I'm doing this instead of baking cookies. SHAME ON ME.
I think one of the more irritating things about being a deadbeat blogger is that blogging is designed for "in the moment" stuff. Like tweeting with detail, I guess. It doesn't really lend itself to retroactive observation. To wit: "I just saw a bottle of EGGNOG at the grocery store today. WHAAAAAAT?!?!?!?!" . . . . I was going to write that the day after Labour Day, when it had a bit more impact.
L'il Sis is kicking my ass in the bloggery department and GOOD ON HER. I hope she keeps doing it, because maybe I'll FINALLY get through all the stuff I've been meaning to blog about, but just haven't had the time. What? Sick of hearing that excuse? Don't believe me?!?! Okay, then, I'LL PROVE IT!
My schedule going back a couple of weeksish:
Week of November 14th: my computer contracts an unremovable virus (AGAIN), and spends most of the week in the shop. SO THERE. Perfect non-blogging alibi for at least a week!
Week of November 21st: a 50 hour workweek, which is becoming all too common -- check that. Put it in the past tense, because I'm putting the brakes on that particular practice as of now. My O/T bank is full (unbeknownst to me when I was working all this O/T, our O/T bank tops off at 40 hours. WHAT?!?!?!? ONE WEEK?! How. Incredibly. LAME. I can understand why they cap it, but ONE WEEK?! COME. ON.), and things are getting needlessly overstressful in my department, and I'm fortunate enough not to be hurting for cash, so . . . no. When work stops becoming enjoyable (or, at the very least, not unenjoyable), screw it. I've made that mistake once already.
On the one day I had off that week, I went on a cross-border raid with Kim. We had to wait until Fraser came home from school so someone could look after the kids, so we left at 4:00 pm and came back at around 11:00. Not bad! S'funny . . . the stores in Canada and the U.S. look similar on the outside, but things are so different on the inside:
1) waaaaaay more choice
2) waaaaaay cheaper products
3) mile long liquor aisles at the grocery store
I introduced Kim to the wonderland that is the Van Heusen outlet store in Blaine. Apparently, I spent $100, but saved OVER THREE HUNDRED DOLLARS! Will wonders never cease?!?! (What are the mark-ups in that place, you suppose?!?!) I scored an awesome winter jacket and a couple of sweaters that made me feel really good about myself because they were size EXTRA SMALL. I feel this can't be said enough: WHAT?!
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The last place we went was Trader Joes. The infamous Trader Joes that friends and co-workers have been waxing rapturously about for months. From their orgasmic descriptions, I expected the place to be huge . . . and to maybe sparkle or glow a bit. I was surprised by how small and non-sparkly it was. That's not to say it wasn't cool . . . it's always fun to shop in a store that has products you can't get anywhere else. Oh, and they have an IMPRESSIVE array of cookies. Every kind you can think of, and even some that never would have crossed your mind (I took home some chocolate candy cane waffle cookies because HOW COULD YOU NOT?!). I also stocked up on spices. A big jar of cloves for $2?!?! Yes please! Oh, and at Costco I purchased, like, a gallon of vanilla for $5. ARE YOU EVEN KIDDING ME?!?!
No. No, I am not.
Week of November 28th:
Monday - went to two places I'd never gone before. I kinda like how Christmas presses me to explore the great consumery unknown. Anyway, I took the Skytrain out to Richmond to tour the Aberdeen Mall. It may be Scottish in name, but it's 100% Asian on the inside. Like, not a single familiar mall chain store to be found (which is precisely why I went). Unfortunately, I walked away empty handed, but it was worth it to go and see the following:
1) A store called "Teenie Weenie". Sadly, it was "Coming Soon!", so I have no idea what kind of merchandise would be found at a Teenie Weenie, but my mind is running wild with the possibilities . . . . (oh, get your minds out of the gutter).
