I really hate winter

And I hate winter driving even more.

It's not that I don't feel capable of it -- the fact that I'm still here after mumblemumble years of winter driving must indicate some sort of capability -- but more that I'm not entirely convinced that everyone else out there is capable of it.

There are an awful lot of idiots out there, my friend. And the vast majority of them in this province drive pick-up trucks.

I hate pick-up trucks.

Oh, but that's another topic and will no doubt come up on the blog again. And again and again and again...

Anyway. Winter driving. Combine the fact that highway maintenance in Alberta is nowhere near the level it is in places where they actually expect to see snow in the winter (the last time I was in Ottawa I found it both amusing and bemusing to see all the ploughs appear with the first few flakes. Here you'd have to wait for the first few centimetres) with the fact that every idiot in a three-quarter ton thinks he can still drive 120 km/h down the road even though he has almost no traction in the back unless he's carrying approximately three hundred pounds of sandbags in the box and... well, I hate winter driving.

Unfortunately, that's what I'm going to be up to this afternoon. Looking at the forecast, it's seeming like things are only going to get worse as the week progresses (yay! More crappy weather!), so I suppose I'd better get my butt back into the city while things are still merely mildly unpleasant.

I hate winter.

What this all means to the wonderful world of the blog (besides the part where I'm apparently in a snit. Funny. I hadn't noticed that before I started typing) is that I'll be away from the computer for the next few days so you'll have to poke the Toronto office with a stick if you're wanting blather.

Make it a padded stick though. It's still the holiday season, after all.




See you later, everyone.

More snow

Quick question, because I really should get some lunch soon: how important do you suppose it is to have a "secure" birth certificate?

We have them in this province now, but to get a new-style version (assuming that you're not a brand new baby, of course) you have to apply for one. They have some twenty security features, apparently, which is some twenty more than my current certificate.

It also costs $20, because Whomever help us if there was anything from the Alberta government that didn't cost $20.

So, do I need a secure birth certificate? Will anyone care if I have a secure certificate? Will anyone even notice if I have a secure certificate?

Will it make any different to the certificate as it hides in its non-secure hidey hole (no, I'm not going to tell you where the hidey hole is) to know that even if it's in a non-secure hidey hole it is, in itself, fairly secure?

Do you think that if I paid the government $20 they could make me more secure?





Do you think that if I paid the government $20 they could make me slightly less neurotic?








Neither do I, sadly.

Ah well.

Off to find something to eat now.

Pointless photo of snow

As forewarned.

It might be about all you get today, too. Getting a full night's sleep around here is pretty much impossible because of the dog (who's on her way out, as I think I mentioned at some point. Unfortunately for all of us -- the dog included -- she's taking her own bloody time about it), and last night's sleep was much, much less than full.

In fact, I'm kind of floaty right now. It wouldn't be entirely unpleasant, really, but I'd kind of like to be functional as well.

So not happening.

Ah well. Tomorrow then. And after that (depending on when I get my behind in gear to get back to my own place) I'll probably be disappearing for a day or several again.





On purpose this time, at least. Disappearing isn't such a bad thing when you actually plan it beforehand.

More new photo

Photo, singular. I'm only posting one today. But there are more.

And they're actually recent.

Yeah, I got myself all bundled up this morning (which was kind of silly, seeing as it's supposed to be a lot warmer by this afternoon) and took a bunch of new photos.

Of snow.

There's not much else to take photos of this time of year, you know. Today's pointless photo is one of the few that doesn't have snow somewhere in the photo's title.

So... um... look forward to seeing a lot of snow on the blog in the next little while?




For me, that last statement really did need a question mark. I never look forward to seeing snow. Snow's a pain in the ass to deal with (even here in Alberta, where I'm fully aware that we get NOTHING as compared to the Centre of the Universe -- where all things snow go to retire), and the very fact that there's snow on the ground indicates that it must be some form of cold outside.

And we all know how I feel about THAT particular issue.

Anyway, time wasted playing with the photo editor means that you're not going to get much out of me in the way of a readable post. I need to go find some lunch now.

Or another subject for play-doh sculpture.

Or something. I don't know.




See you later.

New photos

Yes, new photos was worthy of a post title. There haven't been any new photos from me in a while, after all.

This particular photo would be a self-portrait. Today's socks are courtesy of my sister-in-law, and are on my feet as we speak. Er, as we type... no, as I type and you read.

Unless you're reading tomorrow, of course.

Yesterday's socks, also courtesy of my sister-in-law, were reindeer socks. They're currently in the wash.

You needed to know that.

Um... should I mention that I'm somewhat lacking in sleep at the moment?

So, yesterday. As I said some time ago, I wasn't really planning to do Christmas this year. Somehow, having my life go a short way to hell in a handbasket (hey, even I can admit that things weren't quite bad enough to make it all the way there) didn't put me much in the mood for being festive.

It was all right, though.

The weather finally warmed up to the point where I was able to be out of the apartment long enough to dig out the car and drive to my father's place, and much to my surprise when I got here there was already a turkey in the rotisserie (incidentally, if you ever have rotisseried turkey you will never, ever go back to your roasting pan. So much better) for Christmas supper. Surprise because I'd only phoned home that morning to let my dad know I'd be heading in to town. We neither of us were sure before then that the weather would cooperate.

So, did having an actual Christmas supper put me more in the Christmas mood?

Well, no.

But it was nice all the same.

I hope all of my two fans have had a good day and are not too frazzled by the whole thing, and if you're the type to be hitting the sales now I hope no jackasses run you over.





That was pretty charitable of me, wasn't it?





Oh, before I forget: the title says new photos, plural, for a reason. You're going to have to go here to see the other one, though.

I did mention the lack of sleep thing, right?

And in the category of "don't tell ME global warming doesn't exist"

You see here what I (clearly) saw yesterday outside the front window as the coffee and Bailey's intermingled in the cavernous space that is my morning coffee mug.

Hence the photo, yes, in case you thought the Bailey's got the best of me.

