i’m going to a fireworks barbeque tonight. it’s being hosted by dean. normally, i wouldn’t think twice about going, but tonight is different. there will be strangers there. lots of strangers.
in talking to meg last night, the count is up to eighteen people. if that includes the four of us, plus dean’s mom and hazel… that’s still a dozen strangers. the more i think about it, the more nervous i get. this is so not what i need to be doing, especially when i’m having enough self-confidence/body issues to hinder my normal routine.
then there’s the dessert. i’m supposed to bring dessert. the last food. the finale. if the dessert sucks, the evening will be ruined. no pressure. yeah, right. even meghan mentioned that i should ensure my dessert is better than the dessert the other dessert-bringing person is bringing.
so, the plan is as follows: leave work early, fetch stellar dessert from trendy bakery at the quay, iron shirt, nap, eat something healthful so i don’t pig out there, phone meghan, go up, look smashing, be charming and interesting while quashing my nerves, watch fireworks, come home, collapse.
i hope i don’t make a fool of myself.

i will be the most responsible lottery winner ever. i have mapped out how i will spend, gift and invest my winfall, if ever i win. i was discussing this with my mom over the weekend. she’s always one to “put it out to the universe” when you’re in need of something as the “universe will always provide”.
i told her about my plan. she said to put it out to the universe. i told her i have, but the universe isn’t following my plan.

i’ve figured out why they (“they” being any such organisation) insist on playing the most annoying, kenny g-ish muzak while you’re on hold.
it does one of two things: 1) it numbs your brain, causing you to be more placid when voicing complaints; or, 2) it is so distasteful and painful to your ears and soul you are forced to hang up in defeat without ever having spoken your piece.
those fuckers are smart. but i’m tougher. rawr!

i’m feeling an odd combination of satisfaction and displeasure lately. i’m thoroughly enjoying certain aspects of my life, but others are looming painfully large and daunting.
i like my apartment and my stuff, but i’d like one more room and newer stuff. i like my car, but i’m stressing about all the impending repairs which are sure to befall it. i love my friends, but i’m feeling ugly and unworthy. i like my job, but i don’t want to be at work. i want to travel & meet new people, but i’m fearful of rejection by strangers.
it’s a funk, and i’m sure i’ll work through it, but still. it’s crappy. i don’t like it.

boat: maritime rescue! two saved! news at six!
socks: 1.5 for the price of 1
shoes: greasy black angels, $100 off!
food: chicken chili, chicken chili, chicken chili, ice cream
cat: the 15-pound furball loved me for a whole twenty minutes
mom: didn’t get on my nerves. call guinness!
coincidence: talked to friend’s [hot hot hot] brother.
accomplishment: talked to friend’s [hot hot hot] brother.
misc: lipfinity is a bitch to remove. don’t let me wear pink. ever.
conclusions: write when i think it. my mom is cool. workouts must resume.

yesterday was paige’s day. i blogged nothing but birthday wishes.
today is grumpy-overtired-frustrated-snappish-girl’s day.
i think my tire’s going flat. it’s raining. i don’t want to go to work.

pet peeve: web sites which don’t work without the www in front of the domain name.
odd observance: the chocolate they use to cover almonds tastes better than any other chocolate.
it’s a quiet day. even noise seems less noisy today. i think the clouds are muffling everything, including the blogs i read. i don’t mind. it’s almost cozy.
i’m managing to be productive, i’m looking forward to fajitas & fireworks tonight, and my glasses inadvertently match my sweater. this makes me smile.

i watched santa barbara from its very first episode until the very last episode. i never missed one. i would tape it during the day and watch it as soon as i walked in the door from work. i wanted to marry cruz and have beautiful long hair like eden. mason kept me laughing and i wanted to kick c.c. in the crotch for being such a jerk.
other soap operas i’ve watched at one point or another: another world, days of our lives*, young & the restless*, one life to live, all my children & loving.
* denotes shows i currently watch. my excuse: they’re on when i get home from work.