2) A store where you can buy those plastic replicas of food items and dishes they display in Asian restaurants. Seeing rows of realistic plastic sashimi and Taiwanese beef noodle bowls is just a delight
3) The Japanese dollar store. I love Japanese dollar stores. Sure, they're filled with as much cheap crap as non-Japanese dollar stores, but it's delightfully different crap.
On my way back into town, I decided to stop at the Christmas Market. I missed it last year . . . can't remember why exactly, but pouring rain and howling windstorms on EVERY SINGLE ONE OF MY DAYS OFF may have had something to do with it. It was really nice, although a bit jarring to jump from full-on Asian culture to full-on German culture! You can walk around the grounds with warm mulled wine or cider (sooo nice to keep the hands warm!) and look at all the handicrafts . . . which, like most handicrafts, are gut-twistingly expensive, but sometimes it's just nice to peruse and admire the pretty. I hadn't eaten all day, and I was ready for a full-on meal of pretzels & bratwurst, but once I walked past Das Waffelhaus, I was a goner! The smell of fresh baked waffles was too much to pass up! Plus, I have to patronize any business that can make A WAFFLE ON A STICK! Think about it. IS YOUR MIND BLOWN YET?!?! Brilliant Belgian engineering at its best, yo. I opted for a traditional waffle, so they could load it up with warm cherry compote and icing sugar. Sweeeeeeeeet. As I was eating my waffle, I looked over my shoulder and saw something I thought I'd never see again: a Käthe Wohlfahrt logo. Eons ago, during my backpacking tour across Europe, my friends and I made a one day pilgrimage to Rothenburg ob der Tauber just to see and shop at this store. It was so worth it, and we enjoyed the immense . . . Christmasesquityness of it all. So . . . . unexpected nostalgia trip! YAY! I reveled in all the cute wooden smokers and nutcrackers, and stared dreamy-eyed at all the purdy decorations. And no, I did not escape unscathed . . . I bought some new ornaments for my tree, including a new tree topper . . . I've had the same one for ten years (it came from a Canadian Tire discount bin), so I figured I needed a change. P.S. - I fully intend to take photos of these decorations and post them when I post other photos I've been meaning to post in my journal since . . . . coughcoughcoughcoughcoughcoughcoughcough.
Obviously, I don't have my tree up yet. That's something else I could be doing instead of writing this . . . BUT NO.
Tuesday - I attended a taping of The Debaters, which is one of my favourite CBC Radio shows that I never get to listen to because it's always on when I'm at work. It's a simple concept: two stand-up comedians debate a meaningless topic and pack as many punchlines (and comedic insults lobbied at their opponent) into their argument as possible. And unlike many other CBC comedy shows, this one is actually funny! (Although I think the radio version is better than the TV version. The TV version feels a lot more stilted than the radio version, which feels looser and more off-the-cuff). ANYWAY, this was a radio taping, and it was a three-show taping, which translated into three and a half hours of solid laughing and smiling (and sweet chocolate cow, they're going to have to do A LOT of editing to bring those shows down to 30 minutes!). My cheeks were so sore at the end of the night, but it felt good to laugh for that length of time. I think my favourite moment of the night was when Sean Cullen (who I find is not that great of a debater because he latches on to one point and belabours it the entire time) totally changed my view on Christmas music. CHRISTMAS MUSIC. Me, the record store employee who suffered through six shopping seasons of terrible, terrible Christmas music. Cullen was on the "pro" side of the Christmas music debate and he made an excellent point: how cynical do you have to be to hate hearing songs about joy, love and peace for one month of the year? So true. I'm going to remember that the next time I hear the Kenny G Christmas album over the PA at the local supermarket and my eyes start to get all twitchy.
One other thing about the taping: it was taped at a large theatre. It was sold out. The people in the audience? Ranged from 8 years old to 80, and were from all walks of life. So it's not just upper class elites that listen to public radio. Put THAT in your pipe and smoke it, Stephen Effing Harper! HANDS OFF THE CBC!
