Dance Party

Ain't no party like a Thirstday Dance Party.







Happy day, folks. :) 

Not quite Thirstday.

Firstly, it's Movember. That means that you guys should be getting your 'stache on, and you ladies should be tolerant if you start seeing a bit more upper lip lint in the days to come. (I can't put in hyper links here-so go to www.movember.com ). (or go over to www.themikestand.com and he'll give you the correct link). (and while you're over there, sponsor Mike-he tries hard to grow his and though the results are sparse it's the effort and the money that count. So pledge big, and pledge often!). (this is the last set of brackets-i just felt like adding one more. Just for kicks.)

I went to see Where The Wild Things Are tonight and it was lovely. Fun story, good adaptation, great puppets, and excellent company. Billy and I went tonight because I'm tied up tomorrow and we both wanted to see it. Funnily enough, it's the first time we've ever gone to the movies together. We laughed and laughed. Good show.

The Princess of The Universe is in Halifax this week, and I'm hoping to meet up with her before she has to head back to Winterpeg. We shall see. I'll have to add the link in tomorrow with the edit, because again with the lack of hyper links that shout-out is somewhat lame.

Bedtime for now. Work at 7. Court at 7pm. Fun times.

Have a happy day, my lovelies! :)


Sent on the TELUS Mobility network with BlackBerry

oh my.

Firstly, don't put too much pepper in your scall0ped potatoes. Trust me. There's a point, when you're shaking the pepper shaker over top of the milky-onion mixture, making a roux, when you say to yourself: "Self! That is too much pepper! Be careful!" and you say "Self, shut up. You don't know what you're saying! You know I love pepper!" I'm saying--LISTEN TO YOUR SELF. IT'S TOO MUCH PEPPER!

Secondly, life sucks sometimes.

Thirdly, don't spend 2 days stuck inside your own head. It's dangerous for your mental health. I mean it. Trust me on this one too. I'm smart, I can be trusted. Besides which, the voice of experience should always be heeded. (Harkened to?)

Fouthly, Fuck. It's raining outside.

Fifthly, at least it's not fucking snowing.

Sixthly, Thirstdays are the best day ever.

Seventhly, I'm an awful girlfriend and you should never date me. I'm filled, nay riddled, with angst. And questions. And confusion. I'm not to be dated. Trusted? Sure. I'm waaaaay trustworthy. But dates are out of the question.

Eighthly, I think I'm drunk. Otherwise I'm confused as to why the monitor is so difficult to manoeuvre.

Ninthly, I can't be that drunk--I spelled manoeuvre correctly. Twice. Rock on.

Tenthly, go me!

Eleventhly, is it wrong that the only person you feel you can talk to in the whole wide world is either a) your ex-boyfriend or b) a bunch of strangers on the interweb?

(i'm running out of the ability to count--just sayin'...)

Twelvthly, (or twelvethly?) Biggest Loser Australia? WTF?

Thirteenthly, it is apparent that eventually spellcheck gives up on you. It feels that you are incorrigible and don't deserve suggestive underlines. Well, I have one thing to say. Fuck you, Spell Check. I do too know how to spell my name. And what's more, I know how to spell colour. That U is important to me, dammit. And you, are not. So there. Take that. Now CRY, BABY!

Fourteenthly, It's okay. I think I'm fine now that I got that off my chest. Thanks for listening.

Fifteenthly, Thirstday is awesome. Particularly when Roger is playing solo. He's amazing. I Heart him muchly.

Fine then.

I guess that since the fates seem to be conspiring against me by leaving me no blogs to read, no tv to watch, and no sleep to have--I might as well blog.

Things are...messed up. Getting better, but messed the fuck up. The finances are in the gutter. The job is just Meh at the best of times. And I'm still waiting on an expense cheque from my move (11 months ago--but who's counting?) My car is still being held hostage in Sackville (this is the end of month 3) -- where it will remain until I get my expense cheque and can pay the ransom.

