dead disco, dead funk

ug i'm back to work for the first time in two weeks. I have no idea, seriously, how i ever managed to come to the decision that getting up this early EVER was a good idea. le sigh.... i couldn't fall asleep for anything last night - ended up getting up and popping some melatonin at around 11 then finally settled in. i was hot, then cold, then hot again, and the architect was snoring peacefully away with the cat curled up on his chest about six seconds after he shut his eyes. i wanted to use them both for paintball target practice.

someone give me a job i can do from home, please. or at least one that i can get super excited about going to every morning....

oh, canada!

team canada and the canucks both in one day? myohmy i can barely contain myself...

ahh i got nuttin. i haven't done much except lie about, ride my by-cycle and read books for the last two weeks so really, what else is there to talk about? ridley was complaining about blogs that are day-to-day archiving of the bloggers' lives - i don't particularly want to fall into that pattern, but at the same time, sometimes that's what i want to write about, you know? like how yesterday me, the architect and the kiddo crashed out in the living room in our pj's till almost 2pm watching hockey and drinking tea before we struggled up off the couches to go for lunch with friends. it was great - relaxing and fun and weirdly family-like except my family doesn't really do things like that. in my family it mostly feels like you put in your time and then get away from each other as quickly as possible. well not the sister and i, but still. to actually spend the day in relaxing (well kinda tense uptight sort of excitable, but relaxing nonetheless) companionship was a loverly change. anyhoo....

oh - sharing. on digg, today, they posted a link to a site that indexes online tv shows and movies etc (sweet mother of god who knew there was so many versions of stargate?)

music makes the world go round

check this out. the relationship between music and the brain is an interesting one - long ago i remember reading about how listening to classical music while studying helps you retain information at a better rate. i also noticed (and puzzled over) the fact that i could remember lyrics to songs years after the last time i'd heard them, but ask me to memorize a poem for class? fuggedabuddit. i've kind of become addicted to digg. maybe it's just 'cause i've spent the first two hours of nearly every morning in the last two weeks lying in bed, sipping coffee, surfing the net, and digg gives me a pleasant way to do it, but still. just like last year i've become addicted to top ten lists. le sigh. why can't we parcel them out throughout the year? i'd be so much more productive.

so i have to go back to work on monday. i'm not really looking forward to it, to be honest. my job has been less than satisfying; the working environment has been tense at best; you get the sense that the board doesn't REALLY care too much about the people who work for them... ah the same old complaints. my boss rocks - she's the real reason i haven't turned tail and run long ago. well that and i need to have a job 'cause while the architect probably *could* support us all, i'm not the kind of person who's comfortable with that idea at all. i like being able to pull my own weight, you know?

i do sort of feel like i should have accomplished more this vaykay. i still have boxes of stuff lying around; i still have pictures and lamps waiting to be hung; i still i still.... all i have really done is cook, watch movies, and lie about surfing the innerweb. not a bad thing per se, but not at all productive, either. oh though i did finish reading a couple of books, which is a good thing. i don't read (paper, not web) nearly enough anymore. i used to get through a book per week, easily. now i'm lucky to finish a book per month. now that things have settled down round the homestead, though, i should be able to get back into the swing of things, i hope.

speaking of which - i should take a shower and think about what to do for the day. my two hours are almost up and i still want to lie here...

twas the best of - slash- worst of

**edit** - i started this on the 30th... i'm a bit of a procrastinator, this week. since i'm on vay-kay, all i want to do is lie around in my jammies and read, especially since we ended up not going away for the new year (my back is spasming, the architect has a deadline). anyway onward...

ah the ubiquitous (sp?) list...

1) most frustrating / fascinating debate about me, carried out by people who've never met me: well it has to be a tossup between this one and this one. seems so long ago. plus now i wish i could sit them all down and say "ha! told you so! look where i am now!"

2) worst song of 2006: again, tied between that fucking my chemical romance song (oh for the days when they used to be good), the hinder song about cheating on your girlfriend, or that other 'ladies and gentlemen' song. ohh or maybe the evanescence single? too many to choose from...

