I am about to clip out part of an email Tanya sent me concerning me and where I can be found on the Internet... oh, and Ryan too. Sadly, Carrie didn't show up except for Tanya's guestbook entry:

I was bored and procrastinating and did a search on names of people I know in yahoo canada... I found 4 matches for Maya Hirschman (Mabolica, of course, turned up several, because of the sith thingy and whatnot... plus places where you'd signed people's guest books!).Anyhow the matches were: your portfolio, the Opseu cartoon, an alumni page from Northern Secondary (You graduated in 96?? I'd forgotten you're a year younger than me!!).This one made me laugh most, where they quote you in the 5th paragraph! http://vegcafe.sa.utoronto.ca/articles.htm

I went to the last one and laughed, having forgot about that streeter that I did. I never did eat at the Veggie caf, but I didn't eat another mystery meat at school again, either.

Of interest, I put in Ryan's name and there's some other Ryan Telfords in the world but it turned up his many conferences (and even a copy of his Nicaragua paper!), his membership at CISS and this one made me laugh to, he's also mentioned in an article on Wood Elves: http://bretonnia.hinet.nu/woodelves/tactics/lorimoraddendum.html Look at the section titled 14.3.1 Glade Riders and Combat... 3rd paragraph. Kinda neat. I wonder if he knows bout it?...

I wonder if he knows, too. Anyway, I'm going to be late for work. Toodles.

Hey ho, whaddya know? I'm being trained to do new and exciting things at the ROM now. It's about bloody time. Anyway, it's kind of fun, though I keep making stupid mistakes - but I guess that's part of the process. Wilson's working upstairs now and that's a joy, because he's probably one of my all-time favourite site-sellers. He's just such a keener.

I'm dropping by A&C's to pick up the last of my junk, including my bedframe which will need to be dismantled. I can't hang around at their place though, well, not for too long, anyway, because I have to go home and send off my article to the Comp. Graely helped with some of it, including the topic, and by reading it over, which was very kind of her. I think it's a pretty good article, overall, though not as good as the one I wrote for the last issue. Meh, whatever.

Amazingly, I got a reply to one of my resume excursions. It's for a short film being shot from the end of June to the 2nd of July, in New York. I was horribly excited by the response. I say horribly, because the timeframe for the venture takes place exactly at the worst time for the jobs I currently work. With my mom's advice, I'll reply tonight, asking sensible questions about what will be required of me, any pay/expenses, etc. Before I say yes, I have to know what to expect. I don't think I can say yes, but, I must ask all the professionally important questions. Perhaps, in the future, I would be able to work with them on another project.

Hah ! A small but gratifying victory ! I emailed my boss about the whole hours thing, and he bumped my hours afterall. It's not like they won't be able to find something for me to do. I suggested that I could be trained to do the processing of the batches and he thought that was a good idea. For once, I wasn't ignored. My mood is good. I'm going to wander off to find something to eat and enjoy a walk before I drive home.

I'm wearing a ponytail again, not that it's exciting to you, the reader, but it's just ducky to me !

It's also another beautiful day wasting away while I'm stuck inside the ROM breathing the recycled, stale air. Almost ridiculous is the fact that the museum is running its airconditioning at a level that would combat mid-July heat, rather than seasonal end-of-May temperatures.

I enjoyed eating my lunch in Philosophers' Walk again, a bagel with ham and cheese, and then buying a soft-serve ice cream and walking all around the outside of the museum. Lunch was over much too quickly.

It's been another pleasant, mellow day in Membership, though, which makes me wonder how long this trend will last. I got to do some of Julie's stuff for her, since we'd run out of the usual. That was pretty interesting, though it was still data entry. I got to record donors into the system, the ones who gave gifts of things, rather than money. Each page listed a description of the artifact or doodad and the various appraisals it received, plus what the ROM receipted for it. Very interesting. What amazed me was the number of things that were utter crap and for whatever reason, the museum took them. It reminded me of my accessioning/deaccessioning paper that I wrote in Prof. Johnson's fourth-year seminar. Really interesting, tricky dealings.

My boss just came and spoke to me concerning my June schedule. Though I need the money, it seems that working 3 days a week is a lofty notion. Since, this week, everything was caught up. We're going to leave it open so if there is suddenly a membership boom, we can tack the days back on. What I don't understand is how come Wilson and Bonnie (and Wilson's never worked upstairs before) get five days a week, and I can't have three. I think I will email this querry since it's a bit of a fairness issue.

Wow, I had a very productive day today (uh, Monday). Sadly, it's ended up being a very late night, again, but whatever. Maybe tomorrow I'll be able to sleep earlier. The ROM went fast. We actually ran out of my normal things to do, so I got to do other things that, while no more interesting, was, at the very least, different. Also, despite it being Monday, everyone was in pleasant moods. Or, if not pleasant, then at least peaceable. It was almost like the old days. Especially since Sara dropped in. Yay for Sara ! We went and sat in Philosopher's Walk and chatted for about three quarters of an hour, which was definitely nice.

A side note: Today, for the first time in six years of short hair, I was able to put my hair into a ponytail ! Not pig or puppy tails, but a real, back of the head, ponytail ! Pretty neat, if you ask me. And nice, I've sort of missed the feeling of hair-tied-back-ness.

After the ROM, I went to Dominion and bought plants for... planting ! Yay ! I think it's officially warm enough now so that they won't die. I bought two normal red geraniums which I planted with a pair of small chive tufts. I bought two ivy geraniums that Mom says will do nice trailing things and planted them with coriander. I also started one of my long plant boxes, with amazingly deep purple petunias on either end. Now I need to buy more potting soil and more flowers to fill the remaining pots and my little balcony garden will be ready. Ready for what, I'm not sure, but whatever it is, it will be .. ready !

