Pointless photo of the day:

I'm out of seasonal photos for a while again now because I haven't taken anything recently.

Ok, that's a lie.

I took some photos a half hour or so ago, but they were for work, were taken with the work camera, and can currently be found on the work blog if you're desperate to see a moose with two heads and five legs.

And where's the work blog?

Well, if you know, you know. If you don't and you really want to, e-mail me. And if you don't have my e-mail... well, I think you're probably getting the point by now.

Oh no. A point. Now the blog will, of course, turn into a pumpkin.

Anyway. My attempt to tick off a couple of moose by getting close to them with a camera that I've never used before (it's pretty new) has meant that I don't really have time to blather. Shame, that, since the blather will be intermittent for the next couple of days. I won't be going in to my father's place on the weekend because I have to work tomorrow, but I don't know if I'll have time tomorrow to blog. Sunday I won't be around a computer at all, Monday I might be, and Tuesday I may or may not be. Depends on how my morning thing goes.

Yes, morning thing. That's all you really need to know about that.

I'll poke the not-Toronto office with a stick and see if she has anything to say in my much-mourned absence (ALMOST managed to type that with a straight face), but in the meantime I'll see you in a day or two. Or whatever.

Did I mention the moose?



Um, yeah. Back to work for me, then.

I had a totally different title for this post...

... and then I decided that I didn't want to talk about it after all.

It's that sort of day, really.

I had a fairly interrupted sleep, and it's turned me into a newt. No, not a newt. What's that thing where you're so tired that you can't even really make a decision? A singing frog? No, that's what sounds like a duck but ain't a duck.

Oh, I can't remember.

Pretty sad that I can remember all those iPad jokes from yesterday, then. Well, maybe not all of them. I did like the one that said that only women could use the iPad because it isn't compatible with the Wii, though. Anyway, it looks like the backlash on the jokes is hitting pretty early, so if you're trying to avoid them it'll probably all go away pretty soon.

But seriously, iPad? Did no one at Apple even bother to say the name out loud before they decided on it?

Ah well. It's not like it matters much to me in the end. I'm not likely to be the first in line (or even the twelve-millionth in line) to buy an overpriced giant iPhone anyway. And given how much I hate it when people leave fingerprints on my monitor here, I just don't think that touchscreen anything will ever do it for me in the computer department.

All of this still leaves me overtired and without a blather topic, you know.




Maybe it's best that we back away slowly for today, then.

Oops

Came in a bit later than I usually do (because it was COLD out there, boys and girls. I had to wait for it to warm up a bit), and completely forgot about the blog until now.

And this is all you're getting as a result, because I'm kind of in the middle of something at the moment.

See you tomorrow, probably.

Hoodies

And more ice from last week. Kind of an I like the lines, not the subject kind of photo.

And now... hoodies. I'm wearing one right now, you know. Well, you didn't know unless you've installed a secret webcam in the office. I am wearing one, though. A hoodie, not a secret webcam.

I don't especially like hoodies.

Want me to tell you why?

I hope so, because I'm going to.

I would probably be all right with hoodies if they didn't have hoods... which would, I know, make them sweatshirts instead. That's ok with me. I'm very much in favour of big sloppy shirts that make you feel like retracting your hands into the sleeves, waving your arms around in the middle of a room, and repeating the word ladle over and over again...

Or maybe that's just me. Don't knock it 'til you've tried it, though. It's good fun on the right kind of day.

Anyway. Hoodies. Sweatshirts? I'm good with. Add a hood to that sweatshirt and everything starts to feel... I dunno. Bulky, I guess. I currently have no need of all of that extra fabric hanging off the back of my neck, so I'm not entirely sure why it has to be there.

Except to make a perfectly good sweatshirt adopt the alias hoodie, I guess. And when exactly did they become hoodies? When I was a kid they were kangaroo jackets, and happy enough to be so. And don't even get me started on bunny hugs.

The other thing wrong with hoodies is my hair. Yes, my hair is what's wrong with hoodies. My fine, flyaway, there's-no-way-I'm-going-to-have-anything-left-of-a-hairdo-if-I-pull-this-damned-hoodie-over-my-head hair. Let's face it. With this hair, once the hoodie goes on it has to stay on unless I want to look like a static electricity demo. And I don't want to look like that at work.

So now you're wondering why, if I feel that way, do I even own a hoodie (let alone wear one to work). Well, I don't. Own one, that is. Although I have recently started wearing one to work (as you might have guessed from the way that I'm complaining about wearing hoodies while at work).

You see, we have uniform shirts at work. Fairly casual uniform shirts, yes, but uniforms all the same. Shirts that I don't actually own but have to wear. Dark green, mostly. Currently I have a couple of short-sleeved t-shirts, a long-sleeved t-shirt, a non-dark-green collared shirt that's best in the summer, and... a brand-new hoodie that I'm wearing for the first time this week.

I think I hate the hoodie.

