Category Archives: Photos

alert! there have been words written in the nanowrimo file! 1,320 of them, to be exact. i actually found a little bit of inspiration on the ferry rides i took this week. while i’m pretty sure i won’t be getting 48,680 more of them written before the end of the month, i’m fairly confident that this is the beginning of that story i started in my head eight years ago.
the file lives on lucy, so it will go travelling with us and hopefully there will be more inspiration along the way. i actually feel pretty good about the start i’ve made. now i just need to make some plans for where it’s going to go, instead of wandering aimlessly through a sea of paragraphs and getting hopelessly lost.
i’m sad today is the last day of my vacation. it’s going to be unbearably difficult to wake up at 5:30 am tomorrow. ugh.

vacation is going great. i’m going to the island. have a good weekend!

dear newsreader people: i have a new header thingie i made last night. you might want to clickity-click through to see it. feedback, while not required, is always appreciated.
it’s monday morning, about nine-thirty and i’m sitting in my chair in my underpants and nothing else. this is the first day of my week off and i’m starting it in grand style. i was planning to be down at the midas shop trying my best to seduce chris the midas manager, but i’ve altered my plans a little. mostly because i overslept and i’m not feeling so cute right now. don’t worry, i have not yet abandoned the quest. i’m just reworking my strategy.
yesterday afternoon, on some strange whim, i pulled out the videos made for me by the monkeyfaced boy pictured above, the oldest of which is just shy of being ten years old. gosh. do you even remember the internet back then? when, if you wanted to show someone a photo of you, you actually had to mail it? when, if you wanted to talk to someone with your voice, you had to phone them and incure massive phone bills? when people actually wrote emails with content and conversations instead of instant messaging?
that monkeyfaced boy… i can’t believe it’s soon to be the tenth anniversary of our first phone conversation. i still remember the day. he’d been trying so hard to get me to give him my phone number. i finally relented, then, out of fear, told him he had to wait three hours before he could call. when he did… i was so nervous. i sat on the floor of my bedroom, butt on the ugly green carpet, back against my dresser, clutching my trendy transparent telephone in my hand. the first time i heard his twangy accent part of me melted.
ah, internet love stories. too bad this isn’t one of those. well, kind of, but not really. unrequited? not exactly. unfulfilled? most definitely. i may not have found a lover or a partner in him, but that monkeyfaced boy and i have something, some connection which will never be broken. no matter where we live or how long between times we get to visit, we will always know each other.
today, he lives with his beautiful wife, step-daughter and his ultimate accomplishment: his son. he’s successful, well-respected, loved, admired; everything he’s ever wanted for himself he has and i can’t begin to describe just how happy for him i am.
ten years: who knew so much could change, while so much else could stay exactly the same?

this photo is for kevin. the entire ensemble (which means props) can be seen here. i really should have gotten the nose with whiskers i saw at bellis fair last week.
so, in a fit of “i’ve got to start something, anything, dammit” i signed up for nanowrimo this year. i had no idea what kind of novella (that “la” takes a lot of pressure off) i wanted to write, but i’ve been half-starting them for years and thought maybe having a firm deadline might actually give me some incentive to do more than half-start. i was the queen of last minute paper-writing in school. i’d do some reasearch the week the assignment was given then i’d do nothing until the day before it was due. i wasn’t lazy; it was all about the adrenaline.
i thought that having a firm writing committment would be good for me. that i could take lucy out to a cafe, continue my search for the best latte in town and write without the distractions of what’s on television or dishes needing doing or whatever else it is which would distract me. i still think it’s a good idea. i’ll flex my brain. i’ll get out of the house. i’ll drink more coffee.
i’ve decided that i’m finally going to write the story which has been percolating in my brain for almost a decade. joe knows the title. joe knows the plot. joe even knows the devices. too bad i don’t know joe anymore.
it’s also too bad i just picked up from the library a copy of the eleventh wheel of time book. the worst part, even more than it being two years since i read the last one and only having a vague recollection of the dozens of characters in it, is that it’s 761 pages i need to read in the next two weeks. no renewals. there goes that jumpstart i was imagining.
expect updates (read: whining) about the writing process. i have very few expectations for the whole thing, so hopefully i won’t disappoint myself too much if i don’t make it.

