[ endless dream ]

[ Sunday, July 27, 2003 ]

Yesterday's walk ended up being two hours long, half of which ended up being in the rain. I didn't mind; it felt pretty good to be walking in the mild shower instead of some kind of sweltering heat. I decided to see just how far my usual trail through the woods leads, and I ended up in a pretty nice, secluded area where a tiny creek flows. It started raining as soon as I hit the end of the path, so the journey home was a wet one, but I enjoyed it. It let me clear my mind, and I got a lot of exercise. I'm glad I didn't bring a book with me, because it would have been soaked. I think I want to take the same path again sometime when it isn't too hot; the cloudy days seem perfect for that kind of long walk.

I left the house around 2:00 in the afternoon and got home a little after 4:00, relaxing for a while before heading out again for that photo session downtown. It was still raining off and on by that time, which could explain the very low turnout for the event. We were four people in total, so I quickly managed to socialize with everyone. The actual picture taking lasted maybe an hour and a half if I remember correctly, and once that was all finished (we got some pretty nice photos taken), we wandered off to a little bar for a few drinks. One of the people I was with had to meet up with some friends by that time, so after her first drink, she was off, leaving the rest of us for seconds. After two martinis, we left to catch our respective busses back home, and my day ended around 11:45. I liked the place we went to; it had a little bit of a lounge atmosphere. I think I want to go back there sometime in the near future.

Today wasn't entirely too eventful: I just got back from a much shorter walk a little while ago. I didn't feel like returning to the same place I went yesterday because of the heat, and my desire to explore something new. I ventured down past the Experimental Farm and found a nice little park that would be perfect for a picnic. I'll have to put that on my list of places to go back to.

I think I'll read for a little while; I'm close to finishing the second Harry Potter book, so I should get that done. Actually, I think I'll save the book for this evening's bubble bath so I can enjoy it even more.

For now, though, I think a nap is in order.

[ Maleficia 3:35 PM [+] ]
...

I feel like shutting down for a few days: just unplugging all my technology and going up to a mountain somewhere to light a few candles, to write a few words, and let my mind purge itself. Unfortunately, there isn't such a place that I know of, so the best I can do is take a few long walks in the woods and sit by the waterworks station, looking out at the surrounding urban landscape, listening to the cars and busses passing by. I'm going to take my notebook with me tomorrow when I go for that walk so I can scribble story notes in my nearly-indecipherable handwriting. If I'm not getting any real writing done, at least I can take some notes and pretend I'm doing something constructive with my time. Or maybe I'll just bring a book and read out there for a few hours, sweating myself to death in the mid-day heat.

There's a photo session downtown tomorrow evening, organized by some of the local goths I've never heard of before. I've been considering going to see what all the fuss is about, if only as an excuse to get out of the house for a few hours. I think I feel the beginnings of wanderlust hitting me, but thankfully, that will be quelled in three weeks. Or maybe it's a more deeply-rooted kind of wanderlust, where I want to get away from here for longer than just a few days, to settle down somewhere else and start living. That probably won't be for a little while yet, but I feel the need to get away.

For now, though, I'm going to get away in dreams.

It's time for bed.

Maybe I will unplug my technology tomorrow, or maybe I'll just stay away from it long enough to forget it for a few hours.

We'll see.

[ Maleficia 1:17 AM [+] ]
...

It's been a little while since I've updated this little collection of random thoughts, and I was shocked to see yet another new version of Blogger currently in operation. I wasn't expecting such a drab interface when I logged in, but I'm very slowly growing accustomed to it as I type this, so I suppose it isn't all that terrible. It doesn't have the glamour of its former incarnation, but it's effective for its purpose, so I don't entirely mind.

One of the most deceiving points of this new interface is the font size. It makes my posts look longer than they actually are, forcing me to keep typing in hopes of lengthening them to something that would be considered decent. I don't like to ramble on uselessly like certain self-important "writers", but I also dislike leaving my paragraphs nearly devoid of proverbial meat. Stuff, people! It's about... stuff.

(Hey, there's a Preview option now. I should have scrolled down a little more so I would have seen that earlier.)

