2004/05/29

Oh, believe me, Ben was indeed drunk. He was weaving and slurring *lots* of words, and falling asleep in place... Ben was drunk. It was funny. :)

Granted, it took him much more alcohol than me to get there, but nonetheless... entertaining. :)
Ben's funny when he's drunk. Me, I have decided to just keep announcing that I want to get laid. And work on my personality flaws. I'm going to bed.

2004/05/27

Well, I am not at work today, and so I don't have to worry about someone reading over my shoulder -- except the cat, but this morning she's way more interested in biting me than reading what I type. And now she's just thrown my mouse down behind my computer. *sigh* The set up of my desk is such that it would be easier to send her down to retrieve it than for me to get it... however, she likes to cause trouble, not undo it.

Anyhow, this was just me saying that I will be updating this sometime later. :)

Damn cat. Every time I reach under to try to see if I can find the mouse, she attacks me. Argh!

Oh yes, and she's already made me bleed twice this morning (in the space of about five minutes) and has added about five new scratches to the ones that were nearly healed. However, since it's now time for her to spazz out at a spot on the wall, hopefully she will be distracted for a bit. As for me, I'm off to watch season 6 of Buffy for a bit, or maybe some more Gilmore Girls. Yesterday's season finale was quite good.

2004/05/24

Awesome!

Informationi
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Username:

From Go-Quiz.com

2004/05/22

This first one's not too shabby at all :)

Your Husband Generator by Lady_Galadriel
Name
Your Husband Is
You Metat a pub
You Have0 children
You Livejapan
Inan attic
You And Your Partner Are Best Known Foryour arguments
Created with the ORIGINAL MemeGen!


Your Husband Generator by Lady_Galadriel
Name
Your Husband Is
You Metyou won a competition
You Have4 children
You Livemalaysia
Ina large apartment
You And Your Partner Are Best Known Forthat one porno you did for some extra cash
Created with the ORIGINAL MemeGen!


Your Husband Generator by Lady_Galadriel
Name
Your Husband Is
You Metpool party
You Have7 children
You Liveengland
Ina bungalow
You And Your Partner Are Best Known Foryour rude outbursts
Created with the ORIGINAL MemeGen!

2004/05/20

I forgot to mention that lately I've been craving hamburgers, so I ordered one from a nearby take-out place last night. I didn't want to haul butt to the Wendy's, 'cause it was in the opposite direction from where I was going and I was all gross from the gym. Good workout, though.

Anyhow, so I called the pizza place, and who answers by the pizza guy. I was stunned, since I didn't expect him to be working at the downtown location, but what the hell. We chatted a bit, he told me about the baby he's going to be having soon (which Heather had mentioned awhile ago), and I found out they're having a girl and calling her Zoey.

Then it took the guy an hour to get to my place to deliver the food, and he couldn't figure out what I'd ordered, despite my telling him several times. Stupid driver.

2004/05/19

Okay, so this post is about Angel, but it'll be Ben-safe, so don't worry.

Overall... it might've been nice to see things more concluded, but at the same time, I don't think there's a better way it could have ended. I mean, I know how my little romantic soul would have liked it to gone, but I realize that would have been somewhat hackneyed and forced.

I'm not surprised how things ended for one character in particular; this person has been going downhill for awhile, so the end they had was for the best in that sense.

There, that's all. I'm off to bed -- I'm *tired*.
Well, I had a decently productive morning. Got my letter of intent re-written and sent to my dad for his input, got emails sent to my profs to ask them for letters (getting kinda rejected on that front, but we’ll see what happens), and I feel decent about it.

Crap, I gotta get to the bank for real. And make sure I lock up Thena tomorrow morning -- I have been informed that they are showing the building. *sigh* Maybe I should just see if I can channel Thena's evil aggressiveness into attacking people who show my apartment.

I saw Troy last night with a group of friends. I have to say, the ninjas were the best part, and there was this sneaky part with a wooden horse... but I'm saying too much. ;)

Anyhow, general consensus was that it was kinda too long, and you'd think Brad Pitt couldn't act based on the dialogue they gave him, and I was disappointed with the nudity in it. Not that I actually care about seeing Brad Pitt named, but if you're going to advertise nudity, then I want to see it! I want my nudity!

Okay, I'm done. In a moment of brilliance, moments before going into the theatre, I managed to knock a large pop onto (boy) N's pants, and so I felt guilty and he felt sticky. Sadness abound. Abounded. Hrm.

I also decided that when I become a middle-aged woman, I will no longer permit myself to go to movie theatres. It seems that most often when I'm being disturbed in some manner or another in a movie theatre, at least for extended periods of time, it's by a middle-aged woman: the loud laughing woman at American Wedding (although that was more disturbing to Gord than myself); the "I get the plot points two minutes later and announce them to the world at large" woman in SWAT; the lady with the screaming baby who controlled her in Scooby Doo 2; the pairs of middle-aged ladies that always jabber together in half the movies I see... admittedly, these are bad movies, so I don't muchly care, and N and I were certainly cracking jokes to one another as well, but we were doing our best to avoid disturbing others, and I think we mostly succeeded. Also, we should shoot all the jabbery teenagers and not allow them to attend movies, either. Especially when they're dressed as if they're about to go whoring downtown after the movie lets out.

Man, being cranky at people is fun. In my defense, I was equally cranky at teenagers when I was a teenager. Maybe it's because I never had the body to wear the latest in skankwear. I still don't, but I think I've lost a bit around my middle, 'cause I'm comfortably wearing my belt on its smallest setting, and I don't think I could've done that earlier.

Dammit, Launchcast is finally getting on the ball with the good music, and I have to go soon. Argh.

