procrastination paid off

finally, something good came of my hesitation and indecision!

a couple of months ago, our washing machine broke down. it had left oily black smears on our sheets during a couple of loads. when i looked inside the machine, i could see oily streaks had dripped out of some of the holes in the drum. we described the predicament to several people and got the same response: sounds like the transmission; you'll need a new machine.

that was a bummer, but not the end of the world. just go buy a new washer, easy peasy. until we measured our old machine and found that they no longer made washing machines in those dimensions. which also wouldn't be much of a problem in most cases. unfortunately for us, the laundry room had basically been built around those machines, and there wasn't a hair's width of space to spare! so then we began talking about knocking down a wall, except that would also involve trying to rearrange the piping. or we could find a top loading machine that could fit sideways into that spot. it would be awkward to do laundry, but doable.

we looked several times at washers. we even came very close to buying one, except i decided to be stubborn (blah blah, i wanted to wheel and deal but the salesman wouldn't knock off the $50 delivery charge, so i tried the walk away bluff... but just ended up walking away). the whole ordeal gave me a headache and i didn't want to deal with it. so we kept putting it off. we did laundry at the parents', and at my sister's, and at the laundromat. we kept saying "next weekend, we really have to buy a washer".

but then in telling my washer woes to the laundromat owner, he gave me hope. said it didn't sound like the transmission if there was no oil leaking beneath the washer. ANYHOO, we popped the front off the machine and didn't see anything suspicious. we did a test load with grungy towels we don't use. no oil. test run number two on the dish towels: also fine. ramp up the testing to underwear, socks, and gym clothes. CLEAN! so finally tonight i did real clothes. everything looks a-okay!!

We just saved ourselves several hundred bucks and a whole lot of hassle! so of course the moral of the story is: always put off til another day, because it may never have to get done at all.

such a valuable lesson.

shh.... i'm working

oops, keep forgetting to blog. maybe because i keep forgetting to do anything blogworthy. unless you count getting bingos in scrabble as blogworthy. nah, didn't think so. unfortunately that's as exciting as it gets these days.

lemme see, what non-happenings can i try to put a spin on? i'm doing some training at work right now and it involves piles of reading. if my eyeballs could pop out of my head and run away, they'd be long gone. anyway, that's way too boring to discuss any further.

the whole airbnb thing is still going, although slowing down now that it's winter. i'm still shocked at how many people we've had though. and i'm glad for a little respite, i sort of get tired of having people. it's a good excuse to clean the house though.

oh, BIG upset - pub quiz night has moved from tuesdays to wednesdays. I KNOW! it's wreaking havoc on our team. or what's left of our team. we've all had tuesdays blocked off as quiz night for a few years now, they can't just go and change it on us! yup, life is tough.

my brother just told me that the shoppers drug mart in our area wants to expand and take over a little vietnamese restaurant and movie village. nooooooo!!! i will be so sad if movie village goes. we've been members since it opened and have the coveted "free movie a day for life" membership! it would be the end of an era! i don't care about stupid video downloads, i still want movie village :(

anyhoo, suppose i better get back to this riveting training now.

revenge is a dish best served... with condiments?

FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK!!!! FUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

ok, i apologize for the language, but i had to get that out. you know when there's a situation that you've imagined in your head a thousand times, and you've played and replayed exactly what'd you say and what you'd do? you say to yourself and others "if i ever see that guy again i'll -- " and then explain in detail your well plotted revenge, if only given the chance! unfortunately, we don't always get that chance, and usually when we do, it does not have the courtesy to stick to our plan.

three years ago my family went to israel for a month. my brother's best friend agreed to watch the house for us. perhaps some of you remember this story from when i originally told it, so this is just the briefest of recaps. we got back and i noticed some things were missing. over the next few days we realized that it wasn't just one thing that perhaps had been misplaced, many things were gone. we'd been robbed. we confronted him. he said that he'd had some people over, he'd look into it. he said he would accept responsibility. a couple of days later he was gone. fled the city! literally, the son of a bitch moved to Halifax. when we tallied up what he'd stolen, it was somewhere between 2-3 thousand dollars. from me personally, close to $1000. i HATE him.

my fantasy revenge meeting wasn't actually all that fleshed out. it mostly involved a good solid left hook to the jaw, or a swift kick to the sternum that knocked him to the ground. then maybe i'd spit on him. it was a very satisfying and cathartic resolution in this fantasy.