today i’m dressed up at the killer rabbit from the cave of caerbannog. if you don’t get the reference, then you suck. of course, by that critera everyone at my workplace sucks because not one person has been able to figure it out without my playing the audio clips and even then i’ve had to explain. it’s so sad.
maybe i should just rend their flesh from their bones with my nasty, big, pointy teeth.
the weekend was chock full of socializing and food. dear god the food. all you can eat anything is evil and shouldn’t be allowed ever. when i’m queen of the universe it shall be outlawed. oh yes, it shall. that being said, stuffing my gullet with sushi on friday, pizza on saturday and thai on sunday was fun. although, seeing people i haven’t in a while was more fun.
that being said, i’m glad i have a very light week coming up. i like all these people, but i also like hanging around my apartment in my funderpants (sock monkeys today). i have to figure out a balance so i don’t get cranky and say no to all invitations until next april.
happy hallowe’en!

last night found me:
– buying a crumpler bag at an intimidatng photoshop on west 6th
– eating a giant burrito on kingsway & main
– drinking a foamy latte in a wicked cafe
– talking with bloggers at a bar where yuppies v.2 hang out
today i’m sleepy.

my sleeping patterns are getting really wonky and i’m starting to get concerned that the time change this weekend will only exacerbate it. the night before last, i woke up at 1:21 a.m. completely awake and ready to go. it took about an hour or so for me to fall entirely back asleep (and then i was haunted by freaky dreams about having a baby). this morning, i woke up at 5 a.m. on the button and debated getting up or trying to get some more sleep. i finally gave up about 5:30 and started getting ready for the day.
this is just not good. i hate it when i’m in a weird sleep phase. it totally messes up my biorhythms. my über-social week will only serve to compound this, i’m sure. it’s probably a good thing i have nothing on the docket for saturday so i can recuperate. that being said, hopefully it will be a nice day in case i feel the need to wander around the neighbourhood taking photos.
by the way, i need to say that i’m not liking this season of the amazing race very much. part of the usual draw of the show is the teams travelling to strange and exotic places. up until last night, the families have only been running around the states. then there’s the addition of the family dynamics. you know what? people treat their families like shit, if these people are any example. then they say “sorry, i love you” at the pit stop as if that makes up for all the vicious behaviour while they were on the run. it reminds me of just how vile i was to my mother when i was a teenager. i’m honestly surprised she didn’t kill me. anyway, i can’t wait until the next *real* amazing race starts. that’s when i can get excited about seeing phil keoghan every week. mm, phil.

i don’t think today is going to turn out very well.

there’s so much going on right now, in my head, that i don’t even know where to start. nothing is starting or turning out to be anything i expected today. i woke up thinking this would be an awful, horrible day from hell. arriving to work to discover my very cool boss i like a lot got t-boned in a car accident last night didn’t do anything to make it better. nor did starting my period. all on less than six hours sleep because i was out until after eleven p.m. and woke up with hobblefeet because i was on them all night.
but now… i don’t know. the day is flying past. my feet don’t hurt anymore. something strange and unexpected happened. i’m feeling motivated and purposeful.
it’s all very strange, indeed.

ugh. TAIP is back. remember her?
i don’t know if i mentioned that she’s been gone since two working days after i took over her old job. yes, you did the math right, that’s just shy of eleven months. eleven months! almost a year for me to alternately seethe and despair over what she left me. no one knew why she was gone, either. oh, there were rumors. i don’t think i started any, but i’m pretty sure i helped perpetuate a couple.
hey, nobody ever accused me of being a nice person.
anyway, i’m really torn about this situation. part of me wants her to come by my office and see all the great things which have changed for the better since she left me with all that crap last year so i can gloat. another part of me wants to avoid her completely until either she retires or suffers another long term malady. yet another part of me wants to find her and break her tiny, ineffectual frame into little, itty-bitty pieces.
in the meantime, i’m actively pursuing option two: avoidance. she actually tried to phone me today. for what reason, i can’t even fathom, but i’m so glad i have call display on my phone so i could ignore it.
regardless, i can’t do anything about her being back, so i guess i’ll just have to deal. gah. i hate her with a blinding fury. i need to find my office voodoo doll and do her some psychic damage. maybe that’ll make me feel better.
maybe?

