A Day in the Life of...

So, it's been a while since I last posted anything with real content. In my defense, I've been crazy-busy. My schedule is seriously packed until sometime in late April. I have been keeping track of my favorite food blogs, though (and posting more frequently in my *own* than I do here). And okay, I've been playing videogames and talking about Hobbes (the political scientist, not the "Calvin and" variety, who is actually a more fun variety when you think about it - see also this post's title) and drinking a lot of chai tea, angsting, listening to music with heavy bass with volume turned WAY up, spending too much time on youtube, and going to a lot of meetings, among other things.

I must say, playing catchy club music is an instant mood-elevator.

Goodness me. Last night, I kept having all these different dreams that all led to someone giving me a MacBook. It was so cute and little and white with its glowing apple on the back of the monitor half. I'm sure any Apple I own wouldn't stay pristine very long, but oh well. Now to do some more research...

I get the feeling my wallet is going be feeling very sore soon. Between the possibility of this new laptop, cleaning my current hunk o' junk (every 4 months on the dot!), buying socially-conscious Christmas presents (supporting the local economy isn't cheap), and perhaps buying new boots if I can't fix my current ones (which would be very sad)... ouch. I feel myself going slowly but surely broke. Ack!

At least I have lots of chai and hot chocolate to keep me company.

So here I sit, debating fantasies.

I want a cold, crisp winter night's walk filled with snow falling silently and a cuddle with a lovely person under a big cosy blanket, a roaring fireplace, and a steaming mug of sweet hot chocolate.

But I also want a chair on a warm, sandy, isolated beach on the South Pacific, well equipped with chick lit and a pitcher or some fruity, but deceptively strong, drink on a cute little table next to me. And I want to be there alone.

One is doable; the other, not so much. Sigh. I wish it could just be Christmas break already. Or at least not this week.

I've been on this big Christmas kick lately. I can't wait to sit around sipping eggnog, visiting with family and friends, baking all sorts of Christmas goodies, watching movies, my sled date with Rebecca, shopping for gifts, snacking on clementines and chocolate, snuggling up in big chunky sweaters, playing video games with the Tomster, updating and improving my food blog, sending christmas cards, frenchys shopping, snarking at lame TV shows, going to Christmas concerts, decorating the tree, my birthday partying (which I hope will involve Rebecca, Erin, Jenn, Dana, Stacey, Ames, dancing, and a big-ass pitcher of sangria), getting used to my new Mac (I hope), planning my vacation, family dinner parties, practising photography, walks in the countryside and forests around my grandparent's houses, dancing to Christmas music randomly with my mom in the kitchen, and, of course, snow. DANG. C'mon, December! Hurry up!

"There's this place in me where your fingerprints still rest, your kisses still linger, and your whispers softly echo. It's the place where a part of you will forever be a part of me." - Gretchen Kemp


Eff off, Gretchen, you sodding romantic. (Can y'all tell Meg's bitter tonight?)

Considering all the sombre musings that have been flooding the collective consciousness of late, I have a lighter-hearted (of sorts) query;

"Shut the fuck up and kiss me." Derogatory? Or a compliment? :P

I need Cathy Davey's album "Something Ilk" very, very desperately. I heard one song from it ("About Time") a few months back, had it on repeat for days, downloaded another song of hers (the only one I could find on LimeWire, "Go Make It") and loved it dearly, and now the link for the first song won't work, and in my search for it, I encountered "Cold Man's Nightmare", which is amazing and has been on repeat ever since, and now I really must find the album. But I am in small town Nova Scotia and my chance of finding an obscure Irish pop album are slim to none. Oh, why am I not in Halifax, where there is an HMV and they can surely order it if they don't have it?

...

*sigh* Saturday, self, wait til Saturday.

Dear Toronto,

I can’t recall time EVER moving so fast as it has these past few days. I mean, I got here on Sunday afternoon, and it’s already Tuesday night! Tomorrow, early in the morning, I’ll have to fly away and leave you, which is really a shame, because I think this relationship had potential. You and me, Toronto, we coulda gone places.

After all, ever since we met, you just keep on surprising me with all these delightful little details; like those trees in the park strung up with purple fairy lights, that island covered with paper lanterns, the cheap Asian noodle house with the incredible food AND drinks, the liberal smattering of ethnic neighbourhoods everywhere, the fresh-fruit smell of Kensington Market, the neon signs of Chinatown on Spandina, the utter hoity-toity-ness and yet friendliness of Yorkville, those birds who sat boldly on a spare chair at my table with Maggie at the croissant place and begged for crumbs, your cute little subway system, the friendly people everywhere, all the bookstores, the pretty shops that eat up my moneys, the lovely restaurant doors I have to tear myself away from, that orgasmic ice cream place down the road, the trees everywhere, being able to actually see the stars at night, the alleyways covered with tremendous, magnificent graffiti, the bohemian lifestyle you endorse so heartily, the many parks graced with fountains, your obsession with bikes and cyclists, and so, so much more.