I'm not hating being a bus person, but I think that's mainly because I've been quite lucky to work with some great folks. My boss picks me up every morning at 6:45 AM, saving me an extra 15 minutes at the house. I can generally get a ride home at night-time, saving me the 1.5 hours it takes to make a 10 minute trip home. I've just had to bus that a couple of times--and I don't actually mind it. The only thing that I really dislike about it, is the amount of time it adds to my already long days at work, and that it keeps me from my dog that much longer. I feel quite guilty about the amount of time he spends home alone.

I'll likely continue the bus commute for any day shifts that I work, even once the car comes home. The timing is convenient, and it will save me a ton of money on gas and wear and tear. I just don't like mooching rides at night time, because even though I've driven people home hundreds of times over the last 10 years, I hate asking. I know most people don't mind, but I don't like to count on that at 10:00 pm. Particularly in the rain or snow.

I have Wednesday off, and my mission for Wednesday is to piece together a current resume. I don't have one. I opened the classifieds on Saturday morning at work, and a job jumped out at me and screamed "SADIE!!! THIS IS FOR YOU!!!" so I figure that I should listen or something. The application deadline is next Monday, so I have a bit of time for tweaking.

I've been thinking a lot over the last couple of weeks about what I want/need to change in my life. I work too many hours at my current job for the limited amount of opportunity for growth that is available to me. I love what I do, and I'm quite good at it; but if there's nowhere to GO from here, then I need to go OUT from here. And, dammit, I want a life again. I want to take Gaelic class in the evenings. I'd like to develop a routine. I'd love to have my evenings and weekends free, like most of the mythical people I read about on the internet. I've never known any of those people...but I think I'd like to be one of them. I'd like to try it, at least.

Anyway--bedtime. Because 5 am comes early. *shudder*

G'night, poppets. I've missed you.

Oh no!

So last night I was up late.

I was actually, for the first time in ages, composing a real blog post. Apparently the fates were against me because there was a power surge at about 12:30am and the power went out. This wouldn't normally be an issue as I use a laptop.

Except for the power surge.

Because now my computer won't work. And I am SAD.

Oh well, the crack berry will help console me through this time of great loss. (tee-hee!)

I had a house-full this past weekend. It was nice, but exhausting. I worked all day Thursday until 9:30 and then had people trickle in until midnight. It was pretty nice, I must say. I got to keep Christine overnight, and DD and the boy-child stayed until Monday.

Friday I dropped C. At the basketball tournament venue, and then the boys and I went to Peggy's Cove. It was a pretty lovely day out, if a bit chilly.

Friday night we went to see Neil Young at the Metro Centre. The show was good, but the opening band stunk. The tickets were ridiculously expensive, particularly to see only one band, and I'd have never gone to it if I'd been the one buying the tickets.

I worked the next morning at 6, and I have to say that it sucked. Anyone in retail will tell you that if stores are to be closed for a day, people think the world is coming to an end and shop like fiends both the day before and the day after aid holiday. Suffice to say that Saturday blew dead goats.

Saturday night DD took The Child to his aunt and uncle's place and the grown ups went out on the town.

A friend of mine from out of town was home for a visit, so some other friends of mine had a wee house party to mark the occasion. Then we all went off to Cheers. 'Twas a train wreck.

We all had a blast. I bumped into Dan-o. I thought I was saving some girl from some creepy guy; and while this proved to be true, I also found myself in a bit of a pickle when she started hitting on me. My radar is usually a finely tuned instrument but it was temporarily off key due to massive alcohol consumption. Oopsie!

I earned myself a very solid hangover on Sunday, and we didn't get up until 2:30. Supper at DD's brother's place was nice, although I could have happily done without him telling them I wasn't doing so well. Oh well. He's pretty slick otherwise.
Because we were out of town on Sunday afternoon I missed getting to say goodbye to Christine, which made me sad. At least I got to see her a bit, even if I had to work during all Bobby's b-ball games.

Overall, I have to say that it was a pretty fantastic weekend.