There were three of the little guys but the other two took off at the sight of the first flash, I guess. Clearly none of them had taken off in the right direction in the first place or I would be typing even more gibberish than usual.

Hope everyone had a nifty day yesterday. It was an unusually happy and rewarding day for yours truly. Yep, a real keeper.

Something Something Christmas

Ok, really? I'm only posting to prove that I still exist.

Oh, and to wish everyone a happy Christmas.





Happy Christmas, yes. I'm in the mood to flash my part-British heritage today, for some reason.

See you tomorrow.

Yes, really.








Look, I can tell you don't believe me, but barring internet failure I will actually be posting two days in a row.











And now you just know that the internet's going to fail, don't you?

Beforrrrrre....

Vacuuming done. House is tidy. Silverware is even polished for this year's meal.

And it's Christmas Eve so I'll be over there.

I hope everyone enjoys this evening be it noisy and active or quiet if you prefer.

Now go to sleep so Santa will come!

Oops, looks like I cut off the top of the tree to crop it for the blog. You'll just have to trust that there's a pretty one there. Silly me.

December 2008, yes

Should a person feel guilty trying to make relevant the photos taken from earlier in the year ... on someone else's blog? Heck no.
But here you get one taken just a few days back anyway.

Now this was shot at only 3:30 in the afternoon but it was before yet another dump of snow. What this means to me is the shortest day of the year was clearly pending, the sun that low in the cloud cover.

And you probably posited these photos were just all tossed upon this screen all willy-nilly with no thought. Heck no, dear reader. There is a purpose to it all.
Okay that's not really true but I did stomp my foot to make it look real.

As to Christmas - we were talking about it, weren't we - or was that just me and the voices. Anyway, I sallied forth yesterday afternoon to pick up one last item and saw the wild beast native to Toronto during these last days of December.

The Wild-eyed Moron.

Perhaps you have the same sort of creature in your neck of the woods. Well, I'm certain you do. It's not hard to spot them, really, though their outer coats differ greatly; some show as navy, some red, some even white though it's not a very smart colour for this time of year. And hopefully their coats are down-filled.

I am, of course, speaking of the drivers in mall lots who stalk you as you walk to your car. You can hear Mildred, riding shotgun, "Look, Herbie! Follow her! She's going to her car! Get her!"
The truly exasperating experiences regarding these people are the ones so very intent on parking in your spot that they cuddle up close enough to negate any possibility of you leaving said spot.

I admit that on occasion I have simply gotten out of my car and walked back into the store after asking once, and asking nicely I might add, that they give me a fair shot at at least getting out of the spot before they join me.
Believe it or not, the old way of switching off the engine to make a point now flies over the heads of the Wild-eyed Moron. It seems to be the one species not evolving over time.

This may say January 2008

... but it could read "December 2008" just as well.

I'm still playing the "but it's really pretty" card so you can tell it's early on in the season. And we now own a snowblower. Ah, yes. Some toys can definitely make a difference in a person's life.
The snow can be appreciated much more with the knowledge there will be no muscle relaxants and/or heat applied due to the weather.

Oh and hey, did you people know Christmas is coming? It hit me just today. In turn, "where the hell did the year go" also came crashing down around me ... but I'm old. Time goes more quickly as one ages you know. It's not a myth.

Well let's just end with that happy thought, shall we? How much better can it get.

And a lovely "good morning" to you

And I thought yesterday's photo was a tad fuzzy, having come from my phone and all. Well this one takes the cake.
(and what a silly phrase that is but I'm guessing it has very real roots somewhere and I'm equally sure the OLF will provide).

Annnnyway, I feel this is worth posting because of all of the auras around everything. It looks like I totally intended all of it but we know, don't we.

This is on the far side of where the pups and I go walking and yes, Virginia, that is one big sheet of ice in the foreground but again with the auras, it's pretty. Gotta love those clouds.

And so. Let's see.

Nope, got nothin' else. It's cold and the snow we've received thus far in only December has begun breaking records.

You can see from the date at the top of this post it's only the 21st of the month and we have several months of winter left, yes?

Let's just hope the photos continue to be pretty and inspire happy thoughts to type. Oh lordy, let's just hope.

And I really did have an actual topic in mind when I sat down. It hasn't been encrypted for you to find, no. Clearly I'm just not caffeinated enough. Maybe tomorrow then.

Hard to believe, isn't it

What's hard to believe, you may wonder. Apparently I take enough pictures of this sort that when I tried to save this one and began the file name with "fungus" the little alien inside my computer said "files with those names already exist". For the record, I wasn't that geeky when it came to this type of thing until I met .... her.

Oh don't get me wrong. The subjects of my photography have always been geeky, just not fungus and spider geeky... necessarily.

Man, I'm glad I cleared that up.

Sorry about the noise in the above shot. It was actually taken with my phone and transferred here. When you hear me muse how that is even possible, it's clear the manufacturers of electronics and gadgets are making me feel like a geezer as well as a geek.

Quick hi...

Quick because if it gets too long it's going to turn into a major, major whinge.

The weather outside is STILL frightful (for both offices, it seems), but I got stir-crazy enough to call a cab and come down to work for a little while to check e-mail and feed salamanders.

In that order of priority, yes.

Calling a cab this time of year, by the way, is a major investment when you figure in the conditions of the roads and the conditions of the idiots ON the roads, as the cab driver was quick to remind me.

Ahhh well. Worth the price for a tiny piece of sanity, I guess. Soon enough I'll be back in my hole, and the forecast really isn't looking good for my coming out again for a while.

And Christmas, you ask?

Not really in the mood for one, to be honest.

Maybe I'll aim for Ukrainian Christmas instead. It's in my genetic background, after all, and presents would be cheaper with the after-Christmas sales.

Or maybe I'll just buck the trend, go with my gut, and ignore Christmas. It's not nearly as big of a grinch-up as it sounds, you know. Why bother with the stress and garbage if you don't feel it?



Yeah, that.

I hate winter.




See you all... sometime.