Sure, you have your flaws, like your rude drivers who lay on their horns for ages, and your expensive… everything, really, and your stinky fish markets, and your way of consuming my time in a flash, but I’ve been smitten since I first laid eyes on you.

This is the most ridiculous summer fling I’ve ever had, Toronto, and even though it has by no means been a wild and crazy ride, it HAS been a blast, and I hope we get to do it again soon. I’ll send you a postcard, babe. Kiss kiss!

xoxoxo,
Meg

Lately, life is occupied by lots of mundane stuff like working, sleeping, and watching episodes of Sex and the City with a bowl of ice cream in hand (you have to eat while watching; it is a rule).

Part of me is ready to go home. I really want to visit with my friends and family (I get the feeling Becca and I will become attached at the hip, but I don't mind). I miss idyllic pretty Yarmouth summers with lots of barbecues, fresh fruit and veg, camping (my dad's on vacation this week, so the family is going camping without me, and I am soooo jealous), visiting, and lazy days reading in the sun. I miss walking along the beach, and oddly enough, I miss sitting around drinking a cold bottle of Keith's (this is slightly perplexing, because I'm not much of a drinker at all). I miss school and all my friends in Haligonia.

I'm already formulating a million plans for September, including a massive game of hide and seek, a dinner party, a very long cuddle date, a fancy dessert party at Il Mercato, and going out to a bar with a few people, all of us dressed in a Regency-style dress, which Ana is currently sewing for me because she is a lovely roommate ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥. One of the friends I was chatting with today has told me I've gotten looking forward to September, even. :D

However, part of me doesn't want to go. I like my routine here, and I don't want to leave Ana and Melanie and Aurri. They're my pack of ladies! *whine* I still have to see the mountains, and I am owed pool and poker lessons and a motorcycle ride (I've never ridden a motorcycle before, so I am ridiculously excited) from a friend, and I'm going to go visit my friend Stace in Edmonton this weekend, and that all promises to be fun, and the thought of all that being over and done with stings. I mean, even my trip home, with a possible stopover in Toronto which could easily involve visiting durdaana, penguindust, and mintroses, if they'll have me, then hopefully meeting up with one of my Beccas (the my-best-friend one) and travelling the rest of the way back to Yarmouth with her, is going to rock.

I'm glad I still have the next few weeks to make the most of (I really have to make better use of all the artistic inpsiration that Ana and Mel are showering me with and get started on my comic...), but I'm sure they're going to go by in a flash, even though it seems like a long stretch on the calendar. Plus, I know that there will be a certain amount of rather icky drama to confront in September, and putting that off as long as possible is kind of appealing, since I'm no good at treading on eggshells.

I know that, ultimately, I'm going to be crying a lot in the next few weeks, for a lot of things, and that leaving behind my new very high level of independence is going to be really hard. But it is going to be fun, dammit, even if it kills me. I mean, if I chop off some hair and dye it aqua, like I'm planning to, how could it NOT be fun? :P

Enough of my emo ramblings. Love you all!

Kisses, Meg xoxo

I am in a deliciously good mood, despite a hellacious day at work. I blame watching Sex and the City while eating ice cream, then discovering the most delightful Jewish cooking show in the history of ever.

But yes, the stuff going on in my life in point form:

-The roomies and I got a kitty! Her name is Aurri (pronounced like the beginning of the word "oreo"), and she is the most adorable ball of fluff I have ever seen. We got her on Sunday, and we all felt bad for separating her from her brothers and mother. She's very vocal, and a bit more afraid of me than Ana or Mel, but she's been getting a bit more cuddly, thankfully. Now if only her claws weren't quite so sharp. :P

-Work is the part of my life that's giving me the most grief at the moment, but that's mostly because a ton of my coworkers are quitting so I'm doing more work (and washing dishes isn't exactly stimulating). Thankfully most of my favorties are staying, but I'll be sad to see the gals going (the ones are already gone didn't even say goodbye, and of course THEY're the ones who live in Halifax. If I ever see them it's bound to be awkward; blah.).

-I went to the Calgary Stampede, though it was about 2 hours before the grounds closed. I had thought I was going to end up going alone, which made me sad. But then a friend offered to accompany me at the last minute, which was awesome, since he's a Calgarian and was able to show me around. We missed all the rodeo stuff, but I'm not particularly distressed. We DID get to see the last of the Trews concert, which was cool, but made me miss home (there was a random girl waving a Nova Scotia flag). We played silly carnie games and he very sweetly won me a stuffed animal. It is a stoned-looked duck that I've dubbed George (since the roommates refused to let me name the kitten that). We sat on a large and rather crowded hill that gave us a fantabulous view of the fireworks, but my poor friend got eaten alive by mosquitoes (that's what you get for wearing shorts! :P) We had a cute little sing-along to "Hooked on a Feeling" while he drove me home, and the drive took ages because there was a lot of traffic. I didn't get in until far too late, but I enjoyed myself thoroughly; I'm glad I went.