I didn't ask for the hoodie, which might be part of the problem. I would have liked something that opened in the front instead of having to be pulled over my head (I do own a hooded zip-up sweater that I seem to be able to wear without complaining about the hood part). In fact, I didn't even have my name on the hoodie list, but when Wheat got a better price than he was expecting on the hoodies he ordered hoodies for everyone. Hoodies that we (individual staffers, I mean) didn't have to pay for like we've had to in the past when they were more of a premium uniform item. Not having to pay made everyone happy.

Except for me, apparently, and I'm starting to feel like maybe I'm just being a bit cranky about the whole thing.

More than maybe...

Ah well.

So will I continue to wear the hoodie even though I'm not a fan? Oh, probably. Will I get used to it? Most likely. Will I wave my arms around in the middle of a room repeating the word ladle over and over again?

I expect so. It's been known to happen pre-hoodie, so why should post-hoodie be any different in that respect?




Don't you judge me.








ladleladleladleladleladleladleladleladleladleladleladleladleladleladleladleladle...

Pointless photo of the day:

That might be about it, too. I'm feeling very tired and draggy, and that sort of thing just leads to a post full of complaints.

Bet you hadn't noticed.

To top it off, after having reviewed the SAG red carpet photos (and, as usual, enjoyed seeing one site's best dressed labelled as worst dressed on the next) I don't really have much comment. Overall, not too bad. A couple of weird choices, Meryl Streep's housedress (as so aptly described by the not-Toronto office) the strangeness of sleeveless dresses with shoulder pads (at least two of those. Obviously more than one someone thought it was a flattering look for some reason)... but nothing to write home (or write blather) about in the end. The goods? Well, I thought Kyra Sedgwick's dress was very flattering to her.

Um, the end?

Yeah, I guess. Brain's not working anyway, judging by the amount of backspacing that's been going on in even this short post.




Later, all.

Mixed bag

Yeah, not really sure what you'll be getting out of me today.

My cold? Has apparently entered the sneeze phase. I think it's starting to hurt my brain.

Today's pointless photo? Just some nonsense that had been piling up on the piano here at my father's place, so last week I finally got around to taking them back with me. They're mostly quick doodles for Illustration Friday topics (check the other blog if you desperately want a closer look), and now I don't really know what to do with them. They're generally not of any quality to warrant doing anything with, but it seems weird to just throw them out. Ah well. Guess they'll be added to the doodle file for now. Until I get sick of the way things are piling up there...

Anything else? Well, I normally would have something snarky to say about the SAG Awards, but I guess I just wasn't in the mood to pay much attention last night so I'll have to buzz through the entertainment sites to see if anyone was wearing anything snarkworthy. I'm planning to blame the cold on this one. It's not usually like me to miss a chance to laugh at celebrities' poor choices in evening wear.

And that leaves?

Nothing, I suppose. Between the sneezing and the waking up too early I'm apparently not up to thinking about much. Best just to end here, then. Oh, and if any of my two fans want any of the silly doodles in the photo for their own nefarious (or even non-nefarious) purposes... you know where to find me.

General ignorance

Pointless spring photo, yes. I'll get the frosty winter ones off of the camera eventually.

Probably.

Anyway, onto (briefly. Still not feeling all that great, so the blather will be short again today) ignorance. I'm not at all ashamed to admit that I'm ignorant when it comes to video games. I've had a DSi for a couple of months now, I've been enjoying putzing around with it, but I haven't got a clue as to what I should be buying for it.

My first purchases (well, not purchases. Gift-card-ages) were, admittedly, just to get me started. Things that would help me get used to the hardware with no pressure, more or less. Now, though, I'm starting to feel a bit more confident about that side of things. It's probably time to look at challenging myself more.

With what, exactly?

Haven't the foggiest.

Definitely open to suggestions.

Not knowing squat about games can lead to some interesting ignorant purchases, though. The other day I was getting some groceries at one of those department store/grocery store mash-ups, and even though I wasn't going there to buy games I thought I may as well have a quick look in their electronics section to see if there was anything... ok, honestly? To see if there was anything cheap. All that missed work because of the lovely December weather (added to the cost of the car's "oil change") has me on a bit of a budget just at the moment. Anyway, it turns out that they were clearing out a few things to make room for some new stock so I was about to get a couple of games on sale. I may as well have closed my eyes and randomly stuck my hand in the bin for all I knew about what I was buying, but hey. You never know 'til you try, right?

Now, the funny thing is that I accidentally bought a game that I've since found out has quite a following and a fairly good rating.

Who knew?

Which game? Well, it doesn't really matter. Let's just say that it's in a genre that I wasn't entirely sure would suit me, but I've been finding it surprisingly entertaining. Even at my skill level.

I'm aware, however, that I'm not likely to have that kind of luck every time I buy from the bargain section, so I'm going to try not to make it a habit. Maybe I'll even start doing some research before I lay out the money. That'd probably make more sense.

That's the blather for today, I guess. Now I'm heading back to watch more of the fantastic show that I borrowed my post title from. Incidentally, I would absolutely love to be able to watch it in a more legal, less pirated form, TV People. Why in Whomever's name hasn't, say, the CBC looked into picking it up instead of showing the increasingly lame stuff they broadcast now?

