July | 2008 | Jeez Louise 2008 July |

July, 2008

Notes on our trip:

July 31, 2008 by Louise

I tend to find the more humour in the negative so I have probably focused on that (on the blog only – NO I’m not sitting around in “real life” saying “OMG THE BIRDS WERE SO LOUD THIS MORNING HOW DARE THEY”) these past two weeks but this has been a very nice vacation and I’ve been thoroughly enjoying myself. That being said:

Last night there was so much thunder and lightning that we were too afraid to go out to the tent. I thought we’d get hit by lightning and that would totally suck. So we slept in Rob’s former room (on our separate beds) and that kind of sucked more than getting hit by lightning probably would. Only because one of the beds is SO UNCOMFORTABLE (you can feel every metal slat through the mattress – it’s one of those folding cots like you’d get in a hotel). It’s the one Rob was sleeping on last night. Only it was so uncomfortable that when I woke up to pee at 7 am, he was still awake. I then traded with him (I can sleep anywhere, as long as I’m horizontal, unless there are unruly old men hollering all night) and he’s still snoozing away, at 1:30 pm (I am waking him up at 2. I have placed a limit on his sleep).

We were supposed to go to St. John’s again today, to re-visit Signal Hill and also to check out The Rooms and the Geocentre but at the moment it is raining so hard that I can barely see out the front window. Tomorrow’s supposed to be a fine day so we will go then. Oh wait, I just looked at the forecast and now it’s saying “periods of drizzle” for tomorrow. I don’t care. We’re still going, drizzle be damned!

Speaking of drizzle… I don’t know how to explain it. The past few days, there has been about an hour each evening when there was the softest, nicest… I don’t know what to call it. Not mist, it was heavier than mist, but much less heavy than rain or drizzle. It’s not something I’ve ever experienced before.

We are leaving on Saturday. Our ferry was supposed to leave at 8 am, but we have received a phone call to let us know that it has been delayed until 4:30 pm so… yeah. We’ll be travelling overnight again! Hopefully this time that old man keeps himself to himself. If he’s even on the same ferry as us. Which he probably won’t be.

I am obsessed with tweezing. Not so much my eyebrows, but more like, I have a couple of chin hairs (I KNOW! I am bald but I am growing a beard??? WTF). Anyway my mother-in-law has this battery-operated tweezer and last night I went crazy tweezing Rob’s arm with it. He was not impressed and I believe I have been fired as his official arm-hair remover (not that he ever wanted me to remove his arm hairs. I just had to do it).

Oh! My mother-in-law just woke up (she worked from 8 pm last night til 8 this morning) and I think Rob is waking up too so I’m gonna go. Wasn’t this a fascinating post? Yep, I thought so.

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A meme!

July 29, 2008 by Louise

Erika sent this via email but I am putting it on my blog.

1. WERE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE?
Yes; my grandmothers.

2. WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU CRIED?
I cried on the ferry on the way here when that old man was being so unruly and wouldn’t let me sleep… I cried a bit at a TV show after this but I don’t remember what TV show it was or why I cried.

3. DO YOU LIKE YOUR HANDWRITING
I do. I really do. But I’m a perfectionist with it. If, say, I’m writing a letter (it still happens! I sent a letter just today!) and I make one letter go wonky, I’m liable to re-copy the entire page. I need to become less anal about that.

4. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE LUNCH MEAT?
I’m trying to think… I like turkey.

5. DO YOU HAVE KIDS?
No, unless you count the ones I teach.

6. IF YOU WERE ANOTHER PERSON WOULD YOU BE FRIENDS WITH YOU?
Some days I say yes, some days I am completely sick of myself.

7. DO YOU USE SARCASM A LOT?
I used to be totally sarcastic all the time… I’ve mellowed out a little.

8. DO YOU STILL HAVE YOUR TONSILS?
Yes. Appendix, too. In fact the only thing I’ve ever had removed were my wisdom teeth. All my other surgeries have been to add things to me.

9. WOULD YOU BUNGEE JUMP?
You know what? No. My life’s exciting enough as it is.

10. WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE CEREAL?
It depends on the day, if I’m honest. Raisin Bran. Cheerios. Sometimes Cap’n Crunch (not often… maybe once a year)

11. DO YOU UNTIE YOUR SHOES WHEN YOU TAKE THEM OFF?
None of the shoes I have right now actually tie except for my sneakers (which I untie) – some of them have buckles, and most of the time I will unbuckle them.

12. DO YOU THINK YOU ARE STRONG?
Physically? Pretty strong. Emotionally? Very much so.

13. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE ICE CREAM?
Cherry Garcia.

14. WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT PEOPLE?
I’m going to copy Erika here. Guys: Hands, then eyes, and of course personality. Girls: Probably their hair or clothes or whatever else about them that I am envious of

15. RED OR PINK?
Red.

16. WHAT IS THE LEAST FAVORITE THING ABOUT YOURSELF?
Physically everything. Mentally or whatever? I’d like to be more confident and less of a procrastinator.