3) albums i listened to the most: fabriclive 29 - evilnine; back to mine - adam freeland & back to mine - liam prodigy; 10000 days - tool; alexisonfire - crisis; beck - the information; DFA Remixes - chapters 1 & 2; dj champion - chill 'em all; kasabian - empire; rise against - the sufferer and the witness; swayzak - route de la slack; snow patrol - eyes open.

4) most disappointing album of '06 - sam's town by the killers. hands down.

5) my favourite post i wrote last year: april 5, 2006

6) my favourite movie - a scanner darkly
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ahh i dunno.. i've lost my rhythm. the architect is feeling a bit down today. he's regretting not going away with his friends this weekend, a bit, and worried that we are turning into a 'normal' couple. he doesn't want that - says he doesn't do well with routines and schedules. what do i say to this? we have gone through a very busy month - moving and families and christmas and and and. i hope he's not regretting asking me to live wiht him. it's only been a month - if he's feeling already that things are stagnating we can't be long for this world, i don't think. oh that makes me sick to my stomach, thinking that.

happy blog-day

that's the first photo i ever posted of myself - one year ago today. it's funny, isn't it, what changes a year can bring? (warning - i'm feeling a little emotional 'cause i haven't taken my meds in .. well long enough to feel the effects, but not long enough to have brain shivers)

three years ago in the sanatorium: "this would be my first attempt at this. i am, if you will, a blog virgin. i've been thinking about the wierdness of connecting with people on the internet. it's not like i have trouble meeting people in *real* life-- i am just fascinated by the sheer volume of people that i have no other way of coming in contact with. does this make me a bit of a tart? hmm i wonder."

it's funny, 'cause even as i wrote those words, three years ago, i never thought anything would ever come of this meeting people on line thing. i never really thought i'd develop virtual relationships with like-minded human beings all around the world - people whom, even though i've never really *MET* them, i still miss when i don't hear from them / check in on what's up in their worlds. i wish that i head the means to send plane tickets to him and him, and her and him, and him and everyone else here to have a big party in my house with lots of drinks and stories and drunken teary-eyed confessions and laughter and more drinks. i wish i could, but i can't. the thought is there, though, and the invitation is open - we have an extra bedroom, and some couches, and a kickass purple chaise and they all are open to you, all of you, where-ever you are if you feel like a holiday or a break and head my way.

and, less than a year ago, i met this great guy online. he's incredible, the architect, and, while he may raise an eyebrow if i were to announce that a whole bunch of blog people were coming to visit, would never question it or anything else. he'd just sigh, pat me on the head, and check to see if anyone had bothered to dust the spare room since the *last* time someone came to stay. we're going away on friday. but in the next couple of days i'll try to put together some of my favourite memories of the past year - whether they're good or bad, they are what they are and they made an impact on me. i'd like to hear yours, too, if you don't mind, but whatevs.

xo

and a partridge

what did you get for christmas?
did uncle arthur get drunk and pass out on the lawn again?
did you wake up the whole family puking on christmas day?
did una want to sieve the gravy at the turkey curry buffet?

i want to know it all....

a snapshot of life at raspberry's house...

email exchange between the architect and i this morning:

him: what's this world coming to when i have to defrost desserts in anticipation of my lunchtime sugar jonesing?

me: I am a bad, bad girlfriend. Clearly. How dare I prepare several family's worth of baking and then store it in the FREEZER?! For shame....

him: exactly. you're going to get a spanking tonight young (sizzling-hot) lady.


we like spanking...

i see my heart explode, it's been eroded by the weather here

well i'm glad to hear that i'm not the only one who gets a rash when that song comes on the radio - and picklesack, too! you can be hanged as a traitor in vancity for even implying that you might find nickleback a tad grating.

the winds are going to pick up again here today. we've had some crazy frickin' weather this year - seriously. last week during the windstorm the architect and i were woken up by a massive metallic crashing in the street. i leapt to my window to see what was the matter, but alas the moon on the crest of the rain soaked lawn revealed that my car (the green goblin, itself) was still in place - my wondering eyes spied only a garbage can careening down the block. le sigh - i had really hoped santa was getting me a new FJ for christmas...

