X-2: Friends redux

---------- Original Message ----------------------------------
From: Alasdair
To: Chelsea
Date: Wed, 31 May 2006 13:43:34

So what's this about you still not having seen X-Men? If we get all the way to the weekend and you still haven't seen it, I'll go with you.

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From: Chelsea
To: Matej
Date: Wed, 31 May, 2006 14:52

There is someone in the world who will see X-Men with me!

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From: Matej
To: Chelsea
Date: Wed, 31 May, 2006 15:25

I'll see it with you. Just not on opening weekend. Which has past, so now it's moo.

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And now we wait...

HRH

"Don't go and wait for the streetcar..."

"Because it's not going to come!"

This was the message waiting for me on the phone when I came out of the washroom this morning. Good thing I had already planned to drive in early to get some work done.

We're pretty well situated for a TTC strike. It's about a 10 minute drive downtown (early morning strike-day traffic made my ride a whole 5 minutes longer), I'm guessing about a 25 to 30 minute bike ride and about a 90 minute walk. Considering how bad some people have it, I'm feeling pretty good about my chances of enduring a strike.

Which is what makes me think that it will actually be a very short, you know because I'm prepared to handle it. It will only drag on for days and weeks if I was in a really untenable and difficult situation. Because the world just works that way.

HRH

Saviours found

Some of you may remember the trauma of last July when I took Zeus in for his annual round of vaccinations. It was awful, awful, awful. The whole experience left me sour on vets and especially sour on the vet that I'd been seeing.

Thing is, you can't really ensure that you pet has a long and healthy life if you don't have it checked out by a vet or someone who knows about animal health. Pets can't talk. They can't tell you how they're feeling, so you have to rely on the professionals.

Zeus has developed bad breath. Nothing earth shattering, but it can be a sign that there's some gum disease and that he's in need of a dental cleaning. He had his teeth cleaned once in Prague and he has these fantastic looking fangs that I'd like to preserve as long as possible. So it was time to take him in to someone to have a look.

We got a recommendation for a new vet from one of Matej's colleagues. It's not too far from our house and close to a lot of other services we use. While Zeus was less than charming, I was more than impressed by the new vet.

He had no interest in upselling us on teeth cleaning, noting that Zeus is an older cat and we should really be wary of putting him under anesthetic. We really felt like their priority was on Zeus' health and not making as much money as they can.

I can't even express how god I feel about these vets and what a relief that is.

HRH

As overheard before sleep

C (In a small voice): I would like to go see X-Men on Friday.
M: Mmmmm. Maybe.
C (Continuing in the same voice): I would like to go see X-Men on Friday, please.
M: Maybe.
C: I would like to go see X-Men on Friday, super please.
M: Maybe.
C: I would like to go see X-Men on Friday, super duper please?

HRH

Oh right.

Oh right. The blog.

I've been incommunicado for awhile. Sorry. Not for any dramatic reason. Just going through a taciturn phase. To be honest, more of a festival of phantasmagoric neuroses, but that will pass. It always does. Just have to break out of the cycle of acting strange because I perceive that people think I'm acting strange.

Only you can stop circular reasoning.

What to tell the world. Work is good (lots of writing to do). Wedding planning is good (still on top of all. Martha would be proud). Zeus and M are fantastic (spend most of my downtime curled up with the two of them on the couch watching hockey). There's an excellent new Muse single out (but you should be good and buy it off itunes if you really like it). My hair is finally grown back to it's correct length after the ill-advised chopping of last November (Should be perfect come September). I'm hoping to plant all my flowers and vegetables tomorrow (I even bought the gardening Starbucks barista bear to get me in the mood. I'm sorry, but that's just the cutest thing ever. Just looking at it gives me joy. Oh wow... I've reverted to bears.).

Other than that, not much to report. Save this overwhelming desire to eat an entire Baskin Robbins Chocolate Mousse Royale ice cream cake, but I think that's a side effect of more vigilant dieting and M making me watch an episode of Barefoot Contessa that was all about chocolate. Mmm cake.

Today's sing-a-long song: "Supermassive Black Hole" by Muse

HRH

The healing itch

I bought this really cute pair of black flats this weekend at Feet First. I bought them at a smart shoe store and pair a fair price for them. A price that should mean that they are well made shoes. And I think they actually are well made, it's just that my feet aren't well made for them.

I wore them on Monday and I wore them on Wednesday. Wednesday night I had four large holes missing from my outer layer of skin on my heels. I blister so easily it's not even funny. During the basketball years I had blisters on my arches and backs of my heels each the size of a silver dollar from a gorgeous pair of Air Jordans. I remember at basketball camp I had to do this thing where my feet would be taped, a trainer would put this green friction reducing goop on my heel, I'd put on a pair of socks, another helping of green goop and then a second pair of socks. This was the only way I could wear shoes because of those blisters.

