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.

I worked the next day, and the sexiest Access Calgary driver I have ever seen picked me up. Woot! I was working way up in Crowfoot, which meant a niiiiice long ride with him. He told me he has been driving for Access three years and this is only the 3rd time he has picked me up; he remembers having picked me up a couple times from the Pub (he remembers me! He remembers me!) Hmmm… I didn’t think I would forget if I ever had a *hot* Access driver, that is SO not like me. I hope I wasn’t a cranky bitch the other two times! (It has been known to happen, at the end of a long day if I’m really tired and/or my ride is late). Yep. Anyway, he took my business card because his brother is a painter and needs a bookkeeper. I hope he keeps it for himself. Heh. We had a long chat about religions and cultures during the ride, and pretty much seemed to have the same point of view (Jehovah Witness came up as not our most favourite religion on earth - personally I am not a fan of organized religion in general, but that is a whole other blog). Anyway, it was an interesting trip and I hope the law of averages gets better and it’s not another year before I see him again!!

Then for my ride home, I was picked up by a driver I have had MANY times before. We know each other by name and he is a very nice man, we kid around a lot. Half way home I guess he decided after all this time he was comfortable enough with me to try to sell me on the virtues of being Jehovah Witness!! Too funny. I told him I am NOT interested. Every religion thinks that they are the ONLY religion that has a true path to God or Christ and that they are the only ones who will be saved!! Puh-lease!! If every person on earth who doesn’t follow your religion is going to hell, then we ALL are!!

When I got home there was a note on my counter to completely defrost my refrigerator before it would operate properly again. I went over to the office to talk to Joan, and she came back to my apartment with me and helped me take everything out of my freezer and any perishables over to the office’s fridge. I had this big block of ice in the back of my fridge that was causing the problem… it had probably been building up for over a year, but I only ever paid attention to the ice in the freezer itself, not the back of the fridge. I could care less, really… the whole de-frosting process isn’t much fun, so I only do it when my freezer is really bad!! Joan said to turn the fridge off and keep the doors open overnight and she would come back in the morning while I was at work and finish it up for me. (She is a really nice lady). I ended up spending the evening working on it anyway… it didn’t take long before the freezer was completely de-frosted and I could just pull out the big chunks and it was done. The fridge, however, took a lot longer. I persistently kept going back and chipping away at the block with a plastic spatula. I’d get a chunk here and there, leave it for awhile, and come back. By about 9:30 it was completely done, all ice gone, so I wiped it out, put a few things back in, turned it on, and it was fine and dandy by the time I went to bed. All Joan would have to do in the morning was bring back my food.

(Well, the freezer is defrosted, but my toes sure aren’t. It is freezing out there!! I just got home from the mall brrrrrrrrr!!!)

Today I worked at the pub for a few hours. I brought them the rest of my shortbread cookie stash to get them OUT of here! My “IN” tray held a nice treat for me… “King of Skin” body butter bars from Lush in Banff!! Christine picked them up for me when she was there last week. I had read about the virtues of these bars in Nance’s journal and really wanted to try them but didn’t even know we HAD Lush in Canada! Woot! I can’t wait to try one tomorrow. Oh, and Frank the cook gave me a little box of chocolates he had wrapped up in the fridge for over a week but I hadn’t been around. He gives me a little something like that every year. He is so sweet, that Frankie!

Anyway, all day I kept hoping that the same driver from yesterday would be the one picking me up… please, please, please, I begged to no one in particular… well, the universe heard my pleas but I must not have been very clear because they sent the OTHER guy from yesterday, Mr. JW. Ha ha ha!

I walked in the door and was caught off guard by a BEAUTIFUL, big, white, BRAND spanking new refrigerator in my kitchen!!!!! Ohhhhhh it is lovely. The freezer is twice the size of my old one and no. more. defrosting!!! Joan re-stocked my food in there and there is a lot more room for everything. The inside is so modern looking! Wheee! I raced right over to the office and screamed and hugged Joan. Woot! Merry Christmas to me!!!

Now I just have to get to work on my oven… it is the only yucky gold appliance left in my kitchen. Management knows there is a problem with it and will be sending Mr. Appliance Guy next time he’s around, but they seem to think it will probably just need a new thermostat. Poo. So cross your fingers that it’s more than that and I come home to a nice new white range one day soon too! Hee!

So it’s almost 2005!! I am spending a quiet New Year’s Eve at home this year. I decided not to go to the Pub or anywhere else I was invited (well, two other places lol) because I have had such a busy week, I just want to relax tomorrow night. I will spend the day getting my home in order so I can start the new year without any clutter about… now that my fridge has been cleaned out, I can work on my pantry… I swear, I have moved some of the same boxes and cans of food from apartment to apartment more than once. Time to get rid of what I’m not using up!!! (Bathroom cupboards too!) Then I can relax, watch DVDs, and contemplate how I will go about making 2005 the best year of my life so far. Then on New Year’s Day I’m off for some more good eats and laughs with my favourite Italian family. Ciao bella!