R.I.P. Pontus, Sept 19, 2009 - May 1, 2010

After weeks of not eating, Pontus has finally gone back to the pond in the sky.  Not sure what was going on, and being a fish, it's not like I could force-feed him.  He didn't seem to like getting his water changed (since I put him from one jar to the other), so I increased the conditioner and lessened the water change.  He had a favourite fake plant that he liked to sleep on, so I always put that into his tank.  I'm not sure if my mistake was giving him a fish roe that'd fallen off my sushi.  As usual, once he got something particularly yummy, he wouldn't eat anything else.  Didn't eat the bloodworms, particularly when he couldn't gulp down a big one.  Although it was kinda funny watching him try to eat it.


And when he stopped eating for 2 weeks, I specifically bought a sushi set that had the fish roe piled on top.  But he wouldn't eat it fresh, wouldn't eat it dry.  He was still quite active up until the last few days, whacking the floating themometre around.  But when I dropped in food, he glance at it and swim on by.  Even when I moved it in front.   So is it possible for a fish to commit suicide?

Not sure if I'll get another one anytime soon.  4 fish in 3-4 years seems a bit much.  Probably if I do, I should get it after my SDCC trip. Don't wanna have to try to find another sitter.

Cleaning Desk and Mind

So I've finally updated my blog on my LA trip (July 2008). It's just been sitting for a while. It was part of cleaning up my desk on the weekend. I recently bought an MP3 player, mostly b/c it's super-hard to find decently CD/MP3 players, and the 2 that I have are pretty dead. I'm back to using my older one (which had the issue of skipping, randomly stopping) for travel, and left the newer one for sleeping to b/c it had the issue of randomly repeating the same note 60x/sec until you pulled out the battery. Which was underneath the CD. So yeah, it kinda sucked. Hilariously enough, my MP3 player is from Sony who were the makers of those CD/MP3 players. Anyways, it was a result of getting a $25 coupon at their VIP event, + $20 off the MP3 player, and thinking I should enter 2001 finally. So I have the purple NWZ-S545, and have uploaded all the MP3s on my computer. Which left over 9 GB. Unfortunately Windows Media Player 11 sucks and can't play (let alone convert) any of my anime or most of my videoclips. Even though if they're .avi or .wmv. WTF?! VLC Player rules. Anyhoo, back to what I was supposed to be talking about. The store didn't have any leather cases for it, and who the hell wants to use a silicone case that'll turn my beautiful purple player into some puked-up looking thing? So I had been reusing the screen label to prevent scratches. But I lost it somewhere on my desk. Hence, the clean up.

I do have Radioshack screen protectors now, but I did boo-boo and there's dust underneath. The Radioshack/Source dealer said they eventually come off, I guess we'll see how long they last. Due to the fact that my $25 coupon only lasted that day, I had 0 research on the player. So it sat in the box for a couple of days, while I Googled. It's not bad, I did play with it a bit, and it's playing right now. I'm using it instead of Sonique b/c lots of my music are in folders, which Sonique has problems w/. The speakers aren't bad, not as good as my computer speakers, but that's expected. I'm not too thrilled w/ the fact that if you have it on music, and then switch it to pictures, you can't get back to music. Really annoying when it's on shuffle. Pretty annoyed that you can't have alarm and sleep timer on at the same time. If you set it to alarm, it immediately turns off. I've looked at some possible cases, and I'm thinking of crochetting it. The headphones will stick out of it anyways (unless it's a mega-case, in which case, how's it going to fit in a pocket?), so it just needs to be protected from scratches (a big issue apparently) and bumps. My cell's done pretty good after 3+ years.

Speaking of cell (and to think that my wrist has been hurting all day. Yesterday it was my right that would get sharp pains if I bent it a certain way. Now it's the left), I just renewed my contract. They called me for "customer satisfaction survey", which of course was the sales dept to see what they could offer. I said a new phn would be nice, but I don't like anything they had. So he was like, well I can offer you a $5CR each month. And since I'd recently looked at my plan (I'm going to be travelling soon, so wanted to know what the roaming chrg and plans were), I knew that I wasn't using that many minutes and could save so much more money if I switched. So I was like, "well how about you drop the system access fee?" (It's $6.95/month) which would give me the price of the other plan, but I'd have 150 more daytime minutes but still ppu for SMS (which I don't use much anyways). So he's like, well I can check if my mgr can authorize $10CR for 2 yr contract. So my bill's going to be lower for the next 2 yrs. I wonder if the system will forget to remove the CR once the contract's over.

*sigh* So down to the nitty-gritty. Today, one of my co-workers (someone I'd considered to have good sense and consideration) asked me if I could cover the office everyday at lunch so that everyone in their group can go at the same time. B/c it's just far too much of a hardship to not eat with your cronies every 3rd week. OMG! Get some perspective! Someone dies every 6 seconds due to hunger. Oh boo-hoo, you don't get to eat with your friends! Waah waah!

They (I'm sure it's not just her) thought that it was fair since I eat at 12:30 and they go at noon. When I pointed out that I may not eat at 12:30 all the time, due to work or such, they said that they could arrange something at that point. To which, I pointed out that we currently have a schedule where every Assistant takes turns covering the office during lunch, which helps people plan when their breaks will be. And when we're not scheduled, we can go whenever the he11 we want. I also pointed out that our Director told us that we should have an Assistant and Advisor in the office during lunch due to the fact that the RDG walked in to find an empty office. I didn't point out that the Clique never takes 30 min lunch breaks, so I'd be eating at 12:45 instead (since she's usually pretty good with coming back in the 30 minutes). But yeah, after being told that I'm the office donkey, I was so ready to leave. Even if I'm going to get training as a Superuser. It's a major tug-of-war btwn my ethics of being grateful for the opportunities I've gotten in the Dept (thus incurring a degree of loyalty) vs. the growing detest at majority of the office. Honestly, they remind me of Convergys HR. If I'd encountered them first instead of my friends at the other dept, I'd never have stayed in HR. There are good HR people, they're just not in this office!

