::alio!::

This was a surprise.

There's a real, honest-to-goodness, Japanese-born player in the NHL.

Proof.

Who knew?

additional automotive addendum

The battery exploded. That's all.

Thank god.

automotive addendum

So my father wants the car fixed, regardless of cost. He says he's put too much money into it in the past year to junk it now.

I say thank god, because I'm not quite ready to buy my own car just yet.

Surprising interlude

So yesterday there were three parties. One was Cara's crazy birthday bash in Montreal, which I could not attend, unfortunately. One was Jon's homecoming party, which I could attend part of, because it was starting at two, and then the other was Sam's bachelorette, for which I was ultimately prepared.

But it all came to nothing.

On my way to Jon's yesterday afternoon, I stopped at Carlingwood to get some cash for the night out with the girls. When I left, I noticed that my car's headlights were really dim, which is a surprise, seeing as we'd just replaced them. And the interior lights were pretty dim, too.

I drove on. Halfway down Woodroffe, my rear speakers went fuzzy and blew out. My front speakers followed, although the radio was still functional. As I turned on to Tallwood, all the interior lights went out, including my signal indicator. The indicator itself was apparently running, but with a weird rhythm. I pulled into the left turn lane onto Centrepointe and waited for the light.

And that's when the car died entirely. There was no sound of the engine sort of winding down. It just stopped dead. The interior electrical system was still working, somehow, because the heat fan was on, and when I opened the driver's side door, it beeped at me to close it. But the car wouldn't turn on. The engine wouldn't even turn over. There wasn't even a clicking sound as I turned the key.

So I got out and started directing traffic around me, because none of my exterior lights were working. I called Jon's dad to come and rescue me, because I was literally three blocks from his house. Then I called my brother. Then Minda showed up to keep me company while I called CAA. I swear the girl on the line was retarded. She kept me on the phone for 20 minutes in the freezing cold.

Anyway, Jon's dad got the car going, with a boost from a truck, and took it towards his house. I went along with Minda in her car.

When we arrived, my car was parked in Jon's driveway, but Jon's dad informed us that it had actually stopped working within a block and a half, and he'd managed to coast it that far and into the driveway.

So I was stuck at Jon's for a while, which was fine, because there was a party going on.

When the towtruck finally came, I was going to go along for the ride and walk home from the garage, because it's only like 15 minutes from my house. But the driver, who had his wife in the car, said not to bother, to stay at the party, and he would take it and leave it there, as the shop would be closed anyway. So I stayed. At this point, everyone was drunk, so I couldn't have left if I'd wanted to. I had to wait for several hours, until Minda wanted to go home and she thankfully dropped me off, but it was fine. It was actually the best worst day of my life.

In any case, now I have no car. My parents are away, in their car, so there's no car period - which means that getting home from school at 900 on Thursday night is going to be an adventure. But we shall see what happens.

People seem to think it's the alternator on my car. My pretty but ancient car, a 1988 Mazda 626.

It looks like this, only it's baby blue. And my hubcaps are nicer. I know it's not much, but I love it. And if it's the alternator, then we might not bother to fix it. Which is very unfortunate, because in my family we really need two cars.

So that's going to be sad.

And, of course, my parents are in Florida, so I don't know what to tell the mechanic - should he fix it or scrap it? It's a good question.

A Nice Story.

This is from the Hamilton [ON] Spectator, a special to today's Ottawa Citizen, and it's quite lovely:

The caller spoke in a soft voice, with an English accent. Brenda Johnstone thought he sounded familiar, though she couldn't quite place it.

"Can I speak to Rebecca Johnstone, please?" he asked.

Brenda didn't think it was a good idea. These are rough days for her 19-year-old daughter. Rebecca has cancer.

Three years ago, a mole on her collarbone that doctors kept telling her was nothing turned out to be melanoma. By the time the truth was discovered, it had spread. Doctors have told the family that, without some kind of miracle, time is now being measured in days rather than weeks or months.

So when the call came last Wednesday morning, Brenda was reluctant to disturb her sleeping child. No problem. The caller politely offered to call back at a better time.

"It's David Beckham," he said.

Brenda put her Becca on, and four minutes of talk ensued.

In the most strained of voices, Becca and Becks talked about soccer. He asked how she was doing. Told her he'd heard she was a big fan. Even mentioned that he liked her nickname.