oh heh - apparently our esteemed RCMP were called out to a mall yesterday to break up a gaggle of drunk santas. is that the correct word for a group of santas? gaggle? herd? flock? whichevs - drunk santas getting rousted by the cops is comedy gold...

you know you make it hard not to vomit...

it's a miracle that there is any morning at all that i make it to work without ritualistically flaying someone. seriously. the day that i no longer have to go through that fcuking tunnel to get anywhere will be a happy day indeed. four g-darn double long dumptrucks riding bareback REFUSING to let any silly little CAR come between them and their heavy duty truck on truck dance of love. RAWWWRRRRRR!!!!

to add insult to injury they played that fucking hinder song - quite possibly the worst song on the radio today. yes i said worst. seriously - every friday night, in tacky top forty bars all across north america, drunken frat boys are grinding coked up former cheerleaders to that song right before the ugly lights come up, thinkin that they're don juan casanova, when really they are mac'ing to a song about CHEATING ON YOUR GIRLFRIEND.

FYI - not romantic, fellas.


(ps - i might have a little bit of pre-menstrual tension. i'm not sure why i get that sense, but there it is.)

a festivus

oh man i'm starting to think that there is something to this whole bah humbug grinch thing.

bah.

humbug.

i ran my ass off all weekend - shopped like crazy, baked, organized, decorated, stressed myself out, puked my guts out, and for what? seven days before christmas, then i pack it all up and it's like it never happened.

bah.

humbug.

i think i just need to sit back and relax in the lights of my tree (finished decorating at 10.30 last night), gaze upon our newly purchased dining table (bought in a rush at 5.30 last night) and drink a gallon of wine. oh wait i can't cause i still have baking to do, some gifts to purchase, and then i have to wrap the works.

bah.

ok i'm done now. hey the architect and i are going to have a festivus/christmas/housewarming/what-have-you party on the 22nd. if you care to brave the drive to metro ladner, we'd love to have you. send me an email and i'll pass on the topo maps...

oh what fun it is to ride

so on my way to work there is a decidedly dark stretch in a light-industrial area. in the mornings, if i hit it at just the right time, driving along that length of road is akin to running a 'young drivers' obstacle course - all these dark clad targets darting out from between cars, doing that sheepish shuffle-run in front of your car clutching lunchbags and umbrellas. one day a tragedy will occur, some little traffic dodger will be laid out like yesterday's tuna sandwich.

seriously.

a cornucopia of goodness blissfully bursting in my belly (or something like that)

so i've just converted my blogs over to 'the new blogger'. aside from looking slightily... er... shall we say budget i'm not noticing much difference.

i'm unenthused about my job, lately. it's not that i don't *care*... well kind of i don't but i think it's just that the past few weeks have been emotionally trying and i need a holiday. fortunately, i work three days this week, then next is the week before christmas, then i'm off till january 8th. i heart vacations. we are going up the sunshine coast for 4 days for new years with a bunch of people, and off to whistler for boxing day, but aside from that it's going to be a lot of doing nothing, i think. hopefully the weather will be nice so we can do some fun outside type stuff, but i can't be assed to make any more concrete plans than that. plus, lets not kid - no matter how relaxing you think that christmas vacations will be, they always end up being a nightmare of busy-ness. i'm going to attempt to avoid that.

i finally went grocery shopping for the christmas baking yesterday. $250 later, i have almost all the stuff i need. (i say almost 'cause round about 3am i was jerked out of a deep sleep by the realization that i'd forgotten to buy icing sugar. or maybe it was the bedroom door slamming in the wind - who can say?) i've got quite a list of things to put together, but since the architect and i have finally got the house (mostly) sorted out, i can ignore the remaining boxes (can't do anything with'em until i have some shelves) and focus on cranking out at least one shining gem o' christmassy goodness a night.

