Today is a perfect day for lounging in comfy pyjama pants, doing nothing.

Tonight I will write, read, watch television and play video games. I will cross stitch, and my cats will alternately cuddle and annoy me - at their own discretion and choice, of course.

My fish has blown some bubbles in his tank, so he must be happy lately for some reason. I think he misses having a companion - the next time I'm at the pet store and there's more than one fish there, I'll get him someone. Especially if that other fish doesn't look half-dead.

Today my underwear has "sassy" written on it - so it must be so.

Hrm. Controversial comment in order to try to generate comments: I'm glad that they didn't put the feeding tube back into Terry Schiavo. I'm glad she was allowed to die finally.

Also, I believe that Michael Jackson is guilty, and should be locked away.

Finally, the true place of Shawn is locked up in my kitchen, pregnant and a-cookin' my dinnah!

And there is the mother of all spiders on my bedroom ceiling right now. Pictures to follow later -- possibly the before and after images. :P

(And because I couldn't post this right away... I really didn't get all of that done. But I did do some cross-stitching. And I left Thena outside longer than I meant to. I'm a bad mom.)

(Also, anyone know of a good way to get at spider smear off the ceiling? I got most of it off, but there's still kind of a dark spot. Gross. But I love my Swiffer -- without a cloth, it makes the perfect tool to kill the spiders that think they're hiding from me. Hah!)

A few further notes from the Easter weekend... or just the one in which I rant about stuff.

My mom is on my semi-shit list; she announced at dinner that she found it paid not to get too attached to my boyfriends, because the ones she liked always wound up disappearing.

Side note - this is from the woman that pretty much anyone I introduced her to came away saying, 'Does your mom hate me?'

Anyhow, I asked her who it was she had liked, and she said that she'd always liked J. I pointed out that he had been the one to dump me, Mother, so she'd do well to move on from it.

Also, I decided that I wasn't going to be introducing anyone new to her, because vast portions of the evening were spent with her and my girlfriend E telling the same stupid stories about me as a child.

Like the fact that I used to eat everything. And the fact that I was into everything, whereas you could tell E, "Don't touch!" and leave the room and she'd stay in the same place.

*roll* Not too tiresome at all.

*sigh* I wonder if being back on the pill is making me a little crabbier than usual, or if it's a combination of work stuff (like the new semi-manager type who tells me how to do my job, despite also saying she doesn't know how this place works) and just not enough sleep. I'm just *tired* of her coming along every two hours, asking how this or that is progressing, or telling me to do this or that -- I know how to do my fucking job. I've been doing it for a year. I haven't killed, destroyed or broken anything yet, okay? Don't micromanage me -- I don't need it.

Also, argh.

I can't tell if I need a vacation, or just a total change. But it's really making me long for great success with this upcoming opportunity. 'Cause her style is very very different from my current manager's style, and it's *really* getting my hackles up -- and then she gives me the lines about growing pains, and how no one's really good with change, and how the big boss is going to be bringing in more people, and blah blah blah... then when I try to talk about the situation, she interrupts me to repeat the party lines.

Maybe I'm just cynical, but... gah.

I'm trying not to go into vast amounts of detail here because I'm not even certain how I would go about it. Suffice it to say, I'm worried that I'm into another Nibbs situation here (no, that isn't really supposed to make sense to you), and it's making me mental. I'm once again at the state of mind where I'm spending half of my day looking for other work -- that's how mental I'm being made.

Maybe I should go and talk to the big boss, and just explain to him that while yes, I can deal with new management etc., could he please talk to this current one to get her off my back somewhat -- that I've been in my current role for over a year, and I don't need her telling me to wait an hour or so before following up on the current product that I know is a priority? Especially when her world may consist of only one or two of my things, but my world is more expansive, and includes writers, offices, other requests, and other products?

Although I did manage to tell her today that I need to be the one to handle approvals from start to finish, that if it winds up out of my hands, I don't know what's going on, and I can't track it.

Also, stop marvelling over the fact that we don't have a formal this or that system. We just don't, okay? You've been here two weeks. Move on and deal. I've managed to do so for over a year, and you know what? 99% of the time, I'm doing just fine. Sure, every now and then I brain fart and have to call someone to see if they have it, or if it's further up the chain, but otherwise? 99% of the time, we're just fine.

Sorry, it's been a bad bad bad few weeks. Five days off was not enough, especially not when I stayed in the city and didn't really do much of anything for a few of the days. What I really need is either two weeks on a sunny beach somewhere far away, or a new job.

I emailed the Humane Society today with my resume. So unlikely that anything would come of it, but I've been saying it would be my dream job -- and those aren't likely to just contact me, y'know?

My financial planner said to my parents and to me that I always seem able to land a job. It's true - many of them have just fallen into my lap, in some way or another. Not to say that I haven't landed them based on merit, or anything like that, but that I've been fairly fortunate as far as opportunities and whatnot have gone. I just wish that another one of those opportunities -- and a really good one -- would come along now.

I guess it's a bit like Markuk has said; in your life, you can only really have 1 or 2 of the major 3 things going well at a time. Right now, for me, it's the career part that's kinda sucking.

Not that it wasn't semi-sucked before, what with the lack of stability, benefits, and general wonderfulness, but... blargh. For a long time, I was saying that it was the people that were really serving to keep me here. A lot of those people are gone, or I don't work with them in the same manner anymore. I'm feeling less inclined to stay here because of that. Maybe it's time to put in some calls to that other location, too.

And on another totally different rant...

I had someone today call me from Manitoba, saying they were going through the ICQ lists and found my number and called me -- was that okay? Uh... what the fuck? Who the hell just randomly goes through things like ICQ, sees someone who's female and 24, lives in *another bloody province*, and decides to call? Gah, people are stupid.

Btw, don't bother going to try to find my cell number. I've removed it -- I only had it on there because I thought that only people on my list could read it.

This rant was actually supposed to be something else, related to a conversation that was had at bubble tea Tuesday night. However, since it's sexual in nature and is fleshing itself out nicely into a column (long overdue), it's becoming Whore's Boudoir content.

Oh yeah, that's right -- I haven't forgotten about my baby. I just have no creativity anymore because that spirit is utterly stifled when I'm at work, and then when I'm at home, usually the last thing I want to do is spend more time in front of the computer -- especially since the cats are often looking for my attention, or someone is messaging me online and so on. Now Venus is getting better at leaving me alone (aside from her earlier draping across my right wrist), and Thena's pretty content once she's been fed and/or let outside. Late evenings seem to be pretty decent for everyone. :)

Fuck, it's getting late again. Anyhow, go check out Whore's Boudoir. As always, not my best, but... possibly food for thought. No pun intended.

Calamari for thought?

Yeah, that's a hint to some of you, all right. :P

I am testing this format of posting. So far, it is maybe not going to work. We shall see.

I am tired and CRABBY.

A few things:

I like that my cat sits on the keyboard tray, directly in front of 1/3rd of my keyboard. This makes updating my site -- something I don't do often enough already -- a touch awkward.

I like that my kitties like me. Validation from pets is nice. :)

I don't like that I'm falling asleep at 8, but wide-awake at 11. Rather annoying. Regardless, I'm going to force myself to go to bed shortly, in an attempt to compensate for the crappy sleep I had last night.

I like that my boyfriend looks like he's smiling at me, even when he's not.

I like that he always sounds happy to hear from me, even for a short call about nothing.

I think my upstairs neighbours are having sex. I can hear the bed squeaking, but I don't hear any voices. At least this time it seems to be more uptempo.

I like that I have a few surprises in store for my boy. Sometimes secrets are good. :D

Hrm. Sounds like they finished.