He asked if there was anything he could do for her. When she said no, he asked if he could send her something. She didn't say no to that. Then he told her to get in touch if she needed anything.

The Hamilton Spectator

Update, perfunctory stylez

Christ.

It's like the world exploded into busy fun time and I'm not allowed to go out and play.

Got a meeting with my two supervisors at 2:00 today, to hand them the first six chapters of my thesis - which is already over 130 pages. I'm still in the process of editing it - 30 pages to go. I'm adding in some info I'm getting from a 1955 Sports Illustrated I got from eBay. Problem is I appear to be incredibly allergic to this particularly pungent copy. Alas. So if I could stop sneezing I could get some work done.

Other than that, a lot has been going on (which is why I'm still editing on the day the sucker is due).

I went to North Bay last week with Cait. Pictures will be up in the near future. It was a fun trip, and Julia and Pat have a sweet setup in their pre-matrimonial bliss.

This coming weekend is going to be intense. JB himself is arriving home this very morning, according to his mother, and there will be a massive party for him on Saturday, which I will attend.

And then I will have to leave, because I have to do some bridesmaidly duties and take Sam out for her bachelorette. Which means I miss Cara's shindig this weekend, which looks super intense, and it is her birthday, after all.

Of course there would be three must-attend parties this weekend . . .

*sneeze*

Back to the grindstone.

BREAKING NEWS

This is not just some guy who used to do what my old math teacher used to do.

THIS *IS* MY OLD MATH TEACHER.

Way to make it onto YouTube, Mr. Overwijk.

The best are the responses to it, and the responses to the responses.
Et Cetera

p.s. Thanks to Lisa for finding this for us.

Because I always do what Rachelle does.

2006 IN REVIEW

1. What did you do in 2006 that you'd never done before?
Took antidepressant medication.

2. Did you keep your new year's resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
I think I might have, and I only made some easy ones this year (see today's post).

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
Jen and Erika.

4. Did anyone close to you die?
My great uncle and my second cousin. And James Brown. That's close to my SOUL.

5. What countries did you visit?
USA only. Booo.

6. What would you like to have in 2007 that you lacked in 2006?
A Masters Degree and a ticket to Dalhousie.

7. What date from 2006 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
September 1 - the day I quit my awful awful job (sorry Sheri).

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Realizing I needed some chemical health to deal with my anxiety, then realizing I didn't need it anymore.

9. What was your biggest failure?
Not getting in with the Senators to do my fieldwork, although that was more their failing than mine.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
Just the usual. No concussions this year.

11. What was the best thing you bought?
My pretty pretty Mac.

12. Whose behaviour merited celebration?
Chris - we've gotten along better this year than ever before.

13. Whose behaviour made you appalled and depressed?
Somebody . . . who's making me do something . . . that I'm not into doing . . . won't name names but we all know what that something is . . .

14. Where did most of your money go?
Computer and a flight to Oregon.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
Quitting my job.

16. What song will always remind you of 2006?
Chamillionaire - Ridin' Dirty. It was reminiscent of camping.

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
i. Happier or sadder?
Happier.

ii. Thinner or fatter?
Prolly fatter, actually, though I'm working on that.

iii. richer or poorer?
Poorer. I'm unemployed, dudes.

18. What do you wish you'd done more often?
Saved money and eaten less junk.

19. What do you wish you'd done less of?
Spent money and eaten junk.

20. How many one-night stands?
None. I behave myself.

21. What was your favourite TV program?
Heroes.

22. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?
I remembered why I disliked some people.

23. What was the best book you read?
Brokeback Mountain was pretty good - but then again I don't read much other than hockey books.

24. What was your greatest musical discovery?
That you can download the top 50 at any point in time.

25. What did you want and not get?
An in with the Senators. And winning season tickets.

26. What was your favourite film of this year?
Stranger than Fiction.

27. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
I turned 24 and I took the day off work/school, slept in, went skating with Andy, then did NOTHING. It was amazing.

28. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2006?
Adding some turquoise and teal. Trying to get rid of my plain staples. Trying to add more girly.

29. What kept you sane?
Andy. And lots and lots of drugs.

30. Who did you miss?
Chel! And Arun. And Hossa.

31. Who was the best new person you met?
Travis.

32. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2006:
There's no point in keeping stuff inside, so get it out there. If you can't, and it's weighing on you, take a few breaths. Pause. Write it down, and keep going.