2 New additions, 1 R.I.P. already

On Sept. 19, I bought a betta fish since PJ Pet's was having a sale. I had all the gear leftover from Akao and... *searching thru old blog posts* Feebas! I still haven't named him though. My friend suggested something Greek when I asked on Facebook for ideas. I was thinking of Rabu-Rabu or Prince Wishy-wash before I polled my friends. Although naming him Acheron would be hilarious. Unless it's a made-up name (or something from Pokemon), I always use this site for names. It is so awesome. However, he does look a bit like Milotic. At least he's still alive.

I went back to the same shop the next week (b/c they had a nice selection and lively fish unlike the one in Londonderry), and saw another one that looked like a Delta tail. He was also very lively so I picked him. Ride home was a bit more shakey since it was on Friday which meant I was also grocery shopping. Instead of a jar, I got a deep bowl, thinking that the extra volume would be good. Well, since it was good intentions, that meant that it didn't work. He kept seeing himself in the bowl's reflection, and kept flaring. Which of course stressed the heck out of him, so much that he could only do a half-hearted flare to my other fish after a few days. Unfortunately I didn't take a picture of them flaring because he was so worn out that I didn't want to stress him more. So on the 28th, I went to the pet store and got a bunch of plants for him, and tried to get them to cover the sides. No dice, he kept swimming behind them despite my leaf taping. So I started looking for a tank or jar, since I figured that something with vertical walls should help. That search took a few days, and he got a new home on Oct 4. By this time neither fish really ate, and my garbage can was covered with little mushy pellets of different colours. Fish M (I've gotta think of a name) would occasionally take a pellet in, but spit it back out after a few chews. But not this one. He was still acting really strange, with occasional bursts of speeds but in weirdo angles and I wasn't sure if he was still seeing himself, so I'd covered the jar (it's 96 oz. I figured the 2 gal one would be too heavy and a hazard when full of water) w/ the lid and kept the lights low. Anyways, by Oct 4 after staring at him and muttering how he's a freaky fish, I saw this. Not knowing much about fish, I figured the slime was bad and tried to rub it off him. Which of course stressed him more. Anyways, about 4 hours after I took those pictures, he was flat on the floor and didn't respond anymore. So after over $30 of accessories for a $3 fish, he's dead in 2 weeks. 1000% investment! Anyways, looks like the betta sale is over at PJ's, so it might be a while before I get another fish. Hopefully I'll have a name for the live one by then.

Very exasperated with my computer. It'll occasionally lose it's connection to the 'Net, and the only way to get it back is to put it into sleep mode. Sometimes the connection will be fine all day, other times, it'll go down in 2 minutes. Which makes me lose my sense of time since I keep on rewaking it. Missed the beginning of SYTYCD Canada because of it.

Little Update

While Facebook is acting all non-loading, I figured I'd do some more stuff on the blog. Just enlarged the fonts, and added my Fav foods at the bottom. Also changed the Adsense format. Square does not work. Considering people only stumble upon my blog as I don't advertise it, I don't think I've made any money from Adsense. Well whatever.

Trying to clean up my old computer so I'd have a backup in case anythng happened to my new one when I reinstall everything. I figured it'd be better to have a clean install for my security software. Which I bought at Boxing Day. Yes, still working on it. Although I think my old computer might be dying. Aside from lots of registry errors, I'm getting where it'll close my Windows Explorer. I also accidentally deleted the wrong game file why trying to clean it up. And after trying to find if I had any relatively recent game files burned (newest was in 2007 where I was 2 levels lower), 7 data recovery software progs later, there was no luck. So I tried to move over my latest burnt files, and now I can't see my game character and there's no audio. Oh, and I'm somewhat suspect of the burning too because I've had picture files that didn't burn correctly. At least they didn't show up write when I tried to open them on the new computer. So loads of fun. Tried Scandisking it last night, but after I left it alone too long (I have a KVM switch), it wouldn't come back on, even though it was squawking at me for too many entries. And with it being really noisy, I can't run it at night either. Not that I think it'd help. It's very strange now. That'd suck if it died. I have a fair bit of Win98 games.

Misery

It's been pretty lousy for me lately. The latest incident is another screaming match w/ my dad. I was trying to use my EyeToy Kinetics, and he comes downstairs and asked me to email my brother about dinner plans b/c he wasn't picking up on the house phone, completely interfering in my session. So I said I could but then asked him if he tried calling my bro on the cell. Then he starts flipping out at me that I wouldn't do what he wanted me to do. Since I don't suffer fools, I start telling him that he needs to learn how to use his cellphone (I'd programmed mine and my brothers' numbers into it, but my dad still uses index cards to call them), so he starts yelling at me that he doesn't like using it. Well I point out that I've tried teaching him, but he just doesn't try to learn so what's he going to do when I'm not around? So he starts yelling at me that I should do what he tells me to do, and that if I'm not around, then I'm not going. Well, at this point I'm completely crushing my controller, and I tell him to leave me alone and to get out of my space. So he tells me that this isn't my house (well technically it's not his either, it's my other brother that's paying the mortgage), and that I can leave. And it's not the first time I've told him this, but again I yell at him that I don't wanna live w/ him. Anyways I yell at him that I'll call my bro and to get out of my face. Anyways, lo and behold, I get my bro on his cell b/c he's out Trick or Treating w/ the kids. Gee, like how much fun to be completely correct. Anyways, is there much point of me talking to my bro when I don't have a clue about any of the dinner plans except where we might be going? Nope.

