TGIF (tomorrow)

Tomorrow is Friday and it's the first time in 7 months that I'm actually looking forward to the weekend, a REAL weekend! And a long weekend to boot! The first of many to come. It's too good to be true.

Anthony and I are headed to Traverse City for a belated Valentine's Day rendezvous. I'm really hoping the weather stays warm because I nearly froze to death in Traverse City in 2009.

In other news, I am currently obsessed with "Stereo Love" by Edward Maya and Vika Jigulina. If you're into dance/house/electronica even remotely, you should give it a listen. I heard it on my drive to work yesterday. I immediately Shazam'ed it, downloaded it, and have been listening to it on repeat since.

See you on the other side, folks! The other side of what? The weekend of course. The next time I write, I'll have started my new job. Life is way too awesome.

Edit: I forgot to mention, more or less for my own purposes, that I took a little detour while I was reading Atlas Shrugged. A detour as in, I read an entirely different book this week. As soon as I read the back of 3096 Days by Natascha Kampusche, I had to get home and read it immediately. It did not disappoint.

Finish the Sentence Meme

While I wait for my cold pills to kick in, how about another entry to bore you to tears? I thought so. Jen said she wanted to read about her favourite bloggers. I'm gonna go out on a limb here and call myself one of her favourites. Muahaha.

Maybe I should… Clean my room and do some laundry, only I feel like my head is going to explode because my sinuses are jam-packed with mucous-y goodness right now.

I love… Valentine's Day. I don't generally like holidays but as I'm getting older, I'm appreciating them more. I'm a total girl, so I love anything with pink and hearts. Valentine's Day is a pink and hearts free for all.

People would say that I’m… Chatty. Quick, don't make eye contact, she's about to open her mouth and ask if I want to hear a funny story!

I don’t understand… Why some people think it's okay to treat customer service people like crap. Work a day in their job. I've been working 7 days a week, sometimes up to 12 hours a day, making sacrifices in my personal life to be there, earning minimum wage, for a boss who probably doesn't care. Then I get to be snapped at all day long by people who think I'm beneath them because I'm behind a counter. That is not okay. Maybe some people have crappy jobs because they ARE stupid, but I'm not and neither are any of my coworkers, and I don't need you to assume I am and treat me accordingly. You don't know why I have this job, and no one is better than anyone else.

When I wake up in the morning… I immediately calculate how many hours until I can sleep again. It's a habit I wish I could break, but I can only get myself out of bed with a promise to nap again as soon as humanly possible.

I lost… a really big part of myself by moving back to Ontario, and I'm still grieving that loss. Some days are harder than others but I think the shock is finally out of my system. My stomach doesn't turn when I remember I'm not a Nunavummiuq anymore, but it did for a long time.

Life is… your own journey and nobody else's. Follow your own path, and don't let other people decide it for you. Let your innermost thoughts be your guide and you will never have regrets. I know I'm cheesy but it's true!

My past is… a series of mistakes, bad luck, good luck, and triumphs. But most of all, it's over. Yayyyy! I think the anti-histamines are kicking in, I'm starting to lose coherence here.

I get annoyed when… I'm woken up within an hour of my alarm going off, especially if it's within 10 minutes of my alarm. My dad tends to get up in the middle of the night and start doing dishes or watching something on TV. Yeah, these pills are working. I can't even tell if that sentence makes grammatical sense. Oops?

Parties are… not something I enjoy at all. I have a hard time functioning around large groups of people (excluding at work, obviously) and when there is pressure on me to be chatting and making jokes and seem sociable, I clam up.

I wish… there was no border between the USA and Canada. My life would be a million times easier.

Dogs… No.

Cats… are something I have had and will have for my entire life. It has been suggested many, many times that I will grow up to become a crazy cat lady. I love cats, but I just wish that people didn't use that as a theme for every gift for every occasion. Yes I like cats, but I don't need cat calendars, cat mugs, cat socks, cat everything. If you're going to get me something cat related, get Leah (my torti) a toy or treats or something. I don't need to live, breathe, eat, sleep cat cat cat.

Tomorrow… I work at 4:45am. I work these morning shifts so often that every time I greet a customer at work, I instinctively say, "Good morning!" no matter what time it is.

