Category Archives: Photos

you know you’re a geek when you’re sitting at the back of the class and actually getting excited because the new language you’re learning has type safe standard input and output objects. at least i wasn’t alone in my glee. i know i’ve mentioned it before, but i’m so glad i have Shane as my school buddy. we get along and work really well together. plus, it’s just comforting to know that there will be at least one friendly face in each new class i take. although, this C++ course is half-full with people i recognize from previous courses. it’s kind of freaky.
today is my friday! my mom’s coming to visit! i ate chocolate graham cookies for breakfast! i’m going to Wendy’s for lunch! i hope to spend time with a cute Victoria boy on the weekend!
yeah, life is good.

i’ll fill this up after lunch. i’ve things to say, but i’m starved and woozy.
okay, that’s much better. of course, now i’m stuffed and sleepy, but i suppose that’s the better of two evils, right?
so, i got home from an atypically long and tedious monday at work, totally by-passing the post-work errands i meant to run before i went back to the apartment i’m not quite used to yet, because i was über-bloated from the fourteen pounds of brussel sprouts i ate at lunch and i didn’t think subjecting the world to my de-bloating was a very kind thing to do.
this is where it gets weird.
after deflating a bit, i remembered the photos i had to pick up at London Drugs needed to make up the last of mom’s birthday gifts. i’ve not spent a lot of time investigating the neighbourhood, so i decided to forgo my desire to return to the new Whole Foods Market and just walk up to LD to pick up my prints.
me! walk! to the drug store! voluntarily!
i laced up my Sauconys, shrugged on my hoodie and set out. yeah, okay, so the store is only three blocks from my apartment. stop looking at me like that. you really have to realize that for, um, most of my life i didn’t live within walking distance of most anything. then, when i finally did, the entire slothgirl personna had totally taken over and, hey, i had a bus pass or a shiny new Geo Metro to take me places, didn’t i?
this is where it gets interesting.
on the way back from the store with the prints, the shampoo, the popcorn and the energy snacks for the maternal unit, i walked down Lonsdale instead of the back lanes i’d used on the way up. i counted the following eating establishments on my way:
2 japanese/sushi
2 pizza
2 coffee/gelato
1 greek
1 chinese
1 mexican
1 wrap zone
1 bistro/bakery
1 restaurant/bar
that’s just in the three blocks north of my street, and i’m sure i’ve either forgotten or missed some. holy crap! it’s a really good thing i’m poor and don’t go out to eat much, but it’ll be really handy if i ever: a) get a social life which includes having people over at meal time and nothing in the fridge; b) a social life which includes spending all my time in bed with some warm, sexy, stubbly boy and sending him out to fetch life-giving sustenance to replenish our strenuous lovemaking; or, c) get a better paying job.
tonight is school. i’m really looking forward to it.

you know, i could type out all the boring, alone things i did all weekend, but i don’t think many of you care. really, how interesting is it to read about my watching three movies or buying a frame for my pretty print or moving the webcam for a slightly different angle or cleaning the bathtub or eating soup until i wanted to throw up?
yeah, i didn’t think so.
i will say i’m excited about my three-day week followed by three days of fun and excitement in honour of my mom’s 67th birthday. we have many fun and wonderful plans i’m really quite giddy about. it will be a funfunfun time!

more orange flowers because: a) orange is my signature colour for 2004; and, b) today seems like a good day for flowers.
woke up with a headache, but i guess that’s what i get for thinking too much too late at night. i’ll try to remember that anything emotional i do before bed seems to translate into a throbbing brain and puffy eyes the next day.
the world of warcraft stress test has ended and i hope i’ll be too busy with the start of school and that aforementioned ass-in-gear-getting that i won’t go through too many withdrawls. then again, thanks to the almighty bruce, i’m on the waiting list for the closed beta. i don’t know how long it’ll be until they start up the new server and open the doors to more beta testers, but i’m waiting anxiously for it.
i totally forgot, but i have to bake cookies tonight for the office bake sale. i was planning on making my mint chocolate chip cookies (which are really mercy’s, btw). great, what was i saying about my fat ass last night? no sampling. three dozen unsampled cookies will be baked and three dozen unsampled cookies will be delivered to work tomorrow. *lays down the law*
how come “three dozen” sounds like so much more than just “thirty-six”?
so, i was wondering, if i were to try to arrange a photogroffee–esque gathering of photographically coffee-inclined people to spend a morning making pictures around historical new westminster, who would be interested? in the two whole blocks i walked on the way to and from a company lunch there on friday i saw no fewer than half a dozen interesting things to photograph, and i wasn’t even really looking for them. imagine if i had a group of fun photographers with me what great shots we could make! think about it and let me know if you’re at all curious.

