listersgirl: (cake)
I drilled! Successfully! More importantly, I figured out how to use the power drill, which was a rather important first step. Too bad I don't have any photographic evidence of my awesomeness.

However, I do have photographic evidence of the results of my drilling:



(Yes, that's the new quilt cover.)

They're a bit more see-through than I was expecting - I think I thought they'd be more bunched up (and therefore more opaque) - but it doesn't really matter, since I don't ever open the blinds in there. The curtains are really just for decoration. I'm very happy.

Also, since I have the camera plugged in, this was my dad's response to my cemetery adventure:



Yes, that's right, instead of sympathy I get sent the appropriate Magic card (with a note to bring it back at Christmas so he can put it back in his deck). I love my dad.
listersgirl: (hiro yatta!)
Good morning!

I would join the crowds and post all my exciting, brilliant Oscar thoughts, except that I didn't watch them. Really, is there any point to watching awards shows by yourself? Exactly.

My parents were quite sure that I was going to be watching them, though, so they carefully waited until they thought they'd be over before calling...at 9pm my time. It made perfect sense to them -- after all, the Oscars start at 5 there, so why shouldn't they start at 5 here? Instead they caught me right at the beginning of Heroes, but I was too clever for them, and had the VCR all set up to start taping. HaHA!

I have already expressed my joy and delight at Heroes, so instead I will express my joy and delight at a) how gorgeous it was outside on Saturday, although I was wearing the wrong shoes so it was too slippery for me to walk through High Park; and b) the fact that I finally got off my ass and did everything on my to-do list (except buying groceries) yesterday. Including laundry, cleaning the bathroom, *and* cleaning the kitchen. The trick is to reward myself with something in between each bout of cleaning (in this case, episodes of Prison Break, Hustle, Lost and Veronica Mars that I hadn't watched yet this week).

And then I had insomnia followed by weird dreams that featured me and [livejournal.com profile] morag_gunn hanging out in a movie theatre in my parents' house (note: that does not actually exist), drinking orange pop laced with pot.

And how are YOU?
listersgirl: (do we care)
I have a headache.

I don't like taking medication when I get headaches. This is not for any good reason other than stubbornness. Mostly it's that I feel like the headache is winning if I let it annoy me enough that I actually do something about it. But this headache is in a new and exciting place, providing new and exciting pain, and has been here since I got up this morning, so I broke down and took pills.

Which did nothing.

And when I move my head it feels like my brain is sloshing around inside. Also like my neck is tiny and will break like the stem of a flower.

* * *

My parents have far more exciting lives than I do. Isn't that sad? They're out almost every night of the week, at choir, Scrabble, book club, games night, playing bridge or pinochle, going to the opera or plays, having dinner with friends. And they both still work full-time, so I can't even use that excuse.

Every Sunday when I talk to them I am embarrassed by the fact that they have many more social events and activities to relate than I do. You can hear the sympathy coming down the line when my mother asks me what I did on the weekend and I have to admit that I barely even left the house. I have got to get a better social life. Or at least start making shit up.

* * *

I am craving apple crumble. In a big way. So it's probably a good thing that my oven doesn't really heat up properly.
listersgirl: (break's over)
My cable disappeared for good at some point last night. I only discovered it when I went to watch Entourage at 10, and discovered that CityTV was all static, unlike Global and CBC, which I had been watching earlier. And it took me a few minutes to remember that I'd actually asked for this, since that was in July.

So, with the cable line still in, I have perfectly clear TVO, Global, OMNI, CBC, and Sun. Everything else is a whiteout. Not what I was expecting. I kind of thought it'd be fuzzy CBC, Global, CTV and City. Maybe with the cable out?

The round-up of what is still watchable from all the TV I've gotten myself sucked into:

Doctor Who, CBC, yes
Prison Break, Global, yes
Heroes, Global, yes
Entourage, City, no (but not a big loss because it's on DVD already)

Rick Mercer, CBC, yes
Intelligence, CBC, yes (and let me just take a moment to say how much I'm loving this -- I read a review that said it was for people who love The Wire and MI-5, which, HI. It's set in Vancouver, about a guy who runs an enormous drug operation and the police department who is trying to stop him. But he becomes sort of an informant for them instead, because the director is highly ambitious and is using him to get herself into a position of power in CSIS. It's all very dark and low-key and about the power of knowledge.)

America's Next Top Model, City, no (SADNESS)
Lost, CTV, no (which would be EVIL, except that I've been watching it with [livejournal.com profile] sarcasma and [livejournal.com profile] sanity_clause every week anyway, so I'm good as long as they keep letting me in the house)

Ugly Betty, City, no (it's fun, but I'll live)
CSI, CTV, no (wow - I've been watching this since the beginning. No more Warrick and Greg!)

The Hour, CBC, yes

And the most evil of all: Studio 60, CTV, NO. My Sorkin! Gone forever!

I'll definitely have to see what happens when I unplug the cable.