Anyhow, tonight's plan involves the gym, then vegging out on the couch for the final episode of Angel and hopefully figuring out how to badger my television into letting me tape a different channel from the one I'm watching, thereby allowing me to watch Gilmore Girls afterwards. This revolutionary technology, man, I just don't know what to do with it! I could have company for this great event, but I'm just not sure... typically after the gym I come home, lounge about and eat, shower and then lounge about some more, this time in pyjama-type wear without underwear. This is not typically good dressing habits for company, particuarly company that has not seen you sans underwear. Urgh, just don't know what to do about little Spot (inside joke, one I'll likely forget in a few minutes, don't mind me).

I've taken to giving nicknames to the boys in my life, I think. Some of my friends like to think that this is derogatory, but it's not! I dated one guy that I called The Frog, and it's not 'cause he was French, it's just 'cause of the way my brain works -- in twisty ways that amuse the crap out of me. Since Spot shares a name with another good friend of mine, one I mention much more often, there had to be some way to distinguish between them, and calling them "New" and "Old" was semi-confusing... since the new one is actually older than the old one. Finally, as the original one didn't really want to be renamed, and I didn't so much want to rename him, we went from Sparky to Spot -- 'cause he's like a little puppy that always wants to be around me, and Sparky is a horrid name for a dog. I babysat for a family that had a poorly-trained dog named Sparky who smelled. I hated the name before that, and that experience just reinforced it all for me.

Anyhow, when original friend protested being permanently renamed to Ezekiel, he suggested we call (now-)Spot by the Frog's real name, saying, when I protested, that if he had to give up his name, then so did the Frog, but we solved all the naming problems with Spot.

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, this kind of dilemma can in fact occupy large portions of my evening, and as a topic of conversation, I'd say it certainly had the one on tapeworms beat. Just to make you all think differently of Ben, his suggestion was to tie one end of the tapeworm around a doorknob and start running.

I leave you with that mental image. I'm *ever* so glad it's come back to haunt me, too.

2004/05/17

And as a nice little shout-out to my friend Ben...

Happy Birthday Dude!



Check your mailbox. ;)

2004/05/16

How I spent my weekend... N picked me up from work on Friday, then D and I grabbed some dinner, after which I got together with some of my friends. I got picked up from the bus stop by all of the guys, which had been unexpected, and involved Greg proudly showing off his new tires -- to the point where he was coming up rather short on a stop sign and all of his passengers, myself included, yelled out, "stop sign!" Amusing 'cause it was all of us.

Once I got there, I didn't feel like staying inside, so we all wandered off to the nearby park where by acted stupid and played on the structure. R, N and I wound up spending lots of time running through bushes and alternately hiding and sneaking up on one another, I stole N's shoe at one point... and then N and I got involved in a belt fight that had us whipping each other with our belts. I tore my pants getting up on the play structure at the beginning of the evening, and R and N took both belts and bound my legs together with one and my arms behind my back with the other. I was able to get out of the leg bindings, but the arm ones took some effort.

Greg and JW joined us a bit later, and N and I held round two of the belt fights -- this was after I'd bound his arm to the bench and stood above him tickling him. When we went back to the house around midnight, I wound up dozing in and out on the floor, and gradually it got to the point where it was just S, N, R and myself. The guys (R and N) kept trying to set up orgies, but we were just too tired.

Saturday I got up early to get ready for yoga, but my trainer had left me a message saying she wasn't going, since she'd got in at quarter to 3 (and the class we were going to go to was at 10:45). I was glad for that, since I hadn't gotten home until 2, myself. I did my computer routine, went back to bed, and Thena wasn't too pleased with that -- as per usual. Her idea of sleeping in on weekends is getting up at 8:30. *sigh*

I lazed on the couch for part of the morning, then headed out to the ol' neighbourhood for some softball fun with a bunch of high school friends and other people. I was loud and obnoxious, then I tried to catch the bus to get back downtown to change and so on for the evening plans. Getting home took me over an hour and a half, which further proved my point that what they've done to the bus routes in the ol' neighbourhood is insanely fucked up and very poorly planned. But since no one asked me, I just get drives as often as I can. ;)

Saturday night was gaming, and fun was had. Today is apartment-hunting with OFK (soon to be roommate K, or RK), and then work. Yay. :P

In other news, I've about 98% decided to give up on this whole dating thing. I gave it a few months, nothing terribly exciting happened, and despite meeting one or two guys who liked me, I just don't know. I miss the excitement and wanting to spend time with the boy and so on, and I've decided I'm just going to take myself out until I find someone I'm really excited about. No more of this half-hearted stuff, or settling or whatever. I deserve better and I'm going to wait until I find it.

I've had a few friends relate some stuff about one of my past relationships -- namely a boy who said that he felt things were moving too quickly, or that he was being rushed... and frankly, I find that frustrating as hell to hear, because it was actually him that was moving quickly. He gave me a key to his place, he told me first that he was crazy about me, he was the one that kept cuddling me for an hour or more when I kept protesting I needed a shower... argh. Men. Old news, but still frustrating.

So yeah, I'm just going to wait until I find someone worthwhile. With my luck, well, we've got a long time to go. This subject came up with another friend of mine -- here I am at my age and no real stellar relationships to point to. Some good ones, but those are very old news, which means I don't really count them now. :P

And then every now and then there's a part of me that thinks that the casual, one-night stand might not be that bad... and then I remember some of my no-strings sex experiences and correct myself. Maybe it really is time to run away somewhere and start over.

2004/05/14

So, yesterday the Government of Ontario saw fit to upgrade my driving status from a G2 to a G. I am now a fully-licensed driver and can drink and drive as I see fit!

Okay, just to be on the safe side, that last part is a joke. I no longer have to worry if I have a drink and later in the evening drive home, but I'm fully-aware that I am a cheap and then sleepy drunk, so drinking and driving will not be a problem for me.

