commas and ampersands

2008 in memes:


(But first, a look back at the year-end roundup for 2007.)

( One of the more popular year-end memes )


( Looking forward to 2009 )

( The first sentence of each month, according to my lj )

Happy New Year!

Age shall not weary them
Nor the years condemn
At the going down of the sun
And in the morning
We will remember them.

Things I've done so far this weekend, in no particular order:

• Had lunch, sans kids, with Kat.
  
• Learned (re-learned, sort of) how to drive a standard.
  
• Started watching Arrested Development (halfway through season 1 right now).
  
• Had coffee with murphy987.
  
• Visited Heather (Scott was out of town) and cuddled 10-day-old Martin for a good, long time.
  
• Gone out for dinner with Colin's parents after they picked me up from the airport.
  
• Eaten turkey dinner in High River with Colin's side of the family.
  
• Watched a movie with all three Lowe brothers and their girls... it's pretty rare that we all hang out/triple date like that.
  
• Been reamed out by my mom for not spending enough time visiting them (and for flying in on Thursday but not seeing them until Sunday).
  
  And now we're on our way out for coffee with my sister and brother-in-law, and then out to the farm for dinner with my side of the family. More later...

A few kind of random thoughts:

A guy at choir last night told us how he found $900 on the ground near a movie theater. He turned it in to security, but was told that if it wasn't claimed in 30 days, they'd call him and it'd be his. I could certainly stand to find $900 on the ground right about now. It would certainly come in handy for some of those bills.

I got into my car this afternoon to discover that my rearview mirror had fallen off the windshield and was (is) hanging by the cord that connects the thermometer and compass. I bought some adhesive stuff, but it wasn't strong enough, so I'll have to try and find something else. I remember this happening once before, and there was a particular kind of double-sided adhesive that was designed for rearview mirrors, so I'll have to go to an auto parts store and see if I can find some. In the meantime, it's all about the side mirrors and shoulder checks.

Three weeks until Thanksgiving weekend! Last year, I think I had 5 turkey dinners between October and December. One of them may have been a ham dinner, but either way, that's a lot of really delicious food.

I'm still at school, and I'd like to head home now, but I'm still here for another hour and a half, at least. The Coffeehouse opening gala (dance party) is tonight, and since I'm the coffeehouse producer, I should be here for at least the first bit. Dance parties aren't really my thing, though, and I don't really have a desire to stick around the school until 2 AM or later, so I'm going to head home at about 10:30.

I have two printers; I should bring my second one to school and set it up at my desk. Yes. That would be a wise thing to do with printer #2.

I suppose I should head down to the theatre now...

Happy Canada Day!!

We didn't do anything particularly exciting today, but I wore my Team Canada shirt from the 2006 Olympics, and we had a Canada Day BBQ last night, because it was supposed to rain tonight. It rained last night instead. Heh. Oh well... we had strawberry shortcake for dessert in any case, which was a nice red-and-white dessert.

Today, we helped Allison move, including enlisting my parents at the very last minute so that they could provide two extra trucks and some extra manpower. We ducked out a little early so that we could come back to the house and watch a couple of movies. A walk probably would have been good, but we needed to just veg, and we'd spent 4 hours hauling boxes upstairs, so that probably was enough of a workout for the day.

He had to go into work tonight, so I helped Allison with her last load of stuff once Colin went into the office, and now I'm just hanging out, debating whether I'm going to fall asleep on his bed and then move to the couch when he gets home or whether I'll go and fall asleep on the couch now. The bed is more comfortable, obviously, but I don't know what time he'll be getting back. Eh. Oh well. Either way, it doesn't really matter. If I fall asleep on the couch, I'll wake up when he opens the door anyway, so it doesn't make much of a difference.



Anyway... Happy 141, Canada!

I can't believe that we're already 16 years past "Canada 125." I remember what a big deal that was, and how there was a big theme for Canada Day in 1992. It doesn't seem possible that we're closer to Canada's 150th birthday than we are to having celebrated its 125th birthday.

Happy New Year (almost!).

I have a different year-end meme that I want to do, but it's longer and more involved, so I'll do a quick-and-dirty one for the moment, before I head over to Colin's for the rest of the day.

1. Where did you begin 2007?
   At murphy987's house with Chinese food, a little bit of wine, and a lot of laughter.



2. What was your status by Valentine's Day?
   Still single, but just barely. Colin and I started dating on Feb 23, so by Valentine's Day, we were pretty darn close. It was a Wednesday night, so we went out for dinner after choir, as usual, and I'm pretty sure he paid.



3. Were you in school anytime this year?
   Heh. Absolutely. I've been back in school for 4 months now, and I think I'm finally getting used to it again.



4. How did you earn your money?
   Temping for the first half of the year, and then working at Starbucks after I moved down to California. Also, working in the school's box office for a little extra cash, and doing a few odd jobs, like house-sitting and writing Christmas cantata narration, to earn a bit of extra money.



5. Did you have to go to the hospital?
   Nope. Only to visit Kat when she was in the hospital this summer.



6. Did you have any encounters with the police?
   I got a couple of parking tickets, and we get cops coming through Starbucks all the time, but the only encounter I had while driving was just after we bought the new car, and I was driving Colin's old car, and they pulled me over a block from his office because they couldn't find his license in the computer. I gave them the registration, they managed to find it, and it was all good. Slightly strange, but it all worked out in the end.



7. Where did you go on holiday?
   California and Calgary. I took an almost-week-long vacation to California in February to visit with a bunch of TWoPpers and to interview for my program at school, and then I've been back to Calgary for Thanksgiving and Christmas. Other than that... we spent the weekend in Drumheller, but that doesn't quite count.



