Tuesday, August 31, 2004

I'm back from my vacation in Calgary and Victoria. Battered and bruised, but back.

It'll take me about a thousand years to get through all my piles of email, so if you're waiting for a response, you might have to wait a little longer.

More details on the vacation to come...

Friday, August 20, 2004

1/2 an hour left before vacation!

As usual, I'm in a bit of a panic. Finished moving to the new place last night. Then started packing for the trip. I've said it before and I'll say it again: I am a horrible packer!

I suppose as long as I remember the bridesmaid dress and the shoes, I should be fine.

I am a tired bunny.
Let's go, 4pm!

Thursday, August 19, 2004

Forgot to set my alarm. Duh.
But still managed to get to work on time with luggage in tow.

Tonight I leave my keys with Old Roommate's Parents and take my last bundle of crap to the new place.

And then begin packing for my vacation.
And sleep in my own, comfy sweet bed. I can't wait.
Wednesday night beach volleyball update:
Two of our guys couldn't make it, which meant that we had equal number of guys and girls on the court. We also managed to lose a couple of games (at least, I think we lost 2). Although the guys were really quite frustrated (not used to losing, um, ever) I had a lot of fun. I actually got to touch the ball a lot more and got a lot more exercise out of it and I think I did better than I normally do.

It was hot and sweaty (well, that was only me, cause I'm just hot and sweaty in general) and then it downpoured. I love being out in the rain.

Tuesday, August 17, 2004

Three more sleeps until vacation!
Picked up my bridesmaid's dress last night. I tried it on to make sure the alterations were OK and it fits well and the seamstress was ooooohing and aaaaaahing over how lovely it is.

And then charged me $115 for the alterations!
~Shocked silence.~

I supposed I shouldn't be so surprised. Kat told me about one person who paid $300 to have their wedding dress altered. Still, that's a wedding dress. I had no idea getting my dress altered was going to cost that much. Shows how much I get stuff altered.

But at least it's done and I won't be scrambling at the last minute, in a panic the night before I have to leave (although that wouldn't be unusual for me).

And Sarah helped me move another car load of things to the new apartment. She absolutely loved how huge it is. I'm kind of excited about the new place!

Monday, August 16, 2004

I am reading a fantastic book : "My life is a wedgie" by Gretel Killeen.

Sure, it's meant for younger people, but so is Harry Potter. It's a guilty pleasure. Where else could I read such flagrant overuse of the words "bum" and "bored" and "snot"?

Those are my kind of books. Good for a giggle.
It's amazing what one can do in a weekend.

This was the thought I had on sunday morning when I discovered a plastic hollow penis in my purse when I went for a subway token. I tried to cover it up quickly before the old lady standing quietly next to me peeked in and looked at me disapprovingly.

No, I don't generally carry around plastic, surprisingly realistic male appendages in my bag. Saturday night was Katrina's stagette party.

It was an absolute RIOT!
I arrived at midnight, having been moving up until 10:30pm. All the other girls were three sheets to the wind. I was... well, not.

On our way to Vince Carter's bar, Kat walked across three lanes of traffic to talk to the cops on horse back and charm them into having her picture taken with them. Instead of saying "cheese" she shouts, her eyes at half-mast, a sloppy grin on her face: "I'm horny for big horse cock!" (Think of the google hits that's going to get me.)

She wore a life-saver-covered top with the words "Suck for a Buck" scrawled across the back. She complained (probably about 600 times) that she'd showed up in the cutest white outfit. "Cathy, honestly, it was so nice. And they made me change into this."

And then, of course, was the plastic "cup" she was made to drink from.
Which ended up in my purse. Of course.

I also managed to clean my new apartment with my new roommate, Jimmy, who warned that James is a bit messy. It's OK, James warned me that Jimmy is a bit of a goof. Jimmy also started to complain about how their old roommate, Tom, used to cook and make it smell in the apartment. (Shades of current roommate conflict. Panic.) "I don't cook," he says proudly. And then he said maybe I can help him with girl advice. This should be interesting.

I also went home to celebrate Matt's birthday. I got him a kick-ass quick-dry maroon zippered golf shirt (which of course he loved and looks good in). I got my belated birthday present from my mom : a Panasonic MP3 player! I'm so excited I might pee my pants!

Only 4 more sleeps until vacation.

Saturday, August 14, 2004

Check out photos from my "date" with old work buddies and Dave, Alex and Theresa last week.

Group at the Amsterdam
Me!
Me and Alex
How much spam can one person GET?!

I thought that Hotmail was bad. Don't get me wrong, Hotmail is bad. But now spammers have gotten hold of my address and are killing me. Fifty spams per day. At least. No wonder I end up deleting genuine emails to me. If I don't recognize the sender -- DELETE.

Thanks, I don't want Viagra. Guess what? I'm not going to open a "no subject" email from someone I don't recognize with an attachment. How retarded do they think I am? I'm not really interested in teen sluts, either. (Oh crap, that's going to get me some funky Google hits.) And I already HAVE a degree; I don't need to pay for a fake one. Nor do I need to refinance my non-existent house. But thanks for the offer. DELETE ALL.

