Review: The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao

The second book choice for the Brazen Bookies (my book club) was The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Díaz. This book centers around Oscar who is nerdy, overweight and unlucky in just about everything. It goes through his family history and the curse that they have endured and also throws in a lot of history about the Dominican Republic.

I personally liked the book and found it humorous and interesting. The biggest complaint at the meeting was all the Spanish that was used in the dialogue but I didn't find it too distracting. I know a bit of obvious Spanish and a number of cuss words so that was pretty sufficient to help me translate. I really didn't know anything about the history of the DR and it was pretty interesting to learn about it since we visited it a few years ago.

I don't really have too much to say other than it's a good book and if you speak English and Spanish you will probably really enjoy it (but if you just speak English it could be harder for you to get into). Also, Matt is a terrible book club member and didn't finish the book. Just want to get that out there. Boo Matt!

Our next choice is another nonfiction (I think we will alternate) and I am looking forward to it! We're going to read The Man Who Loved Books Too Much by Allison Hoover Bartlett. I have already decided that I am going to envision the man as Johnny Depp in his role in The Ninth Gate. Every rare book hunter/thief looks like Johnny Depp, right?

Visitors

If things weren't busy enough, we just had some visitors from far, far away. Matt and Leah's mom, Ali, came to visit and she brought her lovely friend Mary along too! It was really great seeing them both. Ali lives extra far away in Thailand and so we only see her once a year or so. Mary is a bit closer (at least she lives in the same country!) but we don't see her that often either.

I had to finish up work for a few days and we were in the midst of packing but we still managed a pretty good visit. Matt and Ali went to Elk Island Park for a hike one day and another day I took Ali and Mary to the Art Gallery of Alberta. They just reopened it after making some big changes and it was pretty cool. My favorite part was the Degas sculptures and the Yousuf Karsh exhibit. You could even take your own "Karsh style" picture and email it to yourself. I hate both of the ones taken of me but I think these ones of Ali and Mary are cute. What do you think?

Mary and Ali were good sports about helping us pack things and move. Mary left a little earlier and while Ali was here I was rear ended. My poor little Kiaster!!! At least $1500 of damage and the other person wrote their vehicle off. I'm sore and it was really frustrating to not be able to lift anything or help with the move. I held a lot of doors open and put lunch together. I'm lucky to have so many wonderful people in my life that are willing to help me out. I hope my car gets fixed soon but I think it's going to be a hassle. Ugh! Not fair- I was doing everything correctly and I have to do all this running around. This is the second time I've had to get her repaired this year (a family friend backed into my door and messed it up on Boxing Day). Anyway, the good outweighs the bad so hopefully it will all be resolved soon.

We had lots of laughs and good food and their visit went by too quickly. Hopefully we can get together again soon and things won't be so chaotic! I wouldn't mind going to Thailand again- it's our turn to visit, right?

New Place!

We are moving this month! We happened upon our new abode through chance and circumstance. Stephie found it but then the girl she was going to room with backed out on her the day they were supposed to pay the DD and rent. Poor Steph couldn't afford it on her own and they couldn't take the place. So we scooped in and took it. It's a great find- 10 blocks from where we lived before so still a great location, lower rent, more space, quieter, funky and has the cutest landlady. She's this old Polish (I think) lady with a crocheted purple hat and she up keeps everything with the help of her grandsons. There's a huge garden in the backyard and I think we might get to cash in on some fresh veggies! For now you'll have to settle with this pictures of the outside since the inside is way too messy! Once things are unpacked and organized I will post some pictures of the inside. We have the top floor (the house is split in 3). I love the bay window, funky attic bedroom and the separate toilet and bath rooms. I hadn't wanted to move and start a new job at the same time but sometimes you just can't avoid it.

Oh and other big living situation news- Matt's sister Leah is moving back to B.C. at the end of the month so we will be living alone. We have lots of room for guests though so you should all come and visit us!!!

Lots of Changes!

