWER?   maybe twice ever.

Read More →

to be continued…

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have you ever had one of those weekends where it felt like you did a lot and were really busy, but when you’re sitting around on monday morning thinking back on it all you realize you really ddn’t get much of anything accomplished? yeah, me too.
considering the way i was feeling on friday, i’m surprised i did anything but stay at home in my skiing polar bear pajamas watching episodes of men in trees all weekend. instead, i made myself get out and do stuff. i’m not sure if it helped, but at least i got some fresh air.
friday night, i met up with some vandigicammers after work for a walk around coal harbour and then lots and lots and lots of sushi at tanpopo. i still think the only thing which made me decide to go after the icky day i was having was how excited leah sounded on the phone when i called her to give her information on where to meet up with everyone. it was a good time. met a couple new members and got to talk to a few not-so-new members a little more.
oh, and we saw jimmy pattison get off his yacht with stedman, oprah winfrey’s beau, of all people. i hope the picture i took of them turns out.
saturday morning, i dragged my butt out of bed and took the car down to the mechanic. while waiting for my bus home, i took a wander around the lynn creek park area just down the street from the shop. i’d brought my holga along for world toy camera day and took a couple of shots. just as i was finishing up, an older man walked down the trail towards me. when he saw me with my camera, he stopped and made a comment about how it was very dark where i had been aiming and it seemed a strange place to take a photo. this got us talking and we ended up walking the entire way to the bus stop together, chatting about photography, his daughter, his 38-year career and how he lost an eye to a pencil when he was nine years old.
strange encounters with strangers would continue to be a theme for the rest of the weekend.
after getting home & finally getting some coffee injested and killing some time, i picked up the phone to call christopher. when he answered, he said he’d just pushed the button to call me. i love it when that happens, don’t you? later that day, the same thing would happen when i picked up the phone to call the mechanic and it rang while i was looking up the number.
my mechanics are so good to me. they spent about 45 minutes earlier in the week trying to jimmy the turn signal socket so that it would stop cutting out intermittantly and didn’t charge for it. when i took it in with a big list of things for them to do, i thought for sure i’d have a hugeass bill when i went to pick it up, but it turned out to be about $200 less than i had been bracing myself for. see? this is why you build loyalty with businesses, you absolutely get repaid.
later that afternoon, while at the raven pub in deep cove for lunch, we witnessed an example of why you shouldn’t let people with anger management issues drink alcohol. a trio of people sat in the booth next to us, bringing their food and drinks down from upstairs. the couple were cute: he would put a piece of pizza on a plate, cut a bite with his knife and fork and then feed it to his girlfriend. their friend would snatch a piece from the plate and stuff half of it in his face and then open-mouth chew it while trying to talk. then he’d take a drink from his glass, but mostly miss, leaving beverage trickling down his face. then he’d be real classy and wipe his mouth on the inside of his sleeve.
i tried very hard to not get caught looking at him. you could just tell he was a surly drunk and i had a sense there was the potential for violence. i envisioned a bad 80’s tv-movie scene in which he catches me looking at him, gets offended and then threatens me which would then cause christopher to have to defend both my honour and my pretty, white skin. that wouldn’t have ended very well, so i tried hard to be discrete. it didn’t take long, but he spilled his drink, whether accidentally or on purpose i couldn’t guess, but it pissed him off so much he threw his glass across the room and then got up and stomped out. his friends quickly got up, the girl following and the guy going to the bar to either settle up or apologize, i’d guess.
the rest of the day was really quiet compared to that, but sunday… sunday kept the theme alive.

top ten…

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… reasons why i shouldn’t have gotten out of bed this morning:
1. i had to remind myself several times last night that it was only thursday, not friday, night.
2. didn’t get home from seeing joanna’s play until near midnight.
3. i had to get up at 5:30 to come into work early — not just have the alarm go off at 5:30 and doze for another 30 minutes — actually GET UP at 5:30.
4. my stigmata (aka the blister on the palm of my right hand) flared up overnight and doing much of anything with that hand hurts like a bitch.
5. i burned my toast.
6. i accidentally stuck my hand in my coffee cup, drenching my sleeve, the desk, the paperwork, the keyboard…
7. while attempting to refill the coffee cup, sent it sprawling and dropped the coffeepot (thank god it’s a carafe-style with a screw-on lid or more than just my sleeve would be coffee-scented).
8. my RSI is acting up, causing uncomfortable and annoying tingles in my left hand.
9. i only just got paid this morning and i’m already broke.
10. i have a lunch date with the inappropriately angry & overly-perfumed co-workers; i don’t know how that happened and i’m not looking forward to it at all.

