I received an Amazon.ca gift certificate from my godparents yesterday, which is what they get me every year. (Well, it used to be for a bricks-and-mortar bookstore, once upon a time.) Slightly inconvenient that it's for the Canadian site, but I will just have to order stuff soon and ship it care of the parents, and bring it home with me after my visit. Said parents just sent me an Amazon UK gift certificate for far too much money given the exchange rate. I am swimming in book, music and movie money.

I also received a whole whack of cards today from a bunch of you lovely people - Heather, yours too, so the 'Happy New Year' was a tad premature. ;) Thank you. ♥

These are good things. They are happy things, but they are also emotional things, and I am PMSing and mood-swinging wildly today, and after coming home and checking my email tonight I fired up iTunes so I could plug in my iPod to recharge as it's damn close to empty and iTunes wouldn't recognise it, and then it froze, and the programme froze, and that was apparently the proverbial straw, since that was about three hours ago and I have been crying ever since. :-/ I am such a mess right now it's ridiculous. And I feel ridiculous, and ungrateful, and selfish as hell. All of which I have been being most of this month and I'm sorry about that. :( But I still can't stop crying. So I don't even know.

I wore a skirt today. That's remarkable in and of itself - I think the work Christmas party last year is the last time I put a skirt on - but I was pulling out nylons to wear with it last night and thought, omg, which side is the slit on? Because I don't have any opaque tights anymore; they were all in that sort of 'massive hole in thigh but nobody sees that so wear them anyway' state and I just threw them out instead of packing them, and have yet to buy more. Anyway, the point is that all I have are fairly sheer nylons (and fishnets, but same problem), and thus my calf tattoo is clearly visible through them. Fortunately this skirt is ankle-length and slit up the left side, so my right side tat didn't show, but that's the first time I've had to think about that! My other skirt ends just below the knee so I'll definitely have to get tights before I can wear it, at least to work and such.

Had some great Chinese food today, which may be the first time since leaving Toronto (Halifax sucks at Chinese food, srsly). We had a really nice Christmas lunch thing - hence the kinda sorta dressing up. ;-)

Apparently my cousin's daughter is six months pregnant. I'm not sure if it was this past spring or the year before that she graduated from university, and I don't know anything about her personal situation with the father, etc. (my mom's email had two sentences about it, lol). But, um... I used to babysit her. I remember her as a newborn. This makes me feel fucking ancient, oy. Is it terrible that I kind of hope that she isn't married, or at the very least that she gives the child her name? Because she and I are the only routes left to pass it on, and I'm 99.9% sure that I won't be having any kids, so it's up to her.

Notwithstanding the part where there's probably a whole clutch of similarly-named familial-type people somewhere in Yorkshire that I at this point have zero intentions of looking up. I mean, what do you say? "Hi, you don't know me, but my grandparents owned a small diner/garage here in the 1940s and then after it was bombed in WWII, they took their kids and went back to Canada, where they'd met and married while my grandmother was staying on her uncle's farm near Ottawa, and eventually I was born, grew up, and came here. Wanna make like we're family?" Yeaaaaah, I don't think so, lol. I did meet one English cousin when I was a kid. He was a piece of work and so was his prim and proper wife, and in fact, he ended up committing suicide about a year after that. So, not so much eager to go looking anyone else up. *g*

Cheers to muffinkath7, indie_wonka, hored, and feels_like_fire for the cards. ♥

Well, I have heat. Not that it's actually *warm* in here yet, but the radiator is operational now, so that's progress. Though the day ended up being a complete write-off because the guy didn't do mine until nearly five. By that time I was exhausted, not having slept enough in order to be ready for the "late morning" possibility *snort* and not being able to do more than semi-doze during the day; cranky; and still cold. I gave up on attempting to do anything and had a nap. I feel a bit better now, albeit headachey. Food will hopefully help with that. On the plus side, at least I'm not in New England dealing with the aftermath of ice storms. :-/ While this December is apparently the coldest start to winter the UK's had since the 70s, there was still only one night this week that the overnight low was below freezing (it was -1). That makes a few days without heat an unpleasant nuisance, not a potential death sentence.

