whooo whooooooot!

whew my stomach is growling! (in you belly!) i've been pretty busy at work this week, doing random things here and there. nothing that i was really hired to do, but that doesn't seem to matter.

baseball - i don't want to talk about it. i had the worst game of the season two nights ago and i don't know what's going to happen tonight. i guess i'll tell you later.

party: this saturday night, in celebration of my one yearaversary (i've shortened the saying). it's a byob with the possibility of door prizes. i'm hoping enough people can come and that everyone has fun. it's really just an excuse to have people over and to take full advantage of my weekends now that i'm working. oh weekends.

i've gone to the gym three times in the past 4 or 5 days (okay, maybe even 6 days). i had a step class last night with a crazy asian guy. this guy can move! i've had him once before but that was for a bodyflow class which is a mixture of tai chi, yoga and pilates. a much different atmosphere than step. and i've decided that he's crazy and guys shouldn't be able to move like that. the other times i went to the gym i ran a bit and biked a bit and did abs and arms. i want to get my stamina up on the bike so i can do the rpm (spinning) class. jon loves the spinning class. i can't do it (well i did once but it hurt my knees, and the second time i only lasted about 15 minutes - ouch!) so i'm going to work my way up to a whole hour. why was biking so much easier when i was young? what happened? oh, right, beer happened.

turn your back away

canada day. came and went. good times, sexy times were had by all, except maybe one guy who was shooting the worst game possible. there were definitely some highlights from the night, and poor matt, who wasn't there, had to hear all about them multiple times as more and more people showed up last night. here's the condensed story: vik had a bbq at his house. there were some sorority girls there, most notably the one with entirely not enough clothing on (very very low-cut tank top and very very short skirt). some good memories: vik pushing arlen into sarah with everyone hitting the ground except vik and dave trying to open a beer some way and managing to punch himself in the chin enough to make himself bleed. after that we went to janderson's house. memories from there: all the drunked naked boys with no shame, arlen's good game, and vlatko dialing seven-three-seven-eleven-nineteen for pizza pizza.

that brings us to yesterday. yesterday i slept in and went to the gym and lay outside in the backyard and finished my french book. i was going to scrapbook but scrapped that (pun intended) when i ran out of time. we went to janderson's for dinner (holy spicy!) and poker (poker? i didn't even know her!). it was my first for-real poker with money, and only my second time playing. needless to say i was out first, but jon won it all so we didn't lose our $20, but made $20. that's the royal we obviously. i have much to learn about playing poker.

now today. i have lots of things i want to do and i probably won't get to all of them, but i'm not worried. worrying's for suckers.

there can only be one

we won our ball game last night. i don't know what the score was but we have runs (multiple runs) and they had none. so there! that team was above us in the standings too. good stuff.

i got the third, fourth and fifth harry potter books to listen to on kevin (my iPod mini for those of you not in the know.. or who just can't remember my crazy names for everything) and i started the prisoner of azkaban this morning. the first two chapters were already so much better than the movie, which we rented (for free from goodlife) a while ago.

speaking of goodlife, jon had rented the village and forgotten to bring it back so i dropped it off on my way to kelsey's last night. it was 2 and a half hours late but they waved the $5 late fee. sweet deal. though i do owe 50 cents on a library book that i forgot to renew. at least it's under a dollar. but i'm keeping my french up using the library so i really can't complain.

yesterday, remember? i had all that work to do. well i scrambled around all morning trying to get everything done and i fired off the last of my summary reports and then was reminded that i had a meeting to attend. half way through the meeting i had to make a bolt for the bathroom cause i thought i was going to throw up. thankfully i didn't but i felt like ass for the rest of the day. i stuck it out and got the rest of my work done and was feeling fine in time for my game.

after the game a lot of us went to kelsey's. now, i really appreciate them sponsoring us, but i have to say that the service there was just awful. the food was good though. i recommend the club house wrap, but make sure your waitress isn't a bimbo and brings you a fork for your salad. good thing our table of 7 got 2 forks.

i read dose for the first time two days ago. even though all the stories are short and to the point, i still end up skipping some of them. i just don't care. that's the extent of my attention and that's really sad.

i will leave you with this: go online and find a game of soduko. i made it easy so just click on the link. holy it's addictive.

party!

last night was nice. we had one of our last S&B's. we're down to three members and probably will keep getting together but our rock, m, is leaving on her trip tomorrow. so we went out for DQ and i have to say that my slushie (arctic rush or whatever it was called) was so sweet that it was kinda sick. apparently i'm not a kid anymore. but the night was fun. i got home much much later than i was expecting, but it was worth it.

in other news, i got new sliding shorts. these are padded spandex shorts that we wear under our ball shorts. my old pair had a really annoying tag that i ripped out years ago and they finally unraveled enough so that my bum was hanging out. we all had a good laugh about that and now i have a new pair. the nice thing about getting new sliding shorts is that they're really white. i'll look sharp!

i got the word yesterday: my grandparents are moving back to holland. those two are moving machines! i was kinda hoping they would just give their house in manotick to my parents but i doubt that's going to happen. so they'll pack up and ship everything back over the ocean in a couple of weeks and come back in a couple of months. thinking back, i think i called june for their departure month, but i'm not positive. my friends seem to remember this though. so maybe i was right.

i need more shirts for work. the bad thing about bussing is that you have to sit there and sweat with tons of people around but then you have to get up and walk home. gross. i need shirts that mask the sweat. today i'm wearing my blue long-sleeved running shirt. every day is casual friday!

okay, i really have a ton of work to do. apparently when i get dumped on i get dumped on good. i was given tons of stuff yesterday, all for today. can i do it? i'll have to stop posting and get to it!

i'm glad

i'm glad i didn't post yesterday from work. i was a little pissed off about the bussing situation. but now that i'm calm (it's a new day afterall and i got 3 air conditioned busses in my last 5!) i won't be going on a rant at all.

instead i will tell you about my ball game last night. we were playing a really shitty team that we've managed to lose to once before and we were up 4-0 and managed to tie 5-5. our coach was pretty mad.. and frustrated.. and whatever else. fair. i'm not mad or frustrated though. i mean, we could have lost, AGAIN, to that stupid team. and besides, i batted .750 and made no errors. i can't complain.

and we found out last night that we are going into a tournament in mid-july. that's lots of warning. i would rather know about tournaments well in advance. maybe that's just me (uh oh is this a rant starting?).

so we're in the process of trying to figure out this family thing in august but i'm pretty busy at work and don't want to ask my boss about time off. i'm only a little contractor you know. i'm going to have to suck it up.

and last but not least, i'm proud to introduce sylvia and her blog. hopefully she keeps writing in english so that i can follow. either that or i'll have to learn dutch (not a bad thing).

i'm off to see the wizard....

the weekend

friday night i went out and saw some friends that i hadn't seen in a long time, even though they are usually my go-to friends. we went downtown and walked a lot and ate food. i just now finished my pizza.

saturday morning i was up (and i realized why i can't sleep in - the sun comes in the window and on the bed exactly where i lie so it's way too hot) and i went to the gym for a step class. they changed the schedule for the group classes and now don't have the yoga/pilates/tai chi class after the step class so boo to that. but it felt really nice to get back at it. the backs of my legs are a little sore. so after that and after a couple more hours we went off to my family cottage party. that was a lot of fun and i actually found myself in the lake at one point. i got to try out my new bikinis. i definitely like them.

today was a sleeping day strange enough. i was up super early again and stayed up for a while. i had a shower and lay outside in the backyard reading for a while but then i came inside and slept for another 4 hours. i couldn't believe it. so i'm awake now and i've eaten and am about ready for ball practice.

i have to say that i think i made the best out of my first real weekend (ie. i'm working during the week and can't do whatever i want then).

working and running

i decided that i'm going to go another race at the end of the summer. i'm looking to do a 10K and i'm looking into doing a prep clinic at the running room, but it has already started so we'll see.

wow, i've been sneezing up a storm today because i forgot to take my reactine this morning. BIG mistake. damn allergies.

so i'm just about done my first week of work. having this friday and next friday off is a nice way to start off a new contract. plus we have a bbq this afternoon and all of my work is done so i can go and feel good about things.

i don't know what this weekend holds for me. but i'm hoping to scrapbook friday night, definitely going to a family cottage party this weekend, and sunday is baseball practice. i would really like to fill that up more though. now that weekends are precious. oh weekends.

and now that i'm being paid i can go and spend more money.. that's how it works, right? it does actually work that way for the most part. the more money you have the more money you spend. and along the same lines: the more people you know the more people you know who die. a somber thought for a friday [technically thursday] afternoon.

chow!

workin girl

i'm posting from work. i think this might become a trend since i'm on the computer all the time here and not so much from home anymore. i'm getting to know all the acronyms (and believe me, there are many) and the people. i even bussed in today. kevin is back in my hands (my mini iPod). i didn't need him much when i was home all the time. and jon just got one of his own for graduation from his parents. we were joking that they got him a barbeque because that's what his sister got for her grad so i want to call his iPod barbeque. he doesn't seem to like this idea. i'm vetoeing (is there an 'e' in that word?) him. kevin and barbeque.

