After all...tomorrow is another day

Word of the day: pro-cras-ti-nate (verb) To put off till another day or time; defer; delay.

In honour of the Olympics, I am holding my own games: the Procrastination Olympics.

I am so winning gold in this event.

I mean, it's not like I'm moving soon.  Nope.  I'm not actually moving on March 20.  Not at all.  And I'm not moving in with my beau, meaning I don't really need to seriously clean out all my crap.  That's not happening.  And it's not like I've got to pack things up really well so I can stick them in storage.  So not what's happening.

Shee-it.

Well, at least I'll get a gold medal out of this.

Best. Weekend. Ever.

Word of the day: hap-py (adjective) Delighted, pleased, or glad, as over a particular thing.

Seriously, I'm fairly certain this was the best weekend ever.  Let me recap for you:

1.  My exciting news
Friday afternoon, my exciting news became quasi-official as my department was informed of the changes, which includes me being promoted to Production Manager on Flare magazine.  This is my first official promotion and I'm super excited.  I love working on Chatelaine, but I work with/under the Production Manager; now, I'm going to be on Flare all by myself!  It's more responsibility and a promotion in both title and salary (yay!) but it's what I've wanted since I got into production way back when at Redwood.  And now it's happening!  Hurrah!

2.  I consider myself a runner now
And that's one resolution win.  Since last Sunday and including today, I have run six times.  Not too bad for someone who's only been running a week.  (Even if it is bad, don't tell me.  I'm pretty proud of myself!)  The best part is that I really like it and I feel SO GOOD after that I want to keep doing it.  My previous gym routine did not leave me feeling this way, so this is a physical health win too.

.3  I found a place to live
This just happened today but I found a place to live and it's really great and I'm so happy to have found a place that I love, and so soon.  Sure, it is only the second place I really looked at and considered but it's got everything I want.  Oh, did I mention it also has my beau in it?  Heh.  I'm moving in with the man!  (And his cat!)  It's kind of a big deal but it's a good big deal so this also has me pretty excited.  It's going to be rather awesome.

Oh, and I also had a lovely Saturday evening; the beau and I headed over to one of his friend's place and I made us all burritos and we played some video games (rather the boys did and I watched) and then I was introduced to Aqua Teen Hunger Force.  And Hand Banana.  I now have a Hand Banana sticker on my Rogers security card.  It's kind of fantastic and I'm looking forward to showing it off at work. 



                                                                  
                                                                                            

Stuff happens

Do you know what's exciting?

...

Hm?  Yes, that's exciting.

...

Oh yeah, that is too.

...

What's that?  You're right, that is also pretty exciting.

...

And so is that.

Those are all definitely very exciting things, but there's something else that's pretty exciting.  And I'll tell you...

...when it's official.

One less thing to pack

Word of the day: purge (verb) To rid, clear, or free.

April 1 may seem a long way off, but since that's moving day for me it will come up much faster than I'd like.  As I prepare for my move, I've decided February will be my purging month and March will be my packing month.  And by packing month, I mean "collect boxes and tape and other packing supplies for the first 29 days then pack like a mofo".  But back to February.

I've got to purge but not some sill superficial purge like I've done every other time I've moved.  (Yes, I'll wear these shoes again.  Who knows when I'll need construction paper?  I might read this kind-of-awful-sounding book one day...maybe.)  I've got to get rid of stuff.  Some things will be easy: clothes I don't wear I can easily part with.  I've finally come to terms with a bunch of the books I obtained while interning at Random House - in 2005 - that I have not read yet and likely will never read.  As for shoes, I know it's time to get rid of the many pairs I don't even look at, let alone wear.  The bonus to this is that once I get rid of the shoes I don't wear, I've got an excellent excuse to buy more to replace them.

Oddly enough, the thing I'm struggling with most are my CDs.  I don't buy CDs anymore.  I don't listen to CDs anymore.  I have iTunes and an iPod and that's all I need.  I download music and use the internets to find song lyrics.  Sure, I'll always buy Tragically Hip CDs but that's because I lurve them.  As for the rest of them, I just feel odd about getting rid of them.  I have no need for them and they only take up space but it just feels wrong to give them up.  And I like music but I'm hardly a music-phile (I"m sure there's a more correct term, I just don't know what it is).  That's why I just don't understand this need to hang on to something I know I'll never use again.  I've lived in my current place for almost a year and I haven't picked up a single CD in that entire time.  My rule with clothes is that if I don't wear it in a year it's gone.  By that logic, the CDs should be out the door too.

I'm sure I'll manage to move them along, drop them in a donation bin somewhere.  I just wish it didn't feel so...wrong.

A little love for Leaf Land?!

Word of the day: re-build (verb) To replace, restrengthen, or reinforce.

