No whiners

Since I am an insomniac this week I will blog while I wait to get tired.

This is "Baba in the city"

I love my city. I just wanna say, if you hate Edmonton or say you do, just move somewhere else, quit yer whining. Move or stop trashing my beloved city. People whine like, WHAAA IT'S SO COLD HERE!!! 

My response to them is 

"Yeah, you know you are in Canada right ? Canada has cold winters. Get used to it or move to Mexico. Just shut up."

So yeah, I don't like whiners. I know from experience life can shit all over you and one day you are living your life the next you face your own mortality, the snow was the least of my problems in the last year. I don't mind the -12 temperature we've had for a couple weeks, and I don't mind even minus 25 as long as I have warm socks and a scarf, and of course my car.

So yeah, if it was such a huge priority that you get away from Edmonton because of the snow you have a few options:

1. Move 3 hours south to Calgary where at least you'll have an occasional Chinook

2. Move to Vancouver and deal with then rain 300 days of the year

3. Go Somewhere else, where, I don't care

Canadians aren't pussies. We are Northern and live in the cold for most of the year, whining about it isn't going to make it go away!

Sorry had to rant that off.

IN OTHER NEWS:

I am excited for the camping party trip I am hosting May long weekend in Ghost Lake!!!

My redneck camp rules.

Nothing much more to say about this but I am ridiculously excited about this trip. The first time I heard about Ghost Lake I decided I am going there. So I created a Facebook event and invited 20 people, who knows how many will actually come but so far I have four yes's.

So yes, I have a thing against whiners. Just stay home whiney babies.

-E.

Black alert and some other junk

First of all let me begin with a black alert:

KT Karpetz has gone missing. I have attempted to contact her through text, phone and Facebook, nothing. Where is the world is Katie Kat Karpetz? 

I have four guesses.

1. Eating popcorn

2. Watching Supernatural drooling over pretty boys

3. Under a Mau Mau

4. (and most likely option) working her fabulous ass off.

All four are possible, in combinations. I am awaiting her call so I shall keep you posted. 

Oh! Here we go she has texted me. I have made contact with Mz. Karpetz and she is charging her phone up for a midnight blab fest with me. AWWWWZZZ.

Ok so I thought this was going to be big news, I was going to give you all my email to send me KT spotting reports, but the situation is resolved and KT is not dead.

So now I am watching a documentary on CBC to try and get some learnin's in my brain, some brain learnin'. I figure if I am not going to read I should watch informative television.

About me not reading, I thought about it the other day. I read maybe a book a year, two at the most. 

I am going to be honest. 

I don't always finish books either, I may come 30 pages from the ending and lose interest. It either works that way or I am just unable to put it down till I finish it. I am notorious for reading a chapter and being enthralled and not coming back to it.

You could probably say I have some kind of attention problem, or maybe I am not picking exciting enough books. When I was a kid I loved reading, but I tried to read a few classics and I found them so BORING. Jane Eyre? Really? What would possess anyone to read this cover to cover? It made me yawn the first line of the book, and on the second page I had not a clue what the fuck was going on. I just brought that back to the library and got MAN PLUS instead. I wonder if Jess Atom would remember this book.

Now at least I have read books, and a few important ones. I think the most challenging book I ever read all the way to the end was Nabokovs Lolita. Now some of you literary snobs will pshh that and say, 

"Well I read War and Peace once a week cover to cover."

With your noses in the air.

Fine. I don't care, I certainly don't want to try and read War and Peace just to say I read it, but it takes a lot to keep me interested in a book and actually FINISH it. 

There are some people who have never read a book for their own enjoyment, and that isn't quite me. I read a lot when I was a young girl and teen, but then something happened where in the last few years I have only read a few books cover to cover. 

I am seemingly the only honest person about the reading thing, I hear a lot of people say that they read all the time, but the totally don't. Or they will start books and just never get around to finishing them, just like me. I am more likely to read parts of non-fiction books that I can read a few pages and call it a day with that book until I reference it later. No biggie to me. This is just the way I would prefer to read.

People say, oh, just get your books online, and I say, no fucking way! I am sorry but if I am going to read, I am going to put my phone DOWN.

 I can't fathom this electronic reading thing, e-books. Or whatever.

