I don't know if I can do justice to everything my cat is to me. I got him in late April in 1996. He was born in February of that year and was the only boy in the bunch. I think that was the start of how protective he was of me. Within hours of bringing him home, he was curved around my boob sleeping peacefully.

He was such an amazing kitten, full of kittenry antics. He stole my heart with how he came when I called him, how he fetched the little fuzzy toys, and how he was connected to me. In fact, he was a reason that my boyfriend at the time got quite upset with me. I got Misha on a when weekend trip home to visit my parents after my second year of university. And when my boyfriend came to pick me up, I couldn't honestly tell him that I missed him because I hadn't really thought about him much because of the little fuzzball that had invaded my life. That didn't go over well, but I'd just adopted my first baby. The boyfriend didn't last.

Misha was with me in all the hard times and all the good times. I was his and he was mine. Unless you've had one as a family member, you can't know what a cat gives back. There is a love and trust that exists that is so unconditional. This isn't to say that every cat has this bond with their humans, but if you put the love in you get it back tenfold.

I'm finding it hard to encapsulate the best of the last 13 years with him. How can I describe the constant companionship? He would go on vacation to my parents home almost every summer for one reason or another. He owned that house almost as much as he owned me. I would miss him a lot and would have to phone my parents every couple days just to talk to him instead of them. At first it confused him a little and he would run to the door looking for me. Then he realized that my voice was coming from the phone. He almost hung up on me several times by nuzzling the phone. And once, I was a brat to my mom who was holding him by asking him if he wanted to go outside. Mom came on the line soon afterward telling me that she just couldn't hold him anymore for some reason. Heh.

Early on, I realized that I would have to ration his food because he had the potential to be a very fat cat. One of his feeding times was first thing in the morning when I woke up. This caused his creativity to really come to life in trying to wake me up. Some of my favourites were sticking his nose right in front of mine then meowing as soon as my eyes fluttered and lying next to my head or on my chest and purring his loudest purr.

Oh could that cat purr! You could hear him in the next room sometimes. I miss that more than anything else, I think. It's what I hear and feel in my chest when I miss him most.

He used to climb people. I taught him that. Then he tried to climb someone wearing a skirt. I stopped teaching him that skill pretty quickly. Heh. He bit my mom's ass once, well actually twice, too. He definitely got supper after that. He was playing blanket monster on my parents' bed and the monster just happened to be my dad's fart. There were tiny kitten claws and screaming involved.

Misha's accomplishments include raising three kittens up right. Teaching them to fight and hunt and protect me. Despite not having any front claws, he managed to bring home many a furry and feathered friend. He was sooo proud the day he brought me a huge robin and very confused when I screamed like I did. The incident with the bat was also very amusing.

He loved being outside so much especially at night. I was always the overprotective mama and didn't like him to be outside. Through my parents not really listening to my overprotectiveness, I lost that too. He ended up getting lost once - for ten days. He eventually found home again, skinny and hungry and lonely. I didn't get to be there for his return, but I would have loved it. He almost smothered mom on his first day home just from sleeping so close to her face that first night. He was happy to be home and didn't go very far after that. He loved his people more than the outside.

I get to visit him whenever I go home now and in my dreams. He's buried out at our acreage which I believe we may have named Apollo's Landing, but that could still change. He is dearly missed.

Rules, schmules. I choose only to follow #3.

1) I love Lego. I remember just building and building and building when I was a kid. I also remember building a mostly 2-dimensional man about two feet tall and taking it to school for show and tell. I loved show and tell too. [grin] Anyway, I just received a new piece of jewelry that shows just how much I love it.

2) Gremlins was the first movie I remember seeing in a theatre. I recall sitting on my mom's lap, but in my memory, it was because there weren't two seats left together in the theatre and that was the only way I could sit with her. It couldn't possibly have been because I was scared.

3) I am more creative than I give myself credit for. This is random about me because *I* didn't know I was as creative as I am until recently. I considered most of my creative endeavours as hobbies and not creative. I am a silly girl sometimes. Of course, I like to surround myself with people who I consider to be incredibly creative and intelligent and I have measured my creations against theirs. Again, silly Suzi.

