Wednesday, July 13, 2005
Random Thoughts and Updates
My sister-in-law, BJ, is pregant (when Matthew's brother-in-law found out he said "Way to hit one between the goal posts!") and the baby is due at the end of November. Just after Rage's second birthday she went to the doctor so they could see how little Thing was doing, also to see if the baby's sex could be determined. I've got a bad feeling about this kid 'cause that time, and today when she went back, Thing wouldn't accomodate by opening his/her fetal little legs. Now, either the kid is a bit of prude; a nice little girl who knows how to sit politely, or else Thing is just ornery.
There's been some talk of names for Thing, with a definite leaning towards names that are also virtues, like Grace, for example. This line of thought led to Matthew saying he wished he had the brass ones to name the kid Sarcasm. I wish my parents had had the brass ones for that too, except it's probably just as well since we wouldn't have been able to afford to give lunch money to everyone on my school bus.
Val and I were chatting online today about the freelance writing job he's applying for when he interrupted himself (he has ADD) to give me some news. One of his housemates lost a friend of the family recently. "Oh," I wrote."I'm really sorry." "...so we have all this neat new stuff," he finished. They are now using Mrs. DOA's toilet paper, toothpaste, and Vim. Whenever they use it they take a moment to give thanks for her honorable sacrifice for their toiletries. I told him I hoped she hadn't died of gingivitis or hemorrhoids. Maybe hell has a VIP room for people like us, where they serve Champagne...
This weekend sees me jetting off to a wedding in beautiful, exotic Nova Scotia. A friend of mine from high school is getting married, and her sweetie is from there originally. This had the potential to turn into quite the expensive affair, especially since G is all nesty and in love and completely forgot we were going to have a girly trip to coincide with this wedding. Because G has and actual date for this, I am now going stag. If you'll recal, I'm sort of a widow in the summer 'cause the boy likes to go look at shiny fast cars as far away from me as is humanly possible, this weekend, in California.
So, no boy, no G, I'm solo. I informed the bride that as much as I love her, spending money on a plane ticket, hotel, rental care, and wedding gift was wayyyyy beyond my means. The solution she provided to this scenario involves Aunt Becky. The groom's family, who lives in that neck of the woods, have opened their homes to us poor pilgrims. The fact that I'm the only one taking anyone up on this offer is making me feel not so much smart and frugal as sad and pathetic. These feelings are not being alleviated by the fact that the bride spent a good part of yesterday emailing back and forth with me about getting me a ride from the airport to the small town where the wedding's going down. What if no one comes for me and I just end up sitting all alone in a municipal airport in New Brunswick for two days? What will Aunt Becky think?
I'm sure it'll be fun. There are going to be lots of people from highschool there, including the glorious and incomparable JC, who is about the neatest person you could ever hope to meet. Have I talked about her before? I meant to. She's the only hero I have who doesn't have "the vampire slayer" after her name, she's also the only hero I have who I've met in person.
Since I fly out Friday, this is probably my last post for this week, but hey, two days in a row!
My sister-in-law, BJ, is pregant (when Matthew's brother-in-law found out he said "Way to hit one between the goal posts!") and the baby is due at the end of November. Just after Rage's second birthday she went to the doctor so they could see how little Thing was doing, also to see if the baby's sex could be determined. I've got a bad feeling about this kid 'cause that time, and today when she went back, Thing wouldn't accomodate by opening his/her fetal little legs. Now, either the kid is a bit of prude; a nice little girl who knows how to sit politely, or else Thing is just ornery.
There's been some talk of names for Thing, with a definite leaning towards names that are also virtues, like Grace, for example. This line of thought led to Matthew saying he wished he had the brass ones to name the kid Sarcasm. I wish my parents had had the brass ones for that too, except it's probably just as well since we wouldn't have been able to afford to give lunch money to everyone on my school bus.
