30 days

30 days. I have 30 days (according to this self-help book) to cure a broken heart. I feel so pathetic when I'm in the self-help aisle of a book store. Like I should have a giant bag of yarn and three pet cats with me. Regardless, I hit the depression stage of this most recent break-up over a month after the actual break-up. There are two sides to every story, but to be honest (which is part of the "healing" process), it all blew up because of something that I did. I had my reasons and they seemed right at the time, but as the old saying goes, hindsight is 20/20.

So I am now on Day 3 of said book and today was my last crying day. My eyes were intensely swollen over the last two days because I would sporadically cry and when I wasn't crying on my own, I watched sad movies to ensure a constant stream of tears. Hey, if I only get three days to cry, I made sure to compete with Niagara Falls. Yesterday was spent with family so there were no tears until I was home late a night.

This book is structured in a way that you only read one chapter per day of the 30 days. With each chapter, there are new rules that you are to put into place for the remaining days. Rules for Day 3:

Rule #1: No Contact
Easy enough. Oh wait, no contact also means no contact with his family, friends, coworkers, and anyone else I met through him. Um, uh....okay....two and a half years means there are a lot of friends in the picture...will do my best to adhere to this no contact rule. So if there are any of his friends reading this, I'm not being flaky and ignoring you, but I kind of am. Sorry, it has nothing to do with you. We'll catch up in October. I'm giving myself a pass on the people that I will see on the street due to the proximity of our work places. That is something that is totally out of my control.

Rule #2: Go Right Ahead, Think About Him
Obviously, this will happen. Here's how this rule goes: everything I think of him through rose tinted glass and remember him as being a loving person , I am also to come up with a memory of a time when he was unloving, inconsiderate, dismissive of me, rude to me, etc. This rule shouldn't be too hard to follow.

Rule #3: No Revenge!
It's crossed my mind. I could run a smear campaign. I could be an evil vindictive bitch. I choose not to.

Rule #4: No Driving Past His House or Work
I would be too digsusted with myself on how pathetic I would have to be to do this, so this won't be an issue. Once again, work is really close together so I'll be walking by it frequently just to get to where I'm going.

Rule #5: Avoid His Usual Hangouts
Looks like after school drinks will be at Betty's for the first month. I am slightly irritated that this place was actually my usual hangout first and now I'm avoiding it.

Rule #6: Every Day, every Night, an Affirmation
This is what the book says to repeat every morning:

I have the power to transform today's pain into tomorrow's wisdom, and I love myself enough to choose to do exactly that. There is joy waiting for me. I deserve it. And I will be healthy enough to recognize and embrace it when it comes, and know that if this is what it took to find it, it was worth all this and more.

Okay, now I feel really pathetic...but I'm not crying =)

my food quirks

Since Toronto is under a tornado warning and we're all being advised to stay in, I figured blog before I head to bed to read. A note titled "25 Random Things About Me" was going around on Facebook and as I was writing my 25 random things, I noticed that nearly half of them were food things. I then decided to scrap the random food things from that list and make one that's only random food things about me. This is the list and I have no idea now many points there will be. Let us being...

1) I detest wasabi
Contrary to what my dining companions believe, it's not the spice that I don't enjoy. It's easy enough to adjust the heat level by how much wasabi you put in your soy. It's the mustard flavour that I don't like. Horseradish, Dijon and grainy mustards are also a no go. I do like plain old yellow hot dog mustard.

2) I like my cereal soggy
I will pour milk over my cereal and wait until it softens before taking the first bite. Sometimes I'll pour milk over cereal as soon as I get out of the shower and then go get dressed. I also prefer to have fruit in my cereal. Usually a sliced banana.

3) I have a massive sweet tooth
Wheel that dessert cart my way! I will eat almost anything that is considered a dessert.

4) I peel red grapes
I will sit in front of the T.V. with a bunch of red grapes and peel each and every one of them before eating. I don't do this with green grapes. Only the red ones because I don't like how the skins make your mouth pucker.

5) I forced myself to like olives
I used to despise olives. One day I decided that I was going to like olives and proceeded to eat half a jar of them. I did this because I was told that you have to eat seven olives in a row in order to acquire a taste for them. I now very much enjoy olives.

