Still alive

Yet more people have found out about my planned departure and it’s as if it’s the ‘end of an error’ is making people really freeked out.  I don’t want to freak people out. I just want my life back.  Yes, I know it looks like I have a life from my blog, I’m forever doing exciting or at least utterly bizarre things, meeting strange life forms and having thinky-thotz, but I’d like a more interesting life still, and I want to be able to say I did something besides work.  Like create. Continue reading Still alive

Ick, hormones for Valentines

Despite it all, my TMI meter still seems to be working, so I won’t bother with the deets.  I just feel wrung out and not particularly brainy at the moment.  On the positive side my back and leg aren’t hurting me too much at the moment; I’ve been getting by without painkillers.

I wish my phone hadn’t died just as I was coming home yesterday.  The sunset was so glorious, so spectacular, so awe-inspiring, I wanted to phone Jeff and tell him to step out on the back deck.  Also, he’d picked up beer that day so I didn’t actually have to go into the mall.  But I’ve got beer, so really, wherefore the plaints?

I started writing my Valentines day cards today.  More after the cut.  Please note that I am using my just freshly created font so the appearance on this blog of those staves will look very different from how it will look when I print them out.  I have no idea what font they will appear in.  Also, they all run together because Google docs knocked the formatting out.  But I think I’m doing very well with the office coworker valentine’s this year – I won’t be doing individual ones but I think I’ll be able to keep everybody reasonably happy.

One thing that troubles me…. Should I give any to the new squid overlords?  I’m going to go talk to HR about that.  I mean, I’ve been giving out office Valentines for YONKS now, and if they tell me I have to stop I should probably do it anyway, but only give them to the people who are a) expecting them – because at this point, they do and b) really don’t give a roasted rat’s tuchis what HR thinks. then OR now.

I lost my bank card.  I have to report it now.  I don’t want another one, but oh well.

Healing is itchy work.

I’ve been re-reading George Carlin.  That man was a genius, and he left us too soon.

Continue reading Ick, hormones for Valentines

Bloggoriffic Junk Drawer!

Fact is, I can’t talk about anything right now without either going to the whining place, the TMI place or the don’t have permission to talk about it place.  I mean, I’m doing okay, but there’s a lot going on under the hat, thanks.  I would like to thank Robof9 and ScaryClown and Patricia and Jarmo and Jeff and Tanya and Deb for their comments and support.

So, links instead of whining.

A delightfully disturbing picture. Make sure you look at the whole thing. Santa’s blood dripping axe has been truncated from this version of the picture.

Balletic death.

A visual representation of the stock market.

A huge collection of lifehack tips and traps.

The grammar of TV and film. So we have the correct language for our filmic discussions.

Ten rules for being human.

Dark humour for dark times. How it helps.

Who to blame for all this crap.

Measuring out my life, one Smoot at a time.

Christmas day in the morning

I’d like to wish everybody a very merry Christmas; may the food be yummy, the company welcome (or you be welcome wherever you go) and the gifts tasteful and appropriate (if, unlike my family, you haven’t entirely given up on gift giving).

As much as we all like gifts, we declared a mutual non-aggression pact.  Gift giving can turn into a real mess of dashed expectations and expensive mistakes; I guess I associate Christmas with the a five pointed star that consists of food, friends, family, fellowship and films.  Because you got all this free time and you don’t want to talk to each other, so it’s time to watch a movie.

A very Merry Christmas to my cherished progenitors, nautilus3 and Loki.  They are not experiencing the best of health at the moment, but instead of complaining the worst they will say is that it is ‘tiresome’.  I hope to be like them someday.

Happy Christmas to my brother Jeff; we’ve been living together 8 months now and we’ve had our ups and downs but 2009 is looking mighty fine.  Kitties miss you! Eddie had a howlathon at 5:30 this morning that sounded like a cross between an aria and a lament for the dead.  I think they also miss going outside.  Merry Christmas to Eddie and Gizmo.  I’d give them catnip but Eddie’s already a bit rangy.  Merry Christmas to Jeff’s friend Pat in Victoria.

