Category Archives: Photos

geez, people. it wasn’t THAT kind of weekend o’ love. it was three of my favourite people making me feel special and appreciated in honour of my birthday.
friday night, m&m and i went to the pub, sat at the bar, drank beer, played ntn texas hold’em, ate food, laughed, talked, and had a damn fine time. saturday, karen took me out for the biggest, most decadent lunch, a movie, megashopping and then we came back to my place to watch a dvd. sunday, colene took me to the tomahawk for a giant brunch and then we had a lovely walk’n’talk along the north van side of the harbour.
THAT’S the kind of love it was. dirty, dirty people. *tsk*

holy moly i’m popular lately! unfortunately, i’m so swamped i can’t even tell you about it. maybe tonight. yes, tonight. i’ll do my best to sit down and tell you some of the good stuff i have to tell from my weekend o’ love.

last night saw me out and about false creek with the vandigicam group for the first time last night. thankfully, i had jamie there to break me in softly. strangers are scary, you know. luckily, most of those strangers weren’t too scary. i might just even go out with them again. i took a bunch of pictures, seventy-five percent of which were crap. ohwell. one day i’ll learn to cull the crap to save disk space. really!

i think i like my hair now. although, it’s still not short enough (i can’t believe i just typed that). i guess that means i’m going back to bossy persian lady next week and say “don’t change it, just make it shorter! thank you.”
there’s a busy weekend ahead. last night out, tonight there’s tentative dinner with m&m, saturday i’m going to food and a movie with keb and sunday it’s brunch with colene. i’m totally milking this birthday thing for all it’s worth! go me.

while washing my hands earlier (which really has no bearing at all), i was thinking that i’d really like to have some sex this weekend.
then i was thinking that it’d be great if you could just call up that guy/girl you know who’s really hot and say “hey, let’s have some sex this weekend”. s/he’d come over, you’d have some great sex and then you’d get up on monday morning and go about your life just like you’d seen a great movie or gone to a great show, chatting at the water cooler about your weekend: how you did laundry, got nailed on the kitchen counter and then found your favourite shampoo on sale at london drugs.
yeah, that’d be great, wouldn’t it?

back to the grind. work will kick my ass this week, especially if i continue to wake up with headaches. why do i wake up with headaches? you’d think that getting almost a foot of hair chopped off would make my head feel lighter, freer, less achy.
yes, virginia, i finally got my hair cut. what? it’s only been 17 months since my last haircut. i had a horrendously horrendous hair weekend, and that put me over the edge. i headed straight for magicuts on my way home last night and sat there until the slightly overbearing persian woman told me to come sit in her chair. it’s not quite what i wanted (or asked for) but at least it’s healthier and, hey, it’ll always grow back. right?

oh dear god… i’m 33! i’m officially in my thirties now. there’s really no saying otherwise at this point. i could pull out the ol’ 29 with four year’s experience, but that kind of thing mostly annoys me.
the last year brought me lots of stuff: a new apartment, a new job, a new camera, a new bed, a new computer. i had a short affair which left me cold. i had a near-breakdown which left me philosophic. i dated! i made new friends and lost old ones. i discovered pho and salmon sashimi. i finally met my jeremy after knowing him for over eight years. i also met long-time blog friends jim, jodi, julie and andrea in person; spent time with my favourite aussie, Adrian; and, i can’t forget meeting the (in)famous dooce. i asked for help and didn’t die from shame. i discovered flickr. i became a part-time camwhore.
i’m on my third full-time job, my second apartment, my fifth computer, my first car (still), my third edmonton-boy crush, my second desk, and my first kickass officemate. i still don’t know what i want to be when i grow up, but i think i might be getting closer. i’m on the financial mend (even with that annoying mastercard hiccough). i’m still too hard on myself, but i’m getting better. i’ve learned that if i don’t open up i’ll never have anyone know the real me and if that doesn’t happen then i only have myself to blame for ending up lonely.
this year i’m dedicating to self-improvement: better nutrition, better physical condition, more me time, more creative expressions, more friends, more adventure, more honesty, more spontaneity, more love (even for myself), better hair, less tv, more music, more books, more outside, less futon, exfoliating, moisturizing, flossing, trying new foods, talking to strangers, taking more photos, using my words, thinking of others first, living in the now and not for the weekend, more “thank you”s.
it’s a tall order, but i’ve three hundred-some days to try it all on for size. i may not be perfect, but i’m a pretty good person with pretty good intentions most of the time. i could do a lot worse, but i could be doing a lot better, too.
happy thirty-three to me! i’m going to work on enjoying the process this year. i hope you’re all along for the ride, because it’s sure to be an adventure!