Oops. Maybe not.

Hrm. Much slower now. Perhaps this is during the "OMG DON'T MOVE" phase. That's a funny phase.

I ran into D's dad at the doctor's office the other day. That's not the first time I've run into someone I knew there. Rather entertaining.

I've also been given more pictures of giant penises from a friend of mine. There's a story behind it all, but I won't bother sharing it -- suffice it to say, I'm amused. And, I earned brownie points from the bf when I related the part of the story where I was asked which penis I prefer, and I answered, "my bf's." It's true, and I'm sorry, but I don't need 10-14". Regardless of what Stefan has to say or show about octopi (you *don't* want to know -- I didn't need to), my body is not accommodating that much, and I'm definitely okay with that.

My latest present is two, really -- a dog/kangaroo stolen from the bf's work, dressed in a paramedic's uniform, and the killer rabbit from the Holy Grail. There's a whole thing about teeth there that isn't what you think, but factors into how this guy is an appropriate gift. I got him a little brown non-scary bird for Easter, and there are a few more things on the way. Hehehehe.

Incidentally, I know he has or does read this site, so this is why I'm trying to pepper this post with hints that say nothing. :D

Which reminds me -- gotta go check the email to check on that ebay purchase.

Hah, paid for. I am pretty cool, every now and then. :D

Also, the weekend was pretty good. Picked up some wedding gifts for Jay and Natasha, got myself some new games, sat around and did a bunch of nothing, saw the boy... things are good. I even had a physical on Monday (with my doctor, you bunch of perverts), and got my bloodwork done the same day. The nurse there was some kind of scary crabby. :P

I can tell there might be one or two things that I might want to talk to the boy about, down the line, but for now... for now it's okay. So long as I'm not overtired or in a really crabby mood, it shouldn't be a big problem. But we'll see.

Oh yeah -- and somewhere in the future, he and I are likely going skydiving. I'm going to have to introduce him to my parents before that happens, and make sure they like him. Then I'll tell them about it afterwards. And blame him. ;D

And finally, because there hasn't been enough comment love around here in awhile -- how often do you masturbate, on average? Answer in the comments, anonymous or with fake names if you want. I'm not creepy enough to chase you down by IP address. If there's enough answers, I'll discuss my habits. ;)

Well, my theory that my city is tiny tiny tiny has once again been proven correct.

As it turns out... the bf has ties to two people in my world. The first one, a fairly vague one -- a coworker of mine's daughter is a paramedic. She and he went to school together. Okay, fine.

The second, more nutty -- I was checking my email at his place yesterday, and then he checked his. I idly skimmed the names of the various people in his mailbox, and turned up one from my past -- a guy I knew in high school. Sure enough, it's the same guy (I emailed him later from my own account). This guy was one of Meghan's first boyfriends, and someone that I was friendly with throughout most of my time in high school. Sure enough, he's now a paramedic, and the two of them were part of the group that went skydiving last year, and I've now seen the video, too.

I find it funny and weird at the same time. Crazy!

So yeah, I spent most of Thursday hanging out with the bf. It felt really good to take a day off from work and just do nothing all day. I bused over there from my place and arrived just before 12:30 -- end-to-end it's about a half-hour trip, which is really not bad at all. Very easy connections, very easy routes. Even I couldn't manage to get lost! :)

We went out and did some shopping and running of nonsense errands. I resisted the urge to buy a Spike action figure, and I saw a puppet version of Angel from the "Smile Time" episode in season 5 -- very cool. Also $65. I'll pass for now. :P I picked up a new muffin tray and cookie sheet in Homesense (his favourite store, apparently), as well as a bunch of little things for Jay and Natasha's wedding, since I don't have a gift for them yet.

We went into the video game store, and I picked up Ty 2, and something else that I've forgotten. I've been trying to find games I like as much as Ratchet and Clank, and so far, no real luck. Though I did play a bit of Simpsons Hit and Run, and it's kinda funny. Especially if you leave the game just sitting when you're in the house, and out of nowhere, after like 10 minutes of inactivity, Grandpa Simpson wanders by and goes, 'A leprechaun!' and then nothing else happens. Odd.

So yeah, I spent a bunch of money, including at Chapters with Ben the night before, but I'd paid all of my bills, put money into my savings and so on, and I was supposed to have my paycheque on Wednesday. But my boss likes to play power games (not for much longer!) and not sign things right away, so it'll be signed and ready for me when I go back. Since I waited almost a week to deposit my last paycheque, I'm running more or less on time.

So we stopped by a McDonald's for a healthy dinner, and we were the only non-obese people there, barring maybe 2 or 3 others. Scary. :P

We were going to join up with some others to see Phil the Alien, but R and N called and weren't going, so we ended up hanging out with them instead. It was fun -- N and I are going to set up play dates for the two of them in the future. *grin* That way they can play He-Man together!

We played some Trivial Pursuit Pop Culture edition, and I actually won. Yay! I was the last one to get any pies, too. I felt so proud. :)

After the game, we sat around and talked for awhile longer. I gotta stop talking so much so that he can get a word in edgewise. But, R said that initial reports are in his favour, so that's good. :)

It was about 2 by the time we left, and we were both pretty zonked. We weren't up too much longer, but we did do a bit of chatting nd reassuring each other that we like each other and don't have scary secrets and so on. :) He's going to go with me to the upcoming wedding, and he made fun of me for asking about it -- he says I keep phrasing questions in scary ways. I think it was probably around 3 by the time we did get to sleep, and then we were both up around 9:30 or so. He and his friend are bad for my sleep. :P

We went back to Cora's for breakfast, and then he dropped me off at home. I spent an exciting afternoon of watching quality television (Jerry Springer, of course!), had a nap with Venus draped across me, then almost had another one with Thena on me, but managed to resist. After a quick bagel dinner, I joined up with a small group of the crew, and we spent the evening watching episodes of House. I'd never heard of it, but it's a great show about a really grouchy, surly doctor, his research team and the one or two cases that they 'solve' each week. Really well-written, really fun. :)

Then I came home to the kitties and the computer and nothing very much. I was supposed to work out with my trainer today, but since it's a really nice day, she cancelled on me. *laugh* I'll go out a bit later for a run, I think. My other goal today is to get some cleaning done in this place -- it's been looking pretty rough for awhile. :P

Life is good. Five-day weekends? Oh, yeah. :D

Ah, sweet blogging love. Sweet days off.

Yeah, that's right. In order to compensate for my two weeks of misery at work and the fact that the bf has today off, I have taken a five-day weekend! I now revel in your envy, etc.

Of course, for my friends who are currently between jobs, this is a large part of their life and for that I dislike them. Yeah.

Further notes from my last post that I forgot to include (well, one of them): Venus turned into a total suck-hole for the rest of the weekend, after I brought Thena back from the vet. I think this is 'cause she was playing with a mouse and didn't see us leave, so she got all upset and panicky and so on, as she does.

Last night, I came home to hear my upstairs neighbours playing on Aboriginal drums. That stuff fucking *carries*. :P

I also watched Men in Black last night, 'cause I had been thinking about it lately and hadn't seen it in awhile. I like those kinds of roles for Will Smith -- he's a fun actor to watch.

Big A, since I haven't seen you online in awhile, I wanted to let you know that there's apparently a Thena Street in Toronto. The bf wasn't kind enough to go and take a picture of it himself, but he wanted me to pass that along to you. :)

I learned the other day that I made it past the written exam portion of the last 'job interview' that I went to, so I'll be getting to do an oral interview sometime in the next few weeks. Who knows? If I do well enough on that, and manage the CCCs in my French testing, I could have a new, stable, better-paying job. Oooh.

