The definition of becoming a grown-up:
A) An increase of 'Hand-wash only' articles of clothing
B) Actually hand-washing said articles as opposed to saying 'eff it' and tossing them in the machine.
C) Taking extra care not to dirty said items, so that you can avoid hand-washing them.
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Conversations with my kid - She's got it all figured out.
From the "Everything I need to know I learned in Kindergarten" file....
So my four-year-old daughter is in Junior kindergarten, and it seems she has a boyfriend. I've heard about nothing but this kid since september. Sometimes they get along, sometimes they fight... normal kids stuff.
I had this unnerving conversation with her tonight, which started from her telling me how Dustin chases her at recess.
"He chases me because he's my boyfriend."
"Oh is he?"
"Yeah"
"Is he nice to you?"
"Yeah... Olivia thinks he's mean to me"
"Is he mean to you?"
"No, he just chases me"
"Well, if he IS mean to you, you don't need friends like that."
She nods and after a few minutes, she says, rather profoundly:
"If I want him to stop chasing me, I have to say 'I love you.'"
I was in my 20's before I figured THAT out. Kudos, kid. Kudos.
So my four-year-old daughter is in Junior kindergarten, and it seems she has a boyfriend. I've heard about nothing but this kid since september. Sometimes they get along, sometimes they fight... normal kids stuff.
I had this unnerving conversation with her tonight, which started from her telling me how Dustin chases her at recess.
"He chases me because he's my boyfriend."
"Oh is he?"
"Yeah"
"Is he nice to you?"
"Yeah... Olivia thinks he's mean to me"
"Is he mean to you?"
"No, he just chases me"
"Well, if he IS mean to you, you don't need friends like that."
She nods and after a few minutes, she says, rather profoundly:
"If I want him to stop chasing me, I have to say 'I love you.'"
I was in my 20's before I figured THAT out. Kudos, kid. Kudos.
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
Underwhelmed.
I'm sitting here in the library at school while the rest of Survey Research and Data Analysis writes their year end exam. With an exam I was NOT at all prepared for an a paper I am nowhere near done due friday night, there seemed to be little point in bothering. I hemmed and hawed to myself all morning. Now, as we know, I've pulled many a last-minute paper out of my arse in my three year academic career. These papers were forged in coffee, cigarettes, junk food, tears, upset stomach and lost sleep and lost time with my children. I sat up at nights entranced by the computer screen as I wrenched every last little bit of inspiration from my brain that would scream for relief. Said assignments were also written in desperation as I faced the horrifying possibility of failing, and becoming a career convenience store clerk under a magnificent student loan debt. It paid off, I'm a BA in Sociology. There's no doubt. I *could* finish this paper.
With that little piece of paper, I lost my motivation. Fear. I took the summer off and lost my momentum. I became accustomed to a relaxed lifestyle. I rediscovered the children, and my hobbies and interests. I came to the realization that over the three years I went to school full time, it was my life. But when I attempted to work part time, and only had class one day a week, I only thought about school that one night a week. Or, possibly, the night before.
Today I asked myself a few questions. Can I get this last paper done? as above, the answer was yes. But my nagging voice came up and said 'But I don't WANT to". So, after much deliberation, and a heart-to-heart with my Dad <3 I found myself leaning more and more to doing what I wanted as opposed to what I felt I should do. Still, I made the drive down to school, and I walked into the class, and with increasing intensity I asked myself "Why am I here? It's obvious, (by the fact that I spent the afternoon leading up to the exam reading the paper instead of studying) that I've already made up my mind." I gave my notes to a girl in my class who had lost hers (it was to be an open book test), and walked out. And I cried.
Ever spent so much time deliberating on a decision that when you make up your mind, to the point where it's too late to turn back, it's like a dam breaks inside of you? That's how I'm feeling right now, it's a mixture of relief and regret. Relief because I can go home, have dinner with my kids, and do what ever I want after they go to bed, completely guilt free. I probably should mention that I already decided, due to financial reasons, not to return to for the next year or so. Which added to my "What's the point?" mentality.