Well then, I'm at work at the moment, freezing my divine posterior off in this overly airconditioned room, trying to feel my fingers hitting the keys. I've been coming in to the office for 9:00 every morning since Tuesday, since there isn't any evening work for us to do, so I have to face the awful task of getting out of bed around 7:00. I much prefer staying in bed and sleeping in, but at least I'm getting some hours here. My boss informed me that I won't be coming in tomorrow morning in order to give some hours to a few of the other supervisors, which is perfectly fine by me, seeing as how I would really enjoy a day off to catch up on missing sleep-hours. While this means I can be lazy tomorrow, it also means I won't be getting as many hours on my next paycheck as I'd like to. Monday seems a little iffy at the moment as well, and I have to call sometime in the afternoon to find out what I'll be doing on that day and the rest of the week. I'm guaranteed forty hours per pay period, so I know I'll be getting at least that many over the course of the next two weeks. I hope some kind of normal project starts up in the near future so I can be able to gather more money. Forty hours isn't too bad, but more is always good to have. I guess I'll see what happens come Monday.

Since there was hardly any work last week, I took in a few movies to occupy my free time. I saw 28 Days Later, which I thoroughly enjoyed. I might be mistaken, but I think Godspeed You Black Emperor! was featured heavily in the soundtrack, giving the film a great musical background to complement the scenes. I went in expecting to see a zombie flick, but it turned out to be nothing even remotely close to that. It was more of one of those mind-fuck movies, and I think I'll be buying the DVD when it comes out.

Speaking of DVDs, I want to pick up a copy of The Two Towers when that's released early next month. But back to my movie viewing for now.

Pirates of the Caribbean was also very good. It reminded me a little bit of my sailing experience, though I didn't run into any pirates wanting some kind of nifty medallion in order to lift their curse. We did raise the Jolly Roger while we were chasing our rival ship around Lake Ontario, but still, there weren't any pirates. That would have been cool... more or less... if they weren't trying to kill us. Okay, maybe running into pirates wouldn't be so cool after all.

Finally, I saw Johnny English last Friday, so that was a fun little afternoon movie. It wasn't brilliant in its humour, but it still managed to amuse me. I'd seen a few of Rowan Atkinson's specials and other shows before, so I wasn't shocked to hear him speaking. A lot of people seem to know him only as Mister Bean, and are surprised to learn he does actually have a voice. There were naturally some similarities between Bean and English, but that's to be expected, really. All in all, though, it was a fun movie.

And now, I can hardly feel my fingers, so I think it's time I took a walk around the office to warm myself up again. I've been sitting in this meat locker for too freakin' long.

Damn job.

[ Maleficia 1:25 PM [+] ]
...

The barbeque ended up being pretty entertaining. We got there an hour or so later than we'd planned, having been delayed by several key factors that held us back. It began when my ride arrived at the wrong house of one of the people that was supposed to be picked up, having forgotten that she'd moved earlier during the week. After that, one of the others was nowhere to be found after about ten minutes of waiting, leaving me stranded for a long time in front of the coffee and donut shop near my house. Well, they finally arrived, and I got into the car. Of course, things continued to roll downhill when we couldn't find the right highway we were supposed to take to get to where we wanted to be going. We ended up at the airport, turned around, and used our wandering sense of direction to finally locate the right road -- which the boss, for reasons unknown, didn't just call be its proper name -- and we were off. We got to the house somewhere around 3:30 or so, and were greeted by a platter of assorted veggies, dip, and drinks that we consumed in the living room for a little while until we moved out into the blistering heat. I got screwed on the seating arrangements on the deck and somehow ended up sitting in direct sunlight for what felt like hours, but was probably only about half an hour or so. I found a patch of shade, leaned back, and listened to various conversations, laughing now and then while I ate my carrot sticks. I didn't do a lot of talking today, the banter hovering in areas I knew nothing about: the personal lives of people I don't know. Oh well, I still managed to have a good time, even if the two large dogs caused my allergies to start acting up. I'm still feeling the sniffling and sneezing effects of that encounter now... I'm going to need several more tissues before I go to bed.

The food was served a little later in the evening, around 5:00 or so. We had chicken over the grill, some kind of curried cauliflower, and rice, and it was all delicious enough for me to get a second helping. Everyone seemed to enjoy the food so much that Boss Man cooked up some more chicken for us, but I decided I'd had enough after two servings, and I didn't want to look like a glutton. That, and I was kind of full by that point anyway. If I hadn't eaten all those darned vegetables before dinner, I probably would have had room for more chicken, but it was awesome nonetheless.

My VCR decided to cooperate before I left for this whole thing, so I was able to watch Farscape when I got home. I did a lot of sniffling throughout the episode, and that wasn't due entirely to my allergies. It was a wonderful last episode, even if it did leave some loose ends that I hope will somehow get tied up. I've heard all kinds of rumours about how they may close the show off properly, but I'm going to have to wait and see which of those said rumours will actually pan out. But it was still a really good series finale, and I think I'll be keeping the tape I recorded it on, in case I feel like watching it again sometime. I might still have the last episode of Voyager on tape somewhere; it's just a matter of looking for it.

