With friends like these....

I love my friends and I say that with only the smallest hint of sarcasm.

With the holiday/vacation season upon me, I've been able to spend some time at my favourite pub in the city, Rogue's Roost. Besides the mouth-watering spinach and bacon dip, the great music by The Plugs and the delicious raspberry ale it is my favourite bar due to its close proximity to my bank. In the dead of winter I can run and get more money without even having to go outside because the BMO is in the same building. Really, it's just fabulous and very convenient.

This past Thursday I began to re-evaluate this opinion. I skipped off to the bank as usual to procure funds for the evening with success. As I was leaving the bank vestibule (and yes Alison, that is a word people use) I found that I could not get the doors to open, they had locked shut. Now I could see some friends having a cigarette around the corner outside but they couldn't hear my pleas for freedom through the double doors. So I had to call Kathleen on her cell phone.

As you can probably tell from the above picture, Kathleen wasted no time in mocking me and making sure that this event would be documented for all prosterity. So again, in the spirit of Christmas, I just wanted to say I love my friends.

Merry Christmas!

I simply could not let the holiday season go by without some acknowledgement of it here on my blog. The last few days have been stressful and quite frankly not filled with the holiday spirit. It's been several degrees above zero all week and the grass is still green; not the white Christmas I was hoping for. On top of all that my roommates have all vacated the city to go to their respective homes leaving me to sit in my giant 4 bedroom house sipping wine by myself and watching movies. I feel like I should apologize to my friends for my "bah humbug" spirit, I think it's safe to say that I can never live alone because I tend to go crazy when I do.

But that all changes today! It's Christmas Eve; may the festivities officially commence. I've got the presents wrapped under my little 2 foot tree, the booze has been purchased, and the candy canes are out. My nails are painted a holly red and I'm making the dessert for the family dinner (tiramisu by the way and yes there will be rum in it.)

Here is a list of my top five favourite Christmas songs:
1. Baby, please come home- U2 or Bon Jovi.
2. Merry Christmas Baby- Otis Redding
3. Carol of the Bells- Home Alone Soundtrack
4. The Twelve Days of Christmas- Muppet or Bob and Doug Version
5. I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas- any version.

I highly, nay strongly, recommend you watch The Office's Christmas special that was out this year: A Benihana Christmas. Favourite moments include when Michael had to tag his girlfriend because he couldn't tell the Chinese waitresses apart and when Jim sent Dwight on a secret C.I.A. mission. I want to marry Jim.

Extreme boredom is imminent....

I'm sick. Not sick enough to really call into work and spend the day in bed getting better. Just sick enough to go to school everyday and feel border-line miserable. Last night I passed out in my room at 8 pm fully dressed and woke up at midnight. I was wired til 3 am when I finally passed out from sheer will.

I'm also bored. Everyone I know is writing exams or busy marking/working. My evenings are totally free but I'm totally broke so it leaves me with little to do but read, sulk, and feel sorry for myself.

But that all ends today! I hit the library and got a wicked scary kid's book by Neil Gaiman called "Coraline." I also finally settled on a new painting to start working on; it's a 1920's "Vogue" magazine cover. I'm also busy blogging so as to distract myself from the imminent boredom.

This is what I planned to have done by this point in the month:
1. Have Christmas cards sent out....not accomplished.
2. Have shopping done....also not accomplished due to lack of funds.
3. Have baking done....I have done this several times but I keep eating the cookies and not saving them.
4. Fit into New Year's Eve dress....see above item.
5. Decorate my apartment for the festive season and host an amazing board game party....CHECK!

1 out of 5 ain't bad.

Kathrynisms and the handicap of red hair

My roommate Kathryn is a freak, in a good but funny way. Last night we were sitting watching the news when she said "Do you know that every year we pass the anniversary of our death, but we never celebrate it?" I'm having a "Happy Death Anniversary Party" for her next semester. I just don't know what date it should fall on...any suggestions?