so baseball. we actually won last night. it was a fun game. i don't think i've ever laughed that much at a game. one of the other outfielders went to tell us that one of their players usually pulls the ball but she said 'porks' instead. you should have heard us laughing over that. it was nice to have fun and to win. one of the girls took a ball in the mouth though. no broken teeth but her lip is hugely swollen. she's still cute though. there's also some drama going on with the team and a guy who was kinda coaching.

hmm, i don't really have much else to say. i want to get back into going to the gym and now that i don't have french two nights a week i think i can handle getting there at least those days. i guess we will see.

baseball blues

i'm home from frankford now and i'm sorry to report that we lost 4/5 games, but am happy to report that i played well. lots of good times were had.

i am very very glad to be home. i start work tomorrow for real. they sorted out my contract and i officially start a 13-week contract tomorrow. i think it's going to be a long day. at least i have no more french classes for the rest of the summer and only one baseball game this week. not too shabby!

canada day plans anyone?

explaining

okay, so i'm done day two of work. i've been doing lots and lots of reading and i know more what the group i'm in does but i'm still not sure what i'll be doing. i do know that it's a 6-month contract and i will be doing two separate jobs, one in the first 3 months and the other in the last three months. i'm with the same agency as before and am getting the same pay as before so i'm happy. i still have to figure out transportation, either parking or bus stuff.

i'm still sick, but think i'm getting better. i've been taking lots of drugs (tylenol daytime/nighttime works wonders).

jon's grad was tuesday. it was fun. i stood up and made a fool of myself.. really could have used my brother and his yelling skills. that should be the last grad we have to go to in a long time. good thing, they're pretty boring.

jon's parents both left yesterday so we're back to normal in the house. i think the cats miss me though now that i'm working. they were spoiled and have always had at least one of us home all the time. but making money is more important.

new job and new cold

so i had my interview and was actually called back and offered the position before i left the building. i was talking. so i start tomorrow. this is rather quick turnaround. i'm sick so i'm really not sure how my body's going to handle going to work for three days and then to belleville for a tournament. i guess we'll see.

i'll report more later. now it's bedtime.

the in-laws

the in-laws are coming to town tomorrow so some major cleaning must be done today. i'm all decked out for the job. i got home from practice (lots of sweating cause it's so damn muggy out) and threw on my running shoes and here i am. but i won't bore you with anymore cleaning details.

my interview yesterday got postponed until monday. something came up. shit happens. i'm not worried though. it'll happen. i might not get the position but i will get a job eventually. 1-800-subway? do you have a job for me?

one of the worst things about getting up early in the morning is how hungry i am and how i can't go back to sleep until i've showered and eaten. but both are being delayed due to cleaning. why can't i be martha stewart.. in the she-probably-has-a-very-clean-house kinda way. i wouldn't want whatever she has stuck up her ass up mine. no way. my ass is free from foreign objects, especially butter beans (see the monkey for that one!).

i have a question for all you commenters: what is your take on air conditioning? do you like it, need it, despise it...? i want to know.

how do you sell a knife with no knife?

so my fishy job interview. i have a link to the post so you can see for yourself what i so foolishly got myself into. it's a company that does marketing for other companies. doesn't sound terrible. but what i realized during the interview was that it was like the pyramid scheme that is vector marketing (aka knife selling the summer after first year university) so you get paid commission and the higher up guys get a huge cut from every customer you bring on for the company's customer. still with me?

AND they asked me back for a second interview.
"how does tomorrow sound?"
me: yeah, i could do tomorrow.
"how about 9:15am - 6pm?" [with a straight face]
me: what? [pause] i can't stay until 6pm. i have class.
"that's okay. we only say 6pm to cover the whole day. there's testing at the end that we can squeeze in before, say, 5:15?"
me: what?

and on and on it went. i agreed to come in. on the way home i realized that this day was basically a non-paid training for a shit job that i already decided i didn't want. so i called and said i couldn't make it.

and then i hear back from a contact about an actual job opening with environment canada and i call the woman i was told to contact and i have an interview tomorrow morning. hopefully it works out and i won't feel bad anymore about not making money. i'm even becoming a crappy housewife and flooding the basement. who does that? this girl.

crazy? i think so

so i have an interview in the morning. i applied for a position posted on monster.ca and i went to find out more about the company and can't really. they don't have a website and it seems like there are tons and tons of postings, all the same, from tons and tons of different companies. this is getting fishy. so i really don't know what to expect but i'm guessing it won't be a good job for me.

i also got a call yesterday from this guy who wants to sell me life insurance. i keep telling him no because i don't have a job. so he asks if i've ever considered being a financial planner. i definitely have not i tell him. so he gives my name to some manager guy who calls me and asks me to fill out a questionnaire online. i do it and he calls me saying i wouldn't be happy as a financial planner. i could have told you that, buddy. but don't listen to me. listen to your questionnaire. right.

oh, one more thing about jobs, i was looking on the jobs.gc.ca website and saw a position posted from my old group (where i spent 5 months). so i applied but then realized that they probably wrote the competition for the guy who's still there (8 months and counting!). so i emailed him to ask him if the position was for him. i'm sure he'll give me a straight answer. this is a no-bullshit kind of guy.

i'm glad french is almost done. we have one more class this week and then only one next week since the last class is always dinner out. then i'm taking a break. i've been doing this for the past siz months. it's time for a break. i have my books though, so i'll be working on my french at home. when the timing's right.

i'm done.

peterborough done

we went to peterborough and yelled and screamed at my brother's grad. it was outside (wish we'd known that beforehand) and really really hot and sunny. we stayed in a little motel where jon was afraid to have his feet touch the ground. but it was cheap.

on the way home we went to the reptile zoo. something i've been wanting to do for the last 4 years. it did not disappoint. there were tons of snakes and lizards and some turtles, tortoises and even an alligator and a crocodile! it was worth the stop. we took pictures.

i went scrapbooking friday night with julie. i started working on my travel book and am finding it harder than the chronological book. and i found out about scrapbooking stuff on ebay. bad news. i bid on a bunch of things.

today we went and looked at a house. it was only a block or two from here and is the same model only sideways. it was really nice though, and most likely out of our price-range, but i was really curious to see what the sideways model looked like. and now we have an idea of what this place will go for. but thinking about houses makes me a little down, since houses equal mortgages equals money equals i don't have a job. so the push is on. i have until the end of the summer to find a job and start making money. i'm going to try and get myself in somewhere on a volunteer basis so i can get a position in september. i think that's the way to go.

peterborough!

we're heading out to peterborough this afternoon for my brother's grad tomorrow morning. must remember to put the garbage out before we leave.

i'm trying to figure out rogers/yahoo pictures and as soon as i do i'll have online albums for you all to see. i'll keep you posted.

speaking of exciting...

i got my name in the paper! click here and do a ctrl F for my name. looks like i came in the first quarter of all the women and the first half of my group (women 20-24). it's weird how they place you according to the gun time (your absolute time - the time it took for you to get to the start line and then to the finish line) and not the time you took to get from start to finish. so those 5 minutes i spent waiting to get to the starting line cost me about seven hundred and fifty places. weird.

today was a weird day because jon was home sick. it was nice talking to a human instead of cats all day.

does today feel like friday to you too?

volunteering and recovering

i volunteered at the marathon yesterday morning. i was picked up well before 6am and we made our way downtown. luckily our station was not so much downtown and didn't take long to find. we were just before the 38th KM and worked the gatorade stands so we were giving out cups of gatorade to runners for hours and hours. the best part was when the runners thanked us for being there. i would have to say that the worst part was my not being able to fall asleep saturday night and waking up early and being on my feet for such a long time. would i do it again? likely. who wouldn't when they give you a sexy hat and bright orange t-shirt?

i slept like a baby last night. for a long time too. and today i've been busy doing laundry and other such things. i'm so exciting.

the big race

well the big race has come and gone and i'm happy to report that i finished and i finished much faster than i thought i would. my time was just under 30 minutes (so there everyone who laughed at me!). and i realized why i was taking so long to do the run at the gym. the treadmills are in miles so i was running 5 miles (= 8K) in 60 minutes. now that i know i don't think my training will be the same.




some things i noticed: there were tons of people. so many that i had to walk at some parts. i like the whole timing chip part so you're racing against the clock, not the people around you.. well sorta.

there was a company on site who was engraving medals (everyone who finished got one) and i had mine engraved and i'm glad i did. now i can say that i've run a 5K race and i can start looking forward to more, and maybe longer races.

tomorrow i'm volunteering at the marathon. my ride will be here well before 6am and we're to have 3000 cups of gatorade poured by 8am. it's going to be a long morning, but very rewarding as we're the last of the water stations, at 35K (of 42.2K) so i'm really excited.

tomorrow will also consist of a nap possibly, a family barbeque, and baseball practice unless it pours. i'll tell you more about stuff later. and not so much about running next post, promise.

ahhh!

race in an hour and a half! ahhh!

i'm getting nervous

i'm getting nervous for my race saturday. i'm not really sure why since i'm just doing this for myself and will be happy if i finish, which i expect to do. i don't care about my time or place, but i want to cross the starting line and the finish line (the last cross finishes the horsing line.. or something like that).

i'm not sure why i'm nervous though because i used to run cross country in high school, granted that was before i started drinking beer and before my metabolism slowed down and before a lot of other crap, and the longest i ever ran then was just over 4K. but the good thing is that i don't drink beer anymore and i've lost all the extra weight that came when i went away to school. i guess i'm just saying that i've come a long way and i just want to finish. i already have my heart set on doing a 10K later on this summer.

