*rofl* I learned rather recently (like, an hour ago) that I apparently come off as very bi or possibly lesbian. And that I'm very open sexually, so I seem like I'd be a good time in bed (I'm paraphrasing a bit on that last one). Maybe this switching sides thing wouldn't be so hard after all... hehe.

I want someone to have a crush on me. It's been a long time since I can remember having a crush on someone or someone having a crush on me. It's odd listening to someone talk about girls they're interested in or dating when you're pretty sure they were interested in you at some point and might be... and more stuff there that I'm not going to go into.

My cat is funny.

Random thoughts posted to Whore's Boudoir.

Note to self: post about Thena-games later. For now, I sleep. I hope.

You know you're getting old when they tell you to change the way you brush your teeth, so as to prevent your gums from continuing to recede. Yeesh.

The party, she was a success. Lasagna was consumed and enjoyed, the squares were eaten and praised, and there was a fabulous collection of food fusion -- we had Italian, Indian, Lebanese, Greek... good times.

The cat also got lots of attention and play, and only sometimes acted like a brat. When the party was at its fullest, I put her out on her leash a few times, which she wanted. For the most part, people were having fun playing with her various toys on a stick and her. One toy in particular saw a lot of use, and she spent time on Sunday picking it up and bringing it to me, which was adorable. :)

One of the entertaining parts of the evening was sitting out on my front stoop with a few people, hearing about how R proposed to N (hugely involved story, just awesome), then R and I (and then male N to me) spent time hitting each other with the birthday present male N made me. We could hear music coming from the building across the street, so S asked where the gay disco was taking place. We didn't see anyone dancing, unfortunately, but we did establish that the place seemed primarily inhabited by men.

This weekend I'm hoping to pick out a new kitten. I might like to get out to the Humane Society early to look and see what they have. Maybe tonight. I might also apply to foster animals -- wouldn't it be cool to foster a mom and her babies? :)

I started Flowers for Algernon yesterday and finished it today. Good book; didn't really get me thinking about things any differently than I did before, but the story was well-told. I was thinking as I was reading it, "If I ever have a mentally disabled (is that the proper pc-term now?) child, I'm going to be much nicer to him!" Then, on my walk home from my bus stop, I was being followed by someone of some mental disability, who was trying to convince me to go to a book fair that was being held only today and right nearby. As I walked home, my route happened to partially mimic that of the route to get to the book fair, and I could hear him behind me, rattling off directions; I didn't want to know if he was talking to himself and me, and just hoped that he wasn't planning on following me to my door. Fortunately, he didn't.

Irony is weird sometimes.

Thena had her first encounter with another cat the other day, while out on her harness. She dealt with it by bravely hiding under the discarded door until I let her in -- just moments after I heard the cat screech/hiss combination. Her attitude was fine, but her toes were a bit sweaty, so she did get stressed by it.

Yesterday Stefan and Jenn came by to pick up boxes, and a moth got in. There was great amusement had as we watched Thena track, poke, lose, poke some more, lose again, and eventually eat the hapless moth. Right now she's tracking some fly or another that managed to get in the apartment. She's got a good eye -- there've been several times she's swiped at something I can't see.

I got my hair cut today, and it's gotten even shorter than ever. My hairdresser described it as a pixie cut; I have more hair than I would've thought for a pixie cut, but I'll be able to figure it out better once I've washed it and styled it myself. She said next time I might go for the mini-pixie, but we'll see. :) After all, we're getting into winter a little too soon, and that's a bad time to have no hair.

I appear to be coming down with a cold, which is of course, perfect timing, given the festivities to be had on Saturday. It seems to be staying somewhat mild, and I can only hope it continues in this manner. Otherwise, I'll be the one passed out in bed, while the party happens around me. :)

I discovered while giving Stefan and Jenn the tour of my place yesterday that I still have a box of books that needs to find a home. I also have old textbooks that never got placed anywhere, so I guess that makes two boxes -- not to mention that there are three shelves that are doubled up that could stand not to be. Urgh, I own way too many books.

Big stuff going on at work, at least in terms of importance. Vaguely scary to be the only peon in on the meeting with all of the bigwigs next week, but at least I'll have a speech writer there with me. I'll still be the youngest by probably at least 20 years or so, but still... I'm cute. That'll carry me through, somehow.

Hah.

Anyhow, time to be getting to bed, I think. I'll try and get some pics of the hairdo and maybe get them posted later. I've got a bunch of stuff to get off my camera, and I want to take some into a photography place to get them properly printed.