just a little update on dustin (aka cute electrician boy). seems he’s not only a beautiful specimin of an electrical apprentice, but he’s also the boss’s son. there goes my dad’s admonishment about him just being an apprentice. he’ll own the company one day! *swoon*

i was up too late last night pissing around with my new cable modem connection. it was funny, the installer made a rookie mistake after installing the network card. we laughed about it. we also talked a lot about linux. when he logged the call, he wrote “experienced user” in the comment section. i might have blushed.
so, yeah. i have cable access. i’m not sure what i expected, but i had this feeling of disappointment when my download speeds weren’t quite what i thought they should be. then again, i did manage to fetch a 132mb file in just over an hour. three months ago that would have taken me three days to accomplish.
as a result, i was basketcase this morning (i still am, actually). i finally got out of bed and went about getting ready with zombie-like speed. so, by the time i got onto the highway, the traffic was backed up ten kilometres from the bridge. it took me twice as long to get to work as usual. forty minutes as opposed to twenty. it’s just the principle of the thing.
then there was fuckwad. fuckwad was driving a bigass boat of a car and he wouldn’t let me merge in front of him. asshole. i drive a geo, for pete’s sake. you couldn’t let my itsy little car in? nooo… the very nice person behind him let me and the car behind me in front of him to make up for jerkface’s greed. so, i’m behind idiot man and i look at the sticker on his bumper. i don’t quite believe it, so i squint to get a better look.
it was a grateful dead sticker.
this struck me as odd/weird/spooky because just last night, while waiting for the cable guy i was reading “postcards from the dead” by douglas coupland which is a series of vignettes based around a grateful dead concert.
then i got even more upset. deadheads are supposed to be laid-back-and-free-loving. not greedy-assholes-who-don’t-let-cute-girls-in-geos-in-front-of-them-in-bumper-to-bumper-traffic, dammit.
but, i’m here. i’m alive. i’m still cute. i’m very tired and guest-blogging over at andrea’s site today. i hope i don’t scare all her readers away. i’m trying very hard to be interesting. which will probably mean that my site will be dull as migraine pain today. if the lack of interest doesn’t, i’m sure my incessant rambling will. someone take my keyboard away. i can’t seem to stop typing!
hey! wait! i was just kiddil92#$20}!@#

why is it that no one ever seems to “fly through” my city on the way to somewhere else? i need to move to some hubbish city so i get to meet the cool people.
oh. wait. this is canada. no one ever comes here. forget it.

well, i may have overreacted. not about the death of my mattress pad or the ensuing trauma. but, i’m rather glad i got out of bed this morning.
after purchasing a replacement pad (they had more. yay!) i stopped at the grocery store to pick up a few items and ran into meghan and mark. we stopped at the pub for wings and a game of cards in the sunshine. it would have been a great distraction if i hadn’t developed a blinding headache.
now, i’m home and my bed is reassembled with new foamy goodness. my house is once again in order for the cable guy to invade my domain tomorrow night to install my cable modem. i’m excited. it will give me something to look forward to while they rip apart my office for remodelling during the busiest day of the month.
oh my head…

well, fuck me. i spent all day yesterday cleaning and this morning doing laundry only to be an idiot and manage to dump an ENTIRE cup of hot, creamy, sugary coffee all over my bed/futon. fuck! hey, at least the foam mattress pad soaked up the most of it. oh. wait. that’s bad. want to know why? too bad, i’m telling you regardless. it’s bad because do you KNOW how hard it is to wring out the centre of a foam mattress pad without getting the clean parts covered in coffee? or, that no matter the amount of febreeze you use, you that sweet coffee smell just won’t go away. no. you probably don’t. i bet you also didn’t know that you can’t put foam matress pads in the washer & dryer without them disintigrating.
FUUUUUUUUUUUCK!
this, of course, means that, after i’ve finished my cook-a-thon dishes, i will be going out to buy a NEW mattress pad. the best part? the one i bought was the second to last one of the right size on the shelf when i bought it. how much do you want to bet there aren’t any left when i get there? c’mon. double or nothing!
i should never have gotten out of bed this morning.