the other thing that's neat, and forgive me for going on and on about running stuff, is there's a club of people who run marathons. well, i'm sure there are lots of clubs like this, but the one i want to mention is one where it's a goal of the club to have all the members run a marathon on each of the 7 continents. or the run-a-marathon-in-all-the-states clubs. wouldn't that be neat?

my long-term goal, and i'm going to tell you because i know that i'm going to reach it someday, is to run a half-marathon and eventually a full marathon. and i'm going to do it for me and no one else.

weird blogger

blogger was being weird yesterday and said that it couldn't find my blog on its server. oh well.

so who knew that 24 this week was 2 hours long and that it started at 8?? they didn't advertise that much and we were left not watching it since we missed the first hour and now we have to watch them both tomorrow night. so no one tell me anything that happens.

i've been on a scrapbooking kick. i scrapbooked three times by myself. i guess now that i have everything i need there's nothing stopping me. i also have all the pictures i want from this year printed and i started backwards in 2004 and already in april so not many more until i have all those too. i'm thinking i'm going to make a separate book for our trips to bc since we took so many pictures.

my race is this saturday. i think before i run another race i'm going to read up on how to train for races because i don't feel like i've done enough, but i don't know what else to do. so i'm kinda screwed. but there's another race on canada day that i'm hoping to do.

oh! our green day tickets came in the mail today! we're going to see green day! and yesterday i heard that kelly clarkson is coming to town in august. this is my second hint. *hint hint*.

we had one of our last S&Bs last night. it was fun. i found a good pattern for a yoga mat bag, but still can't figure out what they want me to do. stupid patterns. but i will knit something from a pattern so i have to learn! next week we're having S&B here and we're ordering pizza and watching a movie. knitting or not.

it's finally nice out today, but i slept in like it was my job and want to go to the gym and have other running around to do so i won't be outside tanning like i would like. i still have three months left of summer and no work so i'm sure i can get a good tan this year.

smoke baby

i'm not going to see hawksley workman. i saw enough of him last year at the tulip festival. but have fun if you're going.

friday i did another 5K in preparation for the big race next saturday. you can go here and click on interactive map and see the course for my race. but then i tried to do a spinning class today and i didn't make it. ug. my plan for this week is to run at least one more 5K before saturday. we only have one baseball game and one practice so i should be good.

i bought more scrapbooking stuff because it was on sale at michael's. the store is dangerous. at least everything was on sale though. scrapbooking is an expensive hobby.

i have to go out and party like it's 1984.

new sparkle sticks for everyone!

i had some pretty weird dreams last night, but i've contacted everyone concerned and told them not to worry. i'm only kidding. obviously i've been thinking about someone recently and was prompted to contact them after having dreamt about them two times in one night.

we lost our game last night and i would like to say that it wasn't my fault but because of the full-of-himself ump we had behind the plate. we really should have won though. and tomorrow morning is the first of our morning practices. i might have to nap afterwards.

i can't believe there are only 2 more episodes of 24 this season. i didn't like how the season started off, but i'm happy with what's been going on for the past while.

today was mostly a day for laundry and reading and some driving around. i had a french class tonight that i didn't particularly like, but that's the first one this session. tomorrow i'm going to go to the gym for the first time this week. i'm going to run my 5K and tomorrow i'm going to do my step class and body flow class. i haven't decided what to do yet sunday but i'm sure i'll figure something out. i hate that i got bored with my workout. i have to switch it up so there aren't any more weeks off.

that's enough.

oh team america

team america is out today on dvd. i'm on my way to the store now. the puking scene is the best one in the whole movie. movie night anyone?

this week is turning into a very full week, and i don't even work during the day. i guess a big thing is having baseball four times this week. last night we won our game, but not thanks to me. defensively i played like i usually do, but offensively i sucked. i think the pressure of being 4th batter got to me a little. we have another game tomorrow night in pakenham. who goes to pakenham for a game. answer: we do.

another reason is the gym. i'm trying to keep going as much as i did before baseball started, but it's not happening. this week, if all goes well, i should make it 4 times. not bad i guess. i think as long as i get there 3 times a week i'll be happy.

okay, running around time. groceries can't buy themselves.

that's what i thought

i'm sore. i had practice tonight and i pitched for a bit afterwards so my whole left side is hurting. i knew it would though.

i had a good weekend. friday night we went out for dinner at the works, a burger place in westboro. i had never been and was amazed at the selection. i almost got the fruitloop, a burger with pear and pineapple and other fruit (i can't even remember now), but i chickened out and had the mcworks.

then yesterday i had another chicken burger but this time at my parents place because my aunt was in town from LA. it was nice to see her. i didn't get to see much of her last summer (or anyone else for that matter) around wedding time because everything was so crazy.

last night i went to julie's again to scrapbook. i'm getting better.. i got 5 pages done in 4 hours instead of 4. and, this is huge, i made a double page. you don't have to care if you don't want.

today was a driving around, checking out sales day, and getting cat litter cause we're all out. now it's relaxing time. i have my meeting tomorrow with a woman from altis so maybe i'll have a good-paying job soon.

this is how i learn

i have a funny story. i told you last time that jon went and met up with other mazda 3 owners and they talked and went on a cruise and hung out some more. we even have pictures. so i was driving with marianne near my place when this random guy waves at me. it was one of the guys from the meet! i laughed so hard. SO hard!

so since the last time we spoke i've played two baseball games. we won the first and lost the second. i played well both games and managed to scrape up my leg blocking a girl at third (good thing she was wearing rubber spikes and not metal ones) and i got gravel and dirt all down my shorts diving back to second. lots happens when you get on base almost every time. so far i'm having a great time and am looking forward to the rest of the season.

we missed 24 this week so i'm looking forward to seeing it tonight. i think after that, which is after french class, i'll go out to grace o'malley's again for andi's birthday. at least for a bit.

last night was knitting and i had a good time. i'm learning how to do all sorts of different stitches before i start another blanket. this one might not be as big, i'm thinking the 'throw' kind. 'throw' basically means 'little blanket' which means less time and effort.

what else what else. i'm going to go running tomorrow again in preparation for my race. they actually have an area where you can greet me when i finish. so if you're in town saturday, may 28th and want to see my all tired and sweaty then come out. i would love to see your smiling face at the finish line!

saturday night i get to scrapbook again! it's silly that i don't do it on my own when i have all the time during the day, but it's way more fun to do it with someone. so julie and i are getting together again. c'mon, be excited with me!

until next time. batman out (it's like seacrest out!).

panama!

so this weekend. this weekend was pretty busy. friday night was a rush to get everything in my parent's basement up for the garage sale saturday. that involved a lot of moving. a lot of lugging heavy old wood things upstairs. we weren't around for the garage sale, but a lot of their stuff sold but a lot of it didn't. some will be going out with the trash whenever that goes, but some has to go back in the basement. yuck. i made $2.

after that we went to matt's and watched XXX 2. it was the worst movie i have ever seen. the worst. i wouldn't recommend it to anyone, even the people i don't like.

saturday i had a ball game early-ish (read: early for me). we played my old team and lost, but were ahead for two thirds of the game. and i played well so i feel good about that. sunday morning i played with my old team and we won. i played okay, but not stellar. then i had another game sunday afternoon (after food and a nap at home) with my team. we lost very well. but again i played okay so it all works out.

saturday night was dinner at gramma's and then the guys came over and watched friday night lights and bits of snl. friday night lights was pretty good. there was a lot of emotion from these big black teens which was weird to see.

and yesterday jon had his mazda 3 get together thing. i could go on and on about that, but all i will say is that he had fun, got to meet some people, and got a burn on his neck and arms.

we finally made it out to my parent's place after 7pm and gave my mom flowers and then came home and ate pizza and watched tv. a nice end to a long weekend.

a nice end to a long post.

huge!

i'm really excited. i just signed up for a 5K race! huge! i ran my first 5K yesterday ever and i'm a little sore today, but i think some of the soreness is left over from my weights tuesday. so i didn't do my weights today. but i'm happy to report that i am officially back down to my high school weight. take that, frosh 20!

last night was my baseball team's pub night. it was fun. i got to see a lot of people (thanks to everyone who came out), some that i haven't seen since my contract ended at environment canada and one who i haven't seen in 10 months. i have some pictures that i may or may not put up here later.

i just got word today of my brother's graduation date. he's finishing up his undergrad this summer, but is graduating with his class next month. last year him and jon came to my grad (along with my parents and my brother's then-girlfriend) and made so much noise. the man who handed me my diploma said something to the effect of him being sure that i was glad i brought those two. yep, they made me proud. so now it's my turn to be that loud ass.

tomorrow's friday. that's always a good day.

shirt tucker mother f****er

french classes started tonight. i like the people in my class. everyone seems to speak much better than me, which will help me get better. and apparently there's a book that explains french grammar in english. this would be helpful.

i bought some scrapbooking tools and i'm really really excited to get them and have my next scrapbooking night.

wanna hear something funny? good. when jon irons his work shirts he locks the cats in the spare room so that they don't jump up and knock over the iron and burn the carpet (it has been done). they've been in there for a while and i just asked where they were. now that's funny.

it's a race to finish my smoothie. my stomach is going to be hurtin after this.

