 |
free hosting image hosting hosting reseller online album e-shop famous people |  |
  |
||
|
free hosting image hosting hosting reseller online album e-shop famous people | |
|
||
ShinyHappy - Thoughts for June 1st - 15th
Archives / Search The Site / Friend Blogs
I'm a little concerned about Halo. O.K., more than a little. I've always known that eventually his health would get worse again if what the vet told me was true, and lately he's been throwing up more and more often. He's looking skinnier and is developing a baldish patch along his back too, which worries me. Sometimes he does seem to go through brief phases of barfiness, I guess, but his health has been so great since moving to Toronto that I've been relaxing a bit about him. We've been talking about taking him to the vet to get checked over, and it looks like that should happen fairly soon. I may have to start giving him subcutaneous fluids again, which frankly upsets me. Doing that always made him so nervous and unhappy that it often didn't seem worth it.
His health is also a big concern with regards to Luna, the cat that we may be adopting. I'm wondering what the vet will say regarding the food situation. I was hoping that Halo wouldn't need to be on a low-protein diet any more, but if he's not doing so well I don't imagine that will be the case. We'll have to wait and see, though. In the meantime, Halo is still very happy and snuggly and excessively purry. Not furry. Purry.
Since Dan and May had a family dinner to attend tonight our usual Tuesday night get-together was canceled. Andrew had been invited to go to a NDP gathering to watch the Leaders Debate on television where there would be food, refreshment and the fellowship of his fellow volunteers and party members. He'd been intending to stay home with me, but I called him at work and said he should go, as I knew it was something he'd enjoy. So he decided he would, meaning that I was home alone for the evening. I went out for a walk or two and got a sub, stuff like that. A while after nine o'clock Dan called to say that they were home already and still up for having some company. I waited to see if Andrew would call, but by 10:15 figured I'd just go ahead to Dan and May's on my own, leaving him a note telling him where I was.
So I got there, where Marcus was already hanging with them, and we got ready to watch an episode of Firefly. Andrew arrived just as it was starting and we had a lovely unexpected visit with our friends. Dan's brother John was there as well and nearly gave me a heart attack at the beginning of the visit. Dan, May, Marcus and I were all sitting in the living room talking when I saw a shadow in the hallway and heard footsteps. Knowing that everyone that is usually present (minus Andrew) was sitting in the room with me and I'd seen no one else come in the front door, I was stricken with the fear that some psycho had gotten in the back and was coming (not very stealthily) to kill us all. It turned out to be John, of course, who was very mild-mannered and seems not to be the serial-killer type. So far.
He did, however, have a hookah with him that he proudly displayed for us. He brought it back with him from Israel, along with a selection of tobaccos. It's really a very neat and ornamental item, so if he doesn't find the piece that he'd lost for it somewhere at Dan and May's, at least it looks good. Small comfort, I know, which is why I didn't tell him that.
Archives / Search The Site / Friend Blogs
06/14/04 Get some edumacation.
I'm a happy, happy girl. Why? Because finally, after months of longing, lusting, and lamenting, I have a Ketylo hairstick on its way to me. I am unimaginably happy about this. Since I'm not really into flowers and don't need any candy, Andrew consented to buy me the hairstick I wanted instead of buying me that other stuff to spoil me with. I ordered the Kingwood in medium. I can hardly, hardly wait to get it. Buying hairtoys is a very addictive hobby, my friends.
I had a fairly quiet day today. I was doing some dishes this evening when Rayna called and asked if I wanted to go out for coffee with her, which I was totally into. We didn't really get coffee, of course. We went to Dairy Queen and got delicious ice cream. I tried their new Praline Parfait, which isn't quite as good as a Pecan Mudslide but still incredibly yummy. The link features a lovely picture of it. The Pecan Mudslide has pretty much everything the Praline Parfait has, though, except with hot fudge and hot caramel instead of praline sauce, and a greater amount of pecans. So next time, I'll go with the tried and true. Hell, I'd eat one right now!
