Room to Breathe

Now that my volleyball season has ended (and with the wedding in only 3 days!), I felt I should have pretty feet to show off in my sliver sexy strap sandals (how’s that for alliteration?).

I called a place in the phone book. I’m not looking for any Salon Style experience; just someone to paint my toes and scrape off my calluses.

I call, the woman answers, “Hello?”

I ask, “Is that not the nail place on such and such a street?”

“Yes. Yes!”, she answers in her cute oriental accent.

“And you do pedicures?”

“Yes. Yes! You come now? You come now!”

“Uh ok. How much?”

“25 dollars. You come now!”

“Uh ok. I’ll be there in 25 minutes.”

At least I know I won’t have to make small talk while she slaves over my feet that have spent all summer in the sand.

I spent much of the weekend with Grandma. Auction weekend. As soon as she picked me up in the morning and we started to talk, I knew something was different. We were driving on the highway and it was loud as shit in the car with the wind coming in through Grandma’s window which was open 1/2 an inch; yet it didn’t seem to bother her. Strange. Normally the sound of a pin dropping can annoy her.

I clued in to the problem after the third, “pardon?”.

“Grandma, did your battery in your hearing aid die?”

“Pardon?”

Oh man, this is going to be a long day.

“DID YOUR BATTERY IN YOUR HEARING AID DIE?”

“Oh.”, she says realizing that her hearing aid has become useless and takes it out. “Well it must have died last night while I was sleeping, without me knowing. I’ll change the battery when we stop.”

She does the window up and continues driving. I didn’t say much since she has to read my lips now to hear, and yelling this early in the morning gives me a headache.

This went on for the rest of the day, because once we had stopped, she didn’t have a spare battery.

(more…)

If there is anything more that marks the end of season, I don’t know what it is. Now that I no longer have school to look forward to/dread, the end of summer means no more beach volleyball.

Tonight was the last night of league play for me. I was in 2 beach leagues this year. The other league finished last Tuesday. Two different teams; they both lost in the first round of play-offs.

The month of September always feels so empty. No tournaments, not much pickup, and leagues don’t start until late September/October.

I don’t know if my butt is getting tighter, or looking better because of going to the gym (3 weeks completed tomorrow!), but my boyfriend keeps smacking my ass!

We’re talking more than usual. More than the little pat as I walk by. He’s actually pulling me towards him, just to slap it!

Normally this would bother me, but since I started working out at the gym and feeling better about myself, I don’t mind at all.

It’s kind of nice having a boyfriend who is so in to toys and gadgets. He likes having the latest and greatest, and often I’ll get his hand-me-downs; which are like new, since he takes good care of his things. Helps keep the resale value!

His obsessions with cell phones and cameras is unlike anyone I know. Sometimes he just buys me a new cell phone, since he doesn’t have a use for it, just because it’s new, and he thinks it’s cool. I don’t even need it!

Then, he takes my old one and sells it. I find things of mine on Ebay!

He is the only person I know that has 2 active cell phone providers; 3 if you count mine since he pays for my service. He’s got his Blackberry, but then he’s got his walkie-talkie phone. I’m surprised he hasn’t gotten me that yet!

So in the past year I’ve received: 3 cell phones (he lost count of how many he’s had), a camera, a new computer and recently a new mouse, and a scanner/printer/copier/fax machine (because he needs the fax, and thought I might like a new scanner).

I didn’t ask for any of this. I am quite happy with my old stuff. But I have to say, I’m really lovin’ this new mouse. Wireless/Optical with a super silent scroll wheel and tilt scrolling. Nicest mouse I’ve ever owned.

He is only trying to please me I know. Well, and fill his needs for tech toys. I just hate when he is right.

A few years ago, I worked in a retail store. Two men walked in, and were communicating between each other. Yammering on, figuring no one knew what they were talking about; since they were speaking French.

They walked by me, and one said to the other,

“Ah regard ça fille. Ça fille est belle, oui?”

I was embarrassed, but I had to let them know and couldn’t resist, “I understand French.”.

Now they were embarrassed.

I felt good, not just because they called me beautiful, but because I was actually able to put something from school to use.

(more…)

I suppose it’s my turn… I’m not totally into memes, and question my ability on this; but I’ll try.

I got this from OldGuy. He held up his end, and now it’s up to me. (Actually, I first saw it on Zube Girl, so I guess this is for her too.)

