Category: Domestic Life

Everybody, as one!

Allegra, you are bleeding crazy!

I spent most of last evening with Dax, and then went to Suzanne’s.  I didn’t argue with him.  I didn’t give him any money.  And we worked on cover letters and talked.  I also met his dad.

Why the **** would I do that?  Well, I have a number of reasons.  First, I wanted to be very clear with him what my rationale is for going anywhere near him after all the horrible stuff that happened with Katie.  I want him to be working, not in jail.  If he’s working, he can pay rent, help his family, think about getting some money together for school, and have something resembling a life. If he’s in jail, not so much.  Second, I am wanting to shed my reputation as an evil cow; I got to hear some of the stuff Dax said about me second hand, and I kinda want to prove it’s not really true.  One can say, “But if he’s in jail he can’t hurt Katie!” but I would really prefer he was paying taxes.  Third, it’s really hard for me to model forgiveness and getting on with your life if I refuse to do it because it’s hard.  Humans is apes.  It’s easier for the ape to do what it has seen being done.

Tammy said that the biggest difference between poor people and rich people is that poor people don’t get a lot of training or practice in deferring gratification.  There is no next year; there is no tomorrow.

Except, unfortunately, there is.

Not much doing

Has it been that long?  Rogers sent me a notice today about upgrading my phone because the contract I got with them after Dax tossed Katie’s phone into an intersection is up.  Wow. Time flies when you’re getting a c/l divorce and trying to keep your life on something resembling rails.  What they really want is for me to sign up with them again.  And on that subject, Dax called Katie and she called his PO.  I know I sound like a sap, but he’s not going to hurt her anymore, and I don’t want him to go to jail.  Katie is so blasé ’bout the whole thing that she doesn’t care if I stay in touch with him, which I am doing on facebook.  The family advice (nautilus3 will probably recognize its origin) is “Don’t argue with him and don’t lend him money.”

Over at Planet Bachelor last night; Keith is doing famously although not studying enough in school (grr) and already contemplating the education he wants to get after he gets his trade.  Considering that this is exactly what his maternal grandparents did with their lives, I am sure they are quietly hugging themselves at the moment. Paul is in fine form and fed us dinner.

When I got home, Jackie the downstairs neighbour was out having a smoke. I met Bear, Jason’s cat, learned that THEY TOO want to punt Romeo, the next door neighbour’s dog, into the Delta Quadrant, and THEY TOO have been bitten by the dog.  Yes, we know it’s because the neighbours have a substance resembling moldy guacamole for frontal lobes; it’s not the dog’s fault.  Jackie and I talked for the best part of an hour in a most neighbourly way, straightened out some normal housesharing stuff in a good commonsensical way and then I downloaded with Jeff this am. Happy sigh.  Jeff says, “It just goes to show you how ******* loud the people who lived downstairs before were.”  Amen brother.  They were loud like they were getting paid for it.

Home safe

Got in a brief visit with my Gran and Dr. Filk (who is some filking busy these days, what with recording and travelling) yesterday; listened to Juliana’s new album with my mother; collected a book and two maps of France / Paris; and then got home safe on the ferry.  Jeff came and picked me up.  I had a very relaxing weekend.  Then I got up and tidied my room, as I damned near killed myself getting up in the night to let Eddie in.

To do: read the family history about the bookseller and antiquarian (and friend of Thomas Carlyle) Henry Wake.  Make turkey soup. Email Anne and tell her to rearrange Friday’s lesson as I am going to be at the church gathering Friday night doing registration, or so I surmise. Work on Halloween costume which is work appropriate.  And hack away at the 10 other projects nibbling at my conscience, and consciousness.

Here in Victoria…

… birds sing, musicals abound, the weather is gorgeous, and I’m feeling plenty relaxed.

Sad face…. pOp shaved his beard off. His reasons make sense but I’m still pouty.  He expected me not to notice – oh yeah, like I’m not going to notice such a change.  He’s had a beard virtually the entire time I’ve known him.

I’ve been helping mOm upload pix to the family history website, which unfortunately is password protected, so I can’t link you to the Gallery of the Undead, which is what a lot of my rellies look like. We’re mostly industrious and mostly intelligent, but by gar we are an ugly crew.  I’m glad I had kids with Paul and broke up the ugly some.

I just found out I’m descended from Lady Godiva.  Probably most of you are too, but it’s great to think that a character Dunnett wrote about is one of my putative ancestors.  And of course it links in nicely to my casual attitude toward clothing.