So ... Rayna and I chatted and had a good time, then she took me home in time for me to welcome Andrew in from his long day at work and volunteering at the NDP Candidate's HQ. We had a pretty late supper and just sort of hung out together quite pleasantly, but now he's in bed suffering from spasms in his neck and shoulder muscles. It came on suddenly and he seems to be in quite a bit of pain from it. I hope it's nothing too serious. We'll see if he can move his head in the morning.
While I was looking up the Dairy Queen link, I came across something that is a bit disturbing, so I must share it with you. It's a site that is devoted to pictures of urinals around the world, featuring these Dairy Queen Urinals in Port Charlotte, Florida. I wouldn't have linked to just plain old urinals, but this particular store has not just urinals, but something called 'She-inals'. Urinals made specifically for women. Upon looking at these pictures I concluded that I, like many other women, would not want to use these urinals with their communal funnel device. I was reminded, however, of a site that I saw a few years back all about teaching women how to pee standing up without the aid of any devices. So I did a little Googling and found the site, called A Woman's Guide on How to Pee Standing. It's a very clinical, matter-of-fact site that uses words like 'labia', so be warned if you're shy! Interestingly, the creators of the site have since developed a little device for women who didn't like the method, called the Travelmate. What a good idea.
I'm sure I'll now be accused of having a urine fetish or something by the particular members of the peanut gallery whose names I will not mention. It's worth it, however, to bring a little educational material into my weblog every now and again.
Archives / Search The Site / Friend Blogs
06/13/04 Kiss my peanut butter lips.
We are back home in Toronto and recovering from a wonderful time in St. Catharines. We didn't party excessively hard or anything, but really didn't get enough sleep in general. We had so many gameshows to watch, and Andrew and Jerome both had to expend a lot of energy teasing the holy heck out of me. Mostly about hair and my interest in it. Sigh.
We arrived in St. Catharines at around ten or so on Friday night. Andrew and I were both famished so Jerome took us to a nice pasta joint where we got gigantic helpings of pasta. The pasta is made fresh on the premises, but it turned out they don't use eggs in their pasta so Andrew didn't have to resort to rice pasta. The portions were so massive that we had to give up and take some home with us, so we're done with pasta for about six months now, I think. Ugh.
On Saturday we went and visited with Andrew's Nana and Grandpa Bill for a little bit before heading into Niagara On The Lake to watch the play. Nana fed us strawberries and cookies, and at one point stopped what she was saying, looked at me and said, "Oh my, you're so lovely!" This made me very happy, as I wasn't so sure last time when we first met that she was overly thrilled with my intentions toward her grandson. So since she seems to like me better this time, I'm a bit more relaxed. She also gave us a basket of strawberries to take home with us which also made me happy until I realized after we got home that I left them in Jerome's refrigerator. So now I am sad. I was looking forward to those strawberries. Eat them with a lot of sugar, O.K. Jerome?
Oh, Andrew did helpfully point out that while Nana is apparently pleased with my physical appearance, that still doesn't guarantee that she approves of my personality at all. What would I do without him?
The play was great. We went to see Pygmalion and even though it was a little different from other productions, it was well done and of course well acted. Jim Mezon was again excellent. He played Higgins and the character couldn't be further from the one he played in Copenhagen, but I was just as impressed with his abilities, if not more. I did notice that in this role he sprayed an awful lot more spittle than he did playing Werner Heisenberg. I don't think I saw a drop in Copenhagen, but as Higgins he said a lot of things angrily and loudly, and produced a fine spray. We were in row C, so I think we were just out of his range. No one else in the play really knocked my socks off or anything, but I thought all the actors were wonderful.
So on Saturday evening me, Andrew and Jerome went to Kelsey's for dinner, then headed to Port Dalhousie to wander around and look at boats. We did that for a while, taking a nice stroll along the ridiculously long pier. We didn't even walk all the way to the end. Probably because I made us sit on a bench for a while and admire the ducks and geese and the stunning sunset. We also made snide remarks about people and just generally enjoyed ourselves, I think. After this we walked back to the shops and visited the candy store that Jerome and I went to the last time I came down. Andrew bought a couple of boxes of chocolate cigarettes, and I got some Sour Punch candy and a really nifty, cool little Reese's Peanut Butter Cup lip gloss keychain. The lady behind the counter informed us that guys often buy this particular item for their girlfriends, but Andrew seems unimpressed with the flavour of it in general. I think he prefers me to apply it directly on his lips from mine, as he didn't appreciate me putting it on his lips with my finger. I think if it was called a lip balm he might not mind so much.