I do plan on running over lots of small children and old people with walkers, though.

Anyhow, I also have a partial ceiling, which makes me happy. I was able to talk at length with the guy doing the work (the same one who originally fixed the water damage that was there when I moved in), and he's comfortable with tossing Thena in the bedroom anytime he comes over to do work, so that means I don't have to keep locking her up. That's a bit of a relief, for sure.

I went to the gym yesterday and did lower body stuff. I was pretty lame, since I hadn't eaten much, but my trainer again mentioned that my legs are looking good, so that's cool. Maybe some time this lifetime I might wind up in shape. :P I also went out and saw Mean Girls last night, and it was a pretty decent movie. Afterwards, did a wander for awhile and then watched some more Gilmore Girls. :)

Oh my, more New Kids on the playlist. Holy crap does this song (Treat Me Right) sound like something that Wham! would do. How deranged was I as a child that I adored 95% of what they put out? Wow.

Anyhow... what else? Not sure where life is going. I'm getting totally disillusioned with this dating thing, so I'm getting to the point where I'm just going to shelve it all and actually be single and so on. I've just found that my energy level for the whole thing isn't there... it's been so long since I was really excited about spending time with someone, and looking forward to hearing from them, feeling comfortable with them... urgh. I don't know.

All this stupid back and forth, these stupid games and so on -- I miss being attracted to someone, and feeling turned on being in their presence. I miss feeling at peace from cuddling with someone and just wanting to be around them, regardless of what we were doing. I miss being late to meet with friends because we wound up having a quickie ("We need to get *you* off before we go!"), or having those inside jokes... I miss kissing someone on their chest or wherever and meaning it, not just doing it... I don't know. *shrug* I'm just not going to keep dating for the sake of dating (which I have and haven't been doing), I want to meet someone that I feel a sort of chemistry with, and work from that.

And finally, this site now has an actual URL. Yayayayay! Actually, so does my other site, but I'll make a mention of that there. For now, the new URL just redirects you to here, but I will be doing an actual full-out move and change and so on sometime soon. So, ladies and gentlemen, please don't hesitate to circulate The Litterbox's new URL...

IChaseBoys.com

2004/05/12

Note to self: Stop slacking off and get on the masters application.

Cards mailed out today, as well as Hydro paid. I rule. Now I just have to remember to deposit the cheques sent to me for my mother's birthday (which was April 11th, and I got the cards before that).

What else? Well, I'm actually sorta maybe doing okay on this money thing, or at least I will be once my debts get paid off.

I also have purchased my URLs (I believe). Gord was working on it for me, and so I think they're mine. That means that after 2 1/2 years of being at this site, there will be a new address for it. I'm not revealing it yet, in case the details of the purchase aren't yet finalized, but both The Litterbox and the Whore's Boudoir will be moving to new addys. I will of course look after ensuring everyone gets there, and I even have some ideas for changes to make to both sites. Now I just have to learn to code things so as to stop breaking the Internet. ;)

I also cancelled all of my plans for tonight, including the gym, so I can go hang out with Thena for a bit before I go out to my parents' place in time to watch Angel and so on. Yayayay, Angel. :)

Anyhow, time to book if I'm going to get everything done on time and so on. I thought I actually had something interesting/intelligent to say, but apparently those rumours were competely unfounded.

Everyone wish me luck on my driving test tomorrow!

2004/05/11

Wow, my posts jumped from 1,084 to 1,127 between today and yesterday. I'm prolific!

I forgot to mention a funny Thena moment when I posted the other day. I was in the shower, and she knocked the tub plug into the tub (she likes to play with it). She then walked from one end of the tub to the other... she started out on the edge of the tub, came in and then went back to the other end of the tub before getting back up and out of the spray -- I think she went after it and didn't think about the whole water thing. I didn't actually see the whole event, but I heard the plug hit the tub and then I felt her brush my ankle, so I was able to deduce what happened... 'cause I'm smrt.

Urgh. I want my ceiling to be repaired -- no one did anything to it yesterday, so the poor demon spawn was locked up all day for nothing. Then late last night D dropped in and he kept her all riled up, so she was evil for the rest of the evening, just after she'd finally been settling down. :P Even this morning she switched from nice kitty to evil one pretty quickly. Pardon me for going to the gym after work, I guess. :P

I had a few weird dreams last night, including one that had me having sex of some sort or another, but I don't really remember them now.

I also have a new flat-screen monitor at work. It's kinda sexy, except that it makes some things display wonky 'cause it's bigger than my previous monitor. I should probably reset the display settings, but I'm lazy.

I've also been getting into Gilmore Girls lately. I bought the first season on DVD, and I've been watching those episodes, not to mention reading episode summaries and even transcripts online today. Did I mention I've had nothing to do the last few days? Urgh. I should be working on my masters application, or there are little stupid things I could be doing that are actually work-related, but I'm so uninspired and so on that it's tough to get motivated into doing it.

I'm supposed to have plans most days for the rest of the week, but I just feel the need to not do much of anything. At least, that's how I feel today. I'll probably feel better later, when I get rid of the headaches and so on. Stupid girl problems. :P

I went to the gym yesterday, and it was upper body day, and my biceps are a little sore and my lower back hurts from doing deadlifts with crazy amounts of weight. I also did some ab exercises this morning before my shower, and Thena encouraged me by biting my feet and ankles. I was lying on my back doing the bicycle-type move, and she placed herself by my feet so that every time I extended a leg, my foot was convenient for her to attack. I guess my cat likes my stomach the way it is. :P

I think this comic accurately describes my dating life. :)

Also, I have my G2-exit test booked for Thursday morning. I sorta keep forgetting about it, and I'm also nervous about it and expect that I shall fail. Because I have to borrow Mom's car to do it and my test is at 9:00 a.m. (and I have to be there for 8:30), I'm spending the night at the parents' place, then taking the test and so on, as well as taking the rest of the day off. I probably don't need to, but quite frankly, it's dead around here, people are pissing me off, and I want a day off. So there, fit has been pitched.