So today, I was "man enough" to say that I'm sorry for yelling at him. Does he acknowledge it? No. Of course not. And would he ever apologize for anything he's done. Of course not. After all, he managed to screw up my mother's maiden name w/ the govt so that when I applied for EI, I had to get it corrected which wasted a 1/2 hr of my time sitting in the service centre. And if I listened to him, I'd be out almost $2000 from the govt for surviving child's benefits b/c he said that I didn't qualify and the letter that they sent me was bogus.

Internet is essential

No internet right now, so I’ll be posting this when it’s back up. Since Sept 4, I’ve had no internet. It’d been sporadic for the first week of Sept, and I had to keep resetting the router. Then it crapped out in the middle of the night on Wednesday while I was trying to d/l a torrent. Called CIA tech, and they said they’d send a Shaw tech over on Tuesday. Then no one comes, and I call them again, and they said there was some issue w/ my brother’s old acct on Shaw, and that they just got that fixed and once another Shaw tech is free, they’ll call me to see what time is good. Now it’s Sept 20, my brother decided to cancel his CIA acct and go back to Shaw. And b/c he has digital phone also, he doesn’t want to try to move up the hookup date b/c he has to port the number back to Shaw. So I’ll be w/o internet for the whole freaking month. And I have to apply for jobs b/c my position at DOJ is up. So yesterday I stayed after work to use their Internet, but of course w/ the firewall, I couldn’t access my email accounts. And I ended up having to make a new profile b/c my old profile wouldn’t allow me to long in and the resetted password was sent to my inaccessible email account. Gawd, I’m pissed. Good thing I recently bought a USB flashdrive and the computer’s usb drives weren’t disabled.

The EB Games in the mall got a used NDS browser, so I’m like, “sweet! I can get some internet!” Well, the idiots at EB Games never checked to see if the seller set up a password, so when I plugged it in, it didn’t work. And there was no password written in the booklets. So I had to call Nintendo this morning (short hold time, yeah!!!) and ask how to reset it. It’s quite a finger feat. But it’s working now... if only our neighbours’ signal wasn’t so crappy. Do not try to use Facebook. It does work but takes forever to load. And I was just trying to update my status that I had no internet. But I don’t think it worked. And it kept running out of memory, even though I had the memory expansion pack. Right now, I’m waiting for my Darsh to recharge, b/c I was hoping to take it to somewhere that had Wi-Fi and use it there...but it’s getting late and I wanna see the Score street party which starts at 7 EST. I might have to leave w/o it. My brother and sister-in-law came over and she asked how I was. I was truthful. I told her “crappy”.

Speaking of hold time, and why it’s important to me. Not just b/c it’s annoying to be on hold, even if they are playing classical music (annoyingly interrupted by their ads), but b/c it eats up my cellphone minutes. I’d been on hold w/ CIA for over 45, and then when I was trying to call Standard Life, after waiting 15 mins they dropped my call b/c their centre was closed. And I’d already gotten the warning that I had less than 50 min left on my pkg. So I had to use my office phone to call Standard Life. Which is kinda awkward when your co-workers are leaving and saying bye, and you’re on a personal call. *sigh* Although I think most people know that I have no internet, and my workterm is ending soon, so I don’t think anyone really cares. At least I never did it during my workhours, unlike some other people. My stupid brother has the nerve to email me at work when it’s his fault I have no internet at home.

Bodyworks exhibit

Went to see the Bodyworks exhibit at the Telus Space and Science Centre. I went with a bunch of my friends. They were finished about 30 - 45 minutes before I was. But then again, they’ve never taken any biology courses. I had Human Osteology in University so it was loads of fun to see exactly how the flesh was attached (or detached) to the body. And yes, when I got to the exhibit w/ the horse and rider, there was a lotta gawking at the horse’s...member. Although these 2 women next to me remarked a lot more about it to each other and then compared it to their horses. Anyways, other than that part of the horse, I was wondering if I could actually see the horse’s 4-chamber stomach. It just looked like a big sac. Although the 2 ladies were oddly surprised that the horse’s lungs were so big, which made me wonder how much they knew about horses in the first place... other than that part. Quite surprised that most of the exhibits were out in the open, and had a bit of cobwebs on them. Had to keep my hands clasped behind my back to avoid touching them. Was allowed to touch a lung and some cross-sections of the ulna. D remarked how few female specimens there were. And he finished early and then started hovering around me. Which is really annoying since I was in the reproductive and lower bits section, and he’s a sex-fiend. It’s much better to see the full version of all the body parts instead of in a book. Easier to figure their relationships to each other. And w/ the specimens that had the layers of muscles revealed, I tried to figure out how to attach additional body parts to that area like wings and such. Easiest is really the tail b/c we used to have them.

When I told my co-workers about the exhibit, a few of them were squirmish, especially our acting manager. I dunno, it wasn’t that bad. But then again, I did eat lunch while watching a film about trephination on the skull. Just watching them drill and then saw away at the skull. Heh heh.

Then that night, I read the “if you should die” chapter in The Kurasagi Corpse Delivery Service Vol. 4 and it was pretty creepy. Not really the body parts, although the living daruma was scary. But more that it could be entirely possible to disguise torture and living dissections as exhibits...and maybe I went to one. A lot of the drawings were similar to the dissections of the bodies at the exhibit. Yeah, I was creeped out.