Anyhow, we had to leave this morning. I wasn't so organized, apparently, as I left a few items behind which Jerome now gets to enjoy (the aforementioned strawberries and some nasal cream concoction that Andrew's Nana gave him). At least I remembered my Hitchhiker's Guide book again this time. Phew. Now we're back home and glad to see our little Halo boy again. We're going on another trip in just a couple of weeks, though. It sometimes seem the excitement never ends.
I have a wonderful new addition to my collection of Friend Blogs. My very own big sister has decided to start keeping a blog of her own. Yay! So please make sure you read Alannah's Blog too. I'm just all kinds of happy because now I can make affectionately snotty comments in her blog, just like she does in mine. Thanks, La!
Archives / Search The Site / Friend Blogs
06/10/04 Does it look like my life is boring to you?
O.K., I know I live in Canada and all, but the weather is just freaky. It was cold today. Cold, I tell you. I was worried yesterday and the day before that I'd melt into a greasy puddle right here in my living room, and today I was worried that I'd catch the pneumonia. Needless to say, I didn't run the tricksy fan. I did keep the windows open out of sheer stubborness (or something), remembering how yesterday I would have given my firstborn for a cool breeze.
We'll see what tomorrow is like. We're driving to St. Catharines in the air conditioning challenged car, so if it's drippingly hot that should be right up Murphy's Law's alley.
Not much else to tell about today, really. I had an uneventful visit to the laundromat, then Andrew and I went to Subway for our dinner where the girl working put my sub together with no mishaps. I think it's going better now because I'm just not getting lettuce at all, giving her no opportunity to freak me out by piling a huge salad on there, and just not watching when she puts on the olives, giving myself no opportunity to be saddened by her stinginess. It was a very tasty sub, though, and if I want more olives I guess we have some here at home I can put on my sandwiches.
We're taking off tomorrow until Sunday, as I've mentioned. Jerome doesn't have to work this weekend so we get to spend even more quality time with him (hooray) than last time. I'm also looking forward to seeing Pygmalion, the play that Andrew's Nana has paid for us to see on Saturday. Jim Mezon is in this one, which I'm all kinds of excited about since seeing him in Copenhagen here in Toronto. Since we're going to be in Niagara On The Lake again I'm also hoping to perhaps buy another delicious gingercake like the one I had last time. We'll see what ends up happening ...
So, my weblog should be returning as of Sunday. Goodnight.
Archives / Search The Site / Friend Blogs
Man, today was even hotter than yesterday. Or so it seemed. Last night Andrew dug out the fan before he came to bed so we could get some air moving in the bedroom, hopefully making it more possible to sleep. It did seem to help, so today when I got up I set it in front of the open living room window. I felt pretty clever about that, although the apartment stayed really hot. I figured it was just that damn hot out that even the air from the fan was warm. Until sometime this evening when I realized that I had the fan sitting backwards and had been sucking apartment air through it and out the window all day.
Before you make an 'L' on your forehead with your fingers at me, please realize that it's not one of those rotating fans with a round, shiny head and a skinny base. It's a sort of rounded-square shaped deal on a wire stand, and the whole setup looks very similar front and back. If I'd been paying more attention I'd have figured it out, but I didn't. Ah, well. At least things should be a bit cooler tomorrow now that I'm in control of the situation.
The henna routine went well today, as usual. I got started on it later than I'd wanted to, though. The last few times I've tried to leave it on for at least five hours or more, but today I only lasted four hours. I'm not sure why. Probably just the heat. I was looking forward to having a nice, cool shower once it was ready to be washed out, and boy, did that feel good. With it being so hot and humid, though, even I'm a bit offended by the henna aroma left in my hair. I've also got pumpkin-scalp once again, but to minimize that have been wearing my hair mostly pulled back so I don't have an obnoxious line of orange running over the top of my head where my hair parts. I can't do much about my hairline, though, which is a little stained too.