Then tonight we were watching the news again (I know we are super cool), and she said that the problem with Iraq is that people there don't have enough bars to go to and they need to chill out. I'm sure thousands of drunk Iraqis and American soldiers would totally solve the problem. Maybe if they had smoked some pot and sang "Kumbaya" together. Maybe then.

Another funny thing crossed my path today. I was teaching a grade three class about handicaps and disabilities and there was a worksheet they had to answer. Here is how it started:

"All of the things on this list might make life a little harder for someone. Which of these could be considered handicaps, not just a nuisance that you have to deal with for a short time? Put a check mark next to your answers.
1. having a hangnail
2. being in a wheelchair
3. not being able to hear very well
4. having red hair..."

I nearly killed myself laughing when I read it out loud to the class. According to this, the definition of a handicap is something long term which means having red hair is a handicap! And yes, some of the students put a check mark next to #4.

On the fifth day of christmas...

Old time lover

I rediscovered an old love today. The library. Did you know that you can go there and take out dozens of books for free, including comics? As amazing as that sounds, it doesn't stop there; you can also borrow movies, cd's, almost anything you can imagine. I was so overjoyed that I actually hit up two separate library locations to cruise their stacks. "Cruising their stacks" kind of sounds dirty, but I promise it isn't.

I'm working my way through a new music collection including Ben Harper, Pernice Brothers, and Kathleen Edwards. I highly recommend the Pernice Brothers and I'm also trying to track down a cd of Brendan Benson. I'm rather in the mood for happy-go-lucky tunes.

It's a Wonderful Christmas Story Actually....

Alright, time for a new poll. It took me a while to think of a good one but here goes: What is your favourite Christmas movie/special?

The votes are coming in slowly, I'm hoping they pick up today. Feel free to drop me an email or leave it in the comments section. And feel very free to vote for something you don't see listed below.

Results:

It's a Wonderful Life- 4
The Muppet Family Christmas Special-4
A Christmas Story- 3
How the Grinch Stole Christmas- 3
Love Actually- 2
The Nightmare Before Christmas- 1
Disney's Christmas Carol- 1
Home Alone- 1
Elf- 1

Jingle Bells...

I have a question to pose...when is it appropriate to start playing Christmas music in public? I had to add the "in public" there because I went to the Parade of Lights last weekend and got in the spirit of things by jiving to U2's "Baby Please Come Home" and Otis Redding's "Merry Christmas Baby." And yes I realize it isn't December yet but I wanted to get in the holiday mood.

Now despite my eagerness to jump on the holiday bandwagon in the comfort of my own home, I found it odd when I went to the grocery store last night and they were playing Christmas music. Maybe it would feel more appropriate if it was actually cold outside, it's been abnormally weird here the last few weeks.

One of my favourite radio shows, Freestyle on the CBC, is having a vote by its listeners to determine which date in December they will start playing Christmas music on their programme. I kind of feel that maybe the malls and grocery stores should follow this lead.

Mind you I'm baking cookies and writing out my Christmas cards today...maybe it's a case of the pot calling the kettle black.

Welcome to the Jungle

Last night I wandered outside my usual comfort zone and attended the Guns N' Roses concert in Halifax. To be fair, it should really only be called "N' Roses" because Axel is the only remaining member. In any case, it clearly only requires one remaining member to inspire massive mob insanity as the following stories will prove.

The night kicked off reasonably quietly with Kathryn and I venturing to the Metro Centre. We expected antics but I don't think we were prepared for the antics which followed. Sure, the outfits were hilarious and I'm pretty sure we saw the guys from Fubar, but nothing that wasn't out of ordinary for a rock concert.

Things changed quickly when we went to the washroom and not only found people smoking pot (to be expected) but saw a guy hiding in one of the stalls with presumably his lady. Crazy story of the night #1: sex was happening in the bathroom.

After this we took off to our seats (nose-nose bleed section) where we could barely see the stage. General crazy people watching commenced which included a lot of leather, fringes, bandanas and even a feather boa. Eventually we decided to head back downstairs to continue people watching where again there was massive amounts of leather and creepy old men who leered at us.

