Itchy Feet

It feels like everything is done on the fly lately. *wry* Apologies to those I'm holding up with various things due to Absence.

My birthday was very good, with a BBQ on the patio provided by the roomie. Many thanks to everyone who sent me birthday wishes, in whatever form. :)

The parents have been having a great time. Niagara Falls today. I skipped work because a) I was dead on my feet, b) it was a conference any way, and I didn't want to go and c) I had a doctor's appointment at 1 p.m. Things are going well and I have six weeks' worth of meds now.

Patio has plants, as the roomie mentioned in his LJ. Thanks to him for planting it all and keeping things going this week while I've been elsewhere. Speaking of which... off again. Dinner in town with the folks. I'll catch you all later.

Normal service should resume Wednesday, for a week or so, at least.

Yes, another from the 'got a pressie from Hilly' brigade. Actually, there were five pressies in our parcel - Dex, me, Aisy, Cynjen and Fatimah. *hugs the migraine-free Hilly* Thank you so much, mate. I love the CD, and the perfume is just divine and there are baths planned for the salts. :)

Happy New Year! No posting last night from me, drunken or otherwise, because I was too busy having fun at our little soiree. Actually "having too much fun" has been the theme for the past few days, pretty much from Friday when [Bad username or site: @ livejournal.com] showed up. There were a couple of those sessions at the Griffin, then day before yesterday [Bad username or site: @ livejournal.com] kidnapped me to Huntsville. There was a hotel room with a jacuzzi tub, and then yesterday morning we went snow shoeing. Yes, there are pictures, but on Hilly's camera 'cause I didn't think to bring mine along. I had no idea where I was being taken or what was being planned until we got there, so I had a lovely surprise and wound up very relaxed. Thanks to Hilly for a fantastic Christmas pressie.

We got back around 5 p.m. last night (another part of the plan - I wasn't to organsie anything, apparently!) and then the party kind of started around 7ish. Dex's sangria was perfect - for the first time ever, we had to top up the bucket and we drained it dry. Lots of people also phoned, and I know there's a message on the phone, so apologies to whoever missed us 'cause we were either on the phone or being rowdy and didn't hear it ringing. Johnny and Rob brought guitars and provided music, numbers were slightly down from last year but made up for by happy party people, and everyone had a great time. Go us.

Of course, there's very few of us actually awake and conscious this morning - Matt's on Dex's laptop at the other end of the couch, Ben's playing xBox, and Doqz is asleep on the other couch. Angel decided to wake me yowling for some reason this morning, which meant I didn't really go back to sleep properly. And after six sangrias last night, I am strangely without hangover. But I give you the icon anyway, 'cause I am random.

2007... I'm glad to see the end of this particular year mainly on behalf of my friends - it's been a long and difficult year for many of them. It's been interesting for me, mostly in the Chinese curse sense, but I can't say it's been that bad. At least not comparatively.

Talking to Johnny last night, we came up with a metaphor to describe where I am right now. I was saying I had some baggage, and he responded with "Well, what do you do with baggage? You take it home and unpack it." And that's where I am right now, in the midst of unpacking. I'm sitting in the middle of a room, surrounded by half-unpacked suitcases, crap strewn about all around me. I know where some of it goes, I know some of it needs just tossing out, I just need to take the plunge and get into it. I don't expect to get it all done in the next year, but I can make a start. And that's what 2008 will be - making that start.

To everyone - have a happy new year, and may 2008 bring you what you want.

Wow, is it only 10:30? Feels like I've been here forever...

So, the "What I did for Christmas" post. Let's see if I can think past the food coma. ;)

Christmas Eve, Dex and I opened our presents, mostly because we weren't going to be getting up at 6 am after Sandy's party to open them before catching the bus, and we didn't want to haul everything to Hamilton and then London. I'll do the itemised list with my thanks at the end of the post, but I'll say I was very pleased with all my gifts, and the expression on the roomie's face as he opened the one from ferox and me was worth the wait of four months. ;) Presents unwrapped, we headed over to the Griffin to grab a bite to eat and to have a couple of drinks since we were dumb and forgot the LCBO (the bottle shop) closed at 6 and didn't have a lot to actually take with us to Sandy's.

Maria (the owner) paid for our meal. *grins* Sometimes it's good to be a regular. Sandy is also one of the regulars, who lives a short walk away from the pub, and fun was had at his place. We stayed a bit longer than we'd intended, and returned home a bit more intoxicated than intended, which meant passing out on the couch until I woke up at 4 a.m. and staggered off to bed with the knowledge I had to get up in three hours to do various chores before catching the bus to Hamilton. The roomie proved very difficult to wake up, but we staggered out of the house and down to the subway station on time. Only to find the subway wasn't starting until 9 a.m., half an hour after our bus was supposed to leave from Union.

Cue frantic taxi flagging, and a rush to jump on the bus before it left. We had maybe two minutes to spare, and promptly passed out as soon as the bus started moving. I woke up as we arrived in Hamilton, and we took ourselves to the first meal of the day at the roomie's dad's. A good time was had, cute baby in a Santa outfit admired, and stockings were opened. I have to admit, stockings are the coolest idea - a sock filled with little odds and ends of presents and such, so you wind up with a pile on your lap.

After lunch, we caught a lift with the roomie's cousin to London, as she was driving back to Sarnia that evening, to have Christmas meal number two at the roomie's mother's place. I got salmon, the roomie had his second turkey meal of the day, and then we kind of went into food and red wine coma. I had a wicked tension headache from sleeping on the bus (and the couch), so I begged off early-ish. Just as well, tho', since we had to get up at 6:30 a.m. to catch the bus back to Toronto. Slight scare when we realised half of the population of London apparently was on the same bus, but Greyhound actually did something sensible and had two buses running. Passed out again, and attempted to negotiate Boxing Day crowds with two bags and a folding table each - possibly not the best idea. *wry* We gave up, decided to try HMV later this week for cheap DVDs, and headed home to relax for an hour or two before heading over to Johnny's place. For Christmas meal number three.