Y'all may have noticed that I'm a tad chattier than I was at the beginning of the month. This is directly related to having mailed off Christmas stuff to the fam and thus being able to stop thinking about it all the time. I'm having a much harder time dealing with this whole Christmas on the other side of the world thing than I had anticipated. Naive of me perhaps. I didn't expect it to be all smooth sailing or anything, but I wasn't expecting it to be this hard, either. Especially as regards the rest of my family as I haven't seen most of them in nearly five years, since the last time I was in Ontario. But logic, she has precious little to do with emotion, alas, and I'm struggling a fair bit. I keep bouncing between being busy and glad to be so as it gives me less time to think, and finding it more upsetting because there's too much to do and I end up feeling overwhelmed and wanting to just sit in a corner and rock, kind of thing. So, yeah, I'm limping along and feeling like a bit of an asshole because my first instinct is always to withdraw when I feel like this, which isn't fair or even necessarily healthy a lot of the time but is damn difficult not to do. The Race of Champions tomorrow will be good. It'll be the first time I've been in Wembley Stadium, too. I've gone *by* it, to get to the Arena to see Matchbox, but never been in it yet. Should be interesting. *g*

Btw mikeyface, got your card. Thanks, dear. ♥

I ran across the subject phrase in relation to marine life jackets today but, y'know, that's not where the mind goes. *g*

On the home front, Girl1+Boy3 have moved out, and been replaced by a very sweet, polite, and lovely Scotsman. Poor man, he enquired if I used the kitchen much yesterday and I, er, laughed. Hee. (I was doing laundry and the washing machine is in there.) Boy1 is definitely still here as I continue to hear him either cussing madly or singing offkey when he cooks. *g* Boy2, I do not know; I have literally seen him maybe a half dozen times in the entire time I've lived here, which is just over six months now. Wow. I will be here until at least May, probably June - need to give six weeks' notice and with my travel plans, the earliest that would be feasible is mid-March, for the end of April, and I'm going to guess that I'll need the extra month to build enough money back up to be able to do first/last type stuff. (This is, of course, assuming I ever muster up the initiative to move at all, though if the mother is really thinking about coming to visit next summer, I'd better be living somewhere else by then or she will flip her lid over it being impossible to clean everywhere, etc.. It would also be nice to have an actual couch and a bit of *room* for friends to stay over, since some of that is kind of planned, too.) I might actually try to work with my property manager and get somewhere else that's still run by him, because in all seriousness, he's awesome. I got a (mass) text message last night that said there was a problem with the gas-powered boiler for the house and someone would be in today to look at it. I came home to a letter that there's a part that needs replacing that the repair guy won't be able to install until Saturday or at the worst early next week. Now, the boiler drives the heating, but the water is electric so we still have hot water, just no heat. And it is cold. Hence, holding the letter down partly under my door was a small heater fan, and the rest of the letter had instructions for its use and a note that he'd pick them back up once the boiler was fixed. Personally, I hope it's not 'til next week now b/c I can put the heater closer to me than I can the (immobile) radiator and I'm perfectly toasty sitting here! And I pay a flat rate rent, so I don't even have to worry about the electricity bill spiking. My flat definitely has some drawbacks but the landlord is worth keeping, man.

Now that the first weekend of December has passed, it seems that that invisible barrier that holds back "All Christmas All the Time!" has finally been broken. I am resigned, I think is the best way to put it. But! Helping put me more in the mood are the cards I have received from my aunt, michak, and and_ed. Thank you, ladies! ♥

Might post more later but now I need to eat dinner, lol.


ETA: Well, the fans were a good idea until it would seem some fuses blew... *facepalm*

So on Saturday, I get to take a nice long walk to the post office in Portswood and carry a box home, because despite the number of times I have told her where to send mail that is larger than will fit through a letterslot, the mother sent my Christmas box to my address. Which is NOT where it's supposed to go, because a) it's a bitch trying to get something delivered to a rowhouse cut up into flats that do not have individual intercoms, and b) I'm not fucking home during the day to sign for it. Gaaaaahhhhhh. At least it *is* at the post office this time - and a relatively close one even - and not out in the sticks at Fareham. Like it was the first time. Hence the alternate instructions that she can't manage to follow. *headdesk* Also, while I'm not one to begrudge getting gifts, wtf am I supposed to do with the damn box for the next almost two months?! Aieeeee!

Speaking of mail, I've seen a few posts start up for addies for Christmas cards. I am deeply regretful that I'm going to have to skip this year. :/ I normally splurge on this tradition because I love doing it, but with doubled+ mailing costs, I simply can't afford it. This makes me sad. Since I can't reciprocate, I won't be signing up as a recipient, either.

It's Bonfire Night, which means that there are bloody loud fireworks being set off everywhere. I'm abruptly glad that it is dark early because maybe they'll run out before I actually want to sleep! lol

I have by this time mostly settled into Est!Rob's head and made my peace with the fact that he's unusual, by which I mean that he doesn't fit neatly into any particular categories and he fucks with some of my own preconceptions, which are largely obliterated now as a consequence. *g* He's my first dom muse but he's also the strongest muse I've ever had (edging very slightly past Mr. Armstrong!), so there's been a fair amount of cognitive dissonance on my part with this getting-to-know-you process, and I've done more than my share of fretting and whinging at poor oh_johnny_, whose excellent advice is always to just shut up and let Rob drive. And I do. He drives some very unexpected places sometimes. Okay, most of the time. I'm mentioning all this because both of the just-posted logs are examples of unexpected places and we received a comment on the shorter/later one that totally has me glowing. Sometimes you really do need someone who has some more emotional distance from the characters to tell you that yes, this is working. ♥ (♥ to evaine too.)