yesterday was probably the worst day i’ve had in years. i was so fucking sad i just wanted to die. or explode. i couldn’t do anything but sit in my chair facing the corner and try not to break down in this horrible beige box full of people who couldn’t possibly comprehend how much walter meant to me.
thank you all so much for your kind words, it means a lot to me that you all cared enough to take some time to offer condolences and support.
part of me feels ridiculous to be so affected by the loss of a pet i haven’t lived with in almost seven years, but then i slap that part and remind myself that walter is, was, the closest thing i’ve ever had, or probably ever will have, to a child of my own. i love, loved, him so much it’s almost obscene. as the years went by of my only seeing him when i visited mom and his growing distance from me (he’d never been a social cat by any stretch of the imagination, but he and i were very close) saddened me, but i understood.
he was my baby. the little four-week old kitten who fit in the palm of my hand. the tiny, fuzzy tabby which was given to me as a birthday present, complete with ribbons tied around his neck. someone to love, to help fill the void left when my previous cat, spud, passed away. the kitten who would fetch, eat pineapple, fit under the door into the pantry, knew exactly what to do with the litter the first time, watch tv, hide from everyone but mom & i, roll up into a hedgehog ball when you picked him up to clip his claws, stoically put up with endless baths because he never really learned how to wash himself properly, and always come to bed with me at night and purr me to sleep.
all that being said, i’m feeling a little lighter of spirit and i’m ready to face the world again today. i know that walter would have wanted it that way. =)

today, my cat, sir walter of corfield ended his battle with disease and discomfort.
it breaks my stupid little heart to know he’ll never again stick his furry little face in the crook of my neck and purr for me, but it’s tempered with the knowledge that he’s no longer suffering and slowly fading away.
i love you beyond reason, my little geek. i hope you’re finally resting in peace.

they say that the clothes make the man. well, what if you see an otherwise impeccably put together man in a suit at least three sizes too big for him? all i could think as i met joe the financial planner last night was “he looks like he’s wearing his father’s suit.” someone really should tell him that green suit is far too big on him. it detracts from whatever air of authority someone whose hands you are going to put your life savings in should have.
but, anyway, my other news is that i’m going away for the weekend. yay three-day weekends! have fun, everyone.

last night i did laundry. yeah, i know. i’m a wild woman. but what you don’t know is that i did laundry with method laundry detergent and dryer sheets! mm, method. this is all jodi’s fault. all of it. i take no responsibilty whatsoever. none. zip. nada.
of course, i was both off to a late laundry start (because i’m sloth-girl and some neighbour scooped my washer) so i didn’t get out to buy cereal or drop meghan’s american gifts off like i’d planned. oh well. i can live with eating just one kind of cereal for two days and she’ll just have to wait until after i get home from the island. tonight i’m off to a financial planning/investment strategy seminar with my dad and tomorrow i leave early for the boat. whee!
did you know that dr. phil’s son has a tv show? i think it’s renovate my family or something. i caught a little bit of it while i was programming the vcr to tape the premiere of hawaii (you know me, i’ve got to watch the first episodes of all the new programs). you know, that kid creeps me out. he’s got more hair than his dad, but he’s also got his over-intense eyes that look like he’s always trying to REALLY MAKE A POINT. emphasis eyes. creepy. but don’t worry, i didn’t watch it. jeremy would be so proud.
ooh, i just ordered the tickets for the eternal egypt exhibit and imax film i’m taking my mom to for her bithday in a couple weeks. i love the internet! batten down the hatches, victoria… here we come!
um. yeah. i think the coffee was extra strong this morning. *buzz*
p.s. i’m wearing my cute new underpants and i keep wanting to show people just how damn cute they are. then i realize that showing my underpants might not be the right thing to do at the office. offices are so dumb that way.

there was driving, there was talking, there was hockey, there was laughing, there was SHOPPING, there was taco bell, there was melanie. i can’t think of a better way to spend a tuesday evening.
taco bell tastes much better in america.

mel and i are heading down to bellingham tonight after work. i’m so excited i might pee myself. i’m going to come home with armfuls of targety goodness! mm, target.
p.s. it’s colene’s birthday. go give her a spank; she likes that. really.
p.p.s. i have five gmail invites. who wants one?

