Category: Domestic Life

Good feeling

I have to say, Patricia really found a great bunch of people to work with, and I’m glad I had a chance to interview there.  I would say that I am at least being considered for the position, but I suspect they’ll hire somebody they have to train less, being quite practical people.  I actually enjoyed the interview process which is … you know, unusual.  I don’t know when they are likely to call back but I am not concerned.  If I get the job, I’ll be happy and if I don’t get the job I’ll be not quite as flush, but still happy.

1.8 hours last night and it would have been longer but I had to get up and boot Margot out of my room, and I couldn’t fall back asleep until I took the mask off.  Sheesh. Still, much better rested this morning, har har.

X Company continues to be really entertaining and full of moral quandaries regarding spying and working behind enemy lines.  I am very much enjoying Evelyne Brochu’s performance and was interested to hear she’s in Orphan Black.  Jeff didn’t enjoy it so we quit watching but I’m thinking I might like another crack at it.

There is a new Belgian Style brewery with taphouse up Production Way and Paul and I are going to inspect it for worthiness at some point soon.

I light a candle for Jeff and JeriLynn C for their successful move (they got hardly any notice, and stressed about it as would I, and as I DID the last time it happened to us) and for Tom and Peggy and their new grandbaby Josie (whom I greatly look forward to meeting) and for Brooke who AS USUAL provides good advice, her second lot in as many months and what a difference taking that advice has made to my comfort, Cthulhu bless the pharmacists.  I light a candle for one of my friends who is having an exceedingly difficult time with her current spouse regarding custody arrangements.  With permission, he took his children out of the country on vacation.  Without permission, he kept them an additional week and said ‘we already agreed on that’ when HOLY DIPSHIT there’s nothing in the emails to suggest he was going to give her a heart attack by pulling this stuff.  What he doesn’t know about his current legal situation is vast in expanse, and of course she’ll be elected queen bitch of the universe before this is all over, but I have been watching the situation unfold for many years now and she has lived up to her promise not to prevent access to this crazy ass guy just because he’s crazy.  I light a candle for Tammy, who got a glowing recommendation letter (yay…. but the job market does not magically get better, so I light a further candle for her job luck).  I light a candle for Chipper, just because I can, and because a couple of times in the last month she’s made me laugh so hard on the phone I’ve nearly sprang a rib.  I light a candle for Jeff, who is awesome, and loaned me his car yesterday which improved my mood for the interview, and another for Buster, who has a butt problem of some kind, but hey, those carpets go through the wash, and thank you mOm for making them.  I light a candle for Katie, who is negotiating going back to work in May, and for Keith, who still hasn’t talked to me about whatever dreadful advice / scolding he threatened to drop on me.  I’m no longer appalled.  The longer he waits the funnier this is going to be, and even if the joke’s on me I intend to enjoy it.  Okay here’s one for Paul, who gets me off my duff and into the sun, and much the same for Mike, who wrote a lovely recommendation letter for me, the dear lad, and here’s a big candle for all the elders at church, who are my role models (as are the fOlks) for getting old, and for the minister, not that she particularly needs it, and for everybody who’s ever served me food and drink, and for the Fraser River, and for the memories of Grandad, Grampa, Grandma, Granny, Sue, Elizabeth, Dave, John, Derry, Michael and Bounce.

I think today I’ll sort papers and clean out the fridge and if it stays nice maybe go for a bike ride and pick up kitty malt – Margot really needs it and the current tube is just about done.

 

beer!

Paul brought Goose Beer IPA back from the States for me, and we had a lovely long chat about various subjects.  He’s OVER THE MOON about being retired, and I’m very, very happy for him.  When he first got the job at Air Canada I was very happy because he’d had quite a choppy job history up until that point and I remember saying that he now had a fighting chance of being able to retire on more than a pittance, and now it’s happened, it’s really real. And he so richly deserves it, because that man put a lot of his life and pain and grit into that company and the safety of the people who fly in those aircraft.

.7 hours last night, what’s up with that.

Cleaned my room yesterday! Buster used the opportunity to come in and pee on stuff, but fortunately it was stuff I was throwing out or immediately washing, so Saul Goodman.  The beautiful wood floors now shine, I’ve consolidated seven boxes into two, and now I need to move all the filk I discovered (holy MOG there was a lot of it) into the binder(s) allocated for it.  BUT I found the Kathy Mar songbook for her concert at FKO which I had been looking for since I went, very happy about that.

I found 33 dollars in change and bills while I was cleaning, netting $5.50 per hour.  Just trying the brightside, here.

Next on deck getting the three loads of laundry put away.  I suspect my best bet is to s-can 50% of the clothing that comes out of the dryer today.  I don’t have enough room, and while psychologically I can never have enough cotton knit dresses in beige, possibly it’s time to turn them into something else, like a donation to a charity.