Those who know me know I'm a hockey fan.  Those who know me well know I can get pretty passionate about things and tend to rant about those things even when those within ear shot don't know what I'm taking about or, more importantly, don't really care what I have to say. 

I grew up a Leafs fan and I was with them through many years of futility.  Then, a few seasons ago, I just got fed up.  Now I can cheer for a crappy team (Exhibit A: my love of the pretty awful Tampa Bay Lightning) so I don't just walk away when you start to lose.  I walk away when you get boring.  See, that's because I'm a hockey fan, which means I can enjoy watching pretty much any two teams in the NHL play and enjoy it.  The reason I turned away from the Leafs was because they just weren't interesting to watch any more.  There weren't any players who actually played well or were really worth watching.  Plus, at the time, I really didn't like Mats Sundin or John Ferguson Jr.  I decided to stop cheering for the Leafs until both those wankers were gone.

And so began the Great Toronto Maple Leaf Boycott.

Even when both Ferguson and Sundin left the team, I kept up with the boycott, now simply because the team was still boring, just with two fewer "marquee" names.  However, this past week, the strangest thing has happened: I'm starting to feel the urge to cheer for the Leafs again.  And if not fully cheer them on, then at least watch them.  In fact, I plan to watch them tonight.  Why, you may ask?

Because they are worth watching again.  Two pretty awesome players have landed in Leaf Land this week: Dion Phaneuf and Jean-Sebastien Giguere.  I happen to be fans of both these players and I have followed Phaneuf since his junior days and I take him in every hockey pool I participate in, simply because he's Phaneuf.  (Just don't get me started on his girlfriend.  Ugh.)  And Giguere has actually won a Stanley Cup so the Leafs finally have a player on their team who has a Cup ring.  The fact that he's a fantastic goaltender doesn't hurt either.

I honestly never thought I'd be here, wanting to watch the Maple Leafs.  Now, I'm not crazy; I'm probably the only person in the city who isn't planning the Stanley Cup parade route.  But as a hockey fan I'm excited.

Now if only I could afford to see a game at the ACC, things would be even better.

And I ran...I ran so far away...and I ran...I ran all night and day

Word of the day: pain (noun) A distressing sensation in a particular part of the body.

Guess what I did on Sunday?

I RAN!

(Okay, I actually jogged, but still...)

That's right, I got myself onto a treadmill and I started out walking for five minutes and then thought I'd speed up to run for five minutes before cooling down.  Then I started running and hit the five minute mark and...I KEPT GOING!  I in fact managed to run for another five minutes.  That's 10 minutes of running.  Yes, I know there are plenty of you out there who regularly run for much longer than 10 minutes but for me, this is kind of huge.  I mean, on Saturday I could run for 0 minutes.  Then on Sunday I could run for 10 minutes.  10 MINUTES!!!

So I'm pretty proud of myself.  But my calves are killing me.

Dear apartment-hunting: You suck. Love, me.

Word of the day: fu-til-i-ty (noun) A futile act or event.

Do you know what I hate?  Apartment-hunting.  It sucks more than anything has ever sucked ever in the history of sucking.  I mean, it sucks more than Nicholas Cage movies.  It sucks more than Nickelback.  It sucks more than Stephen Harper.  It sucks more than Dan Brown's writing.  In fact, it sucks more than all those things combined.

I swear, I will find Osama bin Laden before I find a decent apartment.

And please answer me this:  how the HELL does any landlord expect me to be interested in their apartment if they don't post pictures?  Come ON!  Everyone and their 95-year-old grandmother has a digital camera.  Take a damned picture and add it to the listing.  And not an exterior shot.  I don't give two figs* what the street view looks like.  I can generally figure that out just by knowing where the place is located.  I care more about the space I would be paying for.  You know, where I would live.  The place I'm expected to call "home".  Take a fucking picture.

Speaking of neighbourhoods, you know what else would be useful?  Telling me where the stupid apartment is.  "Downtown Toronto" is not a location, it's a general area.  Chances are the apartment will be near some major streets that intersect; tell me what they are.  "Convenient location" is easily the worst ever.  I mean, a "convenient location" would also be locking these dumbass landlords up in a trunk and burying them.  Tell me where you are.

Also, when writing your description of the place, please don't just vomit a thesaurus into the posting.  Tell me things that are pertinent, like if utilities are included or if there is laundry in the building/unit or if there is a laundromat nearby.  I get that some people have a love of adjectives but this is an excellent example of where pictures will work best.

(While I have found an abundant of tiny apartments described as "spacious", I have only found one described as "specious".  Why are people dumb?)

However, I have to move because my current place sucks almost as much as finding another place does.  So while I'm trading one kind of suckage in for another I know I won't end up homeless.  I will find four walls and a roof to house me and my Ikea .  I'm just not going to particularly enjoy the process.

*I love this expression and don't use it nearly enough.