Did I mention how silly it was? ~OR~ from the sublime (yesterday's photo) to the ridiculous

In response to yesterday's addition to the blog, Mother Nature has seen to it that I am made to feel profoundly humbled, so yes folks, just because one lives in denial does not mean winter will just pass you by. The first photo









shows the reason why this second photo depicts what "the girls" and I will doing for the most part today. Well, one of us should really dust and tidy a bit. And it doesn't look like it will be a dog up and all excited swiping at the furniture with wags of the tail, does it.






And can I tell you just how many times Blogger made me take a run at this damn post to get the photos to upload and for the page to refresh. Oy.

Oh and in case anyone is keeping score as to the number of days Dee is going to be docked for taking time off here, let's all be fair as it's STILL minus gawdawful in her part of the country. Word has it she may not show herself 'til Groundhog Day.

Not ready to give in yet, nope

This is a close-up (gee, really?) of flowers the kid presented to me a while back.


The purpose of showing them to you now is to illustrate that silly notion of mine that I can just ignore the onset of the current season and it will go away.


It won't, will it.



Blast!

An icy one at that on the way, I hear.

Pointless blather

Actually not even pointless blather.


I live in Canada. The barometer is bouncing around very nicely thankyouverymuch so I'm going to have a couple of acetaminophen and tea now.


The photo, by the way, depicts an absolutely smooth surface over bubbles occurring from the heat of the wood encased in ice. Cool ... um, so to speak.

Serendipity

I know the official definition of serendipity but to refine that for my own brain, it's "happening upon cool stuff by chance".
You can see why they don't consult me to add to nor edit the Oxford.

As threatened by me to the owner of this place, you have a picture of a hunk of bread in a tree. If you don't find this interesting, I understand.

BUT what if I were to tell you that in the pitching out the front door of a handful of hunks of bread this one became impaled all by itself on the tiny bit of branch you can see when you look closely. Go on, look closely. I'll wait.

Oh sure, now you find it interesting don't you. Well, yeah, I'd say so.

Keep in mind this led to several text messages back and forth beginning with a photo snapped on the cellphone in Toronto, a message sent to Alberta; and after a couple of thoughts back and forth the realization that perhaps I need to get out more.

But seriously ("seriously" ... seriously?!) ... consider the odds, the likelihood, the sheer enormity of the bread actually catching itself on the branch and just think that in all of the world for all time that this ...

Maybe I need to get out more.

Hmm and in looking for a label to plunk down here, I see "serendipity" was already listed. Now, doesn't that just make you want to hunt down the other post(s). Okay, maybe it's just me

And so this is Christmas

Well if the ear worm is now in your .. erm, ear ... my job here is done. What are subject lines for anyway.

I'm sure if you've been paying attention, on this blog subject lines actually mean very little. And being only second banana here, I wouldn't want to stray outside the box.

Well, you know, if you look at this thing from where I'm sitting, it's actually a rectangle, not a box exactly and ...

Oh never mind. My mind wandered and clearly has taken a slight shift somewhere and veered off the road.

Enjoy the out-of-doors ornaments then. They're from last year (and cheap yes) so the finish on them isn't all it originally was but in the sun they shine and sparkle and shimmer and at this time of year - winter - that, my friend, is what it's all about to lift the spirit. The magpie in me wants sparkly, shimmering things surrounding me.

Or you could send gem stones. I do like gem stones.

This concludes today's installment of free association.

Assorted Expletives

The leaf has nothing to do with anything. Like usual.

----------

Looks like I'm going to be disappearing from the internet for a few days, and I'm not especially happy about it. Blame the stupid weather. Right now the highways are so bad that the RCMP aren't recommending travel at all, which means that Yours Blatheringly won't be able to get to her father's place for the weekend.

But why not just travel tomorrow, you ask?

You did ask, right? Or at least showed a tiny bit of concern?

Well, once our current snowfall ends we're supposed to be entering the effing deep freeze. For those new to the program, cold and I don't get along very well. Sooo... it's sounding like I won't be going down the highway at all, and that sucks.

Last weekend it was the neck; this time the weather. Makes me wonder if I'll see my father before the new year, really.

Anyway, that's it from me for a few days unless something in the forecast changes drastically. The Toronto office is, as always, welcome to blather for a while if she's in the mood.

I'll see you when I see you, I guess.

And the chance to make a drunken acceptance speech goes to...

So, the Golden Globe nominations were announced today.

Assuming that we don't get buggered over by a SAG strike, I will definitely be watching the Golden Globes.

I always watch the Golden Globes. I was terribly disappointed last year when the Writers' Guild strike killed the ceremony.

I suppose I should say at this point that I haven't seen any of the nominated films and only about two of the nominated television shows, but I'll be watching the Globes all the same.

And why?

See post title.

The Golden Globes is the perfect awards ceremony as far as I'm concerned. You get all the fun of the usual red carpet wrecks, and you don't have to put up with all of the misguided pomp that seems to go into any ceremony involving any organisation with the word Academy in its name.

And there's booze.

Maybe I'm shallow, but I enjoy a well-lubricated speech or several.

Even without the alcohol factor, the looser format of the Globes makes it a helluva lot more enjoyable to me than all the badly-read, badly-written (I was going to say that Bruce Vilanch has a lot to answer for, but looking at his CV it's even worse than I thought), over-produced nonsense you see at the other shows.

And there's booze, did I mention?

Anyway, I should get back to work. There's no booze here, unfortunately... or maybe fortunately. Somehow well-lubricated and planetarium program don't sound like they'd go together as well as well-lubricated and the Golden Globes do.

Bubbles

Today's pointless photo is not of bubbles.

I'm sure you noticed.

Oh, and before I say what little I have to say of bubbles, I want to state for the record that I have a rather sore back end. The muscle part of it, that is. It's just a side effect of sitting on the floor in slightly contorted positions while doing yesterday's planetarium shows, but I thought I should mention it all the same. Lately the blog wouldn't be the blog if I didn't complain about some pain or other.

----------

Anyway. Bubbles. Of the gum variety, if you were wondering.