A very Merry Christmas to my Unca Dave. I can’t imagine what’s it’s like to be getting cancer treatments over Christmas and I hope I never find out.   I haven’t had a single cigarette since I found out he was ill with cancer.  I do look forward to hearing his stories again live as well as having them written down; nautilus3 has recorded some so we can all enjoy them.  And I wish my pOp would let me re-post his stories from the Air Force, they are so funny and so well written that he owes it to the world.

I’d like to see Unca Barry’s stories too, that man is among the best raconteurs ever.  I won’t wish him a Merry Christmas though – he is Baha’i after all.  Instead I will wish him peace and joy, and that the riches of contentment continue to bless him and Ontie Jackie.

The rest of the Victoria contingent springs to mind; all the folks at Pondside, including Dr. Filk (now in Alberta), Shauna, Katherine, Ontie Mary, Granny, and the folks at her retirement home who feed her and look after her so very well.  Season’s Greetings also to cousin John.  Alex, Rob, Darcy, Curtis and babbies: a safe, warm and cuddly holiday to you all!

Blessings of the season to Lois, Bobby, Jesse, Kaitlyn (sp?) and the rest of the Alberta contingent of cousins and rellies.  Season’s Bleatings to Ruth, John, Lindsay, Jessica and Kaileagh (sp?).  Now I know why my mother does the genealogy thing, it’s so she has a reference for how to spell people’s names.

Reason’s Greetings to my beloved coworkers; Tanya, Cris, Andy and Patricia; my lunch buddies Peter A, LTGW, Robof9, ScaryClown, Francis, John A.; my ‘from the dawn of time’ coworkers Ngoc, Mohammad, Jarmo, Mike B, Eugene, Jim E., Sarah, Harry, Ian, Rob B., Michel, Lindsay, Peter T.; all the techs who put up with my constant stream of whiny emails; Sandy P., Mike McG, Steve and Yvonne, all the folks in the cafeteria with a special shout out to Zari, a hug for Kyi and a quick grope for Chris; largesse and neckrubs for the IT folks.

A big hug for Paul, Keith and Kate, whom I will see later today. A wave to Suzanne and Daxus, even if Daxus is being exceedingly boneheaded these days, and the less said about that the better.

A heartfelt plea for another year of domestic peace and many thanks for the blessings of neighbourliness to Jacquie and Jason, the best neighbours we could have ever wished for (she says as she works her way through Jacquie’s baking, and thank god I had biscotti in exchange). How do, to the landpeers Tony and Lisa, and their family.

Merry Christmas to Tammy and her biomom Janet.

For Lady Miss B, and her excellent spouse Joe, Many Happy Reorientations, lumberjack smoothies, etc.

For my Chewish friends, Chappy Chanukah!  That would be Elly and Bonnie.  Season’s Greetings to their spouses as well.

Glen and Maggie, Jim and Jan, MERRY CHRISTMAS.  I think of times we did the Christmas gathering stuff with you and get all nostalgic.  Oh, and G&M thank you for the single nicest Christmas card I got this year.

Although special mention must be made of Brother Jim’s card.  He sent me a pen and a really cool card.  Please check out his Alternate Energy Calculator, blogrolled herewith.

A happy clap of joy for all my Livejournal buddies (u_must_b_joking, in case you care).  I just want to testify that your continuing trials and triumphs are more fun than a day at the beach, more engrossing than a Dunnett novel, and the sad bits make me cry really hard, and the scary bits are really really scary.  Best of all are the times you say EXACTLY what I’m thinking, but BETTER, TERSER AND FUNNIER.  You folks can WRITE!!!!  Yee haw.  And a special thanks to Jon Singer, who is going to lase moldy pumpkin pie.  Yes, you read that right.  And he’s identical in appearance to Rincewind; Terry Pratchett himself said so.