It was around this point that the insanity continued. When we returned to our seats Crazy story of the night #2 occured: Strippers. Yes, there were strippers on stage. Mostly naked. Well aside from their g-strings and nipple pasties. They were one of the opening acts, one that hadn't really been advertised so I expect lots of angry letters to the editor from soccer moms this week. Later on Kathryn tracked down 2 eight year olds at the concert and demanded to know if their parents had taken them out of the concert during the burlesque show. Yes they had, but it was unclear if their father followed them out or "stayed to keep an eye on the coats."

Ok back to the strippers. There were about 5 or 6 I think and Kathryn thought at first that it was a promo for some Halifax Dance troupe. That is, until the dresses started coming off and the chocolate sauce was thrown around. I text messaged like crazy to my other roommates to share the hilarity that they were missing. Kathryn tried to text message as well but she ended up sending "Flight attendants with no clothes! Seriously" to a complete stranger.

Oddly enough, the crowd was very subdued and I think the strippers were a little miffed they didn't get more applause. One of the strippers flipped us the finger. Very classy.

After the stripper show, Kathryn and I went back downstairs to continue people watching. Really I would have almost paid to just do that. This is when Crazy story #4 happened: a gross older man belched at us and thought that this was a fabulous pick up line. The belch was followed by a "You can't resist me, can you?" and several rounds of "Oh you are so pretty!" Kathryn was appalled that apparently she wasn't even worthy of a "You must be so tired, because you've been running through my dreams all day." I found this funny because they weren't even serving booze at the concert so he couldn't have been that drunk.

Finally, finally around midnight Guns N' Roses went onstage! It took hours to happen, I was really tired because I had to get up the next day at 6 am. I kicked around for a few hours, and yes the music was cool, I totally need to perfect my Axel Rose dance. However compared to the insanity that preceeded it, really the show couldn't live up to my expectations unless Axel had come out naked, done drugs on stage, and maybe brought out live elephants.

All in all it was a fantastic rock concert.

Injury Prevention

This is a picture of my roomie's thumb. Last week I was relaxing in the living room waiting for her to make supper so we could go out and get beer when I heard a ruckus coming from the kitchen. I thought she'd seen a mouse but the clammer was shortly followed by a quiet "I think I need to go to the hospital."

How did a student doing her masters in public health cut her thumb and require 10 stitches you ask? Well it's simple. She used the giant butcher knife to pry apart frozen hamburger patties.

We took off for the hospital and then had an entertaining four hour wait in emergency. Despite her injuries, Kathryn was cheery enough to strike up conversation with the people around us, boldly asking each of them why were there. We met a guy with a leaking esophagus and within 20 minutes Kathryn had found out where he grew up, what his parents did, how he met his girlfriend, what he took in school, AND how many siblings he had.

The best part is that the doctor on call that night is also in Kathryn's masters program and specializes in injury prevention. She was late to his lecture the previous week. I think this was karma getting back at her.

ps. Today I watched her as she tried to pull the stitches out herself. Apparently it hurt a lot.

Soundtrack of your life....

I'm sitting at home drinking coffee and procrastinating as usual. I saw on my friend Ian's facebook this fun quiz so I thought I'd give it a whirl and some of the answers were so funny I just had to put it up on here. Give it a try:

1. Open your music player.
2. Put it on shuffle.
3. Press play.
4. For every "scene", type the song that is playing.
5. Skip to the next random song and repeat.