Big news- I got a new job! It's possible that you've heard this already but I'm officially telling the world today. It wasn't an easy process either since it's with the provincial government. I actually went through a lot of the process back when I was initially applying for jobs. One of those "oh I'll apply but I doubt I'll hear from them" things. Well, I heard from them. Then I wrote the test (yeah, there was a test and that was used to determine who got an interview) and figured that was the end of it. There were tons of people writing it and I'd heard from colleagues that the fail rate is pretty high (70% or something). But they called me for an interview! So I went in and was grilled by 3 people for about an hour. Apparently things went well because they were calling my references. Then the government laid the hiring freeze smack down and that was the end of that. Or so I thought... Since they called me a few weeks ago and I had to jump through a few hoops but now I've got a shiny new job and I start on May 3rd! Only took them 10 months!

I'm excited and nervous and proud of myself. I'm worried that I won't be able to cut it since it's a tough job. I'm happy that I get a regular schedule and will be able to see Matt more and maybe take a class or something (hard to do that when you're working shifts). It's got a 12 month probation period (whoa!) and I am hoping I get my own office. Haha. Things like that make me happy. My family has been really excited for me and my Dad even got me a cake to celebrate. I'm really hopeful that this will be the break I have been looking for. I have a career! When did that happen? My degree is starting to pay off! Now Matt just has to get through law school and maybe someday we can afford to buy property and start a family. First things first though, have to survive my first day of work!

DEBT FREE!!!

I started university when I was 17 years old. Since then (and I just turned 28) I have been in debt. Luckily I was never one of those people who used credit cards or bought new cars or vacations that I couldn't afford so all of my debt was student loans. Today, almost exactly 7 years after I graduated with my BA, I received my tax return and was able to pay off my personal debt for the first time in my adult life. Everything in my bank account is mine now. It's an incredible feeling. I realize the timing of this (April 1) may be suspect, however, this is no joke. I did it! I did it myself too! I am so proud! If I didn't work tonight I would have to go somewhere and celebrate. Oh well, celebrate with me in cyber space!

Is Anyone Out There?

I guess I should start this off saying that I am not dead. This blog isn't dead either, just on hiatus. I am hoping that this hiatus will be ending soon. What happened? Life. I think I underestimated what repatriation was going to be like. Things were going lovely and then life hit. Nothing bad, just busy. There were hockey games to go to (someone has to cheer for the Oilers, right?) and bills to pay, shifts to work, beer to drink. Then there was Christmas and MY BIRTHDAY (Yeah, I turned 28! If you missed it, I am accepting belated birthday gifts up until my next birthday. No worries.). I thought a lot about writing and about what writing means to me. I'll never be Anne Bronte, Anne Frank (fingers crossed!) or even Anne Rice and I don't have any professional literary aspirations, but I do like writing things down. It's nice having something to look back on because I have a terrible memory.

I want to stress, things here are good. Matt is doing really well, possibly better than I am. He was officially accepted into the law school of his choice (and rather early on in the process, I might add) and has already attended the Dean's welcome. I'm pretty sure he and the Dean be tight now. And he really likes his job which he'll work at until school starts in September.

Me? This has been a big year for me. I didn't even know it. I thought, hey, repatriation during a recession- piece of cake?! And it's been actually pretty good. Change is my mantra and I am trying to take deep breaths and scoop up as much of it in my arms as I can. This is a confusing time and I am re-examining everything. Career- check (I somehow got one of those.) Living situation- check. Friendships- check. Dreams- check. Money- check. Everything is going at lightning pace. I can't say a lot because I don't want to jinx anything but I may have some big news soon.

Oh, and I have a book club again! We've met once and are reading our second book! My reading progress has been abysmal but I'm not illiterate yet. I had a lot of high hopes but life is in the way again. I am going to keep trying. We're reading The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao right now by Junot Diaz and I am really liking it. Good thing all the Spanish I know is swear words!

So don't delete me from all of your bookmarks just yet. I know there are lots of blogs out there and I am not trying to become number one on everyone's blogroll, but I think I have a few more things to say. I am just finding the time. Love you all!

Our First Christmas Tree

I have been feeling a little bit blue so I decided it was time to snap out of it and get into the Christmas spirit! I just love Christmas, probably because it makes an excellent precursor to the most important holiday of all; my birthday!

Anyway, I digress (but my birthday is coming up so I hope everyone is ready!), Matt and I went on an epic trip to purchase our tree and decorations. I am picky and this was a hard decision for me. I over-think things and took this quite seriously. I suppose I can always switch the ornaments up later on. I was firm that I wanted a big, fake (I've never had a real tree) tree with multi-colored lights already on it. We had to go to a few places but I finally found what I was looking for.