So there you go, I am one of those people who don't read enough.  Maybe you are one of those people too,

or maybe you are thinking "oh, I couldn't survive without my books, how could someone NOT read?" 

I don't know. I always get an urge to read when I travel, when I have the time and not television. I am sure I will find a book during my honeymoon, and if it bores me I'll forget about it and not waste my time trying to get it down, I'll do something more fun. If it is a good one, I may just finish it... you never know.

Maybe sometimes I am way too honest on this blog. 

Whatevs.

IN OTHER NEWS!

My dear friend John got me this AMAZING PRESENT!

THE BEAR CLAW!!!

A BACKSCRATCHAAAAHHH!!!

BACKSCRATCHIN'!!!

IT'S RETRACTABLE!!!

John knows me so well. I am going to scratch it no matter what people say, so he is just being a good friend by enabling my habit. I was almost finished my fork on a stick, but this bear claw is much better.

-E.

Where's my locker?

So this evening was Matt and my mother's birthday celebration at Bistro Praha and I am so full of Steak Tartar and pasta I feel like I might barf.

I really don't have much to say other than that was delicious, but that experience left me not wanting more. 

I feel like I am going to die.

I am not sure why I am blogging right now, because as I type I am annoying myself and making my stomach queasy, but I do have a strange dream that is reaccuring to discuss.

I am back in Mckernan, the school I attended in the same class of the same people for ten years, and it is the first day of grade 7, 8 or 9. We get assigned to our homeroom and our lockers are outside. In some dreams it's not clear who our teacher is but it is always either Mr. Shaw (who was my homeroom for two years) or Mr. Oskiboiny-is that how you spell that name Kt? Anywho, one weird thing is that it is always on the opposite side of the school that I normally had a locker, not sure what that means but yeah.

We get our lockers assigned to us and I put on my lock on my locker and cruise to my first class. Then I get in there and I don't  know anyone in there so I must have the wrong class. I then go back to my locker, and it's not actually my locker, I have forgotten my locker number. Then I look around at the locks and think I have found mine, and then I can't remember the combination. I am stuck in the hallway unable to get my books and don't know where to go.

Now in a way this a completely ridiculous dream, but it is also interesting, because I am in real life a very confident person, but in these dreams I am vulnerable, weak, and afraid. Exactly the opposite of the person I really am. It is also interesting how whenever I get my locker there is something in there, glued on the inside of the door. I can't remember exactly what it is every time, but I know the last time there was the front of a card I got when I was a little girl of a kitten with a big head.

I am not sure of the significance of this but it seems to be a reaccuring theme.

I have so many dreams about being back at Mckernan, I wonder if a child being in the same school with the same kids for that long is a good thing or a bad thing, it's not like I've kept any buddies from there really, I mean, I like them and if I saw them around I'd say hi and chat or whatevs, but it's not like they were all at my wedding. I may see them in my dreams or on my Facebook feed, but that's about it.

Strange, because I was so happy to leave my elementary/Jr. High school, but once I did I was lost. I spent grade ten completely wandering the hallways of my new high school that I was so excited to attend. When I was at Mckernan I was a bit of an odd duck, not a loner but just different from my classmates. I also didn't do as well academically. I couldn't get the math, and to make it even harder it was in French, everything was in French. I felt like the weirdest one in my class, like I didn't fit in.

So near the end of my ten years of French Immersion at MCK, I was so excited to get to a different school where I could be myself and meet other like minded people.
I got there and my world was completely turned upside down.

I have never discussed this before with anyone, but I hated life that first year of high school.

Several factors played into this feeling.
First of all, I had been with the same classmates for ten years, and as much as I said I just hated being with them year after year, they had become a huge part of my life as I knew it. Kindergarten to grade nine is a long time. All of a sudden I was in several classes with different people in all of them and some were better than others, but my math class was by far the worst.

So like I said, I had difficulties with math as a youngster. When I was younger, like six or seven, I wasn't quite that bad, I got most concepts like the other kids around me, but in grade 3 we got these horrible workbooks we had to do chapters and chapters of questions and it made me HATE MATH. I remember from grade 3 to 6 I spent my whole life doing fucking math. I hated it so I didn't do all that well. Then the test would come and my head was so jumbled with what I thought was right and what I thought I understood and even when I did know something it would be forgotten in the middle of one of these scary tests.