however, there is a very distinct difference between having the daydream, and getting the chance to act out the daydream. i got my chance, unexpectedly, tonight. i was out enjoying dinner with my sister and family, when half way through my taco salad, awareness of his presence cast a dark shadow over the evening. i sat there fuming. i couldn't just walk out of there, i had to do something. but this was my local hangout, i couldn't do anything crazy that would get me banned or anything. and now that i was facing the situation, i had to accept that violence was not an option.

when we got up to leave, i walked over to his table. he acted all surprised. "i'm going to cut right to the chase," i said flatly. "you owe me money". the rest is a bit of a blur. he leaned back cockily in his chair, nonchalantly stating "oh do i?" and "prove it". alas, i wasn't as eloquent as i would have liked, tripping clumsily over something about wishing him a miserable life with friends as deceitful and untrustworthy as he is (although not nearly that succinct), and repeating that he can deny it all he wants but he knows he stole from us. "yeah, well you can't prove anything". and he was right. we can't. it was three years ago. he got away with it and he knew it. he smirked at me smugly. i stood and stared daggers, unable to throw the deisred punch.

So i threw his salsa in his face instead.

it was somewhat satisfying, and bordered on cathartic. i aplogized to the waitress but said she should know that that customer was a no good piece of shit theif that stole from us. my sister and her husband nodded in support. i wish i'd made that last announcement to the whole bar, but what can you do; these scenarios never go as planned.

and with that, we left.

so busy, forgot to title

just a quick note to say i'm still alive. i realize i haven't written much lately, it's just that my life is so darned exciting that i simply don't have the time to jot down all of my shenanigans and adventures. yes, that is the reason. *shifty eyes*

so here it comes: point form update.

• i no longer work at the call centre, i took a permanent position at one of the public offices. yay for change!
• hotel amanda has been quite successful! We've had 6 sets of guests, who have all left rave reviews (we have 5 stars on the website, oooh!), and another 2 bookings coming up. fun fun.
• i'm taking a film class at the university, just for the hell of it. made me realize that my school days were sooo long ago.
• my sister is having another baby!! but don't worry, i'll still love the first one.
• i spent all week reading a book on French grammar in preparation for my "second language evaluation" testing i have tomorrow. Bleck.
• major household disaster with ceiling leaking in bedroom and floor boards buckling due to water damage. luckily only in our room, no impact on our little business venture.
  and finally....
• going to thailand for 3 weeks in march - woohoo!! 

there ya go - all good 'n updated.

losing my mind, one note at a time

oh my god, why won't the radio station play any other songs? please, i beg you, mix it up a bit! i've heard these songs every day for longer than i can take! there's no need for any sort of deejay or host, because i swear they just have the same loop playing every single day. i can practically set my watch to it. start the day with a little adele "rollin in the deep", and then refresh our memory of it just after noon. lady gaga's "edge of glory" is playing, must be about 10 o'clock. or 230, when it gets played again. oh, 3pm, time to put on jason mraz's "i'm yours", thank you for driving me crazy with a song i once enjoyed. and guaranteed within 10 minutes of that the lazy radio station is going to play "the lazy song". shut up bruno mars, shut up shut up shut up!

i hate that radio. i look over at it and just imagine myself hurling it through the glass walls. but i have nothing against the glass walls. ok, perhaps i will just attack the radio with... hmm, what do i have nearby.... kleenex box - no, that won't work... coffee cup - no, must not harm my trusty coffee cup.... crayons - why are there crayons on my desk??... stapler... yes, i will attack the radio with my stapler. smash smash smash smash smash smash smash smash smash smash smash!!!!

alright, clearly the radio loop has driven me loopy. it's pushed me over the edge. the edge the edge, the edge the edge, tonight yeah baby, tonight yeah baby, the edge the edge the edge the edge ARGH!!!!!! too much gaga has made me go gaga!

shh... what's that? rollin in the !#@* deep? AGAIN?? time to roll me off to the loony bin.

hotel amanda

i just wanted to save $20. but somehow i ended up scrubbing toilets and shampooing carpets for $2/hour.

it all began when i booked our first apartment in Copenhagen. the website i used said i could get a $20 rebate if i listed my property as a rental as well. muahahaha, i'm totally going to do that, i schemed. i'll throw together a quick listing, pop it up for two weeks until i get my money back, then delete it. badaboom badabing, twenty smackers back in my pocket. nobody comes to Winnipeg, i''ll never hear a peep from this sham of an ad.

a couple of days later.... a peep. and then another. and another. and another! what the hell? this wasn't supposed to happen. no one was actually supposed to request reservations. i didn't even post photos of the room! (although i was required to include at least one picture, all i had available was one of the living room.) this was very unexpected. i had reassured blair that this listing was just for show, we wouldn't ever have guests.