When we hauled it home Steph was waiting for us (she was studying at our apartment). We had a moment of panic because it looked like the tree was going to be TOO BIG and not fit in our place. However, it is just perfect! Yay! So now we have a tree and I like to think that all the people waiting at the bus stop across the street can see it and admire it.

Unwinding

With all this rage and stress it's comforting to know that I have my beautiful sister best friend to de-stress with. What would I do without her? (And what would I do without martinis?)

Cell Phone RAGE

Something that has been stressing me out for awhile is my cell phone. You may remember that Matt and I got matching LG Rumor (1) phones in June. His phone is fabulous- peachy even! My phone, however, started doing this "cute" thing where it would shut off for no reason. Initially it happened once or twice when I slid the QWERTY keyboard out to text something. This started happening about 3 weeks after I got it but I sort of shrugged it off because it didn't happen often. I stopped by the place we bought it and they told me that if I wanted to get it fixed I needed to call Virgin Mobile and they would send me a loaner phone. This sounded like a lot of work for a problem that didn't happen often.

Well, it started happening often. Like 10 times a day. And not just when I was sliding the text keyboard out. It would happen when I was talking on the phone regularly or if I was at the end of writing a massive text message. The phone could be fully charged and fresh off of the charger and it would do this. I would also like to add that I am incredibly careful with my belongings- I have never dropped this phone or had it anywhere near water or done anything to damage it. This is clearly a flaw with the Rumor phones (I know someone else who had a similar problem with their day old Rumor phone).

Finally I bit the bullet and decided that the annoyance of calling was less than the annoyance of living with my malfunctioning phone. So I called customer service and told someone about the problem. They listened carefully and then told me I needed to speak to another department and transferred me. I explained again and this person told me that I needed to call them back on a phone that wasn't my cell phone. Apparently I had to remove my battery and do a bunch of tests. I explained that is was my ONLY phone and no, I didn't have a landline or a friend handy. I eventually broke down and used Skype and was on hold for almost half an hour. Awesome start.

When I finally spoke to someone they didn't ask me to take out the battery or do anything so I didn't need to Skype after all. They said the loaner phone would be there in a week, at the most.

Fast forward to a month and a half later! Yes, that's how long it took the loaner phone to get to me. My phone had stopped shutting off (as much) and I'd figured they forgot about me so I was just continuing on. The phone shows up and it's hideous. I hate it. Maybe you think it doesn't look so bad but trust me, it's the phone devil. You know it's a bad sign when you turn a phone on and someone has programmed it to say "F*ck this Phone" on the background. Yeah.

I was conflicted about what to do at this point. If it took that long to get the loaner phone, how long would it take them to actually fix and return my phone to me? I called them up and they were not helpful. They made excuses. I procrastinated. Finally I had a nervous breakdown and had Matt help me figure out how to package my regular phone and hook up the loaner. This took more time than it should have! Also the first person screwed up which led to my phone and Matt's NOT WORKING AT ALL. So we had to call them back (put on hold even longer) so they could fix this. Not cool. Supposedly this is supposed to take maximum 3 weeks. It's been over a week and I'm not holding my breath.

Oh loaner phone, I hate you. I hate your crappy ring tones. I hate your screen. I hate texting with you, especially since you keep finishing my words with the wrong word and that this auto feature cannot be turned off (I've asked many people to help me with this.)! I should be able to answer "No" to someone but instead I have to write "Nope" because when I type "No" you understand it as "On". Leah's name is Leag because you won't let me write unfamiliar things. Abbreviations don't exist and you tack extra words that make no sense on the end of my sentence after I hit send! WHY!? I HATE YOU I HATE YOU! What good is unlimited texting if writing a text is a battle? Ugh. I hope they send me my regular phone back soon and that it's working or this is going to be a long, long phone contract.

Review: Bel Canto

This is the second novel I've read by Ann Patchett and I have to say, this one was much better than the Patron Saint of Liars. The plot was interesting- a famous opera singer is hired to perform at the birthday party of a wealthy Japanese businessman in an unnamed Latin American country. There are numerous wealthy and important people invited from around the world. At the end of the party everyone is taken hostage.

