Wednesday, September 27, 2006

its here. today, it came. i've been waiting all week for the packages to complete jarrod's birthday present, but, unfortunately (i am smiling inside because i'm a terrible person), it was my little present to myself that came first. and by present, i mean, classic switcheroo. dad wanted to be able to listen to some music to pass the time, and since the new ipods were only available online and he'd have to wait, so, i gave him mine. now, i'm sticking my bazillions of gigs back onto my itunes. please don't ask me why i have to do this. oh, okay, since you begged. i moved my folders around. and of course, itunes can't keep up, so i have to add everything again. and its taking a long long time.

we've booked movers for this weekend. i have to admit, the thought of moving all of this stuff, again, keeps me up at night. i wasn't sure how to get it done, i wasn't sure who i could impose on to help me, it just...stressed me out. and frankly, i have enough to worry about without worrying about moving. so, i booked movers. seriously. oh, we're still doing a lot of grunt work on sunday, moving boxes) but we're leaving the beds and the book shelves and the couches for the men. yes, i said it. the men. who have man strength. for lifting. and i will watch them, with a coffee, and think to myself about how this is the best money that i have ever possibly spent. especially since it is being split four ways.


Tuesday, September 19, 2006

censoring myself

bowing to friendly pressure, i've removed my address from my resume. see, both my mother and my aunt has previously pointed this out to me. i, stubborn wench that i am, shot back that, well, you could also find me in the phone book. after a fellow blogger commented that i was just tempting fate (actually that's completely putting words in his mouth but i think the message remains the same), i've removed the more personal of the personal information on this blog.

it brings up though issues of false familiarity for me. this blog is read almost exclusively by my friends and family and i suppose this makes me feel very safe. i completely forget the anonymity that the web provides, and really, the number of lurkers that love the blogosphere. i suppose its just about playing safe. i would hate it if something bad came out of this.

on an up note, both of my classes finished early today, i got my first choice for my practicum (at the library in the archives of ontario), and i even treated myself to some french fries and a hot dog for dinner. oh sure, the running ain't happening, but, with jarrod's new shift, canada's wonderland (does anyone want to go? there's discount tickets at pharma plus! come!) this saturday, and other things looking up, i feel pretty okay about perhaps backing out. if i did, it would only serve to give me even more motivation to run one in the spring. so, we'll see.

grease monkey

there are a few things that i have been meaning to blog about. but, you know, life is busy and my down time, which was work, is now busy as bees, and i just don't have the time to blog. time like i would like to. time to talk about things such as how i have decided that shampoo and i must end our twenty five year relationship. see, it started when i got back from scotland. somehow, most of the shampoo was gone. and you know how it is, you squeeze out the last couple days a wee bit longer than you should. and then, you make the dramatic announcement that maybe, well, maybe you don't need shampoo at all.

and then your cousin mentions that you are far from the first person to do such a thing. indeed, read this for background. basically, its a few different women who have experimented with not washing their hair. i guess the basic idea is that we strip our hair's natural oils and then replace them with conditioner. so, if you remove the shampoo, your hair should regulate itself. the below pictures were taken about three weeks in (its been over four now) and i use them to demonstrate that yes, my hair did increase in curliness. it also increased in greasiness, but, fortunately that seems to be subsiding. for a while there, i could barely stand to touch my roots and i admit that on a few occasions i wore headscarves. but, there is something about this dirty experiment that appealed to a very weird part of me: the same part that was appealed when jeanetta challenged me, while camping, to go without brushing my teeth. i dunno. i guess i just ain't a lady.



i don't think it looks dirty...i think it actually looks a lot less frizzy. even thicker. for the record, i hate my hair. i think its mousy, its going grey but not enough to be attractive, and, well, its terribly thin. i used to be paranoid that i was balding, but, it doesn't seem to be getting any worse. so, basically, i was willing to try just about anything to make it look prettier. i am actually quite happy with it. my dirty little secret, is, of course, that somewhere along the line i've stopped brushing it too. oops.