Opening credits:
Paint it Black- The Rolling Stones

Waking up:
Suspicious Minds- Elvis

First day at school:
Talk of the Town- Jack Johnson

Falling in Love:
Since You've Been Gone- Aretha Franklin (anything to do with love has to be Motown)

Breaking up:
Run- Snow Patrol

Prom:
All You Got- Tegan and Sarah

Life's Ok:
Miss Halfway- Anya Marina

Breakdown:
For Once In My Life- Stevie Wonder

Driving:
Sunday Morning Coming Down- Johnny Cash

Flashback:
Shop Around- Smokey Robinson

Wedding:
Piece by Piece- Katie Melua

Sex scene:
You Can't Hurry Love- Diana Ross and the Supremes (mwa ha ha ha ha)

Birth of child:
Begin- Ben Lee

Final Battle:
Looking at the World from the Bottom of a Well- Mike Doughty

Death scene:
I Me You I'm Yours- Jim Noir

Funeral Song:
I Want to Ride My Bicycle- Queen (thank god it isn't Another One Bites the Dust)

Dance scene:
Rebel Rebel- David Bowie

End Credits:
War on Sound- Moonbabies

There you have it. The Diana Ross song really cracked me up.

Show me the love for Spock

Alright, it's a new week and time for a new poll. I'm going to try to think up a new one every weekend to post on Monday. This one is not that original but the results have surprised me so here goes....

What is your favourite Star Trek series?

The Original: 2 votes
TNG (for the laymen out there that's "The Next Generation"): 5 votes
DS9 (Deep Space Nine): 3 votes
Voyager: 1 vote
Enterprise: 0 votes

There has also been a vote for Leonard Nemoy and William Shatner's album "Spaced Out." I decided to let it count just because the songs on the thing are so hilarious.

Tune in next week, same trekkie time, same trekkie channel for a new poll.

Boycott is in order

This week was the singularly worst episode of Grey's Anatomy I've ever had to endure. Did they start letting chimps or fourteen year old girls start writing the episodes? I used to love it, not because of the endless romantic drama, and I mean DRAMA, but because of the whitty dialogue and good solid writing. I am boycotting until further notice.

No more tapered pants...part deux

I decided that my previous post needed an amendment. Bad outfits are not limited to the male sex but manage to transcend gender lines. The following are my top five dislikes of current female fashion trends:

1. The giant belt over the shirt. If it isn't holding up pants, you don't need to wear it. It's not 1985 and you are not Madonna. In fact if you are wearing this, you probably weren't even alive in 1985.
2. Leggings. They are not pants. Don't treat them as such. They are spandex in disguise.
3. Any t-shirt with some kind of sexual innueno that a monkey wouldn't find funny.
4. Skinny leg jeans. I'll admit flared pants are no longer cool, but a nice boot cut will suffice. Tapered pants make your bum look fat and if your boyfriend tells you otherwise, he's lying. Unless you are 90 pounds you cannot pull this off and if you are, then you need to eat something.
5. I hate leggings so much I have to put them in again. But this time I'm upgrading to the ones with lace on the bottom. These were cool when I was in grade 3.

No more tapered pants please.

Kathleen and I were eating at a restaurant today and watching people walk by outside the window. After much deliberation we decided that men's clothing stores should be selective about what clothing they are allowed to sell to people. Quite frankly, there are too many drastic fashion mistakes that guys can make and we need to just head it off at the pass.

These are my top 5 fashion mistakes I saw today:
1. Flourescent. No man should be allowed to wear flourescent. Check that. Nobody should be allowed to wear flourescent.
2. Fanny packs. It just looks like your gut is peaking over your belt.
3. Ugly patterned knit sweaters. My ex was a huge fan. To this day they make me gag.
4. Mesh.
5. Tapered pants. I mean seriously!

If the only clothes available in stores were reasonably normal and attractive, and more importantly straight legged or bootcut, the world would be a much much better place.

What colour do I have to be to match the drapes?

It's officially "blah November." The weather is gross and it started getting dark way too early. It's really cold but it rains instead of snowing so either I can wear my raincoat and be frozen or I can wear my wool winter jacket and smell like wet dog. Really, life is fabulous.

On the upside of things my roommates and I made sushi the other night and it was delicious. I've been busting out all kinds of new recipes lately. This is really an improvement on what I ate for the last three years because really guacomole isn't a meal in and of itself.

This is my favourite quote of the week "You'll match the drapes in our office perfectly." -The Gilmore Girls.