Reading this book was such a treat. Her descriptions were beautiful and moving. It was romantic and I found myself frantically scribbling quotes that resonated with me every other page. It's a wise and compelling novel and I enjoyed everything except the ending (I guess nothing is perfect?). The ending was okay but a few things seemed a bit unnatural and forced.

Quotes to Remember:

"If what a person wants is his life, he tends to be quiet about wanting anything else. Once the life begins to seem secure, one feels the freedom to complain."

"The kind of love that offers its life so easily, so stupidly, is always the love that is not returned."

"She prayed that God would look on them and see the beauty of their existence and leave them alone."

"A kiss in so much loneliness was like a hand pulling you up out of the water, scooping you up from a place of drowning and into the reckless abundance of air."

"It didn't matter that he didn't understand the language, he knew what it meant."

"Love was action. It came to you. It was not a choice."

Read this book!

Murder of a Very Fine Gentleman

For Matt's 30th birthday party we hosted a murder mystery dinner party at our apartment. Matt wrote the mystery himself and spent a really long time making up cards and games. He sent out character sketches to everyone invited and even made up a fake newspaper! We invited 10 of our nearest and dearest to participate and everyone really got into their roles. The costumes were fabulous! Steph was pretty silly- hopefully no one is offended by her "black face". It was in good fun- she put cocoa powder in her foundation and smelled delicious all night!

We spent the whole morning cooking. We decided to take a very organized approach and chop and measure everything out and label it before it was time to cook. Sort of like a birthday cooking show. This worked out pretty well since it's tricky to have everything ready at the same time. Here's the menu:

Beverages:
Lassi
Chai Tea

Victuals:
Naan
Nariyal Chawal
Garden Salad

Butter Chicken
Aloo Gobi
Sambaar
Palak Kofta
Palak Paneer

It all turned out great (except the sambaar) and everything was made from scratch except the naan and the palak paneer. Oh, we also didn't make the butter chicken sauce from scratch, but we did pretty good!

The story goes, Mr. Pagels was an extremely wealthy man, but loathed by many. He came into his money through marrying his poor Indian wife (me). I have to take care of his blind sister (Alisse) and my only friend is the maid (Laurie). I am tied to the kitchen- this was not fun. Also invited were the Madame (Bryn) from the local brothel, Mr. Pagels' war hero brother (Sev), a Nun (Leah) from an orphanage Pagels plans to bulldoze to make into a bar, a gangster interested in becoming a bar partner (Steph), an unwed mother (Kasia) who claims the child is Pagels, a fortune teller (Tia), a gambler (Dylan) and a doctor (Steve). It was so much fun!

After the dinner party we met up with some more friends at a local pub and helped Matt forget he's turned 30. He decided to stay in costume and ended up looking like a Hutterite! Haha. We stumbled over to Steve's to play Rock Band and have some birthday pie and then it was time to call it a night. If you want to see all the pictures (in a non-slide show format) click here.

Meet Lydia!!

Matt hit a milestone birthday this year (3-0) and so we celebrated by spending a ridiculous amount of money. We have a new laptop! Not just that, but a new printer, fan thingy (apparently all new laptops need this because they overheat? WHAT THE HECK!) and the Spore game he wanted forever (he tracked the creation of it). Look how excited he is. Of course, this is a present for me too and I even named our laptop Lydia. Isn't she lovely?

While I have been enjoying her I have to say she has contributed to the lack of blogging since I have had to set up all my bookmarks, links and programs and this takes FOREVER. I am enjoying how quickly she uploads pictures and that I can remove red eye.

Now that we have a new computer an interesting thing has happened. We used to bicker about who got to use our old laptop, Mr. Roboto, and so we foolishly believed that getting a 2nd one would solve this problem. Now we just bicker about who gets to use Lydia. Sigh. Poor Mr. Roboto.

Honest Scrap Award

I've never won an award before for blogging and since I've been such a terrible blogger lately, I don't really expect to win any more in the future. My lovely friend Simone over at skinny dip bestowed it upon me ages ago. Sorry it took me so long!