So I carry on failing at math through Jr. High, but by grade eight stopped caring about school work in general, especially math. I just decided one day I didn't give a fuck and started wearing that. I failed so miserably in math that they put me in the lowest level of math possible in grade ten- MATH 14.

If you don't know what MATH 14 is like, trust me, it's bad.

The first day we did a little worksheet that started with the equation 2+2=. I was like, oh my god, what have I done by not caring?

I look around the class, and the cast of characters included a pregnant chick who cut herself, a really gross guy that picked his nose and turned around to look at me all the time, a girl with a missing finger from the states, one guy who definitely didn't seem to even speak english and a few badly behaved stoner/slackers from the north side.

I remember hanging out with new friends in my other more normal classes and someone said something about being in math 13 , one above 14, and then someone said, "well, at least you aren't in math 14, that's where the retards are" this followed by laughter, and of course I laughed too, but I hid my book from those girls the rest of the year.

I was so ashamed of my having to do grade four math in high school that I hid this from most people, even lied to people about it. Now I wanted to do better, so I made sure to keep my marks up so I could get ahead.

So grade ten was payback for all the years of slacking off in math. I had to do long division and times tables again. It sucked. I was so hating having to sneak to that class that it made me hate school, when I was supposed to be loving my first year of high school. I just wanted to run away and hide. I almost wanted to crawl back into my cocoon of the same, it was comforting somehow. I missed it.

So I kinda went off track here and blabbed until I don't even know what I am blabbing about. Oh yeah, my fear of inadequacy especially in school. I kept having dreams of failing tests back in Jr. High, all through high school and into adulthood. Though they are less frequent now I have had many lately.

Sorry that was long and I really don't know the answer on this one.

I know I'll probably have these dreams forever, I guess I am forever scarred by French Immersion math.

I know I won't be putting my kids in ANY kind of Immersion program, whatsoever.

(One time Matt insisted we would have to put our kids in Madarin or Cantonese Immersion, and he pushed it just for the sake of argument and I got really mad and was like, I don't know if I can have kids with you... FUCKING CANTONESE???!!!)

Camera hooring.

Camera hooraying with Salem, who you can only see like a lump of velvety fur behind me, he was grooming himself. I love that boy.

Off to bed with me, I am going to work tomorrow!

See you pretties soon!

-E.

Hair there hair gone

So remember the haircut I have been so nervous about?

With the dump of snow and the appointment being in Sherwood Park it was cancelled. 

It was a little disappointing to have to wait, but at the same time I get a few more days with this dead animal on my head.

So I don't have the pics of my haircut yet cause it hasn't happened.

Once your hair starts falling out, you lose length and volume, so you are left with these wispy and broken looking ends. I was looking at pics from a few years ago and my hair was long, full and healthy. It's depressing but at the same time I know there is nothing I can do about it.

In other news:

We are going to Bistro Praha to celebrate my mom and Matt's birthday tomorrow. 

Matt will be 32 years old! I'm with an old man!


I met this wonderful man when I was 23 and he was 26 years old. Him and I fell in love and quickly discovered that we are male and female versions of each other. Matt appreciates my corn ball humour and goofy tendencies, and I the same in him.


I will go on about my love on his birthday when I will do his Birthday shoutout, where I will tell the story of our courtship.


It's actually quite funny.


So instead of posting a picture of myself with short hair I am posting this throwback head banging action pics from about a year and a half ago.

Not sure what is happening here. Those are my glasses.

Looks like a drunken yahtzee game

Matt given'er

Yup, hair.


-E.

Mr. McGigitty

JUST A QUICK NOTE:

Drunk Matt will now be known as Mr. McGigitty. After his shenanigans this evening with his best bud Slimbo he has earned the moniker McGigitty.

I think I'm just absolutely hilarious right now, and he is passed out snoring next to me and I am still laughing my ass off.

What else did I learn while drinking sake tonight?

I want more sake.

-E.

Friday couch jockeying, backscratcha and bottle stories

Here are some things that happened in this last hour.

I crafted a mini version of myself

I found a BACKSCRATCHA and scratched my back goooooood

(if you didn't already hear me complain about itching, the treatment I take gives you the ITCHIEST skin straight from your worst nightmares. It itches CONSTANTLY and I wake up scratching in the night. Not just lightly, I dig loud enough to wake Matt up. Nothing does much to soothe the crazy itch so I use various implements to get in there and do what I shouldn't do- scratch that shit Tyrone Biggums style.)