Hmmm. Sounds like that might be a good topic for the I have nothing file which I really should start keeping...

Nooooooothing

Not even another winter photo. There are a few on my camera, but I'm too lazy to plug the thing in.

So. That leaves... nothing. I really have nothing. I have a hate-on for this cold and I'm not terribly thrilled about the weather, but I don't think that either of those things count as anything, really.

I have indecisiveness, if that helps. I can't decide whether or not to drive up to my father's place, because there's a chance that the roads might be a bit icy. Stupid fog. Stupid freezing drizzle. Stupid road report website that hasn't been updated since 5 am...

Ok, so apparently I do have something. Two things, actually. Indecisiveness and a bad mood.

Sounds like a good excuse to stop typing, if you ask me.



So I think I will.






Stop typing, that is. Not ask me.

Pointless photo of the day:

Pretty pointless, I'm sure you'll agree.

That'll be it from me today, I'm afraid. I'm having serious problems making my congested head work. Kind of kills my desire to blather.

I should, I suppose, go out and take pictures of all of the frosty trees from the ice fog we're currently having, but why do that when I can just sit here and feel generally crappy?

I'll leave you to imagine the trees, then. Or the crappiness. Whichever floats your boat.

Frankly, I really have no idea

About this post, I mean. There are things that I could post. There are things that I've been thinking about. Mostly, though, I'd just like to go back to bed.

I'm so congested right now it's not even funny.

And I've just posted a photo of deer scat on my blog.

This may not bode well, you know.

I did take the picture for a reason, believe it or not. I just figured you'd like to see what my father's back yard visitors leave behind on a regular basis. I don't know why I thought you might like to see it, but there you go anyway.

----------

I've been thinking that I should be talking more about my job on this blog, for some reason. Not sure why, really, except that maybe since my job is a bit out of the mainstream people might be interested in learn more about it.

Except...

My job is weird. I admit it. It can go from mundane to absolutely bizarre in the space of a phone call some days, but I've been doing it for so long that I hardly notice how weird my job can be until I actually try to tell someone about it. For example, and just off the top of my head, in the past way too many years here at the Centre I have:

• Strolled around a campground in an 1880s dress. And a judicial robe. And a lab coat. Not all at the same time, of course.
• Sung opera for donations at the same campground.
• Fed dead mice to snakes. Often.
• Spent a summer drawing spider pictures.
• Eaten an assortment of wild plants. And the occasional ant. That part is usually accidental.
• Tied a coworker to a fake spruce tree made out of coroplast.
• Told a well-meaning woman that her "poisoned" chickadees that were hopping up the trees upside-down were actually nuthatches.
• Done a helluva lot of desktop publishing (mundane, I suppose. But doesn't it seem weird compared to the other stuff?).
• Helped set off baking soda rockets in a school gymnasium.
• Made paper airplanes. Got paid for it.
• Learned my way around the school curriculum even though I got a science degree SPECIFICALLY so that I wouldn't become a teacher.
• Made ice cream. A lot.
• Made rope. A lot.
• Reconstructed ground squirrel skeletons from owl pellets. A lot...

And that's all on top of the usual nature walks, question-answering, and (as I've become seniorised) program creation and staff training that you might expect would be the job of someone who works at a nature centre.

Yeah, my job's a bit hard to peg. Have to say, though, that it's not generally boring.

Maybe I will try to write a little more about work in the future. Maybe. More likely, though, the blather will stay just as pointless as it's always been in the end.





You're... welcome?

This'll be short

Mostly because if it isn't short it'll just be whingey. And since you all know what it's like to have a cold, you don't need me to moan about mine.

I'm really not feeling wonderful, though. Thanks for asking.

----------

On a more serious note, Kate McGarrigle died. It's not unexpected, but that doesn't keep it from being sad.

If you don't know who I'm talking about, there's some info here (and some good clips).

You can see the whole family singing one of my favourite Stephen Foster songs here.

And for something a little lighter (and how most Canadians of my age remember the McGarrigle sisters), watch this.

An amazing woman, and an amazing family.

Head... too... full...

Hello, and welcome to my cold. I'm not going to complain about it too much today, however. Or at least I'll try not to. I would, however, like to say that if it wasn't for the fact that I'd arranged to do some staff training in the planetarium this morning there's a fairly good chance that I might still be wrapped up in my quilt and half-stoned on whatever convenient otc cold medication was on hand.

Ok. Now we've got that out of the way. And for any staffers who may accidentally read this blather, I apologise if I seemed like I was in a bad mood in star land today. I wasn't, really. Just tired and stuffy.

And, um, tired of one of the stays on my wrist brace hitting random keys as I type. I know I've gotten lazy with proper hand position over the years; I didn't really need the physical reminder.

