hockey dreamin’

I have been having a lot of dreams lately where I’m going to play hockey – either it’s a practice, or a game or something, but I never end up playing as I either can’t find a piece of equipment, or by the time I get ready (which would have been pretty quickly! I was only a slowpoke when it came to the undressing part after the fact) and then the game/practice/scrimmage is over!

What does that mean? is my subconscious just telling me that I really miss playing hockey, or is it something else? Well, I know I am definitely missing the game. And I know I could certainly play in a rec league. Hm, something to look into for the fall!

happy shopping

So despite my plan to lay about all day before my New Years festivities begin, I ended up going to the mall with a girlfriend this afternoon.

Lately I’ve been feeling stressed out about a lot of things, but I find when I am out at the mall, I don’t really have to buy anything, just the fact that I am there (and knowing that I can if I wanted to), I feel loads better. Although then there is the temptation to buy clothes and other such fun things. Much temptation.

I did try my hardest to resist – one of my resolutions for the new year I think should be to put away more money each month instead of spending it on frivolous things - but I ended up buying clothes anyway. Gotta love those End of Year sales.

And I was able to pick up the $50 that I won off my Christmas lottery ticket so I suppose it kind of cancels out the new shirts that I bought.

Well, I’d better be off to start cleaning up now. Again, have a happy New Years!

it’s official

Winter is here in O-Town!

For some time now I have not been able to go to work without turning on the heat in my car, and the cute little blazer I’d been using as a jacket just won’t cut it anymore. Of course it’s getting colder, that much I knew from the day the locks on my car doors would not open, no matter how hard I tried. And of course almost every day for the past two weeks you would hear weather people warning of heavy snow in the GTA (“Oh, look out Toronto! 20cm is on it’s way – better get out those snowblowers!”), but morning after morning, you could hardly see the tiny film of snow on your car or on the ground. And now that I think about it, it was probably just frost anyway.

But this morning there was snow on the ground, and a LOT of it.

I was planning on going to the gym, but I have since decided to just stay inside and write, perhaps with some hot chocolate, until someone else wakes up and offers to help me remove snow from the driveway so that at least I will be able to go Monday morning before work. If it doesn’t snow again, that is… Yaaay winter!

whee!

As of now, basically all of my Christmas shopping is done! Now I can spend those first few weekends in December relaxing in the comfort of my own home, instead of at the mall with the masses.

All I have left to do is order a gift for my Mom online. And no, I’m not going to say what it is… just in case she reads this. (Shoo Mom, shoo!)

it begins at midnight

A rather uneventful Halloween this year. Not many kids came to our door, although I did see some pretty interesting and cute costumes. One man dressed up as a football player was carrying around his toddler that was dressed up as a football. Too cute. There was however, this one kid dressed up as a terrorist (no joke, I even asked him to be sure!). He had a fake mustache, plastic machine gun, hand grenade, machete and all. And his mom smiled and looked on as I gave him his candy. Wow.

Only a few more hours until nanowrimo starts! Apparently some people that partake in this contest will stay up past midnight to get a bit of a head start on those 50000 words. But not I. I shall be snuggled under my blankets sound asleep by then. These days I have to get up between 5:30 and 6am just so I can fit in the time for a workout, my evenings are busy enough after work as it is. Somehow I’ll have to find a way to make time for this writing thing too…

so… AWAKE

My Dad could not get over the fact that I “went back in time” as I travelled back home. When he picked me up from the airport last night (or a few hours ago), he kept asking me how I liked ‘time-travel’. Silly old man. He made the same joke when we came back from our trip to Australia last year.

I had a pleasant flight though, no screaming babies or obnoxious children to annoy me… One would think I would have taken the opportunity to take a nap, but instead I was making notes for my novel. I was so productive on that plane, I should have been proud.

But now I can’t sleep – it’s what, ten in the morning in London right now? – even though I haven’t closed my eyes in almost two days. I don’t even want to sleep, but I’m fidgety and want to do something… I just don’t know what. All I do know is that I don’t want to read a book (although, there is a nice one sitting on my bedside table right now…), I don’t want to draw, and to go downstairs to turn on the TV/playstation/XBox/Wii would take too much effort. I have yet to finish that Zelda game though…

Yeah, I may be wide awake and all jet-laggy, but that doesn’t mean I’m not lazy. So I think I’m just going to sit right here, kitties keeping me company (they missed me), and playing with iTunes until maybe, just maybe I start to get sleepy.

leaving at the last minute

So… Turns out I’m off to the U.K tomorrow.

I’d been browsing through a number of cheap travel sites since the Sis left for work in September, hoping that I might find something I could afford, but not really expecting to. I decided it was more of a dream than anything, but today I actually found a flight for a reasonable price.

It couldn’t have been better timing; My new job (yay!) starts not on the 15th like I’d been told earlier, but on the 22nd. So I have almost two weeks to play around in London! All I have left to do is call The Sis back with my flight details and finish, er start packing. See you in two weeks!

EDIT: Hmm.. I wonder if we’ll finally have a microwave when I get back…

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

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.