Can You Hear Me Now?

2004 Year in Review:

Things I did:

• Made some new wonderful friends that I absolutely adore and appreciate;
• Had a lot of fun at various BillyNotes related gatherings throughout the year;
• Presented my first public speaking gig, to a bunch of high school kids to tell ‘my life story’ and discuss how life often throws us a lot of curve balls and we choose how we react to them;
• Developed a new mentoring type relationship with Eric and got back in touch with John;
• Met Shawna from Winnipeg in person and she came and stayed with me in June, and we had tons of fun;
• Developed a major crush on a client and got over it. Heh
• Started up this journal blog thingy and got totally addicted to writing in it;
• Saw a LOT of live music throughout the year and met a lot of great musicians;
• Including Lindy!!!!!!! Several times!! xoxoxoxoxoxo
• Went to my first house concert (I’m not counting living in a house with, or visiting musician friends, who play in their living rooms regularly! lol);
• The second half of my year was a lot more fun than I ever imagined it could be with the help of Jason and the Polyjesters. Love you guys!!!
• Went to Toronto and had a blast visiting old friends, making new ones and taking in the live music;
• Visited with a lot of people from out of town! Lots of visitors this year;
• Met a few men like every other year, was flirted with, got my hopes up, analyzed their actions and words, etc. and then…
• I GOT IT.
• Bought a plane ticket to Montreal (Emmaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!);
• Gave… time, money, food and toys to a variety of charities and causes… most recently to assist the victims of tsunamis… we have to. You can NOT just sit back and not do something. Every dollar helps (Donate every time you shop at Wal-Mart, that is easy enough to do at the till);
• Went to a lot of lunches, dinners and parties… A LOT.

Things I didn’t do and wish I had:

• Lose weight;
• Listen to my gut all the time;
• Make enough money to buy a holiday home in Russell, New Zealand;
• Find the love of my life;
• Write a book;
• Meet Oprah Winfrey and become her best friend;
• Swim with dolphins;
• Make it onto People Magazine’s ‘50 Most Beautiful People’ list;
• Pay off my credit cards.

So there’s always next year!!

The past few days have been very full and tiring!! I am glad they are over and after getting a few more things done over this evening and tomorrow, I can RELAX and bring in the new year feeling rested and happy!!

Tuesday night we celebrated my brother’s 40th birthday. FORTY!! My mother has a 40 year old!! My mom, Bob and Darren all came over and we ordered Chinese food. There was a “Happy Birthday” banner on the wall that you would see as soon as you walked in, but of course Darren came in the patio doors so he didn’t see it. Mom made him go to the other door and pretend he was just arriving again. We also hung balloons up all over the place that kept falling down because I have that invisible scotch tape that won’t peel paint off walls. It also doesn’t stick very well! And I wasn’t about to wreck my hair rubbing ballons in it to get the static. Nosireee! We gave Darren a gift bag filled with DVDs, an inspirational calendar and magnet, Clodhoppers and other little stuff. Mom gave him a Safeway gift card too. After dinner we had cake and ice cream… mom bought the ice cream a few hours earlier and put it in my freezer, and when we went to get it, it had melted considerably!! Another couple hours and it would have been soup. (A damn good mocha almond soup, but soup, nonetheless). I noticed that everything in my freezer was softening (yet the ice that covers the inside walls wasn’t melting. Hee!) I put a call in to the answering service for my building’s maintenance to send someone over to check it out in the morning. Read the rest of this entry »

Today I wrote an email to Michael Moore. I wanted to tell him how much I support his latest project and how EXCITED I am to see it!! It is tentatively titled “Sicko” and this time Mr. Moore is leaving behind the guns and targeting an even bigger cause of death in North America - the healthcare industry, including insurance companies, HMOs, the Food and Drug Administration — and drug companies.

YIPPEEEE!!!!! It’s about friggin’ time someone exposed the evils of what I like to call the “Sick Care” industry. How can you trust a doctor that prescribes medication based on which pharmaceutical rep paid for his dinner last night or sent him on that ski trip last weekend? Read the rest of this entry »

Another Christmas has passed and another Boxing Day sales week has begun!

I am soooooooo full! *burp*

Christmas Eve this year was spent at my friend Lisa’s house, and what a night it was! She is 100% Italian and it was a TRUE Italian style Christmas! (Not that I would know… but I am taking her word for it). It was a house full of people, laughter, love, food and drink… just what you imagine a big family Christmas to be like. My family here is very small, so it’s been a looooong time since I’ve experienced anything like this, and the fact they welcomed me (and Lisa’s boyfriend Russ) like family made it all the more enjoyable. I had met Lisa’s (gem of a) mother a few times before, but I had never met her Dad. What a hoot! He’s a true Italian and even pronounces my name like the Italian word it is (”Donna” is Italian for “Lady”, dontcha know). He sings like Pavarotti (yup, he broke into Italian opera singing at the dinner table. Just like in the movies!! Or those Italian pasta commercials!! Or is it pizza crust? Whatever). I felt like I was living a scene or two from “Moonstruck” only Lisa is blonder than Cher. Read the rest of this entry »

Let the eating begin!!!!!!!!! That’s not to say that it didn’t begin before today… no, no, no, don’t be silly, there have been a couple parties and gatherings already. But today looks like the start of the MARATHON!!