New Youtube video

I’ve posted the video I took of the Burnaby Central train ride I took yesterday.  It’s 10 minutes long and you really need to be a bigass fan of trains to watch it, but it is a real steam train going through tunnels and across bridges, and it was a glorious day.  Here’s a pic….

Now, I have some more chores. I’m really glad I got out yesterday, because it’s DISGUSTING today, pouring rain and gray and miserable.

 

LATER – I’ve posted the link above.

Give my head a shake, if I can’t do it for me….

I can really tell I’m upset about no more NCIS – I found myself going to fanfic sites this morning.  And… backing away slowly.  Do I really – I mean really – want to read Gibbs-on-DiNozzo slashfic?  It is to heave.  Gibbs/Abby?  Tempting, but no.  On the other hand, Salmon Guy returned my S1 Deadwood box, so I could go back to Deadwood if I wanted to.

My nose has stopped running and now I’m coughing.  A dry, hacking cough.  The next week will be joyous; I remember thinking about a month ago that it had been bloody ages since I was really sick with something.  Note to back:  Please keep improving somewhat.  I’m experiencing less pain, although I nearly went ass over teakettle down the stairs at Production Way Station yesterday morning when my leg partly buckled, so I guess I need to work on some muscle strength.  Patricia recommends running in water. Anyway, I thought “all those kids will break my fall’ – the station is jammed at that time of day – but you KNOW it never works out like that in real life – the stuff you don’t break bruises to the bone, and my back already hurts, and I don’t do pain well.  I’ve learned my lesson; I have to go down the stairs with my hand floating a couple of inches above the handrail, just in case.  The one day I thought I could go down the stairs in the middle I learned that my earlier caution was entirely justified.  Then I think about my grandmother, and I figure it’s time for me to shaddap.

Tonight, Sloppy Joes, if I can remember to ask my bro to get nice, structurally sound buns for dinner, and spaghetti if not.  Can you believe it? Katie came through and the macaroni is all gone AND she ate dinner.  Honestly cooking to make leftovers around here is hazardous. We either get bored of it or it vanishes into Katie’s piehole before we even have a chance to get bored of it.

I light a candle for Tom, who’s back in hospital.

I light a candle for Jeff, for being understanding.

In passing

Unca Dave is expected here this afternoon.

Scarlett Johannson got married – in Canada no less – & Paul Newman died.

I light a candle for Cindy, who said, “You amuse me,” on the phone last night in a tone of voice completely free of sarcasm, when I explained something to her about the way my mind works. (I was also being the world’s largest wuss, but she was okay with that too.)  We discussed how she and a bunch of other fans got into Bridge Studios the day Atlantis died and she has pics of herself standing in the gate.  Happy swoon.  I’ve been in Bridge Studios, back in ’05. Given what’s happened since, some of the comments I made in October 05 are pretty funny.   (Like, the comment about how Katie loves to fix hair???)

I also get to think about what I’m going to say at the panel on Friday night.  Yes, I’m going to a con, Vcon to be precise, and I’m going to be on a media filk panel.  Should I tell them that my secret to writing media filk is to go to the internet, download every scripted reference to the character and then find likely rhymes?  Seems kinda mechanical, but that’s how I wrote Clem, full title Just Call me Clem.  (Clem being a demon from Buffy the Vampire Slayer).

For breakfast – BLTs.  I don’t know why, except we had all the ingredaments in the house at one time.  For dinner – roast beast with veg.  Why?  It’s Sunday, and a family elder is coming by.  There’s chicken soup on the stove and I’m thinking of making refrigerator cookies.

Watched Starter for 10.  It’s a very good hearted movie, and if you love 80’s Britpop/late new wave you’ll drool on the soundtrack.  The movie is well shot, well-scripted and laugh out loud funny in spots.  Also, Dominic Cooper is bloody gorgeous.. and he’s in Keira Knightley’s new movie the Duchess, which makes me want to see it more.

My watch working again is making me happy.  Being registered to vote makes me happy (I had completely dropped off the rolls, which is perplexing).  And now, I’m going to practice my mandolin, do some paperwork, pay some bills, laundrify, and get another song written down…. and see if we can get to the end of season five of NCIS.  Yes, we’ve been watching rather a lot of it, and I’m really liking Michael Weatherly’s take on DiNozzo more and more.  He kinda grows on you.

It’s a beautiful day…. Mike was going to take me to the Wreck, as it’s supposed to be beachy today, but Unca Dave is coming. I am in a really good mood.  I assume it’s the weather, nothing else has changed.