Lazy Monday Night

Rather than doing anything really productive tonight, I'm rivited to the television watching the new "Doctor Who" series. While I haven't really ever watched it before, my dad is a big fan. So far I have to say I'm impressed. I caught a few episodes last season of the brand new series but it was always late at night and I was usually half asleep. This season I'm going to make an effort, especially since the "Doctor" is super cute.

Check out the website for Doctor Who here!

Threadless

Who doesn't love amazing original t-shirts? Nobody! I discovered this ubercool website www.threadless.com that lets you submit t-shirt designs and then all the members can vote on their favourites. They pick their top favourite and make them every week!

On top of that you can earn money on the website to go towards more shirts by taking pictures of yourself in their clothes. This is a picture of me in my new favourite "Hypotamoose" triangle shirt (the antlers are from the latest Keith's birthday party). I also have the "99 Luftballoons" one and the new "Planetary Status" one.



Check it out and don't blame me if you get addicted.

McDreamy, McSteamy or Finn?

With the new season of Grey's Anatomy underway, I've become addicted to the show yet again. As the main character, Meredith was forced to choose between her male suitors last week, I decided to throw the same question out into the public domain (or as public as my MSN account is). If you got to choose between some of the handsome men on Grey's Anatomy, who would you pick to be your doctor of looooove?

Dr. Derek "McDreamy" Sheppard aka Patrick Dempsey

Dr. Derek Sheppard, also known as Dr. McDreamy, was the original objefct of Meredith's affections. Complications arose however when she discovered he was still married and his wife moved to town. We spent most of season 1 pining for him but by the end of season 2 he seemed a little too damaged to be trusted again. Will he break Meredith's heart a second time?

McDreamy is the leader with 9 votes.

McSteamy...aka Eric Dane

Dr. McSteamy is the adulterous best friend of Dr. Derek "McDreamy" Sheppard until he sleeps with Derek's wife, Addison. McSteamy is the bad boy of Seattle Grace, with a killer body and sultry looks. He isn't actually in the running for Meredith's affections but I figured I'd add him into the poll anyway.

McSteamy has 6 votes. (And interestingly enough, mostly boys have voted for him.)

Finn aka Chris O'Donnell

Finn, played our hunky Chris O'Donnell, is the sensitive veterinarian who patiently waits for Meredith to pull her "dark and twisty" self together. Cute, but with a somewhat creepy moustache, Finn is the 'better' man who would offer Meredith a safe future and lots of cute animals.

Finn currently has 4 votes.

Mmmm...turkey!

This was the turkey going into the oven....would it turn out ok? Yes it did!

Erin and I with her amazing lemon meringue pie!

Let's get the vegetarian to carve the turkey!

This is our lovely spread.

Doesn't Steve look pretty with Erin's fake hair on?

Gobble Gobble

This Thanksgiving my roommates and I hosted our first real grown-up turkey dinner. We organized a potluck, got a turkey and started on our big "rite of passage" into adulthood. Course, we did it with a call to my parents for turkey advice every two hours, but then come on, I didn't want to poison people.

Erin and I got up early, and popped the turkey into the oven. We stuffed it, poked it, basted it and amazingly it turned out perfect! I even made gravy from scratch!

All of us invited a few friends over and we had so much food it was incredible. Butternut squash soup, potatoes, bean casserole, salad, sweet potato pie, dips, stuffing, pumpkin pie, chocolate triffle, and lots-o-lots of wine!

Think Pink!

When I woke up this morning at 7 am (and couldn't remember why I'd set my alarm that early) I didn't think that by 9 am I'd be painting faces, chests, arms and various other body parts.

The reason? The CIBC Run for the Cure which is a fundraiser for breast cancer. This year some friends of mine from Saint Mary's organized the first all-male team called "The First Timers" and I tagged along to cheer, take photos and paint. We sprayed hair, shoes, shirts, and socks bright pink. I painted tshirts onto guys and even did a couple fake beards in the pink paint.