Anyway. Normally this would be the spot where I go on at length about my favourite drunken awards show (the Golden Globes, for anyone who's not up on drunken awards shows). As it is, though, I don't have a whole whopping amount to say. Ricky Gervais? He was ok, I guess, but I still think that the Globes don't need a host. Just an open bar. The fashions? Safe and boring, on the whole. I did wonder why Drew Barrymore wore sea slugs on her waist and shoulder, I couldn't figure out why Tina Fey would choose to wear a circus tent for a skirt, and I always get a charge out of the way women who are wearing such expensive (and yet free to them) dresses can manage to look so bland, but there wasn't really an OMGWTFBBQ moment amongst the throng last night. On the whole, and as usual, I'm getting more entertainment out of going to the different gossip/fashion websites and seeing one person's BEST DRESSED!!! end up on the next person's HORRIBLE!!! list. I'd be disappointed if that didn't happen, really. It'd be like it wasn't actually an awards show at all.

As for the men... well, boys, thanks for the bow ties. There were quite a few of them, so maybe people are finally realising that a tux with a long tie is nothing but a weirdly shiny suit.

For those new to the program, I have... well, let's just say a thing for men in nicely tailored suits, and it always bugs me when they ruin the look with the wrong accessories. Yeah, I know.

The biggest disappointment for me was the red carpet, and that's not because the rain kept people from lingering and posing. It's because we no longer have access to an E! channel in these parts (ask me some day to tell you why Canwest Global is an evil, evil company), so I was stuck with the truly awful NBC red carpet hour instead. Awful, did I mention? Awful, awful, absolutely awful coverage, and incredibly disappointing for those of us who mostly tune in to laugh at the fashions.

As for the ceremony itself... honestly? It's not really why I tune in. Well, except for the possibility of a good tipsy faux pas or several. There was a only tiny bit of that last night, it seemed to me. Or maybe it was just that my stuffy head was making it hard for me to get into the spirit of things. I don't know. I can't help but think, somehow, that when one of the "highlights" was listening to Ahnold introduce Avidah it might be an indication that it wasn't a terribly exciting night.

I did have an interesting text conversation with the not-Toronto office, though. Do you find it weird that we watch these things together via text? Ok, maybe last night wasn't too bad since we were both watching it at the same time, but when they put us Westerners on time delay and she's telling me things a couple of hours in advance that can get a little confusing.

Um. So much for not having a whole whopping amount to say. I'm going now. And, hopefully, going back to my quilt soon.





And the other stuff I mentioned earlier. You've got to have some fun when you have a cold, right?

Snork

Well, much as I predicted... there seems to be a cold coming on. Yippee. Be prepared for a heckuva lot of bitchery in the blog's near future.

----------

You'll notice from the pointless photo that I did manage to get outside and take a few new shots yesterday. They won't be terribly exciting for two reasons, though (I mean besides the fact that the photographer herself isn't feeling terribly exciting). Reason number one would be that it's still winter, and I think at this point we all know how I feel about winter. Reason number two would be that I forgot my camera in my briefcase, which is at home (at least I hope that the camera is in the briefcase which is at home), so I borrowed my father's camera to take yard shots as well as a photo of yesterday's Illustration Friday doodle.

Um, see the other blog for that. If you're desperate to. And since I seem to be in the mood to reference the other blog continually, after I post this I'll muddle around with the sidebar to make the other blog a bit easier to find.

Anyway. Yesterday's photos. Borrowed camera.

My father's camera is a decent one, but it's getting a bit older and doesn't have as many fiddly little features as I'm currently used to... well, fiddling with. Or maybe it does and I've just forgotten how to use them. That's possible.

I used to use my father's camera quite regularly for taking blog photos before I got my own, but it's been a few years now. Things work juuust differently enough with his compared to mine that it took a little thought to figure out what I wanted it to do. Or it would have if I'd been at all concerned with what I wanted to do. To be honest, yesterday I probably could have made do with a disposable point-and-shoot for the amount of effort I put into picture-taking.

Assuming that I could have figured out a way to upload photos from a disposable camera without having the film processed, naturally. Somehow I'm not sure it would have worked too well.

I'm just rambling here at the moment, you know. But then I'm sure you figured that out.





As a matter of fact, I think I'm mostly out of ramble at this point. Maybe I'd best call it a blather and stop typing.

Yep, sounds good to me.

WONderful

I might get out and take some new photos today. Maybe.

If I don't, though, I have a good reason. Or at least a reason. You see, I seem to have solved the mystery of the week-long sinus headache.

Yep.

I appear to be getting a cold.

Yep.

Now, if this turns out to be a cold, no big deal. Yes, I'll likely whinge about it. Yes, I'll feel like hell for a few days. But what really, really ticks me off is a cold that feels the necessity to announce itself with a WEEK. LONG. HEADACHE. Over a week long, even.

How stupid is that?

Well, if not stupid at least very annoying.

----------

Needless to say, I'm not especially in the mood to blather at length. I could, however, announce that I've been enjoying doodling again.

Ok, I realise that for anyone who ever checks the other blog (Shrubbery on the blogroll on the sidebar. I'm too lazy to link today) the above statement is not exactly news. I've been posting doodles reasonably regularly, I've been doing Illustration Friday almost every week (I have an idea for this week's prompt, but whether or not it happens depends on the state of my unhappy head later today), and courtesy of a Christmas gift card I have new toys to play with. I even have a new sketchbook which, as I told the not-Toronto office, I have already defaced (somewhat) in a bid to stop myself from getting too OLF about keeping the thing perfect so that I can have a place to just experiment.