Following that, I did some dishes and ate a rather uninspired dinner of pita and babaganouj and hummus. Yay? (Later, I upgraded my dietary needs with some yogurt and cereal, so I'm not going to die of malnutritioin, yet). Then, after some talking with Nick - yes, he's come home tonight, amazingly enough - I returned to Ray's page, which had caused so much grief this time last night. I made it all wonderful and fancy. It all works now, and while it still needs the bio updates, all the images are up and viewable. It's really nice, or so I think. I like how it looks, and I'm starting to get good at the whole layout game, too. That took a bit of time, but it didn't take as much as I thought it would, leaving me with an evening for more leisurely pursuits, such as hanging my wonderful Cowboy Bebop poster that I got at the con on Saturday, and playing on the MUD. Yay !

Tomorrow, after work, I'm going to write the article for the MUD Companion and then go to bed early. I really must start getting more sleep.

My God, I am so tired, I can't believe I thought there was any chance of going dancing tonight. Anyway, I'm have a productive, if irritating, evening updating Ray's website. There are so many images, though, it's driving me insane, especially since the links refuse to co-operate. Gah !

Friday, Techknight came over and we worked on the Dungeon Siege module, or at least the concept part. Well, actually, first I had to pick him up after the ROM, then I had to go upstairs and marvel at his amazingly clean rooms. The place he lives is for sale, so for showings, he had to not just tidy up, but clean the place from top to bottom. It's amazing what a change comes over a room with a little cleaning. From there, we went to Loblaws and bought the makings of a tasty dinner. I barbequed a couple of steaks for us, and he insisted on doing sausages (which did not turn out to be delicious) and turkey bacon (yum !). We'd bought feta-stuffed jalapenos and a huge tub of chickpea salad. Topping everything off was some pita, babaganouj, hummus, and red wine (yes, I had a teeny glass). Then I watched as he updated Natasha, removing the nasty spyware that programmes like Morpheous inject into our computers. He also updated several things, making it run more smoothly, or rather, make DS play. Then he watched as I familiarised myself with the game a bit, finding it quite enjoyable.

When Nick came home, we sat down and brainstormed, though Nick wasn't entirely helpful. He's sort of anti-help; he gives out the ideas that make you say, "Uh, no." We have decided a couple of things, for sure: principle weapons, and some of the principle baddies. I'll just say this: lobsters. Ha ! Weird, weird us. Anyway, I also roughed out the first sketch of the main character, though it's not what she's going to look like. I'm not sure what our timeline is for this project, but modeling the number of characters we're planning is going to be huge. Not to mention the terrain. I've never really done terrain. Well, I've done some, but mostly it was just rocks and flat surface-type things. Anyway, it's going to be marvellous practice, and it should be fun.

Yesterday, he and I (since he slept over) picked up Rick and headed out to Anime North, the big anime convention in Toronto. It was a super-fun time, though the costumes were not a hit with Rick. Oh well. I inisted on taking a photo of one hugely tall sailor scout - she must have been 6-7 in her heels, easily. Judging by the art room, I think that next year, I'll do it. Sure, anime's not really my thing, but what the hey, might as well. It won't be worse than some of the stuff there. The art show was a bit of a disappointment, too - very poorly presented. I had a mango bubble tea, and we stopped for lunch in the hotel restaurant and it was pretty good, at least my bruschetta was. We sat in on part of one of the guests (from Bandai) talking about, well, anime. Then the room was taken over by what we were, in fact, waiting for: Name That Tune. That was a riot, and I got to see TK's friend, Chris, in action. He is WAY too much like Nick. There cannot be two, and yet.... I wonder, if they were put in a room together, would they explode? Sadly, the Masquerade ran exceedingly late so I missed it, because Rick and I had a prior engagement at the Fox and Fiddle.

Last night was the Realms of Despair May Get Together. We arrived and the place was packed. What is this need for people to congregate in bars to watch sports (in this sitation, hockey) and pay twice as much per drink than they would if they were watching and drinking at home? This I do not understand. Anyway, the Leafs survived another day and the place emptied somewhat afterward, allowing me a place to sit in order to enjoy my fajitas. Yum. There was much fun, though the music was disappointing, and there was fun and back rubs and laughter and pool. Good stuff. Rick spent the night afterward, which, uh, was also fun. ;)

Today, at the store, a big surprise ! Some of the better costumed people from yesterday at the convention came in - and I recognised them. Wee, among them was Sailor Tall ! Keen ! They, were fun, though they didn't like the hotel staff. Huh, well, what can you do. It wasn't a terribly nice day to be in the store. It was so beautiful out, and so few people wanted to come inside, but the anime folks did, and I directed them to the Silver Snail for mangas and whatnot, and Oak dropped by, bearing watermellon. He was a bit scattered, trying to buy cord, or something, and he was hot from marching in the sun, bearing watermellon, dressed in black. Mostly, though, the day passed as usual, and then I came home.

For the last four hours, I've been working steadily on this damned webpage and the images REFUSE to work for me. Ask me if I'm impressed. No, don't. If I can't make them work on this upload, I'll try again tomorrow night after the ROM.

Today was a good day ! After initial crap, like having a construction digger blocking the alley that goes to the parking spaces behind Heretic. The construction workers were on lunch and shrugged when I beeped and asked them to move the thing. Wankers. It took me almost another 15 minutes to finally get around the block and into the space, what with it being mid-day, downtown on a beautiful day. But, then this fellow named Oak (well, Dan) came into the store and he made me feel better by just being his pleasant self. Then, later in the day, a man went by the store walking -something- on a leash. I couldn't see what it was, because it was very low to the ground and the step up blocked my view, so I went outside, thinking it was something long and low to the ground, like a ferret. I like ferrets. And lo ! It was an iguana ! Hey neat ! I talked to the man leading it, and found out that, though it was about two feet long, it would probably grow to be longer than five when it was fully mature (it is presently only two years old), and it turned out to be a he. A he named Freddie ! Freddie the Iguana, strolled past the store today. Whee !