hey, look, i’m back at work! it’s kind of weird because it feels both like i’ve been gone a really long time and haven’t been gone at all. luckily, diane was covering for me last week and did a whole bunch of ugly filing and took care of all the day-to-day work so i didn’t come back to a whole big mess. it only took me an hour or so to catch up this morning. having a well-trained temp rawks so hard.
other than that, it’s just work and not work for a next month until my next week off (padding long weekends is the new black). there’s rumblings of our being out on strike on wednesday in support of the teachers, but that’s a whole day and a half away, anything could happen before then. not that i’d mind having another day off, of course. i just hope they don’t expect me to picket in the rain.
i’m on the vegetable soup and fat-free yoghurt diet in hopes of undoing some of the damage caused by thanksgiving and all the fucking chips’n’fish i’ve eaten in the past few weeks (and pre-empting the fast-approaching xmas baking season). i need to start working out again, as usual, but i don’t know how or when just yet. thirty-five squats and twenty push-ups upon waking will be attempted. i give that at least one more day before it slips. i’m not good with the follow through, one might say.
i don’t know why it was a good idea, but i picked up the book written by that savekaryn.com woman from the library yesterday. i’m only a chapter and a bit in and i’m already completely annoyed with her. the writing is fine, good even, but i think that knowing this is a real person’s frivolity turned into begging (and probably some crankiness that i can’t pull that off and get the internet to pay off my debts, too) just irks me. sort of like that friend you have who always complains about never having any money, but who goes out for every meal and shops every weekend. how can you possibly have sympathy for someone so obviously irresponsible and clueless? i had the same problem with the shopaholic books, actually. otherwise smart people doing stupid things just tick me off, i guess.

i can’t believe it’s the last day of my holidays already. this is totally not fair.
yesterday was interesting. i had an 8:30 appointment at the car place to get les car looked at. i got home at noon, $400 poorer, but at least the little blue geo both goes up hills and is so quiet i can’t even believe it. for the motorheads out there who might care, the list of repairs: new plugs, plug wires, distributor cap, rotor, air filter, exhaust pipe and muffler, oil change, tire rotation, and wheel balance.
the best part of the experience was chris the midas manager. he was friendly, chatty, funny, had a great voice and was totally cute. i think we had a moment of some sort as i was standing at the counter waiting to give him my money. he was looking me straight in the eyes without saying anything and then it was as if he realized he was staring, slightly shook his head, smiled and fetched a print out of my bill. part of me wants to find something still wrong with the car so i can go back and see him.
today i’m going out for lunch and a wander with jamie and then having some chips’n’fish with my papa tonight. everyday should be a friday off work!

home now. on my way out the door for a massage. i didn’t take one photo while i was away, but i ate my weight in turkey, pie and sprouts. i’m glad to be home where the fridge is bare and my bed is comfy and huge.

can i just say how excited i am it’s thanksgiving this weekend? ohmygoodness. brussel sprouts! turkey! punkin pie! that reminds me, i better pack my comfy pants ’cause i sure as heck won’t fit into my real pants on monday.
oh, have i mentioned that i have next week off work? yeah, baby. vacation has finally come to hessieland. i’ll be going to the island saturday for the festivites, returning tuesday (i know you island-dwellers live too far away, but i still wish i could see you while i’m on your piece of rock *sigh*) for most of a week of sloth. i’ve a massage booked on wednesday and plan to take the car in on thursday, but otherwise i’m planless and i love it!
that means i’m totally open to lunch on friday for anyone who’s inclined! sorry! i’m booked for burritos with jamie. =)

day two of running with the gas treatment and all is still well in the land of sputtering geos. she seems to be really happy now that i’ve given her a bit of TLC. let’s hope she continues this way until next week.
so, i hope you all know that hockey started last night. i sat on the futon, giddy with the knowledge that my boys are back on the ice, until i turned to TSN and discovered that the stupid network wasn’t switching from the ottawa/toronto game to vancouver/phoenix in time for the face off (although, it was kind of neat to see the senators beat toronto in the shoot out).
oh. my. god. i have such a hate on for TSN. their commentators suck. they don’t put the score box up enough and when they do it’s too big, too low, it doesn’t show the powerplays and the timer is incorrect. i’m really glad there’s only a handful of games they’re broadcasting this year. i actually had the tv muted and listed to the CKNW broadcast instead of suffering with the craptastic TSN commentary.
if i hadn’t been eating spaghetti for dinner, i totally would have been wearing one of my jerseys while watching my team beat the pants off wayne gretzky’s coyotes. i’m so completely crazy insane about hockey being back, it’s ridiculous. i don’t even mind the new rules, but it will take me a long time to get over the football-style penalty calling. i really hope that goes the way of the glowing puck.