Jeff RULES

Jeff, as all who know him know, entirely rocks, but this morning he got major “brother is awesome” points by playing chauffeur.  I got ALL my errands done and as a reward he got homemade calorie reduced potato salad.  For supper it will be ginger sesame tofu with veg stir fry with a side of rice noodles, unless I change my mind and make buffalo Sloppy Joes.  I’m thinking about it, I’m seriously thinking about it.

My errands:  Closing out my TD term deposit; getting a new battery into my watch, mailing a donation to Doctors without Borders, getting more stamps, shopping (Famous Foods and Kin’s Farm Market) and getting myself registered to vote.  Total elapsed time just over two hours.  Jeff stayed in the car and read while I did my running around.

Now I’m making chicken soup and contemplating the world – and my laundry – from my little kitchen nook.  Chicken soup is so yummy…. I’m looking forward to it.

Katie back

I am feeling underslept, which is odd because it was lights out just after 9 last night.  Katie and I are drinking fresh coffee and contemplating the week ahead.  Katie’s going in early to rearrange her locker.  Let us contemplate the wonder and romance of this amazing factoid.

Keith was here last night and we had an NCIS blowout, yet again.  GRRR.  The episode I was most looking forward to, in which Ziva loses her heart to a guy dying of thallium poisoning, had spooky pause and pixelation problems. After some messing about Jeff got it to play but I was pouty there for a while.  I guess I am now officially spoiled rotten; I was raised to believe that I deserve to live with a tech support god who will instantly solve all of my wiring, small weapons and silicon problems with a cheery “Next time don’t smash all of the buttons in rapid succession and then pitch the remote through the window, m’kay?”  I’m living with Jeff so my delusion continues unabated.  How he puts up with me can be summed up in one simple, heartfelt phrase: “Supper’s ready!”

I drop things a lot too, which gets Jeff twitching.  He has this way of appearing, silently and instantaneously, like a cartoon character, eyes wide, to ask, “What was THAT?” while I recover my scattered kitchen implements from the floor, muttering, “Sorry, sorry,” while he patiently informs me that we have downstairs neighbours.  I’m going to have to learn not to cackle when I’m listening to stuff in the morning on headphones, but I can’t help it, I’m a born cackler.

I fed Keith and Jeff pork roast, sauerkraut and ‘other veg’ last night, and I would have fed Paul but he wanted to go home and nap.  Thank you for taking me shopping!  Thank you Keith for the 10% discount!  Their cats are driving them buggo, especially Zeek!, who is having noise management problems.

There’s lotso fun on the inertnets these days:

Me too, pal, me too. (link removed for safety)

Do you feel like an imposter?

Jeff’s cats have been going nuts, running up and down and crying like little buggers. I suspect earthquakes.

I have a friend who actually talks like this. He doesn’t read this blog, thank heavens.

No kiddums.  I try to have a calm looking blog. Then again…..

GUILTY GUILTY GUILTY Okay, I’m not guilty of all of them, but my preoccupations have made my blogs boring as paste these last few weeks.  I am trying to go for excitement and novelty, and end up eating in front of the tv, which no matter how you dress it up is still catatonia inducing.

Remarkable story about the trek from belief to atheism.

I did practice my mandolin (I can has F major?), and I did sort some papers, and I did a shop, but mostly I sat about staring off into space, thinking despairing thoughts about the musical, or sleeping.  Ah, winter.

Today I am going to go into work a bit early and see if my computer, etc., are where they are supposed to be and functioning.  Moves really do suck and they do narsty things to productivity.  And then our new squid overlords, er, owners as per the regulatory approvals which have recently come in, will come in and change everything again, but that probably won’t be for months.

I light a candle for Dr Filk’s healing – he’s had tooth issues and we all know what a big owie that can be.  I light a candle for the peace of all beings.  And I leave you with this excerpt from Dr. Filk’s last missive:

In other news the fall folk season is under way. Played at the Sooke Folk Music Society last night, and shared the occasion with six Kenyan exchange students who did traditional Kikuyu song-and-dance. The highlight for me was a contemporary trad number honoring the heroes of the Mau Mau uprising, in which the performers mimed machine-gunning the audience!

Ah, Kultur!