There's not much to report. I opted to have a quiet night tonight, what with all my working on websites and whatnot. I went to Java to have supper after work, and read about a third of the latest Now Magazine (the best Toronto weekly paper, full of arts listings and whatnot) over a huge, cheesy chicken fajita and pink guava shake. Their shakes are just so damn good, I have one almost every time I go. Yum, yum, yum. I played a bit on the MUD tonight, which is unusual in itself, since I hardly seem to get on it anymore. I figure a couple times a week, no more than that, but I try to make it count when I do. Now, I really should be going to bed, as it's a ROM day tomorrow (oh, yay), but the thing is, I'm not really tired yet.

I wrote an email to Brom a couple nights ago, asking him if it would be alright for me to use a couple of his works on my site, providing I give him credit and link to his page. He replied that it was, and thanks, which is nice. It's nice when people we look up to are polite. It makes all the other jerks in the world seem a lot less important, if you know what I mean. So, after I've finished doing my updates to what is already there, and the updates to Ray's page, then I can work on a little mini Brom page. Oh, and another thing, related to webpages, is that I've offered to run Nadine's (my singer friend, who I went for dinner with last night - a good, solid, fun time, where mostly we griped about being poor artists) site for her. It's nothing big, just three pages or there about, with a headshot and upcoming concert info and a bio. It's going to be fun, and relatively simple. Not too graphic intensive, and it won't require much thinking. This is good. It should be fun. Also, the fee is reasonable. For now, she will just feed me, and when she's in a position to be able to pay me, she will. I think that's okay. Anyway, now I'm feeling a bit sleepy, so I think I'll head for the night.

I've done some significant renovations to my webpage in the last two nights. Last night, created a couple brand-spanking-new pages that get you where you need to go, and today, I've started on Portfolio Redux. Hopefully, by the end of the week, it won't matter anymore what browser you look at my portfolio with. Oh, I also added a new piece of art in the 'illustration' section. It's not a new piece, really, since I did it a couple summers ago, but it's new for the webpage. Once I'm done with mine, I can get back to working on Ray's (though I've sort of started making changes to that, too).

A movie is being shot right next to the ROM at the Royal Conservatory of Music. I noticed it because I needed to go to the bank, which meant I would have cut through the RCM's parking lot, except it was ribboned off with caution tape and pylons. I saw a set, built to match the conservatory's bricks (rather convincingly, too), and thought I'd better investigate. I strolled up Philosopher's Walk and out onto Bloor St and when I passed the parking lot, my kleptomanic need for pylons nearly got the better of me (nearly) and I saw the sandwich board. "Bulletproof Monk to set". Uh... huh. So, when I went back intot he museum, I looked it up on the web and found out that it's a movie due to come out late 2002 (shouldn't they be done filming then?) and it stars Chow Yun-Fat. It's based on the comic of the same name, though apparently not the same storyline. Huh. I'd thought Bulletproof Monk was directed by John Woo, which would have been ultimately cool, but I had misread a site. The real director is an unknown (unless Mariah Carey videos count), named Paul Hunter. My excitement about it diminished when I learned this. Oh well. The fact that it's being filmed next to the ROM makes it kind of cool, though, and I'll still probably go see it when it's in theatres.

So, I took a little walk after work today, not as long a walk as I'd intended, because it was sort of cold and I didn't really feel like walking all that much, but two things struck me as I walked along. I was heading west on Bloor and first came to a group of protesters wearing loud yellow (orange?) pickets, doing their protesting thing outside the Quality Hotel on Bloor St. As I neared them, I was able, first, to hear what the woman was yelling through her megaphone, and then to read their pickets. It seems this dozen-person group was made up of the cleaning staff of the Quality Hotel. It turns out, the hotel is planning to, if not already doing so, pay these workers per room, rather than by the hour. How vile is that? Come on, by the room? Where are we, Mexico? What, I ask, would happen to the poor souls stuck cleaning the room of some hideous slob, a job that might take twice as long as a typical room, rather than the ones cleaning the room that was barely touched? I mean, let's just penalise hard work a little more, why don't we. I thought, as I walked past them, "What a crappy world this is."

A few blocks further west, nearing Spadina, I began to make out the strains of music, but it was directionless, bouncing off the walls of the surrounding buildings and being muffled by the car engins idling at the lights. When I reached the corner, I found the source, a young man, maybe his mid-twenties, dressed like any old joe on the street. He looked like he probably played highschool football before turning to a much more respectable (this is not sarcasm) career in busking. He was playing an electric guitar, and he didn't suck, either. What got me, though, and a whole lot of passers-by, was that he was playing hard rock riffs - at any moment, I expected him to break into some Iron Maiden, or something. Then he took off on a crazy solo (if you can cut into a solo when you're the only one playing) and I thought, "Satriani. He wants to be Spadina's Satriani." I smiled broadly, and went into the drug store thinking that maybe it wasn't so bad a world afterall.

"It was five years of artistry and development. The breakthrough was after we finished shooting. It was about a little over a year ago. Frank Oz was very excited about not having to hold his hand up a heavy puppet and be in a hole in the floor."

~ George Lucus talking about CG Yoda in an interview for The Homing Beacon, the starwars.com newsletter.

I forgot to mention something that happened to me on Thursday before seeing AotC. I was walking down the street, just outside of Heretic, actually, and it was crumby out, damp but not currently raining, and Tanya and I were walking along. There were lot of people walking by us on either side in both directions. Considering what a crappy day it was, it was pretty busy on the sidewalk. Suddenly, a blue umbrella, of the sort that pop out and open, pushes me aside and this man, older, in his fifties, dressed in blue denim, including cap, moves by me. I stop and glance at Tanya, but she didn't see it. He literally prodded me as though I was cattle. He didn't even try saying "excuse me" or anything, he just shoved me aside.
Me: Excuse me !
Him: No, -excuse- me. (nasty grinning) ...There are two of you; you don't have to take up the whole sidewalk.
Me: (stunned silence) Well... Well, fuck you.
Now, I don't normally swear at men on the street, even when they're harrassing me, but the man treated me like a herd animal. There was a time when men wouldn't THINK of doing that to a woman, but obviously now, these days, even the slightest bit of COMMON CURTESY is lost. Shit. What a jerk.