The turnout was amazing, over 7000 people! My roommate was volunteering, something I want to do next year, and they apparently ran out of registration forms and tshirts at the main site. This run takes place every year in Halifax, I highly recommend being a part of it in any aspect. Check it out to find out how you can get involved here.

Run for the Cure

Tut, tut! It looks like rain!

It's pouring outside and I'm bored out of my tree. I watched the entire second season of Grey's Anatomy over the last three days but I finished it and I'm going into withdrawal. I should be doing a bunch of chores, such as:

1. vacuum
2. shower
3. do a load of laundry
4. go grocery shopping
5. clean my room

All boring chores, right? Exactly why I'm not doing them. Instead I'm looking up music I like from Grey's and downloading it. Right now this is what I'm listening to:

1. "Miss Halfway" by Anya Marina
2. "Chasing Cars" by Snow Patrol
3. "No Sleep Tonight" by the Faders
4. "I Love the Rain the Most" by Joe Purdy (I like the song, but I disagree on the rain thing).
5. "I Me You I'm Yours" by Jim Noir

I like making lists. It feels productive even if it isn't.

Boys can be useful for some things

Well I'm getting all settled into my new place downtown with the girls. There are 4 of us and I'm really enjoying living with people who don't smell funny, or play video games all day. However I have run into a few situations where I miss having a guy around the house. Here are some examples of those situations:

1. To figure out our dishwasher. A few weeks ago my roommate Ella and I tried to do our first load of dishes in the fancy new dishwasher. However under close inspection we realized it was one where you actually have to connect it to the faucet in the kitchen sink. Our friend Jeff came to our rescue and helped us get it working. Though to be fair, Ella did most of the work from looking at the pictures I took.

2. When I can't open a jar. This weekend I was trying to make spaghetti and I couldn't for the life of me get the can of spaghetti sauce open. I tried banging the bottom, running it under hot and cold water, everything! In a moment of desperation I went outside to track down a guy (to be fair I would have asked the first girl I came across too, I'm all for gender equality). I wound up at my neighbour's house, who I do luckily know, and success! Mike got my can of spaghetti sauce open.

3. To dispose of the mouse traps. Yes, we have mice. Every apartment I have ever lived in has had mice. And I'm ok with dealing with them for the most part. I can plug holes up with steel wool and set traps and what not but I draw the line at actually touching the trap with the dead mouse in it. That's where my roommate's boyfriend comes in handy. Dave, you rock.

So I guess that boys can be useful for some things. But I think I'm managing fine on my own for now.

"I like it better pink"

Remember that episode of "Friends" during the first season where Ross takes Rachel to do her laundry for the first time and she turns everything pink? Well in her defense, I say that maybe her clothes looked better that way. Maybe she preferred them pink. Maybe white was too boring, too cold, too "waspish".

In other words, I did the exact same thing this afternoon. The culprit was a beach towel that I thought I could fit in so that I didn't have to do two loads and waste the water. Most of the shirts are ok, but a few are now a peachy colour.

I think my first week back out on my own is going quite well, don't you?

Big big news (insert scary music here)

I AM MOVING BACK OUT!

Sorry for the caps, but it needed to be said. I am moving out next week to a cute downtown apartment with a couple of girlfriends. Suffice to say, I'm rather excited. It has high ceilings, a fireplace in every room and we have a back deck. The best part is I don't have to live with messy boys again (no offense gentlemen but the average guy is a little smelly at the best of times.)

I'm not sure what to do with this blog seeing as how it's called "Moving Home at 25" but I think that I'll keep it. My mid to late twenties are uncharted territory and I think that in my generation we aren't following the typical "go to college, get married and move out of the family home" path that came before us. I think a journal or blog to help me sort through it will be fun and interesting.

I'm honestly hoping I'm out on my own for good now but I think that it says something nice about my family that they always leave the door open for me in case of emergencies.

Though I could seriously do with less emergencies.