8. What did you purchase that was over $1000?
   The new car. My education. We've spent over $1000 on flights this year, although that's definitely not the price of a single flight.



9. Did you know anybody who got married?
   Yup. We were at Carl and Kelsey's wedding and Laurel and Ken's wedding this summer, and we were invited to four others that we couldn't make it to (Rob and Stephanie, Rob and Mary Beth, Lindsey and Ben, and Nadine and Jason).



10. Did you know anybody who passed away?
    Not until I heard this week that a friend's father-in-law passed away a few days after Christmas.



11. Did you move anywhere?
    All the way to where the palm trees live...



12. What concerts/shows did you go to?
    Oh, goodness. I was at many plays and choir concerts. I can't even start to list them all...



13. Are you registered to vote?
    Yes, in two countries.



14. Who did you want to win Big Brother?
    Reality TV is not my mind-numbing drug of choice



15. Where do you live now?
    Van Nuys, California, United States, in a lovely apartment that echoes with the dulcet sounds of "La Cucaracha".



16. Describe your birthday.
    It was pretty low-key. Easter Sunday was the day before my birthday, so I was busy all weekend with the show at church. My family had Easter dinner on the Sunday, so I opened gifts then, and then on my birthday itself, I took the day off work, spent a good part of the day alone, fasting and praying about the school decision, and then went to Colin's parents' house for Easter dinner with them.



17. What's one thing you thought you'd never do but did in 2007?
    Everything to do with Colin. That was the least expected, best, most life-changing surprise of my year. Also, I lost quite a bit of weight, and that's something I'd been trying to do for a long time, so to have it actually happen when I wasn't really trying as hard anymore was a fantastic surprise.



18. What has been your favorite moment?
    Oh, there have been many. Many of the little moments with Colin have been right up there. Girl time with Kat. Double dates with friends.



19. What's something you learned about yourself?
    That I'm stronger than I think I am. That I can do this long-distance thing. That I was ready and waiting for the right relationship; all I needed was the right guy to come along. That I can walk 60 km in two days.



20. Any new additions to your family?
    Just Colin. Although, since I guess I'm the new addition to his family, I also gained a whole second family this year.



21. What was your best month?
    I have no idea. February was great, for obvious reasons. July and August were really good in the way that summer months often are. December has been great, because I've spent the last third of it with Colin.



22. What music will you remember 2007 by?
    "Hey There Delilah". Or rather, my personalized remake of it.



23. Who has been your best drinking buddy?
    Considering the fact that I don't drink enough to have or need a drinking buddy, I'll have to go with "no one".
    
    
24. Made new friends?
    Well, I moved a thousand miles away, started a new school, and joined a new church. I would hope that some new friends would come with the deal. Adding a second family to the mix also includes some new friends, I think.



25. Best NEW friend?
    Um... all of them? I don't know.



26. Favorite night out?
    There have been many. It's nice to have a standing date for things.



27. Something you look forward to before 2008 is over?
    Maybe having Colin move down to California, although I'm not holding my breath that he'll be down soon. Watching the kids continue to grow. Seeing where Colin and I are a year from now. Getting to spend the summer in Calgary and having a respite from the long-distance part of the relationship.



28. Where will you start 2008?
    At Colin's, curled up on the couch, marathoning some TV show and eating takeout. (We're channeling an old, married couple tonight.)

Happy Thanksgiving, Part Two!

I worked this morning--it was really, really busy, but yay for time-and-a-half (and for the shift going really quickly), and I'm hanging out at Jenny's house right now, waiting for dinner tonight. Mmmm... turkey. I should keep track of how many turkey dinners I get this year. This one is number three--we had two for Canadian Thanksgiving--and I'm not sure how many we'll have at Christmas. Between Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and Boxing Day, we'll be at five, possibly six, different dinners/parties/gatherings, and I'm not sure how many of those will involve turkey. I'm guessing two, but I could be wrong.

I haven't quite decided how much Black Friday shopping I'm going to do tomorrow. I'm picking murphy987 up at the airport at 10:30, so I may go out and try to do some shopping (but not stand in line at 3 a.m.) before that, just because I still have quite a few presents to buy, and if I can catch some of the sales (not necessarily the door-crashers, but just the weekend sales), it would probably be a good thing.

I'll do a "thankful list" when I get home tonight, but I'm really looking forward to this weekend. It's good to have some time off, awesome to get to spend some time with Heather, and so good to know that Colin has today and tomorrow off, too, and that even though he's still got work to do, he's able to relax a little. That makes me incredibly happy. And it means that I get to talk to him a little more than usual this weekend. That also makes me happy.

Anyway... more later. In the meantime, enjoy your turkey!

My LiveJournal Trick-or-Treat Haul
being_fulfilled goes trick-or-treating, dressed up as fairy.
adinarj gives you 6 blue tropical-flavoured gummy bats.
beauty_awake gives you 14 dark green vanilla-flavoured gummy worms.
dazzy9 gives you 2 blue cherry-flavoured wafers.
fndchairman tricks you! You get a wet rag.
lady_m2835 gives you 4 purple apple-flavoured pieces of chewing gum.
murphy987 gives you 6 light blue lime-flavoured nuggets.
rolley2001 tricks you! You lose 25 pieces of candy!
spectralbovine gives you 3 light blue grape-flavoured nuggets.
tundrachik gives you 14 light yellow spearmint-flavoured wafers.
wounded82 gives you 10 pink tropical-flavoured gummy bats.
being_fulfilled ends up with 34 pieces of candy, and a wet rag.
Go trick-or-treating! Username:
Another fun meme brought to you by rfreebern.