Cat / lessons / good news

My mandolin teacher is what I’d look like if I had nicer hair and more of it, put on forty pounds and was 15 years older.  She’s pretty stern.  Fortunately she’s also pretty flexible, and I already know one additional chord, and have a LOT OF FREEEEKING HOMEWORK.  Eddie, who normally ignores female visitors, came out and inspected the living hell out of her, including trying to get under her skirt.  It was quite a performance.

Spartan kitty.

Work continues to have the worst kind of oil, being turm-oil,  but I have laid to rest most of my anxieties and concerns.  There’s still a lot of thrashing around, and I have to move desks for the first time in years, but other than that things are slowly returning to normal, or whatever the new normal is.  When you’ve been through a great deal, you get punchy.

Pig for mOm.

Squirrel mom vs curious dog. Hint, squirrel FTW.

Tuna salad bowl for dinner last night.  Jeff does NOT like the little red cheeses; they are responsible for him wanting to bail on dairy entirely.  Ha, what, no ice cream?  I made enough tuna salad for two meals, and that’s exactly what Katie did, made two meals out of it.  She apparently didn’t want to get out of bed yesterday morning (she was at Daxus’) and he forced her out, coffee in hand, saying, “Yer mom’ll kill me if you don’t go to school.”  That he would even pretend to care about my opinion cheered me no end.  Please note, I am not for killing anybody, although there are about six people I’d like to personally spank, and about a hundred I would like to be paid to verbally humiliate. I’m so good at it I really oughta get paid.  But of course, there’s no room at the standup inn.  Oooh, speaking of Standup, anybody see Marg Cho’s Christian rant?  Most amusing!

Katie K has sold her condo.  This is awesome awesome news, and it made me very happy when I heard it.

I have to pack up my desk today, which means basically that I have to throw a lot of crap out.

I really like Jeff’s kitties, but I wish they were more affectionate. I just want a kitty to curl up on me once in a while.  Like dis.

Dreams / work / musical

I’m only posting this to make Debbie pout, but last night I dreamed I was in a hot tub with Michael Weatherly and three other guys.  I was naked, everybody else was wearing trunks.  (damn… or something).  And what were we DOING in the hot tub, minds without shame wish to know?  Waiting for Obama.  Yup. I wish I was making this up, but I was waiting for Obama.  Also there was a bit of byplay about Michael Weatherly swimming with dolphins, and he said they had noses like a policeman’s truncheon.  No subtext there, move along!

When we got out of the hot tub, (Obama being a no-show) we realized we were in a Bavarian village, and somebody was trying to get married on a balcony (I saw my old boss François as a groomsman) at the same time there was a movie being filmed about Hitler, and the crew wanted to use the balcony at the same time as the wedding party, and I got out of Bavaria before there was a total riot. Note how all my major concerns of late are shoved into one untidy dream.  Woke up smiling, even if I didn’t get to see Michael Weatherly naked.

Worked late last night.  It’s boring as hell, what I was trying to do, but I tried to do it a week ago and all my scans disappeared, and then I tried to do it yesterday, and that part of the network went offline just as I was trying to complete it, so I stayed for an hour and got it done. The guys in IT are screechingly busy these days what with moves and upgrades but they are still unfailingly helpful and polite, so here’s a blessing on the lot of them.  I will miss them…. after the move I won’t be sitting close to them anymore.  Sigh.

I’m seriously grieving about my job change. It’s LUDICROUS.  I’ve done nothing but complain about it for the best part of ten years, but now I’m realizing I secretly loved it and was just whining for attention.  This makes me feel like an ijjut.  We grow too soon oldt und too late schmardt.

The LHC did not trigger the end of the world; I slept fine last night, as my dreams could attest.

Katie’s here contemplating what to raid the fridge for at lunch.  It’s so cute.  Especially now that I know she’s sharing her lunch every day with women who forget to eat. (Women who forget to eat…. didn’t Rita Rudner have a brilliant line to do with that??)

I’m seeing Mr. Music on Friday and we’re going to run through the tunes; he’s planning on feeding me.  Any guy who has a vault for a pantry HAS to be able to cook; I await the prospect with happiness.  The work too.

Last night I asked Paul, mOm, Mr. Music and Katie ‘what makes a great musical’.  Paul said “The tunes and how it’s put together,” Mr. Music said, “Song, story, presentation,” mOm said, “Singing and dancing!” and Katie said “Pacing and variety”.  I’m going to keep asking people what they think, but I’m using Mr. Music’s useful and terse guidelines for practicality’s sake.