17. WHO DO YOU MISS THE MOST?
My grandparents.

18. DO YOU WANT EVERYONE TO SEND THIS BACK TO YOU?
Well, I tell you what – I’m not “tagging” anyone but if you do this, comment and let me know so I can check it out (or, email it to me if you don’t have a blorg).

19. WHAT COLOR PANTS AND SHOES ARE YOU WEARING?
I’m wearing red capri pants. I’m not wearing shoes or socks.

20. WHAT WAS THE LAST THING YOU ATE?
I had a big plate of brussels sprouts for my supper. I know that’s probably weird to lots of you but I love them.

21. WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW?
My inlaws are watching that show with the chef that yells at everyone. Gordon Ramsay.

22. IF YOU WHERE A CRAYON, WHAT COLOR WOULD YOU BE?
I think blue.

23. FAVORITE SMELLS?
Anything (good) baking in the oven. Very bizarre: When you open up a CD the way the plastic case smells (I know it’s weird). Cherries. Peaches. Rosemary/mint.

24. WHO WAS THE LAST PERSON YOU TALKED TO ON THE PHONE?
A neighbour or her work or someone phoned my MIL.

25. DO YOU LIKE THE PERSON WHO SENT THIS TO YOU?
Absolutely 100% yes!

26. FAVOURITE SPORTS TO WATCH?
Figure skating. Hockey if I’m at a live game.

27. HAIR COLOUR?
When I had hair, it was brownish red. The wig I’m wearing right now is black and blue. I have a little hair growing on my head and it looks kind of… black. So that’s neat.

28. EYE COLOUR?
Blue

29. DO YOU WEAR CONTACTS?
I tried a few years back and couldn’t.

30. FAVOURITE FOOD?
I can’t even pick one favourite. I love food. I will say that I’ve been eating a lot of takeout and processed food lately and I am SO craving fruit and veg right now.

31. SCARY MOVIES OR HAPPY ENDINGS?
Happy endings. I don’t handle scary movies very well.

32. LAST MOVIE YOU WATCHED?
Dark Knight in the theatre

33. WHAT COLOR SHIRT ARE YOU WEARING?
black

34. SUMMER OR WINTER?
Oh, summer summer summer.

35. HUGS OR KISSES?
depends on the situation.
36. FAVOURITE DEsSERT?
Again, I just don’t know.

39. WHAT BOOK ARE YOU READING NOW?
I’m not actually reading anything right now because I read all the books I bought for the trip… before the trip. BUT I am listening to “Twilight” as a book on tape. Well, on iPod. Seems pretty good so far, except that I keep falling asleep so even though I’ve been listening to it for two weeks now, I’m only up to chapter 5.

40. WHAT IS ON YOUR MOUSE PAD?

Dust? We ain’t got no mousepad. OH MY GOD THE POWER JUST WENT OUT!

41. WHAT DID YOU WATCH ON TV LAST NIGHT?
Big Brother UK. Yeah, the power just went out so I have no idea if we even have Internet anymore… poop.

42. FAVORITE SOUND?
Rob laughing.

43. ROLLING STONES OR BEATLES?
Beatles

44. WHAT IS THE FARTHEST YOU HAVE BEEN FROM HOME
I kind of suck and never go far from home.

45. DO YOU HAVE A SPECIAL TALENT?
nope!

46. WHERE WERE YOU BORN?

Halifax, Nova Scotia.
Okay! The power came back on!

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Do you know what helps with crankiness?

by Louise

1) After-bite (and then a liberal dousing with insect repellent essential oils even if Rob then thinks I’m stinky)
2) Taking a shower and it doesn’t matter if it’s cold because it was a really hot day anyway
3) Discovering that yes, there are clean pants, clean pants for me!
4) NOT finding any French beavers working in the post office when I went today.

Uh huh. I’m like a three year old. Also. DJ. BIG SCANDAL ON BIG BROTHER did you see?

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Cranky

July 28, 2008 by Louise

Mosquitoes won’t stop biting my blood!
And now I have to go take a cold shower!
And I don’t think I have any clean pants!

THIS MAKES ME CRANKY.

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Question for Canadians

July 27, 2008 by Louise

Does anyone know where you go/how long it takes to get a passport? I know I could look this up, but I’m lazy.
I ask because DJ just reminded me that come January, you’d need a passport to travel between Canada and the US. I don’t have any trips planned at the moment, but I figure maybe a passport would be a handy thing to have. You know. For my life as an International Lady of Mystery.

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Ain’t it just like a friend of mine

July 26, 2008 by Louise

I have always loved this song by James Taylor.

When I was a kid, there was a travel agency in the grocery store. While my parents were doing the (boring) grocery shopping, I would be perusing the brochures, planning in my mind the fabulous S. Carolina vacations I’d take when I was old enough, the Hilton Head rentals and the marshes and beaches and everything. I’m sure the travel agents were oh so excited to see me coming; I’d totally pilfer their tourism guide stash, then at home I’d cut out photos of places I wanted to go and make huge collages for my bedroom wall.

