I think my cat is a jedi

Lazy flies are hovering above

It's friday. Finally. It's been good to be back, but I almost need a holiday to recover from my holiday!
I'm in a good mood, as the nice people at Dougs Spoke and Sport repaired my wheel and reattached my kickstand, so I am again biking to work and my nifty new bike is back to me. I love it. There's already a gopher armada on the path I ride to work- I counted 12 today and they haven't even started making little gopherettes yet. Soon it'll be an obstacle course.
This weekend I've got lots of things planned: pressure wash the deck so we can paint it, get a few sheves and organise the now cleaned basement and rake the yard AND pick paint for the living room...cuz I just got my backpay from our new contract and it's enough to paint the living room. Hooray! No more nail holes. To celebrate we went out to EE Buritos (finally) for supper. Wow. Wow. Wow. Good good food, run by a family so proud to serve it to you. I had cheese stuffed roasted peppers with refried beans and rice and horchata to drink. Yum... my stomach is grumbling happily now just thinking about it. I hope we can go there a lot...
And so, since I have nothing really exciting to say, but a few minutes to spare, here's a bit of useless info about my life right at this very moment:

Current attire: Jeans, coral shirt, silver specs, superstar runners...and a lab coat.
Current mood: A bit tired, a bit stiff, but happy.
Current music: "Love Songs" a compilation of Billie Holiday songs
Current annoyance: all the achy new muscles in my body. You'd think they'd just give up their protest by now. They are my squidgy slaves and must learn to do my bidding...I've got lots in store for them and if they're complaining now, it should be a long summer.
Current thing: daydreaming about the deck when it's done. I want to live out there all summer and hopefully after this weekend it'll be cleaned and usable, and maybe in a few weeks, be even more cool. I'm so hyped to paint and fix up things. I just hope my poor body can keep up with my ambitions.
Current song in head: Me Myself and I (as sung by Billie Holiday)
Current video in player: The last episode of BSG. I finally watched it last night from when we taped it on the holidays. Man..has there ever been such a good show? It even overshadows DS9 and Babylon 5 in my mind.
Current DVD in player: Space Goast Coast to Coast season 3. Funny stuff..I love Brak and Zorak.
Current refreshment: Just finished a friday treat of a Tim Horton's double double coffee and a blueberry muffin. Although I love Time Hortons coffee I have to learn to make my own muffins. They're always better...I should learn to not be dissapointed by a bought muffin. I just haven't had time to make a muffin lately. I like muffins. Muffin muffin miffin oh muffin muffin hey.
Current worry: Will the student loan people leave us alone now for another 6 months? Maybe if we don't move or make a sound they'll get bored and go away.
Current thought: Is anyone else wierded out about what the heck is going on in Iran? Normally I'd say just let them be and go for a diplomatic solution, but a country enriching uranium against world rules with a leader who has said on multiple occasions that and entire country (Isreal) should be wiped off the face of the earth is not something I am comfortable with...and just what is the rest of the world supposed to do about it? I'm hiding under a chair myself.

Songs that make me happy:
-"Them There Eyes" by Billie Holiday
-"Yeah Yeah Yeah Song" by The Flaming Lips
-"When Soul Meets Body" by Death Cab For Cutie

Things that make me happy:
-My new bike (ya ya yaaah)
-Fresh fruit. There is so much fruit and so little room in my stomach.
-Billie Holiday's voice. The woman's voice is just magic.

I'm thankful for:
-my wonderful husband
-having enough money to pay our bills and not worry about that sort of stuff for a little while at least
-Springy sunshine and happy hopping gophers

Three nice things I will do soon:
-Send flowers to our elderly neighbor. Her husband passed away recently. He was such a sweet old man...we used to talk out in the yard and I'll miss him.
-Find a neat gift for my neice Elliott. She turns 1 next week!
-Put up birdfeeders. Happy birds. And happy cats too, as they can stare at them through the window.