I recently bought a different brand of gum from my usual. Yesss... I have to admit that I'm a gum chewer. I imagine that some of my two fans likely find it a disgusting habit, but I'm too far gone at this point to give it up. It helps keep my throat from getting too dry if I have to do a lot of talking, and since a fair amount of my job consists of doing a lot of talking the gum is generally there. I mean, I can do without if I have to, but life's easier if I don't have to.

Usually I buy... oh, wait. I don't really want to advertise gum. Let's just say that usually I buy one of those minty types that comes in little squares. The last time I bought gum, though, they were out of my usual minty little squares so on a whim I bought a pack of a brand that's currently running ads emphasising its long-lasting flavour.

I can't really tell you if the flavour is all that long-lasting compared to all the other gums out there, but I can tell you that the pieces are far too big.

The problem with big pieces of gum? They make me blow bubbles.

Make me, yes.

If I have anything more than a small piece of gum in my mouth I am forced to blow bubbles. I can't help it. My tongue starts to wonder what all that stuff is doing in its way and decides that it must be there to play with.

Ergo, bubbles.

Snapping, annoying, sticky bubbles.

Even I hate them, but I still end up doing it.

The solution? Well, I don't want to throw out a pack of perfectly innocuous gum just because the pieces are too big, so I've taken to cutting them in half. Seriously. Right through the paper wrapping. Half a piece is all I need, so half a piece is all I'm using. It's going to make one single pack of gum last nearly a month, but I'm doing it anyway.

Gee. Do you think that's what they're referring to when they advertise long-lasting flavour? Maybe it's not so much that the flavour itself lasts a long time; maybe it's more that the gum will last you forever if you only use a reasonably-sized piece at a time.

Or maybe this particular company would prefer that I spend my day forever blowing bubbles (and no, I don't follow West Ham. Or any football for that matter. English OR Canadian). It isn't going to happen, though.

Long-lasting or not.

Planetarium-head

This won't be much of anything today, and for a couple of very valid reasons. The first would be that I'm currently typing one-handed because the other hand is holding a piece of lemon poppy seed loaf (Christmas baking comes to the rescue for the otherwise lunchless. Not my baking, by the way. I've forgone any of that until I get over this ENDLESS cold. Didn't figure that infected cookies spelled Joy to the World). The second? See post title.

Yep, I'm doing planetarium shows today, and for anyone new to the program that statement should be read as an indicator of lack of usable brain. Nothing wrong with planetarium shows, of course (although it would have been nice if it wasn't so soon after the whole neck thing), but working in a blow-up tent with the constant presence of blower-fan noise tends to suck your mind out through your nostrils.

Or something.

All I know is that I find it hard to have much in the way of cognition after a couple of planetarium shows.

Bet that gives a lot of confidence to those who are paying me to do planetarium shows....

Anyway.

I still want to talk about bubbles at some point (see? I haven't forgotten), but I don't think today's the day for it.

All I really have in my lack-of-mind today is the fact that I truly and heartily despise -- no, loathe -- winter, and no doubt you'll be hearing enough of that from me as the winter continues so I won't bother with it at the moment.

Hmmm.

Remember when I used to be interesting?





Neither do I, come to think of it.

But then, I am suffering from planetarium-head.

Augh

Yeah, I disappeared. Again. It wasn't planned, though.

Stupid stupid STUPID neck had me laid out (literally. Laid out on the bed was the general position) for the past few days, and it's not great even now. I'm more mobile, but I can already tell that tonight's just-from-being-in-an-upright-position headache will be great.

I'd ask what next, but really? I'm not sure I want to know.

Anyway, I could go on about how odd it is that when I'm not able to sit around the apartment doing nothing I miss it to the point of neurosis but when I'm forced to sit (erm, lie) around the apartment doing nothing I'm frustrated to the point of suicide (well, near-suicide), but I have work stuff to get to so I'll leave off for now.

I'd hit my head against the desk, but by now I'm afraid the damned thing might fall off.

Distracted

Ok, I had something about bubbles for the blather today, but I got distracted watching these instead. There are five in all. They'll play automatically, if you're so inclined.

Makes you wonder what the production meeting was like, doesn't it?

Maybe I'll talk about bubbles tomorrow, then. Or drunks. Or drunk bubbles, I don't know.





Oh, and I hate cold weather. You know, if you wondered.

Eeearwooorm...

And another rose. Hey, they can't all be squirrels in bird feeders.

So, to the earworm. Courtesy of last night's House MD, you may as well enjoy it too.

Seriously. That song will be rattling around my brain until... well, let's face it. Until the next crappy version of a classic Christmas carol is performed on some talk show or other. Then I'll be annoyed enough that Harry Nilsson will go away for a little while.

So yeah. It won't be too long. There are a lot of crappy versions of classic Christmas carols out there this time of year, as every lame pop artist tries to con people into buying another lame pop Christmas album.

I don't have an opinion on that, as you can see.

Ok, really? I'm big into Christmas carols. I collect Christmas carols -- usually somewhat obscure ones, but I have all the big standards as well. I spend a lot of time humming Christmas carols to myself, to the point where I have to ban myself from starting the internal carolling until the calendar reads December. Otherwise it would probably go on all year long.

I like Christmas carols.

I hate what people do to them.

There is NO REASON to make up your own tune to a classic carol, popsters. There is NO REASON to put your own personal stamp on a song that's been around since a long time before you and will be around for a long time after everyone's stopped rolling their eyes at your horrible recording. There is NO REASON to national anthem a Christmas carol.

Honestly, there's no reason to national anthem the national anthem either. That's another pet peeve for another time, though.

Anyway, I should get back to the lime in the coconut work. Or whatever it is I'm supposed to be doing here.

I'm a bit out of practice, remember.

Boring

This is a very boring time of year and it ought not to be allowed.

So there.