Anyway, yesterday, Mom came and visited. Hey, wow, that was nice ! She not only brought food, but she also brought her wondrous decorating/visually-thinky mind of hers. While the effect is somewhat dulled tonight as I just brought back the remainder of my crap from Al and Carrie's and have deposited it about the apartment, overall, the place is looking spiffy ! She liked it very much, as well, the apartment, itself, though she agreed that my room was unnecessarily dark. That said, I must note that my fancy window fixing -is- mounted and looks lovely. Mom and I had a bit of a picnic in the living room, enjoying the foods she brought, including the first crop of asparagus from her garden ! Oh yum ! It was a nice visit, and I even managed to entertain her with the awesome video game, ICO, which we now have and I am well on my way to being completely addicted to. Following the visit, she drove me all the way to Rick's which was very generous of her.

Rick, too, did good things with food, preparing a really nice, tangy stir-fry. I made the salad, which was nice and crispy fresh. It was a pretty relaxed evening, especially for Rick who got rather personal with the bottle of wine he'd bought. I had been suffering from a headache so I went easy. We watched that old film classic, The African Queen on television through dinner, and then he put in the original Blade from a few years back (so now I can finally see the sequel). Both films were very enjoyable, if, uh, entirely different. Sometimes it's cozy to just snuggle down into a couch and watch movies.

From Rick's I had to come back to my place in the morning to feed my completely ignored cat, who had spent the night alone because Nick was at his parents' and I, was at Rick's. She had NOT been pleased with being left alone and had ripped into the garbage bag in the kitchen. It's not that she likes to eat garbage, or anything, she only does it when she's bored and insecure. Oh, the joys of owning an half-crazy cat. Anyway, much to her horror, I left her again and drove to work. Work was nothing much worth mentioning - some nice people, some less nice people, the usual. I drove home again to give Willi her dinner and to play half an hour of ICO (I died), and then, yet again, abandoned my cat to head up to Al and Carrie's. I let myself in and upon arrival, pretty much headed straight to the cleaning up of my old room. Not even an hour later, I was all packed and ready to go. Spontaneous adventures then happened.

We went to see Star Wars: AtoC ! They bought the tickets and off we went to Scarborough Town Centre (the same theatre we'd seen Ep. I for the first time in '99). There had been talk of Ryan joining us, but, naturally, he didn't. Good thing they hadn't gotten him a ticket too. So, I was thrilled to see it again, and with them. They're one of the only couples that never make me feel like a third wheel. Carrie said the sweetest thing, "You can't be out of place as a third wheel on a tricycle." She's a real wonderful person. Anyway, seeing the movie again allowed me to see a bunch of things I'd missed in the first viewing, and realise a bunch of things, too. There was a LOT of thought put into this one. Sure, it's not going to be nominated for Best Picture, or anything, but a lot of ends were tied up, and things that take place later in the chronology were carefully set in place here. I enjoyed it as much, if not more, on the second viewing, if only for catching the things I'd missed. Ryan missed out, I guess.

Now I'm home, and surprise, surprise, I'm running through the job ads on mandy.com, a site Megs-in-Philly just turned me onto. It has tons of entertainment jobs, though a good many of them are short-term, low/no pay jobs. I wouldn't mind hitting New York for fifteen days to get my name in the credits of someone's film. At least it would be experience, though, granted, not the sort that pays the bills. Anyway, I've sent out a couple of inquiries about a pair of jobs that need some artistic vision, or something. Hey, pick me !

I think I forgot to mention that Nick bought a Playstation 2 at a substantial reduction. Tonight, I played ICO for the first time and it's amazing. I want to produce games as fresh and captivating as this. It's unbelievable in its detail and depth. The story comes clear slowly, though the game moves quickly, and the characters become utterly compelling. Beautiful.

I dropped by Al & Carrie's earlier, too, because on Sunday night I'm going to swing by and get all, or at least most of the remainder of my junk from their place. I walked in the door and Pepper, the matching cat (with tiny stripes) to Willi, looked up, so I called her. Her response was a huge meow and she leapt down to greet me. That was sweet. I think she missed me. Heck, Al nearly did the same with his need to feed me - I guess they miss having me around. I kind of miss being around, too, but I'm really starting to like my place now, too. It's feeling a bit better, more like home.

I'm very pleased with how the living room is shaping up - a little more art on the walls and it will be almost perfect. I'll have to get up in the morning to make my windows just right, especially since Mom is coming for a visit. At least the house is pretty clean. The bathroom could use another scrub, but I'll get on that at another time. Mom's bringing me potting soil. I'm glad of that, because I really enjoyed planting flowers at Manning Ave. Flowers help make a house into a home, in my opinion. Mom always has wonderful gardens, no matter where we live.

There's an internship with MNR that I'm going to apply for. Sure, were I to get it, the money would be good, I could pay off my debts, and have a stable income, but it would mean moving back to Peterborough, at least for the duration of the job, which would be about eight months. I don't know what I would do with my place here at the house with Nick. It's not a job I'm terribly enthusiastic about, though it would definitely be interesting. It would be just long enough for many of my computer skills to become even less relevant, though the income would allow me the improved video card for Natasha and a drawing palette, among other things, but... Well, I'm going to apply, and I'll worry all about that stuff when the time comes, if I get hired.

First of all, let me provide you with LARGE SPOILER WARNINGS !

Yes, I'm about to talk about Star Wars, Episode II, Attack of the Clones.... You have been warned.

I made fun of Ep. One when it came out and still I went to see it five times... I -must- see Ep. Two again ! Soon ! It was cool. No, it was pretty damn good, with a steady momentum (though too many men with under-developed senses of maturity would say the first hour is slow, stupid, or weird) up to one Hell of a finish. All of a sudden, you're sitting in the theatre and you realise that everyone has started shifting in their seats. Why? Because suddenly, they're getting excited. Really excited... and tense.