The beasts are up to something right now that could almost sound like one of them is playing with or in the toilet, but hell if I can figure it out. And now she isn't, so I don't think I'll ever know what trouble she was up to. Venus tipped over the garbage can in my bedroom earlier in the week, and I suspect that the one item of garbage that was in it is going to turn up at a really inopportune time. Cats are good for that.

But, since I'm shipping her off to my sister, that won't be a problem anymore! :)

I managed to twinge my knee a little at the gym yesterday, so we didn't do much in the way of lower-body workouts. I felt like a loser. However, I was up to 165lbs on the squats, so that's pretty awesome. My body really is suited for those kinds of boys who like girls who can throw a cow over their shoulder and go. A scrawny little bar-thing I will never be, but that's okay. I like having boobs, and boys like 'em too. They're nice boobs.

Anyhow, I think since I'm rambling about absolutely nothing, I should probably get a move on. I need to grab a shower, get together whatever I might happen to need for today, grab some breakfast and get going. The bf was all shocked that I was going to bus out to his place, which amused me. I've been busing since I was about 10? Why should I get *too* spoiled just 'cause there's a car around.

I like having a car around.

Adding to the collection of badger sites, we now present:

Ring ring ring ring ring ring ring... BANANAPHONE!

Pretty good times lately. I went to see the Cannes Lions -- the commercial award winners -- Thursday night, which I seem to recall posting about, so I won't repeat it here. It's weird to think that a year ago, I was seeing them with the Frog. Who knew I'd be here a year from then?

Friday morning, the paramedic left for TO, and so my Friday night was free to hang out with the zone folks. We hung out at R and N's place, mostly just talking and playing some games, and a few of the girls got to making plans. N decided that (and I might get some of this wrong) everyone should get married several times, and the girls would all rotate dresses, and somewhere in there I'd just be buying a dress so I could join in. So I made some protest about getting a pity dress, but then they said that who knows what could happen between now and then?

Then it moved into planning my wedding. I said that since there weren't any weddings in July yet, I'd probably pick that month, and A said that no, July was too hot -- she got married in October, and it was perfect, she wasn't too hot at all. This is also someone who loves to have ths house set around 13 degrees Celsius or so, I must point out. So I said that I wouldn't be getting a very heavy dress and blah blah blah, and then they said I should get married in December and have a winter wedding. I said no, then you can't wear nice shoes and so on, and S joined in here and said that that's when you get to wear the nice thigh-high white leather lace-up boots... and it went *really* *really* downhill from there.

N, S and A started planning my winter wedding, making it as tacky and awful as possible -- white suede corset, the aforementioned white leather boots, fur ties for the boys, fur skirts for the girls (I think), something else odd for the boys... my colours would be blue and lavender (or some two shades of blue), ummm... then Greg and M joined in with something to do with clubbing seals and it got worse. I was asking questions like, "where am I going to get the groom?" and "what if his colouring doesn't go with those colours?" and A waved that off, saying that the groom was the interchangeable part. I eventually just walked away, slightly scared, and saying that they weren't invited. :)

Saturday I got up early to take Thena to the vet. She got her vaccines, behaved herself nicely, and even got a new one -- we decided to go ahead and start with the feleuk, since she potentially comes into contact with other kitties (like her boyfriend, who knows what he might have!). This means I get to bring her back in a month's time, poor thing. When the vet went out to get her vaccines, Thena was sitting on the chair behind me, breathing heavily, and when the doc came back in, I think she might've hissed at the doc -- but it turned very briefly into panting. Poor baby. She also got to wander around at one point, and I had my hands behind me while I talked to the doc. Suddenly I felt a little tongue licking my fingers -- she'd jumped up onto the chair and was saying hi to me. :) I always figure either things aren't that bad if she can do that, or she just really does love me, and just sometimes has weird ways of showing it.

I spent much of the afternoon baking cookies and putting together a lasagna (I also managed to avoid making plans with one of the lavalife guys I've known for awhile and don't actually have any interest in meeting). While I was doing that, I was also working on a puzzle -- Thena was outside all afternoon, and Venus just kept getting into trouble. Poor thing... I spent most of the day sorta yelling at her for this or that. I think she was worried I was going to go away or something -- when I had noticed the cab was outside my door, I just bundled Thena into the carrier and left. Venus was in the bedroom playing with a mouse, so she never saw us go... I think it upset her.

I called up Big A Saturday night, and invited him over for dinner. We went out to one of the local shopping malls so I could go shopping through Mrs. Tiggywinkle's for something for the paramedic. I ended up buying him OX, who is best friends with Wedgehead, who he'd gotten me awhile ago. It was a debate between a couple of them, but Big A helped me choose. I also picked up one of the Cubes, because it was just a bit too funny to resist. I have to set it up at my work. It is my life. :P

I also picked up the book by Anne Taintor, who does all of those retro images. I'd seen it before, but this time they were on sale!

And finally, the piece de resistance... a little plastic goat. That comes in handy later.

Big A and I got back to my place a little after 9, ate the lasagna and watched American Pie. Then we watched some Dave Chappelle stand-up, and somewhere in there the paramedic called me. He was outside of Kingston, and we chatted for a bit about nothing much in particular. The usual kind of thing. :)

After Big A left, I wound up talking to PF for awhile, telling him his cookies were ready and talking a bit about my stupid rampant insecurities. I AM A JOY. We also talked about his, and the girl he's just started seeing, and it was good.

So Sunday I didn't do too much, just slept in late, did some minor cleaning and washed my sheets, got my PS2 back from OFK, who'd borrowed it for a birthday party, and worked on my puzzle some more. I had a trainee at work, and since she's doing my shift for me next week, I had her on the board for most of the night. Hah! So it meant I had nothing much to do, but it worked out well. She's cool, we talked some. I also learned that the marshmallow had put my name down as someone who might be interested in taking judo classes in July. He asked if I might be interested, I said I'd have to see what was going on then, he said then I might not be, 'cause it's Monday and Wednesday nights. I'd also mentioned cost and location, and he said that he could drive me home afterwards, of course, and that students can pay per class. He also asked me about hanging out this week. He really wants to be around me. :P

The paramedic picked me up from work, and gave me a present -- it was a stuffed mole. He later mentioned that he'd asked his friend to help him pick out the ugliest stuffed animal they could find. Nice. :P :)

We drove back to my place, I gave him OX, and then we were trying to figure out what to do next. I mentioned, "well, usually at this time I go and talk to (PF)..." and he came up with, "(PF) is at *work*." I said, "wouldn't it be closed by now?" and got, "(PF) IS AT WORK" in response. *grin*

I mentioned that I'd had an interesting conversation with PF the other night (also said it when the paramedic and I were talking online earlier in the evening), and he said he knew, that there were things I'd told PF that PF hadn't wanted to know, and so on. Basically, the paramedic was trying to trick me into revealing details, because PF wouldn't. I have to watch out for this trickery in the future! But I didn't reveal anything, even after skimming through the conversation logs to try and see what was said. Apparently he knows PF's passwords, so he said he could read the log anytime he wanted, but I still revealed nothing.

Later, as he was leaving, I so-not-subtly reached into the Tiggywinkle's bag at my feet and managed to slip the goat into his pants pocket. I figured he totally figured out what was going on, but he didn't react at the time, so it was fine.

Less than ten minutes later, he phoned me to scream at me -- he'd found it. *rofl* I am a wonderful person. :D

I am also now running behind, because typing all of this has taken me awhile. :P

It still feels somehow fake to call him my boyfriend, and yet there you have it -- he is. And it's good.