6) I also forced myself to like Guinness
I did this because I was told that Guinness has less calories in it than beer. Yes, that is a very superficial reason, but considering that I'm not a huge beer drinker, I figure it wouldn't hurt. I now also very much enjoy Guinness.

7) I love beets
I love beet salad, roasted beets, pickled beets, beet juice, beet soup. I love beets.

8) I think smelly cheese is delicious
Stinky, smelly, creamy cheeses are the best. I was reading a book and the author referred to this type of cheese as "death cheese." To him, this type of cheese is what the inside of a corpse's mouth would smell like after weeks of decay. I also like cheeses with mould in them. Bring on the blue!

9) I gravitate towards braised meats if they're on a menu
Lamb shanks, osso bucco, braised short ribs...mmm....I think it's because I don't braise things at home so I always order them when I'm out.

10) I eat the green stuff and the yellow stuff too
The green stuff inside lobster heads, also known as lobster tomalley. I gross out many co-workers when I tell them that I eat the green stuff. They chalk it up to me being Chinese. The yellow stuff is inside the crab heads, also know as crab mustard. If it's a big crab with a big shell, I like to put a scoop of rice into the shell and mix it all together with the mustard. So good....*drool*...

11) I'm only dependant on coffee when I'm in school
Before September of 2008, I drank coffee every now and then. I didn't NEED one every morning, or every day for that matter. Upon returning to school, I found that I NEEDED coffee to get through the day. There were some early classes that required a morning pick me up, but in most cases, I was just so bored by the content of classes that I relied on coffee to keep me awake through classes.

12) I love rice
I had to stop making rice at home because I can't eat just one cup of cooked rice. If there is a pot of rice around at home, I will eat no less than three cups of it and there is really no point in make just one cup of rice. I get my "rice fix" when I'm at family meals and when I'm eating out.

13) I like liver
Pâté and foie grais are amazing. But I limited the amounts I eat because "too much of a good thing" definitely applies to this delicacy.

14) Paula Dean grosses me out
Seriously? This woman's cooking is the nasty shit ever. Yes, I know butter added flavour, but on top of the copious amounts of butter she adds to everything, does she really need to cook all green vegetables until they're GREY?!?! Barf.

15) I am incapable of making just one serving of fruit salad
Whenever I make a fruit salad, I always end up with a massive bowl full. This is mostly due to the fact that I believe a fruit salad should have lots of different fruits in it. Fruit salad that is almost completely comprised of melon is lame. I am now eating my way through a big bowl of fruit salad I made yesterday that has blueberries, strawberries, peaches, kiwi, and oranges. I was going to add green grapes, but that would have been too much green in the salad and I also believe fruit salad should be well balanced in regards to colour.

16) I add fresh produce to canned foods
I add more mushrooms to cream of mushroom soup and frozen peas to canned beef stew. One of the grosses things that I love eating is probably canned beef stew (with frozen peas tossed in, of course) over instant noodles. This is something that my family and members of my extended family did (and still do) when I was a child. When there's nothing in the house and I have no idea what to have for dinner, it's not uncommon for me to run out to the corner store to pick up a can of stew and a pack of noodles. I purposely don't keep those two things in my apartment because I'd eat it WAAAAYYYY too often if I did.

17) Root beer is my favourite soft drink
Does Hires still make root beer? I never see it anywhere anymore so I now drink A&W root beer, but Hires was better. Barq's doesn't quite hit the spot.

I may add to this list later, but that's all for now. Over and out!

ancient chinese secret

I was at King's Noodle House earlier this week having a bowl of congee because I was too lazy to cook anything at home and I wanted to buy some oranges. The lay out of the restaurant have several smaller 2 and 4-top tables against the walls and four large round tables that can seat up to 10 or so. When solo diners come in, they often seat them at these round tables with other people dining on their own.

So there I was sitting at one of these round tables happily eating a bowl of congee with bbq duck (I friggin' love bbq duck) and reading a NOW magazine, and over hearing the other patrons' conversations at the table. I couldn't help listening in on some older Chinese men who were commenting on how "many gwai lo know how to use chopsticks now." I looked around and saw a few non-Asian people in the place and they were all using chopsticks. I was chuckling inside because these Chinese men appeared to be slightly astonished and a little irritated about this. I guess in their mind chopsticks are only for Asians. Sorry dudes, ancient Chinese secret no more.