4) My cats in my life bring me great joy - especially in the morning. The first thing they do is come visit me in the bathroom. One talks and tries to be held or just intervene between my attention and another cat, one wants to be picked up and held but not enough to quit moving from surface to surface throughout the bathroom, one circles my feet to gain my attention and pets, and the last one waits not-so-patiently for it to be his turn for affection. Sometimes this is all going on at once.

5) My favourite things to do are things that will make other people happy and in that I can find some enjoyment. Such as putting together an after game snack so that people can relax, making the effort to see, to email, or to talk with someone that I respect and with whom I enjoy spending time, making chainmaille something-or-others for my friends and family, etc. These things are even better if I can share.

6) My favourite call of good luck is, "Have fun storming the castle!" said by Miracle Max in the Princess Bride. That movie has many spectacular quote like, "Life is pain, Highness. Anyone who says differently is selling something," said by Wesley as the Man in Black. That was my email signature for quite a while when I was :oh, dear god!: 18. In fact, it was my first email signature.

When my Cheruby and I met, it became a game with us to figure out how many people we knew in common. I think at last count there were about a dozen or so. I just threw out the piece of paper that had all the names listed. One more could have been added this past weekend, actually.

I've made a great new friend here in Calgary. I met him through work and we knew one person in common, but just through my previous employer and his being two places that she had worked so it wasn't that big a deal. But in my Crackbook surfing, I discovered that someone he knows through his art is the sister of someone I know from my gaming in Saskatoon. I even have a necklace with a glass bead that was made by her boyfriend I think. Anyway, the world is a small place sometimes.

In other news, I'm still working hard away from home most of the time. Life is good though because I've got my wonderful Cheruby to look after me and help me through the rough spots. This weekend, he helped me to clean my office. I think it's been close to a year since it was truly clean and that feels great. I'm still noticing the absence of stress over that task on my to do list. I had my one year anniversary with my temporary rebound job too.

We got a new black cat who is just about the most talkative cat I have ever met. He needs lots of attention or he does stuff like crawl into the ducts in the basement. What a silly boy! He and the not-so-fat one have become good friends in very short order.



PSA: A cousin of mine recently had a house fire and has lost pretty much every material good. Luckily no one was home at the time so everyone is okay. She has four kids, one of which is a newborn. Things are going to be rough for her, but through the support of family and friends, I know everything will be just fine. Having said that, if you have any clothes for boys sizes 5/6, clothes for girls size adult small or girls 12/14, or baby clothes for a new baby boy that you could give, it would be appreciated. You can just drop me a line at piratebuttercup at gmail dot com and I'll be more than happy to be a conduit of good will.

And now back to your regularly scheduling Suzi-ing. [grin]

So my last post didn't exactly predict the future.

I'm still working for the same company and spending too much time away from home although it's not all week every week anymore. It'll go there again soon but not yet. I'm standing up for myself more which is AWESOME and really hard for me to do. And of course, having my cat with me in Calgary in totally fantastic and good for my sanity. He's turning into a diabetic, spondylosis-ridden, and hairless wonder, but he's still my fat cat and he's great.

I've spent all day today with cartoons on the television. I like cartoons.

And soon, there will be gaming. Mmmm... gaming.

Time to start over.

My job is finally going to be done. I need to be at home again. I need to focus on the important things.

You might see more of me as I find time to think about things other than myself.

It seems that I've been out of touch for a while. Things have been going well.

Let's see. I got to spend an amazing amount of time with my niece and nephew over the Christmas holidays. The only unfortunate part was that it was mostly because my mom broke a vertebra while tobogganing. She's on the mend and the doctor said that if one has to break a vertebra, she broke the best one as it was a stable fracture. In her recovery time, she has become quite good at Zelda on the Wii.

I would like to take this opportunity to say that my brother and sister-in-law have done a fabulous job raising their children thus far. They know how to behave and what is their responsibility. I can say this because when I told them that there were no rules except "when you get grumpy or tired, you sleep", they were fantastic children to be around. My niece was awesome at taking care of us. I can't recall any sibling spats that needed intervention. I was even very proud of myself for not getting extremely frustrated with either of them and they were with Cheruby and I for 6 days! This is a personal best for me and I was happy to have them with us the whole time. Of course, this meant that their parents had to do some re-programming, but then, that's the joy of being an auntie!!