It's amazing to me that i've finally found somebody who thinks it's fun watching me have fun and mess around with my friends instead of being a big drag who hates my friends.* He even ENJOYED hanging out with them. Pretty impressive, considering that my friends and I are a) quite a handful, b) humungous flirts, and c) out of control. It was a really nice surprise.

*this is not to say my exes were all big drags-(in fact Billy was not at all) but it's really rare for me to find someone that actually not only understands that I'm different in different settings, but actually lets me be me and actively enjoys that. So odd. So refreshing.

Anyway, this is kinda ridiculously long for typing out on a text message keyboard. So have a happy day, Poppets-and please say a few for the speedy recovery of my 'puter!

Sent on the TELUS Mobility network with BlackBerry

You all know how it goes. The longer you don't do this, the harder it gets to do.

I sent a big post from my new toy (my crack-berry) but for some reason, the internet has ceased functioning on that toy. I need to go in and complain to someone, but a) finding the time and b) finding the energy to do so is a real challenge on most days.

I'm in the worst shape of my life, and yet I have no time in which to do anything about it. I've made a commitment to myself to purchase less crap at the store, and to give in less often to the cravings that are making me pudgy. I'm bigger than I've ever been, and while that is still not 'big' by most people's standards, it's disgustingly oblong by my own. I don't generally judge others, but Boy-oh-boy do I judge me.

I went out tonight with Billy and Brent for an early Thirstday. I had to skip last week. I couldn't imagine going three weeks without Thirstday, so I had to make sure I went out tonight. Tracey and Brent are home from Edmonton, but Trace wasn't feeling well--so even though we'd been planning the get-together for a month, she didn't come. I went anyway, even though I was imposing a little on the boys' time together. Bill said it was okay, so I can only assume that he'd actually tell me if it wasn't. It's funny, so long as I've known him...I still don't know if that's true or not. I THINK that it is...but I'm not sure. Oh well. I'm kind of glad of that, to be completely honest. I like that he'd still be concerned about my feelings.

DD and the boy-child are coming to Hali for the weekend, so they arrive tomorrow after school. Christine and her hubby are also coming to the city for some wheelchair basketball and some R&R. I'm excited to see them both, even if it's just for a few hours over the course of the weekend. I am glad to have the company of people that I love over the weekend.

Trace & Brent are heading to Mabou for some visits and festivities, and Billy's heading up there too. My feelings are a little bit hurt that I wasn't invited, but I had plans anyway and couldn't have gone. But it would have been an honour just being nominated, if you catch my drift. Anyway, bygones.

It'll be interesting having a kid around for the weekend, considering it's Easter. It'll also be interesting to see how DD reacts to me heading to church on Sunday. He hasn't yet experienced me ditching him asleep so I can head off and pray with a bunch of strangers. Likely as not, he'll find it uber-odd. I wonder if Chrissy will come with me to the home of the Anglicans, or if she'll head to the Pentecostal festivities. We shall see. :)

Anyway, I miss you guys. So I'm working on it...honest. And if I ever manage to get the crackberry fixed, I'll send you my lame-o post from traffic court last week.

Happy Wednesday--and Happy Thirstday--all at once. :)

So much..

...has happened, transpired, and taken place over the last 2 months.

I've gone home, twice. I've been to 3 weddings. I've gone trick-or-treating, thrown a surprise birthday party for my mom, seen my prodigal sister for the first time in 7 years, moved back to Halifax, put my house up for sale, and been invited to move across the country with a boy--should his current career aspirations work out as planned. I've also taken a leave from work for two weeks, screwed my career, and decided that it is better to be happy than to be important.

I've been busy.

Sometimes too busy to write, sometimes too overwhelmed. But here I am now.

I've missed my best friend, and was very excited to be in a place where I could get that friendship back...and now, it appears to have derailed itself. I've been deleted from MSN. And it makes me very sad. Ah well. This too, shall pass.

I've missed you too. And I can't wait to be able to tell you, again, what's been going on with me. But for now, suffice to say that I'm home again, and I didn't think I could be this happy to be here.

Hi honeys, I'm home. :)

Jumping right back in.

Just breaking the silence.