Let's give that some context, shall we? I made it to work for the second day in a row (and slightly more brain than yesterday). I'm doing my best to get back in the swing of things. Even went out on the trail with my camera (and in a buggeringly cold wind) to try to find something worth taking a photo of so that I could use it for the work blather blog (yes, sometimes I blather in an official capacity. And are we tired of the parentheses yet?).

The best I could do?

You're looking at it.

Squirrel in a bird feeder, yep.

And since it's making its appearance here rather than on the work blog, you can see that I decided not to blather about squirrels in bird feeders.

They're a pretty common occurrence around here.

In fact, there was a squirrel in the other bird feeder as well. I didn't take its picture, though. It looked like it was having a bad day.

So was I, if you're counting inspiration. This is a boring, boring time of year. It's all grey and brown... and if it's not grey and brown, it's white. That's worse than grey and brown.

And it's alllll sooooo boooooring.

The only thing out there that's not completely boring is the chickadee population. And maybe the squirrels. But there's only so much you can do with chickadees and squirrels, really. They're not big enough for roasting...

Um, anyway. I've obviously got plenty of nothing, so why don't we all go back to staring at the squirrel. It wasn't actively evil, by the way; my flash just went off for some reason.





The squirrel was not impressed.

Another rose

Yeah, I need to get out and take some new photos. I'm not so enthusiastic about that, though. This time of year is very boring overall. Pictorially speaking, I mean.

So, this'll be short and not for the usual whingified reasons. Ok, maybe one of the usual reasons. Remember how I said that sleep helps? Well, maybe you can tell me why my brain doesn't seem to understand that concept.

Last night I told myself that this week I have to get the ol' life back on track. Go to work, actually work, take better care of myself... yep, I was completely in resolution mode.

Or at least Conscious Me was.

Subconscious Me?

Decided it would be great to stay up until 3 am.

FOR NO REASON.

Shut up, Subconscious Me.

So now I'm too tired to function (because, naturally, I woke up at 6 am. Subconscious Me may have been having a late-night party, but Conscious Me has a pretty insistent alarm clock). I did make it in to work (obviously, if I'm posting on the blog), I've managed about an hour and a half of work-related-type things, but now I'm done.

Done done done. Head's going to be contacting desk soon if I'm not careful.





Ah well. I guess I can pretend that tomorrow's Monday and try this all over again, right?

Next time I think I'll leave Subconscious Me at home, though.





Gah.

And the next day...

Well, sleep does help.

It wasn't a great sleep, but it was sleep. That's a good thing.

You know what would also help? If, on top of everything else, I hadn't got this frigging cold. It's bad enough to be mentally exhausted; adding physically exhausted to the mix hasn't exactly been good for the spirits.

As you might have noticed.

Anyway, things are looking less bleak today. Even if I have a headache and can't breathe.

And would like to go back to bed.

Hey, here's a thought. Maybe it is all grey and hopeless after all...

Yeeesss, that's right. I've got nothing so I'm falling back on British sketch comedy yet again. You really should be used to it by now. And while we're at it, let's watch Hugh Laurie being hit on the head, shall we?

Matter of fact, let's see a bit more of that sort of thing.

Hmmm.

Anyone out there wonder why he admits to having neck problems now?

Might have something to do with this, I suppose.

Well, I'm so distracted by now that I can't be bothered remembering if I actually had something to post, so I'll leave you with a bit of non-Laurie British violence. Yes, I know I've posted it before, but I don't care. You just can't get enough fish-slapping, you know.





Going now.

Something. Or not.

The incredible disappearing me is operating on far too little sleep just now.

The incredible disappearing me also didn't feel like leaving her apartment for the last two days. Thus the lack of posting. Not that I would have had much to say anyway.

At what point do you suppose we can legally bring up the D-word and decide that I should be doing something about it? Personally, I vacillate. I have my good days and my not-good days, and this week I had a couple of not-good days.




Yep. That's about the state of affairs.

Not terribly entertaining, but it does have the advantage of being true.

Maybe I'll try for the entertaining part tomorrow. Assuming, of course, that some form of actual, usable sleep managed to happen.

Yeah, I'll believe it when I see it too.

The dog

No, not the photo. It's pointless, as usual.

----------

There is a dog here (here being at my father's place).

The dog is old, and the dog is not well.

The dog also knows that I'm the first to hear her when she needs something.

The dog got me up at 5 am today. Add that to the dog alarm times I listed in yesterday's post, and you'll notice that I'm not getting a helluva lot of sleep here. I've also been doing far more heavy-dog-lifting than a person of my gimpitude really ever should.

So now the question: how does one convince one's father that it's time to take the dog to the vet and not bring her home again? I mean, I don't want to sound like I want to have the dog put down just so that I can get a bit more sleep, but... there comes a point, right? I know that the dog's insides aren't working properly (pretty obvious any time I take her outside), she doesn't have much of a life since she can't move around very well anymore, she's eleven (and she's a big dog, so eleven counts as a ripe old age), and, frankly, she's a pain in the arse.

That last isn't the biggest reason for putting her to sleep, I know, but it does figure in.

In the end it has to be the father figure's decision, but geez. The decision has to be made.

Or am I totally off-base here?

I might be.

I don't always think well when I'm NOT GETTING MUCH SLEEP.






None of this is helping my cold any, of course. We've now progressed to the coughing-makes-my-head-hurt stage, if anyone was keeping track.

Aaaaand... who's a happy camper today? Obviously not Yours Blatheringly. Ah well. Time to stop typing then, but if anyone has any thoughts on doing away with pets, leave me a comment.

Oh, and just to make things a bit more entertaining: this.

Later, all.

----------

Edited to add this, because for some reason it started going through my head just now. No idea why, but let's roll with it.

Augh

No reason for the photo. Oh, except that I still haven't taken any new ones.

Not much on the brain today except MUCOUS. Can I take a moment to enlighten the world and inform you all that I hate colds?

I thought I could.

I hate colds. I hate the coughing, I hate the snottiness, I hate the general blahfyness (shut up. Is too a word. For the moment, anyway), and I hate that I get so damned many of the things.