In the seven weeks off, I worked a bit, but only as much as my sanity would allow. After the holidays, we stayed around Saskatoon for a bit to be there for Cheruby's mom. I love her to bits and things are progressing. I just wish she wasn't in pain anymore. Too long of that and it can really dampen a person's spirits.

Then Cheruby and I were off to Vancouver and San Jose for some visiting. Two weeks is a long time to be away from home, but it was exactly what I needed. Time away with good friends and no obligation. My time in Vancouver with the talented and lovely brilliance that is EAM was fabulous. I had a great time just hanging out and shopping and being with her. I love her to bits and she is looking so frakin' amazing that I had to bite my knuckle behind her back while hugging her. I don't think I've ever seen her look more beautiful.

Cheruby and I played copious amounts of boardgames with his friends who were kind enough to put us up for most of our stay in Vancouver. They make me laugh and it makes Cheruby so happy to be around them. As well, Cheruby was able to meet his agent in Vancouver which was really great. It's so exciting to have him always moving forward toward his dream. Little steps are all you can do until that really big step comes. You just have to keep going on the little ones and I admire his perseverance toward his dream. He's always inspired me that way.

We were back home for a week before I had to head back to work. That week was really, really good and exactly what I needed before getting back to it. Cheruby and I had some really good time together. And we met our goal of really cleaning one room in the house each day that week. The basement even got clean which pleased both of us very much. We got to watch some awesome movies with friends on their projector TV. [le sigh]

And Cheruby's dad came to visit to practice the song he wrote for the CBC Galleria that happened on February 6th in Regina. Apparently things went really well and people were very pleased by the performance. I wish I could have been there.

My first week back at work has been really, really great. Things have just gotten better as big, great changes have happened and soon, we'll be on top of the world with a perfect payroll - very soon. It's taken a long time, but it's finally going to happen. And of course, the awesomeness of this week could not have been accomplished without the company of my very tall friend, Tall One. He has been a major influence on my spirits being kept up. And the phone calls with my very busy Dramatic friend have been exactly what I needed as well. I hope I get to actually see her this week.

Things that I still NEED to do is go to Edmonton for a spell to visit friends and family. I haven't spent near enough time showing people how much they mean to me, but you know who you are. You all mean a lot to me even if I don't tell you enough.

La-la-la-la!!

Check out these pictures of my company Christmas party. I think I looked like I'm in pain when I'm dancing, but trust me, I was having a really good time. [grin]

Heading to visit my folks and family for Christmas. It's going to be awesome!!

I'm so looking forward to Christmas this year. It's an amazing thing to not have to worry about work at the end of Christmas holidays. Sure, work is out there, but not for me until February. Mua-ha-ha-ha!

I have two and a half weeks of work left. Not very long now and I'm pretty pleased. I have a lot to accomplish in between now and then, but it's going to be so great. My boss and I had a great talk today about how a few people freaked a bit about my being off for so long. Meh. The world will keep turning. I may not have a job when I return, but it's really not bugging me. I'll call my boss the last week in January just to make sure, but it's all good.

I went to Fort McSnowy this week. Just for a day. I don't think I like doing that. It's hard on me and I don't get any work done. My time there is important, but lots of things were left until the last minute today and my head was so not in the game. But everything that NEEDED to get done was done. Hurrah for people bending the rules.

I get to be a very good friend's date for his Christmas party in a week and a half. I'm looking forward to that. Cheruby is coming with me to Calgary next week. Does anyone want to come stay at my house and feed my kiddenz while we're gone? Not that I'm worried about getting burgled again or anything...

So just a little bit longer of me being unavailable and non-existant. Thanks for still showing up here once in a while to check on me. I don't know what I'd do without all my fabulous friends and family.

When you ponder drinking from a glass, what do you think of?

A. A handleless drinking container.
B. A handleless drinking container made of glass.
C. Other - please explain.

I'd love to read your thoughts on this riveting subject if you would grace me with your words in my comments section.

So cheesy!

I feel like I've fallen for some corporate buzzword, but it's really hard to argue with common sense.

