Author: Allegra

Born when atmospheric carbon was 316 PPM. Settled on MST country since 1997. Parent, grandparent.

Bad singing lesson

Kopper and I are still recovering from another singing lesson involving the most dirge like arrangement of “Down by the Riverside” you could possibly imagine. If this goes on I’m gonna bail on the rest of the lessons. I love the teacher and she’s awesome, but her music picks are not “what the people can hum” all the time. On the plus side we did some improvisational group singing last night.

After, I went over to the new place ostensibly to help Jeff move televisions but he declared himself too bagged; at least Kopper got to meet him even if he was far from being in his best shape. After all he’s been moving and driving large trucks around for four straight days, so exhaustion was not untoward.

My packing has slowed to a crawl, but I have set the moving day for the 19th of this month. Hopefully I will be able to get ‘er done by then.

Confirmed sighting

Well, nobody can say the Luddite’s imaginary any more – as fictional a character as he appears to be sometimes, even to me, he has BEEN SEEN by Jeff, and proved to be substantial enough to help move a freezer and a rug.  My nefarious posse is proving of service…..

It is snowing very hard and very abruptly. It started spot on 6:45 and it looks like staying, gosh darn. Another night of glorious weather while trying to get to singing lessons.

Busy day

I HOPE I didn’t catch what Tammy had.  She was not exactly deathly ill while she was here, nor was she knocked much out of her usual cheerful demeanour, but man, she was sick, and I am really glad I could put her up where she’d get some TLC. I got the car around 9 and drove her to the airport.  We had an extremely long and involved conversation on the way out there – and Tom L. tried to run me off the road in HIS Prius, which was amusing after I stopped cursing at this bozo who couldn’t stay in his lane.
I dealt with the flat (total props to Joe at the Shell at Main and King Eddy) and then thought f*ck it, I’ll call ScaryClown and ask him what he’s up to, seeing as how he lives about ten blocks from where the tire got fixed.  He was sitting with Tyson and Luke, two buddies of his, in the Starbucks at Main and 14th, and then we had a late brekky at the breakfast joint on the south side of the intersection.  His buddies (whom I have heard MUCH about, mostly positive and somewhat in relation to alcohol consumption, life threatening illnesses and mischief making) were funny and sweet and entertaining and it was a remarkably successful lunch given I’d never met them before. ScaryClown had of course said much about ME, which gave me pause, but it must have been mostly positive because they seemed disposed to like me.

Got a call from Kopper saying that I need to do something political soon, and I agreed, smiling at the notion that given what an absurd bunch of clowns we have on council in Burnaby anyway, why not have a comedian run for office?  So I will be supporting same.  Updates as events warrant.

Then I paid the March rent for the new place, crossed the alley and tried my front door key for the first time, and in a burst of energy, unpacked the kitchen so that when Jeff gets there in about three hours there will be one room of the house (besides the bathroom) that isn’t a complete disaster.   Then I called him and gave him an update.

Sigh.  Unpacking is way more fun than packing. I have now reassessed how much room will be in the new place and I will be storing every stick of furniture I have except my bed and dresser.  I literally won’t have room for anything else.  Oh, and I must have been taking colour blindness pills when I looked at the kitchen.  The kitchen is red white and green. Yup, I have a red (REDDDDD!!!! RED RED RED counters) and white (trim and cupboards) and SLIME GREEN (remember slime green???) kitchen.  The slime green is going to get buried under eggshell white as soon as I have the paint, the energy and the buy in from brother dearest.

Tammy was all upset on my behalf that Jeff is getting the lion’s share of room for stuff, but I think we’ll both be reassessing things after we’re in, and his furniture’s way nicer than mine anyway.

I am SO excited.  My life is about to drastically improve, and I’m already thinking of ways I can improve the shining hour during my commute.

Sickness

Tammy is quite sick but well enough that I don’t have to feel guilty about ducking out long enough to help with the move.  I’m going to set her up with a bunch of food and drink and then take off.

At some point I’m going to ask her if she can give me the full on rational/emotional description of her HORRIFIC trip back from Palm Springs.  Honest to God, if I’d been on the flight with her I’d have clipped the air hag in the face and devil take the hindmost.

Waiting

Boy, it didn’t take long for my mood to change to something more sombre! I waited at the airport until 10 after 10, and Tammy phoned to say she was stuck in SF. She sounded like she’d been through the old wringer washer. The plane she was booked on ‘went mechanical’ as they say. On a whim I phoned Paul and found out he was almost done work and hadn’t brought the car, so I bought a magazine and sat in the parking lot and drove him home. I poked my head in to say hey to Keith – who just got 40 out of 40 on a practical test, how a mother’s heart sings – found out that somebody had phoned in a ‘creditable threat’ whatevah the hell that means to David Lam campus so he had no school today – and got home around midnight.

Tammy offered to pay for the CAN car booking, I couldn’t believe it. After what she’d been through my troubles seemed pretty minor.

Happy

Despite everything I’m happy.  Things are clicking along very well in my personal life.  It’s Facebook style complicated but loads of fun.  The Luddite has sent me a number of Muppet Show links, including Shirley Bassey singing Goldfinger.  With Turkish subtitles.  All Hail the Inertnests!

Also the last line of his last email he made me laugh so hard I had a five minute coughing spasm afterwards. I am however getting better and I figured out which cough medicine to buy so I’m getting less coughing and fewer side effects from the cough medicine, all a good thing.  Also in the email was a querulous “Why would your daughter want to meet me? If she wants to inspect me she can come on down to the shop and I won’t even know who she is.”  Men, o my god.  The answer to that question is “Because I never shut up about you, how’s that?”
My apartment is somewhat cleaner, but with all the boxes, quite cluttered.  I am trying, in the midst of the chaos, to keep all my tax receipts in one place…..

Two more days and Jeff is here!!!! For good.  Katie says, “It’ll be weird having him here,” and I said, “Like you swapped uncles.”  For Dr. Filk is in Victoria, and Jeff is here.  “I’m used to him being far away.”  For me it will be weird getting through the “Meet my crazy friends stage.”  I know he’ll like Kung Fu Mike and vice versa – the rest of them who the hell knows.  It’s not like ALL of my friends are crazy (I can HARDLY WAIT until he meets ScaryClown, he’ll either like him or loathe him, and versy vice) but they are certainly pegged out against the smarter end of the spectrum and they have that delightful Fun Loving, Common Decency, Brutally Practical combination that makes me melt. Melt Melt Melt.  I heart my friends.

My Buffy Valentines are all over the office.  Te hee.

I’m thinking of giving cooking lessons once I’m in the new place.  Everybody tells me I can cook.  Then they wish they could do it.  Oh, I guess this is not the time to start fantasizing about lesson plans. I learned how to cook an omelette in the nuker from Keith the other day…. he fed me last weekend, I guess I forgot to mention it.  Did I mention that I was happy?  Stressed, but happy.

I light a candle for my grannie.  Without going into details, she was in and out of hospital on a pre-existing condition and everything is managed and she slept in her own bed last night.  I am very grateful that she’s living in the same town as relatives who adore her and help her every chance they get. I light a candle for all the grannies who face old age without much help or sympathy.