Mood: amused

Listening to: buckets of rain fall from the sky

to all you asshole "cyclists" out there

Yes, this will be a bit of a raging blog entry. I have witnessed a few "cyclists" in the past two days who have irked me enough to blog about it. This is not about cyclists who wear helmets, have lights, use their bell, ride on the street, and obey traffic laws. This is about the assholes that fancy themselves as cyclists, but are just really dicks on bikes.

1) Ride your bike on the street - NOT THE SIDEWALK.
The sidewalk is for pedestrians who are WALKING, hence the name. The only people who should be riding on the sidewalk are children. Just because you have a bike with wheels that are under 61cm, it doesn't mean you can ride on the sidewalk . If you're too chicken shit to ride your bike on the road, then DON'T RIDE A BIKE. Don't ring your little bell to get pedestrians to move out of your way.

2) Don't ride like a psychopath
I was riding in the passenger seat of my friend's car along Dundas Street last night and some fucker was riding recklessly. This fucking eejit was zooming between cars stopped at a red light. I nearly opened my door into him when he flew by my side of the car and I could have killed him. Maybe not killed him, but it would have probably been the most painful lesson he had ever learned. As I am fuming, I wish I had actually opened the door, but I'm glad I didn't. Someone else can open a door into him. What a fucking twat.

3) Obey traffic signs and laws
I was walking on Queen Street and a person on a bike ran a red light and nearly caused a collision between a streetcar and a car. Do these people not understand that pedalling through a red light can result in serious bodily harm to themselves and others? Don't glare at drivers who start driving when their light goes green when you evidently did not have right of way.

I own a bike, I have lights and a bell, I wear a helmet (I have no intentions of going brain dead from falling off my bike) and I stop at stop signs and red lights. I try and defend cyclists when I'm talking to drivers, but the stupid assholes on bikes makes it really hard. Toronto needs to start issuing tickets for these jerks.

Okay, I think I'm done now. ARRRRGGGHHH!!!!!!!!!!!

mushroom & asparagus risotto with side of out of shape legs and confusion

I figured that since Ontario asparagus is in season, I should get my fill of it while it's fresh, local and cheap. I jumped on my bike for the first time this year and pedaled to the grocery store and got the necessities and started cooking as soon as I got home and unloaded my groceries. Things I did not have for this risotto: dry white wine, fresh cracked black pepper, and butter. I still have to get a pepper mill and I'm still deciding if I really want that gorgeous pepper mill at Canadian Tire that costs $60. I don't know if I'm willing to pay that much when one can get perfectly good pepper mills for less than $30. I need to find the perfect spot in my apartment with good lighting for better food porn shots. The middle of my living/dining room floor seems alright, but the food is a bit lost with all the white. I am not willing to buy more dishes for the sake of better food pics.

mushroom & asparagus risotto

buttom mushrooms, Ontario asparagus, arborio rice, extra virgin olive oil, Campbell's low sodium chicken broth, fresh grated Parmesan

Biking to the grocery store was harder than I remember it. My thighs were burning when I got home and it felt like my legs were going to give out. I suppose it's not too bad considering it's the first I've cycled about 9 months. It was great last year biking to work, but now that I live only two blocks north of work, it's a little pointless to be biking. It'll be good on nights/days when I'm scheduled for shorter shifts and I can go meet up with people around the city. I now have it locked up outside of my front door. The other bikes in my row of houses are just locked to street signs so I'm guessing that means that the occasional weirdos that roam this area at night are not interested in bikes.

Now to the confusion part. I now have a downstairs neighbour (who I will now refer to as DSN). It wouldn't be so confusing to me if downstairs was in good condition, but it's NOT. It's a long story as to why I'm in the place I'm living now so I won't get into, but the apartment I'm in is in much better shape than the one downstairs. There is so much stuff a.k.a. junk down there that I don't understand why anyone would move their stuff in there before getting rid of the junk. There is construction equipment, a bed with a stained mattress (*barf*) from the previous tenant as well as a ripped leather couch, a huge office photocopier and bags of garbage. There isn't a stove down there and the bath tub/shower are in a different room from the toilet. I am so confused.