Um, yeah. I seriously did have to purposely muck it up in order to have any chance of making that happen. It's fun being an obsessive little freak sometimes.

So why do I even mention that I'm enjoying doodling? Well, because I have a history of serial interests. I'll be all over something for a while, spend most of my time doing it, and then I'll be on to the next thing. I'm such a magpie, you know. Collecting shiny new interests and then dropping them for the next, shinier thing. My true interests seem to return in rotation, though. I might leave off for a while, but I'll get back to it eventually.

It's like I don't have a long enough attention span to maintain more than two active hobbies at once.

Oh, all right. To be fair to myself I should say that I think I can handle about four hobbies at once. As long as three of them can be benignly neglected for a week at time, I guess.

Anyway, what I'm saying is that things tend to come in and out of focus in my wee little brain. At the moment, for example, the piano hasn't been touched in about a year because I got bored with trying to keep my voice in decent shape just for the sake of keeping my voice in shape. If, however, a tempting offer to perform came up... yeah, I could see myself getting right back in the thick of things. I haven't given up music as a hobby; it's just resting for a bit.

And doodling?

I'm currently having a lot of fun with it. I still get frustrated when I don't know how to do something (read: yes, I'm still a crap painter), but just now I'm still willing to play around and see if I can figure it out. A year from now? Who knows. I might get aggravated, put things aside for a while, and take up knitting toques and scarves full-time again like I was a few years back.

I, um, like knitting toques and scarves, by the way. They don't take long enough for my five-year-old self to want to give up and go play with another toy. I have managed to knit one afghan in my life, actually, but only because it was done in one foot square pattern blocks that were sewn together later...

I'm really saying a little too much about the workings of my mind today, aren't I?

Ah well. Let's just wrap up by saying that doodling is something that always seems to come back in my life (like singing, knitting, and... erm... writing bad poetry) so I'm not especially worried if I end up going through a dry spell again sometime in the near future.

Although I hope I don't any time soon. I'm kind of enjoying being a pretend artist on the internets.







Another time maybe we'll discuss why the word pretend in that last sentence is so very important to my mental health.

Sad but true, that.

Pointless non-seasonal photo of the day:

To go with yesterday's, of course.

That's it for me at the moment because I have work to do before I head into my father's place for the weekend. And let me tell you, after yesterday's unexpectedly expensive oil change (that became oh so much more), the bloody car better get me to my father's place.

Later, all.

Sigh

Not much blather from me today, I'm afraid. The headache is still on but decided to do full-force just to make it worth my while. Or something. Also, the on-again off-again wrist brace is on again, which makes typing an especial joy.

Both of these things may have something to do with the fact that I took another flying leap (well, maybe not the flying part. Or the leap. Ok, it was more like a slide that ended badly) in the apartment's parking lot yesterday. I'm liking the warm weather, don't get me wrong about that, but the layer of ice we're getting on top of everything from the daily thaw/refreeze cycle is making things interesting for the balanced challenged folk out there like Yours Gimpily.

Today? I wore my cleats out to the car.

I feel like a dork when I wear the cleats, but at least they keep me from sliding under my vehicle.

So. I think I'll make this it for today because any more words would just mean more backspace key.

And probably more whining.




You're welcome, everyone.

Whinge avoidance

Yes, the photo is pointless. They usually are, you know.

----------

Now, to avoid sounding like a whiny little five-year-old. Or attempt to, anyway. It would be a good day for a whinge if I wasn't trying to avoid it, though. I could have complained about the world's lengthiest headache, for example. Still, yes. I have no idea what's causing it (again: still, yes) but since pseudoephedrine and ibuprofen seem to be taking the edge off I'm assuming at this point that it has something to do with my sinuses. And probably our current weather system. Ironic that warmer weather tends to set off headaches, no? It should be the other way around as far as I'm concerned.

So, yeah. I could whinge about that. I could also whinge about not wanting to deal with twenty ECS kids this afternoon, but since that's part of my job I wouldn't expect any sympathy on your part.

There's also the chance that I could moan about the difficulties of brace-wearing. What do you do when your wrist brace really helps ease the throbbing of, oddly enough, your wrist (that tried to stop me from falling on my backside last week when I slipped in the parking lot) but at the same time it also really messes with the barely-controlled eczema on your hand? The brace is off today, which means that my wrist is back to hurting. AND, of course, my hand is itchy anyway.

See? All these nice whiny things. How am I supposed to not whinge with all of those options?

Anyway.

At least the internet is back today. We've been having router problems at work (or at least that's the last guess I heard) and things were annoyingly intermittent. Thanks to the not-Toronto office for dropping by to not-whinge in my place here. Just so you know, you're welcome to post your mystery photo even though I've managed a blather (of sorts) today. Maybe if I saw it on something that wasn't my phone screen it wouldn't be such a mystery to me.

