so i don’t understand smokers

What is it with people who are sick, but continue to smoke?

Hm. That doesn’t make much sense, so let me give you an example.

As I was arriving at the gym this morning, I saw a man outside the building lighting a cigarette. While I don’t like the smell of smoke, and prolonged exposure makes my eyes start to water, people who smoke generally don’t bother me. In fact, I know a lot of really nice people who are smokers. I just wouldn’t kiss them. Anyway, back to the man outside my office.

So he’s already puffing away as I’m coming up the steps to the front door, and he starts coughing. And we’re not talking about a little cough here. He sounded like he was hacking up a lung, it was so violent! I asked him if he was okay, and the following conversation ensued:

Guy : Nah, not really. I’ve had a horrible chest cold for almost a month now.
(He takes another puff and hacks some more)
Me : Oh. That doesn’t sound good.
Guy : Yeah, my doctor told me I’ve got a bacteria buildup in my lungs or something. But I don’t think it’s that bad. (he coughs again) Said I should probably stop smoking until it passes.
Me : I see. So –
Guy : Yep, still smoking. (He starts to laugh, then it turns into a lovely phlegmy cough…)

At that point I just tried to smile at him and went inside. I was confused and a little disgusted with the phlegmy…ness, and I also didn’t want to reek of smoke, because lets face it, it ain’t a pleasant scent. Also when I’m around it for too long my eyes start to feel funny.

So why do that to yourself? And right after you’ve been working out at the gym, or god forbid, before?! (He was wearing trackpants and an Addidas top while holding what appeared to be a gymbag so it could be safe to assume…) Smoking is not exactly the healthiest pastime, why would you want to make your lungs worse when you’re already sick? Is this normal smoking behaviour, or was that weird man I met a crazy exception? Blech.

On a healthier note, my yoga class this morning was fantastic. I’m just sad because I might have to start going to a different one in the evenings because I might be starting work earlier for the next little while… sigh. The ones on the weekend just aren’t as challenging.

note to self:

Never again will I reach blindly into the fridge for juice.

At three o’clock in the morning after a random (but fun!) night out on the town, anything remotely orange in a plastic jug will look like my old breakfast favourite, oj. But carrot juice, unfortunately is not orange juice, and even more unfortunate that it is not Gatorade (for a split second I almost thought it was), even though it is orange, and it tastes even worse than regular, solid, a little on the grainy side carrots… which might be fine when you’re sober, but not when your mouth is dry and you’re tired, and thirsty, and cranky because your feet are sore, your hair is smokey, and all you want is a little sip of juice. Ah, the joys of living with health aficionados such as my dad.

Now I know I won’t be able to sleep… that carrot juice must have been expired or something. Which possibly might explain why it tasted like ASS, and not simply yucky carrots as one would presume. And thus I’ve had to amuse myself writing this little anecdote down for posterity. Also so that I should remember to go for plain old water next time. You can’t mess that up.

/end note

arg!!

I realise that lately I’ve been preoccupied with posting about food (and/or kitchen products and appliances). But so be it! We STILL don’t have a freakin’ microwave. What gives people??!

still no microwave

So we’ve had this fancy new microwave for a few days now which, under normal circumstances, is all well and good… but I  have yet to use it. In fact, no one has. It’s still in the box! Turns out that Sears sells the same model my Mom picked up the other day (she found it at Canadian Tire) for $20 more, but if something were to go wrong with it, you could take it to Sears and let them repair it for free so she wants that one instead. Says it would be “more convenient”. Nevermind the fact that the one we have has something called a warranty.

Suffice to say, I am one extra cranky person in the mornings. You can only have cereal and yogurt so many times.

trying my hand at “curry”

I got to make dinner tonight, and was told to have it ready by 7pm when most people would be home. I’m done around 6:45 and hungry… but I decided to be kind and wait up for my Mom who was running a number of errands after work, but I didn’t realise just how long that would take. I was ravenous, and a little (actually, a lot) on the cranky side when she came home sometime after eight, but she brought back a microwave (yay!) so all was forgiven. I made some ‘curried’ chicken from a recipe I saw in a Chatelaine magazine; it called for bananas, which I thought was a little odd, but I thought what the hey.

And I say “curried” the way I do because it was not very spicy, or curry-like at all. It looked like curry, and smelled a bit like it too, but it had a really mild, sweet flavour thanks to the banana that must have overpowered all the other spices I added. And to top it off, the rice I randomly picked out of the pantry to go with the chicken was basmati rice, a rice which I later discovered has a somewhat sweet taste to it. I just thought it sounded fancy, and more exciting than plain old white rice so I threw it into the pot. Don’t get me wrong, dinner still tasted good, and no one complained (to me anyway). Not even my little brother who usually groans when he finds out that I made dinner. I’m not sure I would make it again though; next time I’ll try “regular” curry sans fruity ingredients.

I am quite proud of myself though, I made that dinner with no supervision whatsoever. You should all be proud.

microwave oatmeal

I  broke the microwave.Don’t ask me how, it just happened. There I was, a bowl of cold oats and milk at the ready, my hand on the microwave door. I put my oatmeal-to-be inside, closed it and pushed the one minute button, and then it makes a sort of cracking noise, then shuts off.