Yes, the love story is so played up it's almost cheesy, yes, the lines are sometimes... unlikely, and yes, someone should take the writing pen out of George Lucas' hand - but that wasn't so bad, because he had a co-writer that obviously pointed Mr. Lucas to a screenplay 101 book for at least a couple of important scenes. It was amazing how many men giggled through the love scenes, which were ripe with emotional tension, and how none of the women did. No, this flick actually appealed to its female audience. Anakin was believable as a 19 year old man with no experience in love, suffering the un-controled emotional swings of a teenager trying to figure out his place. I had an old friend in highschool named Max... Anakin IS Max, seven years ago.

The acting was a whole lot looser than it was in the last film and there were no immediately noticeable bloopers, at least not on a first viewing. It's funny, and it's dark, though arguably not as dark as it might have been. I still found it pretty dark. The slaughter of innocents is ALWAYS dark, you just can't get around that. The effects are so stunning, you don't find yourself saying, "Wow, that was an awesome effect," you just find it all... believable. Sure, there were the requisite Star Wars chase/race scenes, and ya, we've seen them before, but boy did it look good. The same with the make-up and costumes - perfect (with the exception of the nipple shirt, which was actually a pretty neat shirt, except I'd like it in a fabric a little more, um, substantial). Palpatine looks older than he did in the last one, a good deal older, Obi-Wan definitely passed for a man in his late 30s, and Padme had the poise (rather than stiffness) of a woman in her mid-to-late 20s.

Okay, so, let's take a minute to talk about the action. Holy wow. Ya, I missed Darth Maul, we all knew I would, but... well, this was damn cool and no one got cheesily cut in half. And Yoda kicks some serious Sith ass. My God, he moves fast - it was awesome ! Big guns, big light sabres, big fun ! Oh, and Jar-Jar really does only have a small part, fear not. And really, everything can be blamed on him. *joy*

Am I going to see it again? Probably VERY soon. I'll probably write more in depth about it when I do, as well, because, well, that's something I do.

As for the social activity of yesterday, it was good fun. It seems that Tanya, Carrie, and myself all have major blonde days, as did the wait staff in Java, with spilling, general not-too-swiftness, and slowness. But it was nice and fun to see people. I've missed seeing Tanya, she's an excellent conversationalist and a good friend. Hopefully, Carrie and I will converge upon her in London later in June. That is the plan.

Now, I have to put on socks, wander over and get my car, gas it up, and go uptown to get the keys to A&C's appartment so I can do some cleaning out on Sunday night while they're back in the Petes.

Ack, I've said the hateful word 'blog' twice in five minutes !

Okay, so Star Wars.... Ah ! Er !! Waaaa ! Must see Ep. III NOW ! Urk ! Gah ! Breathing... *faint*

... er... more on it tomorrow.

Yesterday sucked. Not because it was a crappy day, because it was gorgeous out, or because it was slow in the store, because it wasn't, but because my mood is still in the tubes. I won't go into the details, because I've told myself that there are other things to concentrate on in the meantime (like Star Wars, which opened today !).

A very interesting man, named Gordon, came into Heretic yesterday. He'd been in Japan for the last ten years acting as an English teacher. He had wonderful stories, and interesting ideas on how to go about getting jobs, and which jobs were the best to get. For instance, the Nova school, or whatever, will hire any old schmuck, like me, with no experience at all, so long as the applicant speaks English. He told me it was better to get a certification in teaching ESL in order to get one of the more serious teaching jobs there. Pretty neat. He also said that Tokyo is a souless void and to keep away at all costs. It's perhaps not surprising since they flattened Edo, the original city on the spot, in order to build up. He was most happy working in the places that I'm most interesting in visiting, Kyoto, Kobe, and Osaka. Anyway, should I be interested in teaching English in Japan, he gave me a couple websites with information and jobs.

I tried to score a ticket for Eric M. to join us at Star Wars tonight, but when I ran to the Paramount on my break, the tickets for the 10:30pm showing had sold out on Tuesday. Too bad, and a bit of a disappointment for Eric, but now that we're back in touch, we'll hopefully stay that way. He's such a good guy. I've missed his presence in my life. Anyway, it turns out, however; that Derek has a ticket for the same show as us, and so he'll be joining us, and that's a good thing, because he's a fun guy. Which is better than being a fungi, as I originally typed. I have to finish tidying up the living room this morning, in order to prepare if for Tanya's visit. I'm quite excited. She'll be joining us for Star Wars tonight. Presently, my biggest concern is which fan fiction shirt to wear. Despite my abhorance to tie-dye, I might have to wear the 'Obi-Wan Night Stand concert tour' shirt, simply for the humour value. Well, it's not my biggest concern, but at this moment, it's one of them.

Hey, last night, I ran into one of my old friends from highschool: Greg Legros ! I haven't seen him since, um, highschool, so something like six years. I was walking along Queen St W, staring into the windows longingly, heading for the Silver Snail too see their window display, when I happened to glance across the street. I saw a figure, walking in the direction I'd come from, who looked an awful lot like Greg. I immediately did an about face and startled some fellow strolling along behind me. Matching this Greg-like figure's stride, I carried on along the south side of the street, staring. My thought process went something like this: That guy looks like Greg. Could it -be- Greg? Is he even in the city? Hm, probably he is, and that guy looks like him. He walks like him. That even looks like Greg's old jacket, but would he still be wearing the old coat? Well, I'm still wearing -my- old leather - It must be him ! At this point, I darted out between parked cars and crossed the street. About ten paces behind him, I called out his name in that I-hope-it-is-you-because-otherwise-I'm-about-to-look-foolish way and lo ! He turned around !