i was going to write something about something, but then i got distracted while cleaning out my files in preparation of the thing i refuse to talk about, so i’ll just mention that i’ve, yet again, tried to cut my finger off with the beautiful chef’s knife my friend meghan (disguised as a 93 year old woman) gave me for xmas. i’ve lost count of how many times i’ve cut myself with that damn knife. i don’t know if i’m getting clumsier as i age or it’s got a thirst for blood. either way, i’m almost single-handedly keeping band-aid in business.
did i mention that i went to colene’s fantabulous birthday outing friday night? it was much fun and i love me some caramel apple martinis and orange creme brulee.
saturday was a dark day. i overslept in the a.m. which threw a wrench into my plans to head off to the art gallery early in the day, so i decided i’d stay home and do my chores so i could go the next day. the day itself wasn’t so bad, but around six o’clock i felt overwhelmingly alone and utterly unloved. i sat in my apartment waiting for the phone to ring (i’d left a message with karen about a movie and there was still the possibilty of dinner with m&m) while the tears welled up and the roof caved in. i went out for a drive with the half-hearted intention of going to see a movie, but i couldn’t bring myself to go alone, so i just picked up a frozen pizza at the store and went back home.
just when it was getting really bleak, the phone rang (scaring me quite shitless, actually). it was my dad calling to check in and ask me a computer-related question. he was sitting around his apartment alone, too (his girlfriend was obviously otherwise occupied or they’d have been together). i couldn’t figure out what he’d done to the pc remotely, so i offered to go take a look at it. as payment, i requested a game of pool with him. once again, dad came to my rescue. dads are good like that, i’ve discovered.
sunday morning i headed out early (for me) to the art gallery. i promised myself i would NOT miss the baja to vancouver show and i didn’t let myself down. i highly recommend the gallery when it first opens. the population is minimal and you can actually have quiet, alone time with the pieces which speak to you. i was really disappointed in the “no photography” policy (i asked one of the little security/docent people and she actually thanked me for asking before i started snapping away) because there were just zillions of opportunities for amazing photos. not just of the works, but the gallery spaces, the people, the architecture of the building. i guess i’ll have to be satisfied with the mental snapshots i took.
i really want to kiss a boy.

so, i did that socializing thing last night. colene and i met up at subeez and then wandered over to the morrissey to sit in a dark room with relative strangers drinking drinks and talking about movies, music, name-dropping and bill.
it would have been a perfect night if i hadn’t gotten blisters on my heels from walking in my newish shoes and the waitress at the morrissey hadn’t been so crabby. hey, lady! i tipped you 25% on my two measely drinks. lighten up!
then again, who knows what was going on with her. maybe she found out her boyfriend was cheating on her with one of the drag performers from the two parrots across the street or something.
before i forget, here’s my homework from last night, as assigned by richard²:
– schoolhouse rock (ooh, look what i found!)
– the adventures of superman & seinfeld
did you know that the ENTIRE school house rock collection is available on dvd? i didn’t, either. i may just have to order that for posterity’s sake. i know i said i wasn’t buying anything else (especially dvds since i now own the first seasons of buffy the vampire slayer, angel and firefly (yes, i have a thing for joss whedon)), but this… this is special.
tonight i’m out for colene’s birthday bash in the west end with all the beautiful people. there’s dinner with theatre sports to follow. yay! i love theatre sports. i keep saying i should go more often, but then it wouldn’t be such a treat when i do go, i guess.
saturday, if i wake up before noon, i have tentatively planned to go to the art gallery to see the baja to vancouver exhibit before it leaves and i might wander over to tinseltown to see garden state and code 46. then, if schedules permit, i expect to be playing cards with m&m&d, but i’m just guessing about that.
see, i can be all social and stuff now that the shelves are painted and the boxes are unpacked! of course, i really need to start putting stuff up on the walls because now that’s starting to bug me. it never ends!

after leaving work early yesterday because i just couldn’t stand to be there any longer, i went home to put the newly painted shelves back together and unpack eight boxes onto them. there’s still a couple boxes i have yet to deal with, but for the most part, i’m unpacked. i’d feel better about it if, in the process, i hadn’t managed to bump one of my framed stair prints off the swanky new birthday shelves. glass everywhere. print scratched. frame scarred. blah.