Worst part of it was, no one else was home at the time, so I had to cook that oatmeal ye olde fashioned way: on the stove. In a pot that is now coated with charred oats and burnt milk I can’t seem to scrape off no matter how hard I scrub. How long are you supposed to cook oatmeal on the stove anyway? I think I’m just going to leave that pot in the sink, and then disappear out of the house when the others come home and discover it. After all that, the oatmeal was only so-so and probably not worth the trouble. (Don’t tell anyone).

fixing glasses

It’s been a week since I’ve started this job as a medical secretary, and so far so good. I’m working in an office for two optometrists (two GPs and a psychotherapist as well, but most of the work I do is for the eye doctors), and I am learning things like how to read prescriptions for glasses and contact lenses, and how to measure the width of people’s pupils using a ‘pupilometer’. That thing is fun to use, but I’m still not quite sure what for. I’ve never had to wear even reading glasses before, so I’m also a little lost when people tell me they are “a -2.00 and 1.25 and what am I going to do about it”, but I think I will get it eventually.

I’ve had a lot of hands on experience too, which is good… in a way. Even though I’m not planning on becoming an optometrist in the near or distant future I guess it’s always good to know how glasses work. However there were times when I would literally be left alone (there are two other secretaries that work with me who take frequent coffee/bathroom breaks) for hours. My first day on the job I had a million people asking me if their frames were ready for pickup. No one told me they were hiding in a back room around the corner, but I found it. My third day on the job I had to repair a man’s glasses whose lens had popped out of his frame. Somehow I managed to do it without aid – I found the tools for it and everything – and the man left looking very pleased, and I did too. Yay. But apparently I was supposed to charge him for that. Thankfully I didn’t get in trouble, ’cause you know, “I’m still learning” and all. They were more surprised that I was able to figure out how to fix the guy’s glasses.

I’m sure there will be more stories next week. Can’t wait.

the rock’s birthday

Today my Dad turns 53. As a gift, my sister and I decided to get him an iPod Nano and a smart looking traveling case to go with it. He’s been starting to get a little more techno-savvy – using Limewire to download Deep Purple and the like - and as he takes the train everyday to work, we figured why not get him something that might make the commute more bearable? Well, we hope it will anyway.

Somehow my Dad has been able to make this commute for over twenty years, and for that I applaud him. I’ve had issues with taking the GO to work just for four months in the summer! Man, on those days I forgot my Nintendo DS at home (or in the car, dang it) I just couldn’t drown out the noise of other passengers talking obnoxiously loud on their cellphones, or typing away on laptops, or the dreaded crying babies and otherwise whiney children. I remember how I would come home and complain to him when I was done with school about how I never wanted to work in Toronto unless I lived there. He would just smile at me with a weird sort of “father knows best” look. Now that I think about it, I believe the man is just impervious to any sort of annoyance. He did put up with my siblings and I for almost as long as he’s been commuting after all. I can only assume that the man is an impenetrable rock of patience and general contentment with life (among many, many other things). Now he can be a rock with music.

So now I’m making a cake for him. The Sister has mysteriously vanished from the house… probably to hide at a friend’s and avoid her share of the work, but that was to be expected. I thought about taking pictures, but the kitchen is a mess. Perhaps when I start work on the icing, maybe after the fact, I’ll pull out the camera. And no, I am not making rock cakes.

welcoming change

As of tomorrow morning, I will be employed once again! Oh right, did I mention before that I was unemployed? Well, I am no longer. Hooray.

I will be working in a doctor’s office nearby, starting off part-time, and I am looking forward to it. Spending weeks and weeks at the computer and on the phone canvasing companies for jobs was stressful and disappointing to say the least. It may not be the ideal job for me, but I am planning on going back to school next year anyway, so this will do for now. And I will be able to make back the money I have spent while shopping. Bonus.

the fans who waited

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Brilliant book, I couldn’t put it down. I just wish my sister would actually pick up the damn thing and read it already, so that I can have someone to discuss it with (most of my friends that like this series are some seriously slow readers). I would love to go on about it here, about what I liked and didn’t like – to be honest, there were a few things- but still. I don’t want to spoil it for anyone else, but I am happy to say that I finally got some closure on my favourite character in the series – Severus Snape. Hats off to you, Rowling.

In other, related news, I was feeling much better since my last post so I ended up in downtown Toronto with a friend this friday night for some shopping. After having a bite to eat, we decided we should take a look at the much-hyped ‘release party’… or whatever it was called, for the Deathly Hallows would be at the Chapters on Bay Street where they had done this recreation of Diagon Alley we’d heard about on the radio, but there were way too many people there to see anything but the massive crowd. And possibly the top of a double-decker bus, I wasn’t sure. Tons of screaming, bouncing little kids were dressed up in robes and hats, and I felt a little sorry for their poor, haggard-looking parents. Wish I’d taken some pictures of some of the crazier costumes though, there were quite a few of them. Even crazier still, some of the people we spoke to in passing had said they’d  been waiting for over five hours just to get a copy of the book, forget the other festivities. Some had taken the day off work for the release. Wow. I mean, I love Harry and his books too, but not that much…

So I ended up spending the night with my friend, then hanging out with her again the next day too (more shopping was done, my bank account will hate me), so it was on sunday that I stopped at Shoppers on my way home and got my book for free. Yes, free.

Thank you Shoppers Optimum points!