So, I walked with Greg for about 40 minutes, talking about where our lives are at (not surprisingly, him being an actor, me an artist, they're about in the same hole) and doing some catching up. He was stunned to see me, and recognised me immediately. With a resounding and simoultaneous, "HOOOOO-leeee Sheeeet" we hugged each other like we hadn't seen each other, well, since high school. He looks good, and remarkably similar to how he used to, only a little older. He's as funny as ever, only with even a better sence of timing thanks to theatre school. For some reason, every homeless guy on the street thought we were money machines, to the point where it became silly. Anyway, he's apparently in a movie, destined, at least, for Showcase, and invited me to the screening, whenever that is, but I have no lofty ideas about continued contact, though I did give him my phone number. Do we really, ever call the people we run into on the streets? Not usually.

Anyway, I must do something artistic with the empty boxes in the living room and make other things... presentable. Tanya will be arriving around 2pm. I haven't seen her since Christmas, so this will be nice.

I'm incredibly depressed. Beyond all reason.

Today, I am having one of the singularly most boring days at the ROM in ages. The E.O. has me re-entering addresses into the database, which had originally been entered incorrectly. He told me that often they were mistakes by me, so I gather this is some sort of punishment. They're stupid mistakes - typically dyslexic. However, I've been tracking, and considering I probably enter more new members into the system than anyone else, my errors aren't so much higher in number than a few of the full-timers. Still, yet again, I feel stupid.

So, let me change the topic and write about my wonderful weekend.

I drove out to the Petes on Thursday night after Heretic. I wrote a long note for Nick about how to care for cat and plants while I was away. The following morning, after much finishing up of laundry, I took Bernadette (Mom's car), which has the joy of a tape deck, and headed out. Mom kept Scarlette and took her in for a much needed tune-up. The drive was uneventful, but pleasant, though the wind was fierce. I stopped at Silver Lake, as usual, but rather than the nice picnic I'm used to, I had to sit in the car while it was rocked by the gale force winds. I kid you not when I say there were metre-high waves on the lake.

Arriving in Calumet around dinner time, Jean made me a dinner - she just whipped it up, boom, like that. I talked with her and Mike and got new gossip, and argued about the merits of the Ottawa Senators versus the Toronto Maple Leafs. Then I headed up the Avoca Rd and landed at Kristina's. Derek wasn't back from work yet, so it gave Kris and I lots of time to bond, and time for me to meet Emma - the gurgliest baby ever.

Saturday, I slept rather later than I'd intended, missing out on a social call by Kristina's mom. Derek and I went up to the cottage, which was still boarded up for the winter, in order to check the damage. The deck is in rough shape, half rotten in several places, and the panels beneath the house have given glorious habitat for porcupines. It will be a costly affair to fix, but necessary. The beaver certainly have made a mess of the wood lot, too. We went back down to Jean's where Kris met us and we all talked about repairs and whatnot. Mike and Derek went up to cut the dead top off the oak that grows from the deck, and Jean persuaded us to stay for dinner. No surprise there.

Saturday evening was quiet, with Derek studying, Kris studying Emma, and me reading 'Akira'. Kris fell asleep on the couch with the dog, and Derek found my conversation an excellent diversion from helicopter maintanance. He's a good guy, with good values and high moral standards. Kris could certainly have done a lot worse. I like him a lot.

Sunday, I woke up a good deal earlier than the previous day, and Derek was busy making a Mothers' Day omlette for us - as thick as a quiche and just as delicious ! After lunch, Kris and I went down to the house Anna (her sister) is building. Their mother was there (much hugging and kissing) as well as Anna's two daughters. It was bloody cold, and when the freezing wind wasn't blowing, the black flies were trying to devour our faces. We helped put up the final wall (yay, I can say I helped build Anna's house !), and held it in place while the boys banged it into place. All too soon, though, the bugs and cold were getting to us, so we went back to Kris' for hot chocolate. Yum !

A few minutes later, Kristina offered to let me hold Emma - something I NEVER do. People that know me, know I do. Not. Do. Babies. Well, I made a happy exception this time, and Emma squiggled in my arms for a while and it was wonderful. Sadly, I had to relinquish her in order to hit the road. One more stop at Jean's to say goodbye, then to the Marche du Pont for some alcohol and tasties of the region, some poutine at Jos', and back home to the Petes.

About a forty minutes southwest of Ottawa, I found some die-hard Leafs fans at the side of the highway, dressed in their blue and whites, waving flags and heckling the Ottawa Valley drivers heading toward the Corel Centre. I honked enthusiastically at them, which made them whoop merrily. :)

I spent the day, yesterday, doing some more laundry, mostly to rid my clothes of the masses of pet hair I'd gathered on my trip. I talked about jobs with Mom, and how it's so disheartening to have spent so much money in order to be educated, so as to remain unemployed. It's depressing. And now, back in Toronto, I'm still doing this stupid address correction stuff, and I realise just how much dyslexia can screw a person up. I feel like saying, "I'm not this stupid, really," only no one in here would listen, anyway.

Star Wars soon, though, and that will be much fun. At least it can't possibly suck as much as Ep. I did, right? Too bad the whole gang isn't going to be there, but whatever. I'm still plenty excited.

I was out with Stacey tonight. It was good fun. I was really late to meet her, though, because the Dufferin bus just stinks to high heaven. First I wait for nearly 20 minutes, during rush hour, no less, and then three pass the stop because they're too full to take more passengers. Hello, do you see a problem here? I think that maybe MORE buses for rush hour would be a help. Meh, what do I know?

I ended up sleeping until sometime after 1pm, which was sooooo nice. Oh man. I did some chores, and then showered before leaving to meet Stacey. We walked from the ROM to Sneaky Dee's for dinner - the marvellous King's Crown nachos and the Veggie Plate. Oh, wow, so delicious it was ! We each had a pint of Amsterdam, hers blonde, mine nut brown. It's a nice, rich ale without being too heavy. No, the nachos were plenty heavy. I may never get out of this chair again, I'm so full. I'm amazed I made it home at all.