Not that I don't understand why I caught this latest one. Stress? Not the greatest thing for staying healthy.

The stress, by the way, is somewhat abated. At this particular time. Ask me again in an hour and the answer may be different, but right now we're (that'd be me and alllll the voices, of course) managing.

It helps that the dog let me sleep in all the way to 6:30 this morning. That's big. Yesterday it was 4:30, and the day before that was 2:00. In the morning, yes. After that, 6:30 makes it seem like I've slept for 24 hours.

Which I haven't.

My cough would have gotten all snittified if I'd ignored it for that long.

Anyway, I should go grab something or other to eat. Not sure yet what something or other might be since I'm not doing so well on the whole appetite thing (cold + stress = a really stupid diet, by the way), but I should find something that resembles nutrition.




Hey, and this almost resembled an actual post.

Yay me.







Later, all.

Ok, honestly?

Current events in my life just really haven't left me in the mood to blog.

Bet you hadn't noticed.

Anyway, rather than trying to come up with something lame I think I'm going to give things a miss for a day or two. The Toronto office is welcome to take over if she's in the mood... or maybe I'll blog even in spite of not being in the mood. Well see. Just don't read too much into things if I disappear for a little while, that's all.

In the meantime, this. No reason. I was just in the mood.

Er...

I have some things to do. I also (and this pisses me off royally) seem to be either getting another cold or experiencing the resurgence of the one that never quite seemed to go away.

I'll possibly have a real post later, but don't hold your breath.





Blue-faced people scare me.

Post title? What post title?

Why would I have a post title when I don't even have any new photos?

There's not likely going to be much of a post anyway. Ever have something on your mind that you don't particularly want to talk about but it seems like the only thing you have to talk about? That's precisely where I am. What do you do in that situation?

Personally, I'm doing laundry. Or the machine is doing laundry. I'm just in charge of sorting and loading.

Mechanical, no-brain things seem to be the way to go when you've been through the mental ringer. For those in the know, incidentally, I've not had a call... and since that's exactly what I'd expect to have if everything went fine, we're officially sticking with that thought.

For real, even. I'm surprising myself there. The eternal worrier has, possibly, run out of worry.

For a little while, anyway.

Maybe it helps that things are actually happening as opposed to being in limbo, I don't know.




And by this point in the non-blather it'd probably be easier if I just said what was going on. I'm not going to, but it'd probably be easier all right.

Let's wrap up with something approaching amusement, shall we?

Ok, this'll do. I need to go aid the washing machine again.

I have about the same thing to say as she, in Alberta

... and I would like to thank her for the red sweatshirt that is now bobbing around in my head.

Fortunately the Maple tree got decorated a few days ago. UNfortunately that seems to have made it snow. The sky - not the tree. Of course it happened when I wasn't looking so I can only assume it came from the sky and not the tree. The snow, not the decoration.

Should I have checked off "nonsense" under the labels as well, do you think?

Yeh me too. Too late. Awwk! Pretty baubles! Awwk!

Sigh

Got busy with something yesterday and forgot to blog.

It wouldn't have mattered anyway. The past couple of days haven't been so great in the sleep department. I'm always great fun when I'm making even less sense than usual, you know.

Let's just stick with the post title then and leave it at that for now. I need a nap.

Hey...

Straw?

Kind of forgot to blog. Kind of don't have anything to blog about anyway. Kind of should be working. Kind of have an earworm too. Want it?

Here it is.

You're welcome.

I'm going now. I'll leave you to guess where...

I've got nothing

I need to sleep more.

That didn't happen last night. For a few reasons, and none of which are worth blathering about.

You know, I think I'd almost be in a good mood if I had a bit more sleep on board. That's something. Good moods have been hard to come by lately, as you've probably noticed.

Ah well. As the post title says, I've got nothing. I also had nothing on the other blog, but if you're interested to see what search hits have been bringing people there lately, go on and have a look.

All finished?

Well, I was serious when I said I've got nothing. That usually means I'll at least take the time to look up a link to amuse myself/yourselves with, but... ok, fine. Just a moment.

All right. Something a little away from my usual, but they made me laugh. They, yes. There are three in a row, and my personal favourite is the Tears for Fears one. You know, in case you wondered.

Later, all.

You know what?

It's my birthday.

Yep.

Whoop-ti-frigging-do.

No reason for the link, by the way. I just liked the cake.

Anyway. Birthday. The only reason I mention it is because I didn't have anything else in mind to talk about. I don't want to sound like a spoil-sport or anything, but I honestly don't go in much for celebrating birthdays and haven't for years. It's one of those things that I don't really get, as a matter of fact. I didn't actually have a lot of say as to when I was born. It just sort of... was.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying that birthdays don't deserve a little recognition. Mothers should be allowed to celebrate birthdays. I mean, they're the ones who put in the work, right? If a mother wants to take a day to remind her offspring that so-and-so many years ago s/he caused her a fair bit of inconvenience (ha! Inconvenience, she says. Can you tell I've never had the "inconvenience" of having a child?), that should be her right. My own mother used to take particular delight in reminding me yearly that I was two weeks late and took my own bloody time in getting around to seeing the world, and good on her. I sure as heck didn't mind the ribbing.

Nowadays, though, I don't really see the point in making a fuss.

I might change my mind next year (and no, I'm not saying why. Wheat knows. Go pester him if you're desperate), but for now a birthday is still just going to be the anniversary of the day I was born.

And for anyone thinking that the prevailing mood of the blog lately has something to do with this non-party funk, I'll just say that it doesn't. This is the way I am about birthdays in general.

No fun, yes.

But at least I don't hate Christmas.

Oh, maybe I'd get more excited about the whole thing if somebody bought me a card.

Or... not.




I think I'm done now.

Whatever

Two days ago I forgot to blog. Yesterday I didn't feel like leaving my apartment. No computer in my apartment; ergo no blogging.

Today I'm just not in the mood.

Honestly? I'm tired because I haven't been sleeping very well, and the eating thing isn't happening as much as it should be either. And why? Worry, mostly. I might have mentioned that I don't deal well with uncertainty, and things have been too much on the uncertain side lately.