happy canada day!
yesterday, my new friend jamie took me out for a fabulous lunch and an entertaining photowalk around queen elizabeth park (where i stalked highschool grads and found the next scarlett o’hara). after my amazing afternoon, daddy came to my rescue and returned light to my kitchen. by ten o’clock, i was knackered and ready for bed.
today, i’ve been cleaning, baking cookies, playing with lucy and talking to wade. really, that’s pretty much all i’ve done. who knew i could do so little in twelve hours?
tomorrow i head over to the island to see my rellies and eat ice cream cake for my belly button day on sunday.
i hope everyone has a great weekend, long or not, and i’ll be back on tuesday. *smooch*

it’s my friday! it’s burger day! i just motored through a bunch of really crappily craptastic work and i, amazingly enough, have motivation to keep on motoring! must be the adrenaline of not being here for two days and having to get shit done before i leave. my cold has settled into that barely annoying drippy nose and slightly froggy voice phase which will probably drag on for another week. i’m meeting a slightly-annoyingly needy net.guy for coffee tonight, just to get him off my back already. tomorrow, i’m going to clean my house, do my laundry, ask my dad to come over and help me change my lightbulb in exchange for cookies and maybe go out with keb to a movie in the evening.
i know it’s not very exciting, but hey, it’s my life.

i was having a pretty good day yesterday, even with all the sneezing and snotty snorting. i got myself into a righteous groove with some work and made a huge dent in some really yucky stuff i’ve been avoiding. on the way home i stopped at futureshop to return a bag i bought, save-on where i found some china lily soy sauce (my absolute favourite which seems to have totally disappeared from every store shelf but that one), and the library where i registered and picked up a book i’m really excited to start reading.
then i opened the mailbox.
inside were three fake bills from “Domain Registry of Canada” telling me that three of my domains are set to expire and that i should send them $40 for each of them. luckily i’m not an idiot, so i didn’t get suckered, but they looked awfully official. fuckers. the really amusing thing, to me at least, was that the three notices were for every domain BUT fubsy.net. losers.
then, the pièce de résistance, a letter from capital one mastercard telling me that “due to a charge posted to your account after it closed” they’ve reopened my account. they didn’t give me any details. instead, they said “in a few days, customer service will be sending the details”. uh, yeah, that’s not helpful. there was no way i’m about to wait for a letter when you’re telling me that there’s a charge to an account i closed in FEBRUARY. so, i phone the 1-800 number where a creaky computer voice tells me that i owe them $1000. uh, what?
to make a long story as short as possible, i finally navigate through the menus (which REALLY are constructed to deter you from talking to a real person: it took THREE levels of menu before pressing 0 to talk to a human worked. that pissed me off) to talk to a very nice girl who put me on hold for fifteen minutes while she looked into the situation. anyway, while i’m on hold i start thinking back and it comes to me that, yeah, i think they might be right. fuckers.
i made a payment to them, which i cancelled two hours later, because i was planning to go to the bank to refinance. when the bank paid off the card, and capital one sent me a statement, that statement showed both the payment i cancelled (wtf?) and the payment from the bank. of course, that meant it showed a credit of $1000. i TOTALLY forgot that i’d cancelled the payment, or made any payment at all, so i called capital one and told them to mail me a cheque for the overpayment so they could close the account, which they did and everyone was happy.
until now. FOUR MONTHS LATER. why the HELL did they show that payment on the statment? why didn’t they catch this in the MONTH it took for them to send me the “overpayment”? now i’m on the fucking hook for a grand i don’t have, two weeks after i spend all my money on an ibook. ugh. i’m really not happy about the situation. obviously.
i spent a lot of time last night wrangling some numbers trying to figure out how to pay it off. which i can’t. there’s just no way. after paying for lucy and cleaning out all my other cashable accounts i’ll still be $500 short with absolutely no cash reserves in the bank. i have to call them back tonight, tell them i figured it out, get them to reopen the account and then start paying it off monthly.
it just makes me so MAD. i was really, really, really proud of myself for not owing any credit card companies a penny. now, thanks to their stupid practices and MY inattention, i’m in the hole.
i wonder if i have anything i can sell. anyone want to order some photocards? or rent a housegirl? i make a mean omelette!