Once you've received the Award, you need to complete the following responsibilities:

1) List 10 HONEST, personal (or bizarre? interesting?) things about yourself that you wouldn't normally tell people (except maybe a therapist who is paid to listen to this kind of stuff?)

2) Pass this award on to 10 other bloggers that you love to read & think others should too.

3) Tell your friends to check out the award giver's blog--In this case Simone- it's like Canadian Sex and the City (without the annoying characters). Remember to tell the giver that you've completed these steps so that they can go read your lists.

My Honest Facts:

1) I have a slight phone phobia. I'm not sure when this developed (sometime after high school, clearly) but I am not crazy about talking on the phone. I also hate making phone calls. I love email though. Maybe this helps explain why I haven't called you lately. Sorry!

2) I try not to start playing too many games because then that's what I do all day. Nowadays it's online quizzes and Facebook stuff but in the past I was addicted to all sorts of Nintendo games. This list is starting to make me sound like a real psychological mess!

3) I love Friends. I always have and always will. I have seen every episode multiple times and own them all on DVD.

4) I have never used a lawnmower. My parents always mowed the lawn at home and since then I've never lived anywhere with a lawn.

5) I don't like cooking but I can cook and have a decent amount of cooking knowledge. It's easier to tell people that I can't though so they don't ask me to cook.

6) I can't dance. I have no rhythm at all and I get cold sweats when I think someone is going to ask me to "partner dance". I took dance in gym but I still can't two-step, jive or waltz. Don't even mention more complicated things like salsa. I took a hip hop exercise class once and it was one of the most mortifying things I ever experienced.

7) My memory is terrible. I really think it's worse than most people's as far as personal memories and events. Don't be offended if you try to reminisce with me and I give you a blank look.

8) I am a horrible pack rat but I am trying to reform myself. It's tough. I am always convinced that I will want the item later on.

9) I've never done illegal drugs of any kind. It's just never interested me. Yes, this includes marijuana.

10) I'm a really nervous passenger (in cars/trucks). I was in a bad accident when I was 16 and still haven't shaken my fears. This makes me a horrible backseat driver. Again, I apologize, I am a freak.

Ten Blogs I think are great:

(Most of these are on my blog roll. There are some blogs that I love but they are private ones so that's why they aren't mentioned. You know who you are!)

1. Wonju Wife/ChubbO Chubbington- I love Danielle's writing style. Some of her entries have moved me to tears. She just gets things and is able to express them which is incredibly special.

2. half girl- Young takes amazing photographs with her many cameras. I could only dream of being as skilled at photography as she is. She makes the every day look extraordinary.

3. From Wonderland with Love- Sara's blog makes me nostalgic for things I've never experienced. Everything is pretty, interesting and smells of cinnamon and sugar in Wonderland.

4. Naked Without Books- Susan is my reading hero. She read 100 books last year and is going to hit atleast 100 this year! Plus she is hilarious, delightful and clever.

5. Little House in the Big Woods- KB is a long time friend. Her blog is filled with hilarious antics and stories from her students and copious pictures of her adorable dog.

6. Time Enough- I've been friends with Jo for awhile too and her blog is filled with tidbits from her life in the UK. Oh and she takes fab pictures too!

7. Living on the Flipside- If you've ever wondered what it's like being the only female, foreign,(Western) professional boxer in South Korea then Amy's blog is a must read. She just got engaged to her beautiful Korean beau too!

8. Ask a Korean- The Korean's blogs are always well researched, thought provoking and relevant. Even if you're not interested in information about Korea this blog is something everyone should check out. He also makes me feel ashamed since he is writing that well in his second language!

9. Stuff Korean Moms Like- Hysterical, but only because it's true. Start from the beginning and work your way up.

10. Jennipal- Another lovely K-blogger who I haven't met in person. She makes me homesick for Korea and I love seeing what she is up to!

I guess you've noticed my Korean bias. I really got into blogging when I lived in Korea and now I am so homesick for it!

YOU: Go forth and read blogs!

BLOGS MENTIONED: I gave you 10, now you have to give me 10 more.

Review: The Door

Margaret Atwood is my favorite. I've written about her before and one of the things I must do before I die is meet her. Well, at least see her in person. Heck, I'd even settle for the LongPen (she's such a genius- is there anything she doesn't do?).