Not at all caught up on eljay; busy. Also see: exhausted but too tired to sleep. Goddammit. It was all I could do to keep my eyes open at work until the last little bit, of course, and then I arrived home wide awake only not. *eyeroll*

In the last couple of days, I believe I have received all of the straggler cards, so thank you one and all! *mwah* Lovely little extras in some and thank you especially for those. ♥ Rick over on RockFic drew me a fabulous little "Red + Green Day" doodle in his card that I shall have to scan and show y'all; Mike is in a Santa suit!

Oh and pamoreno I got your package this morning and dude, you have no idea how thrilled a sparkly fluffy orange pen makes me - a *great* orange, the kind I can actually point to and say, "This is my favourite colour," without getting the O_O that sort of comment engenders in the absence of a pertinent example because people think Day-Glo Halloweenie Florida orange and that ain't what I'm talking about. So, yay! Thank you, hon. *hugs up*

Getting somewhere with the whole insurance thing. Don't wanna go into it in any detail but it's, y'know, going somewhere, so I'm feeling better about that. Even if it does mean I have to get up far too early again tomorrow, which isn't gonna help with the whole lack of sleep thing.

And then at work, payroll had a system screwup and deducted WAY more than they were supposed to off my paycheque so I'll have to wait to get the rest of my pay (as opposed to it being in my bank account tomorrow). This? Sucks. It better be sorted out fast, man.

I've been in a weird mood all day, kind of on the cusp between feeling needy-clingy-wantahugnowplz and omg!stfu. Well, maybe not so weird considering the level of tiredness. I'se crankeh. However, evaine has managed to dispel that by slinging the accusation, "You people and your wifely needs." ROTFLMAO! Not nearly as dirty in its proper context, but that's okay, I'm just gonna leave you with that. ;-D

Ohgodsotired. Not getting too far tonight as I'm just too braindead. *yawns* Though I'm entertained to discover that I've actually met one of stumphed's LJ friends here in Halifax, and I remember her, too. Mainly for the pink hair and the glasses. *g* But I remember thinking that she looked sort of like Phoebe from Friends, except smart and punk, so not so much like Phoebe after all, lol.

*smooches* to a whole roster of people as I got a whack of cards today. I do so enjoy getting mail. :D Even when it has to sit unopened in the corner and taunt me until Christmas! ;-)

Didn't get any writing done last night, though it's been coming along today. The mother and I figured out money instead - possibly my least favourite activity in the entire universe. Which probably explains why I have no money and yet I do in fact have enough income to cover car payments, provided they're not insane. I don't have any adequate explanation for where it's all gone prior to now, though. I know I spent lots on Christmas but I don't think *that* much? Baffling, and stupid on my part. *sigh* However, it's a load off to know that if I'm smrt about it, I can do this. W00t. I'm still not exactly excited about it - it feels like a chore, tbh - but I've started researching and it is at least an excellent time of year to buy a car as everyone's doing their year end clearance sales and has 0% financing and all of that. Yes, I'll be getting a new new car. They have planned, regular payments and warranties. And should also be better for selling when I get to that part of the general life plan. (Yup, still planning on moving.)

It's been snowing like a mofo since about two o'clock this afternoon - little powdery flakes, the kind that accumulate and stick around. Shovelled some earlier, though the mother just went out and did some more whilst the dad and I were all, 'Are you dumb? It's dark and it's supposed to turn to rain overnight.' *shakes head* I slept in ridiculously today, longer than I would have because the kitty came in and curled up with me and he does that so infrequently that I stay in bed when he does. I'm tired now, though. Haven't been sleeping well all week, or not long enough, anyway.

I finally junked the fushciawielder hotmail/MSN account (to which I had forgotten the password, and spelled wrong when originally creating it and it's been bugging me ever since!), and got a new one: tastallic [at] live [dot] ca. I didn't import my contacts so go ahead and add me if you wish. Shan't promise to be any better a conversationalist but I quite like the name and I should actually sign in more often since that also junks the (non-LJ) contacts I was avoiding. ;-)

I think that's everything. Except I'm glad nobody seems to care that the candy in y'all's Christmas cards will have been fairly well squished by arrival, hee. :D

Ooooo power flicker. :-/ Better post!