I hate that.

Whine whine whine, I know. It just happens to be where my head is at the moment. It's one thing to say that things could be worse (and they definitely could be. I'm not denying that), but when you're in the land of Things Aren't Terribly Great that's plenty.

Makes it hard to blather, too.

Ahhh well.

We'll give it a better go tomorrow.

Maybe.

Or maybe it'll be v.2.0 of who gives a rat's bum, I dunno.

Some of us don't forget

Sorry that my poppy is covered in cat hair. At my father's place nearly everything is covered in cat hair, if that counts as an excuse.

Cat hair or no, the meaning's still there.

I have my own reasons for thinking that this day is important. I hope you have yours, and that even if you're treating it as just another day off you take at least a moment or two to think of all of the people who are commemorated in a simple plastic poppy.

And I also hope that you're as sad as I am to see the Silver Cross Mothers getting younger and younger...

In a perfect world they'd be extinct. I think we should be trying harder to make that happen.

Something something la la la

Ok, honestly? I really don't have anything. Well, I do have an annoying seventies pop song going through my head, but since I don't want to give anyone else that particular earworm (you're welcome) it's not going to make it into the blather.

How about a much less annoying seventies song? Gotta love the wigs, right?

Oh, and Wheat? We totally need one of these for the office.

I sooo have nothing.

Maybe we'll just go with that, then. See you later, everyone.

And that leads to...

I've been reading an introduction to philosophy these past couple of days. Rereading, actually. I kind of like reading philosophy every once in a while, but since I don't have a background in it at all I tend to forget some of the basic history and need a refresher on who was thinking what now and then.

It ain't easy to get those tenets into this short-attention-spanned brain, you know. Especially since, as I read about the great thinkers, this keeps playing over and over again in my head. Not that there's anything wrong with it, of course. It's a nice little tune, and one that I happen to be fond of. It just makes it a bit harder to pay attention to David Hume figuratively ripping the rationalists a new one when my internal voice (well, one of them) is gleefully reminding me that he could outconsume Hegel.

Oh, and if you happen to enjoy the philosophic stylings of M. Python, you might like this as well. I know I do.

Yeah. I'm that deep.

Anyway, this all has nothing much to do with anything except how easily my mind is led astray. Another example? Well, with all the talk of Remembrance Day lately my own personal music station has found itself playing God Save the Queen a bit too much. Except not exactly with those words.

More often with these words, sadly.

I'm such a product of my times.





And... because I took so long looking up the links (and finding others along the way, naturally), I now have no idea if I was going to make a real point with this post. Or non-post, as it turned out to be. I should be able to come up with some sort of a non-pumpkinising point, though. Let's see...

Ok, this'll do. If you've found yourself singing along with either of the musical clips (odd that they both have the Mitch Miller thing going on, really), you might want to stop before your yak snaps.

I'm done now.

Decisions, decisions

I'm facing one at the moment. No, I'm not going to tell you about what.

There's a lot not being said on the blog lately, isn't there?

Anyway, I have a decision to make and I'm not sure yet which way things are going to go.

I hate uncertainty.

I'm such a massive creature of habit. It bugs me even to have a piece of furniture slightly off-kilter in a room, so you can imagine what it's like when my actual life becomes slightly off-kilter.

I'm a poster child for discomfort at the moment.

Ah well.

Looks like this post is going to end pretty much the same way the last post did: a great big pile of nothing.

Ahhhhh well.

What can you do but go with it in the end, right?






Yep. And I'll keep trying to convince myself of that.

Still working on this whole blather thing

I need to work on the photo-taking thing as well. It's been a while since I've gone out with the camera.

Ah well. Nothing like doing a bit of nerdstick cleaning.

Anyway. Mood today is better, but I really don't have much I want to blather about. You might have gathered that my time's been taken up with actual real-life things for a change, and I don't mind telling you that actual real-life things are overrated. I'm looking forward to going back to living in my own personal little world, thank you very much.

I'm also looking forward to going back to living amongst my own stuff.

It's funny, that. I'm not a terribly materialistic person, but when I'm away from my stuff for too long I really start to miss it. My books, my food, my silly little time-wasters... my space, I guess. I mean, there's nothing at all wrong with this space, but it's very definitely not mine.

Not most of it, anyway.

Ah well. It looks like I might be seeing my stuff again soon, and those of my two fans who know what's going on know that the fact that I can honestly contemplate seeing my stuff in the near future is very good news. Especially when the news could have easily been so much worse.

Occasionally I've forgotten just how much worse it could have been.

Odd how the brain does that.





This is all I can muster for blather today. Tomorrow? Well, I'm not promising much, but we'll see how it goes.

Bugger

I was going to post. I really was. Not about what's been going on in my life (that falls under the category of None of Your Business), but about... something. Anything.

Well, something's happened and now I'm too worried/pissed off to think about the blather.

The pissed off outweighs the worried, thank goodness, but they're both there.

Someday I may actually get my life back, you know. It might not be as soon as I'd hoped last night, but someday it'll happen.







Please say it'll happen.

Yep, and another from the trail

While we were out on this walk something occurred to me.

Do you think the vivid and wonderful colours of Autumn are Nature's way of lulling us into thinking the changing of seasons is a good thing?

I mean as I'm walking through the woods or driving down a street and find myself surrounded by these hues of Autumn, it lifts my spirit.

Then *bam!!* A month or six weeks goes by and it's necessary to put on those dollar-store skinny gloves when you next go driving so your hands don't freeze from the steering wheel.

It couldn't be a conspiracy on the part of the universe, do you think?

I'm just sayin'

She's right, you know

I don't get by here nearly as much lately. Life is happening around me. It's got no business doing that, you know. Heaven knows I try to keep it down to a minimum.

Have a bit of what we saw on the trail whilst walking the pups the other day then.

Just as an aside I'm up to here, or wherever, with election coverage first from the Great White North and now the U.S.