Other pieces of randomness from the last couple of weeks )

Those of you who live far away from your parents - do you find that you get information in an oddly out-of-proportion way? In the weekly phone calls with the parents, I get lots of detail about what plays and operas they've seen, who came into the store, who said hi, what's being made for dinner, but major things often get left out or brought up really casually. And I don't think it's deliberate - in fact, I think I do the same thing. I guess we all just forget that we haven't mentioned things before. It's odd.
listersgirl: (kiefer)
My mom is going in for eye surgery on Friday (something to do with the muscles in her eyelids being too weak to lift her eyelids, making it very hard for her to see). She said that mostly she forgets that she's going to have this done, and then all of the sudden she'll panic that she'll be blind after. Then she said, if I go blind, you'll come visit me, right? I said, sure, I'll wear a big fluffy sweater so you'll have something to touch. She said, great, and wear flavoured lip balm so I have something to smell.

Hee.

On Saturday I took time out from my exhausting schedule of moping and weeping to go out to [livejournal.com profile] starfishchick's with [livejournal.com profile] sarcasma, [livejournal.com profile] sanity_clause and [livejournal.com profile] mystery_diva -- and we got to meet [livejournal.com profile] iseult_variante, who was in town staying with the Starfishfolk. Yay [livejournal.com profile] iseult_variante! You are fabulous, and I'm so glad we got to hang out. Also, I swear I'm not normally quite such a lush. But wine is tasty! I think I'll also blame the wine for the fact that I found myself watching boy band videos on YouTube at 3:30 in the morning. I admit it, I hate the music, but I love the boy band choreography. Of course, the downside is that this morning I woke up with the Backstreet Boys' "I Want It That Way" looping through my head. Yikes.

And then today we all met again for brunch and a trip to MAC, where [livejournal.com profile] mystery_diva made us over and I bought sparkly gold eyeshadow. It's much classier than it sounds, I promise. Seriously girly.

Now I'm going to watch Studio 60 and go to bed and get lots of sleep and go to work and do it all again. And buy some groceries, because all I have in the fridge is soy milk, orange juice, plain yogurt, half an orange pepper, and 3/4 of a red onion. That's not food, yo.

Miss me?

Jul. 12th, 2004 09:20 am
listersgirl: (mandy sum up - jess79)
Hello! I'm back in the land of people at work. Let me just take a moment to mourn my vacation.

...

All right then. It was a great vacation and seriously wonderful to see my parents. The weather co-operated, and no-one died from heat stroke - there was even rain one day! I'm not sure my parents will believe me when I talk about the scary Ontario summers, though. We saw five shows, did all sorts of touristy things in Stratford, and even managed to wander around Toronto a bit, although time was pretty limited.

I'm sad that they're gone, sad that I won't see them again until Christmas, but it was a bit of relief to say goodbye to the energeticness of being on holidays. That constant making sure that everyone is happy and everyone is ok, which was doubled when we were here in Toronto (because I was the one that should know where to eat, and how long it would take to get places) - it's always a bit tiring. And my parents are getting old! The fourth-floor walk-up nearly killed them and their bad knees, especially since they had to do it again to go have a smoke outside. But I think they had a fantastic time.

And then I saw two more plays over the weekend after they left. That's 21 shows in 12 days in 2 cities. I think perhaps I'll lay off the live theatre for at least a week now.

I'm sure there'll be play reviews and "witty" anecdotes forthcoming, but for now I need all my brain power to tackle my super scary inbox here at work.

So that's it. I missed you all! How was your week? What's going on with you?

-------------------

Happy birthday to [livejournal.com profile] zoje_george and a happy belated birthday to [livejournal.com profile] crimsonkitty! Is it my imagination, or is there an overabundance of birthdays at this time of year?

Recap

Dec. 29th, 2003 04:11 pm
listersgirl: (Default)
I think Christmas is actually finally officially over. My friends went back to England yesterday (I miiiiissss you, Kit!), so today has felt very empty of plans and planning. No, wait, I do have a plan: I plan to read. And possibly catch up with my flist, although I'm so far behind that the prospect is a little scary.

It was such a fantastic Christmas, though. Full of time spent with wonderful people, excellent food, many many presents, and games. Hours and hours spent playing games. Is there anything better?

Christmas highlights )

Fun new game! )

There was even one night where the four of us that have been friends since university (Kit, [livejournal.com profile] vestra, [livejournal.com profile] sarcasma, and myself) managed to hang out together again, complete with significant others and some parents. It really was a wonderful Christmas.
listersgirl: (Default)
3. Christmas Eve. There was a time (back when I was tiny and we still had contact with the relatives) that we would go to my Aunt's place for Christmas Eve. We'd hang out, then the kids (seven of them, all older than me) would go to bed, and at midnight they'd get woken up to open their stockings. But as the kids got older it got less fun, so the new tradition became the Christmas Eve Movie.

When we started this, only one theatre in town was open on Christmas Eve, early shows only, 3 screens. So we were pretty limited as to what we could see. Now, of course, everywhere is open, so we can be much pickier. I've already started scoping out the movies to see what I think we might all enjoy.