Comment on this post and:

1. I’ll respond with a random thought I have about you.
2. I’ll tell you what song/movie reminds me of you. *
3. I’ll pick a flavor of jello to wrestle with you in.
4. I’ll say something that only makes sense to you and me (or so we think).
5. I’ll tell you my first memory of you.
6. I’ll tell you what animal you remind me of.
7. I’ll ask you something that I’ve always wondered about you.
8. If I do this for you, you must post this on your blog **

* I might have some trouble with this one. Actually, I’ll probably have trouble with the whole thing, but I’ll try my best.
** I’m not expecting you to, and I’m not going to beat you if you don’t; unless you want me to :p.

Last night was the wedding party’s party. Eight couples reeking havoc in Niagara Falls. They didn’t know what they were getting into when they let us book our room. We were loud, obnoxious, without kids (for some), and ready to drink and gamble all night!

We arrive at the hotel, setup camp, and laugh and laugh and laugh. My bf and I weren’t going to stay, just because we don’t live as far as the others and it’s cheaper just to drive home, rather than spend the $100+ on a hotel room. But I love spending time with my brother. We get a long so well, and have so many stories to share.

We girls all took off to the liquor store and bank to stock up on cash and drinks, then back to the hotel.

A few drinks, then some dinner. Back to the hotel, a few more drinks. Then a few more drinks. I had a cigarette. Only one. Another drink. A walk to the shuttle to take us to the casino, and I perched myself with the other girls at the Black Jack table, while the guys went off to play Texas Holdem Poker.

Four hours later I’m still at the same Black Jack table with my sister-in-law-to-be, up a few hundred dollars from the measly $60 I threw on the table to start. I’m in my glory. Splits, hits on 16 and taking a 5, doubles - everything is working. AND, my bf stood behind me while I played and didn’t complain! When it’s just the 2 of us at the casino, he won’t let me play. He like slots (which I think and KNOW are a total waste of time and money), and he doesn’t like to stay very long. That’s why I was surprised he let me play. But I kept passing him my $100 chips I was winning, so why should he have a problem?

I sound like an addict. Not really, I just don’t get out much. I haven’t been to the casino since April, and I only had 4 drinks the whole night. Enough to enjoy myself, not enough to make an ass of myself.

My brother sarcastically says, “thanks” to me, when his fiancée ends up sitting at a Black Jack table for hours. Now they take trips to Montréal, and some other casino close to Kingston. I was the one that taught her how to play. However I’m also the one that helps her win. And the way she was going when we left and went back to the hotel, she might just be able to pay for the wedding herself!

Recently I took a trip to visit my brother. He bought a house a couple months ago, and put a pool in a few weeks ago. He does the books and sales for a pool store, and is able to get the pool and supplies at costs. He took a lot of slack from my dad for putting it in, since there isn’t much time left in summer, and with everything else going on (the wedding) he has a lot on his plate. He said, “Ya! I’ve got a wife that won’t get off my back about getting a pool!”.

Since I would be swimming in their pool when I visited, and my 2-year-old niece and the kids in my brother’s fiancée’s family all swim in the pool, I was concerned with the level of urine. You know how they say, a liar knows a liar? Well a pool pee-er knows a pool pee-er. I used to pee in pools.

When I was a kid, I was told that there were chemicals in the water and if you pee-ed, a stream of red would follow you, and every one would know. Of course I always tested this, and then when nothing happened, I figured I was special, and pissed away!

I asked my brother what it is you put in the pool. He told me that no such chemical exists, people come in to the store all the time asking for it. He tells the parents that it’s just something to tell kids so they won’t pee.

I felt like a kid who just learned there was no Santa. Stupid and betrayed by my parents for lying to me.

Then there’s my friend who told me if I picked my nose, my head would cave in. I think about her every time I blow my nose.

What else, hmmm…oh ya. When I cross my eyes, I still won’t do it for too long, because I can’t get the thought of my face staying like that out of my head.

Why do parents traumatize us with their lies?

If you can read this, please comment and say, “YES”. (obviously if you can’t you won’t say anything until you can).

I moved to a different server last night, and imported, exported, backed-up, restored my entire site and MySQL databases.

Flawlessly.

Yeah me!

So I need to know if the DNS has propagated yet, so I can clear out the old server. The only thing I’m really concerned with is mail (oh, and comments could still be written the the old database.)