Baggage Issues again

So United's delayed my bags again. And their website doesn't work. I checked on it all day, and was still the same "Our representatives are processing your file. At this time we do not have any new information to share. Most of our delayed bags are located and returned within the first 24 hours. We will contact you as soon as your baggage is available and ready to be returned. We thank you for your patience." Just peachy, and I know there were several flights from Denver today (since I had plenty of opportunity to look at the board). So I called them just now, and their IVR is so freaking annoying. I'm like yelling at it, b/c if you don't talk loud it ignores you. And it asks me to say my last name. Well not everyone's last name is Smith, so it seemd to think Jose Pedro was correct. Piece of sh!t. Agent said that the bag's in Edmonton, but they don't know when it'll be delivered, but I can put a note on the door for where they can safedrop it. Right, I'm going to tell them to put a hockey bag at my door for 8 hrs, or open the garage for them. What a bunch of retards. At least at the hotel, there's the bellhop. And my stupid dad's like "oh I have to go out." To where?! You do f\/ck all every day, and you can't plant your ass for my luggage?!?! Pisses me off so much. Wonder if I can call in late tomorrow to work. It'll be like "yeah, sorry, but I'm going to have to stay at home until my luggage is delivered b/c my retired dad who does nothing all day decided that he just needs to go out today."

Speaking of my dad, I'm surprised my fish is still alive. How hard is it to take the uneaten food out of the jar after 5 min? He used an entire month's supply of food in a week, and there's a layer of dissolving pellets at the bottom of the jar. I was wondering why Akao was resting near the top instead of the bottom. The water was soo freaking disgusting. And I gave him instructions and all the stuff that he'd need to change the water and get the pellets out. Apparently too hard for him to remember anything other than feed the fish. So usually I put half the jar water into the margarine tub, but really I can only put in 1/4 b/c it's so gross. And this was after I put in 200 mL of fresh water last night.

Wanting to move out already

Now, some people might consider this mean or rude or ungrateful, but I completely remember why I'd moved out in the first place. On the 2nd day that I got back. The Saturday was when I had less than 2 hrs of sleep, so of course I try to sleep in on Sunday after getting to bed around 1:30 am. Now, I'm one of those people who aren't comfortable sleeping in strange places, so I only get a light sleep (lighter than usual). I eventually get up around 11:30 am. My dad b!tches me out for sleeping in. Excuse me?!! I vacuum the flipping living room and basement the day before, move hundreds of kgs of furniture and I can't sleep in?!!? Anyways, yesterday my dad was talking to my brother on the phone and he just tells me to get changed (I schlup around in ratty old T-shirt and shorts around the house b/c it's more comfortable). Completely out of the blue. So of course I ask why. Then he starts screaming at me to put on my clothes and decide whether I want to go out for dinner or not. WTF?! So now everytime he pisses me off, I just tell me "No wonder why no one want to live with you." B/c really, who wants to live w/ that kind of abuse?

Anyways, work was interesting today. Had a big meeting. It's wonderful getting a mug for just getting employed by them, and not having to work 1 year for a keychain and then 5 yrs to pick something outta a catalog. Tomorrow will be running around a former-convent, if I can get any energy b/c it'll be a really early morning.

Still unpacking. My desk looked so clean before I opened boxes. Also planning on going down to Anime Expo to see Seki Toshihiko. *drool* Argh, but I'll probably panic and freeze and/or freak out. So expensive though. Have to renew my passport, get plane tickets, rent hotel, get spending money. And only a month to do it all. I did get days off work (which was much easier than I'm used to from my previous employer), but H wants to do other stuff and go to other cities also. I'm thinking "dude, you may be on summer vacation but I'm not." But on the other hand, it'll be totally cool to travel w/ her, and we haven't seen each other for a year. So I'm really hemming and hawing. I guess I'll ask my supervisor if I can get a few more days and see if it's okay. Only thing is that during that time period, tons of people will also be on vacation also.

Moves and Jobs, Oh my!

So it's been a hectic few weeks. I started my new job on May 13, and it's a steep learning curve. There's a lot of policies and procedures that I don't know about, since I don't have an HR or law background. However I've been asking questions and unless people tell me to sit and study up on stuff, I'm asking people if they have anything they want me to do. I figure even if I can't figure out the policy, I can still figure out the scanner/copier. So apparently I've been doing really well by being proactive on stuff. Still tons to learn, although it seems that the general Excel level around the office isn't too high, so I've been able to impress people with that. Of course now that the move is semi-complete, I guess I might have some time to brush up on Excel, learn how to do drop-downs, pull data from other worksheets, etc.

Yes, the move. It was horrid. It's not to say that I left all the packing to the last minute. I'd been packing manga/dvds/comics since before my last post, so for at least 2 weeks, I'd already been putting stuff away. However, I still was up to about 1:00 - 2:00 am every night for the last week (and this is when I have to be up at 7:30 for work), and then on Thursday, I think I was up until about 3:00. I go to work, and then I'm up to about 5:00 am still packing. In my severe tiredness, I made a scrambled egg concoction of carrots and honey mustard on honey-slathered toast. Needless to say, I woke up around 6:30 am with a stomach ache and couldn't really move until 7:00 am. Commence packing again. Haven't even gotten around to dismantling furniture when the movers arrive at 9:30am. Even with the movers and my bro and his fiance helping, we weren't out of there until about 11:30. The movers did not like the comic book boxes b/c they were so heavy. Anyways, after all things are unloaded, it was about 12:45-1:00. Instead of collapsing and napping (what any sane person would do), my dad harps at me to move some of the furniture back. So I end up vacuuming the living room and basement carpet, and moving yet more furniture around. Get down to the room, and start trying out to figure out where to put my furniture. Take a 30 minute doze and commence measuring again. Don't get to bed until about midnight and it was mostly b/c my legs were starting to fail.

I don't want it to be the same layout as my brother's (I'm moving into his old bedroom b/c it's in the basement so it's quieter and cooler). After much hemming-hawing, measuring, using place markers, I end up with something similar anyways b/c that's kinda the only way to have it quiet and fit everything. So freaking annoyed that a lot of my furniture was too big. No, actually that the room was several inches too small. Nothing really set up still, desk is on the floor and I'm typing there using my old computer. Bed is set up, and so are my IVARs. TV's plugged in. Still get some cable channels, but none of the free ones. Go figure. Haven't hooked up my PS2 or DVD player.