Oh yeah, and as an update -- the kitten has gone to another home. I'm a somewhat relieved to hear it, since this means I get to go pick out a little boy kitty (if I find one I like) and/or a tabby (if I find one I like). Plus, no kitten getting uber-stressed by a bunch of people coming and going.

Do I want to adopt someone's seal-point Himalayan kitten (female), or do I go ahead with my plans and get a kitten from the Humane Society? I was kinda hoping to get a male, but I'm not necessarily totally stuck on that plan.

Well, that's just awesome.

One of my speech writers sent me a basket of goodies from Bridgehead for my birthday.

I almost lost another keyboard last night to salt water, but I seemed to have managed to rescue it.

Thena amuses me; she'll sit on my computer desk, and if she sees my mouse on the keyboard tray, even slightly, she'll smack it so that it goes flying back under the desktop, usually far enough so that it lands on the CPU underneath. Then she settles down and either bites me or goes to sleep on the top of the desk. Nutjob.

And...

It's my BIRTHDAY!

More updates later when my work mouse doesn't hate life, and as a result, me.

I discovered yesterday that keyboards don't like salt water. Now I have a new one and I think I really like it. The keys are kind of a soft clacky, which I've never had before, but it's working out well so far.

Of course, my old keyboard was black and this one is white, so I have to wonder if it makes my mouse feel uncomfortable, but they'll just have to work it out.

Yay, season 2 of Gilmore Girls is on its way out. Still a ways away, but... in the meantime, I'll get season 4 of Angel and I think season 7 of Buffy will be due out somewhere-ish in there. I'll have tv on DVD to watch; I still have all kinds that I haven't touched (Futurama, season 1 of Friends, Firefly)... the winter months will be all set. :)

I had a dream last night that there was someone in my room and they were about to rape me or something. I woke up and was trying to protest this turn of events or something, but was also half-asleep, so I made some noise akin to "Meuh." I think it scared him off.

I also woke up around 3:30, thinking it was past time that my alarm had gone off and wondering why the cat hadn't started nuzzling me. For a change, I was the one to wake her in the middle of the night to pat her. :)

Thena amuses me; she's like Pavlov's dogs, except here it's Jen X's cats. Whenever my alarm clock goes off, 99% of the time she comes racing over for a cuddle. My sister spent the night last week, and both times the alarm went off, Thena went racing in for a nuzzle. She also likes to nuzzle and lick Mark's armpits; of course, she follows that up with a nip or two, but before that, it's pretty damn funny.

Sunday night I was sleeping at the very edge of my bed, with less than a foot between myself and the end of it, and Thena was stretched out with me in that space. She's a funny little monkey, but every now and then she seems to like me, which is nice.

I also got my printer hooked up yesterday, so I printed out some nice colour shots of Thena. The printer quality isn't equal to that of the pictures, but they still look nice, and I think I'm going to go ahead and either get the printer dock for my digicam, or bring in a CD of pics to Black's or something and print out my nice shots so I can frame them and hang them.

I've told some of my friends and family that I want to decorate my walls with pictures of them. So, this is a call-out; send me pictures of yourself so I can put them up! :)

Of course, sometimes I just torment people:

Me: So? Got my flash ready? :)
Jay: Not yet! :) I'll have to work on it tonight!
Me: Bah! you can't make my deadlines and include my lava fish? You're fired!
Jay: :) Lava fish?
Jay: You're trying to kill me. :)
Me: *grin* And they must be iridescent green with blinking purple dots! But blend into the lava background so that they can jump out and scare the audience and the heroes. And the lava is going to be an eggshell-cream-ochre white colour.
Jay: *nervous breakdown*
Me: Oh yeah, and since all of our actors for this scene are going to be on-set on Friday, we need this by first thing Thursday morning.
Jay: And Thursday is way too late to stress me out. :) You need it by today at 5.
Me: Damn, you're right. We're filming tomorrow morning. That's it, my assistant is fired.
Jay: :)
Me: And I know a bit about programming and digital editing, and I think that COBOL should be used to code it.
Jay: Thank goodness for you! I would have spent so much time floundering around in a language invented post-1950. :)
Me: It's a good thing I'm here.

Every now and then I'm witty...