I have some birthday gifts in the works for Ben (it's his birthday on May 17th, go hassle him and show love!), and I want to arrange that group dinner thing sometime next week perhaps, so that'll be cool. If there's anyone who reads my blog, is friends with Ben and didn't get an email from me yesterday, please email me and I'll let you in on the mad plans. :)

Just sent off a huge long email to the z-list that probably makes absolutely no sense at all and so on, but it felt good to write. Whether or not it made sense. :)

Gah. 25 minutes before I'll feel okay about leaving here. What do you want to bet someone's going to phone me with some stupid task they want me to do in the next, say, 10 minutes? I want the stupid P.M. to call an election and have all the bills die in the House. That would make me happy right now.

2004/05/10

Wow... Blogger has totally changed its interface, and I can now see how many posts I've made and so on. This post will make me equal in posts to that of Blog Sisters, which is a group blog that's been up longer than mine, I think. Does this mean I write too much? :)

Ah well, decent weekend. Friday night D and I caught Van Helsing, and it was pretty decent. Pretty obvious in some places, and the exploding carriage was hilarious (I was the only one in the theatre laughing, but that's almost what makes it better), but overall enjoyable.

Afterwards he dropped me off at the Habicube, and I said my hellos to a bunch of people, then took pictures of everyone flashing (well, everyone barring Jenn C., myself and Ben), then left for home. I'd been out most of the day and felt bad about abandoning the kitten, so there it was.

That night I went to bed fairly early, 'cause they were supposed to be showing my building at 10 a.m. Now, I would like to ask you, who the fuck views an apartment building at 10 a.m. on a Saturday? I mean, it's not like the units are occupied or anything, so it's not disrupting anyone!

I wouldn't mind so much if I was leaving the building and it was my landlord showing it -- at which point he has to ask my permission to bring people through, whereas this lady just informs me -- but this is my landlord selling the building. Urgh. Very annoying. I grumble. Especially since I'm still dealing with the missing ceiling and so on issue. *sigh* Thena helped me out that morning by working me up at 8 (when I'd thought I'd set the alarm for 8:30), and then again at 9:20 -- at which point I rushed to get ready, only to get a phone call right at 10:00 telling me that the client had cancelled. *grumble*

Ah well. D and I went out of town for a few hours on Saturday, after I ran a few errands and so on. In the pet store, where I was picking up cat food, litter and toys for Thena, I saw an adorable little kitten that I would have taken home if I'd had the money, resources, he wasn't already sold, and I hadn't decided that I would wait until after Thena's spayed and healed to get her a friend -- if I do get one. This guy was about 7 or 8 weeks old, and sleeping sitting up in the cage. He woke up a little and looked around, then started falling asleep again, to the point of the head bob and everything... it was adorable.

In the evening, when I brought all my things back to unpack and so on, I gave Thena her new feathers-on-a-stick toy (the other one is looking a little rough now). She picked it up in her mouth and ran off with it, and I could see her going back and forth with it while I did more unpacking. She was awfully cute with it. :)

From there, I drove back to meet up with my folks to return their car and head over to Ben's place -- we were going to watch the Die Hard movies I'd rented and not had time to watch. Well, we didn't wind up watching them, but we did have a nice chat with his brother J, and J played a bunch of songs for us on his guitar. I'm envious of his and Ben's singing voices, and talent.

I took off a little after 11, 'cause I wanted to get on the last bus and hang out with the kitten before I passed out. I got home around midnight and tried to watch Die Hard, but only got through about 30 minutes of it before I started passing out.

Sunday morning Thena decided I wasn't allowed to sleep in (again), so around 9 I finally got out of bed. She just kept licking my nose and chin, and even snapping the straps of the tank top I was wearing to sleep in, as well as chewing on the little rings that hold the straps to the shirt. She's a weird cat. :P

So I got up, suffered with a headache for most of the day, but got all my laundry done. I was short one stupid quarter to finish it, so I had to go to the store, but it gave me an excuse to shower and dress. I wandered downtown for a bit with an LL guy, felt restless through work, then went for a walk with another LL guy for almost two hours after work. I spent most of it telling tales about my friends and so on.

Speaking of which, note to self -- talk to Mark about his poor bean bag chair again, at least if what Ben says was true. Icky, icky, icky.

Also, my new little memory note to self thingy: A kitten is not an impulse purchase. Betta fish can be, though. :)

2004/05/07

Is it just me, or is vaguely pathetic that the President of the United States of America -- purportedly the most powerful man in the world -- has on at least a few occasions learned the extent of some horrible thing or another on television? Or he says he didn't realize the extent of whatever it is until he saw it on television?

And thus concludes my political commentary. Back on track: boys suck, I give up, it's on to celibacy and/or lesbianism for me, whichever comes first. Have a nice day.
Yay!

I AM 28% ASSHOLE/BITCH!
28% ASSHOLE/BITCH
I may think I am an asshole or a bitch, but the truth is I am a good person at heart. Yeah sure, I can have a mean streak in me, but most of the people I meet like me.

2004/05/06

I really have to remember to stop skipping periods. It just makes the eventual one that much worse. I just had a cramp of doom so bad that my cheeks flushed.

Update on the apartment situation from an email I sent my dad:

So I just spoke to my landlord and he says that what had happened was that the hot water tank for the upstairs neighbours exploded, hence my destroyed ceiling.

He has my window open and my space heater running to try to dry out the carpet, and he'll replace that if necessary. The ceiling guy will be in next week to give me a new ceiling (which is currently missing, I've been told).