This what what I look like all the time.

While I am scratching my back, why wouldn't I scratch my arms too?

(The writing on the mirror is a note from Matt)

BUTTSCRATCHA!!!!

Yes, that is my ass, it grew in the last few months. I put on 5 pounds and my Oncology nurse Colleen said I looked nice and healthy. I guess it is unusual for people to gain weight during treatment.... 

I cleaned my rings up, just by soaking them in vinegar and water for an hour. Gave them a light scrub with a soft toothbrush and then BLING BLING BEAUTY!!! OMG! Those diamonds sure sparkle when they are clean. BOOM!

So like I said in my title, I am couch Jockeying pretty hard right now. I worked my four hours today and it just wears me right out. 
K not exactly but I am feeling the lazy wave wash over me and I think I will dedicate this evening to my television and a little sake.


I haven't started drinking the sake yet because I LOVE SAKE and it tastes so good to me, I could end up destroying that bottle in just over an hour, it wouldn't be the first time.


Here's a couple stories of my ability to kill the bottle in an hour.


One time a few years back when Matt and I were a new thing, and my brother was single living in a partypartment, and Matt and I would come 'round there to booze it up with him often. Our dad went to Mexico and brought Daley a nice bottle of tequila, and he gave it to me to bring to him.


It just happened to be St. Patricks day as well.


So I grab my man, tell him we've got a bottle of tequila to drink and he goes 
"I don't like tequila. I'll stick to whisky."


I'm like COOL! More for Daley and I.


Daley cracks it and we gave 'er. 
That bottle was gone in one hour.


Well the night wasn't close to being over so Daley and Matt go to the liquor store and get a bottle of Sauza, which didn't taste the same as the very decent Mexican Tequila we had just drank,( don't ask me what it was called, I was hammered. )


I know once I've had enough booze and blind drunk things just all taste the same to me, so I found a way to get that Sauza in me. I could drink 4$ wine when completely shitfaced. It is possible we finished a second bottle that night, and Matt and I stayed till dawn and left in a boozy disgusting greasy mess, to have a shameful sleep and bad hangover to follow.


Now don't judge me on this, but one time probably about eight or nine years ago I polished a bottle of wine in ten minutes.
Ten minutes.
I can't remember EXACTLY how this went down but I remember I was mad, perhaps at the douche bag boyfriend I had at the time, and went to a girlfriends to vent/party. I was upset and stopped at the beer and wine store on the way home from work, so it would have been pretty early, seven or eight in the evening.


I bought three bottles of wine and took the bus and train into Burnaby.


I get to my friends place (who is no longer a friend, perhaps because she would always be around if there was wine, and if there wasn't wine she was gone with the wind)  I crack a bottle and chug it. I am calling the guy names, venting and yelling about my dumb boyfriend and before I knew it bottle number one was gone.


Now what I think I remember about this night is the first bottle got me loaded, the second bottle went down in an hour or so, and don't ask me what happened to the third. Pure destruction is what that was. The evening likely ended with my dickish but sober boyfriend driving to Burnaby to pick my sloppy ass up.


Now I know there has been other times I polished a bottle really fast, but when you do that you get DRUNK and are likely to forget about it. At least that's what I do, pretend like it never even happened.


So all this talk about polishing bottles makes me want to warm up my sake, and I can truthfully say you could make me do just about anything after half a bottle of sake, but a whole bottle in, lets just say, I'm a REAL party.


-E.

The Fine and Fancy Furry Familiars in my life.

Feast your eyes on my fancy furry familiar, Miss Sabbath Aka Sabbie, Sabathon, Princess Sabs, Miss Meowee and many other names.

Salem, Aka Prince Salemee, Salemee, Big Boy, Silly Salem, Salembot, and many more.

THEY SAY MEOW TO YOU!!!

-E.

Today's news and some old timey-ness

Let me begin with this:

My cousin Kirsten is an amazing lady who is riding to conquer cancer, a 200km ride benefiting the Alberta Cancer Foundation. As I write this I am shedding tears for I am so touched by her dedicating her ride to me. 