3 Quotes that make me laugh:
-"My leprechaun fell asleep hours ago" ~Ken Sobool
-" I don't know why we need a roof anyway, just put a hat on and get over it" ~Dad (Brak Show)
-"When does the monkey come out of your ear? I don't have all day you know." ~Brak
~~~~~~~~~
Cheers!

I can't have nice things

Tuesday evening, I bought a brand new bike. I've saved for a long while and knew exactly what I wanted. It's a low ride (aka girlie) frame with mountain tires, 21 gears, fenders, front suspension, adjustable handlebars and comfy seat and rides like a cloud. It even had a kickstand...and is everything I've always wanted. Jay does promos for the shop so we even got a discount...about as perfect as it could be. The store is local and they're really good people.
I ride my bike to work, rain or shine, as long as weather permits and yesterday was my first day back at it...and I made it a whole half a trip before catastrophe struck. The kick stand had been incorrectly installed and it jammed up the rear wheel, nearly throwing me off. Consequently, the stand had to be taken off to even move the bike. The wheel is now warped and the frame is all scratched to hell where the stand was mounted from the jarring, as there was no rubber seal put below the stand to prevent scratches.
So..I've cooled down a bit and after work I am taking it in to see just how much of it they'll replace. Ideally, I'm cheesed enough that I'd like a whole new bike, but they should at least fix the scratches and give me a new wheel. I've only had it for a day after all!
I am now convinced I'm jinxed. I just can't have nice things....

I couldn't have said it better myself

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover."

~Mark Twain

I found this quote yesterday and it captures exactly how I feel about life right now.
Gotta run - crazily busy day. Happy thoughts...

Note to self...

Just a reminder,

Don't pull two all nighters dancing and having a fantastic time with old friends right before you have to back to full time work. I know the music was live techno and funk mixed with even some Thievery Corporation thrown in for good measure but you are no longer a young thing. You need sleep. Leave a day for rest before you go back to the real world or your body will curse you for it.

Just a thought.

A tonne of fun

Over the week off J and I decided to tackle a part of the house that's been bugging us since we moved in - it's full of junk!
I'd like to clarify that it's not our junk. OK, we had an old couch and a few bags of leaves but the rest was all "gifted". We got the house for very cheap from family, and one of the conditions was that they could leave behind whatever they didn't want and we could "keep" it...like a sort of gift...only unwanted...and mostly unusable. And worst of all - it took up so much space.
Needless to say, at first we didn't mind, as we had so much painting and fixing up to do (again part of the deal) that we didn't even notice much. Now that we're getting well into the fixing uppy painting and such, we've started to curse all the junk when it gets in our way and thwarts our plans. Our 4th level was full to the brim with useless crap and we finally decided to do something about it. After a dissapointing call to 1-800-got-junk (they wanted a retarded amount to take it all away) we rented a 17 ft UHaul and filled it to the brim with junk. Yard junk, shed junk, deck stuff, basement junk, delapidated old useless nicknacks and no less than two non-working barbecues. You name it, it went. We even broke down and shed all our boxes and packaging from our appliances and electronics (we both had every box for everything we ever bought...we both are anal about that kind of thing) and recycled them. That hurt a bit but we figured we might as well do it all. The fact that none of that went into the UHaul but to recycling was even more surprising to us, when we finally realised just how much junk we had.
The result of our plans was a whole day of me carting crap out into our back yard, sorting it and then J and a friend helping me load it into the truck when he got off work that afternoon. Thursday morning we were off to the city dump. The result - we officially removed over a literal tonne of garbage from our house. Yes, I have the city dump weighbill to prove it - 1030 Kg of junk (I also learned that a 17 ft UHaul weighs just over 3 tonnes empty, should anyone care...)

Now we actually have way more space downstairs...for a craft/stained glass area, tool/workbench, laundry and actually organizing and storing stuff on the shelves down there. We can also prime and paint our screened in deck finally and hopefully get some lights out there. I want to take an old table and cover it in tiles for out there, move our barbecue (it works!), make a rack for the bikes and have friends come over and help us paint murals on the walls and an old style map compass on the floor to make it "ours". We even took in my window I made for the back door to be placed between low E glass so my Dad can put it in our door. I can finally clean up the yard and clear out and use the firepit (never knew it was there under all the old yard waste and junk behind the shed!!) and we even have a functional playhouse in the backyard (with toys) for our friends and family with kids...AND I can plant some flowers in the yard too because we actually went and got the yard tools and things we've needed for so long to help keep up the yard.