After that my desk, and an indexing of my craft, cable and paper stashes so I know what I have and can quit buying cute little notebooks.  I found so many yesterday that it is not funny, nuh-unh.

I have to figure out which writing I’m going to give the interviewers on Thursday. This is not going to be difficult, I just have to ensure that it’s the correct tone for the task.

I recently had reason to confront how I am a complete frickin’ coward about SJW issues, even when they are in my face.  Blerg.  PLEASE DON’T SAY SOMETHING TRASHILY RACIST AND THEN SAY I’M NOT RACIST MY BEST FRIEND IS BLACK BECAUSE you will make me intensely uncomfortable and I won’t actually do anything about it.  I got some good suggestions from my twitter pals – the white ones.  The POCs stayed the hell out my mini meltdown, for which I can only say thank you.

Shaking my head.

Jeff has returned from the land of the fOlks, and they remain bloody marvellous by all accounts.  I have received an envelope, for this relief much thanks.  And now I’m going to storyboard my day, which has some bicycling in it whenever the rain lets up.  And yes mOm I will wear my helmet this time.

 

 

Sundry and various

Got a package ready for ex MIL Phyllis so she’ll finally have pictures of her new great grandbaby.  Didn’t manage to get it into the mail, that’s for today.

3.9 hours on the cpap, in two stretches.

Jeff texted me to remind me about the garbage and if you can believe it I was already done!  I have brushed up my toes.

Went to see the gals who gave us Autumn, who transmoggified into Buster, and gave them all the contact deets so they can come and see him anytime. Rode over there on my bike to feed Ayesha and on the way back and JUST MISSED the vet’s office so I couldn’t pick up kitty malt for Margot, who seems to have quite a hairball to deal with.  She’s quite clingy and for the first time in about four years spent the night with me on my bed. Buster tried to scare her off but she wasn’t having any.  While I was riding (in the pouring rain, meh) a four year girl chided me for not wearing a helmet.  Everyone’s a critic.

Paul seems to be in the best mood you can imagine possible, which probably has something to do with retiring.  Yup, he put in his paperwork and joy was exceeding unrefined-like. They gave him money to buy his own goodbye eats with and he said POSITIVELY NO DONUTS and fed everybody about $150 of healthy food, which he says his soon to be former coworkers fell on like piranhas.  Nope, not even a deli tray – all healthy stuff.

He is currently in Seattle and he’s promised to bring me home some craft beer.

Watched one of the Bourne movies last night and noodled along to the music trying to deconstruct how you make a tense soundtrack.  I don’t normally write in modulations but soundtracks are full of them.  I will have to think on this thing.  It’s definitely a skill.

Did not go to church.  Sue was rehearsing in north Van and I just could not get my ass out the door.  But I did go cycling later, so I’ve got that going for me.

I practiced mandolin quite a bit yesterday. I did not do any writing or editing.

Ayesha

After church today I’ll be visiting Planet Bachelor to feed Ayesha.

1.9 on the cpap last night.

Helped Sue with a recording yesterday, practiced my mandolin long enough to get sore, and discovered I’ve lost my admin password for my mac.  I have a hint, but I cannot put it in exactly so I’m a little choked.

Sleeping with my door open was a rather noisy experience.  Buster is opening cupboards again.

Not writing, but editing.  Work is progressing.

the disappointment

Only half an hour on the cpap last night.  I could not get comfortable, as I was congested.

Today I learned of the purported existence of a Randy Quaid sex tape, with his wife (of course) and Rupert Murdoch purportedly watching.  I know the disgust response must be controlled, but in this case my homunculus just about launched last night’s spaghetti into orbit.

I am waiting to hear back from the interview with patience.

I light a candle for people I love who are going through a super hard time right now.  Work especially is very hard and causing anxiety and sleep loss.  I know those feels and hope a swift resolution of outstanding problems happens to their satisfaction.

Still pluggin’ away on the novel.  Most recent George quote, “Of course I love human culture! Not all of it equally.”

Paul and I keep booking appointments for blood donation and having to bail… hopefully we’ll get this sorted out.  Keith already donated this month.

This news may be of interest to certain among my readers.  Health of kidneys.

I am going to see if I have the energy to make Belgian waffles for breakfast.

Why you shouldn’t buy a Hummer

It just seems like the end of civilization to me.

2.2 hours.

Civilian tilt rotor aircraft?  All I can think of is the maintenance.

Keith came by yesterday and pumped up my tires and did a pre flight check on my bicycle.  I am now ready to do a shop via bicycle.

I’ve gotten back into practicing every day, which means that every once in a while I fondle my callouses.  We’ve booked another musical evening at Paul’s for the 17th of April. SO looking forward to it.  Sue and Brian can’t come (already got some answers back, waa.)