like a garage sale in my head

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first off, let me say that there won’t be any photos of the modified hair anytime soon. why? well, according to my boyfriend, if i hadn’t told him beforehand i’d had it cut he wouldn’t have known. how i can have almost six inches of hair removed from my head without it being noticable, i’m not certain, but he couldn’t tell any difference. even jen said that you could only tell it had been cut from the back. *sigh* secondly, i’m not feeling the self-portrait vibe, so i’m not going to subject any one or any camera to my mug for the foreseeable future (although, there is one photo of the new hair — if you’re intrepid enough, you might be able to find it).
oh, the bra colour from last week? brown.
anyone want to buy a solid pine dining table for twenty bucks? it’s been well-used, but it’s still a solid piece of furniture. stick a tablecloth or a coat of paint on it and you’d be good to go.
while i’m hocking my stuff, anyone want four silver table legs? i bought them at ikea for my grand desk plan which never came to fruition. they look just like this, but silver. $10 for all four! that’s like getting two free!
if i could, i’d happily eat those spicy fried green beans from chinese food restaurants every single day. yum.
there’s not a lot going on these days. work is a little stressful right now, but it’s ultimately a good thing ’cause it’s forcing me to get some unpleasant tasks accomplished after much procrastinating. i’m mostly broke until the end of november, so i’ve turned on miser mode until further notice. good thing i don’t have to buy film! actually, i’m seriously considering selling some of my film horde on ebay. there’s a lot of stuff in the crisper i won’t use up for a long , long time. if ever. i’m searching for non-ugly boxes to store my polaroid photos in and it’s kind of difficult. if you know of any, please let me know.
i’m actually hoping that jen buys some magic: the gathering cards so i can indoctrinate her into the goodness of magic. telling her that there’s usually sushi involved was a big incentive, i think. that reminds me, i need to go find a twenty-sided die. i’m such a dork.

requisite weekend recap

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last night, i finally managed to have a productive night at home. it’s taken at least a week, probably more, but i’m mostly caught up on housework & laundry AND i actually cooked a vat of chicken chili & rice for lunches. i can’t remember the last time i actually cooked food for lunches. thank goodness it’s not a ramen week. i think the only things which are left & need doing is cleaning & assembling my new table and washing the bedding. hopefully, i’ll get all that done sooner rather than later so i can start the week off right.
the weekend went by very fast, but also seemed to last a good while, which is a nice combination. after work friday, i went bag shopping with christopher (which was really hard to do knowing i’d bought a bag for him while in amerika) then had dinner at his place before he went to the opening of a show at the exposure gallery and i went home to a much-needed early bedtime.
saturday was the longest-feeling day. i got up around 9:30ish, watched some stuff i’d downloaded, had a bubble bath and then headed out for all you can eat sushi with colene, jen, mel, nelson, ritchie, jamie & josh. i ate far, far too much of the yummy sushi, so afterwards i went home and slept for almost two hours. chris called & woke me up in time for me to get ready and head out to fetch him to traverse the wilds of south surrey/white rock to go see my officemate’s band play at the crescent beach legion.
you know what’s great about legions? cheap beer. pints of big rock honey brown lager for $4.10! i was seriously upset i was the driver just because it meant i couldn’t have more than one. thankfully chris was there to drink both his and my quotas. well… i’m not so sure his stomach and head were so thankful the next morning. then again, his biggest nemesis that evening was probably the scary hamburger he made me buy him after his fifth pint.
sunday, started off wonderful and lazy. a sleep in, toast & tea and a really, really, really bad movie. i dropped chris off at home, then headed out to the airport to pick up my dad from his european river cruise adventure. he had a great time and is now talking about a mediterranean cruise for next year! after taking him home, i reluctantly handed over his car keys and went to pick up the hessmobile from the parking lot. to my honest surprise, it started and ran really well for having been parked for fourteen days. picked up groceries on the way home, then spent the evening doing all the aforementioned chores & cooking.
one year ago today, christopher & i laid eyes on each other for the first time. we were both at a vandigicam brainstorming session at the soma cafe. we didn’t talk, or even really acknowledge the other’s presences, though. i say he was a snob because he didn’t even say hello when we were standing right next to each other outside. he’ll say he was as sick as a dog, really grumpy and he barely talked to anyone that day. i only mention it because i think it’s interesting that it took another three months before we were in the same place together, given our mutual acquaintances.