In conversation, referring to living at home and not being able to exercise full dirty monkey sex abilities:

He: Actually, we've been pretty restrained at the [household] casbah.
Me: Ah, the joys of living alone... ;)
Me: Restraints are only needed if you're in the mood for 'em!
Me: *ba-dump*
He: (laugh) A hit! A very palpable hit, I do confess! Five points for Powryndor ;)
He: *dance*

PART-AY
PART-AY
PART-AY
PART-AY
PART-AY

I've moved into a big apartment and I have lots of new stuff and it's
pretty and so we must celebrate.

When: August 28th, a Saturday
From: Show up anytime after 3:00 p.m. until say, dinner time. People
are welcome to stay for dinner/birthday party celebrations afterwards if
they desire.

What's that you say? Oh yes, it's also my birthday that week! Woot!

Drop in during the day to check out the pad and the demon spawn that
masquerades as a kitten (viewings available at $0.50, pat or wrestle her
yourself for $1.00!), to lavish me with love and affection and so on...
then come back or stick around for birthday fun.

If you want to participate in birthday fun, email me and I'll work out
a plan based on attendance. It could be pot luck, it could be a
restaurant, it could have strippers and chocolate! Oh, the madness!

Who knew that owning a cat would mean I'd be uttering phrases like, "Thena, stop chewing the lampshade!" or, "Thena, stop tormenting the fish!"

Okay, so I could've predicted the second one, but I don't think she recognizes it's a living thing; I think she just likes to stand on his little case and steal his food.

I am Canadian.

I was born in Halifax, Nova Scotia, nearly 24 years ago, and I've grown up in Ontario. Up until last September, I lived in the same house, with my 2 parents, a younger sister, and cats.

I grew up in an attached semi, which means that our house has one attached to it on one side, and is open on the other. That's the standard for my neighbourhood, or at least it was before the newest developments went in. That's a rant for another time.

The seasons were marked by activities: summer had softball and playing in the parks with friends; fall was the start of school and playing with schoolmates; winter involved tobogganing, skating, snowball fights and drinking hot chocolate; the spring had playing in puddles, waiting for the snow to melt, and, usually around Easter time, skipping rope in the street.

In the summer, we have Canada Day. My family and I used to go down to the local fireworks; as I've gotten older, I typically do whatever appeals to me out of the various plans my friends make. I try to wear red and white if I can, and I'll feel a sense of contentment watching the fireworks and hanging out with my friends.

I've never been much of an Olympics-watcher; I've never been a huge athletics person, and since the coverage is so all over the place without really any direction from me, it's hard to focus on the sports I might want to see. Every now and then, however, I get sucked in; many years ago, I remember watching the women compete in the synchronized swimming competition in Atlanta, and admiring the red and white motif costumes they wore and the fact that they worked three different maple leafs into their performance. It was quite something, and I felt it was more appropriate than the Americans, who wore purple costumes with giant sparkly treble clefs on it. The Americans took the gold, which many of us felt was a total rip.

I remember sitting in my grandparents' basement, watching the competition as my parents and sister were over watching the tattoo. My friend was marching in it, and she was busy with her own friends, so I felt totally isolated and just wanted to be home. Dad drove me -- out of the way -- back to Grandma and Grandpa's house before rejoining everyone else. This was back when Grandma was still alive.

I have very few Olympics-related memories. The names of athletes and their medals don't stay with me, I must admit. But as I've gotten older, I've gotten a bit more into the whole thing. I've always had a thrill of national pride when I'd hear of one of our athletes winning a medal, or doing well for whatever reason. The CBC has been helping to foster this the last while, profiling athletes each day (including one hot rower from Carleton Place, yummy). One or two advantages come with being at work at 6:30 and watching CBC for half the day.

Anyhow, I think I'm a fairly typical Canadian; I'm not in-your-face with my patriotism or pride, but I love my country. I'd love to visit other nations, but I can't really imagine living anywhere else. I'm very Eastern in my roots, so my Canada is the aboreal forests of Ontario and Quebec and the red roads, rocky shores, salty waters and forests of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island. My Canada is French and English. My Canada is white, black, brown, yellow and everything in-between. My Canada is gay and straight, liberal and conservative, male and female.

I'm Canadian. I may not say it loudly, or often, or shove it in people's faces, but it's who I am, and I like that. I'm proud of my Canadian identity, and all it entails, for better or worse. I feel secure in my identity, and who knows? Maybe that's a big reason why I don't have to wave it around. But if I ever get the chance to travel overseas, you'd better believe the maple leaf will appear on my backpacks. :)

My Canadian identity may not be big and bold, it may not be easily identifiable or even particularly admired by everyone else, but it's mine and I love it. And sometimes, like when I'm watching Canadian athletes following behind our flag, full of hope and sporting excited, shiny, happy faces, I'm reminded of that.