I figured that the best way to start again, is to just do it.

So here you go.

I should be asleep...so I'm going. But I've got a lot to say...so I'll be back.

-DD finally said something about liking me
-he did it on the Wednesday after the last post
-we didn't get a lot of sleep because it took him until 3am to get up enough nerve to say something
-my response was nervous laughter (this is NOT a good way to respond)
-we smooched
-that was good
-he came back the next week
-we smooched more
-we may have done more than smooch
-i pointed out how terrible an idea it would be for us to get involved, but did it anyway
-he REALLY likes me
-he's a pretty decent man
-who really, REALLY likes me
-who's willing to drive 2 hours at a time to see me
-this weekend he did it on Friday night for a surprise
-it was a pretty good surprises
-lynn and alicia were coming down already that day though to help paint the house
-he stayed anyway and hung out with all of us
-they liked him, he liked them. it was a good surprise
-the girls painted my living room while i was at work on saturday
-it was awesome of them
-my house is starting to feel like MY HOUSE--now that it's painted especially
-the trim still needs done, but i can live with this for now--it's just sooo much better
-before this weekend, I was talking to DD on Wednesday or Thursday, and apparently a contact of his at H*me Despot emailed him about 'i hear you're sleeping with one of your store managers'
-it was annoying, irritating, pissed me off, angered me, and was incredibly disheartening that a reputation i've worked hard to build for 10 years could be destroyed by someone's car sitting in my driveway overnight.
-this weekend happened, and it was a great weekend--very relaxing.
-Also, it was nice to see a boy that wanted to see me and so drove 2 hours on his motorcycle to make that happen, and then drove 3 hours home in a rain storm. And is prepared to do it again...however long that takes. Pretty spiff.
-the girls painted my house. Awesome.
-i got lots of sleep, lots of jabber, and lots of friendly love. I have AMAZING friends. I am VERY, VERY, VERY lucky.
-tonight, i got a message from DD that he was getting called up on the carpet by the powers that be because someone called someone important to mention that we're seeing one another. Which we're technically not. Because I haven't decided yet. But he was warning me so that i could be aware in case someone said something to me.
-he's very thoughtful like that, because he wants me to not suffer any repercussions because he really wants us to go someplace. And he's considerate like that anyway.
-but he's worried. and I'm very worried for him. i'm prepared to tell people to fuck themselves because my private life is none of their business. however, his job DOES intersect with mine, and i don't want to do anything to jeopardize his integrity (or my own!)
-he's doing the physical test for the RCMP in 2 weeks. if he passes that, then he's quitting anyway
-i don't want to ever date a cop
-i should likely back off now anyway--and make his life easier. But i get the decided impression that he does not want that at all. he wants more involvement, not less. he's very persuasive.
-i want to be sure it's the right decision. *sigh*
-people suck, big time.

Anyway...bedtime.

Oh yes...and I may be flying home to Ontario on Wednesday morning for a funeral, and then back here on Friday morning. My last remaining grandparent died tonight. It's sad, but mostly because I feel loss at a relationship that never really was.

I always envied people who were closer to their grandparents. My grandma on my dad's side was never particularly close to us--not since we were tiny, anyway. She's a lovely woman who loved Jesus in a way that is not quite natural. She bought into all the television evangelists and whatever snake oil they were selling this week. She parented her kids until they turned 12, then they were on their own. She thought my mother was the only thing keeping my dad out of the priesthood. She wanted my mom to name me Thursyl (thanks for not doing that, mom). But for all that, she loved my father more than ice cream. She was a good woman. I did love her...but I didn't really KNOW her.

She lived far away, and her lifestyle kept her even farther away. My dad worked at keeping his family at a distance, and now that we're all adults, it seems natural to keep doing it.

But I should go home. I should do it for my dad. I should do it for myself. I should do it to honour the relationship that I always wished I had with a woman I hardly knew. I should do it to honour the relationships that my cousins DID have. And to reconnect with a family that I haven't seen in ages.