But soon there will be new hype to ignore. And on this dreary November day that's about as exciting as it gets.

I should add that the tone of this post was brought to you by the letters B and X and by the chest cold-becoming head cold-becoming infection I seem to have contracted from Alberta.
Does that make it a computer virus then?

And now...

Hey, all.

Just in case you wondered, my personal train's had somewhat of a derailing in the past day. Definitely not in the mood to attempt blathering for now. Things should be ok, really, but it'll take a bit to get the cars back on the track.

See you in a while.

Boo... or whatever

Sorry, I've never been one to get all excited about Halloween. Plus I have a headache because of the stupid disrupted sleep I had last night.

Or maybe it's the Toronto office's fault. Didn't I say that it was time to blame the Toronto office for things like that?

I don't know. Either way, I'm not exactly in blather mood.

Oh, and if you're wondering what costume I chose for today, I happen to be dressed as a Nature Centre Interpreter.

It works for me.

If you need something a bit more Halloweeny than Yours Crankily, well... try this. Hey, I liked it.

Going now. Try not to eat too much sugar tonight, ok? I can't deal with you people when you're all hyper and annoying.

Sooo helpless... and that's not annoying at all

Right from the top I'll say excuse me if this gets snitty quickly. I had a bit of a gwk (that'd be Gimpy the Wonder Klutz, for those new to the program) moment this morning (and personally I'm blaming the Toronto office for bringing up the whole gwk thing last night. I'd been doing fairly well in the clumsiness department until she reminded me of my old internet moniker. It's all her fault, then, and I'm going to keep saying that until she actually responds in some way. My counter tells me she hasn't been stopping by the blog too much lately, so this blame game may go on for a while...) and right now my throbbing ankle's telling me that I probably should have put a brace on before I came to work.

Oops.

Ah well. I'll just try to walk carefully, that's all. Not that it worked out so well this morning, but whatever.





Um, anyway.

I don't have much on the brain at the moment, but I did want to address something I saw while waiting at the garage (for two effing hours, did I mention?) earlier in the week. Now, to set the scene a bit, this garage is a fairly busy place. It also has a little drive-through thing where you drop off your car for servicing, and the drive-through is visible from the waiting area. Those of us with short attention spans (i.e. me) spent a fair amount of the two hours we were there watching people drop off their cars.

At one point a woman pulled in, obviously without an appointment, and wanted something looked at right away. Something to do with the back end of the car. I was intrigued.

Ok, honestly? I was just really bored. I watched because it was about the only thing to watch.

The next thing I knew, the guy at the service desk headed out there with a screwdriver and started to take the thing apart right in the drive-through. That's when it dawned on me. This woman had come all the way to a busy dealership garage to have someone replace a burned-out tail light.

Seriously.

And then she had the nerve to ask (or more like threaten) whether they were going to tack on a labour charge on top of the cost of the bulb.

Geeeeez.

They didn't, for some reason. I would have.

You see, the thing is that changing a tail light isn't hard. You generally need a screwdriver and a bulb. Sometimes the hardest part is just finding the right screwdriver (I need a torx head for mine, and that can admittedly be a bit of a pain in the arse in a pinch). And if you don't know how to take apart the mount to get to the burned-out bulb? Well... hey girls, that's what owner's manuals are for. Most cars have them in the glove compartment, you know. Just turn to the part that says tail lights.

It's just that simple.

Now, I know that it sounds like I'm making a big deal out of nothing and that the folks at the garage see that kind of thing all the time, but that's sort of my point. They see that kind of thing all the time, and there's no reason for it. I just don't get the whole helpless femme act that seems to be the regular m.o. for a large part of the female population. I'm a girl. I couldn't possibly fix a minor problem with my car (house, lawnmower, insert other objects ad nauseum) all by myself.

Gah.

Hey, I'm a girl too. I'm not terribly mechanical. I know enough about how to read instructions, though, to at least ATTEMPT to figure minor things out. I know when I'm out of my depth, but I'm willing to give something a try before deciding that it's beyond me.

All right. In the interest of full disclosure I will admit that ages ago when I had to take some aptitude tests as part of a career workshop -- back in the days when I thought that I might like to have a career someday -- I scored much higher on the mechanical aptitude test than I would have expected. That's just aptitude, though. It doesn't mean that I actually know how to do anything mechanically-related.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that most of us are only as helpless as we want to make ourselves. And when you want to make yourself helpless for no good reason, that's juuust a little bit annoying. Both to the people who get stuck helping you and to the people who are rolling their eyes after discovering yet another useless twit in the world.

The world has enough useless twits already.

If you choose to be one of them, then I get to choose to roll my eyes.




Sounds like a fair deal to me.

Oh hell, I don't know

I ran out of begonias. Bergenia's close enough, I figure.

So, blather. As the post title indicates, I don't know. I'm still not in the best of moods, and it was a noisy night in the apartment building yesterday. I went to bed early, but apparently not everyone had the same idea. I have a headache.

I've also had the Belle of Belfast City going through my head on an indeterminate loop. You may as well too, although this isn't the version my brain was singing. It's all right, though.

Oh, and the Toronto office needs to know that I don't charge my phone in the shower.

Apparently even the snakes get a bit out of sorts this time of year, since they're not eating worth a darn (just ask me how many four letter words came out during feeding this morning. From me, not the snakes... although maybe they were cussing too. I wouldn't know. And just fyi, the four letter frustration was under my breath. Too many children in the room at the time for a full expression of my feelings about the general stupidity of garter snakes). It must be something to do with photoperiod, best I can figure. Garter snakes naturally are in hibernacula this time of year, but since the only condition that's changed for our indoor snakes is the amount of sunlight they're getting it's got to be length of day that's telling them they're supposed to be sleeeeepy.

That's fine. I'm sleepy too. It just makes it a pain in the arse to try to take care of them, that's all.

Anyway.

I guess I should get back to not writing the newsletter.

Yep.

Any chance that taking boring pictures of grey autumn trees counts as working on the newsletter, do you think?






Yeah, me too.