-On Saturday night, the An-chan and I are descending upon the Jubilee Theatre to see "The Phantom of the Opera"m, and I am freakin' THRILLED. I missed out on seeing this on Broadway last summer, which I've been kicking myself for since then, so having a chance to make up for it (and while sitting in good cheap seats, no less) makes me very happy. I'm not sure whether or not I want to get really glammed up (okay, I lie, I *know* I want to get really glammed up... ;p) or wear thatre blacks and pretend to be a tech (Ana, being an actual theatre tech, thought up this marvelous idea, and has promised to teach me how to act like a theatre tech, so I'm all set).

-I've been buying waaaay too much stuff. Somebody needs to just hide my debit card from me. :P

All the movies I've bought are either romances or tragedies, or both, which I find funny (I now own: "Hero", "God is Great, and I'm Not", "House of Flying Daggers", "William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet", "West Side Story", and the fourth season of my newest guilty pleasure, "Sex and the City"). I buy chick lit like it's going out of style (Confessions of a Shopaholic much?), but I've been trying to stick to used CDs (I'm buying about half new and half used at the moment; whoops).

Thankfully, though, I've somehow kept the new clothes to a minimum, despite the extremely tempting sale at Holt Renfrew (70% off! Now or never!). I only bought an Italian-made tank top (cheap and minty-green! It makes me look tan! SO worth it), but I tried on some very expensive clothes just for the heck of it. The highlights include the ubiquitous Diane von Firstenburg wrap dress, which looks terrible on me and has an extremely plunging neckline, blah, a very unremarkable Dolce and Gabbana skirt, a divine Marc Jacobs sweater that matched that day's underwear perfectly (tee hee) but was out of the price range, a cute see-through-looking dress that's actually fairly substantial, but not worth the price, sigh, and a 250-dollar top that was pretty much a thin layer of gauze and sequins which looked cute on me but waaaaay overpriced! I squeed like a madwoman and twirled around a lot in the dressing room.

Annnnyway, I rather need to be quiet now, so sweet dreams, all!

OMG. I've said it before and I'll say it again: Calgary is fuckin' beautiful.

I walked home the long way after work, as it was getting dark and the way I normally take would be full of skecthy scary homeless people and not a lot of traffic, and the long way involves walking through Chinatown (♥♥♥), across a beautiful long bridge which gave me an awesome view of the sunset, and up a hill, where I had a panoramic view of the cityscape being lit up by the setting sun and the sky turned gorgeous colours and the misty rolling foothills. I wish everyone I love in the world could have been with me in that moment. It was sheerest bliss. I also wish my camera had had charged batteries, because it would have made for awesome pictures, but at the same time I think it will be better off stored in the meory banks, anyway. :) Then I came home, sat my poor tired ass down, and as I was fiddling around on the compy, Mel and I heard the sound of fireworks! We ran outside (I lost a shoe and stopped running and Mel ran right into me; it was hilarious) and watched the tail end; SO pretty. I think there were firweowkrs since the Calgary Stampede offically starts tomorrow; the city goes INSANE for the duration, apparently, so I'm curious to see what it's like, and excited to wear my cowboy hat every day. :D The fireworks were the perfect finale to my day.

I shouldn't be anywhere near this happy, considering all the things currently lacking in my life (I can whine about those someday when I'm in a bad mood ;P), and ESPECIALLY not after working a really tiring 12-hour shift (most of which was spent washing literally hundreds of dishes), but I was in such an inexplicable good mood that it didn't faze me. It could be the happy Meg talking, but I love work now! My coworkers are all pretty good (one of them has even started calling me Meg without being prompted! Yey!), some (like Joe and Karli) are so amazingly awesome and kind beyond words (Joe brings me water bottles all thwe time), I get paid well (wooo!), and I am in love (no, not like THAT... :P) with my boss, Peter. He's a bit (unintentionally) intimidating at times, but he calls me names like "kiddo" and "sweetpea", he really cares about his staff and his work, he encourages me ALL the time (which motivates me so much), he is fond of cheeky winks, and he has a great sense of humour. Today, when I was mopping the floor, he said, "Oh, when you're done, there's a bowl of molten chocolate over there." Man after my own heart. :) Though the chocolate is doing funny things to my body/brain. I'm never gonna get to sleep tonight.

What else was I gonna write about...? :P

For next time: Music! Food blog! Various art-y things! Being a do-gooder! Bed!