Some of my stuff was (and still is) downstairs so the plan was for DSN to help me move some stuff up yesterday before he moved his stuff in. We spoke on the phone on Wednesday and from what I gathered, he was going to move stuff in the mid-afternoon. I waited around until 2:30 and finally texted him asking him when he was planning on moving stuff. The reply was between 5 and 6pm. I went out and ran some errands and was home until 6:30pm and then I left to meet Jen for dinner. When we got back to my place after dinner, my DSN was just sitting on the steps and I couldn't tell if he had gotten into the apartment. He called the landlord and he let him in so that kind of worked out. I don't know if he was expecting me to be home ALL DAY or not, but he didn't sound pleased when I told him I wasn't around to move stuff until next Sunday. As there are no curtains on his windows, I peaked in earlier today and saw shit loads of shoe boxes. I mean shit loads, upon shit loads of shoe boxes. I am so very confused.

On another note, I am volunteering at the Hope Volleyball Tournament on Centre Island this Saturday. I was a lot more excited about volunteering before I received an info sheet saying that volunteers should catch the 5:30am ferry. Are you kidding me? The tournament doesn't start until 9:00am!! Geez!

inDulge

Now I know that in my previous post, I was planning at getting a move on getting rid of the 10 pounds that I gained over the past few months, but sometimes a girl just has to give into her cravings. The Leslieville Cheese Market opened up around the corner from me about two or three weeks ago and it has been calling my name since. Upon leaving work, my plan was to eat steamed asparagus and a grilled cheese sandwich. No asparagus appeared on my walk home so I picked up some avocado and headed to the cheese shop in hopes of finding something I would want. Today's lunch consisted of:

1. Organic baguette
2. Camembert cheese
3. Hot sopresatta
4. Cherry tomato & avocado salad with Briannas Dijon Honey Mustard dressing

Gareth's mom introduced me to Briannas Dijon Honey Mustard dressing with avocado at the cottage over the Victoria Day weekend. I am now in love with this product line and will be sampling my way through the other varieties. It's a toss up between the blue cheese or the creamy French as to which I will try next.

Steps: 16,607 from 3:00pm to 2:00am. I put my pedometer down to put on my jacket in the morning and forgot to clip it on before heading out.

Mood: calm

Listening to: the humming of the refrigerator

little legs on a quest for basil

I was cut early from work this evening so I decided to just chill out at home instead of trying to find someone who had the night off that would want to go for dinner. My plan was to go to The Kitchen Table to pick up cherry tomatoes, basil, balsmic vinegar, bocconcini, and some milk for tomorrow's cereal. Organic 1% part skim milk was on sale for $1.99 (score!), but there wasn't any basil. So I got everything else and made my way up to Queen Street thinking that the fruit market at Portland would have basil. Maybe it did, but it was closed. That place keeps such erratic hours. I passed by a Wine Rack on the way back to my place so I decided to stop in and now I'm sipping on some Sawmill Creek Autumn Blush. The guys that were working there were in the midst of kicking out a drunk bum and telling him never to come back. I appreciated the live entertainment. Anyway, I ended up going to the Fresh 'n' Wild at King and Spadina for basil which basically had me walk in a loop from work, to home, and basically almost back to work again. In the end, I got my basil and had the lovely salad pictured below.

I sliced the cherry tomatoes in half so I wouldn't be chasing them all over the plate. Drizzled with extra virgin olive oil and balsamic reduction.

I had pulled some meat sauce out of the freezer so I had that over whole wheat spaghetti as my main course. I usually make a big batch of meat sauce, eat three meals of spaghetti with meat sauce and freeze the rest for later. I don't have a microwave right now so I do have to plan ahead if I want to eat the frozen stuff. I pulled this out of the freezer three days ago and let it thaw in the fridge and reheated it on the stove.

I cooked my pasta for 11 minutes because I like it a little past al dente. I use two jars/cans of tomato sauce (what ever is on sale) and add browned ground beef, onions, mushrooms, garlic, and fresh herbs and simmer for an hour or so. Sometimes I'll use hot Italian sausages instead; I pull the meat out of the casings and brown it like I would ground beef. By adding all the extras to store bought sauce, it really stretches it out to multiple filling meals. I'll cook once and eat at least six times.