Yes, I'm a geek.

And there's nothing wrong with that!

[ Maleficia 1:02 AM [+] ]
...

I have to go to my boss' barbeque tomorrow -- or technically today, considering it's already past midnight. It should be kind of fun to hang out with some of the people I work with outside of an office environment, if the weather doesn't decide to hand us a thunderstorm, and if it isn't sweltering outside. This is another one of those free lunches I want to take advantage of, especially since the boss is rumoured to be a pretty good cook. He talks about the various things he's having for dinner on any given day of the week, so apparently food is a big thing to him, which should reflect pretty well on the entire barbeque situation. We finally managed to organize transportation tonight, and I'll be leaving here somewhere around 1:45 in the afternoon, returning at some point in the evening. I've only heard snippets of stories about last year's barbeque, so I have no idea how long this "event" is supposed to last, but I should be able to survive for however long it is. I'll be missing the final episode of Farscape to go, so I need to remember to get my VCR running before I step out the door. And I also need to find a tape I can use to record it.

My travel plans seem to have taken shape, so all I have left to do now is save up a little bit more money and head down to my travel agent to book the tickets. I'm estimating another two weeks before I do that, so I think I should definately have enough money to cover whatever expenditures may arise. The travel agency I dealt with for the trip to New Orleans was very reliable, so I don't doubt they'll remain so this time. I can't remember exactly how much their service fee was, but I do remember it not being terribly expensive, which is a good thing. But this is all very much worth every penny I spend.

Today was hot and humid, and I think the humidity only increased when the sun went down tonight, the temperature remaining quite high. My room is blistering, and the breeze I had coming in through my window earlier has all but disappeared. I really need to invest in a fan for this room at some point in the near future. I had one last year, but my parents apparently seized it for their own use, leaving me to sweat the nights away, kicking myself for not having purchased at least a small fan before the summer started. Oh well, there isn't much I can do about that now besides... purchasing a fan.

I need to do some shopping soon.

But for now, I think it's about time I went to bed.

[ Maleficia 1:10 AM [+] ]
...

My five-day long weekend came to an end last night when my parents came home after their vacation. They must have arrived minutes before I stepped through the door after work, because they were already sitting around in the foyer, unpacking gifts for my sister from their luggage. I got nothing, since they apparently had no idea what to pick up for me, but they informed me of the imminent closure of The Museum Company, and that they saw a little Celtic cross there. But for some reason, they opted not to get it, so it'll either pass on to someone else who decides to purchase it, or it will pass into memory. Oh well; having the house to myself for the past several days was nice enough as it is. I already have a few nice little pieces from that store, so I'll be hanging on to those for a very long time. The statuettes are very nice, as are the few items of jewelry I have sitting in a little lacquered box on my altar. Yay for... stuff.

I went out to see the fireworks on Canada Day, choosing to venture into the mass of millions of people milling about the downtown core on my own. I was lucky to find a spot near the bottom of Major's Hill Park that offered a very nice view of the river, and as such, provided me with a great vantage point to watch the display. It was the best I've seen in a few years, in my opinion, and the weather was cooperating. There were a few clouds that painted a backdrop for the explosions of lights, the sparks showering down into the Ottawa River to extinguish themselves. I lost track of time, but I think the show must have lasted about twenty minutes, and the final barrage during the grand finale was spectacular. I look forward to seeing if next year will be anything like this.

And now I'm back at work, taking a few minutes from my duties to type all this up. It looks like work might be slowing down in a few weeks, but they're promising a new project that should last until August. I hope this is the case, because I'll be seriously needing the money in a little while if I want to finish paying off my credit card and purchase my plane tickets. I also have my phone bill to worry about, which will cost me a little more than I was expecting due to me not keeping track of how many minutes I was using. Oops. But it was well worth it, so I'm definately not complaining. My GST refund next week should provide some additional funds that will undoubtedly be going towards that phone bill, and that should tide me over until pay day. I don't think I'll be getting as much money as I would have liked to on this cheque, but it should be enough to keep me at least moderately satisfied. Where are my millions of dollars? I think it's high time I became independently wealthy so I could buy an old church to convert into a home. That, or build myself a castle on some small deserted island.

I like to dream.

[ Maleficia 7:30 PM [+] ]
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