But that doesn't mean I was finished moving on Saturday! Heck no, for the last 3 days, I'd been at the apt picking stuff up like food, smaller furniture, dishes and cleaning supplies. Cleaned the bathroom already. D is moving out today, and then I think tomorrow we're supposed to clean more, then carpet cleaner's coming on Friday, and then it's move-out inspection on Saturday.

So yeah, the apt building wasn't so bad at first. I had a bathroom connected to the bedroom which allowed me lots of times of wandering around half-naked. Big bathroom with lots of counter space and floor space. Undersink cabinet was a bit small but that was b/c it had drawers. Shower/bath was big and had lots of shelving for bottles. I could have 2 body washes, 1 facial wash, 1 conditioner, 1 shampoo and razor in there w/o having to put them on the outside where I could hit them when I get out. Basement bathroom is small, 0 counder space, and just have enough room for 1 body wash and 1 shampoo. Everything else is on the outside. Now I remember why I had a 3 compartment dispenser; so I could put my shampoo/conditioner/body wash in there.

Back to apt, it was only in the last 2-3 months that I started using the workout room there. and all my furniture fitted comfortably. However after the pipe burst in February, they still haven't fixed the parkade elevator. And they also haven't fixed the A/C so it's always between 80-82 degrees Fahrenheit (27 degrees Celsius) in the apt. Yeah, we have to go outdoors to cool down. And then they were jacking up our rent again. If we went month-to-month it would've been over $1400/month. And they got new building managers, and they're yelling at us for having boxes around when we're moving and showing the apt w/ their shoes on. A lot of people are moving out of there now.

Still Waiting

Well, a lot of changes in the past week. Went in for job interview on Thursday, got offered the position later that day. Handed in my resignation on Monday, and went home early on Tuesday b/c I really didn't want to take any more calls. Then find out on Thursday that my former workplace will be closing its doors at the end of June. The hilarious part is that 2 days earlier, my former Team Leader was telling me that the site was doing fine and they were overstaffed. Kinda annoyed that I'll be missing out on the severance pkg, which works out to about $2500. Still waiting for the feds to say my security clearance is fine and then I can start working.

New job is a temporary contract, but it pays much better and will be dealing with internal Canadian people, instead of annoying American customers. Quite annoyed that almost everyone is telling me that I'd better start buying new clothes, as if I didn't have business-appropriate clothes. Just b/c I don't wear them b/c I don't need to, doesn't mean I don't own them. Yes, I'm a t-shirt and jeans girl (well I'd prefer a tanktop, but then there's the issue w/ my skin condition that's not so pretty), but I can dress up. Even getting used to putting on daily makeup again. There was a time in high school when I was totally into makeup. Then I realized that I was getting into the experimental makeup and I was collecting shades that I couldn't wear in public and wasting a lot of money. So I quit cold turkey.


Also will be moving out of the apt soon. Back to the house with my Dad. Argh! Anyways, have been packing stuff up. Yesterday, it took me 8 hrs to sort and pack my comics. Taking a break from doing that, b/c I'm completely exhausted. Not just from standing and lifting, but also b/c my new job is days instead of nights, I'm trying to get up earlier. Unfortunately I still go to bed around the same time.

Anyways, figured out the Vista compatibility. So I can once again use Sonique. It's stable and keeps track of where I left off on my playlist. Not like stupid Windows Media Player. Anyways, awesome song from Jam Project(which includes Rika Matsumoto and Masumi Okui) "Forever and Ever"

Geekfest on Colbert Report

Wow, major squeal fest watching the Jan 29 episode. First Joe Quesada w/ his Wrist Strong bracelet and announcing that Colbert is a presidential candidate in the Marvel U. Then Jon Stewart coming on w/ his tape about Conan O'Brien. It was just too cool. It's so nice with you get to watch them in a different element. It was so weird to see Jon Stewart at that younger age. He's definitely grown into his looks. Or he has a lot better stylists now. *grin*

So anyways at work, I got my 5th yr anniversary gift. I ordered a crystal bowl. It's a lot smaller than it seemed in the picture. It has a leaf pattern on the bottom. I ordered it b/c there really wasn't anything in there that I really wanted (well they had some Mikasa tumblers, the pattern was only ok), and I figured I could use it as a gift. It's worth a bit if I recall....b/c I searched for it on the web.

This morning I was woken up by the fire alarm. Yeah, it was at the audio warning stage (there's first flashing, then a steady beep, then it goes to a really fast beep...and beyond that I'm guess is when we have a real fire or something). So I got some clothes on (didn't really wanna have to face -32 degree Celsius weather in t-shirt and shorts), and was filling my hockey bag. I'm starting to run out of room, there's a few too many plush. But it stopped when I was in the middle, and so D decided to see what was going on. Apparently something in the parking arcade. Gawd, I'm so tired. I was tempted to call in absent, but I figured since it was so cold today and there were so many absent yesterday (about 50% of agents) they wouldn't believe me today. *groan* Yeah, I hauled my cold butt in. Had tights under my pants, mockneck longsleeve shirt, pullover, fleece hoodie, winter jacket, knit gloves under leather mitts and wool socks. My feet were warm even though I only had runners.