I was going to post about stuff but it's late now and I'm too tired to be witty. And I actually had a really good day so I don't feel like venting either. ;D Ergo, you get an absolutely pointless spammy post to tell you HI and Tas knows a multiple of six Americans - or at least has that many willing to divulge their addresses, lol. US stamps come in six-packs and I used 'em all. After a second trip to get *more* because apparently it's a large multiple of six! I can't remember how many packages I had anymore but they and their Canuck counterparts have all been stuck to envelopes and popped in the mail. (UK went last week to make the deadline.) Hopefully y'all will be able to read 'em when they arrive. I make no promises about my handwriting. :P

I need to look for some ribbon and then I'm going to bed so I can get up early again tomorrow (wtf is with all the early, man) and run some errands before work. I'd *like* to spend the weekend asleep but I have a thing on Saturday night and I have to make a bunch of cookies! Yay shortbread. I don't think I've even *used* the kitty cookie press since I bought it, and I don't know where the candy cane or the lip print ones are, so kitty-decorated Christmas shortbread it shall be. *laughs*

Also, GIP. I love that! Our tree is up and the lights and treetop are on it, but we didn't get any farther yet. Another thing for the weekend I guess. But I looooooove Christmas lights.

*notes that it's now the 6th* *celebrates 4 years of legal freedom*

Today ended up being a pretty good day, despite the ongoing fatigue. Wtf, dude, I am *going* to sleep fine, but I woke up around 5 a.m. and couldn't do more than doze for like two hours after that. Gah. I've been doing that for a week and a half or so now and I'd like to stop plz kthx. Anyway, I had a chiropractor appointment this morning, which is always a good thing, both because there is less pain upon exiting the office and also because that's a really awesome group of people and they always brighten my day. And since the chiro was running a bit late, the receptionist showed me the pix from Halloween. :D They went as Bo Peep and hisher Sheep. ROTFLMAO! He normally looks somewhat like Matt Skiba, actually, and looked *hilarious* in outrageously over-the-top drag - in concern that someone might not notice the huge fake boobs, he put those fluorescent zigzag-type stickers over top like titty tassels. *dies laughing* THIS is why I haul my ass all the way downtown, because he and the rest of his staff are just that fabulous. :D

Work was pretty good too since my manager was pondering the possibility of letting a person or two go home and started to qualify that when such and such was all cleared...and then we realised, hey, nothing is going anywhere until Monday anyway. Which means that deadlines today were completely irrelevant. Consequently, yes, we totally blew off a lot of work and discussed what we're going to do to decorate our area for Christmas. Hee. But, since we are for some godforsaken reason open on Friday (even though there's no delivery and we'll be at skeleton staff levels because NOTHING WILL BE HAPPENING), we can clear up what we blew off today and also get some decorating done. W00t! Plus, in a rather nice gesture, those of us who didn't/couldn't take Friday off are entitled to free pizza and coffee. I think it's actually going to be a pretty fun day; I love decorating!

Tomorrow I have off, and I have a zillion and one things to do, starting earlier than I would like but I wanna get 'em done. On the down side of everything, 3 of the 4 people that sit near me *and* the mother have chest colds, and guess who's started sniffling and coughing? Fuuuuuuuck. I do NOT want another cold, but it looks like I'm getting one anyway. *sigh*

And today, I received my first actual Christmas card! :D *smooches* to indie_wonka for the card - and thanks for the kick in the pants, too, as I haven't cleared off the space where I usually put them and now I have a reason to, LOL!

I has cards. *pleased* For those of you who haven't bought yours yet, might I suggest Winners (aka TJ Maxx in the States)? Seriously, I discovered a couple of years ago that they carry really nice ones that won't break the bank. Some of the handmade fancy type too, if you need/prefer such. Now watch me find the cards I bought last year in the next week or so, lol. Eh doesn't matter; it's not like I couldn't use them next year!

Landing instantly on the WANT pile: Angel Down, the brand new album by Sebastian Bach. Yeah. Aside from the fact that it's an awesome review, and that I like his voice, and have liked his music since I first heard it...dude, you also never forget the first time you see someone who makes your body light up like a Christmas tree with a shock of pure lust. That was Baz for me. I had recently turned 15 and I'd never wanted to be 19 so badly in all my teen years as when he announced that Skid Row would be hanging out at Rock & Roll Heaven after the concert. It was always a bit of a disappointment that the bar had gone out of business by the time I was actually old enough to drink, lol.

Speaking of attractive rockers, some of y'all might enjoy peeking through this set of photos of Mike Ness and Social Distortion. :D

Mkay it's midnight and I am pumpkining tonight as I need some frigging sleep as tomorrow's another early day. Gah at this rate, I'll want to spend the entirety of Thursday in bed - and not in the fun way! :P


P.S. looking_spiffy's Internet is out, though hopefully that will not be the case by tomorrow. But in case anyone was trying to get hold of her as she obviously can't get to her email.

I am not impressed that the holiday cards I bought last year are not where I left them. Of course, obviously I did not actually leave them where I thought I did - which would be the same place I've put them for the last eight years - but I can't find them elsewhere either. Perhaps I imagined that I bought some? Only I clearly remember thinking as to whether I should buy them or not since I was trying not to be here by this time (and definitely wouldn't bother packing blank cards!), and deciding to go ahead anyway figuring I could just give them to my mother or something in that case. *sigh* I do have some but not enough, and I know I got two or three boxes of 'em. Their MIA-ness annoys moi.