but maybe it'd be kind of fun... nah, blair would never go for it...

to my incredible surprise, he didn't immediately nix the idea. sure, it might be weird having strangers in the house for a few days at a time, but we were lured in by the idea of the little extra income. so, i accepted my first reservation. and then a few days later, my second. oh boy... no turning back.

we had only 3 days between returning from Denmark and our first guest arriving. the rental space was a disaster zone. no one had used this space in about a year and a half. it was cluttered with all the junk we didn't want to throw out but didn't want to look at. it was coated in so many layers of grime i could barely tell that the stairwell railing was once painted white. the carpet in my brother's old room was spotted with spills and stains. the bathroom... well, do you know that disgusting toilet in the movie Trainspotting? what had i gotten myself into?? i was in over my head.

so for 3 days i came home from work, went immediately to the 3rd floor, and cleaned until close to midnight. in the end, i stood and surveyed my work with pride. it was a complete transformation. i mean i'm not a miracle worker, it wasn't the Ritz, but it was definitely a clean, habitable space that i could put a price-tag on. hurrah!

then, the day of check-in, my guest cancelled.

the first night only was non-refundable due to the last minute cancellation. but yeah, one night of payment puts all those hours and hours of back-breaking work at about 2 bucks and hour. our next guest is due to arrive wednesday, and at least i was smart enough to change the cancellation policy so that if he's a no-show, i still get 50% of all nights. i still have enquiries coming in, but i just really don't know if all this headache is worth it.

all this over a stinkin' $20 rebate. yeesh!

there's something rotten in the state of denmark

Hello from Denmark! I'm feeling quite sleep deprived and although caffeine is keeping me awake, my brain definitely isn't working at full capacity. Although the first half of my holidays was a lazy, relaxing, sleep in til whenever week in the sun, the second half is a go go go travel and see and do as much as you can, sleep when you get home week.

The first flat we stayed in was close to the central train station. we walked past the sex shops, strip clubs, kebab and shwarma shops, fashionable boutiques, trendy cafes, cool pubs, and fruit stands. We went for a walk around and i took pictures of the hundreds and hundreds of bicycles everywhere. I'd heard about it, but it really is more than i expected. very neat.

we noticed that lots of people were walking about with beer, which is always a novelty when you come from a place where that's not allowed. so we joined the locals and grabbed a couple of Carlsbergs for our walk. at night our street was full of people. a few prostitutes loitered around the sex shops advertising ''erotic lifestyle'', a crowd of questionable men stood about the doorways. further down, groups of friends sat on stoops chatting and drinking their beers. people lined up for kebabs, cyclists rode by, and the occasional car passed. we sat on a stoop and people watched.

the next day, after not getting enough sleep, we hopped on a train to Helsingør. It's famous for its castle - Elsinore castle from Hamlet. It was cool, as castles usually are. The town was very cute too, with all the cobblestone streets and patio restaurants. Then, to make use of our 24 hour train pass, went to a town further north and sat on a bench on the beach, stunned at how those crazy Danes were swimming while we sat in our sweaters. Finally, we stopped at Hillerød and walked to a cute cobblestone (of course) square that overlooked another pretty castle on a lake.

tried not fall asleep and miss our stop on the train back to Copenhagen.

yesterday was a miserable rainy day. i had so much fun! we took the train to Malmo, Sweden where i met up with some old friends i hadn't seen in about 6 years. yes, the weather sucked, but the company was fantastic. we wandered about the city, stopped for coffee just to get out of the rain, napped, and finished the night with a delicious dinner at my friend's flat. i even tried some traditional pickled herring (that wasn't the delicious part) and some salty licorice (nor was that). I had such a good time, i didn't want the night to end!

now we're back in Copenhagen in our new flat. it's so nice! unfortunately, the weather is NOT. it's another miserably cold and rainy day. not sure what we're going to do... kind of puts a damper (haha, punny) on our boat tour plan, or rent bikes plan. i enjoy walking around soaking up the atmosphere, but i didn't want to be so literal on the soaking part.

anyway, time to venture out again, rain be damned!

holi-daze

ahhhhhhhhhhhhh... so relaxed. mind moving at half speed. i love holidays. i'm not quite through week one of my two week vacation and it's niiiiiiiiiiiice. you can tell how nice and relaxing it is because of all the elongated worrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrds. yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah, like i'm all dopey :)

this first week has been a wonderful few days of sleeping in, lazing in the sun, reading, visiting with family and friends, enjoying the farm, etc etc. oh how i could get used to this! damn work and the need to earn a living. sunday night we're off to Denmark for a week. that week will be jam packed, busy busy and will whiz by. And then... back to work. where i'll start daydreaming of the next holiday.

i don't really have anything to say at the moment, i just thought i'd check in. but i don't much feel like sitting in front of the computer right now. i sit in front of a computer every work day, and i will back in front of a computer soon enough. bye for now, perhaps i will have a chance to write from Denmark.