Or maybe not. I'm still an expert at the art of I Don't Know, after all. In this job, you kind of have to be.

Speaking of job, I should get back to work.




Sans whinge.







I'm not sure that I really avoided it here...

So, as I was saying ....

Oh. Wait. I haven't been saying anything have I. Heck the photo to the left is the only tweet from me in months as well. Besides which, I don't have any of those accounts that would keep you hanging on my every moment and action of the day: "brushing teeth now" .... "moving planter to the other table again" .... yeh, I'd be downright fascinating.

As you can see, life has changed out here "in the country". My stress level response... well, I rarely have one now. Let's just say that I take my time in deciding whether I'm looking at a red-breasted nuthatch or a chickadee; a downy or a pileated woodpecker simply because now I can.

And today's thought to ponder: why is it that once a person has all the time in the world, it goes by so darned fast. Every single day, I swear, it's five p.m. before I know it. I'm just sayin' ...

Beeep beeep beeep beeep beeep

Yeah, I never did get around to taking any new snow photos this weekend. Here's one from a year or two ago, though.

Incidentally, I don't think it's possible to measure how staggeringly much easier it is to get me out of my apartment when it isn't minusgodawful outside. It's like putting on a different head or something.

Or at least a different attitude.

----------

I've figured out that if there is ever a fire in my apartment building I will, very probably, die.

And why's that, Dee?

Well, let's just say that when the fire alarm went off this morning it didn't even cause me to pause my recording of No Reservations from last night. And I wasn't entirely enraptured with the subject matter, either.

See, the thing is that I ignore our alarm far more often than I ever pay attention to it. I can be forgiven for today because I know that they're supposed to be doing some testing this week, but when you consider how easily I can ignore the alarm under almost any circumstances it's a little bit frightening.

It's the whole cry wolf scenario, you know. The alarm goes off way too often and way too easily. Some of it's the high percentage of college-aged first-time-away-from-home tenants, I suppose, but a lot of it is old building crankiness. For example? Well, if someone doesn't completely latch the back entrance any time the temperature's below about -20C, the fire alarm goes off. Seriously. Our alarm goes off when it's feeling chilly.

It's almost as bad as the fact that my apartment's hypersensitive smoke detector goes off if I happen to have anything more than a lukewarm shower. That's the beeping in the post title, by the way. I haven't heard it lately, but that's only because I've steeled myself to having very short, very unsatisfying, not warm enough showers whenever it's cold enough outside to prevent me from opening the window wide enough to help the completely inadequate bathroom fan disperse any steam before it makes it up to the bloody smoke detector.

And you wonder why I ignore alarms?

The sad thing about all of this is that I am very truly afraid of dying in a fire. I've always, for as long as I can remember, been phobic about being burned. Phobic to the point where it was hard for me to learn how to cook because I was scared to get too close to the stove (my mother, if you wondered, eventually gave up and made me take Home Economics in junior high. I suppose she figured that the teacher may as well deal with the problem. It wasn't exactly fun, but it did work so I'll give her credit for the thought). I've often joked that the one thing that could make me believe in reincarnation is my fear of burning. Who knows? Maybe I was a witch in another life...

Um, anyway. It just goes to show that too many false alarms can turn even a fire-phobic into a shrug-it-off.

I'm not sure that counts as a good thing.




But at least I haven't burned down yet.

That does count as a good thing.

Clams

Today's pointless photo is, of course, not of clams. It's also not of snow, because I didn't get around to taking any new pictures this weekend (yet). I did, however, sort of get around to starting the lily drawing I was thinking of doing yesterday. Sort of. As in, I did start one but it was after fooling around doing other things for quite a long time. Eventually I did find a lily to doodle (well, a picture of a lily) and got a bit of a start, but by then it was too late to really bother finishing. I'll have another whack at it this morning and if it turns out worth looking at in the slightest I'll post it on the other blog.

You needed to know all of that, yes.

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Now, clams. I had a slightly odd dream about clams last night. My mother had made breaded clams (breaded including the shell. I did say that this was an odd dream) and was watching to see if I liked them. So, naturally, I had to try to eat the clams.

There was more, but the clams were the weirdest part for a few reasons. First of all, my mother never made clam anything. Heck, I'm from Alberta. We have cows, not clams. I didn't grow up with fresh seafood readily at hand, so naturally it never became a big part of my life. It's not that I mind eating fish or other sea creatures; it's just that it's not something that normally comes to mind for me.

Notice how I said fish rather than clams in that last sentence? Yeah. That was on purpose. I don't eat clams. That was the other weird part of the dream. The fact that I'd be contemplating eating clams at all, even if my mother cooked them.

I don't eat clams. Is it because I don't like clams? Not a clue. I couldn't tell you for sure if I'd ever had a clam. I've had oysters (breaded, strangely enough. But not in the shell) and didn't especially care for them, but as a zoologist I can tell you that oysters and clams are, in fact, not the same thing.

They do, however, have something in common, and it's why I'd prefer not to eat either of them. Funnily enough, it even has something to do with the "as a zoologist" part.