I have a low tolerance… for badly behaved children. And I don't mean when kids are just being kids (I tend to be pretty patient in that case). I mean kids who act out and know better. And what's with kids throwing money at me at my jobs? That's not cool, and it's only kids who do that. Adults don't fling a 20 on the counter and expect me to reach across and grab it. Oh oh oh...and when parents bring their kids into one of my jobs (I won't name which one), plop their kid on the counter, and get the toddler to complete the entire transaction with me. Umm...why do you do that? I'm not paid to entertain your child and be all cutesy and pretend like I'm enjoying it. It's not fun for me or your kid. And trust me on that last part, I can tell.

Whoa...these cold pills are making me edgy.

If I had a million dollars… I'd buy you a green dress, but not a real green dress, that's cruel! (Ughhh I hate the Barenaked Ladies but I do like that song).

I’m totally terrified… of getting into a car accident. When I drive on the highway, every time I hit a curve in the road, I completely freak out that someone is going to drift into my lane and side-swipe me. I don't know why it scares me so much, but I guess I just don't trust other drivers.


Spelling/grammatical mistakes and incoherent sentences are not my fault. I'm going to go lie down for an hour or 2 or 12 now.

The Food (+ Jaime = Bad Mood) Network

I have a confession to make, and you probably won't like me for it. I hate the Food Network.

My tastes and preferences have a tendency to border on the opposite of everyone else. This ranges from big things (like the fact you couldn't have forced me to go to prom) all the way down to the little things (I love black licorice). I am no stranger to crinkled noses and proclamations of, "You're weird!" I was born different and I'll die different.

I've noticed that most of the people I'm close to enjoy, for one reason or another, the Food Network. I think I get it; the food looks good and one can fool themselves into believing they're actually absorbing the advice being offered through the TV. I learned in school that babies don't learn English from watching TV, and I'm sure no one is becoming an amazing cook by watching Guy Fieri take ginormous bites of burgers. I don't know if it's true, but I read that your brain is more active while you're sleeping than it is while you're watching TV. If that's true, no one is remembering those 12 ingredients Jamie Oliver just dumped into a pot to make soup.

My friends don't seem to care what's showing on the Food Network; they just turn it on and watch. For me, I guess it's like watching informercials. I don't care what's being hawked, I'll watch it just the same.

Unfortunately, I'm subjected to the Food Network more than I'd like. I think it's Anthony's favourite channel, second only to ESPN.

So why, you ask, do I hate the Food Network? Easy: because it makes me hungry. Maybe my brain hasn't evolved to current levels of cognizance because when I watch the Food Network, I'm transformed into a starved dog, watching a juicy steak waved in front of my face, only to be taken away. I like what I see, and I want to eat it, but I can't. And that frustrates my brain and in turn, me. Perhaps my problem is that I don't zone out while watching TV so my engaged brain is concentrating on every detail.

Anthony once turned on the Food Network a night I was in Ann Arbor and was really hungry (I don't remember why). Watching delicious dishes of whatever-the-heck on a 50" screen right in front of me only served to put me in a bad mood. When Anthony finally agreed to get up and make something to eat, he gave me a dried up, leftover piece of chicken. After watching the Food Network for an hour, my taste buds were a little disappointed. Each time since then, I've hated the Food Network with a growing intensity.

I don't know why I can't watch the Food Network without getting ravenous and irritable, but I just can't. I don't know how other people can stand it. It's not like I keep myself in a perpetual state of starvation, but I'm sorry: if I see food, I want to eat it (I'm on a "seafood diet" HA HA HA).

So there you have it. Another chapter in the book of Things Everyone Loves That I Can't Stand.

Maybe I'll make this a regular thing since it's such a vast topic.

Deep Thoughts

1. It seems I have found myself with a head cold for the first time since 2008. That's right; I went all of 2009 and 2010 without ever getting sick (excluding hangovers, obviously). For someone who used to get sick 4-5 times a year, 2 years being cold- and influenza-free was awesome. I tend to be a bit of a hand-washing and Purell fiend which I think is a big part of why I didn't get sick for over 2 years. But I knew that eventually, working 7 days a week -- with the public and money no less -- and the go-go-go lifestyle I've had since December, a cold would be waiting for me as soon as I slowed down. Granted, I'm hardly sick. I have a sore throat, a cough, and a bit of an upset stomach. I don't feel like a truck ran me over which was usual fare with colds I got prior to moving up north.