It's something I'm willing to get used to. :D

MSN is love

Okay, so I was just deleting the old captures of MSN conversations I've had off of my work computer, and I ran across two files that I hung onto. One was the log from when the paramedic and I spoke on a few occasions before meeting, and the other was from Shawn. If it was from Shawn, well, you know there'd be gems.

For example:
Jen: SOSOSOSOSOSO life is kinda interesting today.
Jen: Or I'm just super-hyper on caffeine
Shawn: Well, what's NEW?!
Jen: Well, I got a text message to my cell last night at midnight (I was already asleep) asking, "why don't I hear from you anymore?"
Jen: So this morning, when I saw it, I replied, saying, "because I don't know who you are'
Jen: (I didn't recognize the number, didn't have it in my cell)
Shawn: Did they take it to be all philosophical, then? =)
Shawn: 'Who REALLY knows ANYONE?'
Jen: (brb -- need a new bandaid)
Shawn: Dare I ask?
Jen: Well, that's part of the story.. one second :)
Shawn: Ah
Jen: Where the mystery text message gets violent
Jen: Rated R for swearing, drug paraphenalia and some sexual content
Shawn: TELL ME!
Jen: Okay, OKAY
Shawn: HELLO?!
Jen: So, I left for work this morning, still uncertain as to the mystery man's identity, and then I skidded on the driveway into the parking garage and skinned my knee
Shawn: This is literally the worst story ever.
Shawn: Yay!
Jen: !!!!!!
Jen: Okay, no more for you
Jen: I WILL LeAVE YOU NOT KNOWING
Shawn: FUCK
Shawn: THAT IS WHY
Shawn: I WAS MAD
Shawn: IN THE FIRST PLACE
Shawn: TELL ME STORY

Shawn makes me giggle. A lot. :)

Well, posting by email isn't exactly the greatest thing. It only seems to work about 50% of the time, so that's a bit of a pisser. Especially when I rarely spend any time on my computer when I come home from work... life hates me.

Actually, I shouldn't complain. Things are going really well with the paramedic - we've moved up a step to the "boyfriend/girlfriend" world. Granted, I had to initiate the conversation, but it beats not knowing. :)

It's taking some getting used to, calling someone that I was dating a boyfriend. All of my past relationships have evolved out of friendship -- this is the first time I've had something progress from "dating" to "boyfriend/girlfriend." It's odd, but in a very awesome way.

My poor friends are tired of hearing me go on and on about him, I think. ;) He's met the majority of them, in some form or another -- last night we went to the Cannes Lions awards with Stefan and C, and Angus and Jenn. We didn't stay long after the movie, since he was getting up to run away to Toronto the next day, but apparently he's picking me up from the station after my shift on Sunday, so that's fun. We didn't spend a long time saying goodbye at the door -- there were crazy drunk people around, so I think he feared for his car and my potential safety. Although he's been the one of the two of us who's encountered a hooker on my street, so I don't know about that...

Anyhow, I'm happy, things are good, he seems to like me -- go figure, eh? :) I'm even getting better at not overanalyzing every single little thing, and so on. But the real proof will be hearing from him tomorrow or, more likely Sunday. Then we'll see. :)

The marshmallow called me while I was at work today. We didn't chat for too long, since I wanted to go home at the earlier end of things instead of the 6 p.m. that was part of my week. Long, rough days at work this week. Basically reiterating the whole, "if you want to hang out, I do nothing with my days but sit around and stare at walls and think of you" theme. Okay, that's mean, but he really doesn't make much of an effort to do anything varied, it seems. Sure, I like having some of my set activities, but I also like to mix things up at times, and I have lots of friends that I see regularly, even the ones that are coupled up. Sure, it's hard at times, but I don't resent anyone their coupleness, and sometimes he almost seems to.

And I don't want to have to whip out the "I have a boyfriend" defense, but it might be coming to that soon. For someone who can be really astute at times, he's really dense many others. :P

Sorry this wasn't more substantial, or important, or even interesting, but I have to be off to bed. Yay for taking Thena to the vet tomorrow.

I've got a big red one!

Oh my. You don't need a dirty mind for that one.

Well, I had sent another post to this site from that email account, but it hasn't shown up yet. Nothing special, just some text from a chat that Shawn and I had ages ago that made me giggle.

In the meantime, a few good notes in a properly-formatted style for you to enjoy:

1. Been extended at work until the end of June. That's a bit of oldish news. Anyone want to give me a good, permanent, well-paying, stable job in the meantime? Yeah, okay.
2. Talked to Mark last night for a bit - his call. Looks as though we will be able to be friends. Good. :)
3. Found a sexy sexy new way to be online from work.
4. Got an account slightly set up through Stefan. Now I just need the awesome power of The Ben to help me fix it more.
5. Finally got a procedure done I'd been waiting on for awhile. Not getting all of my teeth pulled.
6. Got a letter from the Graduate department of the Uni I most recently applied to (my alma matter, actually), and the Committee has recommended me for the Masters program. So, I'll get the official word as to whether or not I've been accepted in May, when they make their final decisions, but it's an encouraging step!

The paramedic said he'd look for a sugar daddy for me. No offers yet. :(

Some minor bad... started the period yesterday (yeah, shut up ya whiners), so I fully expect that today may be a crappy day. Last month, I took one of my hot pads into work and literally spent the entire morning with it on my abdomen. By noon I felt fine, but that morning was *not* fun. Fortunately, I don't have every month like that, just the occasional one. Now that I'm going back on the pill, we'll see how they go -- being on it never really seemed to affect my PMS stuff too much one way or the other. Although who knows, maybe I'd just forgotten what it was like to not be on the pill, since it had been some 7 years that I'd been on it. Eesh. Although I did have fewer headaches/migraines (i.e., none?) when I went off of it ...

I might be cooking a meal for the paramedic's friend, and the paramedic may or may not be there. :) Basically, PF and I were talking about food the other night, he said he loves lasagna, I said I've been wanting to make a lasagna again, and so I said that since the paramedic didn't seem too interested when I'd mentioned making one, that I'd make it for PF instead. Then he said that he's going to persuade the paramedic to marry me, and I can cook for PF.

That's two marriage jokes stemming from the weekend/other day. Funny, but odd coincidence. :) I don't even know if this guy is my boyfriend yet -- we shall see. So far the average seems to be 1 month of togetehrness, then it's a 'relationship'. Who knows?

Venus is currently wandering around on my keyboard, standing in front of my monitor, and now, finally, curled up in my lap. It makes it difficult to type when there's a big cat butt in front of the monitor. :P

I talked to the paramedic on the phone for a bit last night, and found out a bit more about the trip. Tradition still dictates that I won't hear from him again afterwards, though -- the frog and the customs agent both disappeared after their trips while we were going out. Not that things were the same in either case, but I am a retarded paranoid monkey. PF has said he's glad to hear someone else with the same paranoias he has -- I've said the same to him. He also said he's looking forward to meeting me, and I know I'm looking forward to meeting him. And not just 'cause of his ties to the paramedic -- he seems like a cool guy. :)

And now it's time to get going for work. I still sometimes expect to see the cop out there when I leave -- though he came by twice when the paramedic and I were here on different nights, and we could hear him talking to a neighbour. Of course, we're pretty sure the first time the chick was lying to him... that's good, that's a very good idea. :P

Fun random quote: "Cool, the neighbours can hear that!"

Venus says send me all of your money. She needs more attention and more toys.

Well, I just finally got confirmation that Thena's boyfriend is in fact a boy. For those of you who were keeping track.

I gotta put some orange peels out soon to try to keep him from spraying around here. I don't mind him coming by, I do mind when Thena comes in from sitting out on the patio and smells like kitty pee.