I'm not a huge poetry reader. I find that most poetry is too muddled and pretentious or possibly I am just too thick and lazy to appreciate it. I love Atwood's poetry though. The Door strikes me as being one of her most personal poetry collections. It's also quite political, however, that isn't surprising since Atwood tends to be fairly political. Here's one of my favorite poems:

Nobody Cares Who Wins

Nobody cares who wins wars.
They care at the moment:
they like the parades, the cheering;
but after that, winning diminishes.
A silver cup on the mantle
engraved with some year or other;
a hoard of buttons cut from corpses
as souvenirs; a shameful thing
you did in white-hot anger shoved
back out of sight.
Bad dreams, a bit of loot.
There's not much to say about it.

That was a fine time, you think.
I've never felt more alive.
Nonetheless, victory puzzles you.
Some days you forget where you've put it,
though younger men make speeches about it
as if they had been there too.

Of course it's better to win
than not. Who wouldn't prefer it?

Losing, though. That's different.
Defeat grows like a mutant vegetable,
swelling with the unsaid.
It's always with you, spreading underground,
feeding on what's gone missing:
your son, your sister, your father's house,
the life you should have had.
It's never in the past, defeat.
It soaks into the present,
it stains even the morning sun
the colour of burnt earth.

At last it breaks the surface.
It bursts. It bursts into song.
Long songs, you understand.
They go on and on.

If you've never checked out her poetry before I suggest you do it!

The Creation of Kathleen's Queef

As I've mentioned, I'm on a Name that tune team with my sister and Bryn. We have a pretty unfortunate name (Team Queef) which you can thank Steph for. It was her nickname. What? That doesn't make things sound better? Haha...

If you know me you know I am fiercely competitive. Think Monica from Friends competitive. (Unfortunately we share more than a competitive spirit- that is totally my hair with humidity.) People who say winning isn't important clearly have never won anything. I love winning. It's seriously one of my favorite things. I mean, remember my victory coupons? Best present ever!

Something I do believe in is "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em". There is an insanely good team that often plays. Somehow they know even the most obscure musical references. We're a decent time but it would take a lot of hard work to aspire to beat KTO. Their name is even clever! KTO, you know, sort of like BTO. It stands for Kathleen Turner Overdrive. Funny, right?

What we lack in musical prowess we make up for in charm and charisma. It's lucky I have no shame. We totally seduced KTO into combining with our team. The ultimate Kathleen's Queef. It's pretty epic. I'm not sure if it will be a permanent marriage but it was nice meeting some new people. They are really funny and fun guys (I mean, check out Justin's mustache!) and Tyler reminds me of my fab friend Curtis since they both love music and study radio broadcasting. I wish I had a job that allowed me to have Tuesday nights consistently off!

Galbi Buffet with Stephie!!!

Steph and I scheduled in some sister time and decided to go out for dinner. I had a hankering for Korean so we checked out the Korean Village. It's in a strange location and seems to be a family operated business. They have a killer (although a bit expensive) buffet with many of my favorite dishes. There were even grills built right in the table! It was like being transported back to my favorite restaurant in Seoul. I wish I had some Korean friends here... Anyway, we had a great time and ate until our bellies hurt. I'll definitely have to return with a group. I was too shy to use my Korean though.

Review: The Unthinkable Thoughts of Jacob Green

If I had to review this book in six words I'd say, "I bought this book for $2". I had high hopes though. Joshua Braff is the brother of Zach Braff after all! You know, the guy who penned Garden State and is on Scrubs? That guy is adorable, talented and hilarious! It seems this didn't run in the family.

I'm not sure how unthinkable Jacob Green's thoughts are- they seemed pretty much what I would imagine a teenage boy to be thinking about. Possibly this is unusual or especially scandelous for Orthodox Jewish teenagers? Perhaps someone needs to explain to Braff that there is a difference between the reader not wanting to know about what a messed up, horny Jewish teen is thinking and his thoughts being unthinkable.

The book has good reviews on other websites but I can't imagine why. It was easy enough to read but it was filled with gross, clunky, unnatural prose. "He's about as lonely as a tube sock full of semen", seriously!? I wonder if that's how lonely Joshua Braff was after people read his book. Don't recommend this one but if someone wants to take it off my hands I wouldn't even charge you the $2 I spent. I should have known better.