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Some links for your perusal:
Fuck Euphemisms. This is a blog entry that compares common obscenities to the high-falutin' bloodless euphemisms that pervade public speech today. Thought-provoking. Perhaps especially because I personally am very good at phrasing things in just such niceties and I don't know that I've ever really considered the larger ramifications of that. Although, that may be because I'm also perfectly willing to tell you to fuck off if I deem that necessary. ;-D

tightropegirl (writer for House) has an update on the WGA strike that also mentions a way in which fans can make a direct statement to the AMPTP, with pencils. It's actually pretty fascinating, her take on other writers' growing awareness of fans as a collective force. I've been thinking about all this, and wondering if the things that have happened in fandom this year - FanLib, the crackdowns/backtracking on LJ, all of that - has served as preparation for *this* particular fight, or more specifically even as having shown fandom that yes, it can work together as a collective body regardless of which door was used as the entryway, and thus has allowed for the strong, instant support and response to the strike. I like to think so, in any case.

Aside from being the moniker of San Francisco's bus transit system, "muni" is apparently also short for "Mountain unicycling." Who knew? (Nobody tell Tré, 'kay?)

This one is not on the whimsical side: a round-up of links and exposition surrounding the suicide of Megan Meier, colloquially known as the MySpace suicide due to its circumstances. For my personal reaction, Megan's decision to take her life is ultimately not that surprising, unfortunately; it fits a fairly standard pattern and while it's definitely tragic, it's not as unusual as I wish it were. It's when you factor in the other half of the equation that my ire gets roused: the mother of a former friend of Megan's had a fake MySpace as a teenage boy and chatted up Megan (and others) for the express purpose of finding out their opinions of her daughter. Fake MySpaces are a dime a dozen, but to essentially stalk your own daughter's friends? What the fuck is WRONG with people???

To end on a sweeter (snarkier!) note, here lies a bunch of Metalocalypse quote icons. :D Funny even if you don't watch the show!
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I'm tired, which is ludicrous as it's quite early in the evening yet. The American Music Awards are on in a couple of hours and I want to watch them, being an awards show whore. :D I haven't been sleeping well though so I might have to watch for a bit and skip the end. I think I need to be up early every day this week. :-/ Except Thursday - I have that off, since it's American Thanksgiving. I want to go downtown during the day but dammit, it doesn't have to be until the afternoon!

Christmas cards!

Yes, it's that time of year again. Card-mongering brought to you by having accomplished the bulk of my Christmas shopping with the things I got yesterday (w00t), and by the omgwtf induced by realisation of Canada Post's shipping dates for things which are bigger than cards (aka, earlier than I had written down from last year, boo).

If you got a card last year: No need to say anything, unless you moved in 2007 or you've decided that you don't want a card, in which case, please comment - comments are screened. Or email if you prefer.

If you didn't get one last year but you'd like one: Snail mail, pretty please! As noted above, via screened comment or email.

I'd sort of planned to at least start on a "2006 retrospective" type of post - I do want to do one, more for my own edification than anything. But I got what I believe is the last of my Christmas cards today (*smooches* to mockingbird39, & :P to feels_like_fire ♥ ), and the third one was from an on-and-off-again friend that I've known since I was 12. ( Her news wasn't so cheery.Collapse )

femmenerd recommended this sort of a movie tag fic, and I'm just going to steal her description wholecloth:

"Not Quite a Success Story - Say Anything (movie) - PG13? - Lloyd POV, 15 years later. A delayed "happy ending." Real. Awesome."

It really is lovely and very Lloyd. :-)

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In somewhat more personal news, I got a pile o' cards again today - *smooches* to thirdbeatred, sick_of_me03, and piper47. Thanks, guys. ♥

I also went shopping after work, since I got off at a normal hour and since I'm not going away for the weekend anymore - which meant both the time to go, and the money I'd set aside for gas. ;-) Er, plus a little. *blush* I ended up with more than I'd set out to get, naturally. The last stop was the worst "extra" stuff though - my fave CD store. They had scratch tickets for minimum 10% off so I figured I'd wait and just pick up Snow Patrol this week and get a discount on it, right? Except a) it was on sale for ten bucks so it wasn't eligible for the discount, and b) neither were the box sets of S2 & 3 of Buffy the Vampire Slayer for $20 each. *glee* Okay, so I went in planning on maybe a $15 expenditure and dropped $50, but those are my two favourite seasons of BtVS and they are *rarely* that cheap, at least around here. I'd pretty much put off buying them indefinitely b/c they're usually twice+ that. Plus, one of my coworkers got 1&2 for Christmas and we were talking about it the other day and I had a craving to watch the show, but Space doesn't show the reruns anymore. All of which is me justifying being broke and having stuff now lol.