How to become a good Houseguest

Is to have a bad one stay w/ you. Gah, V had to emergency stay w/ us after T booted him out b/c his gf was coming up for Xmas. So that's fine, but then he kept staying and staying even though he was able to move into his apt on Jan 1. Yeah, so all your furniture's in storage b/c your dad didn't help you move like he was supposed to. But there's nothing wrong w/ sleeping on the floor and eating takeout. Today, V finally moved out. And he managed to vacuum twice and wash dishes about twice. Didn't give us any money, offer to buy groceries or buy us pizza. And that's even I pointed that out twice. Even just left the sheets and blanket in a pile, couldn't even fold them neatly. Anyways, T and V are planning on rooming together in Vancouver, and I was thinking of going. But I don't know if I could stand it. H is right, I'm totally anal-retentive. ...But I go every morning! :))

So tired, H had her crisis w/ her friend that she's known for 12 years. So she's going back to Quebec. Which sucks. B/c she's just going to drop back into her depressive self-abusive pit. Hopefully the older woman who also works there can help keep her straight. She really could do a lot more if she had her issues sorted out. I'm sorta the opposite, I'm pretty stable but I've got little ambition, get discouraged easily, and really have no plans.

Oh, but it's not H's crisis that got me tired. Well it did in the way that I was up to 3 talking to her about this and that. Mostly it's b/c stupid job made me come into work 4 hrs earlier for stupid training. And they don't even have anything straightened out b/c there's a whole bunch of systems that're diff.

So it's 2008

Yes, Happy New Year. According to the Gregorian calendar anyways. The city fireworks this year were 10x better than last year. I really liked the spinning ones that explode out of a shell. I suppose I should learn some fireworks speak to explain it better. But it’s kinda late.

So I have another figure to find a place for. This time I was able to find the Beast Marvel Legends Icon one. It's really big, about...30 cm...so 12". There were 2 of them at the store, but one of them had the hand broken off. So it was pretty easy to decide which one to get. And it was originally $69.99, but I got it for $29.99. I might've actually paid the original price though b/c it's my Hanky-poo. Box was somewhat damaged, and I really hate all the dang twist-ties. Anyways, he has a lab coat and glasses, but the glasses don't come off. They look like they would, but it seems that they were glued into the slots. Which is really too bad, he has such pretty blue eyes. :D. Anyways, he's has 30 points of articulation...unfortunately not all of them make sense, like having 2 hinge joints at the knees and elbows. His feet are quite articulated b/c his first metatarsal moves independent of his other toes. But on his hands, his thumb doesn't move. And with the way that they built him, it renders some of the articulation points near-useless. Like the shoulder, it has a ball joint and there's a hinge joint too, but you can't bend him at the hinge b/c his deltoid region just smacks into his chest b/c they're both very large. I'd say only about a 3 degree bend. I'm not sure if I can actually bring his arms to his side. It was a major pain to take off his lab coat. His hip joints, I'm still not sure what's with them. There's 2 ball joints from what I can tell, but I don't think there's a hinge. So if you try to get him to sit, he has to lie on his lower back (there's a hinge joint at his stomach). I can't get him to sit on his butt. He was and still is very stiff. Feel like a physiotherapist when I was playing with him. One of his knee joints still hasn't bent. It'll be a real pain to make clothes for him. Here's someone's review and pics.

Yeah, so I also have 2 Beast Mavel Legends 8" figures (one was a gift b/c she didn't know I already had him, but that's okay b/c one's Dark Beast but which one? *heh heh heh*), and in comparison, they have better articulation b/c you can do much more w/ them. They sit up proper, can almost cross their arms, and almost sit in lotus position. Right now, they're showing their Pokemon(Bulbasaur and Pikachu) to each other.

Yeah, it's gotten desperate w/the manga situation....Uh, not just the space issue. That's reached orange alert a while ago. I mean the out of print stuff. Well, mainly the yaoi. Yes, I've been searching for the 3rd Volume in the Finder Target Series, Vol 6 of Kizuna, and no one seems to have it. Amazon.ca sellers have priced them to over $100. Damn capitalists! H used to be able to get me them, but she didn't swing by that Montreal store this time, so I'm SOL. Yeah, so I've taken it upon myself to order them w/ all the sales going on. My poor poor credit card. Actually I think it's committing suicide. A big crack has developed thru the card above the strip.

So I'm sure I haven't blogged about my Xmas holiday. Mostly b/c as I'm typing this in Wordpad, I have my computers hooked up to each other but not to the Net. No, I still haven't connected my new computer to the Net. Haven't installed all the anti-virus, protection progs. Or backed all my data. In the process of doing that. Yeah, I have to find a decent burning program. Can't seem to overburn on the one that come w/ the computer even though I changed the settings. And then there's the issue that not all files seems to have transferred over. Was checking some of my files, and they're not all there, so I have to move them over again, and do a manual verification for each folder...oh crap, I've burnt a few discs already. $@#$%!!!

Anyways Xmas holiday. B/c it was 1 day. Got Boxing day off, spent the morning w/ H shopping. She was supposed to get my Xmas present, but still hasn't. Only spent about $100. Then I left her to meet up w/ T and his gf for lunch. Hope I made a decent enough impression w/ the gf that she'll still let T see me. *sad chuckle* After went to my brother's for dinner and played w/ the kids. The girls seemed to enjoy their presents. What surprised me was that they really like the Mickey Mouse parachuting figure. Got it from the ...uh...coin slot machines. P, my brother's fiance, got me a jewelry chest but it's like uhm... I don't really wear jewelry. I have to consciously think about putting anything on. Doesn't help that my ears always react to my earrings and start leaking pus. So she was nice and said she'd just return it and get me something else. My brother said she should've asked him what to get me, but she said she wanted it to be a surprise. Heh, my brothers know not to get me anything girly. Yeah, so I got "I am America (and So can You!)" and "America the Book: Teacher's Edition" from my big bro. Then my 2nd bro ordered something from my list online. My dad gave me money. And it wouldn't be a family gathering w/o a fight, so this time it was my Dad first b!tching at me b/c I didn't grab the plate to pass to my brother. Then when I told him to try on his present (turtlenecks size 10-12 youth) b/c last time he whined the jacket was too small, he b!tched at me for telling him what to do, how there wasn't time and my bro needed to drive me home. When at the time, he was trying on clothes that P bought during the sales. Does that make any sense?! Anyways, it turned out to be too small so I was completely logical as usual.