Monday, September 18, 2006

le weekend de le "party"

its monday and i feel more tired than i usually do on fridays. i think i need a weekend to recover from my weekend.

first of all, kristen visited. now, i was expecting a fun time. of course i was. but i was not expecting such a busy fun time! on friday, i worked till eight, and then met tasha, annetta, alex, lorien and dave. you can judge by the number of highlighted names that it was a bit of a mini-blogging conference. there was a whole lot of "arpha.org!" and "princess awesome" (which refere to, of course, our blogging personas. it was nerdy. and it was hella fun. the night just kept on getting better. a great pub night, where jarrod joined us, and, dare i say it, i think he actually had a really fun time out with us. kristen has a gift for drawing out the quiet folk. i remember looking in the mirror, after a pint or two, i'll admit, thinking what a great time i was having because all the people i love were around, in great moods, and at the start of a weekend.

on saturday, the girls and i spent the day at the clothing sale, held at the automotive building at exhibition place. of course, i thought it was at the convention centre, so i dragged kristen there and left a message for stephanie and eddy saying that was where it was. there are times, truly, when i get my lines crossed. however, we made up for lost time (some of us more than others!) and each scored, i do believe, deals of the year. for instance, i got:


now, i have been looking for a vintage-y beaded purse for years. my mom has this beautiful one that was her grandmother's. actually, she let me use it once, for mike and ciara's wedding. and i was so worried about it that i could barely use it. and then i even worried about it while it was just sitting up in my hotel room. sometimes i take responsibility very seriously.

i also got:
a pink hat and a gold beaded necklace. now, i am not sure how it is that i ended up with two beaded and gold things, but i love love love them.

of course, this post could not end without mention of kristen and her mink. her exact words, as she shrugged into the beast were, breathlessly, "oh, tell me how much this is and give me a fantastic price because i am just dying to buy it!" and the lady gave her a great price and boy did she buy it. as she ran to the ATM, i just smiled, looked the lady in the eye and said, "you should see her with men!" i think we made her day. but, its only fair, because she made ours.

i think she's trying to show canadian spirit, with the flag and all. i am not sure robin knows what to make of her, but truly, that is a very significant part of her charm. thank you for visiting kristen, and for being hilarious and fun, and of course, for inviting me to the big city. which i will one day take her up on. and by one day, i mean very soon.

**and we did pee in a field, but only because we really really had to and it was a long long walk.

Friday, September 08, 2006

dear drivers in toronto,

i realize that your morning commute is stressful. its busy and you're late and you're trying to drink your coffee. there's one way streets and pedestrians, not to mention other drivers. but, in all the business of the morning, please take the time to remember you are sharing the road: with cyclists. i know, i know, you have all the power. you're big, you're motorized, and you have the protection of your windows. my little bell is nothing compared to your horn. i know all of this, but still, i am asking for a little condsideration.

for instance, on select roads, there are bike paths. these bike paths are just like your roads: but for bikes. can you imagine if you were driving down the street and your road was blocked? how angry and irate would you be? but, this happens all the time. a bike path is not a convienient place to pull over while you drop your grandmother off. it is not the place to pick up a fare if you are a cab driver. and fedex, damn it, get smaller trucks or get off toronto streets. what all of you drivers seem to forget is that you are going to win in a fight. you'll cream us. this is why we need that little bit of space. after all, we're commuting too. and we're also late. and we've left an extra ten minutes to grab a coffee but that isn't going to happen if i have to keep dodging cars.

also, when turning corners: please remember to leave room for a bike to pass you. don't hug the curb so tightly that we have to jump the curb and scare pedestrians. just think a head a little, check your rear view. cyclists are a part of the culture in downtown toronto. whether you like us or not, you should be grateful that we aren't also driving cars and making your commute even longer and more stressful. if you'd like an experiment, try riding your bike yourself one day and experience the fear and stress of riding alongside unpredicatable drivers.

i understand that we have made different commuting choices and that, indeed, we feel quite a bit of animosity towards the other. however, i promise to obey all the traffic laws i can, if you simply try to grant us a little space. hopefully, you can stop complaining about how ridiculous cyclists can be and i'll stop bitching about how oblivious drivers are. it'll be perfect.

thank you for your time!

alli

ps to all of you pedestrians who keep putting garbage in my bike basket: you'll get your letter soon. you mofos. its still littering! if i see you, i will sterilize you. yes, that is a threat. i think you're pathetic lazy scum. (maybe i don't need a whole letter.)