I also have orange hands. I realized before I started that I didn't have any more rubber gloves around, so instead of putting the whole production off for yet another day I just went ahead and applied the henna with bare hands. It didn't stain that badly, really, and if you're not looking for it you wouldn't notice it, but it's almost like I got a suntan on my palms and the undersides of my fingers. I took the fact that it stained with such brief contact as a good sign that it would also stain my hair well. Unfortunately, I may have to trim my fingernails right down as they picked up the stain and look a little dingy, like I have smoker's fingers or something. Bleah.
Now, I'm going to link to something that I found a few years back. I'm sorry to have to do this to you, but it might be for your own good.
Archives / Search The Site / Friend Blogs
06/08/04 At least it's not too hot to type.
Blah. Hot weather. Me no likey. It's not killingly hot, just annoyingly. At my last job I had a strange relationship with summertime. The air conditioning there was kept cranked incredibly high during the hot months, apparently because of all the computers in the building and the necessity of keeping them cool. On days nearing 30 celsius we still brought sweaters and blankets to work and shivered like crazy. So my last three summers were spent in a cold workplace and fairly cool apartments (as I mostly lived in basements).
None of this keeps me from being sweaty and disgusting during the day here, of course, in our second-floor apartment that gets the morning sun. Andrew's aunt did say we could have their old air conditioner, so I'm really, really looking forward to that. A lot. In the meantime, here's hoping that maybe I'll sweat off a few pounds!
Tomorrow I'm finally going to henna my hair again. I've read, in my research on henna, that it's supposed to have a cooling effect when used on the head. I don't quite know how that's supposed to work seeing as how I have to apply heat to it to get it to leave a brighter colour, but I'll hope that it does. If the temperature is still unpleasantly warm tomorrow at least it might do the henna process some good, if nothing else.
Ooh, I also found a cool link online having to do with hair stuff when I was trying to find a good example of bun covers last week. Last Christmas I bought Skotia a really cool wire thing that you can make all kinds of neat patterns and shapes with, and I found a hairtoy that is based on the same principle! It's called The Tryx Hair Adornment and I'm totally fascinated by it. I don't know how 'hair friendly' it actually is, as it looks like the possibility of the places where the metal joins catching on hair could be quite high, but it's very unique and ornamental looking. There are some more weird and esoteric types of links on the same page, but don't be put off by it. Just enjoy the hairtoy!
I've been getting a little anxious about the whole feeding issue that will arise when and if Luna comes to live with us. I really wish she was the type of cat that could regulate her own eating, rather than being a little piggy that doesn't stop until either the bowl is empty or she pops. I looked up some information online and found this site fairly informative. I've always believed that it's much better for cats to have food available at all times and to let them eat when they need to, rather than making both of us slaves to a feeding schedule. This sentence especially makes sense to me: "If a cat is only fed a few times a day chances are he/she will be very hungry by the time he/she gets to eat and will eat more than he/she needs at the time." I want to have a chat with our vet and see what he thinks about the whole thing. Whatever happens, though, I think we'll work it out.
Archives / Search The Site / Friend Blogs
06/07/04 I did not chop my broccoli.
Wow. After five straight days of spending our nights out, it was nice to have a quiet evening at home! Andrew actually spent a few hours after work doing volunteer work for Norman Tobias, the local NDP candidate for our riding, but after doing that and some grocery shopping he came home and we've been able to spend some nice, harmonious time together. Ahhhh.
I made honey pepper chicken with rice and broccoli for supper and it turned out very well, if a bit overly spicy. Next time I'll cut the amount of hot sauce, I do believe. We haven't been eating chicken a lot in the last few months. I seemed to lose my taste for it or something for a while, but since May has been making such delicious chicken dishes lately I've been regaining my appreciation for it. I haven't attempted making her magic potatoes, though. I'm not quite there on the whole potato thing yet and will leave that in her capable hands. Anyhow, Andrew seemed to like my concoction well enough so it'll be a repeat recipe, for sure.
