all good things come to those who plagiarize. no? yeah, well, i’ll be thinking so when my knockoff of jena’s penny jar idea bears fruit.
i read her post (which has been subsequently deleted and replaced with this one) about her penny jar for saving up for something special she wanted and thought about how long it’s been since i actually saved up for something i wanted to buy for myself. i never do that anymore. i always just whip out mr. mastercard and pay it back later. sometimes much, much later.
what it the material thing i want more than anything else right now? the thing which can’t possibly be considered a necessity, yet i desire it regardless? yeah. you guessed it. a digital camera.
so, my plan is to save all my dimes in one jar and all my twoonies in another until such time as i have enough to buy it for cash money. i would save all my change, but i need loonies and quarters for laundry and i don’t seem to get enough nickels and pennies. although, what i do have of those will probably go into the digital camera savings shoebox. as i roll the coins up, i’m going to put them in a box and put them away until it’s full and too heavy to carry. i’m hoping that, maybe, by the summer i’ll have enough. but, i think i’m kidding myself if i think i can save $600 in change by then.
just think about how much i’ll appreciate this fucking camera if i ever get it! *grin*
just so you know, and you can’t say i didn’t warn you, it is precisely six months until my thirtieth birthday. i expect many gifts, cards and well-wishes. you have now been informed. resistance is futile. you will comply.
oops… i remembered to upload a song last night, but forgot to link it this morning. it’s the first thursday morning mpeg of 2002 and i go and fuck it up. figures! by the way, have i mentioned how irrationally happy it makes me that it’s a palindrome year? stop looking at me like that and listen to this song.
“I Want Love” by Elton John
of course, i’m pretty sure the only reason i really like this song is that robert downey jr is in the video. *sigh* there’s something about a guy in a t-shirt wandering around an empty house singing that just makes me go “yum”. okay, maybe it’s not any guy. it could only be a guy with wide shoulders, a narrow waist and loose-fitting slacks. *drool* or maybe a dark-haired, dark-eyed guy with a troubled soul…
in the last month i’ve made chocolates, snickerdoodles and last night was the culinary pièce de résistance… home made spring rolls. i found the recipe online yesterday and since i had to go to save-on to get veggies anyway, i picked up some ginger, shitakes & egg roll wrappers (by the way, who the hell decided to put them next to the pre-bagged salads? i looked up and down every fucking aisle for those things).
actually, i shouldn’t congratulate myself too much, they were a cinch to make. i put a little too much pepper in so they were blinding hot, but otherwise… yum! i’ll probably be on a spring roll kick for the next two weeks. considering i have the rest of the package of wrappers to eat and they’re all veggies, why the hell not? oh, and to go with my asian hot food, i made a mandarin & almond salad with raspberry vinagrette. look at me, i’m getting all gourmet for the new year!
 You’re just a girl; you tend to get frustrated easily, you daydream quite a bit, and you try to avoid making trouble, though curiosity always gets the better of you. Even under tight circumstances, however, you put aside (some of) your fear and figure out what’s the best thing to do. You want a better understanding of your world. |
[thanks ryan]
last year, my only official new year’s resolution was to stop reading my horoscope. i did fairly well with that. i can probably count on one hand the number of times i peeked at what the stars had in store for me. i’m hoping i can do as well this year.
you see, this year i have resolutions. lots of resolutions. normally, i don’t go for the whole resolution thang, but this year is different. this year i’m going to be thirty years old and if i don’t have my shit together by the time i’m thirty… i’ll have to pretend i’m still twenty-nine. so, my resolutions are as follows:
eat properly
this blanket resolution encompasses portion sizes, intake frequency and quality of food choices; consisting of not allowing anything which does not require some sort of preparation into my house & allowing myself one day of the week to eat outside of this guideline (most probably fridays as it is card night and the night i’ll most often eat restaurant & snack food). i’m not saying i will not eat meat or i will not drink coffee or i will not eat junk food. i’m saying that i will balance everything out, but most of all treat food as fuel. i will attempt to learn to eat to live, not live to eat, as my father once told admonished me.
exercise
because it’s been over a year since i last did anything more cardiovascular than carry groceries in from the car, i’m starting this one off slow. i’m not a fan of endurance activities, so i’ll gradually work up to getting out for hour-long walks or thirty minutes of EFX in the fitness room at work. i’m resovling to start with not taking the elevator at work anymore & using my dumbells at home every day for the next three weeks. from there, we’ll work up to using the hoist at work for more extensive weight-training (which i really enjoy).
simplify & unclutter
this actually began last year with an overwhelming urge to throw things out. i’m a packrat. not one of those scary people who keep every issue of a magazine or wine corks from forty-five years ago. i’m an emotional packrat. i keep memories and souveniers and items of nostalgia. yesterday, while in a cleaning and organizing frenzy, i *finally* sorted through my closet and tossed out all the c64 paraphernalia i’d inherited from julie & mark & scott. i was never going to use it and it was just pissing me off that i couldn’t get at my wrapping paper this xmas. this is going to be a theme for 2002. i’m going to rid myself of the stuff which is holding me down. the stuff i keep just in case i might need it one day. i’m not going to need it. i’m never going to use it. by the way, if i don’t pick up my guitar in the next six months i’m going to get rid of that, too. i don’t know what i was thinking, i’m just not a a guitar kind of girl (i didn’t like the callouses, dammit).