Crappy maintenance and poor planning on the part of SFU crash the hopes of single women trying to get a career together.

They put filk music in quotes and rilly rilly pissed me off. A lot about this article is if not wrong, then wrongheaded.

Buster’s toy

There was a baby mouse running around the house.  The plan was to let Buster catch it and then remove it, and that’s what we did, but Buster was not amused at the loss of his most interesting and nice smelling toy.

Keith came over to watch the last episode of Ken Burns’ The Civil War and to assist me with giving my bike a once over now that it appears to be spring with very few hints it’s going to go much below freezing over night.  My bike now has full tires and a cleaned and lubricated chain, and the tail light works and I need to get a proper headlamp.

I’m off to the dentist tomorrow to get a chipped tooth looked at.

Sandy’s back from Halifax, and this time she did not have the complete devastation of her water system as a welcome home surprise.

short night

1.8 hours.

 

The appropriate use of force doesn’t seem to get taught in the clown colleges graduating police these days.

Waiting and hoping for a call for an interview.  There hasn’t been anything to apply for in the last little while.

Life goes on regardless….

 

We shall overcome

  • Singing that in church on the 50th anniversary of Selma.  I cried, it was really hard not to.  The minister preached an excellent sermon, and owned from the pulpit our shame and Canada’s in the treatment of the First Nations specifically with reference to the residential schools.  The part Unitarians played in Selma was retold.  In the future, they will ask, were you there, and I will have to answer.
  • 1.8 hours on the cpap.  Feel very crusty this morning. I had strange dreams.
  • The Rogue Folk Club is under attack.  They want to redevelop Saint James complex (the United Church of Canada local diocese) and given where it’s located, half a block from one of the priciest stretches of real estate in one of Canada’s priciest cities, I hardly think bake sales and fundraising will help.  Honestly I’m glad John didn’t live to see it.
  • March 14 there’s a demo against C51.
  • March 11 THEOLOGY PUB.  Rob and I are going again but the steak I felt comfy enough to treat him to is not happening again so he’s coming here first for sour owl jowls and then we’ll have soft drinks at the pub. He encouraged me to download Sketchup and it doesn’t fucking work with my Mac OS version so I am really irritated.  I’ll see if I can put it on the other machine. My irritation is softened by our amusing convo yesterday morning.  Me: Hey Rob, missed you in church last week, are you coming? Him: (sleepily) I was planning a leisurely shower and hop on the bus. Me, looking at the clock downstairs at church: Uh, it’s quarter after 10, hon. Him: I set my clock backward instead of forward.  Me: Showing up in time for coffee is a fine Unitarian tradition. Him: Skipping shower…. inbound!
  • Workshops are how to grow a church, who knew.  This is an in joke.
  • My landpeers are not raising our rent – for the second year running.  It’s like a March Miracle.  This is officially the most reasonably priced detached rental in east Burnaby.
  • I got Reddit gold.  If you don’t know what that is, good, and if you do know, ask me for my reddit username so you can bask in the glory that is my helpful commentary to the angry and sad.
  • My pOp played an extremely hilarious practical joke on me and Jeff, and to preserve the dignity of the everyone involved, I am not talking about it on the internet.  I did however light a candle for it in church and it must have sounded funny to the congregation, because they laughed most heartily.
  • I sent off another thousand words to mOm yesterday and as usual she is agitating for more.  It felt so good to have something to send… that chunk is only half way done.
  • The sun and warmth has been glorious.
  • Jeff and I tag teamed to move the fridge, clean under, beside and behind it, remove the MAT of dust on the fan intake, and once I clean the interior the fridge will be cleaner than at any point since we moved in.  I’m thinking of tackling Jeff to help with the kitchen “cupboards must be examined for stale dated contents” clean.
  • I have to call the city of Burnaby today and ask them where the food scraps container we are supposed to get is.
  • The purple and green screeching iridescent ribbons have gone from my fabric stash to church.  I have spent much time thinking what I should do with them, but finding out that the RE kids are doing a Maypole this year means that I never have to look at them and be sad again.
  • I enjoyed my sewing machine so much the last time I’m going to haul it out again.
  • But probably not before I clear off the living room table, which will probably take a couple of hours.
  • Keith is going to come over in the next couple of days and help me get my bicycle in riding condition.
  • I have an appointment with the bone health doc for the end of April. The MOA who called with the appointment info was a truly delightful person and though the call was brief it left me feeling really good.

moar sun

1.5 hours on the cpap.  Yesterday Paul and I ate lunch on his front deck – I had having a most severe craving for European style weiners (for about the last month) and he providentially had some.  Jeff and I don’t buy any kind of weiners at all these days since they are basically a commercialized form of waste. Paul and I left the beer in the fridge and drank mineral water instead.  Paul wasn’t quite feeling up to giving blood, so I’ll book into the next clinic in New West next week.