Otherwise... aside from some tired, life is pretty good. :D

I got almost all of my errands done yesterday (though some of them did take me longer than hoped -- *3* different stores to buy friggin' cat food? It's not like they get some exotic type! Though I did discover that Loblaws carries the 10kg bags of food, so that's good to know), except going to the bank. But I can do that on my way home to drop off the car.

I won brownie points with the paramedic's roommate the other day. See, when Mad took me grocery shopping, I'd seen a sushi rolling mat in one of the aisles, and they'd mentioned they'd made sushi without one (about two weeks ago or so), so I threw it in my cart. I forgot to give it to him last time I saw him, so I remembered it this time, gave it to her, and apparently made her night -- and I got a hug for it. :D

Yesterday was picking up the wedding gift, buying the shower gift (I ended up piggy-backing off of something that N got her, so that worked out well), buying a *tonne* of cards, wrapping paper and other assorted gift wrap, Big A's birthday gift, returning my DDR pad for one that works (apparently the other store likely mistakenly put a busted pad back on the floor and that's what I bought), then racing home to assemble the gift, change into prettier clothes (or at least change my jeans for nice pants), picking up T (and managing to miss the turn I needed), then racing out to Mad's parents' place for the shower. We only missed one of the turns and wound up at the marina, but it was all good.

The shower was fun -- great food, fun games, my horrible blindfolded drawing of a two-headed bride, good gifts, good prizes for the rest of us... :)

After it was over (close to dinner time), I ran out to get the cat food, ran home to change again, picked up the paramedic (about a half-hour after I said I would), gave the gift, then headed back downtown for Big A's dinner. For whatever reason (as of yet unknown), no one else showed up, so we just talked and ate and so on. I think a good night was had, and it was really cute that the waitress got really offended on his behalf when we were paying our bill and mentioning that it was a birthday celebration for him. She asked if he wanted ice cream, if that would make it better, and said that we should have said it was a birthday thing, they'd have made a big deal out of it. :)

So I drove Big A home, after stopping back at the restaurant to get the present he'd given me (a picture of a street sign saying "Venus", and one underneath saying "Serenity", two cool street names!), then the paramedic and I headed over to Greg and Madeleine's place to meet the crew en masse. Hehehe.

Mind you, they'd just started watching a movie, so no one was really talking to anyone else (though there was a great deal of movie-mocking going on), so after about 20 minutes or so, we headed out -- since he had to be up early for work.

Of course, we were up late anyhow, and it was funny to see how he changes when he's getting really punchy-tired (and it's funny that I was able to recognize that for what it was), but it seemed to be okay. I drove home, slept, and then the kitties started bouncing on my bed and being annoying early on.

It's always funny to find cat toys in or on my bed when I actually wake up later on. It tends to explain why it is they seemed even more annoying, racing across me, digging in the sheets, or whatever. But when I woke up, Thena was curled up beside me, and we had a nice cuddle while Venus tried to find room on me to lie down, or just paced across me. At one point in the morning, Thena went to jump up on top of my headboard, but the body pillow was already up there -- so she slid down onto my face. I think I'm actually fairly uninjured from it, though. We'll see if any horribly disfiguring scars turn up later.

For now, I just have to practice not reversing Big A and the paramedic's names... I just did it now in MSN conversation with PF. Something to work on stopping. :P

Relax. Calm down. Stop being such a loser.

Work sucked this week. I'm going to have a booze.

How many cats do *you* have?

Ah-hah! I lied. It was not lost. Attempt le deux.

Blah. I have some time now, theoretically, to do some crazy-like updating. This would be the one whereby I explain why I haven't posted in awhile. Or been online. Und so on.

I have big news and less news and assorted other news, depending on how regularly you read this site and how carefully you pay attention to what I say. :)

I guess in short, I'll talk about the biggish news. I don't want to seem like I'm making a huge deal of things, but at the same time, I do. I'll shut up and just get on with it now.

Basically, I've managed to meet someone special. Oooh... Yeah, shut up. This is a big deal to me.

We met through lavalife, and so now I can't completely trash the site anymore. After a bazillion years of no luck and so on, and me giving up I don't know quite how many times, I actually succeeded in meeting someone good through it. Who knew?

Those of you who read semi-regularly or regularly (and don't leave me comments... *sob*) would probably have figured this out based on my occasional references to the paramedic. They are indeed, one and the same.

The reason I hesitated in mentioning anything earlier was now-ingrained caution (which is still there to some extent), and wanting to talk to a few people offline about things first. Now that that's been handled, I feel a bit more comfortable about discussing things.

Like I said, we met on lavalife, and went out for a first coffee meeting back in... January, I'm pretty sure, when we were having that wonderful -40 spell. I showed up in many layers, with ridiculous toque-hair, and couldn't bring myself to really be too concerned about it, 'cause the hat had been off and on all day. There was really no rescuing any bad hair that I had. :P

We talked for several hours straight, had a good time, and then he drove me home. Yes, I get into cars with strangers, especially when it's just that cold. What can I say? He didn't seem especially scary.

Then I didn't really hear anything from him online or otherwise, so I figured that once again, lavalife wasn't going to pan out for me. Basically, another check in the "pleasant conversation out with someone cool" column, and moving on.

Then we were talking online one Sunday when I was at the station, and we were joking back and forth and I figured, what the hell – rejection always hurts less when it's online, right? :) I told him I was high enough on sugar that I was willing to take the risk, and asked if he'd be interested in trying another night out, or if I'd scared him off by talking too much or having bad hair. See, I know how to do things with confidence!

Oddly enough, he accepted. Huh!

So we made plans for a few days hence, and went out for Pho and what was supposed to be skating. Since things hadn't been open the night before, I figured that it wouldn't be open that night (never did find out if I was right or not, and I'd forgotten to look out when I was right there), so I didn't bring my skates. After dinner (which lasted until the restaurant closed, we think -- and we were pretty sure we were getting dirty looks from the restaurant owners), down the street aways we went to Bridgehead for coffee. Well, tea. We again closed that place out, but it was only open an hour past when we arrived, so it wasn't as big a deal.

I had to be up early the next day for a day-long work retreat (the events that I love so!), so I didn't want to make it too late of a night. He drove me to my place, then gave me a gift: a stamp that says, "Staple this to your face," in honour of the complaining I'd done about one of my coworkers (the night of the coffee). I can't recall his exact words when he gave it to me, but it implied that he'd been thinking about me, and I guess that was also evidenced by the gift. I was vastly amused, and one day I'll remember to bring it into work. For now, it's on my computer desk at home. :)

The next time we went out was his turn to plan. We both like trying to fob planning off on the other. Anyhow, we went for dinner at a Scottish place out in the West end, killed some time in Chapters (he asked me to give him a book to read, so I found The Road to Mars, by Eric Idle, which I'm also thinking about using as my book for book club), and then went to see a movie. Originally he'd mentioned Hotel Rwanda, but that became Hitch, which was fun. He didn't trust me with the pop after my story of spilling the drink on N the last time that I was at that particular theatre (to see Troy, though I have been there since, I now recall), and we both seemed to enjoy it. It was fun. :)

I'd talked a bit about my apartment, and I'd told him I'd show it to him later, so when we drove back to my place, I gave him a quick tour. While we were standing there, he told me I was hard to read. I've heard this before, but I've never thought so. Anyhow, he made reference to something that was stated in the movie, I laughed and said what I later figured was the wrong thing, we hugged and off he went.

I called his cell and explained myself, we talked briefly the next night (at the station, actually), and he was supposed to call me the next night. When he hadn't, I called him the following night and we made plans for a few days later. That time was my turn to plan.