live in the now
i live in the past. i horde my memories and relive them almost constantly. i’ve effectively managed to ruin any chance of a happy now because i’m continually comparing it to my memories of then. this is going to be my hardest resolution. i’m going to attempt to stop thinking “i wish i could have it like it was” and think “i’m going to make it the way i want it now”. it’s all about taking control of my life and not just riding along waiting for the next bump to displace me from my comfy spot.
appreciation
i want to appreciate all the things i have in my life and be grateful for them without always wanting more. this includes my work, my home, my family, my friends, my possessions, & myself. i will tell the people who are important to me that i care about them. i will treat myself and others with the respect they deserve.
the flip side of this resolution is not wasting precious energy on the people who don’t treat me with respect. i will not waste my time trying to play nice with inherently miserable people who can’t ever seem to say a nice word or see anything but the doom and gloom.
health
my biggest and scariest resolution for the new year is to suck it up, find some courage, and go to the doctor. i have some nagging health concerns which i have been trying to ignore for far too long because of the fear of seeing a physician and what they will tell me. i’ve managed to halfway convince myself i’m worried for no reason, but i’ve done my research and i don’t like what i’ve learned. i don’t want to describe my symptoms. i don’t want a lube & oil exam. i don’t want the doctor to look at me with disdain because i didn’t come in sooner. if i only keep one resolution this year, i hope it is this one.
there are a few other, small things i’d like to accomplish this year as well. like taking some sort of class, getting a new hobby, wrangling my debt into a manageable form, working harder at the tasks i don’t particularily like, getting my hair trimmed every three months, flossing, becoming a better email replier, cutting down on the cigarettes, etc.
like i said, i have resolutions! there’s a lot i want to amend and accomplish in the next three-hundred and some-odd days, but the last resolution i’m making for 2002 is to not beat myself up if i’m not 100% successful. when i stumble, i’m going to stop, pick myself back up and start over. no chastising, no self-recriminations, just dogged determination. if i can accomplish that, i’ll be more than pleased.
but today has been probably the best of all three-hundred and sixty-five.
work went like a breeze, including my lunchtime run to the liquor board store to buy champagne (well, okay, sparkling wine because i couldn’t justify the prices they wanted for real champagne). while there, i picked up this great gift package of jamaican rum to give to marion, the lady who sits in our guardhouse at work. i’ve been meaning to pick her up a bottle for the last four xmases and i finally got around to it. she was very pleased. i think i made her day.
to top it off, we got to leave at one-thirty and when i came home my bloo! hat & mrrf-boxers from cafepress were in my mailbox. and they turned out exceptionally well. it’s too bad the hat is a present for mark. i think i want to keep it! i heart cafepress!
now, i’m going to clean up my kitchen from last night’s cookie making, install a couple games and then wait until meghan gets off work so we can start our taco-fiesta!
happy new year, everyone!
it’s been a great weekend and the next two days are looking good, too (despite the whole working tomorrow thing)!
last night after spending far too long installing, removing, reinstalling, re-removing and installing drives, flashing the bios, installing windows 98se and all the stupid programs i use daily i managed to talk my friends into playing cards at 9:30. we even got dean up out of bed to play!
today, i spent too long wading through the crap i’ve accumulated on my existing drive while i listened to coronation street. meg phoned at 10 and suggested we go get breakfast after the boys were finished putting together hazel’s headboard, so i just kept drinking coffee and went back to putzing with the computer. the next thing i knew it was one o’clock and she hadn’t yet phoned. i was just about to succumb to my seriously empty stomach when she phoned to inform me the boys were almost done and we should go have lunch before dean & i went to lord of the rings.
we finally got to the cross at about two thirty or so. none of us had eaten all day so we basically inhaled our burgers with a minimum of conversation. i think cardboard would have tasted good to us by that time. after a quick round of cards (at which i kicked ass), we figured out what we’re going to do for supper tomorrow night (tacos — my suggestion) and dean & i headed down to park & tilford.
i knew as soon as i saw the parking lot that we were in for a fun time. *sigh* the place was a nuthouse. it took a good three circuits to find a spot and then it took dean three tries to get into the spot we found. next time i’m driving. i have seriously good parking karma. when we finally got to the ticket booth, the 4:30 showing was sold out, dammit. so, after a brief discussion, we settled on the 4:20 showing of the shipping news and i can’t tell you how glad i am that lotr was sold out.
it’s hard for any movie with kevin spacey in it to disappoint, but this film… so very good. it was dramatic, touching, starkly beautiful to behold and funny! so funny! it’s a great movie. you should see it. although, i will admit there’s a chance that if you’re not from canada or don’t have any knowledge of what life is like in newfoundland you may not get what makes the characters tick; but, even without that, i can’t imagine very many people not enjoying it.