He said I was also one of his smarter tenants because I'd left a number at which they could reach me -- I have a little dry-erase board on my bedroom door with a generic note about Thena and my work cell number for the days when I have to shut her up in there.

Finally, he was going back and forth with the ceiling guy while I was on the phone, and I guess the guy asked if I had a leash for Thena or something, and Mike said no leash, then he said yeah, she has a leash, 'cause I take her out for walks in the back, he's been told. Feels weird to have the other tenants reporting on me to him, but I can't possibly be upsetting anyone -- she stays on the leash, with me, usually on the deck, and I don't let her get into anyone's stuff, and she doesn't do any bathrooming out there. Unless someone's allergic to cats and wanted to whine, I can't see a reason for them to tattle on me... I mean, I'm not doing anything persecutable, right?

Bah. These are the same people who leave their recycle bins out front for three weeks at a time. I worry not! Yeah, that's it. :P
This fits in with many a conversation Shawn and I have had. In fact, I'm surprised one of us hasn't said it yet:

(Tantalus|RO) No one can resist hot monkey sex
(Tovart) Except hot monkey females with a headache.
I would like to take a moment to inform you all of what I did last night.

I finished work and went to the gym for a bit. I came home, pestered the cat a little and took a shower. Then, I went into the bedroom to use the computer. When I was in there, I eventually heard weird noises from the living room, so I went out to see what mischief Thena was up to.

Instead of a bad cat, I discovered a leak in the ceiling. There had been one in the bathroom back in the fall, but it was fixed up. I called my landlord, he said it might be until Friday or Monday that he could get someone in to fix it, because his guy was out of town. I guess my lack of, "That's okay!" kinda got through to him, 'cause he said he'd see what he could do.

He called me back about five minutes later, said the people above me had flooded their shower the week prior, but that was it. He asked me how the leak was, and I said it was up to two places by now, which was true. He said he'd have someone in there tomorrow, it sounded like a burst pipe, and asked me if it was okay to bring someone in the next day. I approved it, and that was that.

About an hour later he called back to see how things were, I said we were up to about five leaks now, and he reaffirmed that someone would be in tomorrow to deal with it.

There are about three spots where water is coming out of the ceiling fairly steadily. I actually took the recycle box that was out in front of the building for over three weeks and pressed it into service as an overnight water-catcher. My garbage can (a smallish size) had overflowed during the night and my carpet is distinctly soggy in some places (i.e., the middle of the collection of various water-catchers). All in all, I am using two (three?) bowls, a rubber-maid type container, a garbage can, a recycle box, and a leftover litter container for catching water. Life in my apartment is great.

Needless to say, Thena was fairly rangy all evening and this morning. I know she's probably quite stressed by all of this, and the people coming in today to do repairs aren't going to help, I'm sure. I've left her locked up in my bedroom, 'cause there's no way I would leave her to run around the apartment and potentially get underfoot, not to mention that I don't feel assured that the people working there would be careful coming and going -- there's way too high a chance that she could get out and get hurt.

Oh, and I forgot to mention, shortly before all of this began, there was a fire of some sort in the apartment building across the street from me, and half of my street was filled with fire trucks, vans and assorted fire-related people, including tenants. There was one fireman in front of my door who was fairly cute, actually. I only stood outside long enough to confirm that they were working on another building and that my leak was unrelated to their fire, which it was. Then I later thought, "If there was a fire in the apartment above me, they'd evacuate me, too." I'm not always very bright, I have to admit. :)

2004/05/05

I have decided today to update my site every 5 minutes or so. Of course, the entries don't appear five minutes apart on here, but that's because I have to take the time to write them. Then I take the time to eat something (like my peas and carrots, or my digestive biscuits), and then I go back to being bored and having things to write.

1. I am tired of my blogroll. No one updates anymore, and it's irritating. I realize that I go through phases of not updating as well, but I've been that way since I first started doing this, over two years ago. It's pretty crazy to think I've kept this thing going that long. My personal journals, the ones that contain the stuff that doesn't appear on here, go through months of being untouched and not-updated. I only update them when I have things in my head I need to get out and not share with others, or when I want to remember things that have happened that don't get to appear on here. As such, that notebook has been going for five years and is still not yet finished (although it's within pages of being full). I don't know, I guess this is my roundabout way of saying that I'm proud of myself for sticking with this for so long. I have so many writing projects that I've started and abandoned from lack of interest, lack of motivation, lack of confidence in what I've written... and with this, I don't have to care about what people are going to think about my style of writing. I can write whatever the hell I want, and I do -- be it a critique of people on Dear Abby, a treatise on how my fish are plotting to kill me, a recounting of my never-ending love and lust for James Marsters, or simply a message about how I am feeling at any given time -- and I don't worry about it. I like that freedom. I have the hope that people who read this site regularly, be they people who know me in real life or not, understand perhaps how I am phrasing things and appreciate my writing for my quirks and foibles and potential intricacies and occasional intentional molestation of the English language (also included under quirks and foibles), because that's who I am, that's a part of me, and that's up here for all of you to read and judge.

I've been very fortunate throughout all the time I've been running this site to have received very little criticism in my comments section. Perhaps people see this site, and read it quickly and reject it, reject me, whatever, that's okay. But very few people have chosen to stay around and leave that message behind, and I think that's pretty cool. It's probably because I don't bother writing anything terribly controversial on here -- I'm not denouncing anyone's religion, politics, lifestyle, worldview or so on, unless they happen to be Dear Abby readers or absolutely insane and deserve it ;) -- and so people don't feel the need to trash my views, I guess. *shrug* Maybe they're entertained by me, and that's really the most I'm asking.