Sadly, the movie is usually followed by the traditional Last Minute Wrapping of Presents, because there's never quite enough time beforehand.
listersgirl: (Default)
I got to open my first Christmas present last night! [livejournal.com profile] vestra is leaving for Victoria today, and so we decided that rather than carry the presents all the way home in order to open them during the friend gift exchange (at which point we'd just bring them back again), we'd just start Christmas a little early. I got a fabulous stripy hat that she knitted herself (far too talented for her own good), a cute red t-shirt with a retro skating logo on it, and a DVD of Goonies. Hell yeah.

And since we're on the subject of presents, more Christmas traditions.

2. The presents. I love to give people presents (and since I don't have any contact with my relatives (besides my parents), I am lucky enough to only have to buy presents for people who I actually like, and who actually appreciate getting the gifts - it makes a huge difference). My parents also love giving presents, and we all love getting presents. In particular, I'm a little obsessed with unwrapping presents, and we all agree that the anticipation is a big part of the fun.

So, a)there must be presents under the tree for as long as possible. Sadly, "as long as possible" usually translated to "dammit, it's Christmas Eve and we're still not done wrapping!", but we try. Especially because one of the best holiday moments is watching the cat sleep on top of all the wrapped presents. All of our cats have loved to do this, and I've never figured out why - I mean, it can't be that comfortable. Still, too cute.

b)There must be presents. In a physical form. Even if you already know what it is, even if you were there when it was bought. Also, there must be multiple presents, even if it means wrapping each CD individually. Every year my parents buy themselves something (usually some art) which they declare is their present to each other, and every year not only does it have to be wrapped, there are always other things under the tree (my role in the family is as present equalizer - I have to find out how many presents my dad bought for my mom, and vice versa, so that everybody gets the same amount). Last year, my parents gave me a DVD player, which meant that they bought it in Victoria, wrapped it, and put it under the tree, even though that meant that they had to pay to have it shipped out to Toronto. It would not have been the same for them if they'd just given me the money to buy it myself. I swear, we're really not that materialistic a family, we just *really* like unwrapping gifts and watching other people unwrap gifts. Which leads to,

c)everything must be wrapped. Everything. Even everything in the stockings, with the exception of the oranges at the toe. I think this one is probably mostly my influence, because I have an unhealthy love of the unwrapping, but it's fun! And then you can entertain the cat with ribbon, and throw balls of wrapping paper around.
listersgirl: (Default)
We're not a particularly traditional family, especially when it comes to holidays, which are usually celebrated only occasionally, if at all. My dad, though, loves any excuse to cook for large groups of people, so Christmas has become a pretty big deal in our house, especially now that I live across the country and that's usually the only time I get home.

By now, we do have a few traditions associated with Christmas, most of which have mutated over the years to become what they are today.

1. The tree. The tree goes upstairs, in front of the bay window. By edict of my dad, it has to be as tall as we can fit in the house (9 or 10 feet, I think) and can't be one of the super bushy kind, but has to be a little Charlie Brown in appearance, so that there's room between the branches for the ornaments to actually hang. We have a lot of beautiful ornaments, mostly from art galleries and craft fairs, and they're all different, so we need to be able to see them.

If we don't get the right kind of tree, my dad pouts.

It's also become a tradition to buy the tree before Christmas Eve, a lesson we learned one year when my dad and I spent hours driving around trying to find somewhere that still had trees for sale.

After we drag the tree up the stairs and into the tree holder, there is the traditional "is this straight?" viewing, usually followed by tying the tree to the wall with fishing wire so that it doesn't fall down. This is followed by the traditional vacuuming of the trail of needles, performed by my mom or myself, accompanied by much grumbling.

We've settled into roles when it comes to decorating the tree, too. My mom doesn't really like dealing with the tree, so she gets out all the ornaments, pulls things out and admires them, and generally putters. My dad climbs on the ladder and we put the lights on the tree, followed by the ornaments on the top half. Then finish off the tree. The cat helps by batting at the strings of lights as we're putting them up. I get to wield the staple gun and put lights up around the windows and on the bannister. (In case you're wondering, this isn't as destructive as it sounds. My parents added the second floor to the house when I was little, and it's unfinished - there is no heat, no insulation, and the interior walls are just rough boards, so the staples really don't affect the look at all. Visitors to our house in winter know to dress warmly, since the upper floor is where all the socializing/hanging out takes place - it's all one room, with the TV, couch/chairs, dart board, pool table that is usually covered with boards and used as a table for gaming or big dinners, another smaller table, and lots of bookcases. When we're feeling particularly energetic we light a fire in the wood stove, but mostly we just wear sweaters.)

After Christmas the decorations come down and we do our own version of the Much Music tree toss, and shove the tree out the window into the back yard. Except for that one year when we shoved it out the front window, and it got stuck in all the wires and we couldn't get it down, until eventually we managed to pull it loose and it fell on the car. Good times.

(This got a little long, so for the moment, that's the only tradition you get to hear about.)

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