so, after sitting through the entire credits discussing the film, dean & i took off to save-on to fetch taco fixings. while wandering around, i suddenly decided that i was going to bake snickerdoodles when i got home. after spending too much time deciding if i wanted to buy some ham to sate the strange ham-craving i’ve had for the last week, we got out of there and headed home. half-way there i remembered that i’d forgotton some stuff for both the cookies and the tacos, so we had to stop at safeway in lynn valley so i could fetch them. bloody good thing we did. i totally fucked up my list in an urge to get home and bake. poor dean. it’s a good thing he’s a patient fella. sweet too. he even helped me bring my bags in. let’s have a collective “aww”…
now i’m sitting here with a sink full of dishes, a fridge full of taco-stuff, a tin (and stomach) full of freshly baked snickerdoodles and i still have yet to put the chicken in the oven because i can’t let it sit in the fridge for another day without cooking it. my apartment smells heavenly and i’m in a damn fine mood to end the year. oh, and i seem to be a little babbly, to boot. i don’t even mind that i have to go to work tomorrow and it’s going to be seriously yucky!
this was an amusing read about marine biology as a career path. although, i have to disagree with this:
And chastity because, well, who’s going to date a marine biologist? The smell alone tends to dissuade a large proportion of the opposite sex.
i don’t know about that. the marine biologist i met on the plane to new york last year was pretty sexy. he smelled good, too.
i just “introduced” myself the the folks over at vancouver webloggers unite! as if you can’t tell from the name, it’s a blog for vancouverites. i’ve been lurking about there for a while, and finally got up the gumption to sign up and dive into the fray. it’s scary. i mean, these people could show up at my door and kick my ass if i piss them off. then again, they could show up at my door if they decide they like me.
geez, i’m not sure i know which is worse…
well, it’s in. i’ll regale you with the ups and downs of the operation later. i just wanted to allay any fears that i’d lost everything and wouldn’t ever return. *snort*
oh, and if i had your instant messenger name/address/nick, you better message me. i’ve lost all my contacts.
okay, i’m about to start the installation of my new drive. i don’t know why, but installing drives always freaks me out. mostly because i usually end up having to reinstall my operating system and i’m paranoid about losing information. actually, now that i think about it, there’s very little reason why i can’t install this new drive as secondary and then move all the crap from my 4gb to the 40gb and then reinstall on the 4gb… yeah, there is. it’s only two extra gig and i’m already at 1.5 with my apps. argh. then, how am i to partition my new drive? 4x10gb? 15+10+10+5? 20+10+10? then what if i want to reinstall linux? i miss the days when my 210mb seagate was a large drive.
anyway, if you don’t hear from me until monday, you know i fucked something up. cross your fingers for me, please.
“Rescue me… The human condition seems to be one of waiting to be rescued. Will it be you? Will it be today? Will the world open in splendent colour, spirit-blue, that aniline blue, ripe indigo or the tone of an unclouded sky? Say it will. Each other’s greatest fear. Each other’s only hope. I put out my hand and withdraw it at the same time. What are my chances of choosing well? We court each other in elaborate masks and ballgowns. I clothe myself in conversation, money, wit. Whatever will win you, I become. I disguise myself as your rescuer so that you will be mine.”
i miss anthony.
today is my friend’s birthday. i haven’t seen nor heard from this friend in almost ten years. i still consider him a friend, though. when i moved back to the city, i sent him a holiday card to the last address i had for him. in the card, i asked him to please contact me. he didn’t. i still wonder where he is or what he’s doing. is he living in hawaii like he always dreamed or does he still work at general paint?
the chances are slim, but if you know christopher malcolm rogers of vancouver, bc… let him know that hess wants to take him to white spot for a chicken pot pie. thanks.
i just re-read last december’s entries. i was much more interesting in 2000.
oddly, i’m not really scroogey (that is if you’re even allowed to be scroogey *after* xmas); but i just don’t feel like writing. not in any sort of detail, at least.
i’m home from mom’s and grateful for it. the longer i live away from home, the more i miss my own space when i’m away. i got good gifts and the gifts i gave went over very well. i had two turkey dinners and a turkey leftovers yesterday. if i start to gobble, please don’t shoot me.
i’m going to spend the weekend installing my new 40 gigabyte hard drive and all the programs which will go on it. oh, i’m also going to read. i have three books on my “must read” list right now. either that or i’m going to be spending far too much time up at meghan’s playing with their new ps2.
oh right.. it’s thursday, isn’t it? here you go:
“Rocky Racoon” by The Beatles
i wonder if heather knows the words to this yet…
okay… i’m going to my mom’s tonight. in case i don’t get a chance to get online before tuesday, i want to wish every one of you the best of the season (regardless of your seasony affiliations) and happy holidays.
it’s been a pleasure to get to know some of you and flattering to know that the rest of you come back day after day to share parts of my life. i wish i could give each of you a giddy, holiday hug. unfortunately, you’ll just have to make do with this…
you know i’m serious about making a good impression if i wear a skirt and/or jewelry. tonight i wore both. good thing i did, elaine is still as coiffed and beautiful as ever. i would have felt horrible showing up in jeans.