all right. since i have no social engagements planned for the weekend, guess what i’m doing tomorrow. yup, painting shelves! if i don’t do it then, it’ll never get it done. hopefully, i’ll get the bathroom vanity painted on sunday. then all the painting will be done and i can stop whining about it all the fucking time. wouldn’t that be nice? hey, if i’m tired of hearing me moan about it, everyone else must be, too.
i’ve been thinking about it and mel mentioned it in the comments for yesterday, so i better do some leg work for the amazing race party i want to host. so, if you’re a fan, you know the show is on tuesday nights. i’m not so sure i want to have a shindig on a tuesday night. i’m old and i like to go to bed early, and i’d hate to piss off the new neighbours on a weeknight so early in our relationship, so, i think it’ll have to be on a friday night. which will mean that for the die-hard amazing race watchers (of which i think mel and i are the only ones) that there’d be four days between the show airing and our watching it.
of course, since not everyone’s going to care to sit and watch the show, i figure playing a couple of older episodes just as background might be good enough. at the very least, then i could still call it an amazing race party when it’s probably not going to be very amazingly race-y at all. here, i’ll admit it. it’s really just an excuse to have people over to my place now that i can actually fit more than two people, including myself. i hope that doesn’t make me a bad person.
so, as for a date: tonight is too soon. next week is colene’s birthday bash. the next friday is the long weekend and i’m probably going to the island. so that leaves friday, september 10th. it’s not too far away and it’s before school starts for me again, so i won’t be fretting about homework (or at least i shouldn’t).
i suppose this is a request for interest. if you’d like to attend a haphazardly planned party by someone who isn’t really good at planning parties but will try her best to keep you entertained while you’re there, leave me a comment. otherwise, i’ll just invite the usual, reliable suspects because i’m convinced it’ll go just like my 12th birthday party where only one person showed up.

because i feel tremendous waves of inadequacy and guilt if i don’t post anything at all.

let’s just say that this weekend was both incredibly, amazingly wonderful and hell on earth.
first with the wonderful. my handy daddy came over saturday morning to install bamboo blinds out on the balcony, hang my curtain backets and mount a shelf, towel rack and swing mirror in the bathroom for me. after he left, i measured, hemmed and hung my curtains.
the evening was spent out to dinner with m&m&d, dennis & joanie and their friend diane at a greek restaurant (feeling the olympic spirit, we were) where we all drank, ate, laughed and talked a lot. i very nearly passed out in the car on the way home, i was so exhausted from the very good day.
yesterday, consisted of laundry-doing, dish-washing, bathtub-cleaning, window-washing, floor-cleaning and general puttering. i need to clean the rest of the floors this week now that i know that mop & glo wood floor cleaner is the shizzle and it removes the slightly icky film left from my first and incorrect washing before i moved in.
now for the hell. IT’S TOO GODDAMN FUCKING HOT AND IF IT DOESN’T COOL DOWN SOON I’M TOTALLY GOING TO KILL SOMEONE JUST FOR STANDING TOO CLOSE TO ME AND MAKING ME SWEAT EVEN MORE THAN I ALREADY AM JUST BECAUSE I’M BREATHING!
seriously though, this has been a completely beastly hot summer which actually started sometime in june. i don’t know what the hell is going on with the weather patterns, but we’re experiencing the weather the prairies usually gets, while they’re all below-average and very vancouverish. if this incessant heat and increasing humidity doesn’t break soon i really do think i might have a psychotic break. you really don’t want to see that. trust me.
yeah, i didn’t get any shelf-painting done, but i did watch the grid in its entirety & the first three episodes of dead like me and i learned how to make a vcd. have i mentioned how much i love bittorrent and my extra-high-speed net connection? if i haven’t, consider it mentioned. as for the painting, as jeremy so wisely said “you have the rest of your life to paint”. consider it mentioned how much i love that guy.
now it’s monday and i get to find some way to stay awake after only six hours of weird dream-filled sleep, get work done and try not to think of all the floor-washing, food-shopping, refund-getting, car-cleaning, lunch-cooking and shelf-painting i need to get done this week.

