Day Thirty-One - Day for Night

I originally had an idea to "reverse a day" for one of my ETs. Like, AM would be PM. I'm not saying that I'm not going to do that, because I might...but consider this an important test run. I find it incredibly difficult to wake up in the morning without a shower - a very hot one at that [I like to steam myself like a lobster]. But then, there are some days when you just don't want to wake up in time to bathe [alluring!]...

Today was one of those days. I had been @ work until 8:30 on Thursday night and had to be back in the office @ 7am this morning, so I made the executive decision to swap my morning shower for an evening one. This resulted in an extra 30 minutes of sleep. It wasn't as gross as one might think. I was beyond stressed out @ work, so I forgot all about the lack of shower once I got in.

In addition, night shower is truly glorious. When I was in university I "discovered" the joys of night shower and then I would shower three times per day [because I liked to shower after naps as well]. So, after the most crap day ever @ work and worst night of sleep ever on Thursday I was really happy to come home to my red lobster shower.

And High School Musical 2 - the Dancealong version!

Day Thirty - So Long, Farewell...

I don't like saying goodbye. I'm rather bad @ it and I'm super emotional and melodramatic. So, it's best to be avoided. I usually do this to great success by hiding in the bathroom. Mature! Anyway, our lovely IT chick, Cynthia, has decided to leave our firm and she will be missed. I fully expect my computer to light itself on fire the moment I come in on Monday morning. Today - we had to say an orchestrated goodbye, which is a bit easier than my usual social graces.

Never one to turn down a free meal I attended a farewell lunch for a co-worker. The food was just okay - pasta is generally too heavy for a weekday lunch meal for me and it involved the dreaded eggplant [which I strenuously avoided - perhaps thats an ET for another day]. The people I work with are really the best part of this job [well, the people I like anyway] - so it will be hard to go on without Cynthia, but I know she will be an awesome success!

Follow your heart kid, and you'll never go wrong!

Day Twenty-Nine - On the Ball

"The Ball" at work has been home to quite a few butts. Originally it belonged to one of our partners and it was quite amusing to see him gleefully bouncing on it. Once Kathryn started to work here she inherited the ball and Brett has also given it a go [other people too...but my memory fails]. Today, it was my turn.

I sat on "the ball" for most of the workday. I even wore pants for the grand day ["don't you hate pants?"]. I have terrible posture and no ab muscles [okay, I do have muscles or I wouldn't be able to move, but I'm pretty mooshy], so I thought the ball would be a good challenge for me.

It surely made my back ache. A lot. At the end of the day I read some highly critical articles about using the ball as a seat. I should have read them first.

Day Twenty-Eight - Lazy Tuesday [let's mack on some cupcakes]

So I wander in to work this morning - cane in full effect and carrying my icky summer handbag and umbrella and it's Tuesday...so yuck. Then all that changed when my coworker Brett [aka Corporate Kitty] produced a box of cupcakes to share with me and two other coworkers, Kathryn and Laura. But these were extra special cupcakes - I mean, cupcakes are ordinarily special...but extra!

I ate a cupcake from Magnolia Bakery in NYC. One of Brett's friends brought them for him and he was lovely enough to share. If I had those cupcakes I would have ate them all before 9am. Maybe I would have photographed them, but I certainly wouldn't be sharing [what can I say, I'm an only child].

Not only were they crazy delicious - but this marks the first time that I've completed by "thing" for the day before 9am.

Day Twenty-Seven - Delightfully Tacky Yet Unrefined

I'm not entirely sure how the tradition began, but it is indeed a grand one. Every year my friend Lisa and I have a pre-Christmas celebration...at Hooters. It seems like every year we pick up someone new/different to bring, although a couple of times we have gone by ourselves. One time I even brought my boss.

We decided to live it up on a Monday this time and we celebrated our annual pre-xmas Hooters hootenany with Dee! Dee is a mutual friend and I feel as though she "just got back" from Korea, when in reality she got back a year and a half ago.

It was fun - there was fried food and beer [yes, I drank even though Lisa is a big puritan]...although too little food for me as I'm a little piggy, apparently. It was wonderful to see Dee again and to see Lisa as well - I never seem to spend enough time with people like this who I genuinely like. Mostly I think it's because they are incredibly hip chicks who have friends much cooler than me.

Day Twenty-Six - Our Balls Are Bigger

I was raised to like sports...or to at least like watching sports [which works out better for me since I'm hopeless @ actually playing them]. However, some sports I have just never been interested in at all - including the CFL and hockey [there are others, but these are the most mainstream/widely televised]. I did own a tshirt from the CFL that said "Our Balls Are Bigger" but only because I thought it was funny. I'm not even sure it's true.

