Friday, July 4, 2008

Archive, August 2007

29 Aug 2007

Aaaaaaaaaaahhhhhh...

It's been such a crazy, crazy month and I still had credit on my spa gift certificate from Christmas, so... I got pampered today. I had a facial and an hour and a half massage. I feel like a very limp and contented noodle. If Stuart were here for snuggles, it would be a perfect day.

Ciao!

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27 Aug 2007

Lame update

Yeah, I know, it'e been so long that even my three loyal readers have given up. I won't bore you with trivial excuses, just try and get straight to the updates. (I do have to mention though, that I blame any typos on the fact that I'm using a laptop and this keyboard is weird!)

Let's see... Thursday night after work, I hopped on the Red Arrow heading to Calgary (only my fourth or fifth time on that trip in the last 3 weeks.) Stuart met me at the station and since it was well past his bedtime we went straight home to the air mattress. (Note: recently, "home" to me denotes one of three places: the Edmonton apartment, my parent's house and the Calgary apartment. Sigh.) Stuart left for work at whatever ungodly hour and I took advantage of the opportunity to sleep in. I was up in very good time though to catch the bus to my interview on campus. The bus wasn't doing as well however and I ended up walking from the University station to the Health Sciences Building. Normally not far at all, but try it in heels. Not good. I did make it in time though and everything seemed to go well.

Fortunately for my blistered and aching feet, Stuart picked me up afterwards for the drive back to Edmonton. It was the last trip in the crappy rental car, because we headed straight to Sherwood Park to pick up his new car. Yup, remember way back when - it was stolen? Well, it was recovered and written off by the insurance company with three days warning to us that the rental coverage was about to end. Sooo... weekend before last, instead of packing, we were car shopping. There were some definite time crunches involved, so instead of being about to shop around for a good used car, we went for new. A Kia Spectra 5. I have mixed feelings about Kias but Stuart's parental units really like theirs, it handled and felt the best of everything we drove in that class and they were offering 0% financing.

Stuart hasn't driven a standard in a loooooong time though, so that's been fun. Seriously, he's doing amazingly well, but the few screw-ups have made me laugh - probably remembering how badly I did and being glad it's not me!

Early to bed again Friday night, but Saturday morning, Stuart's parents arrived bright and early with the moving truck. Terry came to help and we were off - luckily we don't have that much furniture, so his mom and I stayed out of the way and let the guys be manly. When the apartment was empty, we headed to my parent's place to get some of my stuff and have lunch. (Kindly provided by my bronchitis inflicted father who got up at his usual ungodly hour to make stew. Yummy!)

We were on the road to Calgary by about 12:30 - Stuart's dad driving the truck and us breaking in the new car. Or I should say, Stuart breaking in the new car. He was so enchanted with cruise control and the ability to move his leg around to avoid cramping that he drove the whole way. lol

One of Stuart's co-workers (Cheyenne, sp?) and Geoff came to help unload, because we were smart and didn't tell them in advance that it's a third storey walk-up! I'd forgotten about Geoff when I helped them move in - he's a machine; up and down the stairs carrying the dressers without doing anything wimpy like taking out the drawers. Men are insane. They got the truck unloaded in something like an hour and a half though, so I guess you can't complain at success.

Stuart's mom had sent a "Robinson Crusoe" (basically a big multi-layer Shepherd's pie) and Megan showed up around 5 with the kids and beer, so we all sat around talking and eating. At 6, Stuart's dad and I climbed into the truck for the drive back - yes, back to Edmonton AGAIN. The days of getting a Budget truck for $25/day are long gone my friends and we had to get it back before our 24 hours were up. It was an uneventful drive except for two things: an accident just north of Red Deer which was backing up a lot of traffic and which we managed to dodge by peeling onto 2A at the last minute AND Stuart's dad sucked his teeth all the way home. By the time we hit the outskirts of Edmonton, I was praying for someone to die and I didnt really care whether it was me or him, as long as the sucking stopped.

I got in the door just about 10, had my first shower in two days and sacked out.

The next morning, Mom and I collected bleach, rags, rubber gloves, TSP, buckets, Rug Doctor and other such accoutrements before heading over the Edmonton apartment. Stuart's mom had cleaned the lino and vacuumed, so we did the kitchen, bathroom, walls and steamed the carpets. It only took about 2.5 hours, so I was pleased. (It would have been less, but Stuart and I fell into the usual trap before a move - you're always so busy and why should you clean when you'll just have to clean again when you move? sigh)

I sniffled and coughed through the whole procedure, so it wasn't really a surprise when I woke up this morning feeling awful. Full-on runny nose, sore throat, coughing, over-worked, under-slept stress cold. I spent the day in Mom's bed watching TV; interesting assortment too: some made-for-tv romantic comedy, Silent Hill, Maverick, Kinky Boots... can't wait to see what I dream about tonight! The good news though was the call from the University offering me a job!

I will now be working for four researchers associated with SACRI - the Southern Alberta Cancer Research Institute is a very new joint venture between the Alberta Cancer Board and the UofCalgary to sponsor pure research. So, some of what I'll be doing should be very familiar and some of it should be totally new. Not a bad mix for a new city, new apartment and a boyfriend who's been around for -eep!- barely 7 months.

Yes, I am completely insane, but hey, except for being sick, I'm happy. Much happier than I've been in a long time and I think that's what counts, so I'm sticking with it.

Ciao!

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14 Aug 2007

Random gibberish

I just got back from a movie, and I'm a little too vibrat-y to quite get to bed. Through a combination of movie times and dead cell phone batteries, I've missed my chance to talk to Stuart tonight (I think this might be the first time we've gone for more than 24 hours for at least talking - eek!) Life has been moving so fast lately that I barely have time to live it, let alone type about it. But since I've nothing I can usefully do right this instant, let me hit the high points.