As for the "little legs" part of this post, it is referring to my little legs, of course. A few of us at work started wearing pedometers because we were curious as to how many steps we took in a shift. I put my pedometer on when I got to work at 10:30am when I got to work this morning and just unhooked it from my belt before I sat down to start this post. So far today, I have taken 11 526 steps which equal 8.06km and 439.53 calories. I recently stepped on my bathroom scale for the first time in months and I discovered that I have gained back the 10 lbs I lost last summer. Time to get stepping!! Regular progress reports to follow...

eggs & laundry (not necessarily in that order)

As I no longer have en suite laundry, I now use the laundromat at Queen & Spadina. I don't really mind hauling my laundry two blocks considering that it is warm out and there is no snow on the ground. I plan on researching some wash'n'fold'deliver services come the winter time. Sure, going to the laundromat isn't as convenient as having en suite machines, but it sure cuts down on the actual time I spend doing laundry. After my first trip to the laundromat, I figured out my system.

1. Wash whites, brights, and darks that need to go into the dryer.
2. Once that load is done, load delicates and items that need to line dried into the wash.
3. Load first load(s) into the dryer.
4. Wait for first load(s) to dry, second load(s) to wash.
5. Fold dry clothing and remove second load(s) from washer to be hung to dry at home.

I got two loads of laundry done in about an hour and fifteen minutes and it cost $7.00. I love look of the vintage dryers there. Probably not good for the environment, but I can use two of these huge machines and have dry clothes in 12 minutes. Now if you weigh that against the time it takes a load to dry in a machine at home (at least 40 minutes) then it may all work out to be the same environment wise.

After laundry, I walked home and hung stuff up to dry, installed a closet rod and unpacked a lot more clothing, and then went to work. I wanted to close because I'm going to the cottage this weekend, but I lost the draw. As I did not plan on contending with co-workers on closing, I did not plan on dinner. Solution: white rice with two over medium eggs and soy and broccoli with oyster sauce. I'd take that over a T.V. dinner any day. I now want to eat the rest of the blackberry yogurt in the fridge, but I will save it for breakfast.

hands that heal

My left hand is wrinkled, dented, cut and swollen. The result of three and a half hours shucking oysters to help the wholesale department fill their orders (being Mothers' Day tomorrow, all the major hotels upped their usual orders). I am not accustomed to shucking for that long. I am contemplating sleeping with a sock on my left hand after I slather hand cream all over it.

and the winners are...

Spaghetti with meat sauce and peanut butter cookies!!! I've been in my new apartment since April 17th and it took me until today to break in the kitchen. I am very relived that the stove and oven both work properly.

I've been very slowly getting my place together. All of my books are still downstairs in the basement of this place, but at least everything is under one roof. There have been many opportunities to get my place all set up, but let's face it, I am the worst procrastinator I know. I kept saying that I would use a raining day to get everything set up or that I would just go on a whirl wind cleaning/organizing spree, but neither of those things have occurred. I'm heading to Muskoka for Victoria Day weekend so my goal is to have everything in place by then. That will give me around eight days. Here's hoping.

I want to revamp this blog. The grey is too blah for me now and I'm over the pink. I will need for assistance for customization as I am not very versed with html. I need to think of some new clever theme or title and pick a colour scheme that reflects that. *sigh* I feel very uninspired right now. But on the bright side, I'm having a cold glass of milk with a freshly baked peanut butter cookie. Maybe I will be inspired tomorrow...

sick and tired

I am sitting in Leadership class and am bored out of my skull. This is easily the most useless class in the program I am taking. I understand the purpose of having a leadership class in terms of professional development, but this class is horrible. I am not learning anything in class that I can't learn out of a text book.