I light a candle for the swift recovery of my former boss Owen’s son Ryan, who’s recently out of surgery.  On a less compassionate note, here’s a little squib for the swift arrival of the plumber; we’ve been waiting for a couple of days.  It’s okay, it merely confirms Jeff and I in our belief that we’d be better served in a different location.  Our own.

What’s with Toronto this summer? + added politics, movies

So much boomage.

I saw Thin Red Line last night, it being one of the lifetime list movies.  I really liked it; it sure was paced in a strange way.  Parts of it moved so fast that it was hard to maintain some understanding of the action, and parts were so slow that I felt like I was moving into glacier time.  The casting was great and I can see why Jim Caviezel’s performance made Mel Gibson think of him for Jesus six years later for the Passion of the Christ.

It was so nice having Keith here last night.  On the way out the door he told a joke that had me laughing so hard I cried.  Keith can do that do me.  I responded with, “Did you notice how McCain said Fight with me the other night in his speech?  I know he meant fight WITH me but when I read the headline I thought, Jeez, John, I may be a dumpy fifty year old woman with a bad back, but I’m going to kick the snot out of yaz.  By your invitation even.

I liked this commentary on the Republican National Convention.

Yippeeeee!  David Emerson is NOT running for office again here in this riding.  Excuse me while I’m thrilled; now I have to figure who to vote for to keep Harper’s Conservatives out.  Not a fan so far; the war drums, the social conservatism and the expletive insanity about DRM – which, may inertia be thanked, will died on the order table ‘fore the election – the smarmy letter I got in response to my complaint about the peacetime initiative to allow American troops on Canadian soilunder special circumstances’ = or whenever the Canadian government feels like asking them – oh yeah, not thrilled with the Conservatives.  That another political party would piss me off as bad in different ways is par for the course, and what a depressing prospect, etc.

Woo hoo!  Jerome/Shannon are getting married today!  I think I have to  bring a chair.  It’s happening outdoors rain or shine, so I wonder if I’m getting wet this afternoon.

No sign of Katie.  I just texted her.  It’s annoying but I suppose that’s an improvement, it used to be scary.

Friday Roundup

Watched the opening sequence of Quake IV – not bad, but derivative, like everything else in the universe, including my own DNA f’chrissakes.

I CAN’T get Young Dumb and Crazy out of my head, I was singing it all day, mixed in with the Blasteeze the Laxative Coughdrops Song. “There will be a brief hi-a-tus, then, the mentholated flatus; pop these babies in your mouth, and soon your drawers are headed south.” Yeah, I sang that every time I went by HR today.  Kind of without really realizing what I was doing.  HR is next to the washroom, after all.

I light a candle for Tanya and her hubby – a swift recovery and sweet sweet sleep for both of them, please thanks kbai.

I light a candle for Patricia, and she knows why.

I light a candle for Gianna, who has one of the most infectious laughs I have ever heard.

I light a candle for Robof9, and he knows why.

I light a blowtorch of a candle for Paul, and he knows why.

I light a candle for the start of another church year and the success of the fall gathering.  (It’s a church thingy, the regional fall gathering.)

I won’t be going to church on Sunday as ScaryClown is going to try to set a new record for margaritas before lunch and I’m damned if I’ll miss that. Three margaritas would have me running my hand over the waiter’s ass, and it had absolutely no effect that one could detect on ScaryClown.  Jeff and Keith will also be in attendance. I’ll take the camera this time as I love the decor in the restaurant.

The cats are fine.  Eddie’s taken off a little weight and his digestion seems to be a bit better. Gizmo curled up in Jeff’s lap last night and looked up at him adoringly and then farted continuously for about twenty minutes, he was that relaxed.

No word from Katie; I imagine she’ll turn up eventually but she missed getting Switzerland Chicken ordered for her. Please note that she is learning how to play chess; I am sure her uncle will be cheerfully amused and pleased by this intelligence.

Work sux, but in a good way.  You know, the birthing pangs way.

I saw a rainbow this morning.

More NCIS turned up.  That makes me very, very happy.

And tomorrow, the intelligent & beautiful Shannon and the magnificent & useful Jerome will, in front of their friends and family, pledge their intention to spend the rest of their days together.  They got no worse odds than anybody else, in fact I’d say better, and dayum, they will make pretty children.  Me happy.  And I’ll get to see Mike dressed up, which pleases me, and I don’t have to do any grzsly shopping, they want money.

Check Snopes.com for the Palin letter. Innnteresting.

It feels so good to be home and sitting with the folks.  Life’s good.