wowee mommy, it sparkles like diamonds

does anybody else remember the deboer's radio commercial about their furniture that sparkles like diamonds? me and a friend of mine could recite the whole ad word for word. i'm positive we drove our parents crazy.

i had a somewhat eventful weekend. i went downtown both friday and saturday nights. i had a good time both nights. i also spent four hours scrapbooking and finished 5 pages. that's almost an hour a page. this is going to be a time-consuming hobby, but i'm having fun so far.

the bourne identity is on so i'm going to go watch it.

the rain that scared

this morning we (me and the two cats) were woken up by the rain. it sounded like all the windows were open and the downpour was drenching the house. not even one window was open so that was some torrential rain. good for the grass.

i have yet another movie to watch tonight. the laws of attraction. i have no idea how cheesy it will be, but i don't care. it was free and i'll probably only half pay attention anyway. last night/ this afternoon was eternal sunshine of a spotless mind. it was weird and someone mentioned that jim carrey's character was mentally challenged but i'm not sure he was supposed to be, but i kept thinking that.

tonight's weight circuit at the gym i used free weights for my arms. i'm sure i'm going to be real sore tomorrow since i already am. but good sore.

if you're in ottawa you want to come out next wednesday night. i know you do. so come to grace o'malleys on merivale and support my ball team. 100% lesbian-free!

holy hell batman!

so blogger was down earlier today when i thought of things to write about. that's life.

i tried my first RPM class at goodlife today (it's a spinning class). i've never sweat so much in my life. gross. but it felt good, despite me not really liking biking. i think i can learn.

the hours, it turns out, was pretty good. it was weird though, i didn't recognize nicole kidman until the credits. i kept waiting for a new character to come in. they did a really really good job with her prosthetic nose.

we got our baseball schedule today. looks like i'll have two games every week except two. i don't know if this is okay with me. i was hoping for a light summer... no work, baseball not so hardcore anymore, and then THIS! fuck, that's a lot of games. a lot of them are out of town too. erg.

my brother was in town last night and i ended up dd'ing for him and his friends. we went to the honest lawyer and the heart and crown. they were all really really drunk and really loud. i got home just after 3:30am and felt like i'd been out drinking and smoking all night. i passed out nearing 4 only to be woken up at 7:30 to go and take the car in. i felt awful. i think i'm getting old.

old schmold. i have a date this saturday night. and by date i mean that i'm going over to a girl's apartment and we're going to scrapbook. i AM getting old.

101 in 1001

i found a list of all the classics here, but i was surprised that mary shelley's frankenstein didn't make the cut. i thought it was a classic. but i guess i've already read it and i have a shitload of books to read now so that's okay.

i didn't go to the gym tonight. i just didn't feel like it. i'll go tomorrow for sure and thursday for sure. i think as long as i keep going at least three times a week i'll be okay.

i have to cut this short because i have to watch a movie tonight and i don't want to stay up too too late. it's the hours. i don't even know what it's about.

blast off!

i have friends. friends going on trips. bon voyage to you!

we saw the interpreter two nights ago. it was good. i didn't realize till the end that nicole kidman's hair was straight for the whole thing. i'm a girl. i should notice these things.

we went out to see my parents tonight. the chicken was good. the times were also good. i called my brother while i was there. i'm looking forward to seeing him (for one night only) this week when he comes to town with four other (random) people.

i'm now through my 5th week of having a gym membership. i've fallen into somewhat of a routine. i have my weight circuit and the group classes too. i still haven't tried the cycling class but i'm told i should. i think i might run a 5K or 10K in the national capital race weekend. it's at the end of may. i'm hoping i can get in shape - running shape - by then. wish me luck!

i'm trying to think of a list of the classic books, you know, the must-reads. i would appreciate any suggestions from you.

the changes, oh, the changes

i'm still working on this site, satisfying my need for change. i'm having trouble getting comments by blogger working, but i'll keep working on that. in the meantime, does anybody (richard) know how to right-align the counter (on the side-bar on the right)? i cannot figure it out. and, turns out, i didn't like that all consuming thing. it took too long for it to load and i use this page to look at all the blogs listed so that was not cool.

it's the weekend, what could be better? a weekend where it isn't raining? i agree.

we got some more furniture from ikea today so we spent a while putting it together. the great thing is that now we have a whole room that is all ours. no hand-me-downs. this shouldn't be such a big accomplishment, but it is.

i'm playing

all consuming is a website where you can list the books you're reading and the movies you're watching and so on. i'm messing around with the script but i don't know much about java so on the right you will see two things that i'm consuming, of the however many i have entered. i'll leave it as it is for now and try and keep it updated. by updated i mean to the last two movies and books, and albums when i get any.

i went to the canadian geographic presentation tonight at centrepointe theatre. it was a slideshow of pictures from trips around the edges of canada (the coasts) and live music to acompany the pictures. it was inspiring. but then i realized that i don't have any money (i have the time though!). then i realized that it's been a long time since i've had anything but negative money. at least the hole i dug by going to school is getting smaller (it's about half full). but it will be spectacular to one day owe nothing more on my line of credit. at least with the car i'm getting something out of the deal.

but i digress... the presentation was great and i can always dream about traveling across canada (and the world for that matter). i do hope to meet up with marianne this summer at some point at some location somewhere in canada.

shelley, a girl from high school, works for the company that runs the tours of the north and the coast of labrador and stuff (adventure canada) and was there tonight. it was really nice seeing her. she's in town now and again next weekend so hopefully we can meet up next weekend and talk for longer. she's such a nice girl.

i was also asked tonight about me making it out to toronto this summer and the plan is to go out there for a bunch of family stuff (jon's side) in august, but also to see some people. maybe i should start talking to people that are out that way to see if they want to meet up at all. i also got word about somebody's parents wanting us to come out to bc again this summer (circa july). i can't argue with a free plane ride.

so in an epiphany i had in the shower i've decided that traveling is all nice and good and likely not in my immediate future so i'm going to explore ottawa. that's right. i'm going to do all the touristy things while i'm not working so i can say i've done them. so anybody who wants to see a museum, or go see a band at the tulip festival - just let me know! and i'll keep you up to speed on when i'm going and where.

tis the season

spring clean-up! this means my blog gets cleaned up here and there. it's probably been toooo long.

i had a run-around day where i decided that today was the perfect day to go around to all the places that i had to go to even though it was pouring. i guess it had to be done sometime.

so my family is back to usual and by this i mean we have rolo back. he didn't need surgery and seems to be doing well on different food. i'm glad it was that easy.

i'll think of more later.

it's all politics

i think almost every blog is saying something about the new pope. well i'm not going to. other than that. this just isn't that kind of site. go somewhere else for your news.

i haven't been feeling well today, but probably not as bad as rolo (our cat) who was given barium tablets today to track the movement through his body. if it's too slow he gets the knife. let's hope he's just puking for no reason, or something fixable with a diet change.

i had my last real french class tonight, well for this session. i'm going to do the next session which starts in two weeks because i can't do the two sessions in the summer (there's no way i could deal with french three nights a week). i don't know who could do that.

i was reading stuff last night, other blogs... yep. there is some pretty racey stuff out there. it kinda made me want to make an anonymous blog and just go for it, but then i realized that i don't have enough to say. i just don't lead that kind of life.

i need more fruit in my life.

more news on the cats.. and my weekend

rolo has to go back into the vet tomorrow. they might have to do "exploratory surgery". this is surgery where they go in and explore, looking for objects that might be blocking his stomach/intestine.

this weekend was pretty crazy for me. i'm not used to getting up early, being out of the house all day long, or being on my feet all day. all in all the show was fun and definitely a success. and my feet aren't sore anymore so i'm happy.

i'm off to the library in search of french novels and then to the gym for bodycombat (it's like cardio kickboxing) and body flow (pilates, tai chi and yoga all mixed into one) classes. then it's 24 tonight and then it's tuesday. hopefully there won't be much puke between now and tuesday.

my cats

i want to tell you about my cats. if you don't like cats, or my cats specifically, you are excused from reading this post.

we took rolo to the vet due to his vomiting everywhere. i already mentioned this. but he's home now and sandy - his sister, his very own flesh and blood - hates him. she hisses and swats at him whenever she gets close to him. and make no mistake: it is her who's getting close to him.

so we go along, rolo's been home for about 20 hours now. he obviously still smells bad because sandy is still hissing at him. usually when i'm at the computer i'll have both of them sitting on my lap. so naturally when i'm sitting here they both want to be on my lap but sandy isn't okay with this. i pick rolo up and hold him above her and she's fine with that. then i put him down so that they're beside each other (my lap isn't huge so they're touching). sandy starts smelling him and growling but then starts licking him at the same time. growling and licking. she's obviously torn.

i think the black eyed peas said it best: where is the love?

sweeeeet! oh tax returns

we got our tax returns today. they were even bigger than we thought they would be. how sweet is that? it would be even sweeter if i didn't have debt still and could use the money for a trip or something like that.

i had to take our boy cat to the vet today. something about him not eating or drinking and puking all over the house. they were afraid he was dehydrated and pumped him full of liquid (through an IV no less) and now he has these pouffy pockets of skin under his front legs. it looks hilarious. and now the cats definitely aren't getting along. next time, they both go.

i want to welcome marianne to the world of blogging (http://mgregoire.blogspot.com/). i look forward to reading all about your adventures.. i am definitely jealous of you and your upcoming trip. anyone else going on a trip that i should know about?