I plan to return to school eventually, but right now, I have nothing left to give. I don't have disatisfaction with my life to motivate me, I like my job and the place where I am at, in general. I feel that I need to regroup, and regain my passion for learning, which is something I feel is better kindled in a full-time scholarly environment. Go Big or Go Home. Right now, academic politics in my institution prevents me from full-time education, at least, without a lot more pointless debt. When this fourth-year program BS gets sorted out, maybe I'll be in a better mindframe to return.
I think the regret right now lies in the example I'm setting for my kids. I mean, I don't have much to lose through this decision, other than the 500 bucks I plunked down for the course. Even as a single mother in social housing, I can say, it's just money. What is money compared to mental well-being?
..
But I regret what my kids may think of their mother because of this, down the road I mean. As of this moment, I've failed, if only one course. Failure is a difficult enough thing to deal with. I've never been a real go-getter, but I'm accustomed to knowing that when I putting my mind to something, I generally accomplish it. But in general, I'm okay with it.
My shame comes in knowing that I bear the full responsibility for this outcome. It was a fairly easy course, even though I'm not a math person. Richard Rinaldo was a fantastic prof on the subject, so I don't fault him at all. I can be lazy as fuck,is all, and this time it caught up with me. It's not so much failure, but I sit here, knowing, that I didn't do my best. Had I applied myself, to put it colloquially, I could have made this course my bitch. But I didn't. Everytime this semester that I told Tierney she needed to do her homework, I felt like a hypocrite, as my papers went unwritten until the 11th hour. Hell, until the 19th or 20th hour, this time around. The one paper I DID write was 10 days late.
I'm not going to beat myself up about this, no. I've accomplished a lot up to this point, this is merely a setback. I just worry about what the girls will think down the road... will they see me as someone who just gave up when the going got tough? Or someone who put her own personal happiness ahead of what is 'expected'... practicing the old adage 'to thine own self be true?"
With that little piece of paper, I lost my motivation. Fear. I took the summer off and lost my momentum. I became accustomed to a relaxed lifestyle. I rediscovered the children, and my hobbies and interests. I came to the realization that over the three years I went to school full time, it was my life. But when I attempted to work part time, and only had class one day a week, I only thought about school that one night a week. Or, possibly, the night before.
Today I asked myself a few questions. Can I get this last paper done? as above, the answer was yes. But my nagging voice came up and said 'But I don't WANT to". So, after much deliberation, and a heart-to-heart with my Dad <3 I found myself leaning more and more to doing what I wanted as opposed to what I felt I should do. Still, I made the drive down to school, and I walked into the class, and with increasing intensity I asked myself "Why am I here? It's obvious, (by the fact that I spent the afternoon leading up to the exam reading the paper instead of studying) that I've already made up my mind." I gave my notes to a girl in my class who had lost hers (it was to be an open book test), and walked out. And I cried.
Ever spent so much time deliberating on a decision that when you make up your mind, to the point where it's too late to turn back, it's like a dam breaks inside of you? That's how I'm feeling right now, it's a mixture of relief and regret. Relief because I can go home, have dinner with my kids, and do what ever I want after they go to bed, completely guilt free. I probably should mention that I already decided, due to financial reasons, not to return to for the next year or so. Which added to my "What's the point?" mentality.
I plan to return to school eventually, but right now, I have nothing left to give. I don't have disatisfaction with my life to motivate me, I like my job and the place where I am at, in general. I feel that I need to regroup, and regain my passion for learning, which is something I feel is better kindled in a full-time scholarly environment. Go Big or Go Home. Right now, academic politics in my institution prevents me from full-time education, at least, without a lot more pointless debt. When this fourth-year program BS gets sorted out, maybe I'll be in a better mindframe to return.