just say “grr”

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didn’t get home from amerika until after midnight. the venture obtained a 35% success rate. this does not include the meal at denny’s. if it did, it would probably be closer to -10%.
woke with a very sore back. don’t know what the hell kind of contortions i got into in the middle of the night. it’s possible i was trying to twist away from the disturbing emotional dreams starring morgan, of all people.
feeling indiscriminately angry today. i want to fight or have a tantrum or something just to pop the vent and release some of the pressure. i’m looking at the weekend and it’s making me cranky that, again, i don’t have any extended time for myself which i won’t have to spend cleaning or shopping or doing things which HAVE to get done.
or maybe it’s just a combination of the back pain, lack of sleep and friday the thirteenth all coming together in a tempest of unfortunateness to rain grump upon my split end-covered head.
then again, i probably just need a nap and a hug and some green vegetables.

busy day ahead!

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other than the requisite being at work, i’ve a lunch date with jamie and then jen & i are going to amerika for a strategic bellis fair mall strike (i don’t NEED a lot there, but i figured i better make proper use of daddy’s car while i still can).
seriously though, i’m too busy the next few days. i might take tomorrow off from people. i haven’t decided yet. my place is a sty (even moreso now that there are movie-night remnants all over my kitchen) and i’d really like to get my new table cleaned up and assembled before much longer. saturday is booked solid and sunday is annoyingly interrupted by the airport run i need to make to fetch my father in the middle of the day.
i don’t feel like i had a long weekend off because of the weirdness of the schedule i kept. i’m pretty sure i’m going to keep my november long weekend all to myself. no island trip. no big plans. just four days with no agenda. hah… like that’ll happen. what i really want is a six-month sabbatical. i wonder how i can arrange to get paid for that.
read ‘love monkey’ over the weekend. they turned this book into a short-lived tv series starring that awesome guy from ‘ed’, thomas cavanagh. i really liked the show, so when i saw the book on the cheap table at chapters, i picked it up. it was a fast, entertaining read, much like ‘bridget jones’ diary’ written from a new york man’s perspective. although the book and the tv show had very little in common past the names of four characters, i still enjoyed them both. it was just nice to find a book i could read with so little effort. lately, i seem to be finding myself slogging though, and getting stuck in the middle of, way too many books.
okay, i better get a move on. there’s piles which need to be dealt with before jamie shows up. happy thursday, peeps.

back from exile

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punkin pie is good. especially for breakfast.
it’s a $33 taxi fare from the ferry to my house.
i’m wearing my new bra today. guess its colour.
finally, the yellow formica & chrome dining table is mine. all mine!
anyone know how to replace a brownie hawkeye handle?
is chick-lit with a male main character dick-lit?
my house is a mess.
i never cook anymore.
laundry is my nemesis.
i need a maid.
time for another massage; my neck is killing me today.

just… things

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i had cookies for breakfast. yum.
i bought a polaroid 450 camera with black & white film still in it for $2. i don’t know if it’ll work, but for a toonie, i’m willing to try to find out.
i have the next four days off work. yay!
i thought juggling major holidays with divorced parents was bad… now i’ve got to do it with a boyfriend, too. stress!
seriously, that orange couch is calling to me.
must be the full moon tomorrow, but i feel really cute and awesome today.
i love my bed. all my life i’ve wanted a bed like the one i have now. i appreciate it every night i get into it and regret its awesomeness every morning when i have to get out of it, but not so much i can’t wait to get back into it that night.
it’s scary, but i think i might be going off diet pepsi. i’ve been working on the same 710ml bottle at home for three days. in the past, i could finish one in hours. i find myself wanting tea, instead.
you can’t understand the amount of loathing i have for the mere idea of getting on a ferry this weekend.
know why i love thanksgiving? brussel sprouts.

who knew that was in there?