Ever since university I've had a great deal of difficulty eating bottom-dwelling filter feeders. To my mind anything that sits on the ocean floor and feeds by sucking in water and filtering out whatever happens to be floating around in it at the time is very likely to be feeding on some of the GROSSEST THINGS POSSIBLE. We're doing a good job of mucking up our oceans, especially on the coastlines, and a lot of those shellfish are living in places where pollution is all too easily available.

Yep, I have more than a bit of a mental block about filter feeders. For the same reason I avoid eating any of the baleen whales, you know. No whale steaks for me, boyo.

I do have a couple of reluctant exceptions on the filter-feeding menu, though. Reluctant because in my heart of hearts I know that they're no different in their likelihood to pick up things that I'd rather not have in my diet, but they're so good that I had to find a way to rationalise them to myself.

The exceptions to the rule, then, are shrimp and scallops.

And how can I make them exceptions?

Well... shrimp aren't strictly benthic, so that's easy. They're not simply sitting on the bottom sucking in all of the crap around them; they're... erm... only usually sitting on the bottom sucking in all of the crap around them. Um. Yeah. I didn't say that this was a perfect rationalisation. Hey, at least shrimp can move around to a different place if the crap around them is particularly crappy, right?

And as for scallops? At least they swim. Clams don't, as far as I know (hey, I'm a mammalogist, all right? I had one entire invertebrates course in university, and that was far too many years ago for me to remember many details). They swim, and you generally only eat the muscle around here as opposed to the whole animal. Yes, I realise that the muscle's as likely to be polluted as the rest of the animal, but somehow it makes it easier for me to deal with.

And... you needed to know that? Maybe?

Well, I suppose you might if you were taking me out for supper. Especially on a Friday.





I really have no idea what I'm blathering on about at this point, ok? I fully admit it.

Guess I should go back to working on my lily then?







Yeah.

Pointless flower photo of the day:

I like lilies. I like the strong lines and the simple patterns. I like drawing lilies, too. Maybe I should draw a lily sometime today.

After all, I have new toys to play with since Christmas.

And yes, paper does count as a toy.

If you're me.

I have those new bamboo brushes as well that I really should something with besides practicing washes on scrap paper.

Maybe I should paint a lily.







Nah. I like lilies and I'm a crap painter, so maybe I'll just show my like of lilies by not assaulting them in watercolour.

What I should do is... have lunch, really. I've been doing the laundry as is usual for me on a Saturday morning, but what's not usual is having so much laundry to do. Over two weeks' worth of my own stuff, a bit of my father's, and a whole WHOPPING load of towels. I'm not sure of the why on the towels. They're mostly his, not mine.

I guess it's been a good week for the usage of towels.

Anyway. More laundry means I've been busy with other things and have neglected the blather until now. Now, though, I'm starting to get hungry. That plus day three of the mystery headache makes me not exactly blatherific (as you've no doubt noticed) and even more pointless than normal to read.

And that's pretty darned pointless, boys and girls.

As to the headache, it's not as bad as it was a couple of days ago. Still not gone, however, and it's a little puzzling at this point. Often when a headache lasts this long it has something to do with my wonky neck, but this isn't feeling like a neck-headache.

That's a good thing, by the way. Neck-headache generally means that I'll wake up the next day not able to turn in one direction, and that's about as pleasant as you'd imagine it is. Great thing for my mother to have left me, don't you think? Some people get money, some people get family heirlooms, and I get my mother's screwed-up neck.

Unfortunately, not the kind of thing you can take back and exchange.






Um, anyway. Again. This seems to be heading into the beautiful suburb of Whinge awfully quickly, and since I've spent altogether too much time there lately I think we should hit the highway and bypass it for a change. I'm off to find some lunch now. After that, maybe a lily.

Not for lunch, of course. Although some of them are supposed to be good eating...

Something something blog post

Yeah, I don't have much. I don't even have another pointless photo of snow at the moment. More on the weekend, maybe.

Besides, I really should be working.

It did warm up today, by the way. It hasn't helped me get rid of the ongoing headache (not sure what's up with that, by the way, but it can go away any time), but it has made me a shade less grumpy.

I guess.

...

Yep, still got nothing.




I suppose I should go, then.

Augh

Very little blather from me today, I'm afraid, because it'll all head straight into the whinge zone. I have a headache that I've been trying to shake all day (I've said it before and I'll say it again -- one of the biggest cheats in life is to wake up with a headache. Especially when you haven't done anything to cause it the day before), it's still stupidly cold with a windchill of minus youhavetobekiddingme, and when I went out to my car to get to work I slipped while climbing over one of the windrows (snow windrow, for those of you lucky enough to live in climates where you don't have to be familiar with the term) and ended up doing an arse-plant into a snow bank. Not a good idea when cold isn't your friend, and I think I may have screwed up my wrist again in the process.

Um, again, yes. Yet another joint that I managed to bugger up a few years ago. But then I think I've mentioned that before.

Whingingly, no doubt.