I think the regret right now lies in the example I'm setting for my kids. I mean, I don't have much to lose through this decision, other than the 500 bucks I plunked down for the course. Even as a single mother in social housing, I can say, it's just money. What is money compared to mental well-being?
..
But I regret what my kids may think of their mother because of this, down the road I mean. As of this moment, I've failed, if only one course. Failure is a difficult enough thing to deal with. I've never been a real go-getter, but I'm accustomed to knowing that when I putting my mind to something, I generally accomplish it. But in general, I'm okay with it.
My shame comes in knowing that I bear the full responsibility for this outcome. It was a fairly easy course, even though I'm not a math person. Richard Rinaldo was a fantastic prof on the subject, so I don't fault him at all. I can be lazy as fuck,is all, and this time it caught up with me. It's not so much failure, but I sit here, knowing, that I didn't do my best. Had I applied myself, to put it colloquially, I could have made this course my bitch. But I didn't. Everytime this semester that I told Tierney she needed to do her homework, I felt like a hypocrite, as my papers went unwritten until the 11th hour. Hell, until the 19th or 20th hour, this time around. The one paper I DID write was 10 days late.
I'm not going to beat myself up about this, no. I've accomplished a lot up to this point, this is merely a setback. I just worry about what the girls will think down the road... will they see me as someone who just gave up when the going got tough? Or someone who put her own personal happiness ahead of what is 'expected'... practicing the old adage 'to thine own self be true?"
Saturday, November 17, 2007
Attention Fashion Industry!!!
LAY OFF THE CRACK!!!!
Seriously, it's time for y'all to put the pipe down, put your collective heads together and come up with some sort of universal sizing system, because it's getting effin ridiculous.
How is this:
a medium, yet this:
is a motherloving 3XL?
Seriously, it's time for y'all to put the pipe down, put your collective heads together and come up with some sort of universal sizing system, because it's getting effin ridiculous.
How is this:
a medium, yet this:
is a motherloving 3XL?
Thursday, November 15, 2007
a moment of maternal genius...
Sometimes I question my own abilities as a mother... am I too harsh? too lenient? Do I favour one child over the other? are my rules too arbitrary? etc etc etc.
Today I had a moment that made me take a moment to pat myself on the back.
Oftentimes as happens when there are two kids, disagreements arise... what to have for dinner, what movie to watch, who gets the purple cup, who gets to carry the cat poo to the garbage chute (yes, my kids are weird) and so forth. For a long time I solved this with the 'pick a number between 1 and 10' strategy. This had to stop because
a) Reegs only ever picked 1 or 10
b) The time would eventually come, I figured, where one of them would accuse me of picking after the fact, so that one would win.
That's when I remembered the laws of probability and the good-old fashioned art of coin-flipping. Decisions seemed much more fair now. However, there was a problem in that generally, who ever lost would have a fit (generally, the little one, the bigger one was better at understanding that 'fair is fair'.)
My stunning ingenious alteration to this strategy? NOW, whomever loses the coin toss, gets to keep the coin and put it in their piggy bank.
EVERYBODY WINS!!
ahhh, peace and harmony for pennies a day. Well, mostly :-P
Today I had a moment that made me take a moment to pat myself on the back.
Oftentimes as happens when there are two kids, disagreements arise... what to have for dinner, what movie to watch, who gets the purple cup, who gets to carry the cat poo to the garbage chute (yes, my kids are weird) and so forth. For a long time I solved this with the 'pick a number between 1 and 10' strategy. This had to stop because
a) Reegs only ever picked 1 or 10
b) The time would eventually come, I figured, where one of them would accuse me of picking after the fact, so that one would win.
That's when I remembered the laws of probability and the good-old fashioned art of coin-flipping. Decisions seemed much more fair now. However, there was a problem in that generally, who ever lost would have a fit (generally, the little one, the bigger one was better at understanding that 'fair is fair'.)