Little Miss Sunshine

The best movies are ones where the whole audience is clapping and laughing out loud together. This was one of the most heartwarming and tear jerking films I've seen in a while and I highly recommend. I laughed, I cried, I may have peed my pants.

"Everyone, pretend to be normal."

Duncan's Cove part deux

Don't let the frozen cardboard hit you

This is a story of my 85 year old grandfather whom we call Opa. Opa ran away at 16 and joined the navy in WWII, became a captain and...well it takes a certain type of "character" to have that sort of life.

When my cousin John came down to visit, Opa got some frozen pizzas for him to eat (mainly to prevent him from ordering pizza at 2 in the morning). John tucked his way through them but left one behind. Now my grandparents are "meat and potatoes" kind of people, I don't think they've ever eaten pasta, Mexican food or Chinese for that matter. Pizza is to them what haggis would be to me (no offense to haggis lovers out there).

So John leaves the frozen pizza behind and a few weeks later my other cousin Liam goes over for lunch. Opa decides he will use the opportunity to cook the pizza (to make room in the freezer for a good leg of lamb no doubt) but he doesn't know how. Nor does he want to cook the whole thing, just half. Keeping the leftovers in the fridge is clearly something he did not even contemplate. But what is the easiest way to divide the pizza and cook it? The answer is simple...a circular saw.

Opa gets some tarps and covers the back wall of his work room, tells Liam to "Stand clear!" and whips the pizza through the saw. Problem solved: he now has two pieces of pizza, one to chuck back in the freezer and the other that he can cook and eat.

I am pretty sure this is the first time he had ever cooked or eaten pizza.

Adventures and whatnot on Natal Day!

Today my family and drove out to the coast to go on a lovely and relaxing 3 hour hike along some of the roughest terrain around. I'm joking about the roughest and the relaxing, it wasn't that bad but wasn't exactly a picnic either.
One thing about living at home this summer and being completely unfettered with a job is that I've been able to spend a lot of quality time with extended family and grandparents. Today, my 85 year old grandfather came with us, complete with walking stick. Every weekend I've been at one cottage or another with random relatives down from Ontario (more arrive on Thursday).

Stay tuned for exciting pictures to follow regarding my trip to Amherst to the home of the Arbuckle clan!

Duncan's Cove

Duncan's Cove

Queen of the Geeks

Alright, now I'm not sure if I should officially announce this, but I can't resist. I'm officially a geek. And not just your average comic-book buying geek (which I do enjoy) but an all out internet obsessed geek.

I've been following this ARG called the Lost Experience that's basically an ongoing puzzle to keep fans of the ABC show Lost hooked all summer. It's involved "fake" websites, "fake" commercials, and loads of new characters that have revealed a ton of clues about the backstory to the show and the island. At the moment followers of the Lost Experience are tracking down fragments of a video online that will eventually be pieced together to reveal something that will blow your socks off. The fragments are hidden in codes and glyphs that are scattered in puzzles, fansites and magazines in the real world.

The reason I say I'm a geek is that today fragment #18 (I think) was officially released and by pure luck I was one of the first who found it. It was linked through the Channel 4 website (UK version of ABC that airs Lost) so I emailed the LostExperienceClues and got props for being among the first who found it. My name is even on the website under Clue #86. I rule. Or not as the case may be since I am such a self-proclaimed geek. I don't care, I danced all day. To check it out click right here...but be warned it's definitely addictive.

what do you want to do?

I recently discovered the best way to procrastinate on the internet. It's a website called "43 things" where you list all the random sorts of things you want to do in your lifetime. I'm having so much fun on it that I'm actually trying to knock some of the stuff off my list.
Here are some examples of the things I want to do:

1. stop biting my nails.
2. work on my art.
3. eat breakfast more often.
4. visit Vancouver (which I'm doing next summer for my friend's wedding. Congrats Tracy!)
5. eat more vegetables.
6. get more stamps in my passport.
7. join a gym (which I did!)
8. stop snoring.
9. eat a mars bar (I did this too!)
10. take a cross-Canada train vacation.