I went out this afternoon and picked up a 6-pack of Coke at the Bi-Best (the crappy store that I go to all the time) because Coke is dirt cheap there. I was buying it at the convenience store next door all the time out of sheer laziness for a dollar a can! Ouch. So this way I get more excercise, but also more Coke. Hrm. However, on my way there I walked past a gorgeous big yellow labrador tied to a post. It was pretty hot out today and he was panting like crazy. I smiled at him (because I always smile at dogs) and went on walking, but a woman walking near me said, out of the blue, "Isn't it awful that some people leave their dogs tied up outside on a hot day like today in the sun?"
I agreed with her, surprised because except for the weird men on Vaughan and people asking for money, in my experience people don't usually make conversation out of the blue in Toronto. I figured that was the end of it, but instead she just kept ranting and talking non-stop all the way to Bi-Best with me about horrible dog owners. She said that it would serve them right if they were tied up to posts in the hot sunlight wearing fur coats, which I thought was a great mental image. In my mental image, however, they were only wearing fur coats. Make of that what you will!
I had to take my leave of her at Bi-Best and will never know if she was merely friendly, or perhaps a bit kookily friendly. I mean, she was very concerned for the well-being of the dog, but wanted to put fur coats on the negligent owners. PETA might have a problem with that.
Andrew and I were slightly concerned about our trip to St. Catharine's this coming weekend. Money is a little tight and he likely won't be able to get the Sunday off, which complicated matters a bit. Thankfully, Andrew's dad is going to loan us his car for the weekend, making everything much, much easier! This way we can travel together, we won't have to depend on anyone else to shuttle us around NOTL, and I'll get to travel in more comfort than a bus affords. I quite like taking the train, but busses are crap, no matter what. There's something about the seats that always makes me feel like my innards are getting compacted together in a very unpleasant manner. I'm looking forward to seeing Jerome again, too, of course! I may get to watch even more Match Game while we're there, which Jerome and I did last time.
Archives / Search The Site / Friend Blogs
06/06/04 9 1/2 Hour Party Person!
Last night I was just too out of it to write an entry. We got home really, really late and I was just not in a mood at all for weblog writing. It doesn't happen often, but I hadn't had a great day, all told, and wasn't in the right headspace for it. We'd had a good night at Dan and May's, however, so the latter part of the day was nice. We had a wonderful dinner of May's incredible chicken and potatoes with Dan, May, Colin, Jen and Hilary, then watched a movie called Iron Monkey and it was really very enjoyable. I like martial arts movies, and this one had some great fight scenes. It was a precursor to Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and you can see that in it very clearly.
Today was Dan and May's big party celebrating their fifth anniversary and Noah's first birthday. Rayna picked me up at around two and we grabbed a bite to eat before heading over to their place, and I was there until midnight tonight! I don't think I've ever spent that long in their house before. I had a great time, though. Most of the afternoon was spent schmoozing with the first wave of party people, then in the evening after Andrew arrived it was time for the second wave. It was great fun. I got to see a lot of people that I like but don't get to see on a regular basis, and got to meet and talk with a few people that I'd never met before. There was also a bonanza of food and drink laid out.
A nice part of the day was taking a bit of quiet time to sit in the backyard with Colin and Jen on a blanket and enjoy the beautiful afternoon. I'd never realized before what a great big lovely backyard Dan and May have, since I moved here last October and we'd never had occasion to spend time back there. Plus, I was mostly over at night time when it was too dark to see it. We lounged and chatted about various things, including wedding cakes and wintertime camping (an idea with which neither Colin nor I is thrilled). I saw a cardinal, too, which was nice.
So really that was the great majority of the day. It was really good fun and I'm happy to have spent the day in such a pleasant way. Excitingly, Jen and I have agreed to take yoga classes together when I get all moved to Ottawa. That's something I've always wanted to do, so hopefully we'll keep it in mind.