Shockingly enough, I wasn't toooo exhausted today, though I am about to keel over now. One of the only pluses about not getting enough sleep is that with waking up more frequently, I tend to "see" more of my dreams. Which is interesting, obviously, and also teeters between blessing and curse. Part of what galvanized my little freak-out last month was a very vivid dream in which I had taken the cat and gone to stay at my mom's - stay, not live - in order to consider leaving my husband. O_O WTF? That was about a week or so before the 3rd "anniversary" of my legal re-attainment of singledom, so while it makes sense empirically that he'd be in the back of my mind, esp with the holidays around the corner, the context shook me very badly. And even having a sort of continuation of it the next morning where we did split and weird shit happened didn't really alleviate the panicky feeling. I'm still kinda poking gingerly at it. *sigh* On the brighter side, someone remind me when I'm not so braindead to tell y'all about the dream I had last weekend that went like a bad Mary Sue fic wherein I - reluctantly - began dating Tré. *cackles* Oh, man.

Because I got a wee package from revid today with a DVD and a big, sparkly cross pendant. :D It came right as I was dragging clothes out to wear for the day so I promptly changed my mind to something that would look better with it and wore it to work! CW looked at me right puzzled later on in the day and said it was very pretty but I didn't really seem the cross type. I very nearly told her that I *would* if she knew it was originally from a "Nun with a Bad Habit" costume! *cackles* I can't remember what I actually said, though it was considerably tamer and did not necessitate long explanations that aren't really workplace-appropriate heh. Thank you, honey! *mwah*

*smooches* also to angela_o (Haha you found SHOE holiday cards! So you!), stumphed (Oh yes that definitely qualifies as Sexiest Card *drools*), and thelackey (Coolest window EVER). Thank you, dearies. ♥

And now I need to go to bed and try to force myself to sleep, b/c I have to work at 9:30 a.m. tomorrow. *eep* For those of you going, 'Yeah, so what?' remember that my normal shift is according to Pacific time so that means I'll be starting at the equivalent of 5:30 in the morning. Doesn't sound quite so decadently late put that way, does it? lol

Also, my weekend travel plans are a no-go. My friend is actually quite sick and obviously I'm not going to inflict myself on her right now. I'll have to look around and see what's happening in town on NYE now - I'd been ignoring it since I hadn't planned to be here! Ah, well. I'm more concerned about her and that she gets well ASAP.

Got off work a bit early so I got to pick up my mom's gift. Woohoo! While it does seem counterintuitive to be happy about spending money whilst taking an unpaid hour off, LOL, it means I don't have to go tomorrow morning and that, my friends, is worth it. ;-D I do still have to get *up* unfortunately, because the box is fricking HOOG so I'll have to go drag it in from my car trunk and wrap it while *she's* out shopping in the morning. Oy! They must have ten tonnes of packaging in it b/c the item itself is not that large.

Good mail today. I got cards from mikeyface, leighrowena, revid, emluv, and janajoh. :D Thanks guys! They are all much, much prettier than the photograph in my passport, which also came today. And I already thanked nene (<--see? Properly Britishised!) but I have fuzzy Billie socks now. *wiggles warm toes* We only have pickup on Saturdays, no mail delivery, so that's it until next Wednesday now! O_O

Oooo but I can still get eeeemail - like the Amazon.ca gift certificate from my godparents. *squee* Ha they've been getting me basically the same thing for like 20 years now (used to be bookstore) and I still love it to pieces every year. :D I normally hang onto it for a while but there are things I reaaaaally want this time so I'll probably use it on Monday. Heh. But not before. I already opened one thing prematurely cos the paper shifted and ripped enough for me to see what it was. Santa apparently owes me a spanking for that. *giggles*

What else, what else? Oh, yeah. There was a holiday request for me to suck it up and get a MySpace. Ergo, after some assistance (apparently the dislike is mutual), my MySpace. If you would like to friend me, please take the initiative and do so. I can follow the link it sends me and click YES or NO. I have no earthly idea how to friend someone myself. Hee.

I know there *was* something else besides that but I can't remember now. *purses lips* Eh, whatever, I can always post again later if I think of it!

Not that it looks much like winter out there! Or feels like it. When I left the house today, the sun was shining and the birds were chirping, and the light cool breeze had that mineral scent of April. O_O Someone needs to stop feeding Mother Nature crack, man.

