My Trip to Hell (otherwise known as Eaton Centre during Boxing Week)

Why? Why did I do it to myself? I didn't know ... I didn't know ! ... what was I thinking? I guess I was thinking that my lovely mom sent me lovely cash for Christmas and I wanted to get some much-needed winter boots at prices somewhat below astronomical. I figured since it was two days after Boxing Day the mall shouldn't be too crazy. I was dead wrong. There were twice as many people there today as there were on Dec. 23. Oh the madness!!! I wonder what Boxing Day must have been like? Too scary, can't think about it. Well, so there I was in the midst of a wicked case of PMS, surrounded by annoying people, looking for boots. You can just tell it was a recipe for disaster. I wanted to find something that didn't look too much like moon boots and that didn't cost over $100. Seems reasonable right? Wrong!

I checked Aldo: good price, but very moon booty, unless you want the uberfashionable ones that are not at all waterproof. Transit: nothing. Timberland: beautiful boots on sale for 60% off and therefore just within my price range, but they didn't have my size. Sport check: not bad, within price range, no size. Coast Mountain: same beautiful boots as Timberland, they had my size, but were $10 more. I decide to live with it. They have a sale on where the second pair of shoes is 50% off. I think I really should take advantage of the sale so I try to find some other shoes that I need/want that don't cost too much. After looking around the store for about half an hour I give up and decide to just get the boots. The cashier rings them up and they're $159. I gasp. She checks the price: $159, yep, that's it. I show the clerk the sign under the boot in question, which clearly states $109. Unfortunately that price is really for the Merrels, not for the Timberlands that are currently occupying the spot. I ask if they can match Timberland's price since Timberland is selling them for $99. They agree to do so. But, when they call Timberland they are told that the boots in question are $170. I'm truly shocked. So, I go to Timerberland to get them to write up something about how their boots are really $99. When I get there I see that while the women's version I tried on was on sale for $99, the men's ones that actually fit me in the other store are $170. I ask the clerk if they aren't 60% off, since there's a giant 60% off sign at the front of the store, which is what originally lured me in. He points out that in tiny letters on the sign it says "up to". I guess those boots were on sale for 0% off. Well, that was it for me and my shopping adventure. I headed directly for the subway and tried not to cry or hurt anyone all the way home. Of course, I got on the subway going in the wrong direction, so I had to get off and switch at the first stop. Classic! Eventually I made it home to my roommate, who wasn't giving off any tell-me-all-about-it vibes. So I took a nice long bath and tried to relax, but I'm still mentally wound up. I'm stressed. I'm tired. And I still have no winter boots. Bahhh!!! And now, I just realized that I'm bitching and complaining while hundreds of thousands of people have just recently had their lives completely destroyed by a tsunami. Kind of puts the boot fiasco in perspective. I'll try not to dwell.

Who turned off the heat?

It's freezing here! Sure, I was warned. I knew. But I get to complain anyway right? Maybe this will toughen me up. Or maybe it will just make my skin dry out and crack, which will give me the appearance of being toughened.

I've become very lazy and lethargic over the past week of inactivity. This is why I can never be self-employed. I need structure. I need someone waiting expectantly for me to produce something. Maybe I just need to give myself a break and enjoy my Christmas vacation.

All of my friends have gone home for Christmas, so there's nobody to hang out with. Poor me :( At least my roommate Carla is still here. I'd be pretty bereft without her company. Her brother is here too. He's a bit of a redneck from Northern Alberta.

I have to go to the store and buy pumpkin pie supplies and red wine. Why did I leave this until Christmas Eve? Cause I'm a fool, of course! Christmas just kind of snuck up on me. Now I have to go out and battle the crowds. Oh well, I guess that will be my entertainment for the day.

Well, better get at it.

Woo Hoo!!!

Ah, sweet freedom :) I'm done, I'm done, I'm done!!!! Hard to believe I was so eager to get into this program, isn't it? I'm sure I'll be glad to go back come January, but it sure is nice to have a break. We had a party last night to celebrate. It was a lot of fun. I got home at 2am and decided, "I don't need to set the alarm. I can sleep all day if I want to." It has been a pretty slack day. I got up at 11 and bummed around for a few hours. Then I went out for Korean food with a very strange looking guy who seems to be even more broke than I am (not the best choice from Lavalife). I'm supposed to go skating with some friends from school tonight, but I think it may get postponed until January. It'd be better to go during the day when it's not so freakin' cold.

I want to say a special thankyou to Coral and Jenn, who've clearly stuck with me here through the dry spell. I hope you guys are doing well. I got my Christmas present in the mail last week, but I didn't want to open it before Christmas because I'm thinking it'll be nice to have at least one gift to open. So, I put it under our little tiny tree. Thanks so much for thinking of me.

I love you all, and I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas holiday. Have a special eggnog and think of me. You'll have to remember to sneeze afterwards, as I'm allergic.