2. I have ordered myself a pair of YogaToes after debating it for the last year or so. I was born with hammertoe on my 3 outer toes of both feet and thus hate going barefoot. Don't do a Google Images search of hammertoe because as I just discovered, there are people with feet that look way worse than mine. I'm really hoping they help straighten out my toes but only time will tell.

3. If you've been reading my babbles for awhile now, you know that when it comes to me and driving, something ridiculous is always happening to me. In November I had 2 flat tires (including a blow out on the freeway). In December I drove through that crazy blizzard and it took me 3 hours to drive 100 miles, and then on Christmas, 3 deer almost greeted me through my windshield.

I thought the thing with 3 deer was bad, until Superbowl Sunday happened. I drove to Ann Arbor after work to surprise Anthony by showing up to his Superbowl party. Unfortunately I had to drive back as soon as the game was done so I could squeeze in 4 hours of shuteye before starting work at 4:45am. All was well and I was cruising along until I hit the Willow Run area (just outside of Ann Arbor). I was in the furthest left lane when without warning, my car started veering left. I realized I was basically skating on a highway of ice, and my car resisted any kind of feeble control I tried to force upon it. My car started sliding into the centre of the freeway, while still spinning left. At one point I was ass-backward, staring at cars quickly approaching me. Still spinning left, my car eventually slid over to the right shoulder, facing the proper direction, and stopped just short of the ditch. Leprechauns aren't that lucky. I don't know how long the whole spin lasted, but it felt like an hour. I am so incredibly lucky that nobody hit me. I was of course, in tears, grateful to be spared from yet another accident on that damned highway.

That's when I decided that screw what everyone else keeps saying, I'm buying a f$&*ing SUV with 4WD if it's the last thing I do.

The highway was icy for the next 5 or 10 miles (it felt like hours) and I witnessed many, many cars in the ditch or spinning out of control. Later, in Grosse Point, the SUV behind me spun out of control, hit the middle barrier, then bounced off and hit the right barrier, getting stuck in the adjacent snowbank, blocking the furthest right lane. If I had been a few seconds behind, it would have taken me with it.

So to everyone who has turned up their nose at my plans to buy an SUV and sneered, "Why do YOU need an SUV?! You don't need 4-wheel-drive!" I implore you...start driving me to Ann Arbor and back each week, mmkay? Good luck!

Oh and by the way, I got home at 1am but was still shaken up. I fell asleep around 1:30am, woke up at 4:20am, and was at my desk for 4:45am, just in time for all the regulars to come in, all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed and asking how my weekend was. What weekend? I haven't had 2 or more days off in a row since November.

4. On a much, much better note, I've pretty much decided to take myself on a Caribbean vacation sometime in the next few months. However, my plan is that I can't book it until I get down to the weight I was in December 2009. That's only 8-9lbs from where I am now, so it shouldn't be too hard. Once I start my new job and am on a normal schedule, it'll be easy to get back into going to the gym all the time. As long as I don't injure myself yet again, which is almost definite.

Books and Work

So I can finally spill the beans! I got a job with the federal government here in Sarnia! I've never been a fan of discussing job specifics on here, so all I'll say is it's with the same government "department" I used to work for.

I'm beyond excited; however, it's thrown a wrench in my plans to move stateside. It would be a terrible mistake to pass up this opportunity to further my career and pay off my debts, so we've decided to postpone my visa for the next few years. It's hard to imagine being here for a few more years but I know it's the best thing in the long run.

I'm going to hang onto my bookstore job for the meantime, though I probably will give it up eventually. I've been reading so much lately, it'll be difficult to quit!

I've been really slow lately, because I didn't have much time off last month. Here's what I've read since I last blogged about books.

After I finished Still Missing by Chevy Stevens was:

-An Amish Gathering by Beth Wiseman, Kathleen Fuller, and Barbara Cameron. I had no idea that Amish fiction was even a genre but since I picked up this book, I noticed we have WAY more where that came from. I enjoyed it because they tell simple, feel-good, conventional stories of love and morality.

-Out of My Head (retitled Unknown) by Didier van Cauwelaert. The cover said it was "now a major motion picture." I figured it was an old movie, but it's apparently coming out February 18th. I might just have to see it. The premise is that a man awakes from a coma and comes home to discover there's a man living as him and his wife doesn't recognize him. The whole book, I kept trying to figure out what was going on. I swore I had it right, only to be totally shocked at the end. A good, quick read!