I've spent at least 14 of the last 24 hours sleeping because I've been sick since the weekend. I went to see my doctor yesterday and prescribed me Coactifed. This drug knocks you out so I'm not taking any during the day and now I'm suffering from my symtopms. Running nose, sore throat, pain in my ears. Bah. I guess I'm lucky in the sense that I only get sick one or twice a year, but when I finally do get sick, I might as well be dead to the world.

vision

I can't see very well without corrective lenses. It isn't really all that big of an issue except that I am not a person who leaves her glasses in the same spot every day. For instance, I usually leave my glasses beside my pillow on my bed or on the floor before bed because I will generally read at least a couple of pages before sleeping. However, I am sometimes to tired to read and just toss my glasses haphazardly onto the floor before crashing into a deep sleep. When I awake, I have no idea where on the floor my glasses are. I then have to fumbled around and feel the items around my bed until I find my specs. My vision isn't horrible, just minus 3.75 in both eyes with slight astigmatism in my left eye. Things get blurry from three feet and further but I'm by no means incapable of functioning without my glasses.

Anyway, going back to how I don't keep my glasses in the same spot. Sometimes I leave my glasses in the bathroom and don't put them on when I take my contacts out before bed. When I do this, I wake up not remembering that I left them in the bathroom the morning before. I then fumbled around the floor a bit and after I conclude that my glasses are not on the floor, I lie back down and think, "Shit. Fuck. Where the HELL are my glasses?!?!" Then I get up and look for for them in the usual places. Usually I find them within three minutes of leaving my bed. Usually. I once spent a week without them. Not really a big deal as I also wear contacts, but it makes reading in bed difficult.

Weirdest place I've ever found my glasses: in a sock in washer. I suppose I put them in a sock one day because I forgot the case for them and put them in the sock to keep them from getting scratched and just didn't need to go looking for them later.

I am seriously contemplating corrective laser surgery.

busy as a bee

2009 has proven to be a bit challenging as far as my schedule goes. My week is comprised of five days of school, usually five days of work, two days of volleyball, and a day to spend with family and/or friends. Feeling a little stressed out, but on the bright side, I'm almost at the half way mark of this semester and April 17th is the magic date.

The other magic date right now is March 7th. That is the day I will fly out to Flagstaff, Arizona with Mimi and Claudia. Fun times!! No annual winter trip to NYC this year and no trip to a hot tropical locale, but I'm going to see the Grand Canyon. Horseback riding is in the plans and that's all I really know right now. After three nights in Arizona, we will be driving to Las Vegas to stay at the MGM Grand for three nights. So excited!!! Maybe I'll win a million bucks at the card tables or the slots. Wishful thinking? I hope not.

Time to go study for a law quiz. Blah. At least I'm actually interested in the subject.

almost, but not quite

So I did some of the things on my to-do list but not all and not all of them were done by the end of last week. I spent today moving furniture around in my bedroom, but I still have more work to do. My bed is wider than I thought. Here's an update on that list.

Replace all the burnt out light bulbs in the apartment.
I replaced all the lights in the living room and the bathroom last week only to discover that this week, two lights in the hallway have blown out. So now I have to go out an buy more bulbs and wait for someone tall to come over and coerce them to change the burnt out bulbs.

I'm actually happy that the hallway bulbs have blown because now I can replace them with energy efficient ones. I also need to get an appliance bulb for the fridge.

Rearrange bedroom furniture.
Almost there. I'm a little dismayed that my bed didn't fit where I want it to be. Now I have to move two more book shelves and a dresser. I am in desparate need of a new dresser. The one I have is actually part of a bedroom set that Irene and Eliza had when they were little girls. It was originally an orangy-yellow colour and I painted it black. The rails are now slivering, making opening and closing the drawers very difficult. MUST GET NEW DRESSER!! I may also need another bookshelf depending on how many more books I acquire. I love that I have almost an entire bookshelf for my food-related books =)

Meet up with Brent for some long over due drinks.
Done. Two pints of cider and some good laughing until my stomach hurt.

Dinner with my lovely cousins.
Sushi on Bloor. Delish. Too bad I didn't make it out for the weekend visit with baby Emmeline because I was sick all weekend.

Get back into a gym routine.
Maybe next week...

At least I play volleyball every Thursday.

Clean the fridge.
I cleaned out the fridge of food that was going bad but I didn't actually pull everything out and wipe down the shelving. I think I'll tackle that on Sunday.