(PS: Rachel, thanks for reading!)

Friday, August 13, 2004

Saw a preview of Sky Captain and The World of Tomorrow last night.

I LOVED it! It was so cute and different! Cheers to Jude Law!
Poor Matt. Got his car broken into again.

I think this is the third time in 3 years!

I'm going home tonight to help celebrate his birthday. Maybe I should get him a car alarm?

Wednesday, August 11, 2004

So I went to Winners since they're having their big summer sale. I was all excited. Show up... and it's crap. Go to Payless, buy shoes (thank for you cheap perfect shoes, Payless!, and for having a better selection than Winners, for goddessakes) go to another Winner's location and it's still crap.

Stupid Winners.

Also, I bought an overly expensive jean jacket at The Gap last weekend. And now I have to take it back. Sad. It's really nice. Good thing The Gap has such a wicked return policy.

Do you know that I could wash and wear that thing over and over for YEARS and they'd still take it back for a store credit? Amazing!

Tuesday, August 10, 2004

Day one of the returned roommate: cat either defecates or vomits on the floor.

No time to clean it up; gotta get to work. Hopefully this time it won't dry on the floor before it's cleaned up.

Monday, August 09, 2004

What a beautiful day outside. Warm, sunny, 28-degrees. And a really good book to read: A Woman's Path. Perfect.

The only unperfect thing: I have to be inside working today.

Saturday, August 07, 2004

I was just looking at my web traffic statistics and, as usual, I was really quite surprised.

My traffic has nearly tripled since I was in Australia! I just can't even BELIEVE that! I mean, I think I post less now and I would have thought that my posts weren't that exciting, given that I'm not travelling in what most of the people I know would consider an "exotic" locale.

I found out that, no surprise, most of my traffic is from the Toronto area. About half. But a significant portion of my site traffic is coming from the west coast (perhaps Calgary?) and Europe (or Africa, I suppose). No surprise on that one, since I met many people in Australia who are from Europe. I have a small following in Western Australia, but almost nothing in the rest of Australia. Gee, thanks David!

I also get the usual referrers from Sharon and Sarah and even from Emmilie. But then I get people looking for "Chinese pastry shops" and "amazing sex acts". Like, HOW did they get to MY site? I guess as long as I keep quoting crap like that, the people will keep coming back.

Of course, the NUMBER ONE referrer: cleavage. Whatever. Maybe I should make money off that -- make people pay 50-cents per view? Thank god for Google Images.
Dave is in town!

Thursday night we had dinner with Anita; I made my famous pizza.

Last night, we went for a drink with loads of people at the Amsterdam Brewery and then went to see "The Village". Cool movie. Although still not as good as "The Sixth Sense".

Of course, I was scared. I suck at suspenseful movies.

And today? Another cloudy, cold day in Toronto in a crappy summer. Seriously, in Sydney, 20-degrees was considered almost winter weather. But we plan on seeing more movies (just like old times!) and going to Chapters for a bit and maybe going to Taste of the Danforth.

Tomorrow, I'm moving! Finally. This time, I have keys, I have a schedule, and I have a booked elevator. Yay! I hate moving with a passion. But I have to do it at some stage. Or I'll end up like I was before I left for Australia: a panicked mess.

And WHAT am I doing up this early on a weekend?
7:30am my mind was awake thinking, maybe I should do some laundry before Dave wakes up. Maybe I should make bread. Maybe... maybe my mind could have SHUT THE HELL UP and let me get some sleep!

But no.
So here I am, the bread in the bread maker, the towels in the wash, my eyes heavy, talking to you.

I suck at sleeping.

Tuesday, August 03, 2004

Reading SARK's Make Your Creative Dreams Real and started to really think about my creative dreams.

Do you remember the dreams you had when you were 7 years old?
I wanted to be a singer. And a dancer. A figure skater. And an actress. Oooooh, did I want to be an actress. I wanted to perform so much I could SEE it!

I took drama class.
It was boring. I quit.

I took figure skating. And gymnastics. And ballet.
Quit. Quit. Quit.

SARK says it's OK to quit sometimes. I wonder if that many times qualifies as "sometimes"?
Day one of no roommate as I sit answering emails, listening to Beethoven and making fresh bread for dinner.

If only my stomach didn't feel like it was halfway up my throat.
And I think my head might actually feel better if I resort to old-style bloodletting. You know, they're bringing back the maggots for wound-healing. Who's to say that Phlebotomy was wrong?

...10 mins later...
You'd think I'd know by now.
Fresh bread with real butter can cure anything. Perhaps I should record my clinical trials and publish my manifesto.

SARK would be proud.
At moments like this, it seems that my life is one long migraine, consisting of days of suffering followed by days of lying in fear of the next one striking. Tiptoeing around, lest I should prematurely disturb it from its resting place at the base of my skull.