I forgot to mention the other night that we saw Tom (Luna the cat's owner) at the Retrocity show, as he is a member of Retrocity. Apparently it seems very much as if they'll definitely need to find a home for Luna, so within a few weeks we could be adding another kitty to our home. He and Gillian are getting married next weekend, so it'll have to wait until after their honeymoon and everything, but knowing that the possibility is likely is a good thing. We'll have to adjust Halo's eating schedule. Right now he just eats when he's hungry from a big bowl of dry cat food that we keep out for him, but since Luna apparently doesn't self-regulate her eating we won't be able to do that. So we'll have to see if Halo can adjust to that kind of food schedule. Andrew says, rightly, that we have to be fair to Halo. He's turned out to be a very, very good cat owner!
Archives / Search The Site / Friend Blogs
06/04/04 A lovely night of friends and music.
You know, I very nearly didn't write my weblog tonight. I was sitting here telling Andrew that I was really tired and was considering not doing it, but I am. I had a great night, and want to write about it some.
Tonight was the concert at The Arts and Letters Club where friends of ours were performing in various groups. First we heard Barkworth Green, made up of the fantastic trio of Colin, Dan, and May. They rocked! I'd never heard them singing as a group together, and it just blew me away. May is very, very quiet about the amazing talent that she posesses, and when she starts to sing, you realize why she doesn't need to brag at all. Once you've heard her, you won't forget it. That, of course, is not to say that Dan and Colin aren't incredibly talented as well. The three of them sing these amazing harmonies and just seem to do it effortlessly. I really hope I get many more opportunities to hear them. Also enjoyable was Colin trying to make the pitch pipe work, rather unsuccessfully.
Second up were BHEM, which is funny because that's not really their name. They don't have one yet, but since Bea, Hisani, Erin and May make up the group, they used their initials. When they were introduced the emcee pronounced it 'Bahem'. This was their debut performance and they'd apparently only had about four practices, but I have to say that you couldn't tell. To my ears they sounded like they'd been singing together for years, which I suppose they have been at different times in different ways. I thoroughly enjoyed them, and May's solo brought tears to my eyes. She sang Ten Thousand Miles, and it was absolutely beautiful.
Then Retrocity came on and rocked the house with their incredible a capella performances of eighties tunes. They started out with Bohemian Rhapsody and it was their best song of the night, even though the rest was of course very enjoyable. Interestingly toward the end of their set the unmistakable aroma of weed (ganja, reefer, mary jane, pot, what-have-you) started to waft around the room and it was interesting to see everyone start to perk up and crane their heads around a bit, wondering where the source was. It got to the point where one of the singers even asked between songs if anyone could smell someone smoking up. Toronto just went smoke-free the other day, so what up?
It all ended at around midnight. Eventually we went out for pizza with Dan, May, Colin, Jen, Marcus and Hilary and sat around gabbing it up for a while, then got on the subway and headed home. It's very late and I'm tired, but what a good time!
Archives / Search The Site / Friend Blogs
06/03/04 Don't worry, I'll cover my buns.
I've been making an effort to get out and go for a bit of a walk in the afternoons lately after I've done what I need to do in my daily job-hunt. Today I went out to do a tiny bit of shopping and decided to visit a cheapo store nearby as they had cold cans of Coke for less than the store next door. While I was in there I (of course) looked at the hair toys. Usually they just have cheap craptastic stuff, but every now and again there's something new and cool and today they had bun covers for one dollar each! I'd been thinking about getting bun covers for a while, and there they were. I bought two, a black one and a blue one, but I'm going to go back soon and get a brown one and a chenille one too, since they're so cheap.
Yeah, I know that's probably not exciting in the least to anyone but me, but it sure did make me happy! For those that don't know what a bun cover is, this is the general idea. That's from a website called Lady MacSnood. I'm not so sure that I'm a snood fan, but I wanted bun covers for wearing at night. And frankly, I think that the bun covers I bought today look nice because they're dark and blend in with my hair more than say, white or metallic.