Tomorrow, I'm going to get Star Wars tickets for myself, Rick, and Tanya, and if Al and Carrie call, maybe they'll come too. I'm still going to see if I can track down some other people to join us. Maybe I'll call Eric M. He used to be so much fun at movie openings. And hey, maybe Nick will come... and Evelyn ! Whee. I shall ask. Actually, I don't even know if Evelyn is for sure coming to visit, but, whatever.

Anyway, I must get some stuff together to take with me tomorrow for home and cottage. It's not going to be all fun, I have to go up and check out the damage to the deck and the beaver situation. Apparently it's really, really bad. Well, I'll go up on Saturday and have a look.

You know what's weird? My CAT is weird. She's sleeping in my bookshelf right now. Between the books. Bizarre.

Anyway, I just thought I would add to the proof that the world is absolutely going insane. Holland had it's first political assassination. While part of me cheers because he was a right-wing, half-facist bastard, assassination is still disgusting. At least, for a change, it wasn't one of the good guys being shot, but I doubt the man's family would agree. It's sad. The Netherlands have been such a voice of reason to the world since the second world war, and now everything is turned upsidedown. It wasn't enough that the entire parliament had resigned due to their belief that they were responsible for a Yugoslav town's sacking. They were unprepared, but it wasn't their fault. Even the best guardians can fail sometimes. But now this.

On a positive note, an old Gestapo officer has been put on trial in Hamburg, Germany. Naturally, he's giving the 'only following orders' excuse. I can accept it from a nazi soldier. The soldiers were just that, soldiers. Most of them were the remains of a tattered and impoverished army that was happy to serve again, for a while, anyway. But the Gestapo? Hah, not quite your average infantry, I'm afraid. Okay, so maybe this wasn't exactly positive, but it wasn't exactly negative, either.

I think I want to say a lot of things, to talk about a lot of things that are upsetting me, but there's hardly a way for me to express it in even half-accurate words. Last Friday, outside the ROM, there was a group of Muslim and Jewish people standing in a peaceful protest to have the war in Israel/Palestine brought to a close. It made me sad. I don't know what's wrong with people. Part of me doesn't want to contemplate the world I'm entering into.

Well, now that I've brought the general mood down, I'll just go away. Tomorrow I have a dinner/drinks date with Stacey, from the ROM. We haven't socialised in months, so this will be good. Another good thing is that my half-sister, Gina, emailed me a picture of her from around Christmas time. My God, she is beautiful. She is stunning. I hope she, and Nicole (the youger one), pass through adolescence without succumbing to the awful things this world has to offer. It would be a tragedy. Anyway, it's very nice to be talking to them again, and now with the regularity of email, it's even better. It's more immediate, and sometimes more candid.

Anyway, I've wasted another few minutes, putting off going to bed for no good reason. Goodnight, lovers.

Holy crap ! Do a google search for mambolica (me) and... there I am !

I would never have thought that Honest Ed's (the enormous discount wannabe department store in town) would have people lining up outside before it opens. I remarked about it to my cabbie (since I was running late, a taxi was the only choice I had) and he thought it was bizarre too, but apparently they're there every morning. Maybe if you don't get there early, all the bargain cutlery runs away. Or something.

Barbequing didn't work out last night, nor did my window fixings. It seems Nick had been awake since Saturday and when I got home, he'd passed out. He'd better not be asleep tonight, though, because my beef isn't going to last forever and I'm not home tomorrow for dinner. I can see that having the patio off of his bedroom might become a problem, though. He keeps his door closed and I often have no idea if he's home. In the summer, he's going to have to keep it open for the sliding doors to ventilate the house. This was something I hadn't thought of when we saw the place. After all, it was the winter at that point and outside was something best left to the... outside.

Anyway, tonight is going to be steak night, and I'll go pick up some tasty veggie something or other, snow peas, I think. That will be delicious. After that, I'm going to help Nicole some more by taking her up to the Home Depot for things. I don't mind doing things for her, since I'm getting a $250 corset for free. Good deal.

Last night, Willi was incredibly irritating. She woke me up at 3:45am for breakfast. So, I got up, fed her and promptly shut her out of my room. Normally she'd sit outside and pick at the underside of the door until I let her back in, but maybe there isn't enough room between the floor and door for her to get her paw under and twisted around. Whatever the reason, I was able to sleep peacefully.

Silly me, I forgot to mention, yesterday, that I got an email from my sister, Gina ! I was worried they'd moved and not given me a change of address, or anything, what with the phone number being disconnected. It turns out, they just got new numbers, including one for Gina herself. Both sisters have email addresses and so now it will be a good deal more difficult to lose track of them. I am much relieved.

It's a weirdly muggy day today, with a lack of sun, coolish breeze, and general warm-going-to-rain air. Less than charming, but better than cold. It is supposed to rain, which is good, and it's basically going to remain at nice temperatures for most of this week. I hope they hold out through the weekend, too, since I'm going up to the cottage to visit new-momatron, Kristina. I'm pretty excited.

The OPSEU folk went back to work today, finally, after most of eight weeks of striking. They voted 78% to accept the deal, which is very good, and mostly they're satisfied. The nasty thing is that they all know they were used. There is no good reason that the government couldn't have settled this from the start. Bloody politics. Anyway, I'm very happy that Mom's going back to work today. I sent out an email that said, "Whether you were walking the lines, writing the lines, raising hell, raising money, or honking your horn, you're all great !" Or something to that effect. It was my welcome back to some of Mom's co-workers (and her too). I got happy responses of thanks in reply. I'm glad it's over.

Now it looks like the good people at the Metro Zoo are going to go on strike. We were discussing that (well, me and some of my old buddies in Vert. Palaeo.) on break today in the caffeteria. Not happy times for them, I guess. Good luck to them.