A poke to my Facebook buddies.

A tweet to my Twitter buddies (allegras, in case you care).

Merry Christmas to everybody on the casts of CSI, NCIS, and True Blood!

If I missed you for greetings, I sorry.  I tried to think of just about everybody.

God rest ye merry, ye following gentlemen and ladies:  Mr. Music, Cindy, Dave JD, Chipper, Tamara, Anne, Jerome and Shannon, Kopper & entourage, Tom & Peggy and retinue, Deb and menagerie, Cousin Gerald & fambly; the bus drivers of the lower mainland, and all the ships at sea.  And if God and the Flying Spaghetti Monster don’t do it for you, just substitute ‘the laws of physics’.  They always seem to work for me.

A call from the peristalsis fairy / Holiday visiting

Jeff called me at 7:15 this morning letting me know that after some weather related adventures he was safely on the ferry and on his way to Victoria.  Yup, the winter wonderland continues.

Last evening we visited Lady Miss Banjola and her household; assisted in the rigging of a Spaceship One model rocket which was fired some time last one night, one presumes, and in the troubleshooting of an octopus cookie cutter.  We visited with some folks including the accordion playing Rowan (zombie walked with him briefly once, and how can you appreciate horror without viscerally engaging with the words ‘accordion playing zombie’) and sundry others including Dr. Filk, who is hopefully crashing here tonight.

Then we had pho with Mike and visited his new penthouse apartment in East Burnaby, a 20 minute walk from where Planet Bachelor is.  Then we watched the last half of Shoot em Up (how I do love that film) and Jeff and I fell over with tiredness and went home.

This morning I got up, boinged out the doorway in my housecoat to say goodbye to Jeff, and then started in on emptying the dishwasher, cleaning the surface of the stove thoroughly, cleaning the surface of the dishwasher thoroughly, making biscotti and scolding Eddie for nesting in my clean clothes, all three pieces of them.

Also, more Garage Band.  I am currently working on Chance Met.  I finished one take and realized I iz totally singing it in the wrong key.  Hit delete boys, there’s plenty more where that came from.

One whole day without beer.  I got unmercifully sick on Friday night. Jeff diagnosed my problem and with a savoir faire reminiscent of one of the world’s great waiters presto’d a barf bucket under me at precisely the right juncture.  I added to the joy of the occasion by remarking, bleakly, “I have no idea what’s going to happen next,” and then hurling for about 30 seconds straight.  Jeff’s comment, later, “Maybe YOU didn’t, but I sure did.” Personally I think three beers is not an outrageous amount to drink, but my stomach thought otherwise.  There has also been a little bit of barfiness going around the office, and not just because Tanya is preggers. I’ve been washing my hands a lot, hoping that will help.  Anyway the point of this anecdote is that I think Jeff is a god among men, to put up with my shenanigans.

Sunday roundup of stuff

Man pepper sprays dogs. He should be pepper spraying the gd owners. And, not to put too fine a point on it, but Lighthouse Park is an offleash zone and Jeff and I saw and smelled MUCH doggydo.

Shoot, any teenager can do this when you ask for the chores to get done. Frog can tune its hearing to specific frequencies.

You can simply NEVER have enough Evil Dead.

A collection of improbably unphotoshopped pictures.

Try the BBC Sensory Challenge. I got 14 out of 20, I’m sure you can do better than that.

Jupiter is one cool looking planet.

Why can’t somebody do one for Canadian politics?

A list of reference sites on the internet. May I point nautilus3 at the Dictionary of Popular Cultural References? Also the Illustrated Dictionary of Jewels is molto cool.

Great pictures of cool light phenomena. ABSOLUTE best pic of a ‘hula dancer’ I’ve ever seen. I have seen this phenomenon only since I moved to BC, and the best one I ever saw was in Courtenay – it happened in the fall and lasted a good half hour. The hula dancer is referred to as a circumhorizontal arc in the list of pictures, which is technically what it’s called, but sailors and fishermen of the coast call them ‘hula dancers’.