2. I've never really given much thought to my ability -- or lack thereof -- when it comes to writing. I generally don't have any huge difficulties in constructing essays, so long as they're on topics I understand, and that's something that's been useful to me for many a year in school. I remember one of my best friends in high school being amazed and envious at my writing ability... our English exams in high school were two and a half hours long when we were in OAC (if memory serves). English exams, without fail, consisted of a reading comprehension portion, and a final essay -- you had several questions from which to choose, each of which dealt in some manner or another with one of the books you had read in that semester. My friend and his twin brother were and are both insanely smart in their own ways -- both quite skilled in both the hard and soft sciences; maths, science, computers, musical theatre, and so on. Anyhow, they were both also quite intelligent in English as well, the only thing being that... well, hang on and let me finish my anecdote to illustrate my point.

I sat behind A for our final exam, and I went through the reading comprehension, just answering all the questions and so on, and I came to the final essay portion, chose my question, and wrote out my essay in about a half hour. I never use outlines for essays; so long as I can come up with three topics to answer the question, I'm all set -- one topic per paragraph, the intro and conclusion, and there's your standard five-paragraph essay. Bob's your uncle.

So that's how I treated the essay, and while I was worried that I what I was writing was more parallel to the question than actually answering it, I still did very well on that part (I did poorly on the reading comp for some reason that year, but that's another ramble). My friend, on the other hand, spent two hours and ten minutes composing his essay, and did the reading comp in the last twenty minutes or so. If I remember correctly, I had the better mark on the essay portion between the two of us, and I still remember him saying that he (and his brother seconded the statement) hated me and my ability to just write like that, because neither of them could. :)

This leads to my standard response to people in regards to arts vs. science courses when it comes to university; arts courses typically aren't bird courses. For me, I had some bad teachers at the end for math, so math wouldn't necessarily be easy for me, and science would be right out. I would struggle mightily in those courses, whereas I have many friends who find them a breeze. On the other hand, something like an English course that requires reading novels, sometimes on a weekly basis, and writing papers on them, is relaxing to me (so long as the books are interesting and the topic choices don't entirely suck), or if not relaxing then at least not insanely painful and difficult.

On the other hand, the music theory course I took one year was a total bird course for me, 'cause I think I only learned two new things the entire semester... after all, I've been playing an instrument since I was in grade 5 (started with a recorder, then moved to a clarinet in grade six and I haven't really looked back), and I enjoyed learning theory. The only problem was that most teachers always covered the same material, and I wasn't really mature enough to absorb it properly in grade 6 and 7, when I originally started learning it. The course I took in uni started with learning the staff and the placements of notes... and there were people in the class that had some difficulties in accepting that: "Why is that line an E?" "Uhhh... 'cause it is?"

So the ease of things depends entirely on where your skills lie. And that eventually brings me around to my point; I've never really considered myself to be an exceptional writer, I just enjoy doing it. When I write stories, I usually don't describe my characters. I forget to tell people how they look, I just know how they look in my head. When I write, I don't write flowery descriptions of the scenery, or odd metaphors or abstract comparisons to religion or something... I don't know. When I read things like Life of Pi, it makes me feel like I'll never be able to sell a book, 'cause I don't write that way, and it seems so popular with the Oprah's Club/average reader sect. Then again, there are plenty of other sections of the populace that also buy books, but it's still depressing nonetheless when my usual language is so plain and direct and the stuff I read so rarely is, and it's this stuff that wins awards and prizes and so on.

Of course, if you want an example of straight-forward writing in an entertaining little book, read All My Friends Are Superheroes, by Andrew Kaufman. It's simple, it's a sweet story, and it's really different. If you have an hour or two, you can read it straight-through, I'm sure.

Okay, so I got completely wrapped up in buying things online for a bit. I'm a loser. I'm also planning to get out to Chapters later today and spend gobs of money -- assuming there are books out that I want to buy -- so that's going to be fun. I really need more bookshelves in my apartment. It amazes me to see how few books many of my friends have in comparison to me. Then I see all the other things they have and I feel like a total loser. :)

Last night I spent relaxing on the couch and trying to shake off my morose mood, and I think it worked. After some running around and playing, Thena settled down and spent most of the evening sleeping on me, even returning after I'd wander off to go do something else. We finished off The Saint, one of my preferred films, watched Down to You, and watched Big Fish. I'd seen most of Big Fish before, but it was in the movie theatre and the fire alarm went off with 20 minutes left and we were all kicked out and no, I never got a free pass or anything afterwards. I thought about it, but I just kinda didn't care enough to bother. Yes, I know, most of you would have, but I didn't. So there. :)

I had also rented the three Die Hard movies because I've never seen them before and I have decided I kinda like Bruce Willis, so I went and got those, too. The reason I wound up with Down to You is 'cause I was told it was actually cheaper to rent four old movies over three, so I figured what the hell. I've seen better, I've seen worse. To be honest, I'm not sure what I think of Julia Stiles as an actress. I liked her in 10 things I hate about you, but I'm not sure. I don't dislike her, so we'll leave it at that, but the dance movie she was in was pretty meagre (Save the last dance) -- her dance moves just looked too forced. At the same time, the table dance scene in 10 things wasn't bad. *shrug* Who knows?

Monday night I got to play with leather and leather-tools with various friends, as I mentioned the other day. I made myself some leather ankle cuffs to match my wrist cuffs, so now I have a near-complete set. Of course, I'd still love to have/make a leather bracelet (I'll probably see what I can buy) and a trick belt, but that's a little ways away, yet. Now, I simply need to find someone who knows what they're doing, knows how to please me, and is interested. So basically... I'm amassing a lovely toy chest for no good reason. :)

And to end off, a new comic that I discovered through John's site. Questionable Content!

Check out a few of these....

I would like to take a moment to mock a Dear Abby letter, and then my lunch.