This will start to overlap with things I've already posted, if I'm not mistaken, so sorry for the repeats. :) We went to one museum, left it for another, wandered around in there, then went for dinner. Back to my place, encountered the cop (oh, take note of the cop, since he comes back to haunt things, and there is actual cop resolution later on in this post), watched some CSI, had our first and second kiss, and in between I was asked, "So when are we getting together next?"

It's always nice when things move from the uncertain to the semi-certain. Remember, I take nothing for granted! Or at least I try not to. Then the other shoe will drop, which I am still expecting, 'cause I suck.

Next, we scaled things down just a touch. Apparently we were recreating his first group date when he first moved to the city, back at the start of high school: we had dinner at a nearby mall food court, then actually did a tiny bit of shopping -- I bought a bus pass, and I got the Trivial Pursuit 90s edition at the Toys R Us. We're still trying to figure out what wager to use when we finally have our grudge match -- any suggestions?

After that, it was over to the big arcade/games room for video games and arcade-type games. I beat him at a few times, which helped my self-confidence out (I usually don't get visibly competitive at things I suck at, or figure I suck at, but it's usually nice to do well at games now and again so as not to stick my confidence in the toilet). We exchanged the few tickets we'd bothered winning for an assortment of candy (which is still in my apartment), and we went over to his place to see it, meet the roommates and watch a movie.

His roommates were apparently really excited to meet me, which still makes me wonder what he'd been telling them about me, and I briefly saw their rooms, the one roommates' cats, and then it was downstairs to see his space. Which he'd cleaned before I got there, which always makes me feel kinda guilty when people do that -- goodness knows I never clean my place before having guests over, unless it's a big party event. Even then... well, for my housewarming party I did. That counts.

Anyhow, he went back upstairs to get the movie and I stayed downstairs, and when he returned he told me that the roommates approved of me, thought I was really cute, and that he was allowed to keep seeing me. These are girls, for the record. :)

So we watched Adventures of Pluto Nash, and it wasn't bad. I spent most of the movie going, "That guy! I know that guy!" and then the paramedic mocked me roundly for not being able to immediately come up with the name... like he was any help at all. Although if I'd said Alec, Baldwin, or Alec Baldwin, he said he would've been able to come up with the name. :P :)

After the movie was lots of talking and lots of laughing -- around this guy my cheeks hurt from smiling and laughing so much -- and lots of kissies. You get no more details than that.

I went home very late, got about 2 1/2 hours of good sleep, then an additional 1 - 1 1/2 hours of bad sleep (thank you, kitties!), and I was a zombie for work the next day. Urgh. Fortunately, the 3 meetings I had in a row (two of which were set to be at least 60-90 minutes long) were all cancelled or I wasn't told when they actually happened, so I got to hermit myself and not suffer too terribly.

I went home and slept for awhile curled up on the couch. Venus was in the middle, so I only got about half of it, and then Thena came along and spooned with me. It was very warm and cozy, and only interrupted when JW called to come by and pick something up. I'd cancelled my gym appointment because I knew I was just way too exhausted to do anything.

He called me while he was at work, so we talked briefly. There was another cop encounter here, if I'm not mistaken. Then I found that his friend was online, so I was trying to freak out the friend by talking about things I didn't know (I had his friend on my MSN list from a long time ago, also met through Lavalife -- which I'd learned on the ride home from the movie theatre). The paramedic had to go on a call, so I wound up talking to his friend for another hour or so, trying to quiz him on things.

I wasn't asking too much, 'cause I find it's more fun to learn that stuff from the person themselves, but I did learn that he wasn't seeing anyone else, he wasn't a player, and that apparently after our first coffee meeting, he didn't shut up about me for several days.

:D

This harkens back to my semi-not-real-belief that boys don't feel the same things that girls do. I know it's not true, but there's a part of me that can't help but think that boys never obsess about girls or think about them all day or anything like that. Boys, tell girls that you think about them a lot, especially if you're fairly positive the feeling is mutual.
Seriously, stuff like that is a total boost to anyone's ego to hear.

I wound up fake bribing his friend with chocolate chip cookies (mint chips, apparently), in order to learn more information about the paramedic. According to him, if I had told paramedic's friend (PF) anything I didn't want the 'medic to know, he wouldn't have told. Good to know for future reference, though. >:) Anyhow, PF asked me if I was seeing anyone else, and told me to be honest, and I wasn't and I was. I wasn't quizzed too much on anything, and around midnight I packed myself off to bed.

The next morning I once again encountered the cop on my way to work (he was parked in a car across the street from my and my neighbour's doors). This is when the idea that he was stalking me was more or less confirmed.

The following night I was seeing the paramedic (soon I will come up with a better nickname/acronym, I promise), and we talked about my conversation with PF. It turns out that the two of them had talked at length on the phone about it, and PF had the transcript saved and read portions of it to the paramedic. I thought that was hilarious, and totally in keeping with what I'd do, if the tables were reversed. :)

We were trying to go for dinner at the casino, and they yelled at us for walking upstairs with our coats on. When we finally did get upstairs, the restaurants were packed, so we decided to go elsewhere. We found an East Side Mario's, went in and talked a lot over dinner, both of us only really finishing about half our meals, and then tried to find the go-karting place. We saw it from the road, couldn't figure out how to get into it (didn't even see it from the road we did take), and then gave up.

We rented some movies, went back to his place, and watched the first one -- Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle -- played some video games, talked, kissied, talked, kissied, talked... you know how it goes (not like *that*, dirty monkeys). Because he was on his night schedule still, he wasn't going to get to sleep at a reasonable hour, and I was still awake for whatever reason, so we were up until about 6 a.m. before I finally passed out. He did too, and he later said he was somewhat surprised, that usually he can't sleep with someone else in the bed.

We woke up around 1 or a bit before (though I kept waking up in the morning, readjusting and going back to sleep), eventually left and went for some Booster Juice breakfast, did some shopping in Mrs. Tiggywinkles (where I saw the Crazy Cat Lady doll, hence the title, and a Lady Pirate doll I might go back and get for Mad), and then back to my place so I could finally shower and so on. Played some video games, watched some tv, fell asleep for a bit, and then he left.

I had a quiet night from that point onwards, just cross stitching and so on, and went to bed around midnight. The next day I was more productive -- I vaccuumed most of my apartment, which the cats just loved, did the dishes, and went for a nice big grocery shopping trip with Mad, wherein I also tried to cripple her. But it was fun and we talked and we left with groceries, so that was great. The station was boring.

Monday I had a government exam at another building. I was half-debating not going, then made my mind up to go, then realized the location had been changed and I hadn't registered that, so it meant a bit more travel time, but still do-able. I went downstairs to see the bus leaving (without me on it), and went back up, thinking I wouldn't go. Then I debated with myself for a few minutes, did a bit of work, and left again. This time, I called a cab.

I made it in time for the exam, I tried, and well, we'll see what, if anything, comes of it.

The trip back was insanely stupid, though. I fell asleep on the bus, and when I got off, I left my gloves behind. :( And it was cold that day. Then, it took me about an hour to do what's normally a five minute trip, just because of traffic. Apparently a bunch of government people had been told to go home at 3 and had caused a massive traffic jam. Not my side, though. :P

I also got to see one of the articulated buses sliding down the street in front of me in a V-shape. That was exciting. Especially as the bus driver was on the radio the whole time.

I eventually got in to work, did some work, had to cancel the gym *again*, and then went home. Talked briefly to the paramedic, whined a bit about my circumstances, and did whatever.