i’m sick and miserable. my best and oldest friend gave me her cold. i think it’s revenge for not seeing her for so long. that bitch. ;)
my kitchen lightbulb blew this morning. any bets how long i go without light in the galley because I’M TOO FUCKING SHORT to reach to change it? (hint: last time it was almost a month)
on a whim, i stopped in a used pc shop i’ve never been in and never thought about entering and found the best little bag for lucy. it’s not pretty, but it’s small and practical and only cost $30. that’ll do for now.
it’s a three-day work week for me and then a five-day birthday weekend. i hope you sent packages last week. friday is a holiday here in the great white north, so there will be no mail delivery.
all right, that’s enough. i’m exhausted already and it’s not even 8:30. ugh. i think it’s going to be a long three days.

if i don’t post this now, at 5:55am, i probably won’t get a chance to post at all. sean was away and yesterday was my first day actually having to do his job without him there to actually do it. did that make sense? probably not, it is before six. anyway, i was so busy running around trying to get even the most basic parts of his job done, i barely had any time to sit, let alone compose.
anyhoo, it’s the same again today, but i thought i’d take a second while still damp and towel-clad from my shower to make a quick “no, i’m not dead” post.
oh, and this is my first official post from lucy. whee!

so, yeah. i’m totally obsessed with lucy. i stroke her, i sit with her on my lap, i take her to bed with me. i left her alone at home today. i feel like a part of me is missing. it’s just so *hard*.
okay. i’ll stop. for now.
last night i met col at tinseltown for some food court food and the seven o’clock showing of the sisterhood of the traveling pants. i don’t think there was a single male person in the theatre. all women. total estrogen-fest. holy moly. i still cried. i think we all cried. all the father-daughter stuff really got to me. oy. anyway, it’s a good coming of age film. if you’re a girl, you should probably see it.
now i just want to know where to find those pants.
i know you haven’t forgotten, but it can’t hurt to remind you that my birthday is a mere 11 days away. you might want to send parcels having to cross the border earlier rather than later. ;)
i’m stupid tired today. i’d much rather go back to bed than be here today. at least i get to leave early, even if it is for a dentist appointment.
have a good day.

i have an ibook! HOLY CRAP!
i spent last night pumping my macheaded friends for information and navigating mac osx for the first time. i think i’ve gotten the basic hang of things for now. tonight, on the way home, we stop at the macstation to get my ram installed and then we (that’s lucy and me) will be ready to rawk. RAWK!
the best part of the evening, i’d have to say, was stealing some of my neighbour’s unsecured wireless bandwidth while laying (lying?) back on the futon chatting with my friends. this is what i’ve been waiting for. futon + friends = fun.
now i just need a new headset, a case, a mouse and an ipod to go with it! dear me, i’m so happy. i’m such a dork.

not a lot to say today. i’m still high on the last few days. my ibook is in the city, so i expect it to arrive any minute now which will totally deteriorate any hope of productivity at work as i stare longingly at the box i can’t open until after 4pm. so cruel.
it’s actually great timing because, thanks to jeremy’s troubleshooting last night, i’m fairly certain the power supply on discombobulate is dying. i haven’t decided if i’m going to try to replace it myself or pay someone else to, but it means that i’m not leaving it on unattended as i’m wont to do. it’s so strange not to have ftp access to all my stuff from work. i feel disconnected.
update: lucy has landed. i repeat: lucy has landed! there will be no productivity for the rest of the day. lucy has landed.