Last week, I took a seminar through work about the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. There's a reason why it's a popular book. It makes sense. I don't remember all the habits right at this moment, but I'm going to be doing my homework to make small, but significant changes.

On the weekend, I made myself truly listen to my Cheruby. It was so hard not to interject my own opinions and thoughts in. I had to keep telling my brain to be quiet coming up with responses and just listen. You know what I heard? That my job with all the traveling is just as hard, if not harder, on him than it is on me! I truly hadn't considered it. I knew he wasn't having an easy time of it, but I just assumed that my life was harder than his and it's not. I felt like a weight had been lifted because I no longer felt the need to explain myself. I really don't know how that worked, but I have less to say now that I've started just listening from time to time.

We've had some really revealing conversations ever since that incident that have been amazing and so open and not so afraid to say hard stuff that it doesn't get said. I know that everyone else in the world has feelings too, but actively listening sure does put that into perspective.

Next, I started up with my weight loss support group again. I took a hiatus when I thought life was too hard to deal with trying to lose weight too. You know what? That's just silly. Why would I compromise looking after myself to do a job or wallow in my own stress? I think most people do it from time to time, but it's such a silly decision. It was hard to tell them that I'd gained weight back, but I did it and of course, they didn't really care. They are just as supportive as ever. Countdown Chrissy is totally fabulous!

And then last weekend, I went to get this new age treatment called BodyTalk. My mom has gone for several treatments and after 20 years of not being able to sleep well, she has been sleeping through the night easily and consistently. And she can make finally make her own brain stop whirling. She says that she has a clarity now that is so peaceful. I can tell how happy she is. She told me that I amaze her every time that we have a chance to sit down and really talk, just the two of us. That makes me happy.

So, anyway, the treatment - I think it's kind of like neuro-linguistic programming but works on the premise that your body knows what's wrong with itself and knows how to fix it but just needs a little direction. I know, I know - beware of charlatans. The way I see it, if my mom paid money to be able to sleep through the night, that's money well spent. I'll tell you more about it if you ask, but after my treatment, I laughed for 15 minutes straight for no reason at all. That's not even an exaggeration as I watched the clock on the desk.

Cheruby and I have decided that I should work through November and then I will have Christmas and all of January off. I'm really looking forward to it. It's going to be wonderful. I don't know what we are going to do yet, but I'm sure it's going to be GREAT!!!

59.1%

Really?

That's it?

There has to be a better way to do this. I was listening to some of what was being said after the results were in last night and I thought, "When did I start to care this much about politics?" I blame Cheruby. :)

Party	Seats won	%	Total votes	%
Conservative	143	46.4	5,205,334	37.6
Liberal	76	24.7	3,629,990	26.2
NDP-New Democratic Party	37	12	2,517,075	18.2
Bloc Québécois	50	16.2	1,379,565	10
Green Party	0	0	940,747	6.8
Independent	2	0.7	89,524	0.7

So does that seems right that 6.8% of all the votes aren't represented in parliament? It bugs me that 37.6% of people who cared enough to vote now have 46.4% of the say about what happens in this great country. There really does have to be a better way.

My dad asked me whether I made my vote count yesterday. I said yes, but I didn't like his implication. The only way to waste a vote, IMNSHO, is to not cast it. A vote doesn't count more because of who you cast it for. Each one is worth just one. Maybe my vote counted more because I live in a less populated area than someone in Toronto. Heh.

I'm glad for a minority government. I always have been. It's always made sense to me that if more than one party has to agree, we get a better decision being made for everyone. Of course, my mom pointed out to me years ago that there might not be any change because people can't agree. Maybe the changes being proposed aren't the best thing for Canada's people if they can't agree.

October 14th, 2008

If you don't know where - please find out.

Vote.

It's important.

I've made commitments and I am sticking by those commitments. It is costing me more than it was supposed to though. They have taken me seriously about my end date with the company, but I can't help but think it's going to be a long haul to get there. And I'm already very tired.

And then I think, an opportunity like this comes along very rarely. I'm going to finish this job and be happy with not having a job after this. I am going to enjoy not having to worry about making a living.