The possibility of this happening makes me very very sad and upset:

(Reproduced out of the Globe and Mail... probably very illegally).

U.S. giant seeks to buy the Bay Target Corp. sees Canada's oldest company as prime acquisition in fight with Wal-Mart

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

MARINA STRAUSS, ANDREW WILLIS AND ERIC REGULY U.S.-based Target Corp. is in advanced talks to buy part or all of Hudson's Bay Co., the 334-year-old Canadian institution that owns The Bay and Zellers department stores, sources say.

The sale of HBC would leave Canada's oldest company in foreign hands, relegating to the history books a firm that opened up the country after receiving a monopoly to trade on all the rivers flowing into Hudson Bay, dating back to 1670.

But a legacy thick with furs and wool blankets hasn't stopped HBC from struggling to keep shoppers coming through the doors as behemoth Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and other strong foreign rivals stole away business.

HBC has been the only domestically owned department store retailer since the 133-year-old Eatons chain failed in 1999, a victim of shifting tastes as even its long-time customers shopped elsewhere.

Meanwhile, Target, a 1,107-store discount department-store chain with a stylish bent, is locked in a bitter battle with Wal-Mart for the hearts and wallets of U.S. bargain shoppers.

The billion-dollar purchase of HBC would mark the opening of a northern front and its first international expansion.

Sources said a deal may come within the next two weeks, but also cautioned that talks could break off at any time.

The deal makes strategic sense because Target has a discount format similar to HBC's Zellers, and they both sell a number of the same private labels such as Mossimo and Cherokee, analysts said.

One scenario has Target in talks with wealthy industrialist Jerry Zucker of South Carolina, HBC's largest shareholder, to buy his 18.1-per-cent stake as a prelude to taking it over.

Target would convert about half of Zellers' 300-plus stores into Target outlets, and even turn some Bay locations into Target stores, sources said.

"There are too many things going on right now to not think something is happening," one source said.

HBC spokeswoman Hillary Stauth would not comment about talks with Target. "This is an ongoing rumour in the market. We aren't prepared to comment on rumours." Target officials were asked yesterday on an analysts' conference call about the company's interest in international acquisitions.

"Sure, we all believe at some point . . . five years, 10 years or who knows when, Target will be international as a retailer, but we will do that only when we find the appropriate vehicle for accomplishing that," an unnamed official is quoted as saying in the call's preliminary transcript.

"Meanwhile, we have tremendous growth prospects right here in the United States for . . . a very long time to come." Robert Johnston, a vice-president with Mr. Zucker's firm, said he wasn't aware of any talks.

Still, some HBC insiders say that the buzz about Target picking up anywhere between 60 and 175 of Zellers' largest and best stores has reached a fevered pitch over the past week or so.

Some have heard that Target would buy the most attractive Zellers stores and leave the others to HBC to run in smaller markets that don't compete head-on with Wal-Mart. HBC would then continue to operate the 99 Bay stores and 45 Home Outfitters big-box outlets.

"Everyone feels something is going to happen this month," said retail consultant Anthony Stokan, who has spoken with HBC suppliers.

"The rumours are endless." Canadian Tire Corp. Ltd. has even made inquiries with landlords about the possibility of picking up some Zellers properties if Target doesn't want to keep them all, sources said.

But Canadian Tire spokesman Scott Bonikowsky said the firm's real estate officials make such inquiries "in the normal course of business.

. . . They probably placed a call saying, 'If they ever do become available, give us a call.' " Target executives have said in recent months that they want to bolster the business, with plans to build larger big-box stores that sell groceries alongside clothes and stereos, apart from other new outlets. The Minneapolis-based company recently sold a 62-department- store chain for $3.24-billion (U.S.) to focus on discount shoppers.

"You can see why Target would be interested," said one investment banker, who works with retail companies and has heard repeated rumours of Target's recent interest in HBC. "They have sold off their department stores in the States to focus on the discount segment, taking on Wal-Mart. It makes sense to bring that strategy to Canada, where Zellers plays the Target role as the main rival to Wal-Mart." Target is expected to offer between $16 and $16.50 (Canadian) a share for HBC if it bids for the entire firm, according to one investment banking source familiar with the talks, which would value the Canadian retailer at up to $1.14-billion.