My stunning ingenious alteration to this strategy? NOW, whomever loses the coin toss, gets to keep the coin and put it in their piggy bank.
EVERYBODY WINS!!
ahhh, peace and harmony for pennies a day. Well, mostly :-P
Sunday, October 14, 2007
Gotchie Blog
It amazes me sometimes how the little things can throw me into a state of indescribable happiness.
I bought new underwear.
About 10 months ago, I had made plans for some dirty boy company, and decided to purchase some new gotchies for the occasion. I got a bra (which had unfortunately not lasted much more than three months, it's still in my drawer, waiting for me to get off my duff and sew the strap back together) and two pairs of black undies, one a simple bikini with a cherry design, and the other a pair of lace trimmed hipsters.
Little did I know those hipsters would prove to be the most comfortable AND sexy-good-feeling inducing underoos I would ever own.
I went back a week or two later determined to get more. They were out of stock. So I made do with the one pair I had, kicking myself for not picking up more at the time.
Today I shop and DEAR GOD, they are back in stock, so I picked up a pair in every available color in my size, as the original pair is getting rough from having been worn and washed once a week, every week, for the last 10 months. I tell you, lacy-underpants-day was ALWAYS the best day of the week. And now I have FIVE of them.
Delirious.
Underpants - more than just ass-coverage.
Oh yeah, let this pic also be a testament to how friggin baggy my pants have gotten..YAY!!
I bought new underwear.
About 10 months ago, I had made plans for some dirty boy company, and decided to purchase some new gotchies for the occasion. I got a bra (which had unfortunately not lasted much more than three months, it's still in my drawer, waiting for me to get off my duff and sew the strap back together) and two pairs of black undies, one a simple bikini with a cherry design, and the other a pair of lace trimmed hipsters.
Little did I know those hipsters would prove to be the most comfortable AND sexy-good-feeling inducing underoos I would ever own.
I went back a week or two later determined to get more. They were out of stock. So I made do with the one pair I had, kicking myself for not picking up more at the time.
Today I shop and DEAR GOD, they are back in stock, so I picked up a pair in every available color in my size, as the original pair is getting rough from having been worn and washed once a week, every week, for the last 10 months. I tell you, lacy-underpants-day was ALWAYS the best day of the week. And now I have FIVE of them.
Delirious.
Underpants - more than just ass-coverage.
Oh yeah, let this pic also be a testament to how friggin baggy my pants have gotten..YAY!!
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
Someone might have saved my life....
My car is not in great shape. I drive a four-door white 1991 pontiac sunbird. It currently is without it's left headlight.
The other day as I travelled down to Barrie, I noticed up ahead of me, turning onto a concession road from the opposite direction, another white fourdoor 1991 pontiac sunbird on the road, also missing the right headlight.
The thought occured to me: What if I just witnessed myself from the future, or some other alternate reality driving down that road? What if it was me in the future, attempting to save my life in some way.. maybe they were driving back to my house to change the batteries in my smoke detector, or making some effort to change the past to save me from calamtity. and in my/her travels took back roads in hopes that I wouldn't see, and possibly tear a hole in the time space continuum. Maybe future me was travelling to midland to take out a mugger or rapist would have otherwise attacked me later that night had my futuristic doppelganger not intervened on my behalf.
This fascinating and surreal supposition gave way to a more depressing possibility. In the future, when humankind holds the power of time travel in it's hands... Am I still going to be driving that damn SUNBIRD???? (considering I don't think I'll be harnessing the power of timetravel in the next year or two).
Geeez. In that case, the future SUCKS.
The other day as I travelled down to Barrie, I noticed up ahead of me, turning onto a concession road from the opposite direction, another white fourdoor 1991 pontiac sunbird on the road, also missing the right headlight.