I can't help but think though that time is the only non-renewable resource that even thousands of years can't help. Once it's gone, it's gone. There is no going back. Sacrifice now for more later. I think it'll balance out in my favour. Still, it's going to be a long two months.

Weird and wacky and wonderful things I've experienced lately:
1. Passing a Tim Horton's on the highway. Sounds common enough, but it was doing 70 kph.

2. I love sour Jelly Bellys.

3. I convinced my niece to go out shopping with me wearing her yarn ponytails. I absolutely loved it. She forgot that they were in her hair and we got some really good looks.

4. Learning the word "whinging". It's how Australians saying "whining". I love it.

5. The drive to and from the work site. The leaves changing colour on all the trees in the river valley near Fort McMurray is truly amazing.

6. Having been robbed and the insurance company being completely helpful so far. Of course, we haven't seen any money yet.

7. Applying my new chainmaille making skills and making several dice bags for friends. I'm very excited about this new hobby.

8. Getting help with my job so I'm not responsible for people again. I'm responsible for a balanced payroll. Tomorrow - first balanced payroll ever.

9. Waking up to sunshine through the trees overlooking a lake. No sounds of civilization to be heard. Just the voice of my beloved and a feeling of joy all through me.

That's all folks!

There are a lot of things that I haven't had the time to sit down and record. I will start telling you about them now. It'll take me some time though so there will likely be several installments of Worth Mentioning.

Where to begin...

1. Well, a couple days ago when Cheruby and I took a wrong turn at Glaslyn and ended up in Meadow Lake rather than Turtleford, we decided to skip Edmonton for the night and just go straight to the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo. Then just after Lac La Biche, we took another wrong turn which only cost us about 20 minutes. And these two events along with the 4 or 5 pit stops along the way, meant that we got to see a lynx on the side of the road - slinking like cats do into the ditch. It was awesome. I want one. It made Cheruby and I really miss our kiddenzes.

2. Cheruby found his dream writer's retreat out at Drang's family home by a lake. It's wonderful. I knew he would absolutely love it. I think the best compromise is to build something similar out at our lake near my hometown. Unless he sells a script and then there's no telling what he'll do. [grin]

3. GenCon! Oh my goodness!! I should really devote an entire post to GenCon. I was so overwhelmed for two days that I didn't buy anything and I barely played any games. We went to the Video Games Live concert which was a lot of fun. And I loved dressing up in my costume. And I loved being able to make Cheruby so happy that he tells me that he has just had the best day of his life. AWESOME!!



4. Camping at Namekus Lake is always a treat. I had to bring work, but it was worth the trip. Our first night there, we had the pleasure of a light show put on by the neighbourhood fireflies. They were wonderful and magical. I feel like I should remember having seen them before, but I don't have any specific memories. And now I have this one and it was incredible.


Well, I guess that's enough for now. Tune in next time for more Adventures of Sparkling Suz. [grin]

Okay, so, I've been a grumpy-puss lately. Really. Poor Cheruby has had to put up with a very moody girl and he's been doing amazing considering how difficult that can be.

I'm still going through the stages of grief over losing my job, but screw that for the time being. There is exciting stuff happening.

First - I'm so incredibly happy for and proud of my sweetheart. Check this out!!!

Cheruby entered his horror screenplay "Intelligent Design" and his comedy "The Other Christmas Carol" are BOTH in the quarter finals for the 2008 PAGE International Screenwriting Awards. There are quite a few categories, but the total entries for the awards was 3,865 scripts! For Horror and Thriller, there was a total of 533 entries and for Comedy, there were 883 entries. And my Cheruby's screenplays are both in the top 25%!! Oh my goodness, I can barely contain myself. I don't think anyone in the Padollan Pub in Fort MacMurray is going to care too much though so I'm going to content myself with imagining Cheruby's joy at home and smiling wildly for the next hours until sleep. It'll probably continue to morning.

Then, let me say that although I paid over double what I should have for my Wii Fit, I love it intensely. I don't remember the last time I exercised seven days in row. It's awesome and although I gained weight this week, my pants fit better. I like it - A LOT! Video games are fun!!