Speaking of zoos, I'm going to barbeque up some steak for myself tonight. Heh, I'm such a sick girl. *laugh* I have to buy some snow peas and garlic powder on my way home, for seasoning and side dishes. Yum ! Hopefully Nick won't be sleeping, because I'm not going to put off my steak craving. There's definitely a down-side to having the patio off his room.

I am such a moron. I just discovered that the curtain rods were packed in with the window fixin's. Knob. I am SUCH a knob. I guess I have a project for tomorrow. Yeesh.

Today, the first scent that I took notice of (other than Rick's cigarette) was that of Fresh Cut Grass. Oh, deliciousness ! What a wonderful, green, lovely smell that is. It's full of potential and beautiful things. I think it set the tone for the rest of the day, for I had a really excellent one.

Heretic was full of fun people, including Marcus, the magical fellow who fronts the band, Vampire Beach Babes, which somehow combines goth music with surf tunes. Amazing ! He's keen and full of pep ! He said he was meditating along the street. Heehee. Also, many fun tourists who bought things, as opposed to the poopy ones that don't.

Last night, Rick and I went for a less than excellent dinner at the Sushi Bistro, which is disappointing, because previously, it was my tied-for-second favourite sushi place. The rice was too sticky and heavy. Neither of us were able to finish our dinners, and if you know us, you know we can both hoover it up ! Then we walked to the Legendary Horseshoe Tavern in order to hear Hotel, the band with which Nick is friends. I had a good time being hit on by Miles, the rhythm guitarist, and I had an even better time pointing out my boyfriend who was looking suitably nonplussed. I'm so mean. Hotel rocked, which is a damn good thing, because the band before them absolutely stank. Stank as in making my eardrums scream for the agony to end. At one point I asked Rick, only half jokingly, "Are my ears bleeding?" Anyway, Hotel was very good. Good, good, good. And fun. And I did bunches of dancing, which is more than most people were doing (okay, a few were dancing). Also, I met Matt 9. That's a bit of a long story, which I'm still not sure I understand, so I'll just let it go. He liked my bondage pants, and he knew too much about me for someone he'd just met.

I had a really good time at Rick's after the show, and I must thank Nick tremendously for coming home to feed Willi and then go BACK to WORK for the night. Rick and I both appreciate it. I arrived home after work tonight, though, and found piles of kibble in Willi's bowl, though. I think Nick was a little overzealous. By about three handfuls.

When I arrived home tonight, after walking from work to Dufferin (about 40 minutes of long-legged sauntering), I fully intended to put up my wonderful window fixtures. My plan was foiled, however; by a lack of curtain pole from which to hang the grilles. I hope they're in the back of Scarlette, who is presently parked in the old neighbourhood, rather than having been forgotten in Peterborough. It's very frustrating having my car quite some distance from my house. I finally got the landlord's info for the street parking, only now, because I was a good girl and paid some money to my phonebill, I don't have a letter addressed to me at this address. Tomorrow I'll request a new bill so that I can get the permit on Thursday morning. Nothing is ever easy.

Anyway, ROM tomorrow, and I dare not be late, so I'm off to bed.

Things aren't so good with the whole Episode II thing... No one will be entirely happy, but overall, I think I've come up with a better solution than ditching Tanya. How I didn't think of this solution immediately, I do not know, but I didn't. Ryan and Colleen can see the movie with whomever they like in Scarborough. Tanya is going to come with ME and whomever else back in my old childhood neighbourhood that is full of Star Wars freaks. I'm going to invite lots of people, and if they don't come, that's okay. I'm not going to ditch Tanya.

Fuck. Why do relationships have to be so complicated? You'd think that we could all just be adults and get on with it, right? No, I'm just as retarded as everyone else. Foolish to think otherwise. *guilt* This too shall pass, I suppose. All will work out, somehow.

Speaking of working out... Things are looking excellent on the OPSEU strike side of things. The union settled with the government, and with the exception of a nay to dental coverage, it's a mostly positive contract. The most important thing is that the goverment has promised to keep its hands out of the OPSEU pention fund, which is the major reason behind the strike in the first place. It was such a STUPID strike, though, and it should have been averted from the onset, but the government, ever the crisis-creators, fabricated the crisis for political reasons. Now Eves looks like a hero, he won his bi-election (not brilliantly, mind you), and things can get back to status quo.

Row, row, row your boat
gently down the stream.
Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily;
life is but a dream.

Huh.

Goodness ! You'll never believe who I spoke to last night... Ryan's invisible girlfriend, Colleen ! Well, at least I -think- it was her. I can't be certain, of course, since it was over the phone and not face to face. Anyway, she's a good deal funnier than I thought she'd be, in a dry, sardonic way, which is good, because I like that sort of humour. Anyway, that was sort of weird. I talked to her for about half an hour, altogether, or there about, while Ryan made babbly noises the whole time. What a nerd. I was at Ryan's in order to paint miniatures. I painted a banner for his troup, a nice griphon rampant en argent, so to speak. Painting afforded us a lot of time to talk. I expressed my feelings on how 'the group' had been treated over the last several months, and we discussed Tanya wanting to come out for Star Wars while working out the Colleen factor. There is no easy solution. Ryan admitted that this wouldn't have been a problem had he dealt with everything from the beginning. Oy.

Anyway, I'm going to go back to Ryan's next Wednesday, following doctor things, and we're going to paint some more, and he's finally going to teach me Mordheim. As he put it, referring to my Sisters of Sigmar Mordheim miniatures, "Your sisters are so pretty... I want to trounce them." Or something to that effect.

I'm at the museum right now, feeling kind of 'meh', in that I'm sick and tired, though not of anything in particular. Rather, I'm sick. I'm also tired. I was late for work again, and the Evil One, who has not been evil in... well, really since he discovered we're obsessive about the same band, said, "Is 9:30 getting too hard for you?" My response was, "Uh, this week, ya," with a big sheepish grin. And ... that was the end of it. I might have to stop referring to him as the Evil One. *laugh* I guess that's a good thing.