Tonight Andrew and I went out for sushi with some friends who recently had a baby girl. She's about six weeks old now and is very, very cute. I realized that one thing that I do is check to see if babies have nice ears, and she does. I mean, babies are cute enough that even with something resembling elephant ears they'll still look adorable, but then you have to think about the future and what it'll be like for them. Ears are important. Noses are too, yes, but she also appears to be blessed with an attractive nose so I think we don't need to worry too much about her in that regard.
The sushi was great. Well, I didn't get sushi. I never do. I always get beef teriyaki. When we order sushi in at Dan and May's I usually get the beef teriyaki bento box, but at this place the bento box came with a bunch of stuff I wasn't going to eat, like seaweed salad and salmon rolls. Not Keltie friendly. So I went with the beef teriyaki Set Dinner, which came with rice and salad and ice cream. It was really good except that I forgot to ask for no dressing and it came with 1000 Islands dressing. The best part was the ice cream, though. There were three flavour choices: Green Tea, Red Bean, and Mango. I don't like mangos, and as if I'm going to eat Red Bean (like Andrew did). Obviously I went with the Green Tea. It was fantastic! Frankly, it didn't taste too much like green tea, but it was a gorgeous green colour and very, very creamy. Next time we go to Greg's I'm going to try the Green Tea ice cream there. Well, after I try the Roasted Marshmallow. So many decisions!
I'm looking forward to tomorrow night. We're going to a Retrocity show, but Barkworth Green is opening for them and I'm more excited about that, truth to tell. Why? Because Barkworth Green is made up of none other than my dear friends Colin, May and Dan! Woo hoo! Apparently they can sing all flavours of wonderful songs and I'm so looking forward to hearing them 'for real'. The review is pending!
Archives / Search The Site / Friend Blogs
06/02/04 Free me from the freesia, please. Or: This Lamb gives nightmares.
The phone rang today. I answered it to hear, "Hello, Keltie? This is Wren calling from Pursue Personnel. Remember that Queen's study that we had you marked down for? Well, they've finally decided to do it!"
Cue Hallelujah Chorus, cue fireworks, cue my hopes rising like a tidal wave. "Really? That's great! When does it start?"
"Well, the dates are June 11th to July 18th. Are you available?"
"Am I available? Yes, I'm available!
Of course I'm available. I've been available since you told me about the thing, I got all excited about it, waited for weeks for the job to start, wondered for a few more where the job had gone, then resigned myself to the fact that it would not happen. And since hiring me for jobs seems like the unfashionable thing to do in Toronto, I'm available.
"Well, that's wonderful, Keltie. So you can do the job?"
"Yes, I can do the job!"
"Great. Oh, one more question: Do you have a car?"
Cue instant tension. "Um ... no, I don't have a car."
"Then you can't do the job."
Cue my hopes dashing against the jagged rocks of unemployment. I say nothing.
"See, one of the new things about the study is that the people doing it have to provide their own transportation, and some places are inaccessible from TTC. But I'll keep you in mind for other things! Have a great day."
So, it appears I won't be doing the Queen's study after all.
Anyhow, that's that and I'm not really able to do anything about it. Colin and Jen had some comforting words for me tonight regarding my consistent state of unemployment, and it's nice to know that not everyone sees me as an unemployed bum. Oh, yeah! Colin and Jen are in town. What a treat. Jen wasn't going to come in tonight with Colin, but her plans changed and she was able to, so we met up with them at C'est What after they got off their train. We had a great time (well, I did and everyone else appeared to) eating food and drinking drinks. On our way back to the subway station afterward Colin took some pictures of the most disturbingly bizarre billboard I've ever seen. Hopefully he'll put it in his weblog next time he updates so I can link to it, but if he doesn't I'll beg a copy of it from him to show here. The slogan was, "This Lamb sells condos," and the picture was of a grinning bald man's head photoshopped onto a sheep's body, standing around with some normal-headed sheep. Ugh. The stuff that nightmares are made of.