It is so exciting. The junk phase was step one in a list of elaborate plans that can now be started.
We're both procrastinators so it'll be amusing to see how far we get on all these things, but if I can get to it, there'll be no stopping me!

My leprechaun fell asleep hours ago...

Brief greetings from Edmonton.
I must admit - I am not the young thing I used to be..but I can stil shake my funky fine self. Went to see a great DJ from Sweden (and others) in Calgary last night with some old and some new friends. The event was held in a circus school so there were odd trapezes and decorations and a few performances mixed in with the music from stilt walkers and the like. Very unique.
It has been a while since I've stayed up all night dancing and talking and hanging out with people and I must say a good time was had. The all nighter ended with a yummy Dennys breakfast and during a scattered eggy toasty conversation about limits and exhaustion a friend came up with a theory. He figured that we don't all know our limits, especially when we're young, so we should each get a leprechaun who will pop in with a wave and a smile to kindly let us know that we've gone too far and are at the point of total exhaustion and should just sleep. Given our tiredness at the time we figured it was a great idea but with a tragic flaw- Ken said.."great idea...but I think my leprechaun fell asleep hours ago."

Ah. I am weary and scattered but happy. It has been a great holiday off, busy and many things learned and done, with much to babble on when I get the time. But...now is not the time. Now is the time for a shower and some food and a final evening here with friends before heading back to home and the real world. When I'm back home in my pod I'll pontificate on the many cheezies of wisdom I gained this week.

Mmmm...cheezies

I for one welcome our new monkey alien overlords

I saw the coolest thing last night. After Lydias (a local pub) closed out after a great ska show, one of the guys that owns the local climbing gym (friend of a friend) just up and climbed up the lamp post on the corner, swung from the light part and swug around like spiderman to sit on top of it for a bit. He looked in the red light at the top, blinked and then, just as fast, climbed back down in aboput 4 moves all monkey like. I've never seen anything like it. And no I was not drunk and there were about 50 or so people there to make me sure I didn't just imagine it.
Altho, now I'm convinced he's not human...

What I'm doing on my spring vacation

Guess what I'm doing?
Nothing!
Ha!
I got up early to make J breakfast (aren't I nice) as he has to work, but me - nada. So far this morning I've already finished a book (Airframe...not bad) worked out twice the normal time, and sat and drank some coffee out on the front deck, looking at the river.
Now - who knows! I love the opportunity to do whatever pops into my head.
And, even better, it look like J has no shoots this weekend.
What to do? What to do?
Well, we have a few musts in the next few days:
-FINALLY eat out at EE Buritos, a fantastic local chilean place (they even serve fresh tomatillos), in town that the world has thwarted every attempt for us to go to. We're actually going to not say we're going out loud, so it can't stop us this time. I fear that simply typing it has jinxed things.
-Clear out our deck. It's screened in and wonderful to have but it is dirty and full of junk from a winter of "where do I put this? Oh just stick it out on the deck..." and we want to paint the floors in there and have a friend of our come over and paint a mural on the wall. Can't even sit out ther until some of the crap is gone.
-Sleep. A lot.
-Eat. A lot.
-Go to Edmonton (hopefully) to see Dekoze spin next weekend...he is spinning with another guy who does old school breaks. Sounds like a good night of monky dancing to me.
-Go for lots of long walks. The riverside paths are nearly passable now, so a bit of mud won't stop us now.
-Spend Easter with J's family. Their cat just died suddenly so eveyone is a bit down. It'll be wierd to not have Shadow around begging for skritches and tidbits.
-Sleep more.
-Eat more.

And so I must be off to shower and get on with my day and find some lunch. I'm not sure how often I'll post in the next few days (honestly, I don't use the computer much at home).
So - ta ta!

Mee hee heeeee

Cheers my friends! I go on 10 days holidays in 5 hours.

WAHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

I plan on practicing my vegetable imitation skills. The
natural behavior of broccoli is quite a challenge to mimic. It will take much diligence and effort...and Harp.
We had plans for a grand getaway somewhere romantic, but nowhere we wanted to go had a place we could actually afford, so we may just hang out here at home or go visit friends or my brother in Edmonton. If my Dad hadn't started renoviating the cabin we'd sneak up there, but it has no floor right now, so what can ya do?

Man...Just the thought of nothing to do with work for a week and a half.
Bliss.

Sweet...does this mean I can have one?

I'm a Porche 911!

You have a classic style, but you're up-to-date with the latest

technology. You're ambitious, competitive, and you love to win.

Performance, precision, and prestige - you're one of the elite,

and you know it.

Take the Which Sports Car Are You? quiz.