HBC SNAPSHOT: Headquarters: Toronto Established: 1670 Bay stores: 90 Zellers stores: More than 300 Home Outfitters stores: 45 Employees: 70,000 (full-time, part-time, contract, subsidiaries, affiliates) Other holdings: Hudson's Bay Company Archives, Archives of Manitoba - includes the largest holding of fur trade maps in North America, as well as prints, drawings, paintings, posters, calendars, and advertising dating from 1738 Revenue: $7.4-billion (in 2004)

Marglebarggleblaggleiflep poop.

At least I made it through most of this week before the late days started setting in. Stupid job.

Went out to Pho last night with the semi-usual crowd. Stefan was there, which was cool. I was a bit late, so I got stuck at the end of the table and felt totally out of everything. I tried to tell my bunny humping story, but kept getting interrupted and totally lost the flow. As the evening wore on, I felt more and more up in my head and divorced from everything and kept trying to figure out my feelings on life, the universe and everything... no real success.

After Pho was bubble tea, and while there, Andrea and I got a great laugh going -- well, just between the two of us. It made some people at the table paranoid, and probably rightly so -- but for the wrong reasons. Funny inside joke, next we shall be going out all whorey to a bar for fun and booze. And gossip. Lots of gossip. :)

Urgh. So annoyed with these stupid enhanced CDs. All I want to do is put the CD in the drive and play the music. If I wanted video and poor quality handling, I'd ask for it, yes?

Also annoyed with people asking me to do things for them that they can do, especially when their excuse for not doing it is that they are too busy. And I'm not? I'm busy enough with my crap, let alone being the media monitoring person, let alone your crap. Fuck off.

Anyhow, wandered over to the bus with Ben and Eric and chatted a bit with them. Nothing special or whatnot, but entertaining nonetheless. Lots of communication took place last night with people in very subtle manners -- facial expressions, sotto voce lines of dialogue, and so on. I always love when that happens, but it's all the more entertaining when it happens a lot, and with different people.

Ben went on a bit about how wonderful he thinks all of his friends are, and how fascinating -- I said I was fascinating like a microbe, or he suggested a spore, I think. I'm like the crazy, unpredictable monkey in the zoo that people study to see what it'll do next. It won't be smart, it won't make sense, but it'll do it, and then leave others to figure out why.

On that note... stupid headspace. I want, but I don't. I know that it wouldn't work, but there's the catnip factor. And the laughing, and the comfort level and the getting along well and all sorts of things... overall, just not the best. If only there was some switch, some way of changing it all, that would be great. I suppose I always have the option of moving away. :P

...Space so I can properly convey the size needed for this news...

!!!

A picture with both of them! I could touch him!

Okay, so, I have a birthday coming up, right? So who wants to chip in on a ticket to this event? I'll cover my airfare, somehow!

Please? I'll ... I dunno, I'll offer up something good in exchange!

I thought I once wrote about how I wanted to have sex with the majority of the male cast members of Whose Line is it Anyway?, but I can't seem to find it. I didn't do a very thorough search, though, just a keyword search on the built-in Blogger updater.

Anyhow, I was going to use that post and the one I was about to make about the cast of the Daily Show to prove that it's a sense of humour, intelligence and ability to carry on a conversation that sucks me in to a person much faster than good looks or a good body. See, I was watching the Daily Show this morning and thinking about how there are some damn funny and attractive guys on the Daily Show that I would sleep with, and the reason I would want do them is because they are funny and intelligent and attractive.

Then I have to remind myself of my ever-continuing lust for James Marsters and ... wait! I've seen interviews and panel discussions with him. He's funny, and that's part of the reason I liked his character on Buffy so much; funny situations, funny person, and fucking hot. Oh, yes, there's a man that looks like he knows things...

*cough* Excuse me, umm... I ... uh... phone. Yeah, the phone.

*runs off*

Is it weird if the smell of someone is a little like catnip to me, in that I sometimes want to bury my face in them and just sniff?

I got together with a few of the girls yesterday, and we had a total girly afternoon; we played with nailpolish (which is why I now have red toes and blue sparkly fingers), we applied eye makeup to one another and to our (boy) makeup monkey R... I gave him outlandish lips, and vivid pink and purple eyelids. It was awful, but fun.

We made dinner, which consisted of sausages, salad and fresh fruit basted lightly with maple syrup that we grilled; it turned out very nice, even the starfruit. Highly recommended.