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take a load off, sally

i’m sitting here on the futon, in the mostly dark, with lucy on my lap and survivor on the tv. i came home to a bloody freezing apartment due to two specific occurances: i left windows open and it’s autumn — for real. as a consequence, i’m bundled up in flannel pajama bottoms and my fuzzy orange sweater over the shirt i wore to work today. i even went so far as to crank the oven and leave its door open in hopes of taking the chill out of the air. either i’ve gotten accustomed to the chill or it’s actually warmer. i’m betting on a combination of the two.
so, yeah. i’m feeling pretty chatty. i feel like typing about how i spent five minutes petting the polydactyl neighbour cat this morning. it was very friendly… until i scritched the wrong spot and it attacked. instead of getting mad, i told it i was sorry for getting a sore spot gave more scritches. yes, i am that desperate for kitty love. if i could deal with the thought of all the extra cleaning involved in feline parenthood, i’d totally go back to the maul and get all those kittens christopher & i saw last week.
i was all fired up about the new worksafe initiative being discussed in the lower mainland requiring gas stations to have customers pay before they pump after 11pm to prevent “gas & dash”es and their unintended casulties. such things which impose penalties on the many in order to prevent the actions of the few enrage me. i worry about the dumbing-down of society. i’m convinced that protecting the stupid is the exact wrong way to build responsible people.
driving dad’s car while he’s in europe might be a very, very bad idea. i’m getting far too used to all that power, the comfy seats, the four doors, the cd-player and the general non-awfulness in comparison to my old and falling-apart hessmobile. i feel bad, because i really do love my car, but it’s 14 and a half years old and it’s showing its age. i find myself thinking about how i can somehow convince dad to let me keep his car when he gets home. *sigh*
so, i found this fantastic-looking sofa/loveseat set on sale on craigslist today. they’re a brick-orange colour in a modern, clean design which i’ve always liked. i emailed the seller asking for the dimensions, which was probably a mistake. i came home, got out the measuring tape and realized they’d be PERFECT in my living room. alas, i don’t have an extra $750 lying about for couch-purchasing, let alone any costs of just getting it here. it’s really sad, buying used would be a great way for me to avoid depreciation of buying new… and it’s an ORANGE COUCH for pete’s sake! how often do they come around?
christopher just phoned me for the second time tonight. he’s out with jen & barb and it seems they all drank a lot of beer at The Main. oh, drunken boyfriend phone calls… gotta love them.
speaking of boyfriends, i’ve been encountering a new life experience. previously, i was asked by friends and strangers alike why i was single. now, it seems the question i’m asked with disturbing frequency is a variation of “when is he going to move in?”. uh, excuse me? is this just typical? is this what people ask these days when people have been dating for more than six months? i don’t know about you, but isn’t that a little rash? then again, i’ve known people who got married six weeks after they met and have been together for over ten years. i also know people who’ve been dating for years and still barely sleep over at each other’s place. i guess i’m just not used to being someone for whom ‘moving in’ is even an option.
i scanned the last of my negatives left from june tonight and, if i do say so myself, they’re FANTASTIC. seriously, i haven’t been that happy with a roll in a long time. i’m kicking myself for a couple of reasons: i waited so long to scan it and not using my holga in so long. i do love that camera. i’d almost forgotten how much. looking at the shots, i realized how awesome it is and how i enjoy shooting with it. i’m so thankful to christopher for buying it for me. i’m so very lucky.
okay, the very exciting part of survivor is starting, so i’m going to head off. i think i’ve covered most of the stuff percolating in my noggin. hopefully an empty brain will help me sleep.
sweet dreams!

busy hands are happy hands

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you know i’m busy if it’s only point form…
– Memphis Blues opened up two blocks from my house.
– note to self: don’t take christopher to Memphis Blues ever again.
– the “memphis feast” will feed four for $33. seriously.
– i bought more film.
– christopher & jen think i’m mostly insane.
– new batteries make my Olympus XA happy.
– i might just actually get that haircut i’ve been avoiding some time this week.
– turkeyday is less than a week away. crazy!
– where did september go?
– i love my new shoes.
– i’m going to mr. ho’s for lunch and you’re not. nyah.
– driving daddy’s car is seriously spoiling me.
– anyone want to buy me a new car?
– seriously, i have the best boyfriend ever.
– except when he gets stubborn and refuses a request.
– but, i still think he’s awesome.
– i have a strange pain in my abdomen.
– it might be from all that meat last night.
– the piglet is trying to get out!
– i counted; there are 22 sets of negatives i need to scan.
– at one set per day, i’ll be lucky to be finished by xmas.
– i love fun and happy cashiers.
– anyone want a VHS copy of ‘Heathers‘, ‘The Nightmare Before Christmas‘, ‘Before Sunrise‘ or ‘The Princess Bride‘?
– i’ve replaced them with DVDs.
– okay, this is long enough.
– bye!