Please note the total overuse of "action quotes" (a common problem with Dear Abby I find, but for once it's not her doing it):

I have been married for 18 years. Two years ago, I met "Rita." She was "the girl of my dreams," and we moved in together. Our relationship was "unstoppable." My wife and I began divorce proceedings.

Three weeks ago, my doctor told me there was a good chance I had cancer. I needed more tests. I panicked and ran back to my wife and children. I wanted them to hear it from me. I told them I "might" get very sick from the disease and the treatment. I ended up going on a one-week vacation with my family. Rita said she understood I needed to be with them.

On the first day of vacation, I realized how much I missed Rita and decided to call her. There was no answer. When I called her the next day at her job, she said, "I have moved on," and hung up. I was shocked because she had always told me we were "soul mates and our love would never die." Now she won't give me the time of day and has threatened to notify the police if I keep calling.

Abby, the irony is -- I don't have cancer. It's four small cysts. At my suggestion, my wife agreed to e-mail Rita to tell her that I am not sick after all, and that she and I are not sleeping together. So far there has been no response from Rita.

Now I don't know what to do. I think Rita broke up with me not knowing all the facts. What do you think?
---

My comment to Shawn, with whom I share all manner of stupid Internet things: My wife agreed to email Rita to tell her they're not sleeping together?!?! WTF kind of doormat is this woman/!?!?!

And next, my lunch mocking. Today I had a frozen dinner thingy from President's Choice, their Butter Chicken. Not bad, much better in restaurants (of course), but a filling meal nonetheless. I made sure I ate it all 'cause I'm going to the gym tonight and need the energy. Anyhow, on the side, with the preparation instructions, there is this:

PREPARATION INSTRUCTIONS
4. For an authentic Indian taste experience, spoon chicken and sauce over rice before serving.

Oh yes, because it's the separation of rice from chicken and sauce that prevents this from being an authentic Indian taste experience. Let's just completely disregard the fact that it's a friggin' President's Choice frozen dinner that might detract from the authentic Indian taste experience, shall we?

Okay, so I had much more cutting remarks in my head earlier. Shut up. I just wanted to be able to post where I was mocking my lunch. I mean, c'mon -- who bothers to take the time in our busy schedules, with our running all about trying to get the kids from soccer practice and piano lessons, and get the husband his martini, slippers and newspaper, not to mention preparing a hot, nutritious meal for everyone and have it ready on the table for when the husband gets home from work... And I have to make sure I prepare lots of exciting, positive conversation for the dinner table, because I can't burden my hard-working husband with my problems when he's just home from a hard day of work at the office! It's tough work being a wife.

Sorry, just channeled some 1950s advice guides for wives, I think. I'm okay now.
The sad part is that much of this is true... although I'm not so sure about the consoling others part (see, I didn't insult myself with saying not so sure about the attractive part!)... I'm definitely not suave, though. :)

AUGUST:
Loves to joke. Attractive. Suave and caring. Brave and fearless. Firm and has leadership qualities. Knows how to console others. Too generous and egoistic. Takes high pride of oneself. Thirsty for praises. Extraordinary spirit. Easily angered. Angry when provoked. Easily jealous. Observant. Careful and cautious. Thinks quickly. Independent thoughts. Loves to lead and to be led. Loves to dream. Talented in the arts, music and defense. Sensitive but not petty. Poor resistance against illnesses. Learns to relax. Hasty and trusty. Romantic. Loving and caring. Loves to make
friends.


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2004/05/04

I feel weird and unsettled under my skin and apparently I sound sad when I speak. I am also rather pms-y, so I don't think that helps. Sometimes I think when people break up, they should move to opposite ends of the earth and not have anything to do with one another. Sometimes that would really help.

Actually, on that note... ran into Greg on my way to work yesterday, then J (the ex-boyfriend) in the mall... after that, Markuk called me in the afternoon from the UK, and I hung out with more zone friends at our leather craft night that evening. It turns out that someone I met through D knows S & N, and was at a leather craft night of theirs just a few nights ago. My circles are ever-smaller, and sometimes that almost makes them feel claustrophobic.

I have a meeting with one of my former profs in an hour, and I still have to email other profs and request their assistance in the grand scheme of writing me letters of recommendation. I'm pretty sure I should have at least two, so here's hoping one other one liked me enough/is willing enough to write me a letter.

Right now boys and people and boys in particular are stressing me out. I'm not coping very well with things right now, and I really need to sit down and think and write. Maybe Thena will let me do that tonight, although what's more likely is that she will find my pen a never-ending source of amusement and will do her best to attack it and steal it from me.

I really hope I can get a competition for my job soon and especially get re-classed. If I'm essentially doing the same or similar work as the girl I replaced, I don't think I should be kept at a lower level. And my boss saw how I rallied when all the legislation crazy was going on, so hopefully he'll be pulling for me on this. I don't know... sometimes it's like he's there for us, sometimes it's like he's not. I can't figure it out.

I told Ben I wanted to run away today. He poo-poohed that and suggested I go away for a weekend instead. Maybe, if I can get someone to agree to look after Thena for a weekend, I'll run away to someplace I haven't been before, someplace that holds no memories for me and holds actual visiting interest for me and I'll have fun. Maybe Mom'll let me steal the car and I can go drive somewhere, on my own, and look around.

I discovered that some of the literature that I've read about working with aggressive cats and kittens does seem to work. This morning, after I slept in, I had a short cuddle with Thena, and rather than wait until she started to get nippy to call an end to things, I ended things while she was still relaxed and purring (although sometimes she tests me during these moments by doing a cautious or protracted bite). This meant that she was still in good spirits for most of the morning, and although she did reach over my shoulder and bite my cheek when I was going to the bathroom (she perches on the back of the toilet, which she accesses by jumping into the tub, running around for awhile, then getting up on the toilet tank. Sometimes I don't know she's done this, as she can do it silently, and all I'll feel is a little paw poking me in the back)... at least, I think she did. She's done it on numerous occasions, so now I've lost track.