The thought occured to me: What if I just witnessed myself from the future, or some other alternate reality driving down that road? What if it was me in the future, attempting to save my life in some way.. maybe they were driving back to my house to change the batteries in my smoke detector, or making some effort to change the past to save me from calamtity. and in my/her travels took back roads in hopes that I wouldn't see, and possibly tear a hole in the time space continuum. Maybe future me was travelling to midland to take out a mugger or rapist would have otherwise attacked me later that night had my futuristic doppelganger not intervened on my behalf.
This fascinating and surreal supposition gave way to a more depressing possibility. In the future, when humankind holds the power of time travel in it's hands... Am I still going to be driving that damn SUNBIRD???? (considering I don't think I'll be harnessing the power of timetravel in the next year or two).
Geeez. In that case, the future SUCKS.
The evolution of what?
I saw a billboard on a bus today, and it literally made me laugh out loud. Emblazoned across the top were the words "The Evolution of Rock95 [rock 95 being our local rock station]"
Underneath these words was a series of stylized photographs depicting, in this order John Lennon, Mick Jagger, Gene Simmons of KISS, John Bon Jovi, and Chad Kroeger of Nickelback.
I'm pretty sure the intention involved a sort of generational 'tying-together' - although the use of Jagger AND Lennon is problematic considering they were contemporaries, so that kind of blows the intergenerational thing.
The humour to be found here lies in the billboard's subtext. They say a picture is worth a thousand words, but in this case it needs only about 10. With this picture, they might as well be saying
"The Evolution of Rock95 - We used to be cool, but now we kinda suck."
Underneath these words was a series of stylized photographs depicting, in this order John Lennon, Mick Jagger, Gene Simmons of KISS, John Bon Jovi, and Chad Kroeger of Nickelback.
I'm pretty sure the intention involved a sort of generational 'tying-together' - although the use of Jagger AND Lennon is problematic considering they were contemporaries, so that kind of blows the intergenerational thing.
The humour to be found here lies in the billboard's subtext. They say a picture is worth a thousand words, but in this case it needs only about 10. With this picture, they might as well be saying
"The Evolution of Rock95 - We used to be cool, but now we kinda suck."
Tuesday, October 9, 2007
For Chris...
So, I'm not much of a pot smoker. I don't like drinking/smoking by myself, I like it as a social thing. Thing is, pot makes me notably UN-social. I'm a sleeper, or I turn inwards to myself. Thoughts come to me at a rapid pace, but far too fast for them to reach my mouth, before I have another rapid thought. Either that, or I feel as though I AM actually saying things out loud, when I'm not. It's like the opposite of having no inner monologue. More like my inner monologue EATS my voice.
It is on record that I once, on one of the rare occurences that I do indulge in the weed, went for nearly two hours without speaking a word. My sister, and two of my friends, one child-free weekend (the sister and I used to co-ordinate weekends so we had the same weekends without kids) were sitting around as per usual, and this evening I had opted to partake when they offered the pipe, after probably around 8 months since my previous indulgence.
We were playing this card game we had dubbed '12-step' as it involves collecting cards in different formation, for 12 rounds. For 2 hours (because it's a godawfully long game) we sat, the sister giggled, both friends giggled, they made fun observations while I steadfastly concentrated on my cards, occasionally grunting in assent or uttering an absent-minded 'heh'.
It was a saturday so it was classic rock saturday night. Every song that came on my sister would cry 'oooooh I LOVE this SONG!' At one point a song came on and after her declaration of love for the song, there was discussion as to what the song was called
"Oooooh! I love this song! What's it called?"
"I don't know, who does it?"
"I think it's Jethro Tull, but I don't know the name!"
Blah blah blah the game goes on. I have remained in my silence for this exchange, while the wheels in my brain worked. After what seemed like 2-3 minutes to me, but what must have been closer to 30 minutes later, I have a brainstorm.
"Aqualung."
The table stops. Everyone is staring at me, like I have snakes crawling out of my eye sockets. My sister looks shocked and says "What?" I look her dead in the eye.