with the bad comes the good

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i seem to have lost a couple of days.
between getting sick and leaving work early on friday, the long and busy running around day on saturday, the sleeping like i’d never sleep again on sunday and the slow, methodical recuperation yesterday, i find myself kind of unsure what day it actually is. staying home from work yesterday didn’t help (and, i realized on the way into work this morning, that because of staying home i will have avoided working on a monday for three weeks in a row as of next week — score). i know it’s tuesday, but it feels a little like both monday and wednesday for some strange reason. so weird.
but, really, i know you’re just here for a recap of my wild and fantabulous weekend, so here we go…
friday, i begged off work early after promising my boss i’d make up the hour with a couple early starts this week (which is why i started at the ungodly hour of 7am today). i went home and pretty sure i was in for a nice, quiet night in my pajamas feeling sorry for myself, but jen & christopher would have none of that. they phoned from somewhere downtown and, since i was in no shape to make any decisions, they told me they were coming over. we had pizza & beer, watched the oddest double-feature ever and by the time they left i was feeling a lot less miserable than when they showed up.
saturday, i was up early doing stuff around the house and out the door by 11am to go pickup dad for our lunch and then a trip to the airport so he could depart on his european adventure. luckily, we left lots of time for our meal at Red Robin because the service was sucking ass (what the hell is with me and my run on crappy service lately? sheesh). then, just as we were ready to leave, i looked over and saw dante at a table across the room. talk about unexpected. i don’t think he saw me, which doesn’t really matter either way, though. after dropping off dad at YVR, i drove out to christopher’s to pick him up. we went back to my place to chill for a while before we had to take off to meet josh, jamie and jen at Burgoo for dinner. jen & i both wore our new shoes (hers being much more girly than mine, but probably much more painful) and both ate way too much food. i couldn’t taste much more than the high flavour notes, but it all went down. including the chocolate fondue for dessert. mm, fondue.
after dinner, we packed ourselves into vehicles and headed off to West Vancouver to take in darren barefoot’s play ‘Bolloxed’. i hadn’t read the writing/rehearsing blog, so i didn’t know beforehand it was a two-person play. it made no difference that it was, it just surprised me a little, i think. not so much to distract from the humour and sweetness of it, though. i thoroughly enjoyed it and laughed a lot (so much so in some places christopher swatted my arm to shush me). i just have one lingering question… who the hell was Aoife talking to in Marion Square? a statue? an actual person? an imaginary person?
due to logistic considerations, the J’s left to go home across the harbour straight from the theatre leaving chris & i to go back to my place for a bit of a chill-down. i was starting to feel really crappy and i just wanted to cuddle up on the couch for a while. chris left to go home rather early and i went straight to bed…
…and slept until almost 3pm sunday afternoon. of course, i’d gotten up for a couple hours in the morning, but i was having hot & cold spells and was feeling like utter ass, so i thought it best to stay in bed as long as possible. christopher called some time around noon to see how i was. he said i sounded horrible. i’m still not quite sure why he decided to risk more exposure to the germs, but he came over and spent the rest of the day with me: watching movies, fetching dinner from the indian place, bringing me tea and, generally, being the sweetest boyfriend ever. sometime around nine-thirty, he kissed me on the forehead and sent me to bed before heading home.
when my alarm went off yesterday morning, i thought it was a cruel joke. seriously, my throat was so dry and closed up any attempt i made at speaking made it sound like i was a dying toad going through peter brady puberty. i tried to get up, but my head was so sore and my nose was producing vile-looking substances, so i called my boss’ voicemail, croaked him a message and promptly went back to sleep for four more hours. when i got up, i had a long, hot shower (hoping that being clean again might restore some semblance of wellness) and started drinking the three million cups of tea i’d consume that day. everything i did was in slow motion because if i went too fast, i’d get flushed and feel like falling over. i cleaned up the kitchen and washed my sick-bedding. i even managed to scan and post photos, which, like, never, happens. i mentioned i was almost out of tea and christopher again won the Super-Awesomest Boyfriend Ever trophy by offering to go to Lonsdale Quay, buy me some and bring it over.
after chris arrived with tea, and a comment that i looked a lot better than the day before, we watched a movie and then went for a short walk to the postal outlet so i could pick up a package (i’m still annoyed — i was home all day, the postman didn’t even buzz). it was nice to get out of the house for the first time in two days, but i was sure glad to get back inside where my fuzzy clothes were. the rest of the evening was quiet and relaxing: watching another movie and eating indian leftovers for dinner. again, around nine-thirty, he kissed me on the forehead and sent me to bed.
i’m feeling much improved today. i don’t sound quite 100%, but at least i don’t feel too much like dying.