After we tired of playing with makeup, we wound up watching this short movie called, "The Gamers" (or the official site, here), which apparently was big online for awhile, and got pressed, whereby OFK bought it for R's enjoyment, and Mad chose to show it to me. It's focused on people playing DND, and if you've ever played a campaign or have geeky friends that can explain some of the humor to you... well, quite worth it. Particularly amusing is Ambrose/Magellan (also kinda hot when he's not wearing the glasses), the Barbarian (whose name I keep forgetting) who keeps blowing his rolls, and Mark. Hell, Nimble and his rolls are great, too. :) I thought it was much better-acted than many of the shorts that I've watched before.

This morning Mark called me and we wound up getting together for some breakfast and part of a movie. I don't know what it is with that family, but so far I've sat down to watch Bend it like Beckham with both Mark and Ben at some point, and we've gotten interrupted both times. Well, with Ben we paused it for a pee break or something that turned into a long discussion about something, and then Mark and I wound up talking and so on and falling asleep for awhile. He snores. :)

Once we got up, it was a nice walk downtown to get some food and for me to get to work and him to return home. Oh joy, oh bliss -- at least, on the work thing.

So far, swearing off boys seems to be paying off. And if you know what's going on in my life right now, that's even a bit funnier. But... I'm spending time with good people, which seem to be a rarity in my life now. I have some really awesome friends, and I appreciate them -- and not just 'cause N hooked up my washer and dryer, for example. Many of my friends are great sounding boards, they're there for me when I need a shoulder to lean on, and I hope they know that and know that I appreciate them for that.

Some of them just exist to give me a hard time, but that's also good. :)

Anyhow, I gotta get to bed, since I have no life anymore -- just a job. Here's hoping that I don't work 50 hours this week... although, without actually doing the math, I think that my overtime will more or less pay for the television I want to buy. It's sick, I know. :)

I was screwing around on the Official Harry Potter site, and if you want to determined what your Boggart is (i.e, what shape the thing would turn into to reflect what you fear most), you rate a bunch of pictures. Well, about four pictures in, this turned up. Fuckin' A.

Yesterday I was at work until a little after 6. I was just shy of a full 12 hours. From there, I met up with Ben and Will to toss around a frisbee for awhile. I showed off how truly horrid I am, although I did improve with a bit of time, and was even managing to deliver the frisbee to where Will was standing -- and nicely in his strike zone, too.

A note to anyone who plays frisbee with Ben -- he can throw it hard. I feared for my fingers, 'cause I am a wimp. A group of people who were playing frisbee nearby asked if we could be stand-in bodies for them, since they were trying to learn a particular ultimate move and were short on bodies. We played for a bit, then as they started to get an actual game going, I booked. I had to get home to the demon spawn, I wasn't dressed for running around, and I just wasn't feeling it. I'm lazy. :)

At home, I played with Thena for a bit and did some work setting up my kitchen. I didn't get everything put away, but I did get a fair bit of cleaning done, and I managed to get most of the dishes that I had out on the counters put away or in the dishwasher. Afterwards, I packed myself off to bed (later than planned) and locked the cat out when she wouldn't stop biting me. I've discovered (and so has she) that some method of throwing herself at the door or something will open it, so I may have to rig up some other method of keeping her out when she's annoying me, or when I have company over that isn't as eager to share the bed with a (sometimes) biting kitten.

As the week's gone on, it's been harder to drag my butt out of bed. I can tell that it wouldn't take much at all to convince me to go back to sleep each morning... which means that, more than likely, tomorrow I'll be wired at 5 a.m. and unable to get back to sleep. :P

Okay, not so likely, but it's a concern. For about five minutes. Then I laugh semi-hysterically for a bit and go back to drooling.

I need socializing this weekend. I also need to buy groceries and continue setting up -- I've taken a day off this week from putting my apartment to rights, but that's not the way to get rid of the boxes. But I need to get out and breathe non-recirculated air or the stale air that comes from my apartment.

Oh yeah! I also finally got my mailbox keys, and managed to empty out my mailbox. The previous tenants never cancelled or moved their mail delivery, so I spent a good five minutes marking "moved" on everything and then schlepping it right back out again. There were a few pieces of my mail in there, and a lot of catalogues... I sent back the Today's Parent ones, but I hung on to the Macleans and the recipes. I'm only human, and if it's paid for... I look at it as being their stupidity for not having cancelled it in the first place. Yeah, that'll appease my conscience.

Oh yeah -- I subscribed to Bust magazine, ordered a bunch of back-issue Ms.es, and in my bid to maintain my grown up, professional image at the government, downloaded the Animaniacs theme song to my work cell as my primary ringer. Hah!