deltas

so many things are changing soon.

did i tell you that i fell UP the stairs twice the other day? i really hurt my wrist the second time too. i'm such an idiot.

today was a running around day. i got my name changed at some more places and got some things that i needed.. except groceries. i really dropped the ball on that one.

i need to start going to bed earlier so this weekend doesn't kick my ass (i'm working full days at the wedding show). but that doesn't start tonight because i want to watch a movie that's due back tomorrow.

boys meet the girls

i'm trying not to post so often to be like the people still in school. you know, the busy ones. but i AM busy... with french and the gym and my friends and housework.. okay, that last one's a stretch. i've decided that i'm not a very good housewife at all. i really really don't like doing housework and wish it would do itself or that we were rich enough to hire someone to clean everything. wouldn't that be nice.

baseball is starting real soon. our first tournament is before the end of the month (the 30th, but still) and then we're into league games two nights a week and a tournament here and there. that also means that the team fees are due soon. erg. if our society is breeding obese people, starting younger and younger, you'd think that someone should be paying ME to play. or paying for MY gym membership. it's weird how all the healthy things are so often more (and much more) expensive than the bad-for-you things. why is a cheeseburger a couple bucks, but a healthy pita (or something) at least 5? maybe the government should invest more money into healthy lifestyles and less into cleaning up after the weak. is that a bad opinion? is that really what i think?

time flies slow

naps! i napped twice this weekend. i haven't napped in forever. i forgot just how good it felt to fall asleep fully clothed on the couch in the sun with my kitties. mmmmm napping.

today was a super nice day out. we did some driving around in the new car and found a bike for me (meet disco) at sport mart. i'm excited to get biking and stuff. it's nice because i'm in much better shape now thanks to the gym so biking should be easier.

tomorrow my mission is to buy tickets for a friends' show.

bermuda shorts! shorts!

oh god, i hate the bermuda shorts commercial from old navy.. or maybe it's the gap. i don't know. either way, it's awful.

i had a great time tonight. we had a night out for marianne's and alan's birthdays. and when i say night out i really mean a night in. we got pitas and watched a movie. it was fun though.

last night jon and i went to his coworker's house. again, it was a good time. we had pizza and played a trivia movie type game then watched some family guy.

holy crap it was so nice out today. when i went to the gym this morning it wasn't all that warm, but the rest of the day was beautiful. i like not-winter.

crackers squared

last night was the competitive clubs banquet at carleton. it was fun enough. nice to see the girls again though i wasn't feeling very social. after that i went knitting as usual for a wednesday night. it was different this week though because we had cake. cake is always good.

today was not much of a day. i slept in and went to the gym and french class but i didn't do much else. we got so much french homework. i'm kinda glad there's only 2 weeks left, but i am thinking about signing up for the next session since i won't be able to do it during the summer (i can't handle three nights a week.. not with baseball and keeping my sanity). so that's that.

school's almost done so hang in there.

seeeee? seeeee?

quoi de neuf? i went to a body combat class last night (like cardio kickboxing) and i'm so sore today. but i went back to the gym to do my weight circuit. i ended up skipping my arms.

i also finalized a sponsorship scandal.. errr, deal with kelsey's. it's kinda crappy, but it's all they'll give us: a 10% kick back from everything we spend. it does include alcohol though. so, friends, please forgive me if i always suggest we go to kelsey's.

i watched cold mountain today. i didn't know anything about it ahead of time. i liked it fine, but didn't like how it lasted so long. and i was surprised by the nudity. guys: you want to get laid, grab this movie and last through the whole thing, you'll get to see some boobies and you'll wow your girl. well maybe. yeah, good luck with that.

we lost

well we just lost in the finals. so hockey is done for me for the year. i think i played well enough, though i was on for two of three of their goals. ah well. now it's party time.

i watched raise your voice yesterday. you know, the one with hilary duff. where she sings. yeah that one. i actually found it pretty touching. i was surprised with myself.

what else? we got our taxes done today and i'm looking forward to the big fat return we'll be getting. so there, government. you take it away but then you give it right back. silly government.

i feel like i've been busy these days, but i haven't really. i had to do some running around to get my name changed finally. i still have more to do and an early start tomorrow morning will help. blah getting up early.

i'm driving myself crazy. i want to have a job. and i realized that my taxes next year are going to be harded to do with ei in the mix. at least it's free money right now.

pictures

my big plan is to start scrapbooking. i decided to start with recent pictures so that i can get caught up and working backwards won't be as stressful if i have now finished.

i can't believe how many pictures we take now that we have a digital camera. i don't know how people can be so organized to scrapbook well. holy shit.

we actually won

funny story.. well kinda. we had our replay of the semi final game tonight for hockey. the team we're playing is really rought, but miraculously the game isn't as bad as usual. in the third period they score. 1-0 them. then we score and it's huge! and then we go into 5-minute sudden death overtime. the same girl who scored for us puts the puck on the goal line and i tap it in. we win! everybody's happy! girlie there tells the ref and the whole team that she put the puck in the net. fine. bitch.

then knitting was good. we were all yawning around 10pm so that was bad. i still didn't get home until 11:30. i left my hockey gear in the car because bringing it in is loud and i didn't want to wake the kitties. who am i kidding?

i'm getting through the great gatsby in french and i'm finding it better than it was in english, but i think it's because it's almost like i'm skimming with all the words i don't understand. i look forward to reading it every night though.

i watched shawn of the dead last night. it was a really funny movie. i especially like when shawn demonstrates killing his girlfriend and himself. maybe you'll know the part if you've seen it. thanks to goodlife for giving me free rentals.

one_more_time

do you ever worry that you're going to forget all the funny things that have happened to you? things that made you smile?

i had a good day. i slept in and went to the gym and did groceries and stuff like that then went to french class. i got home and watched jeopardy and the amazing race and a thing about cleft lips and pallets. there's a really neat organization operationsmile.org who send doctors and nurses all over the place to perform surgury on kids so they can smile. if i was a doctor i would sign up for a two week tour.

avril lavigne is coming to ottawa. why isn't kelly clarkson?

i told you

i said i would keep you updated about my grandfather and his car situation. monday he went out and bought a mercedes, though he surprised me and bought a 1999. he went out today to look at houses. crazy crazy.

i had a good weekend. it was busy but relaxing, and nice to have jon around and to see everyone.

tomorrow i'll start posting regularly again.

so many changes

so i waited to post until more people told me about where they host their sites. i got three responses (and one earlier) so that's not too bad.

i had hockey last night... semi final action in arnprior. we tied, which is good and bad. good because we didn't lose. bad because we have to replay the game, instead of going into shootouts or some other tie-breaker. so we have to play again. at least this time our goalie will be there. we pulled up another goalie and she did great, before and after she hyper-extended her knee. i feel weird because i missed my french class to go to the game.

i was all excited because i thought we might be going to thunder bay for the weekend (it being a long weekend for those of us (not me) who work), but we aren't going.

i sent a whole bunch of pictures to be printed and i'm going to make a scrapbook with them for 2004 and start on 2005. this is exciting stuff. okay, maybe it's only exciting for me and the lady who's selling me all the scrapbooking stuff.

did anyone else think that 24 was really slow this week? i felt like it lasted two hours instead of just one. in my opinion that was the worst episode of all four seasons. monday was just a big disappointment, looking back. pilates sucked too. the y keeps letting beginners into the advanced class so we can't build on past weeks we have to learn how to breathe every class. i definitely won't be signing up for that again. but i have my new goodlife membership to get me in shape. i had my orientation today and i learned how to use all the machines (the weight is air pressure - how cool is that?

my grandparents are moving back from holland.. in with my parents again. so i spent a lot of time today helping my mom clean their house. i give my grandfather till the middle of next week to have bought another mercedes. and i think i'm being generous. wednesday. i'll keep you posted.

hosting

where are you hosting your website? what is a good price per year to host?

not sure what to say

i'm really not sure what to say. i've been getting annonymous comments and i don't know how to respond. so i don't comment back. is that bad?

i keep on falling.... in and out of love with you

today was a good day. i really do like the warm weather and the fact that i have my own car to zoom around in (in which to zoom around). i got paid again by ei so i went to bayshore and bought myself three shirts. nothing fancy. that might come later. and i got the incredibles, which we watched tonight after my french class. i've been reading the great gatsby in french and i'm happy to report that my french teacher commented today on my speaking saying that i was improving a lot. thank you, gatsby.

breaking news (well possibly not): both our cats can now jump on the counter.

so i went to that class yesterday (body pump at goodlife) and my body is still killing me. so i didn't go to the intro to cycling class today and i might not go to the two classes i was planning on attending tomorrow. we will see how i feel in the morning. i'll keep you updated i'm sure.

year-versary

happy one year-versary to this blog two days ago (march 12). yay me!

kicked my ass!

i did a body pump class today at goodlife and it kicked my ass. my quads almost made me fall down stairs all afternoon. they're doing much better now, thanks. tomorrow is an intro to spinning class. i don't know if i'm looking forward to it or not. i guess i'll have to wait and see how it goes.