So today being Grey Cup Sunday [the not-quite-ready-for Primetime Superbowl?] I decided to give it a chance and I watched Canadian football. It was...not good. It felt amateur at best with the tiny looking players and really subpar atheleticism [though really, a lot of NFL players are really not fine athletic specimens]. I was shocked @ how many people were @ the SkyDome watching. I managed to watch almost an entire half before realizing there was a Mythbusters marathon on the Discovery Channel.

I guess I'm a bad Canadian [again - maybe this should be the theme of my blog]. But yeah, Go Roughriders! Yup, it's still funny...

Day Twenty-Five - Nectar of the Gods

Today is unofficially Battlestar Galactica day in my house as it's new Galactica on my TV tonight! I wanted to do something to celebrate that...but didn't want to work on the tedious paper models that Joseph has had great success with...and I was kinda scrambling for an idea. BSG fans [to the best of my knowledge] don't really have a lot of nerdy fan things that they do...but perhaps I could invent one.

Left to my own devices, I chose something creative and stimulating. I was originally going to attempt to smoke a cigar in honour of Starbuck, but I remember how that went down the last time I attempted to smoke [I did go quite green and threw up]. Instead I made and drank ambrosia. Apparently it is a real drink, although not green like on Battlestar. It has multiple brandies, triple sec, lemons and champagne and is served in a highball glass [I cooked it up in a martini shaker so I wouldn't have to use ice]. I suppose I could have dyed it green with food colouring.

The taste was...not entirely awful...but not great either. Very powerful. I felt like I could taste the sulphites. I drank most of it and left some for the fruit flies. I have had a 40% migraine ever since.

Day Twenty-Four - Turning Japanese

I like to eat sushi. A lot and often. I'm actually trying to curb this habit so I can go back to being vegetarian, but I am very weak. And it is very tasty. Not a good combination.

Usually when I go for sushi I get one of two orders...so tonight I ordered something completely different - vegetarian maki and red bean ice cream. I felt like George in that episode of Seinfeld where he orders the opposite of what he has for lunch. The vegetarian maki was just okay as they were out of shiso leaf. And the ice cream was surprisingly good. Generally, desserts + beans = no. I mean, one would assume - until tonight I have never tried it before.

Also, it felt better to eat vegetarian maki the day after and not be so concerned about dying of food poisoning [not that I ate the leftovers].

Day Twenty-Three - Happy Turkey Day

I will readily admit it - I do have affection for Americans. I guess that makes me a bad Canadian or a bad left-wing type person, but there - I've said it. I always have, too. In particular, I have long admired the way they celebrate things. I enjoy how they go big or go home - it's a good motto. When I was younger my family travelled to the Detroit area for American Thanksgiving - for the football and the shopping and it was a fine tradition. This year, I decided to step it up a bit.

I took the day off of work and I celebrated American Thanksgiving. Even just taking a day off could have qualified as an Extraordinary Thing for me, I guess - but I wanted to make the day special - it ended up being our first snowfall, so that was special too. I headed out to the shops in the morning [tearing myself away from the quality Cold Case Files marathon on A&E - *swoon*] to pick up my fixins for the dinner. Got home in time to catch most of the dog show on NBC [I admit, I only watched the Macy's parade for about four seconds as I hate parades] - which is kinda becoming part of my American Thanksgiving traditions. Then I baked a cake for dessert [banana with chocolate chips] and settled down in front of the TV for beer and football. Finally, with Joseph heading home I cooked a fine Thanksgiving meal involving turkey and pasta [because I think Tofurkey is a crime against nature]. I guess I could round out the day by going to bed early and then waking up to go shopping @ 4am, but none of our stores are that crazy!

I would like to celebrate a bunch of holidays this year that have no real meaning to me - so any suggestions would be appreciated. They can be religious or not - I'm pretty open minded.

Day Twenty-Two - Cinderella

It may come as a surprise to you to know that I don't attend many galas. Really, I don't. However, the company I work for is one of the main sponsors/organizers of Canada's CEO of the Year. For the award they have a gala, this year it was held in the new part of the ROM.

I always like to raise my hand to help out so tonight I attended Canada's CEO of the Year Gala. Yeah, as a volunteer, but it still counts. My duty was to stand by a curtain @ the opposite end of the room from the rest of my coworkers and help people manage the curtain and find the bathrooms. It was invigorating. My knee had a spasm and is now in pain. Lots of guys in tuxedos - not too many women. Seemed like most folks were having a good time. I did my duty and did not leave my post and did help a number of people find the bathroom. Everyone has a skill. At the end of the night us volunteers got free drinks and some appetizers.

I don't really have anything good to say about the ROM. It looks like the newly renovated terminal @ Pearson Airport. It's cold - both in temperature and spirit. The architecture makes me dizzy. It's dark. The staff are mean. I don't think I will be going back anytime soon.