I do dumb things at 5:00, 5:30 in the morning. Ah well, you can't cash in on chances you don't take, right? Right.

So... yesterday I spent a HAPPY JOYOUS FUN 11 hours at work. I would've gone for the gold and hit 12, but I wanted to get out and meet everyone for Pho.

Ben wasn't there, so we spent the entire dinner talking about him, which was fun. :) Afterwards, we went on a high-speech block-long chase to catch the bus, laughing and swearing as we went -- being full of Pho or wearing a semi-snug skirt are not very conducive to running for the bus. Once on the bus, the four of us traded stories of various races for various buses and our relative failures and successes, and some guy apologized for interrupted us, but had to say that I had very nice feet. When I got off the bus, he complimented my feet again and said that I should take care of them.

It's funny that there are two primary bus routes where you'll find all the crazies, and that one is the other one. I always forget that until I encounter one of them -- singing, chatting up random people about nothing, talking to themselves, Mr. Itchy has ridden that bus a few times, complimenting my feet... Mind you, I do have nice feet, so it's all good.

Anyhow, I'm off to go and kill myself so that I don't have to spend another 11 hours at work. It's been nice knowing you all, and I hope that you find yourselves well and find another blogger to enjoy. Or bring more people to my blog, 'cause I want love and acceptance from strangers!

*sits down and cries*

I'm doing fine, I promise...

I spent 11 hours at work today.

I learned interesting information this evening (hickeys, anyone?). >:)

Some guy on the bus complimented my feet many times. Some guy at work yesterday said that blue really suited me. Finally, I'm getting married next week -- twice.

Just some updates for you.

It's the last line in this piece that's the best.

MeetMr. Peebles. He's cute. :)

Sad. :(

Sleeping with the fishes.

Who needs a real update? I've got link fun!

Edited: Umm, eww. I saw a few of the print ads. It really is creepy.

Huh!


Rowling Planning 'Potter 8'

Author JK Rowling is planning to write an eighth Harry Potter novel. The English novelist - currently adding the finishing touches to her sixth Potter book - had previously vowed to only create seven adventures about the magical wizard. But she now wants to add an eighth entry, featuring outtakes she has edited from the series so far. Rowling will donate all proceeds from the book to charity, and publishers estimate the "Harry Potter Encyclopedia" could make in excess of $18 million. But the 39-year-old insists she's ready to retire when the hugely successful series ends. Rowling, who has made an estimated $960 million from Harry Potter, says, "I think it highly unlikely I'll write more novels. I've got enough for seven books and I never meant to carry the story beyond the end of book seven."

Every now and then I get 'em back... and yes, this is the full text of the conversation:

kid says:
you like purple do you

Aphrodite: You know what I like about violet? It's really purple. says:
It has its advantages

kid says:
so are you looking fro something purple to play with? ;)

Aphrodite: You know what I like about violet? It's really purple. says:
Well, if I were to squeeze your balls hard enough, they'd turn purple -- is that what you have in mind?

[minute or so pause]

kid says:
nasty girl

Aphrodite: You know what I like about violet? It's really purple. says:
(devil icon) Only when it's called for

kid says:
i wouldn't want to piss you off

Aphrodite: You know what I like about violet? It's really purple. says:
I wouldn't advise it, no

kid says:
have a nice, cheerful day.

kid says:
c ya

Aphrodite: You know what I like about violet? It's really purple. says:
I do what I can

I'm covered in little bruises from moving and so on, and I have a really nice one on the back of my calf with no recollection whatsoever as to how it got there.

Lee, thanks for the advice and such regarding moving -- I'd wondered where you'd gone!

My fingers and wrist are still sore, but they're improving. I managed to assemble my night table yesterday and I even made up my new bed and slept in it last night (no more couch sleeping for me!). Thena seemed to enjoy the extra room, and she had a blast attacking me all evening. I guess this means she's feeling better. Yay.

I treated Stefan to breakfast at Cora's yesterday (around quarter after 2 in the afternoon) and then ran random errands; returned some sheets I'd bought, bought another fan, then headed out to the parents' place to do some high-quality Winners and Wal-Mart shopping with Mom. Spent a lot of money, blah blah blah... dinner at the house was quite appreciated, then the whole family came down en masse to check out my new place.