Anyway, I'm having a great day. I was having a better day yesterday when I couldn't make myself leave the apartment because DID I MENTION THAT IT'S COLD? They say it's supposed to warm up tomorrow, but I will sooo believe that when I see it.

Until then, then.

I'm going off to whinge quietly to myself now. Or maybe noisily to Wheat. We'll see which one works better.

Winter?

I'm over it.

I'm over the snow (I swear to Whomever that we already have more snow than we usually get in two winters. Sure, it's not nearly as much as you folks east of us have to deal with on a regular basis, but let me have my whinge). I'm over the darkness. And I'm especially over the cold.

Erm... for those new to the program I should say that I have a perfectly valid reason to dislike the cold. You would too if it made you feel as ill as it makes me feel. Stupid weird allergies anyway. For extra fun and if you want to see some reasonably unpleasant pictures, google cold-induced urticaria and "ice cube test". Go ahead. I dare you. And yes, that's exactly what they did to diagnose me when I was a kid. It was as pleasant as it looks.

Today it's about -15C and humid. The humid part makes sense when you consider that it's been snowing on and off, I guess. The problem with humid, though, is that humid makes me react faster. Yay. Stupid weird allergy + stupid winter = please can I move to Belize or something already?

Brushing off the car was definitely not something I wanted to be doing today, I can tell you.

Hey, since I've already started whining about the stupid weird allergy, would you like to know how it started? I don't think I've blathered about that in a while.

It would have been the summer before I started grade five, I think. My brother and I came down with a weird rash. Weird enough that the doctor actually came to the house to see if he could figure out what was causing it (came to the house, yes. But small-town doctors used to do that in those days). I don't imagine that my brother even remembers because he has no reason to, but I can because I think that the rash must have set off weird things in my body chemistry. The fall after that I started to feel strange every time I went out in the cold. My face would feel numb and bumpy (I didn't know that it was a rash because I couldn't see myself) and my fingers would swell so much that I couldn't bend them. I didn't say anything about it because it kind of freaked me out.

Um, that was the kind of kid I was. If something freaked me out I kept it a secret. Makes no sense, I know, but then neither do I most of the time.

This would have gone on for a while before anyone thought anything of it except for the fact that I had a fairly young, fairly new, fairly panicky teacher that year. And one day I came in from recess with my face all puffy and bumpy and she took one look at me and decided that I had the measles, of all things, and had to go to the infirmary right away to wait for my mother to come get me.

We had no school nurse, but we did have an infirmary. Where I waited and picked up on the teacher's panic and started bawling (well... that wasn't a stretch for me. I bawled all the time at just about anything). And by the time my mother arrived... the rash had gone down. But the teacher made her take me home anyway.

And that started the doctor visits.

And that's when I finally told people that I felt funny when I got cold.

And that's why they put the ice cube on my arm to see if I'd react to it.

And that, boys and girls, is when winter became very, very different for me. Not that I was exactly in love with winter before all of that happened, mind, but that's when winter became too many months of near-hell that I have to spend bundled up and trying not to look like a walking disease.

Yes, it's not fun.

And I've been blathering on way too long considering that I'm supposed to be working, I suppose. Too bad, too. You'll miss the part of the rant that goes on and on about the cold showers....





Don't worry. I'll likely feel like blathering about that at some point, too.

So...

I... um... kind of forgot to blog.

It happens, especially when I don't come in at my usual time.

I'm not in at my usual time today, actually. I'm in late because I'll be here late because I have a planetarium program.

You needed to know that.

I guess.

Anyway, I forgot to blog, I need to get ready for the program, and I don't really have anything prepared. So... um...





Enjoy the spruce tree?






I guess.

Ok, it's not so much that I don't have anything to say...

It's just that I really don't have time.

Terrible when a person actually works at work, isn't it?

Catch you later.




Oh, I will say that today's photo is all about the shape of the dead plant. You know, in case you wondered.

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Edited to say that if you'd like to see my first doodle with my new Pitt pens (courtesy of... well, Christmas. I usually use Pigma Microns but I thought I'd give Pitt pens a try) it's on the other blog. And yes, it's work-related. What else would you expect when I'm at work?

The answer to that question changes depending on whether you work with me or not...

So... what's up with you, Dee?

Oh, not much.

And what's up with the pointless photo, Dee?

Well, somebody out there knows. For the rest of you... oh, not much.

Hardly worth nearly a week of my not blogging, isn't it?

Ok, the fact is that between the shi cold weather and a few days of not sleeping enough to be safe driving (hell, for a couple of days there I didn't sleep enough to be safe standing up) I haven't been out much. Therefore, I haven't been near a computer. Therefore, no blather.

Just as well, though. It's not like I've had anything much to say. And my two fans know that when I have nothing to say this place either becomes the home of completely useless rambling or a place where I just say that I have nothing to say.

Um, yeah.

Anyway, I should get back to work. Work on a Saturday, yes. That's what tends to happen when you don't show up on the other days because it's too cold for you to want to dig out the car.

See you... um... tomorrow, maybe.

When I'll probably have nothing to say.