Buy materials for DIY Christmas presents.
I already have some materials for my presents but I'm not sure if I'm going to stick with my original plan. Must decide on that and get things sorted out before crazy final exams week hits.

Set up computer desk for actually work rather than just miscellaneous storage.
No dice. More crap has been piled onto it. I'll work on that at some point. It doesn't really help that I've grown accustomed to doing homework in the kitchen. It just makes more sense considering that my computer desk is in the living room and the T.V. is a big reason to procrastinate.

Pack away summer clothing for the winter.
Done. Summer dresses are inside a suitcase until the warm weather returns. I'm so sad that they're not hanging in my closet right now.

Buy a paper shredder and finally get rid of all the banking statements/credit card applications/school documents that are nothing but garbage.
I'm a little scared of the paper shredder. Handy but a bit frightening at the same time.

I'm going to say that I accomplished about 6/10 on that list. More than I thought I would get done. Tomorrow is a full day of school and then a full night of work. Time to sleep.

sickies

I am currently experiencing my second bout of sniffles in the past three months or so. I was talking to Gareth about this yesterday and he said that my immune system will begin to weaken as I get older. Now, I've heard of one's metabolism slowing with age but I don't recall that one's immune system would weaken. I guess it makes sense considering that really old people are susceptible to illness but I am not even a quarter century old yet.

I don't get sick from my roommate or from my boyfriend or from other family members. Jen and Gareth's germs are more or less harmless to me as I'm around them all the time. I think I get sniffles because I have problems with staying at a comfortable temperature at night during the summer/fall change over. I wake up in the middle of the night chilly because I've thrown all the sheets off. I'm told that my body gets extremely warm when I'm asleep so that may be why. I don't feel it when I'm just lying in bed but I guess when I'm all under the covers and sleeping, even I can't stand that I've heated up to over 104 degrees.

Things I've accomplished so far this week:

1. Met Brent for drinks (Yay!! We finally met for drinks after months of trying)
2. I changed two out of four light bulbs. I need to buy an appliance bulb for the fridge and I'm going to change the one in the bathroom when I'm done this entry.
3. I empty the fridge of things no longer edible.
4. I went to Kitchen Stuff Plus and got a spice rack, a paper towel holder, and a honing stone. Kitchen Stuff Plus wasn't on my original list but I've been meaning to go for a long time and I was near one yesterday.

I will go to the Grand & Toy across the street from work and get a paper shredder. I've been warned by Irene not to go shredder happy but I only intend on shredding things I know I don't need. I've kept all my credit card and banking statements but I have a ton of other random pieces of mail with my account numbers and address on. Mostly offers for more credit cards and those lottery offers. I'm too paranoid to just chuck them in the recycling. If I had a fireplace, I would burn them but alas, not fireplace. Maybe I'll compost the untreated paper once I shred it.

a late start

So day one of getting stuff done has had a late start. I wanted to get up and go get my G1 testing done but since I didn't go to bed until the wee hours of the morning, I slept until 2:00pm today. I will go get G1 testing done some other time this week. As for today, I will make soup with some left over roast beef, go get light bulbs, buy a paper shredder, and (hopefully) meet Brent for drinks. He has a habit of not showing up or cancelling last minute. If he does cancel/doesn't show up, I'll still go to the place we planned on meeting because Jason works there and I haven't seen him in ages either.

I now have to go and buy some ingredients for my soup.

I like that I've posted two days in a row =)

a week to recover

It's intermission week at George Brown and in theory, I now have a week to recover from week 6 as it was rammed with mid-terms. Unfortunately for me, I have a heavier schedule than usual at work because a few people booked off some time. I wanted to use this week to meet up with people I haven't seen in a while and a cousin from out of province is visiting so I thought this week would have been perfect, but alas, no dice. I'm just going to try an cram all that stuff in anyway.

Things to do this week:

1. Replace all the burnt out light bulbs in the apartment.
2. Rearrange bedroom furniture
3. Meet up with Brent for some long over due drinks
4. Dinner with my lovely cousins
5. Get back into a gym routine
6. Clean the fridge
7. Buy materials for DIY Christmas presents
8. Set up computer desk for actually work rather than just miscellaneous storage
9. Pack away summer clothing for the winter
10. Buy a paper shredder and finally get rid of all the banking statements/credit card applications/school documents that are nothing but garbage.