Dad had seen it from weekend treks, but Mom hadn't, and the sister never saw my old place, let alone my new one. Sister also got to meet Thena, who hung around a surprising amount, although she got spooked with the sliding boxes again. The last time Mom had seen Thena was the day I got the little beast, so she's obviously changed a little bit since. I got out one of her feather toys and Mom kept bashing Thena in the head with it. Isn't my family great? :)

What other big news? Well, I've been informed that the two major car accidents my parents have had were both my fault. The first one, when I was about 2 or 3 years old was my fault because they were going out for ice cream for me; the most recent one, on Friday night, was because they were going to my old apartment to help me take down cupboards and do the final move.

Yes, my folks got in a car accident on Friday. It kinda put things in perspective for me for the day, although it didn't really get rid of my hunger, give me a shower or get rid of the headache. Anyhow, the important thing is that they're both fine and the car's probably going to0 be fine, too. The short version of it is that they were clobbered by a cabbie who ran a red light. The guy copped to doing about 75 km/h, and Dad says he was probably doing about 50 km/h. The front right part of Dad's car (Mom's side) hit the back left panel of the cabbie. Dad's car got spun around and they wound up facing the wrong way down the street (so, 180 degrees), and travelled backwards probably another five to ten feet. As Dad put it, they were in the intersection when they got hit; by the time the car stopped travelling backwards, they were resting in the crosswalk (although there wasn't actually one at this intersection).

Dad says he was surprised by how rattled Mom was, but I kinda wasn't; for one, it hit her part of the car, and (what I just thought of now), when you're not driving the vehicle, accidents are a bit more scary 'cause you're having to rely on the other person to keep you from dying, and for two, well, ever since losing Mike last year, "car accident" has had a much heavier meaning in our family.

I know Dad had a bit of a momo-moment himself, 'cause he was the one that handed my mom his phone and told her to call me. The phone call from her basically consisted of her telling me they'd had an accident, they were fine, and then I heard Dad in the background saying, "Well, give me the phone back so I can call the cops" and then Mom hurriedly got off the phone. Dad told me later that he brain farted and told her to call me, then realized he needed to call 911... Adrenaline really fucks you up. :)

So what else? I went out Saturday night with the crew for Japanese food for Greg's birthday. We reassembled at their place for cupcakes, then they headed off to pool and I finished putting together my dresser. At that point it was just the drawers that needed assembling, but they were annoying enough as it was. Bah. I both love and loathe IKEA furniture; the pain of the Allen keys and the misery of the construction had worn off, but now... now it's back. Although my dresser and nighttable hadn't required Allen keys, so that was nice. I'm fairly certain the kitchen chairs will be another matter. :P

And now, for your viewing pleasure, some pictures. And few more. :)

Okay, I'm almost done.

I have my computer and modem set up. I have two beds set up without sheets. I have a dresser with one drawer not yet in. My pantry is stocked, my dishes are washed, my bathrooms are half-ready, my living room is sorta ready (t.v. and dvd player are set up!) and life is starting to be a bit more settled in.

I've slept on the couch the last two nights, and Thena has slept on me. :) She starts out on the bookcase that's temporarily beside me, then moves on to me sometime in the night. This morning she bit my elbow to wake me up, I seem to recall. It kinda worked and kinda didn't.

I bought her a toy that hangs on the doorknob and is called a 'knob goblin.' The one I got is in the shape of a flamingo and has some fluffy parts for the ruff around its neck. She likes it and abuses it, and looks quite funny doing so.

I felt really bad on Friday, 'cause not only did I severely abuse the generosity of Stefan and his friend with the truck (yet another J name), but I also moved Thena first thing, and the city traffic was enough to stress her out a lot. She was panting and fought her way out of the cage just as I pulled up to the door, and I noticed later that she'd shredded some of the plastic off the inside of the cage.

I got her in and she eventually found her way to the small bathroom and huddled up on the counter in the dark. I tried to spend some time with her to console her, try to get her to drink some water and so on, but she was still quite stressed out. She's doing much better now, and though she still tends to hide under the couch when things get noisy (like if I'm running the dishwasher or dragging boxes around -- oddly enough, she doesn't seem to mind the building of furniture as much), she's pretty much back to being herself, evil demon spawn that she is. :)

My dad was over yesterday and gave his seal of approval to the place. Greg and Madeleine also did a tour Friday night and said nice things about it. I'd really like to change the colour of the paint in a few rooms, and I might even do that once I get set up properly.

Anyhow, it's time to grab a shower and meet up with Stefan, whom I'm treating to some tasty breakfast/lunch. I haven't eaten and I'm starving. :P