So V is staying w/ us right now, until he's able to move into his apt. It gives D someone else to bug, although it means I can't leave my knitting on the futon. Yup, only 14 more rows to go on the pattern, and then about 5 rows of black and I'm finito the Hellsing 5' scarf. Which is pretty fast I think for only starting it in mid-Nov.

After hours of study...

I've finally got my crossover cable to work and the 2 computers to talk to each other. Seriously I would be searching at work to see what I needed to do to get them to talk to each other. Unfortunately there was a lot more stuff for connecting XP and 98 together. Vista just doesn't seem to be very popular. *sarcastic* I was just changing features and settings willy-nilly for the last 2 days. It actually took a tutorial on setting up 2 Win 98 computers to finally pull everything I learned together.

Now I'm trying to burn the files that I moved over to see if I can get a good copy. The burner on my old computer wouldn't burn it properly. The burning program that come w/ the Acer computer is called NTI CD&DVD Maker. Never heard of them. And boy does it suck. I'm burning mp3s, and a bunch of them have long names. All my other progs will ask me if I want to shorten them and how to truncate it. Not this stupid thing. I had to manually go into my File Explorer and guess which ones were probably causing the prob.

Anyways, super tired. My nose is massively stuff, and my throat hurts.

Our team had meeting w/ SMO to air out some issues we've been having w/ managers. Quite amusing his reaction on who some of the worst offenders were. And they've "found out" that there was an issue w/ their scorecards, so they had to recalculate everything. But they said that there weren't that huge amount of changes, but they'd be talking to people who's cards have changed. Huhn, well I haven't been talked to yet, and quite frankly if I don't get my bonus, I might not be going in to work during their most busy days. Just go in to get my stat pay, but there's no way I'm working Boxing Day.

No time

To post. Or do anything actually. Sooo busy, and w/ my work schedule being what it is, I hardly have any time for Xmas shopping or putting together the presents I do have. And I got myself a new computer. Which I can't seem to hook up to my old one to transfer files. Why not just burn them on DVD? B/c my old computer can't seem to burn it properly. Gotta finish my emails now. And survey.

'Tis the season for charities to come a-begging

I'm not lying. I'm looking at a pile of letters/cards/calendars from charities that's 9 cm high. Last time I processed all the charities stuff was beginning of October. Ugh, and you have to be so careful too. There's a lot of groups out there that sound like well-known charities, until you read the fine print where they say they're "non-profit". Whatever that's supposed to mean. If I don't get a tax receipt, I don't care then.

Anyways, I booked all my remaining vacation for these next weeks. Have to send out xmas cards...oh yeah, have to ask my cuz her address. Have to work on my friend's scarf. It's hand-designed strand knitting pattern for part of the scarf 72 st by 38 rows. And I'm using 5 mm needles, so even though I've worked on it for about 7 hrs today, I only got maybe 5 inches on straight stockinette st part. The strand knitting was the worst. And then the dp needles I got are actually too short, so I've dropped a few stitches, and accidentally created a few b/c I thought they'd dropped. So tired.

Stupid roommate D left my TV on all night. Said he was in a daze b/c he was watching it at 5 in the morning. Useless piece of #!@$!!! I can't stand to talk or look at him anymore. Everything he does or says makes me wanna boot him in the head. And I'm so cursing renewing the lease. B/c T thought that V had gotten an apt so we wouldn't be rooming anymore. But that's not the case, so now T and V are looking for an apt, and I'm stuck w/ D. *looking at calendar* Well it also could be that time of the month too.

Anyways, I'm majorly behind on my manga. And it's all because of RG Veda. Only have to read Vol 10 and then I can pack it away and get onto my other books. But I'm just not digging it. When CLAMP does epics, it's all so....overblown. Everyone's so mysterious. The quieter moments are good, but there's not enough character development. Everyone dies...although they get resurrected in another CLAMP series. So until I finish RG Veda, I'm not touching my other series...and that's why I'm so behind. I just don't wanna read Vol 10 b/c I've spent too much of my time going "Yeah, sure okay, whatever."

No Vacancy

AAARGH!!! Stupid Revenue Canada website!!!!! I have it tabbed and trying for the upteenth time to register for their epass, and it forced Firefox to shut down. So I have to retype everything. And of course stupid blogger has their freakass delay so I can 't look at the screen while I'm typing.

Anyways!!! I woke up early today to do apt hunting. And called 4 places. 2 were full, including the place where T is staying. When I got to the first appointment, Carlton Towers, I called the manager to let me in, and he tells me that the suite just got rented. Then since there was an hour to the next appt, so I tried callng them to see if they could show it to me right now, but he never answered. I ended up calling another apt b/c they were right in the neighbourhood, but they were full too. So I ended up buying milk, finally using the $5 gift certficate that work gave me. Went back home and finally go to pay the flipping Shaw bill. Because I usually pay it at the same time as my Visa bill, but their stupid website is always down at night. So yeah, my customer feedback on that was negative.

Headed back out to my 2nd appt, at Secord House. Mgr seemed enthused when I first called, although his first question was where I worked. But then it seemed to die when he saw me even though I was dressed in beige turtleneck, black jeans, canvas sneakers, natural makeup, hair in clip. Didn't say anything to me in the elevator, and basically rushed me thru the room. I had a big checklist and didn't even get to ask him if they allowed pets. He was really patronizing when I asked if there was any fire extenguisher or sprinkler system, saying that apts don't have that, and then when I said I was in an apt that did, he changed it to no apt over 30 yrs. Well, that's not going to add a lot more to my tenant insurance! Anyways it was $875 for that place. At least the appliances looked kinda new, although the kitchen was tiny. And there were some serious cracks on the bathroom wall. I dunno if he thought the way that I was scrutinizing everything that I was actually a building inspector, or maybe I just wasn't white enough.