Everybody should have a prof like this, and that’s no lie.

Hope everybody has a loverly Sunday.

various

  1. The Willie P Bennet Memorial event went off hitchless, magnificent, and a credit to the participants.  Goddess bless the James Bay Coffee House and all who frequent it! Paul and I got through the set without embarrassing ourselves and Paul received praise for his fingerpicking.
  2. Peggy showed up the second we cleared the door of the coffee house.  I hugged her twice, I was so happy to see her.  And she crashed her at my folks’ and then I got her to the ferry for the 7 am (which was the reason she crashed here, because if she’d stayed at Pondside that would have been somewhat harder logistically).
  3. Yesterday after we made town I saw the Pondside crew and met a small horde of Devon Rex cats.  I didn’t understand their charm until I met them.  I nearly kidnapped Spice; what a cat!  Suki recognized me and sucked up to me something fierce.
  4. I gave Juliana a copy of the Interfilk auction video I took in January.  w))t!  No, you may not see it.  Private. Also screechingly hilarious.  Ha.
  5. John introduced us to the Blue Nile, an Ethiopian Buffet restaurant on Head Street in Esquimalt.  Man, the food was AWESOME and I am so glad to have had njera again. That is some seriously great bread.
  6. My folks are doing famously and we and Paul are going to head to Granny’s place and have lunch with her today, and then leave for the ferry from there.
  7. All in all so far this weekend has been a spectacular success and I wish I could put the feeling I got when I saw Peggy in a bottle and uncork it whenever I feel sad.  I thought my heart would burst with joy when I turned and saw her with her best mischievous expression. 
  8. Peggy brought Tom’s blackberry jelly, two jars.  Loki pronounces himself well satisfied with a house guest who only appears to deposit blackberry jelly on his kitchen table (he didn’t see her as we were in late and out so early).
  9. Did I mention the Willie P memorial was a rousing success?  That was, after all, the point of the exercise.  But it seems that we may weave extra happiness into our days by availing ourselves of the fleeting opportunities as they pass, and by feeling grateful.  I know that I’m very, very grateful right now.  For my health, my family, my job, my friends…. and frankly, screw the weather.  You can’t have everything.

2007 in review

In January I did some standup, got a charley horse, whinged about my daughter & got told to stay with Paul by my kids. Molly Ivins died, which was why I couldn’t find her posts any more. Of breast cancer, which was, even then, brushing closer to my life. I wrote “Ingathering”. My year looked like this.

February I went to Toronto and had a glorious visit with my friends.

March I wrote Slimfast and Methadone. I also saw Guy Clark, John Hiatt, Lyle Lovett and Joe Ely. I played with a Wii for the first time. I wrote a birthday song for Scary Clown and saw Cory Doctorow.

April I was tired and emotional, and packed to move out. New broadloom and paint happened.

May I ate slept worked and and helped prep the Augur Inn for sale. Keith got mugged but it all turned out okay. The house went up for sale.

June I went to Jericho Beach folk club and read a lot of Patrick O’Brian.

July the house closed.  I dated a  bit.
August a number of us made the plan to go see the eclipse in Russia in 2008.  I found out my mom has – and now it’s the past tense – had cancer.  I also kicked libertarianism in the ‘nads and had a fantastic visit with my brother. August had lots of stuff in it. I dated a bit.
September Keith started his course.  Katie got a job at Village de Valeur.
October we finally signed the separation agreement and got the proceeds from the house.

November I went to the Dominican Republic with daughter Katie and to the company Chrissimas partay with Kopper.
December – I met a nice man who’s at least as crazy as me.   I really really really hated my job.  But it will be better next year….I found out that my nephew Jesse is back in the babydaddy business.  Happy sigh!  And the best news of alllllll   Katie decided to come to Jarmo’s for New Year’s.  My life is now an awesome place, and it’s the best best way to finish the year!!!