It's mostly good, a bit sad, and still a bit frustrating...

As far as Calgary goes, Stuart is liking the job and we have an apartment - a good one! The moving truck is booked for August 25, so that's racing up. In the frustrating category, there's no job for me yet. I had a phone interview and then a meeting in person on Monday for a job at the UofC. The phone interview seemed positive, but after going in person I was incredibly turned off. I haven't heard back, but even though I REALLY want to get this nailed down, I think I have to turn it down even if they do offer it to me.

I have another interview next week for a position at the TBCC, but it's in Radiation Oncology as basically a receptionist and, well, not where I want to be either. Of course, I'd really like to be in a library next to the beach and that's not gonna happen... Ahhh well, I've noticed that apparently every Adult store in Calgary is hiring, so if worst comes to worst I suck up retail for a bit to just get my butt down there and beef up the "personal toy" array while I look for real work. lol

In the sad news, I've reluctantly decided that it's time to play taps on an old friendship. In a lot of ways, she's a lovely girl and we have definitely have some riotous times over the years. However, she's HIGH MAINTENANCE (should come with a Surgeon General's warning!) and not dealing well with the fact that Stuart is now in my life. I absolutely take responsibility for some of what has happened over the past few months, but I refuse to a) compromise my happiness to appease her, b) shoulder ALL the responsibility or c) knuckle under to emotional blackmail. I'm normally the peace-maker, the compromise negotiator, the smoother-over, so I'm still feeling a bit queasy about this, but discussion with family members and friends has convinced me that it's the thing to do. There's some potential for unpleasantness at the end of the month, but I plan to stand up for myself and make the break as clean as possible. (And probably get an ulcer in the meantime.)

In happier news, I've seen a string of great movies recently, after a rather uninspired start to the summer. Stuart and I finally made time and trotted off to see Transformers. It's not great art, it doesn't have a complicated or meaningful plot, and they beat you over the head with it's few themes, but we still had fun. I have a new goal in life: to drive backwards through a firefight in a tow-truck with half a robot strapped to the back! Wa-hooooo! Next up was Stardust, with Stuart and my parents. I worship, idol and adore Neil Gaiman and I was ecstatic that they did such a beautiful job of translating his fairy tale to the screen. Not to mention that "Midnight at the Orpheus" will never be quite the same. And finally, tonight, after rave reviews from my sister, mom and I went to see Hairspray. What can I say? James Marsters - singing. *sigh* John Travolta in drag in a fat suit. "I would make EVERY day Negro Day!" No really, it did what I think a musical should - had me bouncing in my seat and singing every line I could remember on my way out of the building. What more can you ask for?

A chance to talk to my sweetie.... sigh.

Well, I slept horribly last night and work is pretty much insane every day, so it's time to put myself to bed. Thanks for listening - hopefully it worked and I can stop thinking about all of this long enough to get to sleep.

Ciao!

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06 Aug 2007

Calgary Folk Fest

Last weekend, I booked off the end of the week and drove to Calgary with Stuart on Wednesday evening. We spent Thursday doing errands - he had to go to the downtown offices of his new employer to do paperwork. And we went to the new apartment so I could see it.

One's always a bit concerned when sending a boy off on his own to find an apartment. They can have such weird priorities sometimes, you never know what you'll end up with. However, I can safely say that Stuart did a FANTASTIC job. One bedroom at the top of a three storey walk-up, en suite washer and dryer, dishwasher, microwave and gas stove built in. New fridge, new non-aluminum windows, big balcony and as an added bonus, the rent went up a week after he signed the lease, so we're safe for a year at the original price.

He dropped me off at Prince's Island in the afternoon for the first night of Folk Fest. I got to see City and Color and Rufus Wainwright. It was my first time to see Rufus live and he certainly lived up to his reputation, coming onstage in leiderhosen, white wool knee socks and lots of sparkly jewellery. Not to mention lots of attitude - he's a total diva, but since I only have to listen to his music, I can live with that.

I'd taken the autograph bear and it received lots of attention. It also got me a ride home that night, from a lovely retired couple who found out that I was moving to Calgary soon and were anxiously to sell me on how great it is. They were very nice though and we had an incredibly interesting and varied chat on the way.

I spent Friday hanging out with Megan and the kids, helping them run errands, etc. Ella has discovered the concept of "logic" and argues like a sophist. Even when she's totally wrong, it's still so impressive, you feel a great desire to give in from the sheer cuteness. Fortunately, Megan's heard it all before and has much better will power than I do. Myles is finally getting some strawberry blonde hair that's even curlier than Ella's (something I would have thought impossible) and he's about to start walking.

They dropped me off in time to stake out a good spot for the Friday night show; Mom and Karen met me there just as the music started. The MC's that night were TOFU (Tons of Fun University) - if you don't know these guys, then check 'em out! They do spoken word, beat box sort of stuff and they are very good! The highlight of this evening's performance was Hawksley Workman. Yeah!!!!

Saturday and Sunday were great - hot, sunny, lots of excellent music and playing with the kids. My other new find of the weekend was William E. Whitmore, a former punk-rocker who now plays some kick-ass banjo. The highlight of the weekend was that Stuart got back from scrambling in the mountains in time to join us for the mainstage performance. I got to see Sarah Slean live for the first time and she was just too beautiful to be believed. And she signed the bear!!The closing act was Don McLean - he said, "I've never been to Calgary before and I'll probably never be back, so we'll do all the favourites." And he did, we wrapped up the night with a field full of people belting out "American Pie" at the top of their lungs. Awesome.

Next up: Stuart runs in the Canadian Death Race.

Ciao!

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