This morning I arrived at my client’s to find a lovely gift basket on the desk addressed to me, the contents of which were:

• Walkers shortbread cookies
• Small box of Belgian chocolates
• BBQ flavoured peanuts
• Almond hazelnut biscotti
• 100g bag of pretzels (shaped like Christmas trees!)
• Two packets of ‘Christmas Cocoa’ hot chocolate mix
• Chocolate raspberry ground coffee
• Two candy canes

No, that title is not sarcasm. It is an actual pageant held in China which crowned a 22 year old woman the winner among the 20 contestants aged 17 to 62 in the final round of this “man-made beauty” competition. The first and second runner-ups were 22 years old as well. I assume the 17 year old needed cheek implants and the 62 year old needed another facelift and lipo on her thunder thighs. Miss Artificial Beauty. Ahhhhh yes, a title to carry proudly. I sure hope this pageant finds its way over to North America and there is someday a Miss Universe Artificial Beauty!! Plastic surgeons could use the publicity, and the general public sure could use the education. We need to fully understand the importance of appearance and the fact that if you are not born with the perfect nose, breasts, butt or flat tummy, going under the knife is mandatory to fix these repulsive body parts. Shows like ‘The Swan’ and ‘Extreme Makeover’ just aren’t enough!!! An Artificial Beauty representative is what is missing from our world. Maybe she could travel the country and speak at elementary schools so the children learn early on the important role plastic surgery will play in their (not so distant) future. Maybe she could speak out against the fitness and weight loss industries that DO try to pilfer our money out of us with false promises… but rather than discuss nutrition, moderation, fresh air and going for a walk, tell the TRUTH - liposuction is the answer!! Forget learning to accept yourself and your body. Forget about building character and working on your insides… the media has been right all along, beauty IS only skin deep!! If you feel inadequate, by golly, YOU ARE. And surgery will fix that. We could have “Artificial Beauty” Pride Day parades and a Plastic Surgeon General in office and an annual awards gala to celebrate the Masters in the field. (Oh I bet they really do have that already!! “And the best eye lift procedure goes to…”)

Bah.

Hmmm maybe tomorrow I will be happy again and find something good to write about!!

I have received an email three times in the past 24 hours about calling CTV to vote “No” for same sex marriage:

CTV is taking a “YES” or “NO” vote by telephone for Same-Sex Marriage. They have given two separate numbers for “Yes” and “No” votes. I urge you to take part in this voting RIGHT AWAY. All that you have to do is to dial the number assigned for “NO” vote: xxx-xxx-xxxx.

What’s wrong with this picture?? I am only being given the number for the NO vote!! I can’t even BEGIN to tell you how angry this email makes me on so many levels.

Whatever your beliefs may be about same sex marriage, you have a right to that opinion. But shoving that opinion down everyone else’s throat and telling them they have to register their NO vote RIGHT AWAY without giving them the number for the YES vote isn’t exactly democratic, is it?? Especially on such a touchy subject that so many are passionate about in both directions. Assuming everyone in your email address book thinks the same as you is closed-minded, ignorant and the reason people in this province have a reputation of being Rednecks. Thanks.

Oh, and while I’m in the mood to bitch, let’s talk about comment spam for a moment. Every day I am receiving 3 - 10 or more spam comments. I delete them immeditately and set up their websites and email addresses for approval so I can delete them before they are posted (because you can’t block them). It’s just so annoying!!! This post receives the most spam (probably because of the word “babes” in the title), so I turned the comments off for it. That slowed the spam down for a couple days, but I have already deleted three four five today and it’s not even noon. Sigh. I guess if ONE PERSON clicks their online poker ad it makes it worth their while to spam every blog on the internet. Ohhhhh I typed “online poker” in my entry. This post will probably get spammed to death now. Sex, XXX, naked, nude, bikini babe, fetish, fruit loops, porn, amateur. (This is a test, this is only a test).

This on top of the countless regular spam emails I receive every day… If I added up all the time I spent deleting and dealing with spam in the past year, I bet it would amount to more time than I spent exercising!

Coming home from a client’s yesterday, I had a very enjoyable trip because of the Access Calgary driver that drove me. It’s a pretty long drive from this client’s location, and it can seem a lot longer depending on how many stops are made along the way, and who is driving! Not that most drivers aren’t nice… you get the odd one who is stressed and miserable, but most of the time they are quite pleasant (until you get them talking about Access Calgary on the whole, then they’ve got a lot to bitch about!!). Sometimes I get REALLY super extra nice and friendly ones, and yesterday was one of those days. He even let me stop at the bank on the way home so I could deposit a cheque. That’s a HUGE DEAL to me because it’s a $15 cab fare back and forth for me to do that otherwise. The timing of me needing to make a deposit does not always coincide with when I’ll be seeing family or a friend that can take me on the way to somewhere. Access Calgary drivers are not supposed to make additional stops, so it’s great when they’re ahead of schedule and don’t mind. One time a driver even took me through the Tim Horton’s drive thru. AND he bought me my coffee! Heh. Read the rest of this entry »

Today I threw caution to the wind, ignored the inner voice that yelled “noooooooooooooo!” and let go of every ounce of sanity I possess: I went to Wal-Mart, on the Sunday two weeks before Christmas. Riding a scooter, no less. I will let that sink in for a moment before I continue…

The only good thing about being on a scooter in that madhouse is that I get to be seated while everyone else is standing in line at the check out for an hour. That is at the end of the shopping trip, though. The time leading up to it was not nearly as relaxing!! Read the rest of this entry »