I will have to see what's going on...the flight is over $500, and I only have 3 days in which to complete it. I'd leave at 6 on Wednesday (from Moncton) and then come back out of Toronto at 8 on Friday morning. It's a whirlwind. I'm going to have to see if I can make it happen or not.

I'll keep you posted. On all of it.

I have a day to spend with my DM tomorrow. His boss is apparently the one that told DD's boss to cool it with the fraternizing. So we'll see if MY boss dares to say anything to me. I really WILL tell him to fuck himself if that's the case.

But first I'll get permission for the bereavement leave. :)

What a lovely weekend. :)

Friday at the school went well. I held it together right up until the end of the hour, at which point I realized I hadn't come up with any sort of summary or logical termination point for the lesson. Oopsie. Lucky for me the kids had to rush off to an assembly, so I had them put their desks back, gather the name cards, and then I was done. It was a whole lot of fun, and I'm looking forward to this week again.

One little girl complimented my shoes. I was expecting this, as grade 6 girls tend to always compliment something that the classroom visitor has/brings/wears. But this was not the usual 'you're pretty' kind of compliment, or 'I like your shoes!'. It was 'Hey! Where'd you get your shoes?' I replied with, 'I think I got these ones at Payless...' "Oh. That's all the way in Moncton." So I think that was a compliment, followed by disappointment when she realized she'd have to enlist help to go purchase some of her own. Ah well. My Chucks ARE cool. So there.

Friday night I was supposed to go to a concert in SJ with DD--but I did not. I encouraged him to be a responsible adult and do work and be home earlyish on Friday night, as he had to work in F'ton on Saturday morning at 7am. Would have made attending a concert until 3 not such a wise move. Something *I* would do, even.

Instead, I went for beer with Caillean here in town. We went to the pub that I usually go to, had a couple of drinks and some skins, and a lovely little visit. I was home and in bed by 1:30, which was a nice change.

Saturday morning I was going to go into Halifax for a Gaelic day, but when the alarm went off at 5:40 am, I looked menacingly at it, and said 'fuck it'. I rolled over, and reawakened at 11:40 am. It was a GREAT sleep.

I spent Saturday afternoon cruising around being domestic. I went to check out the competition in town, they were not busy. They were also very messy and not very well stocked. That was kind of a nice little present to my ego. Then, my butt and I went to visit some furniture at Sears. We agreed that only one of the sofas was even remotely comfortable, and that it was still rather ugly. My butt and I then left.

We went to Canadian Tire to look around, particularly at mitre saws. I didn't see any there that I liked (i.e. were a good enough bargain!). Again, my butt decided to test out some patio furniture. We, my butt and I, agreed on one particular set that was both stylish AND comfortable...but we also agreed that it was a ridiculous amount of money to spend on a patio set. It comes with an 'outdoor' La-Z-Boy recliner. Who the hell needs one of those?! The set, 2 chairs (1 a la-z-boy), a love-seat and a coffee table of dubious stability for the bargain price of only $1400. Not in this lifetime.

I went to work to pick up some materials. I had some actual home improvements that needed doing. I bought myself a mitre saw from the clearance table, a DeWalt 10" Compound Mitre Saw with a dust bag, and a free palm sander. For only $200. I rock.
I also picked up some 2x4s, a quarter sheet of plywood, some paint, and some electrical box covers. In order to be in compliance with my insurance company's arbitrary demands, I had to do a few things. Oh yes, and I also, finally, bought myself a propane tank so that I can use my BBQ! Woot!


I built a railing. Isn't it lovely?

I also installed covers on some junction boxes in my garage, as well as painted a sheet of plywood with which to cover up the window next to my oil pipe. Apparently you're not allowed to have an operable window within 3 feet of an oil intake. Which is okay, as the window doesn't open. But the insurance company was convinced that it does, so I had to cover it up, take its photo, and send it away.

I felt like I was channeling Bob Villa all day. It was great. And then I BBQd some chicken for supper...so good.

Saturday night was a bit melancholy, as I had no plans and nothing to do. I wanted to go out, but such is life in Amherst. I talked very briefly to Billy on MSN--he's in another one of his non-communicative states--and we both ended up staying home not doing much of anything.