Tuesday morning, when I left for work, there was something on my door. I thought at first it was a mistake, but when I looked at the note that accompanied the flowers made from ribbons and cardboard tubes, I knew it was for me.

"Now THIS is stalking.
Stupid creativity kicking in again.
Have an excellent day.
(initials)
P.S. Happy Women's Day."

So now they have been wedged into a coffee cup that I have here (a gift from one of my now-departed coworkers, one of the David and Goliath mugs... "Boys are smelly"), and the note is near my pencil holder and I was greatly pleased.

I called him on his lunch hour to mention that I had a secret admirer, we talked a bit and that was that. I had talked to Ben for some time Monday night, and he had confirmed he would be at Pho Tuesday night. Well, when I went for Pho Tuesday night, NO ONE was there. I was abandoned and sad and felt rather pathetic, sitting alone at a table for 8.

I knew the paramedic was sick (he'd told me about it on Sunday, and he was still sick on Monday), but I thought I'd give it a shot. I called, invited him out, and he joined me about a half hour later. We had Pho, watched Gilmore Girls at my place, talked a bunch more, kissied more, and then he left around 10:30, 'cause he had to be up and alert for his classes the next day. Apparently, unlike when I was in university (although these aren't uni courses), they frown on you sleeping in them. Who knew?

He had originally talked of sending his double to hang out with me on Thursday, since I saw him on Tuesday, but it's possible that isn't going to happen anymore. :)

I'm not sure if it's come through with my factual recitation of what's been going on, but I really like this guy. He's smart, funny, cute, sweet, interesting, hot, has interests in common with me, skilled, attentive, courteous, teasing, open, upfront, a bit nervous, like me... and he likes me. Mind-boggling, it really is.

After so many fruitless, crappy dates from lavalife, so many times having my hopes raised a little, then dropped, then the eventual total apathy and the decision made several times but never fully executed... I met someone really good. I met someone really good, and we have chemistry, and we seem to have clicked... it's startling and really really great.

I've been telling everyone about him, including my mom (though just a little bit), and I don't usually do that. Sure, I might mention someone in passing, but this has been different -- I'm sure the friends on whom I keep dumping little bits and pieces are ready to just throtte me. :D

I've also realized that when you're overanalyzing every little detail and action, or having to try to work in situations that aren't really comfortable, it's not worth it. If one little fuck-up means the end of things between the two of you, then it wasn't going to work out anyhow. But if you can look back and make fun of the awkward moments, or if you have the self-confidence to go through in spite of them, then it can work out.

Man, do I sound totally preachy right now, and that's not my intention at all. :) It's just what I've realized from the time with him, vs. the other dates I might've had with other lavalifers. Hell, even the fact that he and I have been out 7 or so times now is a good enough sign in and of itself.

Neither of us is seeing anyone else at the moment, and we've both said that we're not interested in seeing other people, but I'm not sure we're at the boyfriend/girlfriend stage, and I'm not looking to rush anything by pushing it. It'll come naturally, and I have faith it'll come eventually -- he's mentioned me meeting his parents' dog, which I'm assuming also involves meeting the parents, and I want to drag him out to see my friends and so on... I have good feelings about this, even if I still sometimes wonder when the other shoe is going to drop.

He's said I don't have to worry about scaring him off, I've said the same thing, and even PF has said it -- and said that I just need to relax. Easier said than done, but I'm working on it. :)

Well, there's an epic post, it's used up some significant time to write, and I'm glad to have had the chance to share it with you all. Of course, it'll be a bitch and a half to go back and re-format it so it looks nice, but would you rather I didn't post, or that I posted poorly? :) So yeah, shut it. :D

In the meantime, as I finally head off to the gym and tell my trainer all of this, enjoy the following cartoon strip. Darby Conley's been on a roll the last while.

For those of you who support or even don't support the pit bull ban. Take this test.

More updates later, 'cause that's what makes you comment. And that's what makes me feel loved.

Gonna grab some afternoon delight

Okay, maybe not. But it's a song whose awesomeness has only been truly brought out as a result of Anchorman.

Okay, I'm talking nonsense, but that's okay. I'm in a good mood tonight, despite the metric fuckton of work that's pending for me. Next week is probably going to suck hardcore.

Ah well, I can't bring myself to care. If I stress over work, that's just no fun. Not that I have anything better to stress over right now, but... bleah.

Can you tell I actually have nothing to say? I've realized/discovered another address I can access to send email, and I'm just testing it out to see what happens with formatting. If this doesn't screw up the formatting, then I'm all set. :)

I have a bridal shower coming up next week, so sometime this week I have to get out and get some shopping done for that. Eventually I hope to get started on the wedding gift for some other friends, and I'm still pestering Jay to get him to invite me to his. ;)

What else? I realized I'd forgotten to talk about my adventures in Bikram yoga last week, with R, N, S, and M. Bikram yoga, for those who don't know, is done in ~40 degree heat (not weather, as I kept trying to say). The class we did was a bit of a special event class -- it was 90 minutes long, and wow, was it tough. I have never sweated that much in my life, it was just icky. You felt like you were swimming. :P

Afterwards, we had dinner with some of the group, then assembled at JW and AM's house and the five of us kept demonstrating poses and talking about yoga and probably bored the crap out of everyone else. :) Things eventually downgraded into everyone touching their toes, or explaining why they couldn't, and talking about flexibility and so on. I demonstrated one particular pose that has you lying on your stomach, reaching back to grab your ankles, and pulling yourself up, so you form a cradle of sorts. Oddly enough, I was able to do that pose better in jeans, with no warm-up, than I had been in the class -- but we did it at the end of the class, so I'm choosing to believe I was just tired by then.

I didn't have any major lasting ill effects from the evening, though I did develop a headache shortly afterwards. I figure it was obviously dehydration, and probably a bit of discomfort from my contacts, too. I need to learn to drink more water when I'm doing things like hot tubbing or Bikram, though I did go through a whole Powerade and some water, too.

The weird part of the whole thing was our instructor, I found. He talked the *whole* time, and not in the soothing, quiet tones that I've had from other instructors. It wasn't bad, I didn't mind, I just found it very different.

I think we all enjoyed it to some extent or another, but I'm not sure anyone is rushing right back. I could see myself going back, 'cause enough time has passed (even a day or two later, enough time had passed), that I've forgotten the miserable parts. :)

For those looking for an update, the cop is now stalking me, I've decided. I left my apartment a bit early yesterday, which I've done several days this week, and there he was, parked outside. Of course, I didn't realize it was him right away -- I was walking away, he honked, I kept walking, he honked more and I looked back to see him wave at me. I thought at first it was someone I knew from the station or something, as he wasn't in a marked car (hasn't been yet), and I'm not exactly at the top of my game in the morning. I wandered back, he asked if I had heard my neighbours, and I
said that I usually heard someone in the shower around that time, but that I couldn't guarantee that it was the ones he wanted. I really don't know how the place is laid out, or which part of the upstairs my next-door neighbours have, etc.

On upstairs neighbours notes, I'm pretty sure someone above me has been having sex. The night of my St. Valentine's Day Singles Bash, my friends started cracking up because they could hear a bouncing/squeaking bed upstairs. I never heard any voices or moans or anything, but they could just be silent. Or quiet enough that it isn't travelling. The last few days, I've heard some bouncing bed noises again. The thing is, maybe I've just never really listened to the bed when I've been having sex, but it almost sounds like someone's just jumping on it, not fucking... I mean, when you're having sex, how regular are the bedspring noises? Maybe I just like things faster that my neighbours? Maybe I'm just talking out my ass? Who knows.