-The Impact of a Single Event by RL Prendergast. A few of the girls at work were raving about it, as were customers. The plot is that a couple with a failing marriage discover a car accident on the side of the road. They find an old journal, which various people have written in, spanning 2 centuries. The story was interesting but I don't get the hype. I was happy when the protagonist unknowingly geocaches at the end! The geocache mentioned in the book is real so that was the most exciting part for me, ha.

As soon as I'm done writing this, I'm going to start reading Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand. I have a bad feeling it's going to take me until 2013 to finish. The Fountainhead took me nearly a year!

Vroom Vroom Choices

I hate not being able to write what's going on with me! I have really awesome news but alas, it must be kept semi-secret until it's all confirmed.

I can say, however, that I'm trying to pick an SUV to buy (probably new). These are the ones I'm thinking about (in order of preference):

#1. Honda CRV
#2. Subaru Forester
#3. Ford Escape
#4. Nissan Rogue
#5. Suzuki Grand Vitara (I miss my XL-7!)
#6. Honda Element
#7. Ford Edge
#8. Hyundai Tuscon

As you can see, I really need to narrow it down to one or two so I can actively pursue the best deal. I find it hard to find good advice on the Internet about which car to buy, since you can find basically every opinion about everything on the Internet.

The Great Big Book List

Working at a bookstore has had an intense effect on my level of reading. It's January 12th and I just finished my third book. My third book! Historically unheard of for me.

I've been on an abduction/hostage kick. It started with Room by Emma Donoghue. Amazing book, can't recommend it enough. It'll change the way you think about everything. It's also a Canadian book, which I think is great. On Wikipedia, it said that Room was loosely based on the Fritzl case. Having liked the book so much, I decided to buy a book from our store about that case. It was called Secrets in the Cellar and was written by John Glatt. It was the first true crime I've ever read. My mom reads true crime exclusively so it cued a little, "I'm turning into my mom!" panic that us ladies tend to have sometimes, haha. I think I would read more true crime in the future, but it would have to be a case I find particularly interesting.

After that, everyone at work was talking about Still Missing by Chevy Stevens (also a Canadian novel). Also about a girl who was abducted, I decided to continue on the theme. I didn't like it as much because I found the narrator kind of annoying. That wrecks a lot of books for me.

Anyway, here's what I would like to read in the future, since I seem to be reading so much.

1. The Impact of a Single Event by R.L. Prendergast. This is next in line and it's supposed to be really good.

2. The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls. I started it about a week ago but decided to go with Still Missing instead.

3. Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand. Been meaning to read it forever.

4. Anything by Chuck Palahniuk. Fight Club is my favourite book.

5. House Rules by Jodi Picoult.

6. Anything by James Patterson. I figure I should start trying to read at least one book from such famous authors. It's kind of pathetic when I can't even carry on a conversation about such well-known authors.

7. Anything by Danielle Steel. Reading something like this will be takin' one for the team. I'm not a chick lit fan.

8. The bridal quartet books by Nora Roberts. I'll try. Again, not a chick lit kinda girl.

9. Crank by Ellen Hopkins. I suppose I should read some of the famous teen books, too.

10. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins.

11. Something tolerable in the sci-fi/fantasy genre (no JRR Tolkien, no Star Wars, no Star Trek, no Halo). Thinking maybe something by Terry Goodkind.

12. A book in the Dear Dumb Diary series by Jim Benton (kids' book).

13. A book in the Candy Apple series by Laura Dower (kids' book).

14. Something by Mauve Binchy.

15. The Amish novellas book I picked up.

16. One pro-Christianity/religion book.

17. One anti-Christianity/religion book (probably something by Richard Dawkins).

18. "A" is for Alibi by Susan Grafton. I can't believe I actually remembered the author's name and which books she writes. You can't imagine the madhouse that is my brain these days. Start working at a bookstore a few weeks before Christmas and watch how your brain explodes with names and titles. I once had a nightmare about Jodi Picoult books and I've never even read one of her before.


Any recommendations from genres other than general fiction would be appreciated. Or if it's general fiction, it has to be REALLY, REALLY good. The waiting list is getting long! I'd like to read some good books in the children or teen age brackets. No vampires, no Percy Jackson (though I probably should, since both of those sell like crazy). I get a lot of questions from parents who want book recommendations for their kids. I didn't read a whole lot as a kid and really only read famous stuff like the Babysitters Club, Sweet Valley, and the Box Car children. I feel so old school.