Sunday morning I managed to sleep in again. It was great. I hauled bricks and built tables in the greenhouse at work all afternoon, thankfully with the help and assistance of 4 other people. At 4, we came home. At that point, I came home and began tidying here. I was running the sink for dishes, and contemplating supper, when the phone rang. It was DD. He had said he might be out and about on his motorcycle and would help move bricks if in town. (which in passive-crush speak is 'i'm looking for an excuse to come see you, and am prepared to move bricks in order to do it'--I guess that's not such a bad thing. But.)

Anyway, I fed him BBQ steak and made him help me move furniture. He crashed in the spare room again because the temperature dropped so quickly in the evening and it would have been ridiculously cold on the bike. He lives 2.5 hours away.

Funny that someone would travel 2.5 hours to move heavy things in order to spend time with me, when the guy I was dating for the last year wouldn't even drive 2 hours to see my new house or get laid. Feh.

What else...yesterday. Monday.

The trees and shrubs began to show up at the store. I helped to unload about half a truck of trees.

Ache? Holy moly do I ache. I ached last night, so I had a nice hot shower when I got home. I sat all night and did nothing, I was so tired. And this morning? I'm still achy but am having a very hard time getting motivated to do much of anything.

Anyway...time for work.

It was a lovely weekend of home improvement, my dining room looks like a ROOM now, my portable washing machine is now in the basement where it belongs, my bookcase is in the hallway, and my side-board is in the dining room. You know, it is almost starting to feel like a home. Gotta be careful of that! *heh*

Happy Tuesday!

Woot!

Tom Fun tonight at the Marquee!

Throw caution to the wind! Sleep on your ex-boyfriend's floor! Drink enough so you don't mind! Woot!

:-)

Ah yes...be sure there will be follow-up information tomorrow. Oh yes, I'm sure there will.

This is a link...

...that is a bit unusual for me to post.

It's a blog I read--which is unlike anything in my side-bar. It's not one of the blogs that I would normally share with you. But this post....this post is amazing.

It reminds me how a new relationship SHOULD be. Of what I want someone to feel about me. Of what I deserve.

This man is a skilled wordsmith, even if you don't appreciate his topics. And this post is not what he usually writes about...so when I say NSFW--I mean it.

The Provocateur. (Not Safe For Work)

Saturday morning, and here I am at work again. It seems like I’m always here on the weekends…which is partly why I’m becoming so disheartened with my work, I think.

Lately I’ve really been jonesing for a Monday to Friday gig. I’m tired of working nights when everybody else is able to go out and have a life. I’m tired of working weekends when all my friends have them off.

I’m not really all that disheartened, it’s just that I’ve been working so MANY nights in a row lately that my frustration levels have been getting the better of me.

But the Monday to Friday thing has been coming for a while—bubbling just beneath the surface. All of my friends that I spend time with lately have weekends off on a consistent basis: Lynn, Angela, Bill, Chris--all Monday to Friday. I’m tired of not being able to play with everybody else and of not having people to play with when *I* have time off. Oh, I know…I don’t really let it stop me—but what suffers then is my sleep.

I’m excited about Gaelic starting again for the fall. I got my registration info on Friday, so I’ll be submitting that on Monday. Patrick suggested that we all sign up for Wednesdays at 6:00 pm. It’s okay, but I have a really hard time getting downtown for 6 when I work until 5. I’m going to suggest 6:30 or 7. Which puts us out of class at 10 pm, but so be it. I’m pretty sure I’ll be outvoted anyway.

I’m going to try to take a night-class at the university as well. I’m not sure exactly what. I was thinking about accounting, just for practice. I did really, REALLY well in it before, but I have no real use for it now, so it’d just be to kill time.

I should really take something interesting that has more practical applications in my life; mainly because I’m already taking Gaelic as my ‘interest’ course. It has no practical application in my life. In anybody’s really, because what’s the likelihood I’m going to run into a fluent old Gaelic speaker who doesn’t understand English any time soon? Slim to none, I’m thinking.