"AQUALUNG."
A chorus of "what the hell are you TALKING ABOUT?" I myself, don't see what is so difficult to understand, so I turn to the others and more vehemently
"AQUALUNG."
Now they're totally weirded out, thinking that, I can only assume, that I've totally lost my mind. I haven't spoken in two hours and now, a half hour after it's no longer relevent, I come out with this non-sequitor, single word phrase. Looking down at my cards I shrug.
"That was the name of the song"
It is on record that I once, on one of the rare occurences that I do indulge in the weed, went for nearly two hours without speaking a word. My sister, and two of my friends, one child-free weekend (the sister and I used to co-ordinate weekends so we had the same weekends without kids) were sitting around as per usual, and this evening I had opted to partake when they offered the pipe, after probably around 8 months since my previous indulgence.
We were playing this card game we had dubbed '12-step' as it involves collecting cards in different formation, for 12 rounds. For 2 hours (because it's a godawfully long game) we sat, the sister giggled, both friends giggled, they made fun observations while I steadfastly concentrated on my cards, occasionally grunting in assent or uttering an absent-minded 'heh'.
It was a saturday so it was classic rock saturday night. Every song that came on my sister would cry 'oooooh I LOVE this SONG!' At one point a song came on and after her declaration of love for the song, there was discussion as to what the song was called
"Oooooh! I love this song! What's it called?"
"I don't know, who does it?"
"I think it's Jethro Tull, but I don't know the name!"
Blah blah blah the game goes on. I have remained in my silence for this exchange, while the wheels in my brain worked. After what seemed like 2-3 minutes to me, but what must have been closer to 30 minutes later, I have a brainstorm.
"Aqualung."
The table stops. Everyone is staring at me, like I have snakes crawling out of my eye sockets. My sister looks shocked and says "What?" I look her dead in the eye.
"AQUALUNG."
A chorus of "what the hell are you TALKING ABOUT?" I myself, don't see what is so difficult to understand, so I turn to the others and more vehemently
"AQUALUNG."
Now they're totally weirded out, thinking that, I can only assume, that I've totally lost my mind. I haven't spoken in two hours and now, a half hour after it's no longer relevent, I come out with this non-sequitor, single word phrase. Looking down at my cards I shrug.
"That was the name of the song"
Sunday, October 7, 2007
Channeling Dionysus
This weekend I seem to be living out the philosophy of eat, drink and be merry. I've not had such a relaxing couple days in a while.
Friday night, my friend Sam came up, having made the suggestion about a week ago that he come up and we have a Sam'n'Andie night. Having been ages since the last time I had company step foot into my apartment, I came home and got the place cleaned up to a suitable level for company, grabbed some sushi and a bottle of wine for my dinner, ate, had an hour-long bitch session with the sister about workstuffs and then headed down to Barrie to grab sam and get him up here, on the offer of gas money for my efforts.
Got back to the apt. gave him the tour, and we had a couple of drinks and watched some sex and the city (season two). About midnight I convinced him we should make the trek downtown ("Is it walking distance?" "I've walked there before, if that's what you mean.") and I could show him the Midland night life. About 40 minutes later we get to Shanana's which actually has a line-up for a change. All the people who are up for Thanksgiving weekend I guess. It's a big deal up here in cottage country.
We go over to Cellarmans, to try and get some food, but the kitchen is closed and the crowd is all 20 year olds, so I suggest Scully's and it's totally closed. So we hit Tim Hortons for a sammich, and I embarass the counter girl (not maliciously, I just asked her if she thought sam was hot. Her reply? "I don't know if I'm allowed to answer that")
we go back to Nana's, hitting the bank on the way, where I stupidly leave my card in the machine, which I don't realized until late last night. This time I get there and I know the doorman and he lets us in, though they're at capacity (That's right. I'm people who KNOWS people.) We got there in time to have a couple of drinks, and to check out the guys in the club, and to note that somebody turned the big screen TV to showcase or bravo or some such channell -- it usually plays the hockey game or something -- so while the place is packed with people dancing, there's softcore porn up on this giant screen. It was all very surreal, as nobody except me, sam, and this guy scott that I went to school with seemed to notice. I think his name was scott, anyway.