so, yeah. i met heather (dooce) and jon (blurbomat) armstrong on thursday night. back when i read they were coming to town, i got a little excited; mel egged me on; i emailed darren and, well, the next thing we knew reservations were made and i was sitting across the table from them at monk mcqueens on false creek along with julie, jen, roland, jamie and colene.
i can’t say enough great things about the evening. if you’ve ever read either of their sites you know they’re smart & witty and that translates to real life as well. i was very interested to hear about mormon underwear from jon and some unblogged anecdotes from heather. there was great food, great drinks and amazing company. i don’t think i’ve had a better night out in a very long while.
then, just to ice the cake, julie slept over at chez hessie and we got to spend a fantabulous afternoon together before she headed back to victoria friday evening.
it was a pretty crazy, overwhelming, exhausting but ultimately amazing 24 hours and i really didn’t want any of it to end.

so tired. need sleep. can’t sleep, gotta be at work. can’t work, the applications are all screwy. can just sit here, drinking coffee thinking about how tired i am and how much i did not want to get up at 6:30 after staying up until 1:30. that’s all right, i’m leaving at 11-ish and then i’m off for fun puddlejumping with julie. yay julieday!
more later, when i get home and download photos from last night. *suspense*

i got an amazing amount of stuff done last night. i’m really quite pleased. now, i just have to get through this workday and then everything’ll be golden. god, i hate it when work interrupts the good stuff in life!
so, i’ve had this sore foot on and off for a couple of weeks, right? and because i’m that stubborn person who never goes to the doctor, i’m all about trying to find a cure myself. well, i bought myself some of those dr. scholl’s “massaging gel” inserts for my shoes, thinking that maybe my foot needed a daily dose of massage.
i put them in my work shoes this morning and all i have to say after a brief commute to and from the car is that they feel like i’m walking on octopi. every step has a strange and slithery, yet highly resiliant squish factor. i’m sure i’ll get used to it, and eventually enjoy it, but for right now it’s pretty disturbing.
you know what it reminds me of? french kissing. remember the first time someone slipped their tongue into your mouth? it was all soft and wet and it felt totally other-worldly, like “holy crap, there’s an alien trying to invade my mouth!” but then you got used to it and even got to like it. next thing you know, you’re snogging anyone you can find because, heck, you love that alien invasion sensation.

still crazy busy at work training with sean. i have SO much to do tonight in order to be prepared for the next two days of fun it’s almost making me not look forward to the next two days of fun. don’t you hate it when that happens? anyway, the post office is calling first and foremost; there are baked goods & photocards which need mailing.
my foot is still sore, i’m totally obsessed with the order status screen at apple.ca and, hopefully, i won’t have another two hour nap tonight which makes me stay up too late. naps, while really great, can’t actually be good when they totally mess up your sleep patterns like they do mine.

– work busy.
– sore foot.
– bad hair.
– good deed.
– ibook ordered.

i went to a party on saturday night and i think i made two new friends. i’d met them each once before and had an inkling they were pretty neat people, but spending many hours talking with them only confirmed that first impression. finding new people you can talk to and laugh with for hours is pretty fucking awesome. i’m so very pleased.
this week is going to be busy and very exciting. i have big plans at the end of the week and i’m so thrilled i’m almost incomprehensible. sorry for the crypto-blog, but i’ll be sure to tell you all about it at some point. ;)
i didn’t order my ibook yesterday. i thought i should wait for just one more tuesday in hopes of an upgraded video card. ugh. i should have just ordered it. this technology upgrade game is annoying and stupid: “don’t buy [insert product here] because i’ll be outdated next week!”. well, if you’re always waiting for the latest and greatest, you’ll never actually get to use anything for fear of obsolescence. i’m still going to wait until after tuesday, though.
speaking of ibooks and birthdays, not that i was talking about birthdays, but i am now so shut up, i’ve decided that i don’t want presents. i want people to click that whoring paypal button over on the left and send me five bucks towards the purchase of my new laptop. c’mon. five bucks! five CANADIAN bucks, even. i don’t actually expect this to work, but hey, i’m all about the selling my soul for new gadgetry.
i feel so dirty.