However, it *is* the solstice, so blessed be. :-)

It is also December 22nd, and that means it's Global Orgasm Day! Don't forget to do your part for world karma. *naughty grin*

Speaking of naughty, _somniac_, I got your card today. Eeee what a great pic of you and the fur-babies! And I want your pink sparkly pen. And maybe my suggested present. What? *blinks innocently*

Haha someone actually brought in wee fork-flattened shortbread cookies with coloured sugar on 'em today. And since said someone is a baker of the sort that people pay to have make them wedding cakes, they were gooooooood. :D

Have a bunch of stuff to post about actually, but I don't feel uber chatty atm. I haven't really been talking to much of anyone lately. *shrugs*

Some good news: for those who don't know, I work in a call centre, o joy, and they do market comparison research etc. etc. every year and adjust hourly wage rates accordingly. This year, they decided to anticipate the market and did a centre-wide increase of $0.60/hour. Not massive but it does work out to nearly a hundred bucks a month and that doesn't suck. It will be on my next paycheque and that will, ah, not quite cover the cell phone bill I just got for my usage whilst in the US. *winces* Damn roaming charges.

Going out tomorrow night with a bunch of girls from work - well, going over to Di's to have another PJ/karaoke party. *laughs* There won't be marshmallow and weenie roasting in the firepit in the backyard this time but it should be fun!

*squidges beelzezuk* Dude, did we discuss candy?! I know we talked about cereal, but if we didn't talk about candy you're a damned good guesser. :D Thank you! *mwah*

You Were Mostly Nice This Year!

Sure, you had your naughty moments... but guess what? Santa was probably sleeping when you were living it up. As far as he's concerned, you've been on your best behavior. So cross your fingers, and you might score good presents.

Clearly I need to work on that. lol

My day didn't really improve too much. Skinned my knee, broke four nails - one while pulling up my trouser socks so it ruined those - and I'm exhausted b/c I couldn't get my brain to turn off last night and was awake until past 5 am, yeesh. BUT I got some Christmas cards today, some with some extra stuff in them!, and that was a very much needed pick-me-up. *waves* at and_ed (I have a metal shelf over my desk at work heh), screwthedaisies (A definite possibility and thanks), and muffinkath7 (You are now officially the only person who's ever addressed me both ways in the same card, lol. *hugs*).

I'm giving myself a pass to ignore shit for tonight and sleeeeeep. I'll deal a lot better if I can, you know, stay awake and all while fixing stuff. :-)


ETA: iTunes is mean. The newsletter is by default a US version, and this week's "free download" is Sarah McLachlan with a blurb about her being a Canadian songbird, but said downloads are not available to Canadian customers. Bah.

Anyone else who totally forgot that KROQ.com was streaming Night Two of their Almost Acoustic Christmas concert should head over right now to catch the end of Snow Patrol's set. I'm so sad that I forgot and missed Chasing Cars! *pouts* Mind you, I didn't catch ANY of Night One last night as I'd forgotten that they stream it at all. Oh, well, I only missed She Wants Revenge and most of SP for this one.

I finished all my early deadline Christmas shopping yesterday; it is all now wrapped, tagged and boxed. Ooo but I need to throw the cards in there still. *writes post-it b/c I will lose a mental note* All my other cards are now the purview of Canada Post. So yeah, expect them when you see them, then. *snerk*

I got my hair cut yesterday - not changed, just so's it's not poking me in the eyes anymore, etc. - and my stylist told me about this new dye. They don't stock it (not enough demand) but she can order it, and it's finally a true permanent red dye. Aka, fire engine red that *doesn't* fade in a month, or at all. Also aka a total commitment because the only ways to rid oneself of it are to grow it out or dye a dark colour overtop. I need to think about that. I need to redo mine currently; was gonna do it last weekend but I went to hockey instead, and today I just slept in for houuuuuurs. I'm getting a bit of a cold and I haven't been sleeping well, so I just said fuck it and stayed in bed. But I have enough dye to do mine twice more and I can't return it so I'll obviously use it, and then I'll have to think about whether I want to commit to the permanent version. Actually, aside from wanting to see a proper sample of what the colour really looks like b/c I haven't liked all of the pro bright reds I've seen, my only reason to hesitate is linked to me leaving, and therefore a) being probably unable to access the same kind of dye, and b) not sure if I'll keep the vivid red or go to a more natural colour before I go. As much as I absolutely LOVE the way it looks right now, I'm pragmatic enough to realise it'd prolly be a handicap when looking for a job. Though a big part of me wants to say too bad they'll have to take me as is.

I totally need to make a post about that whole leaving thing as some stuff's been done and some decisions made, and I still need to do my SF post too, assuming anyone's still interested lol. Ha no, I'll make it anyway so that I can remember everything! The problem with waiting and writing up a Master Post, as sick_of_me has termed it, is that the glut of information becomes a little overwhelming and I end up staring at Word with my mind going blank, even when it was all running rampant through my head five minutes ago.

I also finished decorating the tree today - looks basically the same as last year, in the same spot since it's the only place big enough that doesn't also have a heater. We put the lights up last weekend, along with pretty damn close to the entire neighbourhood. *giggles* Aside from the crazy lady across the street, who has had her giant inflatable candy canes on her lawn since November 1st!