Not all of those things are dire but I would feel great if I got everything accomplished on the above list. In order to get back onto a regular blogging routine, I will update on the progress on this list everyday for the next week. But I wouldn't put money on it.

the countdown

I haven't really started a countdown yet but I suppose I should. I'm sitting on the porch of the log cabin at Duff's and I'm rather relaxed and don't really want to think about what the fall will bring.

I didn't get around to rearranging my bedroom and I'm not beating myself up over it. That can wait. Really, it's been waiting for over a year so what's another few weeks? I need to do some back-to-school shopping because I no longer have a massive supply of three-ringed lined paper in my closet (my parents were nuts when it came to stock piling things that were on sale) and I also need (translate: want) new clothes for the fall. My summer wardrobe consists of twenty some odd sun dresses and those won't do in George Brown because the air conditioning in there is cranked to the max. Not very green of them.

I do look forward to being busy and having a happy roommate. She has clinched a new job at Chatelaine and I'm sure she'll be much happier there and do very well. Maybe we'll go back-to-school/new-job shopping together as I'm sure she'll want to get some more clothing too. I have tons of office clothing left over from my last job but nothing that I really want to go to classes in. Banana Republic power suits are a little too much for college English. But I really don't want to be a student that shows up every day in Lululemon pants. C'mon ladies, yes, those are expensive pants but you can and should try to look a little more professional than that. It is just class but there are a lot of people in that building that can help you build your career.

My boyfriend is moving a tool shed. The plan was to do nothing but lay around on the dock and go for the occasional swim but he got roped into doing some rather hard looking physical labour. He how has a sledge hammer in his hands. I'm not really sure why they're moving a tool shed with just two people. Would it not be easier to get some machinery in here to haul it up the slight hill it's on? I've worked my way up to painting one of the cottages, prepping dinners, and doing the dishses. There will be no heavy lifting/pulling/pushing on my part. In fact, I think it's time for me to attempted another crossword puzzle.

under pressure

So school starts for real on Tuesday, September 2nd. I say "for real" because this time I'm really going as a full-time student rather than just part-time classes here and there. I'm excited to get back to class and finally earn my post secondary diploma (maybe a degree) because it's long overdue. I got sucked into working right after high school and while I had fun and learned a lot working in restaurants, I really should have gone back to school a lot sooner than now. Regardless, I'm happy to be going now. Although it would have been nice for classes to start the second week of September instead of right after Labour Day.

So here comes the pressure. I don't know how intense my course load will be but I want to keep full-time hours at work. I probably won't be spending as much money as I do right now because I won't have as much free time to to spend it but I'm a little concerned if that will be enough to offset my income if I do have to cut back on hours at work.

Time isn't on my side either. I feel like I have so much stuff to get done before school starts. I really want to get my furniture rearranged and I need a new dresser and maybe a new book shelf and my room desperately needs a good cleaning. All of this wouldn't be a problem if I was such a procrastinator and just tidied my room every now and then instead of letting become a total disaster area. I'm on vacation for the last two weeks of August so I essentially want to get everything done this week.

Now onto another type of pressure: my wisdom teeth. My lower right tooth is starting to grow out more and because it's impacted, it is pushing on the rest of my teeth. It now hurts to yawn and there is discomfort when I bite down. I was due for a routine cleaning about a month ago so it's just another thing I'm putting off. Hopefully I can get an appointment before the end of the week and get my name on the surgery list to get my wisdom teeth taken care of. My cousin recently got two removed but I have to get ALL FOUR yanked. Not looking forward to it.

I did get my eyes checked last week so at least there's one thing I can scratch off of my long overdue to-do list. Now on with the rest of it. *sigh*

so tired

My next day off is next Sunday and I've been working everyday since this past Monday. Granted that some of my exhaustion comes from things outside of work but still, I'm so tired of working right now. It would be nice if it rained on Thursday so I wouldn't be called in but at the same time, I really don't want it to rain if I have the day off.

Now I'm going to wash oysters, attend shucking boot camp, work a closing shift, and then bake cupcakes when I get home. I suppose I should go have lunch before all that starts.

My brain hurts.