Now it is time for talk of conditioner. I do hope that Jerome is reading closely, because it is not only a story of my hair and the conditioner I applied to it, but also of my feather-brainedness. I've been talking on and on and on about Free Me Freesia conditioner, but what I really meant was Jasmine. See, I'd sniffed the Jasmine at the store and made a mental note to buy some in the future, but for some reason my brain latched onto the phrase 'Free Me Freesia' after reading it once, and couldn't let go. So when I did go to pick up the Alberto Balsam Jasmine conditioner, I instead picked up the Alberto Balsam Free Me Freesia conditioner. Don't ask me why, I do not know. So when I went to do a conditioner wash today I started gooping on the conditioner, only to be nearly blown out the window by the obnoxious aroma of a hundred million freesia flowers concentrated down into 444 ml of thick liquid. I was assaulted by the scent of this stuff from the time it touched my scalp until well after my shower, as it lingered quite strongly while my hair was drying.
However, the results hair-wise were not too shabby, which I did not expect as it isn't really the right kind of conditioner for conditioner only washing. I'm still determined to get the Jasmine, though. Don't think I'm not.
Archives / Search The Site / Friend Blogs
06/01/04 Happy Anniversary, Dan and May!
The beginning of a new month. Lovely. Today was extra-special, as it was Dan and May's fifth anniversary! Hooray! They're having an anniversary/Noah's-first-birthday party on Sunday so I'm greatly looking forward to that. If you refer to this rather bizarre page you will see that the fifth wedding anniversary is traditionally the wood anniversary, but in our modern days we can also give silverware. I find that page bizarre because it goes up to the 100th anniversary, which begs the question: Has anyone on earth ever reached their 100th wedding anniversary? So, I'm thinking that I'll fish out a spoon that we don't use, tie a nice ribbon around it, and ... wait a second ... Sometimes they read my weblog. Never mind. Doo dee doo.
We spent some quality time with them tonight, however, and Andrew and I went out on a mission to get a Baskin Robbin's cake (I don't precisely remember the flavour, but I do know it involved mocha) for them, and Andrew had the woman who took care of us write the following upon it: Dan and May, 5 Years. This was a nice little thing to have on their cake, and all was well. Until the time came to bring out the cake and cut it up, at which point Dan went to retrieve it. Upon his return he informed us that in the intervening time he'd had a little accident and dropped the cake on the floor. Wrong side down. So after this, the cake read: Dan and May, 5 ears.
In getting ahead of myself I have not yet mentioned my odd bus ride to their place. Andrew called me from work to say that Dan had met him there. We worked out that he'd call when they were leaving and that I'd go catch the next Bathurst bus to arrive at the St. Clair stop, which they would presumably also be on having caught it down at Dupont. I caught that bus, and upon getting on it didn't see them anywhere. It was raining out pretty heavily at this time and I wondered why all the aisle seats were empty and everyone was either sitting in a window seat or standing, but I soon saw that there were leaks coming in through the roof all along the bars and dripping like crazy on the aisle seats. One stubborn man stayed in his seat and threw a sweater over his head, getting completely soaked through, but he stuck it out until his stop. The bus was uncomfortably crowded as a result of all this, and for someone like me with a rather large bubble of personal space it was annoying. I suffered through, of course, and got off the bus at Dan and May's street without having been stepped on or having intruded upon anyone else. I hope.
It was still raining like stink and I'd made the unwise decision to wear sandals, so by the time I got to their door I was very wetfooted and displeased with the whole venture. I'd hoped that they'd somehow caught a bus before me, but there was nobody at the house yet and so I sat on the front step to wait for them. After a while they arrived, in Dan and May's car! I was a little miffed about that until I learned that the bus, instead of stopping to get them at the bus stop like buses are supposed to do at bus stops, just blew right by them, leaving the poor souls standing there to wait for the next one. So, I forgave them. Oh, and May had called them after I'd already left home to tell them that she'd pick them up at the end of the street near the bus stop when they got off, so I also couldn't be mad about that. The night just got better and better after that, so all was well.
And in closing, I must report for Jerome's sake that I have not yet tried out my new Free Me Freesia conditioner, but plan to tomorrow. The update will ensue!
Home