Thursday, September 07, 2006

dude, hold the coffee

it is a standard rule of libraries, i do believe, worldwide, that you are not allowed to either eat or drink within spilling or crumb distance of the materials. of course, this rule is entirely not binding of library staff. this is because we like to flaunt our obvious superiority. not only do we know the methodolgy behind dewey, we also get to drink our coffee and eat our muffins.
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the cafeteria is located on a different floor than the helpdesk. so, some traveling occurs. i always, always (well, most of the time) obey the rule to use the stairs rather than the escalator. its a rule, i don't know, librarians aren't always understandable. i headed for the stairs, while my walking partner headed the opposite way around the median in the middle of the hallway. i remarked to him, in a normal speaking voice, that i was surprised he wasn't told to take the stairs, as, usually, i was told to. he laughed and we proceeded down the stairs.
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chatting, we walked towards our place of work. about twenty feet away, in front of us, i heard a girl go "where do you think you are going?" (and in a rather snide and snippy voice.) i didn't answer, in fact, i looked behind me to see if she was talking to someone else. when i realized she was indeed looking at us, i looked at jamal, thinking that she must know her. when i finally realized that she was talking to us and that neither of us knew her, i kinda gave her that shrug, and went, "uh, over there." (pointing to the help desk) she replied, "you're not allowed to have drinks in here, so..." and i looked at her and went, "we work here." she said, "well, i heard you two plotting about sneaking drinks down here." and so i said, "look, we were work here. i was joking because they always tell us to take the stairs." bitch. it was one of those times where i could tell that she was looking at us, wishing she could say something the whole way down the escalator (which she could take since she didn't have a coffee, which was probably the whole problem), and promising herself that if she did see us, she'd damn well say something because the sanctity of robart's library rests on her shoulders.
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the best part: helping with registration today, she registered as a first year student. i think she even blushed when she saw me. you know, when she saw who i was. an upper year student. with friends. so intimidating. i might laugh about it with her later, but for now, i think a simple "excuse me, but drinks aren't allowed in the library" would have sufficed. clearly, i'm still bitter that i got yelled at.

Monday, September 04, 2006

when counting sheep fails

i am a chronic sleeper. if i have an hour or two off, chances are, you can find me napping. sometimes i'll give the pretense of reading, but mostly, its sleeping that i'm up to. so, its very unusual to find me not sleeping at two in the morning. i am never stuck by insomnia. i am asleep, usually, by the time my head hits the pillow. its rather disconcerting that right now, i am still awake. coming back from the cottage, i expected to be asleep, oh, about four hours ago. but, i'm not.

i realize that there are a lot of things going on right now. work, school, moving, illness, at the best of times september means business, and now, for me, this year, its even more than busy. i feel like there are nine million things for me to do and i want to do everything so well and yet i just feel tired all of the time (which makes it even worse that i am not asleep right now). i am not used to stress. i am usually such a good planner that well, i don't plan for any stress time.

we came home a day early from the cottage and i am beginning to regret that decision. i love the cottage. but the weather was terrible. and i am sore all over from pathetic attempts to wakeboard. jeff makes it look easy peasy, but for this old girl, it cause nothing but incredibly sore back muscles. fortunately, i beat jeff where it counts: on the scrabble board. and he did boost my spirits by saying that i was a great wakeboard boat driver (take that uncle john!). but all i really wanted was to get up on that damn board. maybe next summer. i say next summer rather than next time, because, well, because the motor on our boat caught on fire today. yep, it was smoking. literally. we had to have two old rugged fishermen to tow us back to our dock. i say rugged because at least three times, the older one said, "in my forty three years on this lake..." and i figure that anyone who has been in one place for forty three years, and if that one place is a lake, that qualifies you are rugged. the man was so informed that when my dad warned him of a dangerous rock near our dock, he uttered his catch phrase. apparently, he knows intimately all the rocks on our rather large lake. i wasn't going to insult him though, he saved us a whole heck of a lot of paddling. and for that, i am grateful.

the visit was seriously spiced up by the quinn family. i don't know what it is, but as we get older, our family because exponentially funnier. i don't think i have laughed so hard at some many different things in a long time. i wasn't even drinking. much. i know they made mom's birthday extra special, and in times like these, well, making good memories seems even more important. that was extremely sentimental, but well, like i said, i don't do well with insomnia and so i think i should be able to multiply mine. you know, for a normal person this is nothing, but for me, its like i've been awake for weeks. i am simply not in my right mind. i just love everyone.