You see, not only are my feet HUGE, but they're also wide. Those Air Jordans were slim shoes, much like how those flats are slim shoes. I really should have known when they fit both Dawn and Laura so well, my friends of slender feet, that it would be a skinning experience for me.

So I have these blisters. Two on the very back of the heel and two on the outer edge of the heel. Luckily there are all kinds of products on the market now for healing and coping with blisters. What I'm trying now after an unsuccessful stint with simple bandaids and Dr. Scholl's blister pads are these new Band-Aid Advanced healing bandages.

They tell you when you put these things on to try to leave them on as long as possible as they try to function like actual scabs on the skin. Unlike scabs, they are padded and protect the wound from further damage. I'm not sure how they work, but something on the surface of the bandage puffs up like it's full of foam or something like that. It's hard to explain. It looks strange, but it doesn't hurt and it helps to heal the wounds faster.

You know, so I can wear the shoes again soon.

HRH

Florally retarded

Why didn't anyone tell me that there are hundreds of thousands of options for bridal bouquets. When my mother bought me a book about bridal flowers I thought she was just getting caught up in all the wedding hoopla, but no. It's not an easy thing if you don't know what you want and what you need.

I can garden and I can put plants together in a planter, but this is like a whole other universe that I have no experience in.

I'm fortunate that I have my Mother, Tash and Dawn to let me know when I'm putting flowers together that simply don't belong. My florist is pretty forgiving too it seems when I call her with yet another insane floral combination. I get a lot of "Um... well..." and I think I've changed my mind at least 50 times. Terrible.

So much angst over something so disposable!

HRH

Precision team

I was never more confident in our choice of bridal party than this weekend. On top of the fact that my girls have talked me down from and through all kinds of pre-matrimonial panics and have helped me keep all bridal jackassery to a minimum, Dawn and Natasha further blew my mind on Friday when they picked out and purchased their bridesmaid's dresses in about an hour on Friday. Within 48 hours they had both found perfect shoes.

Mike and Chris further proved their awesomeness by helping M find the perfect suit in one shopping trip. Handily Dawn and I were shopping near-by and we can fully attest that these men know how to shop as my M looks fine in the duds he chose.

Tick, tick, tick those items off the list.

I still don't have the right pair of shoes as the fruits of the shoe lift turned out to be too gold (gah!). Seeing how well everything is coming together for everyone else gives me a lot of hope. And as Dawn pointed out, so much of this wedding has been really easy, there has to be at least one detail that just refuses to get sorted.

Today's sing-a-long song: "So Fresh, so clean" by Outkast

HRH

Pout: Illuminator

Let's glow. Well all look better this way. And in spite of some pretty aggressive sales techniques, I was persuaded to pick up some of this in Love Glow. With the aid of a foundation blush, this can be applied all over the cheeks or mixed into liquid foundation or bronzer to give you a "I was just working out, so I'm a touch flushed, but in the most pretty way."

I knew they would get that into a bottle one day.

HRH

Rollerskates

I can't stop thinking about rollerskates. I never actually owned a pair. Anyone who's seen me ice skate or rollerblade knows why. I think it's the Madonna video for Sorry that's sent me down memory lane. It evoked all kinds of nostalgia for me (the rollerskating, not the kidnapping and dance-fighting) and I can't seem to shake it.

Many weekends in my pre-teen years were spent at the local roller-rink, Studio 801. When I was little, it was the coolest place in the world. It had, in my worldly Kingstonian opinion, the biggest rollerskating rink in the world, a 5-pin bowling alley, a huge arcade, a bunch of those inflated castles as well as a ball room and a dance floor. My Xanadu-loving, 11-year-old brain thought it was heaven.

I remember one of my favourite shirts to wear at the roller-disco was this white sweatshirt with Garfield on it. He was holding scales to look like the Libra sign. I think I tried to wear it off one shoulder so I could dress cool like my older sister. I think I only succeeded in stretching and semblance of structure out the neck of it. And hello! Garfield! Nothing says cool like Garfield. Yes, the sweatshirt, the pinned black jeans and my hair cut super short in the back and falling over my right eye in the front. This memory clinches it. I have ALWAYS been a weirdo.

Anyway, it was so cool and I loved it. In reality, Studio 801 was a tacky hole, but I didn't and I guess that I don't care. It was a lot of fun and skating round and round in circles to Pour Some Sugar On Me is pretty much as good as it gets for a girl of that age. The rink was dark so no one could really see how bad I was at it. I was moving past people quickly so no one could hear me singing along. Most importantly I got to spin around under a disco ball and feel like a star.

I think they've since turned that place into a driving range and I have since learned to express my roller-skating superstar ambitions in private.

Today's sing-a-long song: "I'm alive" by Electric Light Orchestra

HRH