Some success! but mostly failure

A while ago i wrote about my superdeeduper sleuthing abilities and how i tracked down a couple of friends from about 15 years ago. I was very excited about the possibility of hearing from them after all this time. i sent out some e-messages, and waited, hoping they wouldn't just hang around in cyberspace, unread.

in my searching, i also came across Leonie, another girl i knew from back in the day. i sent her a message too. i didn't know her nearly as well; she was my friend Cathrine's new flatmate and during a 3 week visit i stayed with them. well she wrote back! she said that i had become a "legend of the flat", and my heart swelled with a twisted sense of pride. sure, i was a legend just because of the non-stop partying that we did, but a legend nonetheless! Cath and I would stay out all night, sometimes stumbling in at 8am, napping briefly, then swigging back a red bull and starting dance parties in the living room. i was 20! i didn't get hangovers, i had energy to burn, i was invincible! oh the stories i could tell... but won't. nope, i'm a (semi-)respectable grown up now, those secrets are what give me the mischevious twinkle in my eye ;)

it was fantastic to catch up with one old pal, but sadly, it seems that Cath no longer uses facebook, as i suspected and Leonie confirmed. sigh.... one friend found, one still lost. I had also sent out a message to my friend Mike's girlfriend, as she was the nearest contact i could find. I never got a response but know she got my message because her facebook profile photo has been changed. BAH! That annoys me. clearly she has logged into facebook since i messaged her. clearly she would have seen my message. why wouldn't she have the courtesy to respond?? is it so hard to say "i'll pass on the message"? or "we broke up and i don't talk to him anymore"? or if i made a mistake and she's not who i thought a simple "sorry, you have the wrong person" would be nice. YEESH! i hate being ignored. even if you're a crazy psycho bi#ch i would be happier to get a "stay away from my boyfriend" themed hate mail rather than nothing. acknowledge my message damnit!!!

ok, calm down. who needs her anyway. stupid jerkball.

so that's that. i'm not giving up forever though. maybe one day Oprah (or whoever the new Oprah is) will have us on a long-lost-friends-surprise-reunion show. yay. :)

the last of the grandparents

As of Saturday, June 4th, I have no more grandparents. At the age of 94, my grandmother - Bobbi, as us grandkids called her - passed away. A nice, long life. A life I didn't really know much about, until after her death. She lived in Montreal, so we were never as close to that side of the family. Family trips grew less frequent as we got older, and several years went by with just a few phone calls on birthdays and holidays.

I flew out to Montreal on Sunday to be with my dad and to attend the funeral. So much was as I remembered it. Same dated furniture that had been around since i was a kid. Same crystal bowls and glasses within the locked cabinet. Same old photographs of long dead relatives on the walls. Same grandparenty feel.

I sat with my dad and his childhood friend as they talked, and his friend took notes for the eulogy. In that hour, listening to them reminisce, i learned a whole new side to my grandmother. She wrote to soldiers during the war. She graduated with a degree from McGill in 1939 - not common for a woman back then. She worked as an X-ray technician and didn't marry until she was almost 30 - also not that common. I looked through her albums. That was her, the little girl with a giant bow in her hair, standing amongst chickens. That was her, the young woman in the bathing suit, smiling with her friends. That was her, the lovestruck bride, gazing at her handsome new husband. That was her, the poised mother with her two young children at her side. And of course, that was her, proud grandma holding her first grandchild's hand (me!) and beaming at the camera. Yes, that was the bobbi i knew. All those pre-bobbi photos... that was a person I was just now glimpsing. Flipping through albums... watching her grow old.

Going through some things, i came across some cards and letters. A whole stack of valentine's day cards from my zaida (grandpa) to her, all with hand written love poems in them. My grandfather has been dead for almost 20 years. I found a few letters i had written her, also over two decades old. that made me smile. I'm glad she kept things like that. I do too.

Anyway, i'm not being very eloquent, i realize. Death doesn't bring out the best writer in me. All my thoughts swirl around, fragemented, and i find it difficult to pull together sentences to do them justice.

I'll just end this here.