Mindy did brilliantly with the cooking, stockings again were had, and I have oodles of new music. :) Roomie and I left around 8-ish, since we were kind of dead, and went to the Griffin with the intention of having a couple of quiet drinks to wind down and then go home and sleep like sensible people.

*insert hollow laugh here*

Not so much. We left around 2 a.m., watched some of the roomie's baseball history DVD present, and passed out on the couch again. I wandered to bed around 4 a.m. again, and got woken up intermittently by the kits, who decided all the new objects in our place were for their personal amusement. *wry* Hurricane Jane was in today, so I couldn't come in late, and you can bet your butt I'll be sleeping tonight.

Made out like a bandit present wise and have so much gratitude for all of it. So far the tally is:

Mum and Dad: two new shirts, a new scarf made by mum that ferox is probably going to want to steal like Mindy did, and a necklace with an angel on it I'm guessing is dad's specific contribution. Oh, and some mail. ;)

dexfarkin: the latest Harry Dresden book in hardcover, and something else which is slipping my mind but which I'll edit later. Food coma, remember? Season Three House. Can't believe I forgot that.

seraangel: Harry Dresden, books 2 and 3.

cynjen: Plushie microbe - I now have sleeping sickness. ;)

Roomie's mum and step-dad: Harry Dresden, books 2, 3 and 4.

Mindy: Harry Dresden, books 2 and 3, oodles of stocking fun.

Johnny: Canadian 80s Music Pusher CD.

Rob: Christmas music CD, by himself and Johnny.

I still have a gift from ferox, but from what I understand of the instructions, the one I have is for Matt Nute, and he's bringing mine. Yes?

So yeah, that was my Christmas. I also got a lovely chatty email with photos from Leanne, who gave me a rundown of the family Christmas bash. When I'm less brain dead, I'll upload some of the pics. ;) Thanks to everyone for everything - I feel all warm and fuzzy from the love.

And yes, I'll be utilising the exchange policy for Amazon and Chapters, given a certain theme to my gifts this year. Note to self: when you ask for something off your wishlist, make sure you tell everyone someone's probably getting it already. *wry*

So, last night I came home to find [Bad username or site: @ livejournal.com] had sent me a Christmas card. With an [Bad username or site: @ livejournal.com] drabble in it. Things that make a Rossi happy indeed. :) Thanks, mate. *hugs*

Other things that make a Rossi happy:

1) Dinner with [Bad username or site: @ livejournal.com] at a sushi place in Queen Street that had the best crab ever. Good food, better company. Did me a world of good.

2) Gift vouchers from last Christmas - I finally used my Mountain Equipment Co-Op gift card, winding up with:

a) A new multi-tool, to replace the one that got lost in the post;

b) Two new pairs of cycling socks, one with maple leaves on them;

c) A forearm and hand trainer. Technically for climbing, I'm also wanting to use it to strengthen my left hand especially for guitar, since I have no power in those fingers at all.

I contemplated using the voucher to get Christmas presents, but then I realised there's only about two people on my list who would actually appreciate something from there. Besides, my voucher. I'm told sometimes it's good to be selfish. ;)

...Since every time I start to do something today I get interrupted. I'm off to Kansas City for the weekend, to help [Bad username or site: @ livejournal.com] move. I'm leaving in about half an hour and getting back Sunday night. I'm not sure how much internet access I'll have, and I've printed off a gazillion things to entertain me in the meantime. And hopefully nothing else annoying will happen today. Because right now I'm contemplating mass homicide of my coworkers. And IT, although they're actually here today.

See you on the flip side.

Mindy is moved. Never want to see another flight of stairs or carry anything heavier than a beer for at least a week.

Ow.

So, [Bad username or site: @ livejournal.com] leaves today, around lunchtime, taking with her the last of Dexcon. I'm in the weird emotional place - on the one hand, I miss everyone rather desperately, on the other, I want to hole up in the apartment for a few days and be terribly anti-social. I'm going with the middle ground, which involves having some of the low-maintenance folks over for movie night (hopefully tonight) and going over to Aisy's to help paint tomorrow, since it doesn't involve me actually organising anything, just doing as I'm told. Right now, that's a very attractive thought.

Dexcon was, as always, great fun. Getting to see people I haven't in forever, meeting others for the first time, drinking a bit too much, laughing more than I have in a while... it was all good. I had a moment of 'eh' on Friday night, where it felt like I couldn't actually say anything to anyone without coming across as a complete bitch, but then again, I usually have one part of the Con where I feel like the round peg. Comes of trying to be too many things at once, I think.

Saturday night, however? That was Tribe, right there.

I miss everyone. And I need to clean the apartment and do laundry. Not to mention empty the kitty litter. *nosewrinkles*

Still alive, albeit in a sleep-deprived way. [Bad username or site: @ livejournal.com] and [Bad username or site: @ livejournal.com] arrived safely and it's been pretty much social time since. Including a baseball game with the roomie's folks yesterday - whoever has said baseball is boring has never sat through nine innings without score, only to have the Bluejays make the winning run right at the very end.

Griffin Saturday night, Big Daddy's last night, Transformers tonight, Band Night Tuesday and a BBQ on Wednesday. Yeah, don't expect to see much of me around online during the evenings.

Now if this damn legal firm would get this consent to me... *grrs*

Lee's shots from the birthday party/Pretty Night. You'll find the gallery here. :)