A guy I had a brief but fun make-out session with one new years eve, but who refuses to acknowledge me up until very recently (the guy has a kid in my daughters class last year... AWKWARD!) was there, and I waved, because sometimes I'm sadistic like that, and LIKE making them feel uncomfortable. Well, it was wierd because he kind of nodded then backed away, then next I know, he's passing behind me, and brushes right up against me and I look at Sam like "What the hell was THAT?" But I left it alone after that.
We leave not too long after last call, have a nice chat with Kenny and Wanda on the way out (the manager and one of the security staff) and grab a cab home (as we are both three sheets to the wind at this point, and the walk home is still forty minutes, but UPHILL the whole way now) Come back, finish the wine, watch more sex and the city and pass out. I felt bad, because since I passed out I hadn't grabbed pillows and blankets for the futon, which I had cleaned specifically for company.
Next morning, we got up, feeling pretty rough, and I drove him back down to barrie. Power was out all over midland, so we had to wait until elmvale to grab breakfast. Waited 20 minutes in the McDonalds for an allegedly "Fast"-food breakfast that sat none too well in our poor hungover stomachs. I had plans to stay in barrie all day until I was supposed to go to 55 special for a friends birthday, was going to go to the school and get some work done, but I figured fuck it, I'd go home, then come back later. The money i'd spend on gas would probably be less than the money I'd spend trying to entertain myself in Barrie all day long.
Came home, and did sweet dick-all all day except Myspace, facebook, watch movies and scrapbook. absolutely freaking blissful. around 6ish, I decided I needed more supplies for the scrapbooking and headed out for the dollar store. I had asked my friend derek if he wanted to coffee after. It was at the dollar store that I realized I couldn't find EITHER of my bank cards, having lost the other one a few days earlier. Having less than half a tank of gas in my car, I realized that I probably shouldn't go to barrie if I have to make my cash (which was diminished by then) last until tuesday when I can get to the bank again.
So Derek and I meet up at the bay street timmies, exchanging anecdotes and whatnot for the next two hours, and I'm contacted by another friend, nic, who is having a sort of mini-houswarming at his place, so I decide after coffee is done, that I'll head over there. I get there as people are leaving but I have a pretty good time chatting it up with Nic, another friend/acquaintance Justin, and Michelle, a very outspoken, exuberant but generally fun co-worker of Nics, until about 1am, when I decided to toddle off home and get some sleepy sleepy.
So here I sit in my underwear, in need of a bath, and prepping to go get my kids so we can have a Thanksgiving 'Let's having chicken and call it turkey' dinner, as the rest of my family made plans without me this year, which kind of irks me, I'll admit. They're having a "Meet the Fokkers" night.. Nicky and Frank are having a dinner so our parents can meet Frank's parents. No siblings allowed.
So I'm off to soak for a bit.
Friday night, my friend Sam came up, having made the suggestion about a week ago that he come up and we have a Sam'n'Andie night. Having been ages since the last time I had company step foot into my apartment, I came home and got the place cleaned up to a suitable level for company, grabbed some sushi and a bottle of wine for my dinner, ate, had an hour-long bitch session with the sister about workstuffs and then headed down to Barrie to grab sam and get him up here, on the offer of gas money for my efforts.
Got back to the apt. gave him the tour, and we had a couple of drinks and watched some sex and the city (season two). About midnight I convinced him we should make the trek downtown ("Is it walking distance?" "I've walked there before, if that's what you mean.") and I could show him the Midland night life. About 40 minutes later we get to Shanana's which actually has a line-up for a change. All the people who are up for Thanksgiving weekend I guess. It's a big deal up here in cottage country.