i know, i know. i’m a bad blogger. honestly, i’m putting my favourite photos on nuttymuffin, so i don’t have anything to show you. i’m wound really tight because everything which is freaking me out, so i have too much to tell you.
just give me my lashes and we can start over.
my car is dying. i think. it’s been acting funny for the past week. intermittently sputtering and hesitating when i try to accelerate or take it up a hill. i finally have a witness to its behaviour in jamie. we both thought it might die on the way home from our little photo excursion last night. i’ve put in some gas treatment in hopes that it was just moisture in the fuel, and it ran absolutely perfectly this morning, but i’m not so sure it’s fixed. what i do know is that by the time i get to work in the morning or home at night i’ve got a stress headache just from wondering which press of the pedal is going to make it really quit this time.
a co-worker has suggested buying a new (to me) car instead of sinking more money into mine. he’s got a friend with a toyota tercel they’re selling for $500. being a veteran of driving cheap cars, it seems reasonable to him to do such a thing and he very nearly convinced me of that, too. but thinking on it, to buy some other car would be like opening pandora’s box of automotive issues. i know exactly what’s been done to my car and when. i know just from feel and sound if there’s something in need of work. this new car i would have no history on, no experience. why not spend that $500 on my car to help it with its longevity?
so that’s what i’m going to do. i’ll give it a little tune up for the winter, replace the scaryloud muffler and see how it likes that. maybe run some other engine or oil treatments through it as well. if that doesn’t fix it, then i guess it’s time to park it and start taking the bus.

i’ve been super cranky the last couple of days. holy moly, it’s been ugly. thankfully a surprise appearance of the illusive wade and a really great picnic in my office today have helped to diffuse it some. i’m still really annoyed with everything workwise, but thank god for friends. truly.
there’s a busy, social weekend ahead. dinner & movie with jamie and his wife tonight. tomorrow is a meal & another movie with karen. sunday is either the cibc run for the cure & bruch or a photo swap meet, depending on the weather (i’m really really really hoping for rain *rain dance*).
i don’t know why i’m going out so much. i’m absolutely flat broke. completely. i’m actually trying to figure out what i can sell to make some money. it’s my own fault, but it still sucks. ugh. money sucks. SUCKS. i really need a sugardaddy.

i had a party last night! i invited 18 of my nearest and dearest over to watch the amazing race premiere and to finally see my big, entertainable apartment. of course, only five showed up, which wasn’t all that bad, really. quality over quantity, right? it was interesting to have work friends meet internet friends. i was really hoping m&m could come just to make the whole universes colliding theme complete, but it was shopping night, so they were unable to attend.
now that i know i can entertain without calamity (and my blender is capable of making margaritas), i think i just might do it again.
today was my day off and i took full advantage. i slept in, had a bath, caught up on some tv watching and then I WENT FOR A MASSAGE. oh, yes. a massage. forty-five minutes of being rubbed with lotion. even the whole being naked on a table in front of a stranger didn’t bug me enough to stop enjoying it. i have a follow-up appointment in two weeks. this is definitely going to become a habit. mm, massage.
what are you waiting for? go get a massage!

it’s kind of freaky that three of you suggested burgundy curtains when that’s EXACTLY what i was already thinking of getting. good to know i’m not completely decorating incompetent.
the blinds are back and they are blindingly clean. that was the best $16 i’ve ever spent. now if i can get the super to put a new toilet in i’ll be a very happy camper.
it’s only a week into the new television season and i’m already behind. and i’m going to the island this weekend for my mom’s birthday so i won’t have a chance to catch up. this sucks! thank god i’m not trying to go to school, too, or i’d have to explode or something.
(see, this is why people hate north americans. they consider troubles like mine to be big and insurmountable, while they’re struggling for freedom from tyranny or digging grubs for lunch.)
it’s not even eight a.m. and i’ve already received two compliments.
today is stretch and relax class. tomorrow is a half-day. next tuesday is my party. next wednesday i have off and, AND, i’m getting a massage. then it’ll only be two weeks until my week off. things are looking up. now if only i could work on an earnings model to buy my burgundy curtains…