Exams, Final Projects, Rehearsals, and Lavalife

Well, I've probably lost anyone who was keeping an eye on my blog by now, but in case I haven't, let me appologize for letting things slide. Life's been a little crazy lately. The last two weeks have involved a series of final projects and group presentations being due. I still have one project due on Monday (guess I should be working on that). On top of all that I've been going to at least two rehearsals a week for some skits that I madly agreed to act in for the Book Publishers Professional Association's Cabaret, which takes place this coming Tuesday. Yikes!!! Do you think it's too late to back out? Actually, I seem to be getting the hang of this acting thing. I may win a prize as the most improved actor. Anyways, Cabaret is right in the middle of exam week. Nice timing eh? Oh well, I'm sure it will all work out. Oh, oh, on top of all that, I decided that my social life was a disgrace (doesn't everyone do laundry on Saturday nights?) so I joined Lavalife. Well, it's just been crazy. I've only been on the site for two weeks and I've gone out with three different guys, one of them twice. I barely have time to breathe. I've decided that I can't possibly go out on any more dates until after my exams are finished, so I'll try to stick with that. I have to say that I highly recommend Lavalife if you want to get out there and meet a lot of new people. It's fun going on dates. There are certainly a few strange ones, but on the whole it's a pretty good experience. That said, I did go out with a really creepy guy yesterday. He was trying to convince me of the inevitability of terrorists bombing the U.S. with nukes, and during dinner he started going on about how much he loved "Silence of the Lambs" and every sequel, prequel and book related to it. Hearing about how some guy got carved in half like a deer is not exactly what I want to hear while I'm eating sushi. I'm glad I didn't give him any identifying information. On the whole, though, it's been a good experience thus far. Well, that's all for now. I think I'll try to get some sleep tonight. Laters...

The Heart of Darkness

I know, you all thought it was a story by Joseph Conrad, but I believe it was really intended to describe Toronto in the winter. Ok, it's not officially winter yet, but it will be in a few days so cut me some slack. All day long it's gray, gray, gray and then around five o'clock it gets dark. Can you say SAD (seasonal affective disorder)? I may have to look into getting one of those special lights. I've been totally bummed out this week for no clear reason. I'm sure the weather is to blame. I guess I should just be happy that I'm not freezing my ass off. The ass freezing will come later I'm sure. Luckily the landlord pays for our heat, so we should be able to stay fairly cozy without going broke(r). No matter where you are, I hope the sun shines on you today. Maybe you could soak up a little for me.

Ah Sweet Freedom

Yay!! I finished the feature article I was working on for my magazine writing class and even managed to hand it in on time. I wrote about teaching in Korea. What can I say, thinking of creative story ideas is not my forte. It was a good choice, though, because I could just interview my friends rather than cold-calling important people. Man I hate that #$%@ magazine writing class. It's the most work of all my classes and I have the worst marks in it. Still, I'm pretty happy with the feature I wrote. Of course I was happy with my last assignment for that class and I got 70% on it :( I don't get those kind of marks!! Ok, I guess I do now. I keep telling myself that I don't want to be a magazine writer anyway, but it doesn't assuage my bruised ego.

So, now that the sucker is done, I'm giving myself a day off. It's a beautiful day and I'm going to go out there and enjoy it. I'm not sure what I'm going to do out there, but I'll do something dammit. Of course, at the moment it's almost noon and I'm still sitting here in my jammies. But hey, it's my day off right? Well, that's all for now. The sun is calling :)

Poor Me

Well, what a crappy day I've had. First, I got bitten/stung in the shower by a freaky looking insect with many waving legs. I later learned that it's called a house centipede. It totally scared the crap out of me and hurt like a bejesus. Then, I spent six hours in class. When I got home I realized that I'd forgotten my keys and had no way to get in as my roommates were both out. I didn't have anyone's phone number with me, so I had to wander around Toronto for six and a half hours, phoning home at regular intervals, until they finally got home at 10pm. I'm so zonked I can barely keep my eyes open. And on that note, time for bed.

Everyone can post a comment

Just in case you previously tried to post a comment to anything on my sight and failed, I've fixed it so that anyone can post as "anonymous," so you don't have to be a blogger member to post. Just click on "anonymous" when you go to post. Sign your name at the bottom of your post so I know who the heck you are ;)

Exploring Laos

One day some friends and I rented bicycles and
tackled Loas' pothole-ridden dirt roads to get to some
caves. We had to leave our bikes behind in order to
trek up to the caves' entrances. Laos is beautiful,
friendly and fun. It's very green and lush and has
the advantage of not being overrun by tourists such as
myself. If you're up for an unusual travel
destination, I highly recommend it.

Photo Problems

Well, I've clearly figured out how to post a photo. Now I just have to get the size right. I'm feeling a little challenged right now. Bear with me.

Drinks with Long Thanh

When I visited Vietnam in April 2004, I met famous,
Vietnamese photographer Long Thanh, who bought me far
too many drinks and was enthralled with the wrinkles I
get around my eyes when I smile. Kind of puts a
positive spin on crow's feet. In case anyone's mind
is heading for the gutter, it was totally platonic.
Sheesh people. Anyways, I mainly included it because
I think it's a pretty nice picture of me. Can you
tell that I'm a tad tipsy?

Happy Hallowe'en

Children in costumes are traipsing through the neighborhood, looking extremely cute I'm sure. I'm hiding in my room, using as little light as possible in an attempt to dissuade said children from ringing the doorbell. Am I a scrooge or what? I've done the candy thing in the past, but this year I'm just not into it. I barely have enough cash to buy food, much less over-priced bags of mini snickers bars. Plus, I have homework to do. As you can see, that's not going very well so far. I went to a Hallowe'en party last night with some people from my program. I dressed as a killer bee (bee antennae, yellow and black, striped shirt, wings, army pants, combat boots and a toy machine gun). It was my best costume ever. I'm pretty sure I'll be wearing it every Hallowe'en for the next ten years. I had a good time at the party, although it was rather crowded. There must have been 80-100 people there. Now it's Sunday night and I'm wishing I didn't have to get up before the sun tomorrow and stumble off to my design class. Another week begins.