Seeing as it's nearly December, omg. If you would like one from me, either comment with your snail mail (comments are screened) or email it to me at my livejournal.com addy. Note: if you recently got a postcard, you're already on my list. ♥

And not in the Paula Cole sense, either, lol. Major *smooches* to my flist for all the hugs and well-wishes and cards and prezzies. 'Tis all much appreciated. Stop by my userinfo page to see my pretty balloons and soon to check out my gazillions of userpics, once I dither about what I wanna upload! :D (And yes, I remembered to update my age there too, lol.)

Good day all around. I feel MUCH better than I did yesterday, despite the incomplete sleep. I'm tired now after a full day but not dragging with exhaustion, and I didn't need to take any sinus or pain meds at all so that's definitely looking up!

I'm also feeling a wee bit immature and giggly about it. My manager had picked out a card that managed to get concealed on her desk and therefore not signed, so she just signed it herself from everyone on our team. It's a Garfield card, and the front says, "Aging is inevitable..." and on the inside, "Maturity is optional!"

Which was amusing in and of itself. And then my friend Julie gave me the exact same card. *dies laughing* OMG. I pinned them both to my wall with the inside facing out! I think I turned about fifty shades of red when I opened the second one, too.

My brother called too, and it's the first time in *ages* that we've talked b/c he works early mornings and he's basically going to bed when I get home, so we just never seem to connect. It was so good to hear from him, though. We've drifted kind of far apart in recent years but he'll always be soooooo important to me.

Everyone kept asking what I was going to do to celebrate, lol. I am not really much of a birthday celebrater in the traditional sense. My gift to myself was the ticket for the Rob Thomas concert on Sunday and that's plenty! I'd rather wait until mockingbird39 gets here next week to celebrate, anyway. :D Although I will confess to a certain current lightheadedness from cracking open the bottle of Bailey's, hee. Perhaps I should have eaten the teeny tiny birthday carrot cake first!

michak! I got your card, and it was the perfect pick-me-up after a shitty day that I no longer even want to rant about. Thank you! *smooches*

Got double-teamed by canis_takahari and luthien123 for this meme, lol. No, I am not doing fourteen of everything! :P

1) Write down 7 things that piss you off (in no certain order)
2) Tag 7 people
3) Write 7 things that make you happy too

7 things that piss me off
1. People who do not use their turn signals when driving.
2. Not using a spell checker & grammar checker before formal posts, i.e., fic.
3. Missing concerts due to weather/lack of money/other stupid reasons.
4. Writer's block.
5. Intolerance.
6. People who continue to do something they know bothers you after you have come out and *asked* them not to do it.
7. Backstabbing.

Tag 7 people
I don't often bother tagging, but I feel like it. :D strippedpink, muffinkath7, gioiamia, femmenerd, cookie2697, ithinghardon, stumphed Don't feel obligated, though. *smooches*

7 things that make me happy
1. Music, especially live.
2. My kitty. And most anyone else's kitties, too.
3. Spending face time with friends I don't get to see often.
4. Spending time with friends online.
5. Getting into the writing zone.
6. Giving prezzies to friends.
7. Road trips.


Interesting. It was a lot harder to think of things that piss me off, even after a shitty day. Go me, lol. On the not-so-bright side, I'm definitely somewhat sick. Headachey, sore throat, sneezing and sniffling and altogether not happy about it. It *will* go away soon. I will MAKE it go away!!!

In recognition of special deeds of stupidity and total disregard for all aspects of common sense.

AKA, the certificate presented to local members of the Polar Bear Club on New Year's Day when they take the annual plunge into the freaking Atlantic Ocean. O_o Which is not a warm place even in the heights of summer, let alone when someone needs to clear ice off the dock first! But I like the certificate idea. It amuses me. :D

I found my 6th & 7th grade journal recently and have been having a good laugh. Oy but you guys are lucky I don't journal like that anymore! Mostly. lol. I have resigned myself to the fact that I am doomed to ramble endlessly in disjointed sentences that flit from subject to subject, leaving listeners wondering WTF I was talking about LOL. (B/c yeah, I talk like this too.) It's actually a small miracle that I don't write write this way. Different mind set, I suppose, and then there's the fact that it isn't me talking but me channelling someone else's voice, at least if I'm doing it properly. :)

I got a whackload of Christmas cards today! Our postal service between Christmas and New Year's sucks ass, so I got them today lol. *smooches* to angela_o, feels_like_fire, and janajoh. The one from JerseyAnne in the Idiot Club had me puzzled as to what was messed up with the cartoon on the front before I realized that she pasted Mike Dirnt's head over top of Santa's. ROTFLMAO! Oh man, that's even funnier in light of Perfumed Velvet, which she doesn't know exists. xD