Val and I were chatting online today about the freelance writing job he's applying for when he interrupted himself (he has ADD) to give me some news. One of his housemates lost a friend of the family recently. "Oh," I wrote."I'm really sorry." "...so we have all this neat new stuff," he finished. They are now using Mrs. DOA's toilet paper, toothpaste, and Vim. Whenever they use it they take a moment to give thanks for her honorable sacrifice for their toiletries. I told him I hoped she hadn't died of gingivitis or hemorrhoids. Maybe hell has a VIP room for people like us, where they serve Champagne...
This weekend sees me jetting off to a wedding in beautiful, exotic Nova Scotia. A friend of mine from high school is getting married, and her sweetie is from there originally. This had the potential to turn into quite the expensive affair, especially since G is all nesty and in love and completely forgot we were going to have a girly trip to coincide with this wedding. Because G has and actual date for this, I am now going stag. If you'll recal, I'm sort of a widow in the summer 'cause the boy likes to go look at shiny fast cars as far away from me as is humanly possible, this weekend, in California.
So, no boy, no G, I'm solo. I informed the bride that as much as I love her, spending money on a plane ticket, hotel, rental care, and wedding gift was wayyyyy beyond my means. The solution she provided to this scenario involves Aunt Becky. The groom's family, who lives in that neck of the woods, have opened their homes to us poor pilgrims. The fact that I'm the only one taking anyone up on this offer is making me feel not so much smart and frugal as sad and pathetic. These feelings are not being alleviated by the fact that the bride spent a good part of yesterday emailing back and forth with me about getting me a ride from the airport to the small town where the wedding's going down. What if no one comes for me and I just end up sitting all alone in a municipal airport in New Brunswick for two days? What will Aunt Becky think?
I'm sure it'll be fun. There are going to be lots of people from highschool there, including the glorious and incomparable JC, who is about the neatest person you could ever hope to meet. Have I talked about her before? I meant to. She's the only hero I have who doesn't have "the vampire slayer" after her name, she's also the only hero I have who I've met in person.
Since I fly out Friday, this is probably my last post for this week, but hey, two days in a row!
Tuesday, July 12, 2005
I Work Hard for the Money
It was important to look good this Monday 'cause we had a big meeting for a new client. We were meeting at a hotel in Toronto, and I was going along to observe, provide technical support, and hand things out as required. I have one suit, it's black and I really like it, the coat is long and flattering, and the look is classy. The only problem I've had so far is that everyone keeps thinking I'm a hotel employee and they ask me where the pool is.
With this in mind I decided to go shopping this weekend with money I don't have. Because I'm saving up for a house while paying off my student debt one would think there wouldn't be a lot available for clothes. You'd be right! That didn't keep me from buying two new suits, a bag, an extension cord, oh, and a greeting card. The first suit I bought was okay, but not tremendously exciting. How jazzed can you get about grey? So I moved along to the Bay, and I fell in love. It was so cute, so happy, so me! I bought a white suit with pencil thin green and pink stripes. That's the one I wanted to wear Monday, but the pants were too long.
I'd hoped BJ would be able to hem them for me, but she wasn't into it on such short notice. I'm not much of a sewer, everything always ends up making me look like I was a native of Bedrock. But you don't necessarily have to know how to sew to shorten something.
I wore the happy white suit to work on Monday having altered it my own unique way, but brought the grey one as back up and then I waited for Steph. She's younger than I am, and just seems to know how to dress me in a way I don't think I ever will. I'm a little hopeless when it comes to fashion. She arrived and I asked her what she thought of what I was wearing.
"You look great, that suit is really cute." She said this as she undid the knot in the scarf I was wearing as a belt and moved it over to the side so that the ends trailed out.
"Does it look professional enough for today's thing?"
"Yeah, I think so. Hey..."
"What?"
"Lynx, did you staple your pants?"
"They were too long. I didn't have enough safety pins."
"Go change into the grey one."
"Crap."