We go over to Cellarmans, to try and get some food, but the kitchen is closed and the crowd is all 20 year olds, so I suggest Scully's and it's totally closed. So we hit Tim Hortons for a sammich, and I embarass the counter girl (not maliciously, I just asked her if she thought sam was hot. Her reply? "I don't know if I'm allowed to answer that")
we go back to Nana's, hitting the bank on the way, where I stupidly leave my card in the machine, which I don't realized until late last night. This time I get there and I know the doorman and he lets us in, though they're at capacity (That's right. I'm people who KNOWS people.) We got there in time to have a couple of drinks, and to check out the guys in the club, and to note that somebody turned the big screen TV to showcase or bravo or some such channell -- it usually plays the hockey game or something -- so while the place is packed with people dancing, there's softcore porn up on this giant screen. It was all very surreal, as nobody except me, sam, and this guy scott that I went to school with seemed to notice. I think his name was scott, anyway.
A guy I had a brief but fun make-out session with one new years eve, but who refuses to acknowledge me up until very recently (the guy has a kid in my daughters class last year... AWKWARD!) was there, and I waved, because sometimes I'm sadistic like that, and LIKE making them feel uncomfortable. Well, it was wierd because he kind of nodded then backed away, then next I know, he's passing behind me, and brushes right up against me and I look at Sam like "What the hell was THAT?" But I left it alone after that.
We leave not too long after last call, have a nice chat with Kenny and Wanda on the way out (the manager and one of the security staff) and grab a cab home (as we are both three sheets to the wind at this point, and the walk home is still forty minutes, but UPHILL the whole way now) Come back, finish the wine, watch more sex and the city and pass out. I felt bad, because since I passed out I hadn't grabbed pillows and blankets for the futon, which I had cleaned specifically for company.
Next morning, we got up, feeling pretty rough, and I drove him back down to barrie. Power was out all over midland, so we had to wait until elmvale to grab breakfast. Waited 20 minutes in the McDonalds for an allegedly "Fast"-food breakfast that sat none too well in our poor hungover stomachs. I had plans to stay in barrie all day until I was supposed to go to 55 special for a friends birthday, was going to go to the school and get some work done, but I figured fuck it, I'd go home, then come back later. The money i'd spend on gas would probably be less than the money I'd spend trying to entertain myself in Barrie all day long.
Came home, and did sweet dick-all all day except Myspace, facebook, watch movies and scrapbook. absolutely freaking blissful. around 6ish, I decided I needed more supplies for the scrapbooking and headed out for the dollar store. I had asked my friend derek if he wanted to coffee after. It was at the dollar store that I realized I couldn't find EITHER of my bank cards, having lost the other one a few days earlier. Having less than half a tank of gas in my car, I realized that I probably shouldn't go to barrie if I have to make my cash (which was diminished by then) last until tuesday when I can get to the bank again.
So Derek and I meet up at the bay street timmies, exchanging anecdotes and whatnot for the next two hours, and I'm contacted by another friend, nic, who is having a sort of mini-houswarming at his place, so I decide after coffee is done, that I'll head over there. I get there as people are leaving but I have a pretty good time chatting it up with Nic, another friend/acquaintance Justin, and Michelle, a very outspoken, exuberant but generally fun co-worker of Nics, until about 1am, when I decided to toddle off home and get some sleepy sleepy.
So here I sit in my underwear, in need of a bath, and prepping to go get my kids so we can have a Thanksgiving 'Let's having chicken and call it turkey' dinner, as the rest of my family made plans without me this year, which kind of irks me, I'll admit. They're having a "Meet the Fokkers" night.. Nicky and Frank are having a dinner so our parents can meet Frank's parents. No siblings allowed.
So I'm off to soak for a bit.
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