self-analysis

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 1. How would you describe your current mood? low. flat. resigned. tired. sick. bored. anxious.
 2. What are you wearing? new brown shirt with the daringly low neckline, used-to-be-black jeans, merrells with brown & black socks.
 3. What one thing do you NEED to get done today? last night’s dinner dishes.
 4. Do you do anything that consistently annoys the people around you? wow, were you eavesdropping last night? uh, yeah, saying i’m not hot enough for christopher.
 5. What did you have for breakfast? mini kit-kat bars & coffee.
 6. If someone told you that you could earn a million dollars this year as a spammer and NOT GET CAUGHT, would you do it? hell, yes.
 7. Are you good at arguing? not at all.
 8. Do you enjoy seafood? fishes, shrimps and crustaceans. not so much the shelled variety.
 9. Do you often say you “don’t like” certain foods, while really meaning that you’ve never tried them? not any more. i’m much more willing to try something new now than to immediately dismiss it.
10. What is your relationship with your television like? we’re like ex-lovers who tried to be friends, but still end up sleeping together once in a while anyway and feeling like shit about it the next day.
11. Do you eat enough fruit? not at all.
12. Did you know I was going on a work boat cruise tonight? nope. don’t fall overboard.
13. Do you believe the boat will sink? i seriously doubt that.
14. Do you have any weird health fears (Microwaving styrofoam gives you cancer, eating cherries and drinking water will make your stomach explode, etc.)? i used to think eating apple seeds would make an apple tree grow in my stomach and its branches would come out of my ears and nose and mouth. now… i’m resigned to the fact that everything we do will eventually kill us, so there’s little point in worrying yourself do death about it. heh. irony. cool.
[thanks meg fowler]

one topic. one paragraph. go!

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i’m really glad i stopped to take the photo i posted yesterday. when i got home from work last night, both the chair (which had been there for weeks) and the green elf shoes were gone from the back of my apartment building. i would have been sad if i’d missed the opportunity to capture them.
the roasted tomato soup was FABULOUS! i may never ever have Campbell’s brand again. that’s huge for me to say, too. Campbell’s tomato soup (with lots of pepper) is my ultimate comfort food.
i’m getting sick. i was up most of the night with a sore throat and my continuing ear-ache. i probably got the germs from julie, but it would be rude of me to blame her. don’t shoot the messenger, yadda yadda.
i think i might go to Metrotown at lunch to try on the shoes i saw the other night. i need a new pair of black shoes to go with my superawesome new pants (shit! i should have brought them with me to drop off for hemming. damn.). while i’m there, i should probably go to Sears and get a new bra. the underwire in mine snapped last night. stupid underwire.
myself and a few friends are going to see darren’s play ‘bolloxed’ at the Kay Meek Centre in West Vancouver tomorrow night. i’m very glad there is this encore performance outside of the fringe festival or i might have missed it entirely. i’m very excited. you should come, it’ll be awesome.
my dad is going to europe tomorrow. i’m so envious i could spit. of course, i realize that if i were to be more frugal with my money and judicious with my alloted vacation time, i, too, could go to europe. i guess i should, at least, be glad that there’s little chance that europe will be going anywhere in the next 30 years, so i will still have the opportunity to experience it. i hope.