And I had a major freak out last week about my new job. No worries, it was my own internal desire to be the best. I didn't feel able to do my job last week. I called my extremely busy and overwhelmed boss to chat and I didn't feel that it went like I wanted it to. So I spazzed all weekend and today, it was nothing. I shouldn't say nothing. My boss just understood and I'm going to stop worrying about it now. I want to do a great job and my boss knows that and knows that he will get the best from me. That's why he hired me. He knows that I will not just do the bare minimum - I will do it right and I will meet his deadlines regardless of what it takes from me. I will get the job done. He knows all this and these are all the reasons he hired me. I have not disappointed him in any way and it will be very difficult for me to do so. I forgot to believe in myself and that was awfully silly because I can and will do a fabulous job - as always. Very silly Suz. (Sorry if I made anyone worry. Especially sorry to Cheruby for worrying him worst of all.)

One month until GenCon Indy! WOOT!! My first one and I'm going to have a fabulous costume. And I have two trained gentlemen to help me with the corset. Heh. Adn Cheruby and I have all our events booked. And there are so many people I know and life coming! Weeee!!!! It's already a great summer (yay air conditioning!) and just getting better.

It's been slowly creeping into my busy life that I'm sad and I miss people and I miss all the relationships I had and I miss my job. I've been trying to keep busy and avoid all those feelings. There was no way to deal with them because they aren't irrational or bad for me so I did the only thing I could think of - be busy enough to not have time to think about all those feelings. No one died, but being suddenly removed from the daily lives of so many people is really hard.

So, in short, I'm sorry I haven't written and kept in touch. I haven't wanted to be sad.

While I've been avoiding all those sad feelings, I've been flying to Fort McMurray and Calgary a lot. And working and playing video games and having house guests.

The first set of house guests were a bunch of fabulous people from Edmonton that I totally love. I'm so glad that they came to visit and that they stay with me. I do so enjoy their company. And I played in a game on the weekend which was kind of based on Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere market of the forgotten. It was a lot of fun. I played the pigeon keeper, but couldn't find a stuffed pigeon. So I found a 10 second clip of pigeon sounds which I put on repeat on my iPod and little speakers. For 4 hours. Heh. It was awesome. Of course, even more awesome was Cheruby's portrayal of a bible-thumping do-gooder who was trying to save everyone. He had one other characters yelling, "I love Jesus," several times. I sat in the corner of the room laughing really hard with another player when that happened. Later, the game was ending and we were all disappearing and he fell to his knees yelling, "I'm coming, Jesus! I'm coming!" It was brilliantly funny.

Then two days after the fabulous Edmonton peeps left, two more excellent folks showed up. Matt, who you might remember from our Vancouver trip last year, surprised us with the news he was staying with us. Of course, this was just fair play since Cheruby and I did that to him last year when we showed up at his doorstep. Not my fault. [grin] Earlier in the evening, we received another of Cheruby's high school friends, Nitra. She always makes me laugh and has a fresh perspective on life and her relationship with the world. I enjoy her quite a bit.

And we had a party last night for Cheruby and Matt's birthdays and it was awesome!!! I woke up this morning feeling better than I have in a really long time. I was relaxed which I think is what brought about the realization of the sadness which I was avoiding.

And today, I got to speak with Siochain for a long time today. And it was really, really good.

And I also got to try on my corset today that my friend from high school is making for me. Then we went out for supper with her family including her parents and brother and his wife. It was a good evening. I'm happy to such great people in my life.

Other than the sadness, I truly am well. Life is good.

I was so happy this morning to be walking my mom out of the hospital after her successful surgery. She's doing so well and is finally closing the book on her breast cancer. It's been six years since she was first diagnosed and had her mastectomy. And as of Tuesday, she has two boobs. Of course, they're very monster of Frankenstein-esque still, but that will eventually pass in the healing process. Of course, no one really needed to know that. Heh.

And now, I'm sitting at a friends house watching some critters because there was an emergency and I was needed. My mom, of course, is sleeping upstairs because she's still tired from her week of laying around with a morphine button. I'm thinking about how fragile we all are. I knew in my brain that my mom would be better than okay, but my emotional stress this week as I worried about her constantly has been very high. It doesn't matter how non-life-threatening the surgery was, someone was still cutting into her with a very sharp thing and moving bits around and removing bits. It's just not natural and I was worried. I won't be done worrying until I see the healed incisions and all the relocated skin bits are the colour that they are supposed to be.