24 tonight was awesome (when is it not?).

not much else to report. i have to say that i'm glad i'm not in school right now because now used to be crunch time for me. everything is due tomorrow or in the next couple of weeks at least and then you have to start worrying about exams and finding the time to study for those all while trying to keep yourself sane by eating and getting fresh air and finding those spare minutes to kill the kingston bugs that are everywhere. it was hell and i'm glad it's done. oh, i didn't even mention the trying to find a job for the summer aspect of this oh-so-fun time of year. and what about finding a place to live next year/the summer? yuck.

i have to do laundry.

why be YOU when you can be NEW?

jon and i had a date night friday night. we went out and i ate mcdonalds and then we saw robots in kanata. i can't remember the last time we saw a movie together alone. the movie was really funny. i laughed a lot a lot.

then yesterday we went hog-wild at ikea trying to get cat-proof furniture. we got a new wall shelf and a coffe and side table plus a dvd holder thingy. we spent a lot of the afternoon getting it all put together. we had to rearrange our living room. we moved the couches around and took down the wall unit and the shelf that rolo was always getting on. i like the room now but it's definitely missing something on the wall. that will come soon enough.

speaking of walls, i got jon's diploma framed and it's now on the wall in the dining room. and soon enough the picture from my grad that sarah took and framed for me will be up on the wall in there too.

the dvd rack is supposed to be up on a wall but we don't have wall space that's useable in the basement so for right now it's sitting on an end table. it's sexy though. i really like it.

i had a hockey game last night. it's our second (of three) playoff game and we won 7-0. highlites: i scored a goal, and, during my first shift, i took out my own center (head-on collision, sent her flying, and gave myself a headache for the rest of the game). our third and final playoff game is next sunday night, somewhere in the east end. depending on where we finish (first or second, cause otherwise we don't move on) we play the following tuesday or thursday nights. i would prefer to not play in arnprior, so i think i want to play thursday.

i decided to play with the nepean sharks this summer and i have been welcomed to their website/forum. i'm looking forward to playing ball again. i feel like it's been a year since i played.

i finished all the books i have so i started the french novel that i picked up from the resource center at my french school. gatsby, le magnifique is a little hard, but i'm getting through it. i imagine it will take me the whole three weeks i have it for.

the last thing i want to tell you about is my free week long membership to goodlife fitness. i plan on attending 6 or so fitness classes, but likely i won't be using the gym part of it much since i really really don't like doing that. i get bored easily. i'm still going to my pilates class every monday night. i'm a busy girl i tell ya.

free money!

i just got money from ei. sweet sweet sweet! now i can go and find a volunteer position.

the inside

so here's a picture of the inside of the car with all the red.

fear IS a factor

you know what i've been watching a lot lately? fear factor. joe rogan is great. he pumps up all the players and then gets the other people to talk shit around each others' backs. the show wouldn't be half as cool without him.

it smells like paint in our house because parts of the car are being painted in the basement. everything on the inside is red, but things under the hood are changing to blue.

i haven't been feeling like myself today. i'm hoping tomorrow is better. i have some stuff to do before i have to leave for french. you know how hard it is to stand and wait for the bus with the new car sitting in the driveway begging to be driven? it's mega hard.

look what i can do!

i made this:




i was learning how to use double pointed needles and didn't want to throw away what i had already done so i kept going and finally made it into a bag for my needles. ugly? yes. useful? kinda.

i had my first french class tonight. it was fun. we got a new textbook and everything. i'm happy that i have something else to get me out of the house. one of the new people works at transport canada and says she might have a job for me. who knows. maybe i'll even get a job out of the deal.

during the day today i went out to price out some scrapbooking things to see if i can get them cheaper than from creative memories. i think i could, but i can't tell if they're of the same quality. more investigating is required.

i did it!

i finally signed up for my french class. it starts tomorrow night. just like last session i go every tuesday and thursday nights for 2 hours for the next 7 weeks or so. the nice lady on the phone was telling me that i can come in anytime before my class to pick up my book. she's like: "i guess that would be today since your class starts tomorrow". guess so. is that a problem? didn't think so.

pilates starts tonight. i'm glad. i'm terrible at doing anything on my own so i need the classes to get off my ass. plus 24 is tonight. tonight = good night.

pilate on!

don't be mean

my little scrapbook party just ended. i have to say that i had a great time. it was me and julie and marianne and shauna, the lady from creative memories. we each made a 12" by 12" page. i think mine turned out well. i really want to start doing this seriously, but it all starts with me printing my pictures, something i'm not very good at. but that's going to change. i've already bought the pre-paid package of 100 prints from loblaws. i just need to send in my pictures. that's my goal for this coming week.

another goal: register for french classes.. since they start tuesday night.

i bought a new winter coat today. it was on mega sale at sport chek at the mall. it's red. i've never had a red coat before. i'm happy. i'm happy i branched away from blue.

we went and hung out with my dad today for a bit. my mom's out of town for the weekend doing job stuff (at another golf show). we thought he might be lonely. plus it gave us an excuse to drive around. the new car is still great as can be. it's getting redder and redder by the day. right, the picture of the interior. soon, my pretty.

we saw be cool last night. it was funny enough. what was really funny was the guys behind us spilling some candy in the middle of the movie and hearing it fall everywhere and fall down to the row we were on. after the movie we noticed empty beer cans and tons and tons of sun flower seeds where they were sitting. so they were laughing so loud cause they were drunk. oh, i get it!

a little incident

there was a little incident tonight with me and a pot full of boiling water. i managed to burn my hand and in my reaction to get my hand away from the ouch splashed boiling water into my face. i have a couple red marks but no blisters. thankfully.

the neons in our car are finally working and one day i'll take a picture of the interior and post it here for all to see. it's all very red.

scrapbooking this saturday is a confirmed go. this could be fun or it could be not so much fun. but i'm guessing the former.

now now there there

wow snow. i thought we were done with that shit already. apparently not.

i like how i get emails from my "friends" (people i used to know who still think we're close) and they're asking how school is going. well it's going well except I'M NOT IN SCHOOL! retards. it's weird how you can't think of other people. you think that everyone does what you do. it's hard i know, but try and realize that not everyone is like you. please.

i'm going to take another french course. i just have to call them and register. and i'm going to do it all in french. that's the plan at least. i won't cry if it doesn't happen though. other decisions made by me lately: i'm going to play ball this summer with nepean. it's cheap and the girls seem nice. we'll see how i feel mid-july.

update

my life hasn't changed all that much since we picked up our new car. meaning i still spend most of my days at home. i think i'm happier though. does that make me materialistic?

i'm collecting t4s these days. i have a nice pile. i know i said i didn't know what one was but i was lying. i have t4s coming out ... well, they're everywhere.

i think i'm going to take up computer games to pass the time. i know we have a million on this computer i just have to learn how to get into them and then how to play and then.. who am i kidding? i'll just stick with my spider solitaire. no! i can't since someone deleted it. at least there's still yahoo games.

car car!

so this is the only picture of the new car without the license plate in it so it's the only one i can show you on here cause you might be some weirdo freak who's stalking me and boy, you have to work for it. i'm not going to give away too much.

we finally did groceries tonight. feels nice knowing that there's actually some food around here. guess what the first thing i ate was... cookies! mmmm fresh-from-the-store cookies.

so this year i'm going to do my own taxes. i'm a little apprehensive but i think i can handle it. i just won't claim anything. a T4? what's that? i'm telling you - i could be blonde. blonde. that reminds me. the book i'm reading now is about a guy who kills blonde porn stars with huge fake tits. it's a good book though not as scary as the last one, or maybe it was the one before that. i love them when i'm afraid to go pee by myself and have to take jon.. er.. i mean a cat with me. that's right, i take a poor little cat who i've woken up with me into the bathroom. and i love it!

smokin new car

the past couple of days have been mostly uneventful. we did however get insurance and are picking up our new car tomorrow. i'm excited, but blah from earlier tonight so i'll be more excited tomorrow.

i had my last french class tonight. i still don't know if i'll sign up for the next one. i want to, but i feel bad because i'm not making any money and the ei lady said that it takes 6 weeks to get a cheque so i have to wait for a while to know how much/for how long i will be getting/i will be getting it. (that's a dumb sentence.)

i'll go now.

my favourite mistake

i already wrote this post before i managed to fuck it up and lose everything i wrote. here's hoping i can come up with something just as good the second time around.

car insurance. own a car - you need insurance. have a ticket - hard to get someone to insure you and your car. i was looking around at different places today in preparation for the arrival of our new car. you can get quotes online these days and so i was busy going to websites and filling in the appropriate information. you know, some places won't give you a quote online or by phone if you have even one little ticket on your record, which i have. well those places, i don't want my insurance from you anyway.

i was at the td/canada trust website and i filled out all the information and clicked the "Give me my quote" button and was dismayed to see almost $5,000/year for 2 drivers and 2 cars. then i re-did the whole process as a queen's alumni and guess what they quoted me then? just guess. no, really. guess. okay fine. they quoted me under $3,000 with all the same information. do you think the savings could possibly be that much? i don't know what i think. but even with the savings they aren't the cheapest place so screw them!

in other news, we didn't lost our hockey game sunday afternoon: we tied. we have one game left (tomorrow night) and then we're into playoffs. that is all on that subject.

last night was my dad's birthday dinner. i was pleased to see my brother's car in the driveway when we got there. he came all the way from peterborough. we had a good dinner. and i convinced my brother to come by today and drive me around because i had to go prove my identity to complete my ei claim. retards. no wait, that was my fault. we went back out there tonight after my french class cause my brother's leaving tonight. so we still haven't seen monday's episode of 24 so no one say anything or i might have to kill you.