So sadly I can't wear it until it gets hemmed properly, as staples just won't cut it. I told my mother what I'd done and I could hear her over the phone sucking in her breath and biting her lip simultaneously, the way she does when I've committed some unspeakable act she didn't raise me to commit.
The grey looked fine, although having to wear nylons on a 34 degree day has probably given me a yeast infection. The other problem that drove me mental all day was the skirt's migratory tendency. The slit in the back kept meandering to and fro happily ending up wherever it felt most comfortable. When we left the conference room I noted it was perfectly centred in the front. Arsing thing.
In addition to buying news clothes I've also been given the opportunity to lie a lot lately. I keep being asked to pretend I'm someone else and call businesses from my cell phone so that we can do research on their processes and costs. One of our clients is planning on taking action against another company so today I had to call an office pretending I was a doctor's secretary. Maybe it's wrong, but all this subterfuge makes me feel so alive! I'm out there, on the cutting edge wheeling and dealing. I'm this close to being like Jennifer Garner in Alias. Who are the good guys, who are the bad? Will the boy end up dusted in the tub because I found out the date a report was mass-mailed? Stay tuned!
It was important to look good this Monday 'cause we had a big meeting for a new client. We were meeting at a hotel in Toronto, and I was going along to observe, provide technical support, and hand things out as required. I have one suit, it's black and I really like it, the coat is long and flattering, and the look is classy. The only problem I've had so far is that everyone keeps thinking I'm a hotel employee and they ask me where the pool is.
With this in mind I decided to go shopping this weekend with money I don't have. Because I'm saving up for a house while paying off my student debt one would think there wouldn't be a lot available for clothes. You'd be right! That didn't keep me from buying two new suits, a bag, an extension cord, oh, and a greeting card. The first suit I bought was okay, but not tremendously exciting. How jazzed can you get about grey? So I moved along to the Bay, and I fell in love. It was so cute, so happy, so me! I bought a white suit with pencil thin green and pink stripes. That's the one I wanted to wear Monday, but the pants were too long.
I'd hoped BJ would be able to hem them for me, but she wasn't into it on such short notice. I'm not much of a sewer, everything always ends up making me look like I was a native of Bedrock. But you don't necessarily have to know how to sew to shorten something.
I wore the happy white suit to work on Monday having altered it my own unique way, but brought the grey one as back up and then I waited for Steph. She's younger than I am, and just seems to know how to dress me in a way I don't think I ever will. I'm a little hopeless when it comes to fashion. She arrived and I asked her what she thought of what I was wearing.
"You look great, that suit is really cute." She said this as she undid the knot in the scarf I was wearing as a belt and moved it over to the side so that the ends trailed out.
"Does it look professional enough for today's thing?"
"Yeah, I think so. Hey..."
"What?"
"Lynx, did you staple your pants?"
"They were too long. I didn't have enough safety pins."
"Go change into the grey one."
"Crap."
So sadly I can't wear it until it gets hemmed properly, as staples just won't cut it. I told my mother what I'd done and I could hear her over the phone sucking in her breath and biting her lip simultaneously, the way she does when I've committed some unspeakable act she didn't raise me to commit.
The grey looked fine, although having to wear nylons on a 34 degree day has probably given me a yeast infection. The other problem that drove me mental all day was the skirt's migratory tendency. The slit in the back kept meandering to and fro happily ending up wherever it felt most comfortable. When we left the conference room I noted it was perfectly centred in the front. Arsing thing.
In addition to buying news clothes I've also been given the opportunity to lie a lot lately. I keep being asked to pretend I'm someone else and call businesses from my cell phone so that we can do research on their processes and costs. One of our clients is planning on taking action against another company so today I had to call an office pretending I was a doctor's secretary. Maybe it's wrong, but all this subterfuge makes me feel so alive! I'm out there, on the cutting edge wheeling and dealing. I'm this close to being like Jennifer Garner in Alias. Who are the good guys, who are the bad? Will the boy end up dusted in the tub because I found out the date a report was mass-mailed? Stay tuned!