Take a look at her page, and donate if you want.

http://www.conquercancer.ca/site/TR/Events/Alberta2012?px=2904029&pg=personal&fr_id=1411

So great, I have makeup running down my face right now.

Kirsten is doing fund-raising for the ACF, which is where funding belongs. If you are ever going to donate  to cancer research, put it in something local. We have a great facility for cancer care here in Edmonton, and as much as I hate going there I know I am in the best hands I could be in. The Alberta Cancer Board has done a lot of great things for cancer patients, and now my cousin is doing her part. I am so blown away that she is doing this, 200km? Snap that's far!

In other news.

My BPAL Krampus T shirt and socks arrived today, if you are just starting to read my blog and don't know what BPAL means, take a look at this:


http://www.blackphoenixalchemylab.com/


I am nuts over their gothic, Romantic and Victorian inspired scents.


Now I am buying merch too. I have problems.


MY NEW BPAL SOCKS

MY KRAMPUS T SHIRT (Kt says I need to save mine for next Christmas cause thats what she is doing, but I said BAHHHHH! I will wear it now!


For those of you who don't know who or what a Krampus is here is the WikiVersion:

Krampus is a mythical creature recognized in Alpine countries. According to legend, Krampus accompanies Saint Nicholas during the Christmas season, warning and punishing bad children, in contrast to St. Nicholas, who gives gifts to good children. When the Krampus finds a particularly naughty child, it stuffs the child in its sack and carries the frightened child away to its lair, presumably to devour for its Christmas dinner.

In the Alpine regions, Krampus is represented as a beast-like creature, generally demonic in appearance. The creature has roots in Germanic folklore. Traditionally young men dress up as the Krampus in Austria, southern Bavaria, South Tyrol, Hungary, Slovenia and Croatia during the first week of December, particularly on the evening of 5 December, and roam the streets frightening children with rusty chains and bells. Krampus is featured on holiday greeting cards called Krampuskarten. There are many names for Krampus, as well as many regional variations in portrayal and celebration.

Contents   [hide]  1 Origins 1.1 Modern history 2 Appearance 3 Krampusnacht 3.1 Krampuslaufen 4 Krampuskarten 5 Regional variations 5.1 Other names 6 In popular culture 6.1 Comics 6.2 Television 6.3 Video games 6.4 Music 7 See also 8 References 9 External links

I can't figure out how to get rid of the contents. Weird. 

THE KRAMPUS WILL GET YOU IF YOU MISBEHAVE!!!


I know I posted several necklaces last night, but here is my newest, a three charm disco beaded number.

I had a difficult time getting a decent shot of this, the flash made it look like a disco ball, because the beads are kinda like little disco balls, which I love. I love disco ball beads.


I love beading, but I am not the most talented- yet. I just do it for myself right now, but maybe is you're in good with me or have a birthday coming up you could end up with a creation inspired by you, in the Erin signature style.
Hehehe.


So what else?
I am lazy, and craving sake. Tomorrow is friday, I don't see the issue in having some tomorrow night. Yes, I have just convinced myself to get some sake tomorrow, not like it was hard to decide that, but with sake sushi goes well. Perfect. Now if only it was Friday night now.


So I said I was lazy, and watching From Hell. What a great movie. Johnny Depp is pretty dreamy in this one, love those mutton chops. My husband is going to read this and will be like "HA! I knew you loved J. DEPP!" He's going to laugh at me. But he's so old-timey handsome in this one, something about those old timey hats and shit.

Now for a little pudding and some old timey pics, why you ask?
Well the pudding is Kozy Shack. My VERY FAVOURITE.
Old timey pics for this is my blog and I will post solely for my own amusement.

Now this is just some straight up, old-timey musicians. I can hear that guy scratchin' on those fiddle strangs.
 These guys are down with the dixie.

I want, no, MUST have these!

Some old timey boxing for your entertainment.

More old timey athleticism.

A delightfully creepy old timey bunny with a big creepy tail pointing in a bad direction.

A very precious old timey kitty.

Two old timey bike guys.

A very frightening old timey flying contraption.

Old timey Halloween costumes. This phot was taken in 1911.

Old timey sisters that are apparently married to their dog.

Just a good old timey music poster.

An old-timey gentleman with a sweet stache.


-E.