and in conclusion, we are no longer poor but i am still an unemployed housewife. someone shoot me now.

strange times

i'm watching the movie pay it forward. it's weird.

what else is weird is how i was feeling after my hockey game today. it was weird playing in the afternoon and on such a small ice surface. it was weird that we didn't lose (we tied).

it's weird how someone deleted spider solitaire from this computer - what am i supposed to do now? how am i going to spend my days.

i do actually have stuff to do tomorrow. i'm going to look into car insurance. try and find the cheapest place. and then i have to get something for my dad. and tomorrow night will be busy with pilates and then dinner with my parents. i'm sure we're going to miss 24 so we'll have to get it and watch it later on, maybe tuesday night.

enough? okay.

no picture today i'm afraid

so last week i dyed parts of my hair bright orange and today i dyed the rest of my head to cover up the orange, but it didn't work. i'm just waiting for my hair to dry to see the final product but i'm not optimistic.

we went in today and bought our car (again) after calling and hearing that we had to wait for another 3-4 weeks (what the hell happened to mid-january???). so we said fuck that and bought one with air. at least we still get the nice colour though - dark dark gray. so we get our car by the end of the week. booyah! now, i can leave the house during the day and stop being so damn stuck until someone gets home and drives me around to my various night events (i sell myself... during the nights and am unemployed during the day).

in all my awesomeness i already know what i'm getting for jon for his birthday, though i'm not positive what to get my dad. let's review: jon's birthday in 7 months, dad's birthday in 2 days. my my. tomorrow's project.

tgif! (7569)

friday! finally! you're here! every day feels like a friday when you're unemployed. except that i know tonight my boyfriend might be able to stay up later than 10pm (with the help of a nap only).



today is the day i find the fugitive! away!

salmons (7448)

below is a picture of an obviously dead salmon. when we were in bc in december we missed the salmon run by a week or so and all that was left was an awful smell and tons and tons of salmon carcasses. hmm, i took another one with my foot so you can see just how big these suckers are.. you'll just have to believe me when i say they're huge!



on the same trip we went to butchart gardens which is a botanical garden. it was really nice.. all lit up for christmas. the size of the trees there, and in bc in general, are enormous. here's one:

cleaning house (7447)

today feels like wednesday... it started. this unemployed-ness really gets to you and throws off everything. even though i have things every night of the week i still can't keep track of what day it is. shoot me now.

i finished my book last night. it was really good, if you like that kind of book, which i obviously do since that's all i read.

yesterday i applied for more jobs and registered with some more agencies. it's weord though, usually by now i would have had someone i know call me and say they had a job for me. that's how it's worked the past couple of times. am i spoiled? quite perhaps.

seems like everyone's getting cell phones. good for you. it's about time you hopped on the technology wagon lest all your friends laugh at you. i'm very happy with my cell phone, ruby, except how long it takes her to turn on. damn girls! i mean, damn telus!

i was looking online the other night at houses for sale in our area. we're going to be in the market for a house/new place to live in about 2 years. good thing i'm working and making money to help save up for the down payment on a house. fuck!

no, i'm just kidding. we can afford to not have me working for a little while though saving up is obviously easier when there are two incomes. and that said, i don't think i'll be continuing on with french class next session. i would love for my employer to pay for me to (re-)learn the language. i did learn some good phrases though:

english: What knockers!
french: Quels nichons!

i will leave you on that note.

orange

i kinda streaked my hair orange. fluorescent orange. i don't know if i like it yet or not. we'll see.

we watched saved! last night. i really liked the movie. i would like to know how many takes they had to do for a lot of the scenes. i'm guessing if i was an actress i would have been laughing at so many of the lines they had to say. so much of it was ridiculous, but the overall movie was really good. in my opinion.

today didn't feel like sunday. i slept in - which did feel like sunday - but then we did a bunch of running around. plus, i didn't go to hockey last night. so i'm all screwed up. probably doesn't help that i haven't gone to work in a week now. oh being unemployed....

old things, new things, and weird things

last night my queen's clipboard broke. you know when you're in first year and you want all the things that everyone seems to have. well that was me and my clipboard. though i will say that as a leftie, the clipboard sure does make taking notes a lot easier. stupid binders (and most everything else) being made for right-handed people!



the new thing that i'm referring to in the title of this post is my new school bag to replace my very broken old one. i actually went to MEC and bought a good one so it better not break. meet bear:



lastly, our boy cat rolo is very weird in that he has nine (9) nipples! count that! 9! so i took a picture. it's kinda hard to see, but it's a little like where's waldo... so spot the ninth nipple!



in other news, i am still unemployed, but i had a great week off and next week i'm going to seriously start looking for a job.

my brother and me

this is me and my brother from my recent trip to peterborough with the fam. ladies, he's single....

this is my effort to post more pictures, and now that i'm home full time i should be able to do that. i made another blog where i thought i would post pictures, but the client that helps me post them doesn't like me having two blogger websites and i don't know how to figure it out.

today, i slept in. i told myself i was going to take today off and not do anything. so when i woke up i decided that on my day off i would try and find the hot 89.9 fugitive. i listened to the clue at 12noon, but it didn't make a lick of sense so that plan was shot to hell. at least there's another clue in 20 minutes. could you imagine $50,000? i wouldn't have anymore debt and my new car would be paid for. ahhhhh... i'll just keep dreaming.

but some good news, since one of our friends also wants a mazda 3 we're going to get $400 off our car for bringing him in. sweet deal.

in other news, we're trying to convince jon's sister to come and live in ottawa. we're even looking for a job for her. should i be looking for a job for me?

knitting

i took a long break from knitting that started the night my lumi died. i was on my way to our weekly S&B (stitch & bitch)and really couldn't concentrate and haven't knit since. it's a strange thing, but i find that i miss it. so last wednesday night i tried, but again didn't do much. i'm actually trying to learn how to crochet, but it isn't going well.

so my next project is to knit a cozy for my iPod mini (named Kevin, thanks to richard). i started and finished my first attempt at a cozy, and it works and stuff, but it's not great. so i'm looking for a pattern to attempt to follow.

i also have to finish the blanket i started 4 years ago. it was one of my first projects.

have i bored you all to death yet?

goodbye job hello unemployment

i say unemployment but i might be working my garbage job so who knows. i might not, depending on how much money EI will give me.

i have some money now. thanks to the bank for giving me free money (aka a line of credit). so i think i'm going to talk to a financial planner about rrsp's and other investments.

i just today found out about frank's website. i figured he was lost to the non-blogging community, but alas, he's back. and his special friend sure does get a lot of time.

who doesn't like ice cream? i like ice cream. why am i not allowed to get ice cream?

i didn't go to hockey last night and i'm glad i didn't. it was my last day of work and i didn't feel like living up to any obligations. so i didn't go. but my team won 7-1 without a goalie for the first half of the game. good for us. and tonight, we were supposed to play the exact same team, but they forfeit because their goalie can't come. so i guess we win that one too. and that means i get to skate around for an hour. and then i'll get home and my man-friend (frank - does that work for you?) won't be there because he'll be off being a nerd. he does that from time to time. so i'll be at home, and maybe i won't shower after hockey. i'll hang out with my nacho cats.

me and barbie

there are many different reasons why i don't get along with barbie girls and i can't explain them. am i high maintenance? do i make unreasonable requests?

i have two and a half days of work left. i am looking for another job, but it just so happens that this week is a super busy one. so between making a gazillion changes to my report and meeting about these changes, i look at job postings and work on my resume. do you have a job for me?

weekends

apparently weekends are for sleeping. i must have slept more yesterday than all of last week. it was marvelous.

this is my last week of work. i was talking to my agency on friday. they have two positions at health canada, but said that i was "overqualified". i think that's the worst thing they could have told me. at least when i'm not qualified, i can just say that i'm a quick learner and to sign me up. but over qualified means that the employer will look at my resume and wonder what the hell i want the job for. chances are they wouldn't hire me at all.

this whole job situation was going to be a problem for when the car came, but not anymore. i waltzed into a bank on saturday and was given a line of credit and now, between me and jon, we can pay for the car. no matter where we're working (or not working... ) or how much we're making. how sweet is that?

i watched a whole episode of the ashlee simpson show last night. that girl .. how old is she anyway? she can't be the sharpest knife in the drawer. what a ditz! i think if i could be any popstar i would be hilary duff. she seems the nicest. but maybe that's because i don't know much about her. who knows. that's my opinion so take it or leave it.

soup and salad

airline attendant: "would you like a newspaper?"
me: "no thanks, i can't read."
airline attendant: "so what are doing with that magazine?"
me: "reading."

can you believe that the words "i can't read" actually came out of my mouth? well they did. i am that cool. i think that was on our way to victoria mid-december. we were on a little tiny plane that jon couldn't even stand up straight in the aisle. teeny tiny.

we had a good night last night. we went out and looked for a jacket for my new iPod mini (still nameless - i need YOUR help!), but couldn't find anything. then we went to the mall and i bought a sweater on mega sale that i had seen last week. then we went to dan's for dinner with some people from work. it was great.