A new colleague is off dealing with some family emergency as well. Things are actually pretty good at work other than that. I could have been very busy last week, but I just didn't have what I needed to do the job. Not such a bad thing since I was able to spend much more time with my mom and taking care of myself.

Now, rampant geekery rears its beautiful head. I received my Wii in the mail yesterday. So excited!! I played for an hour last night after a friend left. Of course, he'd brought beer and the new 4th Edition D&D books. Squee! The art is so much better. Then we started to make characters to make them fight. And it took me much too long and it was almost one by the time I was done so we didn't get to fight them. [pout]

Lastly, today is the first Exalted game with a full complement and I won't be there for the beginning. I'm really looking forward to playing and hanging out with my dear friend, AJ.

And with all this going on, I didn't get a chance to RSVP to the tongue birthday house warming party at Chez Relaxo. It was yesterday. I'm sure a good time was had by all.

I've been so adventurous lately! YAY for me!

It's amazing the difference it makes to turn challenges into adventures in one's mind. It makes tough stuff so much easier to deal with. Every day is an adventure, really.

I was looking at myself in the mirror of a condo in Fort McMurray yesterday in the wee morning hours and it was so surreal. How did I get there? And was I happy with being there? Under the circumstances (losing one's hotel room and just having worked 12 hours on something that I shouldn't have had to do), I wasn't terribly pleased to be there. However, my current adventure had taken me there and I am now employed again and I'm in control of where my adventure takes me next. All good stuff, so, in the end I was totally good with being there with a roof over my head and pillows on the bed which my head was soon going to be enjoying. The next day would be an all new adventure and some sleep would help with that.

So, this time, I'm setting my boundaries. And I have made them very clear to my manager. From here, there shouldn't be any surprises. If there is, I've laid out the consequences of that too. I actually believe that I will have the strength to stick to them as well.

And that's just my new job. So many other exciting things have been going on - other grand adventures.

San Jose and visiting with TUO and R:tAG was awesome. We hung out and didn't get too stressed or rushed about anything.
*Cheruby got his In-N-Out Burger experience several times and now has the t-shirt that he's very happy with.
*We saw Prince Caspian and had a fire alarm go off before the movie started. Very odd stuff, but all just part of the adventure. The movie was pretty good though. It made me happy.
*The temperature soared the day we arrived, after weeks of the locals grumbling that it was too cold. I booked the trip in May to avoid in the insane heat. Good thing the temperatures were still dropping at night enough to cool the house down easily.
*The mist and fog was perfect the day we went to the Emperor's grave. The sprinklers helped at bit, but it made the atmosphere perfect. Did you know that Colma county has more people under the ground than above it?

*Cheruby got his fill of some very funny stuff - two MST3K movies and a Twisted Toyfare Theatre comic. He giggled a lot while we were there, except when he was in a lot of pain due to a tooth malfunction while eating a "Mexican Flag".
*Riding bikes around Los Gatos was fun too even though it was 36 degrees out. HOT! Vascona park by where R:tAG works is very nice. We went to his workplace and got a tour and heard about some cool stuff that's going on. And, of course, we got some awesome swag. THANKS!
*Oh, and we had to hang around at the house the day after we got there to wait for my luggage to arrive. Silly airline didn't have it make the connecting flight we made in Edmonton! But it was all very smooth in getting it delivered to the house.
*The other airline fun we had was getting up obscenely early to catch our flight home, having the flight be overbooked and getting a free night at a hotel and $600 each in flight credits for later use. We had a nap to catch up on some sleep and then headed into the city on the bart which was a 10-minute walk away with an In-N-Out Burger joint smack dab in the middle. Our overbooked airline wasn't the one we booked with and they could only get us to Calgary so I called and got the full return on the original airline quite easily.
*Our free San Francisco day was awesome. We walked all the way to Haight and Ashbury from Civic Station. Had ice cream at Ben & Jerry's on that corner, a beer at an Irish pub Danny Coyle's filled with English blokes along the way, hopped on a bus and made it back downtown, transfer to a streetcar to cruise along Embarcadero to Pier 39, supper at the Hard Rock Cafe, some time looking at smelly sea lions, a walk along the wharf to the cable car turnaround, a ride through the darkening city (an incredible view of the Golden Gate Bridge all lit up while going up the hill) with a charming San Francisco resident holding onto the outside bars on the cable car, and then the trip back to the hotel.