I just realized that whenever I think of a vacation destination, I think of somewhere near the ocean. I have never really been interested in visiting anyplace that is not ocean-accessible. And not like, Florida Disneyland beach access… more serene than that I guess.

Not that I’d turn down a trip to the Carribbean or anything.

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Remember I told you about that whale?

July 25, 2008 by Louise

Flickr has finally uploaded the photos. Because we have a slow connection I was pretty much uploading photos (there were 40ish of them) from 11 am til just now (11:32 pm).

Next time we go to St. John’s I will actually go down to the water’s edge and maybe then will get some more close-up photos (we were only there for about 20 minutes before we had to leave so that we weren’t late for our movie). Hah, maybe Rob and I will get ourselves some inflatable boats and just go get right on top of the whales (no we won’t). But this is the best I can do for you today. And it was SO SUPER COOL seeing a whale.

Oh – these are the cropped copies of the photos, and that’s why they look all grainy.

Other photos here, if you’d like to take a look.

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Now it’s Friday! And we did not hit a moose!

by Louise

1) Bought a can of this stuff, and the tent doesn’t leak anymore. Hooray for cheap tent!

2) I really, really, really enjoyed the Dark Knight. I would definitely recommend it. My secret? Not building it up in my mind beforehand, not being all “Heath Ledger is a God because he died” or whatever… I haven’t read the comics, although Rob tells me that the movie sticks pretty much to the story in the books. So people dying and such is what is supposed to happen.

3) Rob’s eye is better! So all the rubbing and whatever with rings and watches must’ve worked. Or he got better on his own.

4) Before the movie, we went to Signal Hill. Hiking around up and down that hill was better than any treadmill workout I might have been wishing for (I had – it was very rainy, and I wasn’t going outside to exercise, which was leaving me feeling bleh). Also we saw a whale! Oh wait! That seems kind of important!

5) We saw a whale! It was swimming around down in the (harbour?) Down in the water in front of us. Rob said “the Narrows”. Anyway. It was swimming and blowholing and doing its little whale things. Of course it was miles away from where we were and I was all excited and watching it instead of trying to get pictures so whenever I managed to get my viewfinder around it I mainly got pictures of where it had been rather than of the whale itself.

6) Then we went to the mall to watch the movie. First we went to the food court and had a bite because by that time it was 6 pm and neither of us had eaten yet that day. I had a falafel pita and Rob had fries with gravy and dressing. Very healthy, yes I know.

7) When we got into the theatre I sent Rob to get seats while I went and stood in line at the concession stand. Movie started at 6:30. I got in line at 6:17. I got to the front of the line and asked for my concessions at 6:27. It was 7:05 when the dude finally gave me my drinks… so I missed the first 35 minutes of the film. But the rest was really good.
The drive home was me white-knuckling it because there are moose warnings all over the place and there have been over 350 accidents involving moose and cars and absolute anarchy in the streets (don’t click that link… or click it, whatever, it’s sad)… so yeah, I was afeard. BUT, we did not hit a moose and so we’re good.

Then we came home and went to sleep and I woke up and since there is only a 30% Internet signal I am posting this now (meanwhile trying valiantly to upload photos to Flickr). Also I am trying to check out all your blogs but it takes 20 minutes to comment so we may not have that type of interaction.

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Today is Thursday!

July 24, 2008 by Louise

Today is the best day!

1) It’s finally sunny!

2) We are going to St. John’s today to watch The Dark Knight!

although

2b) Rob’s mom is not feeling well at all right now so the trip might be in jeopardy.
2c) Rob has just started getting a sty (sp?) on his eye so maybe he won’t be able to watch the movie if his eye is all poofy! Although his parents say that rubbing gold on a sty is a cure for it so they have each shoved gold watches and wedding rings in his eye. I thought that applying heat to it was a way to ease the horribleness but he won’t let me boil an egg and make him hold it on his eye (still in the shell – it’s the perfect shape/size for the eye area) so we’ll never know, will we?

3) It’s sunny! If we don’t go to the movie we are definitely going exploring somewhere because my photo set isn’t exactly gloriously full yet.

Okay that’s all for now. I’d better post this before the 13% connection craps out.

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grrr

July 23, 2008 by Louise

Okay I know that I should just learn to control myself but.

Just having a conversation with a family member. S/he was complaining about a recent weight gain (due to meds s/he’s taking) and how it makes him/her have such a low self esteem and how nobody understands. Meanwhile I’m thinking “Yeah, you’re the one who called me Tubbo and Lardy since I was five when I was normal weight… I think I understand how that feels”. Not that I would ever actually say that out loud. Then s/he commented on how s/he envies my baldness, because sometimes his/her hair bugs him/her so much s/he just wants to shave it all off. For this one I couldn’t hold my tongue. I basically said “You say that, but if it came down to it, if you really wanted to be bald, you’d have shaved it by now. The discomfort, pain, embarassment, the constantly having to explain yourself? You are so not down with that.”
I love my family. I love love love my family. I love this particular family member fiercely. Sometimes though I think that if it weren’t for DNA testing you’d never know we were related.

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