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in other news, i read this article this morning and found it quite fascinating. the constant evolution (or is it a devolution?) of language is a source of great interest for me. i love reading about how words gain power or lose power through use or lack thereof. say, for example, christmas. now that walmart has 'brought back christmas', does it mean that the term has finally become a generic label for a formerly religous now increasingly secular celebration? what does christmas even mean anymore? for me it's mostly a time of celebrating with family and friends - there is very little religious meaning to it. i wouldn't go so far as to say that it's completely commercialized for me - i think rather that, in my head, it's closer to a time to celebrate love and friendship and caring and giving. does that mean, therefore, that what i do should be called something different? like, does the pc-friendly 'winter holiday celebration' designation stand as more appropriate to use in my case, or has the word 'christmas' gone the way of xerox, jello, and kleenex and come to signify any event (christian or NOT-christian, but not those associated with other religious denominations) celebrated at that time of year?

anyhoo... i'm getting too text-heavy. i'll try and post some pix from the office christmas party which ended up being legend (wait for it! hope you aren't lactose intolerant 'cause here it is..)dairy....

all i want for christmas

so while i was driving in to work today they were talking about the worst christmas songs ever released, and played a snippet of some kid singing about how he (she? who can tell pre-puberty) ate beans and farted on santa's lap.

now if that won't get you into the spirit of the season, i dunno what will.

i'm so not ready for christmas this year. usually i'm done my shopping and my baking by now - this year i haven't even really started the shopping and i DEFINATELY have not started the baking - though the sister has written a wishlist up on my noteboard at home. i do have a 3-day weekend this week and a four day next, so i can get my head above water with the unpacking tomorrow/sunday and then next weekend can bake, wrap & shop.

notice how i left saturday off that for the unpacking madness? see it's my office christmas party on friday night, so we are attending that, then are heading dahn-tahn to see bassnectar at dicks afterwards. i imagine saturday will be a festival of nothingness - lounging in pjs and watching movies in front of the fire... i heart that idea, especially because it is supposed to be ass-esque weatherwise this weekend.

oooo i get a mani-pedi on friday, too. i don't know what dress to wear though - i have a great ann taylor wine coloured silk number that i've never worn, but no shoes that will really go with. or, alternatively, i could wear the floor-length dress i wore to mikeb's christmas party last year, since no one at my office has really seen it. i *do* have shoes to match it, but i kinda want to wear the silk one. what to do, what to do.....

december 6, 1989

Genevieve Bergeron- Nathalie Croteau - Anne-Marie Edward - Maryse Laganiere - Anne-Marie Lemay - Michele Richard - Annie Turcotte - Helene Colgan - Barbara Daigneault - Maud Haviernick - Maryse LeClair - Sonia Pelletier - Annie St-Arneault - Barbara Klucznik-Widajewicz

i don't know what to call this post

so yesterday i stayed home 'cause when i got up my eyes were pretty much swollen shut and felt as though they were full of ground glass.

so awesome. mind you we've got a fairly nasty and daunting project for the day here at work, so i'm half wishing that they still felt that way today. though now that i think of it the project involves digging through 1500 files, so they may very well by the end of today. even more awesome.

i've unpacked my kitchen, the bathrooms, and my clothes. i have no idea where anything else is - including my jewellry and my alarm clock. le sigh .

tell y'all a story bout a joker and a thief

so we moved (and when i say 'we' i mean 'he') the architects furniture and boxes to the new place yesterday. i stayed home and had a snow day from work. i love working in my jammies - it rocks. i wanted to wear them again today but figured the new HR lady would look at the poohbear bottoms a touch askance. maybe not - it *is* casual friday, after all.

i think we found a 'just for now' kitchen table at ikea - it's square and has little stools. i like it... it's nowhere near as nice as the one we want to be our 'real' table (from moe's), but it'll do as a breakfast table kind of thing.

oh man listen to me - suzy homemaker over here. hmmm must post a naughty photo to mitigate the boringness....

is your name michael diamond?

ah come on - y'all know the next line. admit it.