*********

I just threw out like 600 photographs. You know, every photo I've taken in hard copy since grade nine. I kept probably 100, tops. It was amazing. I have all these empty boxes in my closet. It's so cleansing.

Money money money

I just put my first item up for sale on eBay.

See, I misplaced the software for my transcription module and I needed it ASAP. The company wouldn't just send me the CD so I had to buy a whole other transcription set. That was pricey. So I used the CD and put the whole thing away again.

This morning I found the CD from the old kit.

So I put the new kit up for sale. I hope it sells. I need the money, and I don't need a second transcription kit.

If it doesn't, I'll post on my departmental listserv and hopefully someone will take it off my hands.

I've also decided that I need to be done spending money on myself, preparing for what might be in September. I've dropped a sizeable chunk and I need to start saving again, especially if I plan to actually be able to move out and buy a car, which is what I'm buying for. Those vicious cycles again . . .

I've also come up with a new resolution. Starting today, I am cutting some junk out of my eating habits. I will no longer consume chocolate (unless it's in a cake or cookie, because I only eat those rarely), and I will no longer drink pop (although club soda is okay).

Once that gets easier to handle, I'll cut something else out, like candy and chips (because I don't eat those very often, either).

I won't make any resolutions about exercising or working out, because it's one thing at a time - plus, it's easier to make yourself healthier by just not doing something than by actually doing something. If that makes sense.

hyper-efficiency

Because my mind effectively shuts down in terms of academics after about 9:30 at night, my workdays are pretty limited.

I'm also the most effective procrastinator on the planet.

Due to my obsessive-compulsive organizational skills, I can always find something to clean or organize or put away instead of doing real work.

So tonight after dinner, I pre-emptively organized everything. At least, everything that needed organizing, the kind of stuff I itch to clear up when I'm trying to work. So that means that all my clothes drawers are organized and colour-coded (well, only the shirts are - I'm not that crazy), I've bagged all old clothes to go to the Salvation Army, I tidied up my medicine cabinet and overhauled my bathroom drawers (it's amazing how much personal hygeine and girly stuff I have, especially as I don't wear makeup all that often), my toolbox is clean and sorted, with all garbage thrown out, and my closet is tidy, as well.

So I have no excuses.

But what's amazing about it is it only took me the time it took to listen to the Ottawa/Boston game tonight (which Ottawa won, 5-2, with all of their goals coming unanswered in the third period). That's pretty weirdly efficient.

*****

I've been doing a lot of buying recently, as well.

Not only have I been taking advantage of the end of year sales to buy some pretty new clothes for myself (a new haircut justifies a wardrobe adjustment), but I've been collecting stuff to put in my future flat in September. I blame Cait. She gave me some beautiful kitchen stuff for Christmas, and now I feel I have to continue the trend.

Wherever I end up, I will be poor, and won't be able to buy myself the pretty things and the neat kitchen gadgets that will make my life happier, so I'm buying them now. I've also been encouraging friends and family, when thinking of gifts for me (because my birthday is in only two months), to get me something nice for my new kitchen. A high quality pot or pan or a nice glass mixing bowl. I have a serious hard-on these days for melamine and silicone tools, and anything made of glass, coloured or clear.

I'm buying all the stuff I can get on sale, stuff I'll need but might forget to pick up. I dropped $200 at IKEA on Monday, and it looks like Stefan and I are going to hit it up again tomorrow night. I'm very happy with what I've got so far (like a non-stick round cake pan from Canadian Tire for 99 cents!), but I'm running out of places to put it all. My mother has been persuaded to dump out some of her Rubbermaid tubs of fabric so I can dump this stuff until I need it later. It's driving me nuts because some of it is under my bed and I HATE having things under my bed (it gets so dusty).

This of course leads to the worry I constantly have that I won't make it into Dalhousie, or I won't make it into anywhere, or they won't give me enough money to let me get a car and a place of my own, and then what the hell am I going to do then?

And that of course leads to the fact that in order to get into anywhere, I have to finish this bloody thesis and if I want to get paid to pay for all this stuff that I'm buying, I have to finish those boring old transcriptions.

Which of course leads me back to the possibilities of procrastination . . .

It's a vicious cycle.

re-hash

aw. . . my 400th post went by without me noticing. this is #401.

I didn't take as many pictures as I'd wanted to over the holidays, but what I did take is now available for all to see: they're up.