Jacqueline's Visit

It might come to a surprise that I have another sister. I spend a lot of time with Steph since she lives nearby but I do have a sister that lives far away. Well, she came to visit us. This was excellent because we went out to eat at a lot of yummy places (oh and it was nice to spend time with her too! Haha!). My heart is through my stomach.

Dad and Sharron brought Venus along to visit and we brought her up to the apartment. It's a no pets apartment but I figured that having her there for an hour wouldn't kill anyone. She loved the carpet! They have hardwood in their place so she hasn't really experienced carpet before. I really miss having dogs around.

We went to Olive Garden with Dad and Sharron the first night and then to Chili's with Mom the next night. Delicious! I did have to work on Remembrance Day but managed to hang out with Jac a lot afterward. We had some amazing sushi (in a HUGE boat) and then saw The Box (which was disappointing). I was pleased to learn that my non-reading sister has been reading a little because she has a lot of time on her hands at work these days. I immediately lent her three books in hopes that she will continue with this and become hooked on reading. I was able to do it with Steph in the summer and as a result she finished 10 books! I gave Jac a few "sure things"- The Lovely Bones, Midwives and Helpless so hopefully the reading bug will bite her too!

Volleyball

I went to a U of A volleyball game with Steph and Bryn. Bryn saved my bacon with her quick thinking- it was $15 for an adult to go! Students paid only $5. Bryn bought me a ticket. Otherwise I probably would have just gone home. Since when was college volleyball exciting enough to warrant spending more than a movie ticket price?

I spent most of my time trying to ignore the Golden Bear mascot. He was seriously irritating! I think it has to do with his eyes. Also, part of me wants to be annoyed that the girls' and boys' have separate mascots. Why is this necessary if they represent the same school? Doesn't that confuse things? The only saving grace is that the girls' mascot is way cooler and fiercer. It turned out that this was the case for the games too- girls won, boys lost. It's strange attending sporting events at the U of A considering I never watched them at my own university. It was fun though.

Mouse Attack!

We live in a third floor apartment. You would think that this would mean that we would be spared from mice. I mean, they aren't getting in through the windows! Unfortunately we seem to have attracted a number of the little bastards. Matt was the one who first noticed one peeking out from behind the TV stand in the living room.

From there we bought some traps (mice like peanut butter more than cheese) and tried to contact our building manager. It took a long time for him to get back to us which was incredibly frustrating. We caught 7 mice in total (in a week) and four in one night! What the heck!!!! One of them died less than a foot away from me while I was checking my email! Seriously not cool.

When we managed to talk to the manager he said that they would have pest control come to our apartment and check things out. Of course, this conversation happened at about 9 pm at night and the manager said that "maybe" the guy would come the next morning and if he hadn't arrived by noon to call and let the manager know.

Needless to say, I was skeptical that anyone would arrive. So what did I do? I tempted fate. I woke up, sat around in my pajamas, didn't brush my teeth, hadn't showered (I didn't work until 3 pm), well you get the picture. This guaranteed that the pest control guy would arrive! And he did! Immediately I began shuffling around, concerned about the appearance of my apartment. Why didn't I expect him to come!? He is going to judge me!

For the most part our place is pretty clean and he must have seen a lot worse... Right? I'm sure all the other mouse infested homes looked like the one in the picture. I awkwardly made small talk with the pimple faced exterminator (see, I can judge too!) and he got to work looking for entry holes. He said it was pretty clear that if our apartment on the third floor was having issues then there were issues in other apartments. The mice were traveling around through the radiators.

I never know what to do when service people come to my place. Am I supposed to sit and watch them? Chat? Let them do their work unattended and risk them stealing something? Call a therapist and speak to them about my paranoia that an exterminator is going to steal something? What do you do? I have the same problem when the cable guy comes. I decided to wash my dishes because I would still be a presence and able to see and hear what he was doing but at the same time I could impress him with my cleanliness. See! It's not MY PLACE that is the true problem. It's the guy next door with his toxic waste collection!

Since the guy left we haven't seen any more mice in our apartment. I think he was pretty successful with blocking the hole. However, I do occasionally hear them scritch scratching and trying to get in. Or is that my paranoia again?