i feel kinda beat up. i'm not sure if i'm fighting off a cold or flu, or if it's just the stress of the move. the guys we hired to bring the architect's stuff from kits to ladner cancelled last night due to weather, and he sort of has to be out by 1pm tomorrow. i'm not too stressed, since i paid rent till the 15th and, let's not kid, i rent from my parents and while they are looking forward to converting my bedroom to a tv room it's not too entirely pressing a desire. a few days one side or the other of this weekend doesn't matter much to anyone.

well, except me 'cause i just want the whole ordeal to be OVER.

i want to take some cleaner and some shelf paper over and bring the dishes etc and start getting settled. i can't tell you how much i'm looking forward to having my own space, my own kitchen, my own living room. oh and my own kitchen table - still don't have one of those, but i've got a damn cool purple chaise that no one will be allowed to eat on goshfukkit.

slip sliding away

my office is decidedly empty so far this morning. mind you, it did take me an hour to get here, today (a quick americano pitstop notwithstanding) and that was in the architect's all wheel drive winter tire clad audi. i'm not entirely sure i would have made it out of my driveway in my little green goblin.

i was off yesterday obstensibly to pack, but ended up baking muffins and shovelling out the entrance to the condo complex. i hurled ice and (very heavy) snow for over 2 hours and today am hobbling like a geriatric former NFL quarterback. very sexy, let me tell you. this is interesting though - i have this little cordless, heated, hand-held massager. as a result of my poor aching back, the architect and i actually used it for its intended purpose last night. sweet mother of god how glorious is *that*? i can't believe i never considered using it for an actual massage before. not exactly sure what that says about my personality, but there it is...

you told me you wanted to eat up my sadness

ug i have a crapload of work today but am suffering a low-grade hangover, and really *really* can't get into it. plus we found out yesterday that our bonuses are going to be over a month late - frustrating because of le relocation as well as le christmas. le sigh.

last night we went for dinner at friends - drank a couple of bottles of wine and discovered my new favouite drink. mm kahlua and almond milk. well i think it was good, anyway - i've been taking a *lot* of painkillers so the wine hit me a little harder than it normally does, if you catch my drift. this weekend has a few things up - maybe a lounge for a girls night out on friday, possibly dancing on saturday, and a whole lot of packing. good thing i have monday off, too.

the new house... it's 3/4 of a house - 3 bedrooms plus a den, all laminate flooring with a little deck out front and a big covered deck (perfect for year round bbq-ing) in back. as well, the back yard is lovely. there is one girl living downstairs - the landlord says she's super nice, but we've not met her yet. we are going to try and put the kiddo's room as far away from hers as possible so that he doesn't bother her with music late at night, but still feels free to play it. the house is painted in varying shades of blue except for the 2 small bedrooms which are white and the master bedroom which is a mocha colour that the architect and i picked. we're going to paint the kiddo's room dark red for him, 'cause he's always wanted that. we'll just have to paint it back before we move out again. the other good thing is that we didn't have to sign a lease - after the summer we can move back to the city no problemo.

i'm super excited - i've been buying bamboo towels and fun stuffs for the kitchen and looking at christmas lights and all sorts of stuff. i can't wait, but i'm really nervous, too. it's been a long time since i lived with someone. what if he decides he hates my funny little eccentricities? what if i all of a sudden hate his?

i wanna show you how the mailboy flirts

so a bunch of people over at alaska airlines got reprimanded and/or dismissed for talking about their jobs on their myspace pages.

rule 1 of blogging - if you want to remain anonymous, don't post your name and photos of yourself.
rule 2 of blogging - if you want to keep your job, either make sure your employer is a-ok with your site or shut the fuck up about your place of employ.
rule 3 of blogging - no flashing icons, sparkly bits dancing across the screen, or midi soundtracks.

ok three isn't a rule just a quiet, desperate plea from me, raspberry sundae.

this whole move thing is creeping on up super quick. the architect booked the truck to get his stuff from kits to l-town for NEXT WEDNESDAY. i'm getting really excited about the prospects of having a place of my own - one where i can invite all my friends back for dinner, or games, or cocktails... who wants to come to my housewarming?