okay, it’s official. i’m not allowed to go to ikea any more this year. geezus, that place is like crack to a whore, and that whore is definitely me.
while sitting around the apartment last night waiting for it to cool off a little before i tackled sanding the rest of the shelves, i had a bathroom epiphany. glass shelves! i could put up glass shelves to keep my cute bottles of bath and body works lotions on! that would keep crap off the vanity (i have a thing about clutter on flat surfaces) yet still keep them within arm’s reach. pure brilliance!
up came www.ikea.ca in my browser while i shopped for bathroom shelves. in i went with the measuring tape. everything was coming together nicely. i had planned on doing my coquitlam running around on saturday (i had to exchange one of the tank tops i’d bought at the bathing suit store because i’d mistakenly gotten the polyester version instead of the cotton. goodness knows i don’t need any more help sweating as it is, so it had to go back), but since i’d just phoned my dad and asked him if saturday morning was a good time to come over and help me hang things i’m too short and lacking in tools to hang, there went that plan. well, no time like the present, especially if i wanted him to mount any new shelves while he was here!
while at the crack store (formerly known as ikea), i picked up another pair of bathroom slippers (more on the need for slippers at a later date), another 99-cent cobolt blue plant pot (this one’s for candy) and, the piece de resistance, a very lovely runner for my hallway! i’ve admired this particular rug every time i’ve visted the crack store this summer, but i never noticed they had hallway-sized versions. i was beside myself and i absolutely HAD to have it. now i do and i love it very much. i’m so pleased. oh, and i also got two glass shelves for the bathroom, which was why i went in the first place. i’m just so very good.
then, just to make my night even better, i figured out the Mystery of the Persnickity Potty.
you see, ever since i moved in, i’ve been having issues with my pretty pink toilet. it never seemed to flush all the way on the first try. it would go through the motions, but it wouldn’t quite muster the gusto to get everything down the drain on one go. this disturbed me greatly. my handy dad took a look and declared that it wasn’t getting enough vortex and i should tell my super. my mom said to pour extra water in the bowl before i flushed to give it a little more “oomph”.
while in the bathroom doing my shelf measuring, the toilet started making a running noise (this is normal, it does it on a semi-regular basis. i hardly even notice it anymore), but this time there were bubbles coming up from the bottom of the bowl. i’d never seen that before, so i jiggled the handle and all was quiet again.
fast forward to bedtime.
as i lay in bed (looking out the window to see what the people in the building next door were doing, i’ll admit), the running noise started again. this time, it didn’t sound “normal” and it persisted for quite a while. eventually, it started to piss me off so i got up to investigate. i was about to jiggle the handle again when i thought i should peek further. off came the tank top (more on my toilet tank fear later) and i found the source of the problem.
the little flappy thing (yes, i’m being very technical) at the bottom of the tank hadn’t re-seated properly after the last use, causing water to continuously run into the bowl, causing the noise. i don’t know why, but after i jiggled it back into place and the top was still off, i flushed it again. ah-ha! the flappy thing was closing before all the water in the tank had gone into the bowl! that was why there wasn’t enough vortex!
of course, i don’t know how to actually fix it other than to hold the handle down for a twelve-count (the time it takes for all the water in the tank to drain) when i flush, but it’s a total toilet victory and i’m really quite pleased with myself. a dysfunctional dumper is really quite dreadful, you know.

OH DEAR GOD, THE CRAMPS! I’M GOING TO DIE. RIGHT HERE, IN THIS CHAIR.
this is the seventh summer i’ve lived in an apartment which gets very hot. actually, the new place gets hotter than the old place, but i’m not sure if that’s just because it’s a hotter summer or there’s absolutely no shade here, but the damn thermometre hit 34°C (93°F) the other night. i just about died.
for those seven summers, i have had one little six-inch fan to keep me cool. the main barrier to having something bigger was that in the old apartment there just wasn’t any room for it. last night, i stopped at canadian tire on the way home and bought myself a 30″ oscillating pillar fan. this thing is sweet. it takes up hardly any room at all and is amazingly quiet. it even has a timer so you can set it when you go to bed and it’ll automatically shut off so that you don’t wake up freezing!
i was so cool thanks to the constant airflow on my semi-naked self i even found the energy to sand and wash the big bookshelf before i went to bed. go, go gadget fan!
but, seriously, these cramps have GOT to go, or i need to be back in bed. either will work.

while out shopping my ass off at ikea with meghan on saturday, we decided to make a quick stop at a neighbouring strip mall to look for other householdy goods and short pants. while at the clothing store with the “50% OFF LAST SALE PRICE” signs all over everything, i browsed a bit without much intention or hope of finding anything to buy. i had figured that i’d pretty much managed to shop out that particular sore before i went away.
maybe it was because i didn’t think i’d find anything and i definitely wasn’t looking for it, i found a bathing suit. a blue, halter-style bathing suit. i honestly can’t remember the last time i bought, or even wore, a suit. i think i recall trying one on in the mid-nineties, but it was over $100 and that’s just not a reasonable amount of money to spend on something which wouldn’t get used with any kind of regularity. if ever.
so, this suit. it was on the rack with others of its kind. out of idle curiosity i checked if my size was present. the price tag said $29.99. if the big, red “50% OFF LAST SALE PRICE” signs were right, that meant the suit would only cost $15. fifteen dollars for a swimsuit. when was the last time you bough any piece of clothing, let alone a bathing suit, for $15? so, i tried it on. not only did it fit, i didn’t look as disgusting as my imagination had told me i would in a suit.
now i own a $15 blue bathing suit i’ll probably never wear, but at least i’m prepared in case of a water emergency (don’t i wish i’d found it before staying in the americinn with the big pool!). $15 is just about the perfect price to pay for something which may never actually get used. besides, it’ll last forever if it never touches chlorinated water.