Anyhow, she got a little nippy as I left, hanging by her teeth on my arm, but otherwise we had a good, non-evil morning. My plan for tonight is to stay in, maybe rent and watch the Die Hard movies (as I've recently decided I like Bruce Willis) or watch Big Fish and finally get to see how it ends, maybe even get some writing done. I kinda want to hang out with people, but I'm kinda not in the mood. We'll see what happens, I guess.

2004/05/03

Okay, so it doesn't quite rival the adorableness that is the evil Thena, but check out this disgustingly adorable kitten. The colouring is something I've never seen before, I have to admit.

In addition, there is this, to screw with your childhood memories.

Did I mention that last night, as I was laying down, awaiting sleep, Thena decided my eye needed to die? Oh yes, she pounced, her paw got full-on eyeball, and there was pain. I scruffed her and took her to the bathroom while I checked my eye in the mirror -- she was strangely calm as this was going on, and I told her that was quite possibly the worst thing she'd done since I'd gotten her (in retrospect, I think it definitely beats out biting my neck, cheek, chin, and so on) -- and I left her in the living room as I went back to sleep. I didn't yell, I didn't punish, all I said was "ow" at the time and then said she was bad. She didn't even cry until about ten minutes before my alarm this morning, and I let her in for a cuddle. She was good for her usual amount of time, with some light nibbling... then later she started getting wound up and mean. I have to schedule some kitten time this week, otherwise this isn't going to improve.

2004/05/02

A few weeks ago, Thena discovered a new toy.

She learned that she could jump up and play with the toilet paper on the roll in the bathroom, and amuse herself greatly this way.

Well, Mom did her best to dissuade this behaviour, and sure enough, Thena got used to looking Mom's way if she was going to do it, 'cause if Mom was around, it could mean the squirt bottle.

Thena also likes to play with the plug from the tub. She picks it up in her mouth and runs around with it, before leaving it places, usually in the kitchen.

When Thena was smaller, she could fit under the bathroom door and go in and play without Mom having to let her in. It's been awhile since Mom has seen Thena do this, so when Mom got home today, she opened the bathroom door to let Thena go in and play if she wanted. You see, Mom had forgotten about Thena's habit of playing with the toilet paper, despite Thena having unravelled some just as recently as a day or two ago -- more fool Mom.

Mom was happily typing away at the computer and could hear Thena jumping in the bathroom. Mom thought she was either falling off the sink a lot, trying to jump and climb the towels (another fun game), or just playing in the tub.

Then Mom could hear Thena dragging something into the bedroom behind her. Mom thought this was Thena bringing in a towel, which would have been quite amusing to see, especially as Thena is still quite young. Instead, this was Thena bringing in a length of toilet paper.

In fact, Thena had managed to unravel most of a whole roll of toilet paper. Mom moved it out of the bedroom, shut Thena in there, then took pictures (which will appear later). Then Mom took her remaining plastic Christmas canister and stuck all the toilet paper in there. Mom may have to chase the damn thing down occasionally, but at least Thena can't bury it under Mom's computer desk, which is her current hiding place for her toys (Mom had already discovered beneath her own bed and underneath the night table, which was toys were brought to die/be hidden before).

Of course, because Mom is truly mean in spirit, she was mean to Thena. See, Thena likes to sit between the shower curtains; usually when Mom is in the shower, but sometimes just when Mom is going to the washroom (the toilet being about two inches away from the tub). So Thena was sitting on the edge, and Mom had placed the bathmat on the edge of the tub earlier in the day, so Mom reached out and gave Thena a little push, expecting just to rock her a little. Instead, Thena and the bathmat both slid into the tub. Swoosh!

No harm came to Thena, she didn't fall and her herself, just slid down the porcelain on the bathmat. I just feel bad saying it.

*sigh* I can't wait until she stops gnawing on me. I could totally handle a hyper, misbehaved kitten if it weren't for the gnawing. *sigh* Maybe once she's spayed she'll be nicer. Then every now and then she sleeps on me or she cuddles me and purrs and nuzzles and she's totally adorable. The trick is, once she rolls over on her back, don't rub her stomach -- after a minute or two she uses that as an excuse to gnaw on you. And yet she totally tries to get you to rub her stomach. She's true evil. :P

I know it's my fault for not having been around a whole lot this week, too. I can see changes in her behaviour when I'm not around as much, so I try to keep it to one late night a week, and stay around as much as possible on weekends. I'll detail my weekend later, but suffice it to say that I wasn't home a whole lot on Friday and Saturday, and so that might explain her crazy and unwillingness to let me sleep/sleep in. :P Friday night was the first night in awhile that I locked her out of the bedroom, when I'd gone to bed at 3:30, it was 4:00 o'clock and I was awake 'cause she was bouncing on me. :P

Bedtime now, while I'm on the subject. Shawn, is this another entry for the 17-paragraph update about Buffy award? Oh yeah, speaking of Buffy, I finally got to watch the episode of Angel from last week that I taped. Crazy episode, still haven't a clue how they're going to end the series, partly because I don't feel the same kind of build-up that the final season of Buffy had, or even last season's mishaps with Jasmine. Ah well.
I am really tired of being and feeling used, and for a change, I'm going to say something about it.

2004/05/01

Well, just took Thena out for the third time on her leash. She was being weird, trying to climb up my skirt and so on at times. Odd cat. :)

I got my hair cut again, and I want to go to sleep, 'cause the beast kept waking me up all night -- in mean ways -- but I have to run to the gym. Hence this entry is boring and now over.