*We had some Italian food from Giorgi's which is across from the Plough and Stars where Cheruby joined a session of Celtic music players. It was good for me although Cheruby didn't know a lot of the songs so he didn't play as much as I wanted him to.
*The comic book convention in San Jose was lots of fun. We met the MST3K guys, Wil Wheaton, and Terry Moore. I got Terry to sign a first issue of his new comic Echo. I'm hoping that the characters will be as fabulous as in Strangers in Paradise.
*Toothache day, we slept late and watched TV and read books and had a relaxing day. We had In-N-Out Burgers for supper, animal style for Cheruby and R:tAG, and played a game of Betrayal at House on the Hill (my first time playing) and I had a pretty good time even though my character died first from a time bomb, TUO's character died from the ceiling falling in on due to a series of unfortunate events, and then R:tAG's character beat the snot out of the bad guy played by Cheruby. The first part of Sweeney Todd came next (and last) before bed.
*We were flagged for extra security which was a funny little process, but only because we had nothing to hide. We were corralled in for a few moments and then told to follow and wait and follow and stand still and follow and sit and slowly given back all our belongings. All was well and we had lots of time until our flight which ended up being late due to high wind velocities, but Calgary was having the same problem so our connecting flight was also delayed which meant we managed to make the connection which we were very thankful for.

I think that sums it up quite nicely.

Of course, as soon as we got home, we were off to Nipawin and Tobin Lake. We looked at the land that we're buying and it was awesome. As well, we went for a long ride on the three-wheelers. The a wiener roast with s'mores for dessert were just perfect for the day we'd had. The other highlight was our very dear little grey stripey cat who came with us on all our adventures. The little one just joined us as far as Nipawin. And all three returned home with us on Sunday in a very nice ride back to the city.

We watched lots of great movies. I highly recommend Juno and P.S. I Love You. Enchanted was a good Disney flick. And I even enjoyed Sweeney Todd even with the excessive blood. I had some retail therapy and bought a three pack of movies - MirrorMask, Labyrinth, and The Dark Crystal. As well, I bought Juno and The Golden Compass even though I haven't seen it yet. Cheruby and I also saw the new Indiana Jones flick this week. I'm not sure how I feel about it yet.

And wonder of all wonders, the fat one has become completely okay with the little one. I found him sleeping ON her the other day. Heh.

Oh, and it was a friend's birthday the other day and his cats really enjoyed the box.

Oh my goodness! I can't believe the work involved with losing one's job! With all the running around and things to take care of and do, I've barely had time for moping. Yesterday, I managed to finalize most of everything. Today, I feel empty. It feels over. I'm sad.

This isn't to say that I'm depressed or on the way there. I'm just handling every day. People I talked to every day, I haven't talked to most of them in almost two weeks. I miss them. A lot. I haven't called any of them. I don't know what to say. They need to be okay too and I don't want to remind them of me too much. And right now, my thoughts turn to how I'm feeling about my situation about twice an hour so that's what I want to talk about. That's not fun for me, let alone what it puts the people near me through. And with that said, no more!

It's my birthday next week. I don't have plans on Tuesday. Monday, supper with friends. Wednesday, hang out with my folks. Thursday, head to San Francisco! YAY! So, for my birthday, Cheruby and I are flying to visit TUO and R:tAG for a few days. We don't know what we're doing yet, but I realized that I don't need to do any of it and I'll still have a good time. Cheruby's only real request was to visit the grave of Emperor Norton and playing games. I know we'll get the last one in for sure.

And this weekend, I'm going to Regina for some Canadian Cancer Society meetings. That means I get to see my niece and nephew on Friday which is always awesome. I might even get to have lunch with a friend if I remember to call her. I should do that.

One last thing that I have to do is get started on my resume. Onwards and upwards! HUZZAH!!!