Anyhow, I have a meeting that's due to start in little bit, and I think I've run out of things to say for now, so off I go. I'm not going to book club tonight 'cause I didn't finish the book (and I'm not too sure how quickly I will... I'm not very sure how much I actually enjoyed it), so instead the evening is free for other plans. And not with the marshmallow, as much as he keeps asking. *sigh* Nice boy, requires too much attention -- or more friends.

I'm looking forward to next week's Gilmore Girls episode. :)

And this'll show up twice... :P

Well, due to the aforementioned posting problems and rampant stupidity of this system, I have obviously not updated in awhile. So, instead of my usual rambling, drawn-out stupidity, here are some highlights:

(*laugh* Pause for nap, and work, not necessarily in that order).

There was talking about my sex life with my dad on Sunday. Long story short, I told him that I wouldn't have much as far as medical was concerned because I hadn't updated my glasses prescription and I'd gone off the pill in the summer.

Him: "I hope you're being CAREFUL."
Me: "Yes Dad, don't worry. As I've reassured Dr. [doctor] the times I've seen him since I stopped taking, I've only stopped it because it's gotten expensive since I graduated and stopped getting that drug plan, plus, since I wasn't involved with anyone, I didn't want to spend the money. Don't worry, anytime I've had sex, I've used condoms. I'm not looking to make you a grandfather just yet. I can't believe I'm talking about my sex life with you."
Him: "Yep, I'm going to go write this down somewhere, February 27, 2005, I talked to my daughter about sex. Aren't you glad you have parents you can talk to about this?"
Me: "Yeah, now that I'm 24 and don't need to come to you about anything, it's just great."

So, that makes one cockblock from Mom back in the fall, and now a discussion about my sex life with Dad. I feel honoured.

Ah yes, the incident with the cop. You get the longer version of this story, 'cause it has a few funny parts.

Went out with the paramedic Thursday evening. We started at the local nature museum, whereby I realize (and say out loud, 'cause disturbing thoughts are only worthwhile if you share them with everyone), "Oh yeah, these are dead. That kinda takes the joy out of going to a museum as an adult when you realize that." I haven't been to a museum of that nature (the Ontario Science Centre didn't qualify) in years, so I'm used to seeing animals alive and romping about -- the Biodome, The Toronto Zoo.

Then there was the bug section, which included a black widow spider (looked at it, stood near it, felt okay), then a tarantula right beside it that the paramedic pointed out and I decided I'd had enough of spiders and wandered off, shuddering slightly. He laughed at me -- I said I was going to try to find the snake in the other exhibit. No luck. :( He does have his other fears though, so I'll make use of those another time.

After the museum (which did in fact still have dinosaurs out, unlike what he thought, and I learned that despite knowing the difference between a triceratops and a stegasaurus, I kept mixing them up and trying to say the stega was a tri), we went off and had dinner. Then we went to a coffee shop, and I suggested just going back to my place, 'cause I had tea there and didn't have huge glass windows everywhere that would make the place freezing (we were back at the place where we'd had our first coffee meeting).

We got back to my place, I got the kettle on the stove, then I thought I heard a knock at the door. I open the door, see no one there, then as I'm closing it, I hear, "Excuse me."

It's a cop.

This is new.

He's asking my about my neighbour, apparently trying to talk to him about a moving violation. I try to provide as much info as I can (not a lot at all), and during this he asks, 'Is your cat allowed outside?'

"Uh, NO!" I look down to see Thena escaping alongside the outer wall of my apartment. I'm not wearing any boots or anything, but I step outside and manage to grab her tail. Just her tail. I actually pulled her back to me by her tail -- she only made one grumbling noise, which surprised the hell out of me, and didn't try to bite me or anything when I picked her up.

I ask the cop if he wouldn't mind stepping inside so that she wouldn't try again -- especially as I know that Venus is small, black, and loves to nose around the door when I come home, so she's likely to do the same at night, when the door is wide open. :P

He comes in, I go back to my computer to get info on the housing company for him, and the paramedic finds out the details of the moving violation. As it turns out, the neighbour had hit a truck, hit a pole, then driven home and called the cops, saying that he'd hit a pole. The truck owner called shortly thereafter to report his truck having been hit. Why do I always get the good neighbours?

So, I bring the information back to the cop, and while I'm talking to him, Thena strolls over, reaches up his thigh, and sticks her claws into his pants.

!!!

Granted, she wasn't attacking him, she was mostly just stretching/using him a scratching post (or would have), as she is wont to do to me on many an occasion, often when I don't know she's going to, and so I yell at her and shoo her away.

My cat attacks fucking cops. Perfect.

The cop leaves, Bob's your uncle, we watch a couple of episodes of CSI and off he goes.

A few days later, we're talking on the phone, I think I hear a knock at the door -- it's the same cop at the neighbour's house. The cop mentions that it must sound like he's knocking at my door, I say yeah 'cause of the proximity of the doors, the paramedic is on the phone asking about it and I mention it's the same cop, and then, because I am a fucking moron, I point to the phone and say to the cop, 'Same guy.' 'Cause he cares. Moron party, table for Jen.

Just got off the phone with my mom. She caught my dad's cold, and I said something about how that was nice of him. She said that's what they give you, and I said, "boys give you diseases?" She said, "Yep, and you know how to prevent them." I said, "Goodie, now I've had this conversation with both of my parents."

Also, earlier in that conversation, I'd called to ask if a T4 from the bookstore had shown up. She pointed out I'd worked there May-September of 2003, not 2004. I said something about being dumb, and she said, "You were a cute baby, though."

I started laughing -- I thought she was making a reference to my standard, "Well, at least you're pretty" joke, but not even... as it turns out, she'd been putting photo albums away and they'd had pictures of me as a baby in them. Good to know she wasn't calling me pretty. :)

Last night, dinner was had in a mall food court, then after I bought my March bus pass, it was off to the local big arcade/play place for activities and such. I learned that I'm actually okay at car racing games, but less so at motorcycle and boat races. I actually lost at a lot of the games, but every now and then I'd do something like sneak ahead at the last second in the car race (and the motorcycle one, I think... maybe not), and then I'd feel better. :) I lost our first round of DDR, but won the second one relatively well, so that was good.

Then I got mocked for not being able to do math anymore. But that's okay, 'cause I have the candy necklace -- not that I'll wind up eating it. Ah well.

I met his roommates, who apparently approved of me and thought I was really cute (um, okay), and then we watched Adventures of Pluto Nash. Not great, not awful. I've definitely seen worse, and I spent too much time going, "I know that guy, what the hell is his name?" and so on. Apparently if I'd just said Alec or Baldwin, he would've been able to guess who I was talking about. *roll* Useless. :)

We talked for a long time, and then it was back home for me. I didn't sleep well, thanks in a small part to the cats, so today I've just felt exhausted. I was supposed to have three meetings in a row, and the only one that actually took place I wound up missing 'cause they didn't call me for it, so that was okay. I did manage to get a bit of a doze in (shush), and I played some scrabble with the marshmallow, once again getting handed crappy tileset after crappy tileset. Although I did get the letters to
spell out "lesbian," but I couldn't turn it into a proper Bingo (where you use all 7 of your tiles at once). No 50-point bonus for me. :(

I cancelled my gym appointment, 'cause I have to go home and read for book club, and of course, watch Gilmore Girls. I'd also like to get some real sleep in there. :P Three nights in a row of insufficient sleep have not done well for me.

Anyhow, those are some of the highlights for now. Anything else will just have to wait. I wanted to leave now, but I'm going to wait a bit on some information to see if I can do some work now, or if I'm going to leave it for tomorrow.

Now, if only my appetite would come back, I'd feel a bit more normal. :P