then if was off to the carleton fastball pub. some highlights:
1) the skinniest girl who can still support her head was dancing
2) skinny's friend making out with a guy on a couch for a long time
3) said kissy girl then going to the bathroom and puking for a long time
4) us wondering if kissy and boy went to the bathroom together, me checking the girls bathroom and dave checking the boys, dave coming out of the bathroom talking loudly about no one making out in the guys bathroom to_the_makeout_guy.

today is work, my 6th last day, and tonight is french class. i feel like i'm getting sick (along with the rest of the world it seems) so i'm not too thrilled about not being in bed, but i can deal.

i started listening to harry potter and the philosopher's stone on the way to work today. i got through chapters 1 and 2. this is definitely something on my list of 101 things to do in 1001 days. i haven't posted my list because it isn't done yet, and i'm not sure if i want whoever to see what i want to do. some of the things are pretty personal. we'll see though.

i have to admit that a couple of days ago when i wasn't working (as in i was here but wasn't doing any work) i actually sat here and clicked "next blog" on the top of my page and went from there. i read some pretty interesting things, but nothing spectacular. i wonder how that button works, because sometimes i came across a blog i had already seen. is it completely random? it must be i guess.

c'est mon chapeau!

french class is going well. i'm learning new things every class, but i'm also confirming just how bad i am at the language. when jon picked me up we spoke french to each other. it wasn't as painful as i was expecting, but it was definitely a drain on the gray matter. i didn't feel like rhyming there for some reason.

i always post the book i'm currently reading and the one i just finished over on the right there. if anyone ever wants to talk about either of those books, or ones they've seen previously, by all means let me know. this is my half-assed attempt at starting a book club. i think the problems with book clubs are that you have to read what everyone decides on. what if the book just isn't your thing? and what if you finish way before the allotted time? what then? some months i power through books like it's my job, but other months, i read only one book. i don't think i'm the right material for a book club.

so my final birthday present (unless you have something up your sleeve...) was an iPod mini from my boy. it's silver, to match our new car. and it has my name on it! how cool is that? i'm officially the coolest person you know. it's okay to admit it. so i tried it out on the bus this morning and am still sorting it out, but it's so much lighter and cooler than my discman. now, i need to think of a name for my new music guy. suggestions?

work time.

happy birthday to me!

i just wrote a post for today and went to publish it and blogger crapped out on me. thanks again, blogger, you ass.

so it was my birthday yesterday, and the most depressing day of the year. you have to read the whole article to find out that they did this research in order to determine when people would be most likely to book trips. i have to admit that i went online yesterday to gocuba.ca and decided which resort i would go to. but i have a reason. and it doesn't involve my honeymoon, cause who knows when that's going to happen.

tomorrow night is the carleton pub night. i'm excited because i think a lot of people i know will be going so it should be a good time. a strange mix of people, but a good time.

my work here is almost done. my contract is finished not this friday, but next. i'm looking for a job, but i've been pretty busy (or out of town on the weekends and stuff) so i haven't found anything for after yet. i'm hoping something falls on my lap, to continue the trend of 2004 jobs. i'm all set to apply for EI though so hopefully i won't miss many paycheques.

i finished my book this morning on the bus. turns out i'm getting a lot better at not feeling sick while reading (or doing anything except looking out the window) on the bus. one small victory for me.

back to sleep.. i mean work. lalalalalalalalala.

thanks blogger

i want to take this opportunity to thank blogger for working yesterday. you rock my world.

today is friday. thank goodness for that. this week has gone by quickly, thanks to me being crazy busy. just the usual things though (work, pilates, french, sleep). i'm really really looking forward to this weekend. birthday weekends are always good stuff. it was all supposed to start right after work with skating on the canal with my co-workers, but that's probably cancelled because it's f***ing cold outside.

tonight is dinner at montana's so come if you're in ottawa. tomorrow i'm going to peterborough with my parents and max to see my brother. i don't know what's going on tomorrow night yet, but i'm sure i'll figure something out. sunday is dinner at gramma's and a hockey game at night. monday is my actual birthday and there's pilates class and 24.

i've been thinking about jobs since mine is almost done. i fired off my resume to some people yesterday. surprisingly, i got a response from a director at agriculture and agri-food canada. i'm happy about that. so i'll keep looking. and last night, conveniently enough, i learned the french word for "unemployed". i'm going to need that one....

i'm baaaaaad

hi friends. there is so much to say, and since my manager is in a meeting i'm going to take this time to get you all caught up on my life.

i've been bussing to work for over a week now and i'm proud to report that yesterday i spent less than two hours on the bus for my combined trip to work and back home. i'm definitely getting much better at this game. today i wore my snowpants because it's so damn cold. it's the kind of cold where you leave your house and your nostrils immediately freeze and your eyes start to water. brrrrrr!

hockey went really well this weekend. we were in kingston for a tournament and managed to win the whole thing. i have a nice little trophy and we were given a bigger team trophy, but us being without a league (we're "independant") we have nowhere to put it. we're thinking of a timeshare sorta thing and adding it to our wills, willing it to the next team mate and the last one alive gets to keep it. i say someone else can have it. what the hell am i going to do with my little trophy let alone a bigger one? that's right: nothing! but it did feel nice to win some games. we haven't done that since october. plus, we had a game without penalties. now that's a first. i even managed to score two goals and get two assists. it's not that i was on fire. it's that the goalies were terrible. all in all a good weekend. oh ps. i shot the puck in the other team's end so i could get off, but i hit the ref right in the elbow/ribs. i went and apologized afterwards, but what kind of ref is ALWAYS in my way? thanks mr. pylon.

i found out late last week that my contract here will not be extended like last time. so as of friday, february 4th i will be unemployed again, unless the garbage lady comes through with more garbage audits. turns out the audits for the first three months of the year are during the day. ding!ding!ding! kamerine doesn't have a day job anymore! so i might become a full time garbage girl.

that reminds me. on fear factor last night (it was a continuation of last week's couples episode) they had to do a stunt in raw sewage. do i think it was really raw sewage? nope. i think they might have some legal issues when everybody dies of grossness, or e-coli or something. hell i don't know. but raw sewage is gross. garbage is gross enough.

also, in my greatness, i watched the bachelorette last night. what a dumb show. i couldn't turn it off though. the crowning moment of the episode was when one cassinova told the chick that he was a virgin. and her line? "that shows his beliefs. but maybe his beliefs are too stringent for me"!! way to go, slut! don't tell her i said that.

it's my life

i learned something about myself: i am scared of missing my bus stop. so scared that i will get off the bus early. this made for a long walk to my building this morning. silly me. other than that and a couple little mishaps, i don't mind the bus so much. though it does mean that i have to get up much earlier. this i mind and my body hates me today. early to bed tonight.

i'm all caught up on 24 now. because of a hockey game, i missed sunday night's episode and then couldn't watch monday's episode monday so i watched it last night. i have to admit that i'm not as turned on this season as i was this time last season. i'm having trouble getting into the characters.

i scored a 2-for1 coupon for the imax. maybe i'll go see something cool.

pub night

the team i coached this fall is having a pub night wednesday, january 26 at oliver's. $5 will get you in. come! it's my birthday.

R.I.P. lumi

lumi was a good car. a nice car. a car that ran well.
lumi had a good life. a long life. a life so full.
lumi is no longer in my life, but served me well. he will be missed.


lumi

my perogative

it's my perogative, you hear me?

last night we had a hockey practice. i hate to complain, but we were on the ice from 10:30 - 11:30 and i didn't get home till around midnight. i'm trying to get back into the swing of things (aka work and getting up early and not napping). late practices certainly don't help. on the up side, i think it really helped the team. i guess we'll see at our two games this weekend. so much hockey.

i find myself thinking more and more about the cats. we took them to the vet and they could have very serious problems that would mean us taking them back and taking advantage of the health guarantee from the breeder. you can get very attached to two little cute balls of fur in a week and a half unfortunately. ug. not nice. i'll just distract myself with work, while i'm here you know.

me

i just realized how busy i'm going to be for the next month and a bit. i'm working. we all knew that though. i even managed to get here at 8 this morning. yay leaving before the sun is entirely set!

next week my french classes start as well as my pilates class. french is two nights a week downtown for an hour and 45 minutes each night. that's a lot of french. and pilates is one hour one night a week. plus there's the wednesday night's stitch & bitch and whatever i need to do during the week.

oh! and! 24 starts this sunday! unfortunately i have a hockey game, but i'll figure something out. they're starting it off well with a 2-hour season premier and then the next episode the very next night. i'm SO excited! i also started watching the sopranos because we have it on the computer. i've seen 7 episodes and am hooked. i'm just not very good at watching them, so i'm about 3 seasons behind jon. we don't watch it together, obviously.

back to work. making the money.

changes

today, i made a big change in my life: i ate vegetables with dinner.

i read four issues of reader's digest, given to me by a family member, and i have to say that there is so much wrong with the world and our society. it makes me feel like i'm going to die next week of cancer, vitamin d deficiency, sids, or arthritis. it's amazing how much crap there is to talk about. and now, i'm seriously considering a career in forest fire fighting.

i'm working on a new picture page, but it's slow going. i'm still trying to figure out the program that will make this all possible.

i want to say that i don't miss hockey at all. we have something like 15 channels.. nothing too exciting and when there's hockey, i'm sure at least two or three of them would be taken up with it. what would i watch then?