And so I went to pay my rent. We have occupany of this apt until end of Nov but have to give them a decision by Nov 1. And really, even w/ going month to month, it's only $615 after the split. Plus unl internet+cable which is about $47 split. If I went on my own, they don't offer unl internet anymore, so it'd be at least $30 for just 10GB. I have enough unwatched DVDs for a year. Then utilities is $30 estimate b/c I'm OC on turning off lights and appliances. So basically if I lived by myself, I'd be looking paying around $850-900 at the cheapest rent that I'd seen advertised. Right now, even month to month, it's only $750. Argh! Yeah, so I asked the building manager some questions about our rent, and then she seemed kinda puzzled at first, but then when I explained that I can't stand to live my roommate anymore, she totally understood.

Yeah, heh, no one wants to live w/ D. T will kill him the minute he ticks T off. B knows her son won't want to room w/ D. Yup, so this summer D got dumped by H, and now 2nd wife wants a divorce too. I pity myself for pitying him. Tried calling H, but she didn't answer. Should be home by now though.

How not to retain employees

So my current workplace should really write a book on how not to retain employees and encourage turnover. My manager's going to put me on a CAP which means I have to be on the phones for a month. Just b/c I was late a couple times for the last couple of weeks. And it's not like half an hour, it's just at most 10 mins b/c I keep missing my bus. It not a huge deal compared to other crap that we see happening. And really she could just ignore it. But whatever. But what really pissed me off is that she's telling me to change where I sit, that I have to sit in "team seating." Where no one else sits but reps from other teams. So I can't sit w/ my friends, where I can chill. And it's not like I change my spot where I sit, which I could understand that it might be a little hard to find me. I sit in the exact same section all the frigging time. The manager that has that section doesn't care b/c I don't bug her agents, and actually help them out all the time w/ things. I've even done some of their work for them. And at least I know that section is relatively clean b/c the same people sit there all the time. There are so many disgusting stations out there, it's revolting. There's no logical reason why I should move.

T asked his manager if she could do something for me since I'm going to be on the phones, and she said if I was good (totally putting the brakes on my immediate tendency to tell management to f-off and screw around) for 2 weeks, she'd put me on the list to help her team. And thus sit w/ her team again but on official capacity. She's a smart one.

And so I'm still looking for other places of residence. It comes down to money and sanity. Money b/c I don't wanna spend more than 1/3 my take home pay on rent. However I also need to keep my sanity, which won't happen w/ the current living arrangement. H dumped D on me, so I'm trying to be nice to D while H w/ f*cking around and doesn't have to deal w/ him.

And my dad's going in for surgery, hopefully to fix his pumping. But he's old, and my brother who was living w/ him is moving out b/c he bought another house on the other side of the city. So while I'm not close to my family, there's still that concern about him being all alone. Even though my eldest brother is only a block away, he's got 4 kids and a b!tchy wife.

I still have to scream at the life insurance people to give me policies that make sense. Need to look for another place b/c obviously that place is handbasket to hell. So all that, and plus my frigging "." coming in, is putting a lotta stress on me. Gawd, I wanna read some yaoi.

Cooking is always a useful skill

Whether it be in RPG or RL.

Looking at Domino's flyer, and why the heck would I pay $6.99 for a 12" 1-topping pizza?!?! Geez, unless I was someone who had a restricted diet, that's stupid. Mind you a cheese pizza from them is $10.99, so I guess it's a deal. Should get that and order just Hot Banana Peppers. LOL. But pizza's not quite what it used to be. At least not when I used to make them. Dad would buy 2 premade pizza doughs, and I'd lay on a bag of cheese, can of pineapple and mushroom, kubasa, ham and tomatoes. Get about an inch thick layer of toppings. Yeah, that was awesome.

Anyways, my stupid roommate D is sick. So after whining that he couldn't go to sleep b/c he was hungry, but lacking the culinary skill and ingredients to actually make anything, I found his can of veggie alphabet soup, which he prepared a la microwave. Then he goes and opens a can of root beer from the fridge. Aside from the fact that combining those 2 flavours is really disgusting, he thinks that having them alternately will equalize the temperature in his mouth. Yuck. Everyone knows that you don't drink anything cold while your throat hurts. But whatever, it's his stupidity if he can't get better. Anyways, he misses his ex. Even though she dumped him.

Yeah, so bringing lunch everyday, and prepping from scratch is helping my cooking. Found out that while Korean soy bean sprouts, tofu, red peppers and BBQ sausage is good w/ noodles, not so good w/ rice. So I guess I'll be having noodles for the next while. Although I have bok choy that needs to be taken care of before it spoils. Had it made w/ roast pig for my bentos. Then had some last night w/ steak & rice. Hmmm, *goes to pull out the mackeral* guess I'm having it w/ mackeral for tonight. Mackeral's kinda big, so I'll probably have to chop it in half after I gut it. Yeah, D's totally squeamish about stuff like that. TA doesn't look at me like I'm a freak when talk about butchering, but he figures I'll be one of those people who'll actually be able to survive in the wild if hunting.

But sometimes I feel like I should splurge and buy lunch like everyone else. But then not everyone else has enough to go on a trip to Asia tomorrow just b/c they feel like it. Yeah, but there are those urges. So I tend to splurge on buying sushi at T&T...after it's been discounted twice b/c it's near the end of the night. Heh, gotta work out though. Now that I have to take the bus to work, I'm really losing out on my exercise. B/c I actually had about a 25 min walk a day. Now it's like 10-12. So sad. Trying to restrict portions, but it just looks so sad when you have a big bento box, and so little food. Hurm, well one of the boxes probably holds about 1L, so it's really not that I'm starving...it's just sad.