Day before yesterday we had a blanket on our laps like old folks on the ship deck, and yesterday it was so warm and pleasant we didn’t have to.  Oakalla was so nice Paul took his shirt off (he has long since lost the power to embarrass me) and I contributed to the Caucasoid Hairiness Factor with my legs.  We looked for frogs and didn’t find any, and I identified a Towhee for passing strangers.  We didn’t see any other interesting birds, but we heard the m-e-e-e-e—–p bird in the bushes.  It makes a sound of plaintive disgust, sort of “I am sad and irritated and not energetic enough to make more than this soft little noise” – and I sure wish I knew what it was.  It was definitely warm enough for snakes to come out and Paul was pretty sure he saw one.  The last snake I saw that wasn’t a pet was a baby that Robof9 and Patricia and I saw on the stairs at the old Xantrex building up the hill.  Anyway it was a glorious walk and exactly the right length.

I have unlocked the achievement of getting an appointment for the specialist, and it’s in April, barely.  With not driving a standard so much (I’ve only driven Jeff’s car twice since I figured out what was wrong), and changing my gait just a wee tad, and putting a support pillow in the right place when I’m sleeping, and never, ever running, I can say I feel much better.  I also completely stopped taking any painkillers for most of the last week to see where I was, and I am pleased to say that I’m managing okay in the mornings.

I think what is happening is the cpap is actually getting me oxygenated enough at night that I can heal.  I do feel better.  The only thing that’s worse is my eyes, and I’m going to drill down a bit on that problem next.  I’ve had dry eyes since I was in my 20s but I’m thinking a humidifier in the drier months of the year, maybe one of the personal jobbies for my room, might be a good idea.

Jeff was supposed to go to the fOlks’ but he is going to be very busy with an unanticipated technical challenge.

No Alex yesterday!  How fast we get into habits.  Hopefully I’ll see him sometime this weekend.

 

Sure hope I get a job soon

  • Got mah hurr did yesterday.  Tried not to stink up the joint too bad, Jeff says I did well – Garnier Nombre 60 ftw.
  • Got out the new sewing machine (it’s been two months) and repaired a dress and made a blankee for Alex when he comes over here out of the fabric mOm gave me. THE NEEDLE THREADER IS MADE OF WIN. And I put it away afterward.  So happy.
  • Off to see the financial advisor today … backspaced over the rest of my comments.  Privacy yall.
  • X Company is a really good show – there will be eight episodes in all, but it’s nice to have a show about the only spy camp in Canada in WWII.
  • 1.2 night before last and 2.1 last night on the cpap.  I will keep trying – it’s obviously worth it at this point as I feel much better in the morning when I do manage to keep it on my head.
  • Somebody used the word pillock on facebook today.  It does apply quite nicely to the person it was applied to, so that all worked out.
  • I have an urge to work on a side project right now, so I think I will.

Now that’s what I call a tiger mom!

Pity she sends her daughter to a Catholic school.

2.6 hours on the cpap last night.  Guess it’s ‘trending’ in the right direction.

Walked 2 k yesterday in the rain.  I was quite sore when I got home and walked up the last hill like an arthritic corncrake, but at least I got out of the house.

Also applied for a job.

Not much to report

Went for a short walk and fed Paul lunch yesterday.  Paul’s in good shape and told me a couple of hilarious (non-safety related) stories about his work.  I used to post them, but now I know that lawyers lurk everywhere.

I have a project to complete for church today and then hopefully I can head off to Victoria with a clear conscience and the ability to actually walk through the terminals.  Going up stairs for some reason is easier than coming down.

Unless of course Jeff wants to go first, in which case I’ll stay back and monitor cats.  I’ve already let Buster out, he was wild to leave the house.  He caught a mousie yesterday, which is now living in Jeff’s room in a box (Buster is generally kept out of our rooms as we’re not entirely sure he’s gotten out of the habit of pissing on things he wants to mark.  I can no longer put laundry in the bathroom as he soddenated one of my favourite dresses.)llllllllllllllllllL0 ,555555555555555555555555555555555

\’]2333ll  <—————Buster jumping up to greet me and mashing my keyboard.

Miss Margot is still good for a handful of fur every single day, and she’s getting increasingly cheesed with me and if I make eye contact with her for more than half a second she lollops off under the dining room table and hides.  However she cannot resist the table top as a sleeping / puking spot (dollar sized circles of grit, no hair), so I pick her up while she’s unconscious and for the first thirty seconds she’s too sleepy to put up much of a fight.  Don’t worry, those velvety paws turn into razor shanks when she’s so inclined.  Jeff pointed out that she’s sharpened her claws up and down the eastern side of his bed frame, heavy sigh.  Buster, if allowed in to his room, tips stuff off his desk and takes over his chair.