Wednesday - worked late
Thursday - the now traditional pre-Christmas gathering of the North Shore contingent of the SFU PDP Class of 2005 (which I'm including myself in, even though I dropped out). All three of us. We rarely see each other outside of this pre-Christmas gathering (mostly because our schedules don't mesh at all), but we've been able to pull off an after-work/school December dinner every year, and it's always a lot of fun.
Friday - the first Friday night of every December = TV news blooper party. The four major networks (CTV, Global, City & CBC) have a party and air the year's blooper reel. Another good night of laughing. Our reel is usually pretty good, but it was kind of boring this year (I refuse to believe we didn't have enough screw-ups for a good blooper reel!), with an over-reliance on some weird Canucks song the Morning News recorded and this, which I admit was very awesome, but I wouldn't classify it as a blooper. Best blooper reel was CBC's, hands down. Sweet beskirted gibbons, Tony Parsons has mellowed out in his old age.
One of the reasons why I like going to the blooper party is that it's held at a big prop warehouse, and it's always fun to wander the aisles and behold the amazing selection of truly random . . . stuff . Plus, you get to sit on odd chairs and couches you would never otherwise sit on, and try to guess what kind of a movie they were used for. This year, I sat on a chaise lounge (period piece) and ate cheese doodles off a coffee table that had cobra heads for legs (any movie involving a drug lord).
Saturday - curling night! Curling feels different this year. Perhaps it's because I bought myself a pair of curling shoes, so now I feel all professional-like. Well . . . I feel more professional now that I've learned that you NEVER EVER step on to the ice with your slider foot first. I think it's also because we've had more newcomers drop in (it's a drop-in league), so I've gone from being a newbie (5 years of experience curling with people with 40 years of experience) to being almost an expert in comparison. I've been playing third a lot, and I kind of like it. I had to skip one week, and I didn't like it at all. Too much pressure on someone who really has no idea what she's doing (aaaaaaand who curls at about 35%!).
Sunday - due to an extended conversation with a co-worker that afternoon, for the first time in a long time when I came home after work, I didn't feel miserable, defeated and unmotivated. This resulted in an unusual fit of productivity and I gave my apartment a thorough cleaning. I probably should have kept riding that bus by baking cookies or writing some Christmas letters, but my back told me it wanted to lay down, so I ended up watching Sense and Sensibility for the fourteenth hundredth millionth time, and fell asleep soon afterwards.
And that brings me to today. Day off, and I didn't get called in to work! It's a Christmas miracle! I spent most of the day in West Van Christmas shopping. It was fruitless, but at the same time, I've never really taken the time to poke around the stores there, so at the very least, I'm illuminating some more streets on my mental map of the GVRD. It was a sunny day, but I tells ya . . . when you're that close to the water, the wind really whips off of the ocean and does its darndest to kick your face in the butt. Of all the days not to wear a hat!
Tomorrow? I haven't decided yet. I've got about 14 to-do lists on the go, so it's not like I'm out of options. I have to free my camera from the evil clutches of the Kits repair shop, who have had it since the beginning of September (GAD. ZOOKS.) (AND IT'S STILL NOT FIXED!) There is also much baking and parcel-packing and card sending and letter writing to be done, so probably some of that. I've gotten over my annual "heart attack at the beginning of December when I realize I have to really knuckle down and cram my days full of stress-motivated doings of things" frame of mind and moved on to my annual "the reality is this: not everything is going to make it on time, and I'm mostly okay with that, so let's bring the stress level down from red to a sort of beigey ochre" frame of mind.
Topics I have written down to discuss in future LJ entries: 2012 spring garden, my dogwood teacup, Lolo, colour infrared, how a corner store can become a schizophrenic, "poultry ham" (I really, really, really need to remember what that means), aaaaaaaaaaaaaand . . . . what this tastes like. I'm ever so serious.