To see the rest of my list, and cheer me on click here.

Rants and reels

I'd like to know if anyone else's mom does this. Maybe it's a condition that mothers develop when they turn fifty. If it was, then I'd probably feel more hospitable towards mine and much less likely to murder her before noon.

Ok so here's the thing, I was out last night drinking with a bunch of friends who'd just got home from a year away. Beer was flowing, bands were playing. It was an all round good time. The problem is that when I awoke this morning it was to find my mother standing over me half way into a conversation about my aunt who lives in...I don't even know, I want to say Kansas?...anyway mom was ranting about something.

Apparently my aunt has this dog and she's giving it up cause my uncle doesn't like dogs. Oh and my aunt has also found some kind of baby hawk and it's living in their backyard and it eats crickets. They are giving away the dog, but the endangered and illegal bird is fine to live in their house.

So my mother is ranting above me and I finally croaked out a "what?" in my hungover haze. Mom then wants to know "what's wrong, why are you not up yet, why are you feeling sick, oh you still have a cold, well what medication did you take?, it's because you sleep with your doors closed and you don't open your windows enough, well if you are allergic to pollen then you need better allergy medication, where are your puffers?, take some of mine, don't get all hyped up about sharing medications it's fine it doesn't kill me..." and on and on and on.

The rant of questions literally goes like this with me begging for peace and quiet and to be left alone with my glass of water and tylenol. Why, why! do mothers want to have an entire conversation with their comatose daughters before 11 am?? I need to move out...now.

Greek Olives, Perrier and Cottage Cheese

My family went to PEI on Sunday and left me home alone for a week with no food and no car. I was in Pugwash when they took off so I had no idea what the food situation was until I got home even though my mother had claimed she'd left more than enough behind. "More than enough" apparently means 2 frozen pizzas, a bottle of perrier that I drank on the first day, some cottage cheese that has gone bad, and some greek olives that look questionable. They are kind of spotty. I'm not sure if that is a normal colour for them to be, but I'm not taking any chances. I'm going out for supper.

Megs does as Megs wants

This is the first time in about 8 summers that I haven't worked full time in the tourism industry downtown. I never got holidays off, or even weekends. I can't remember the last time I went camping or even had time to wear the stupidly expensive bikini I bought two years ago.

So because I've decided to take this summer off for personal reasons (I'm starting work as a substitute teacher in September and I need to gather my strength), I am dubbing this the "Summer of Megs." I'm used to bending over backwards for other people and I've decided to be selfish for once in my life. I'm taking care of me. So if I want to sit on my back deck and 12 books in 3 weeks, that's what I'll do. If I want to spend a day making blender drinks and watching talk shows with my mom, that's what I'll do.

Today for example, Environment Canada warned people to stay out of the sun and indoors because it was going to be so hot out. I decided to take that very seriously so I'm staying indoors alrght, indoors in my bed all day. It's almost 2 pm and I'm still in my pajamas. Life is fabulous.

You can never go back

I don't know how many other people have had the "luck" or "pleasure" of movng back in with their parents when they were pretty sure they were out on their own for good. I do know that it has happened enough that there is the saying "you can never go back." For that reason, I've decided that there needs to be some kind of support group for people like myself, who find themselves cramped back into their childhood room as adults. Whether you've moved back home due to financial reasons, failed relationships, or just because you miss Mom's cooking, it's never a good as an idea as it might have seemed at first (that is if it ever seemed like a good idea).

This is the second time I've found myself moving back in wth my parents; my family has even started calling me "Boomerang" because I keep coming back. This time I'm also jobless so I'm pretty much hanging around my house every day bored out of my mind. Now I know that this whole experience is has hard on my family as it is on me, and I'm grateful to them for constantly putting up with my shit. Thank you Mom and Dad, I love you. But seriously, you are completely nuts and I have to document this for prosterity

So cheers and good luck to everyone else who's had to move home at 25 (or later, god forbid.)