I had a fantastic day on Thirstday—and a pretty good one yesterday.

It’s funny how well Thirstday turned out, actually, as I started the morning by spilling a full cup of coffee all over my lap as I got out of my car. I looked down at my wet, wet lap and was disgusted, angry, and soggy simultaneously. I called my boss from the parking lot and said ‘I just poured an entire cup of coffee in my lap. I’m going home to change my pants.’

I went home and changed. I then futzed around, put on some makeup, ate cereal, and meandered back to the store an hour late. It was great.

My day was rather uneventful at the store—which is a really good thing. I had agreed to stay late for one of the other managers, as he had a doctor’s appointment late in the afternoon, so I took an extra long lunch. I used this time to run a couple of errands, and go to the gym. It was GREAT to go to the gym on my lunch. I showered, and headed back to the store feeling really content and refreshed.

The meeting was cancelled in the afternoon, which made my day a bit longer, but it was quite pleasant overall. I got home around 7, had some fruit, read some blogs, folded a load of laundry, and moved some stuff out of the living room to make room for Joe.

Now, you may remember last week when I got a Happy Day present in the mail. Happy Day is a GREAT invention of my mom’s. Everyone should participate.

What does this have to do with Thirstday? Well…Julian was clearing out some toys from his house that his girls are too old for now, or just don’t play with anymore. One of the toys he brought in to the store to give away was Hungry, Hungry Hippo™. This is a fun game…but more importantly, about 2 weeks ago, Bill had mentioned this was his favourite game EVER as a kid. So when I found it in the box of toys, I very excited about the discovery. I immediately claimed it as my own. J I carried it around the office for a while, moving it with me whenever I switched work-spaces.

I tried to buy some extra marbles for it, as it was missing a fair number. The ones I found at work were slightly too big, or slightly too small. I’ll have to try and find some better ones at Zellers or something. Anyway, I wrapped the game up in snowman Christmas gift wrap and set it aside for Thirstday night.

Billy drove to beer, and I had asked him to help me move some stuff out of the apartment to the dumpster. So he came in, and we were taking the legs off my old table, and I gave him his Happy Day present. He was surprised enough to get a present, but when he unwrapped it? Joy abounded.

The grin on his face was like Christmas. He immediately took all the pieces out of the box and set it up on my living room floor to play it. He tested all the hippos, and we briefly faked a game. I left him to play with it while I dissembled the table. What a happy boy. It made me glad I’d come across it, let me tell you! There’s no feeling quite like giving somebody a gift that they really love. Happy Day. I’m telling you, it’s where it’s at!

(Aside: The funniest part was watching him unwrap the package. At first he was trying to untie the ribbon…which is impossible when I tie up a package. It’s knot central on my gifts. So then he took out his pocket knife…and he opens presents exactly like my father. I was both horrified and fascinated by this. He slit each piece of tape meticulously, on both ends and the bottom, then before opening the paper, he carefully folded up his knife and put it away in his pocket. THEN he opened up the paper, and the sun burst out on his face. It was ridiculously (almost eerily) similar to watching Dad open gifts. Spooky, really.)

I was up in the office this morning shortly after getting to work and doing my opening up stuff. My bag was sitting on one of the desks, and suddenly it started to ring. I had forgotten to turn off my cell-phone, but even so, it was VERY early for it to be ringing…6:50 am. I answered it…it was Tracey. Loaded, and calling me from Edmonton. She and Brent had been drinking all night, and decided that 4 a.m. was a good time to be calling people. She said ‘you sound amazingly chipper for 7 am! What’s up with that?!’ I said ‘I’m at work—have been since 6:30!’ So she called back on my work line, and we chatted it up for almost an hour.

They’re so funny; and such an adorable couple. And just so keenly Right together. Which is good, because Tracey would be one hell of a handful to date—let alone marry!

** Posting this on Sunday because of circumstances beyond my control. I'll update from the weekend later--after I'm finished having a weekend. Suffice to say, it's been a great one. **