Monthly Archives: December 2001

I got my dad a lovely wool GAP turtleneck for his bithday Xmas Eve. (for Xmas itself, he gpt the History of Britain on 3 VHS tapes, plus the matching book, thank you A&E).

Dad opened the GAP box, and exclaimed that it was a “Scottish sweater! Lovely!”

I told his it was GAP, and wasn’t Scottish.

He replied, “Are you sure? It’s wool, it must be from Scotland.”
I explained, “No, it’s GAP, more like from some sweatshop in a third-world country.”

Fortunately, Dad was pulling the neck part over his head at that point, and only my mother was shocked. I almost got the “stop ruining Christmas with socialism!” lecture from my mother, the former queen of the anti-Vietnam War protesters, but Dad got the sweater on, and she didn’t have time.

He loved the sweater, and my sister loved her sweater coat, and my other sister loved her bath stuff, and my mom liked her UBC sweatshirt, but Monica got her the one that says “UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA MOM”, and the word MOM is about 8″ high, and she said she just didn’t want to advertise that she was a MOM that much. I would have thought she wouldn’t want to advertise that her children were drunks, by association with UBC, but no, it was just the MOM part. So I’ll likely get her a regular UBC hoodie when I get back to the Slanty Shanty.

Mike avtually asked to go to the Mercury last night. This means

a) there’s addicting drugs in the black orchids
b) he likes goth/industrial/hardcore music a lot MORE suddenly (which may be…I found MY Apoptygma Bezerk CD in HIS Taurus today, along with the NIN “right” disc I’d given up for lost)
c) he wanted to show off his new clothes from Hot Topic.
d) he needed an antidote to his horrible Xmas experience with his bother in law’s family in Wacko, whom he refers to as the “redneck rampage”.

I got a new lace-up-front PVC top off eBay, and it arrived while i was in TX, so I was more than happy to show it off, even if I had to wear it with a mini-kilt because I haven’t found a decent PVC skirt in my size yet.

Today, we got up, went for bagels, ate breakfast, fell back asleep, woke up late, went grocery shopping, cooked dinner, cleaned the kitchen, and I baked a blackberry-apple pie. I can’t cook anything at the Slanty Shanty. Someone would eat it. It’s been boring, but its nice to be boring this weekend, because I’m tired of shlepping, tired of drama, and tired of living like a student. It’s nice ti have a few days of living like a grownup again in Kirkland. The down side to that is that I’m not drinking now, and in Vancouver, on a free Saturday with no homework, I would be trashed by now.

I joke about that. I’m not an alcoholic. Alcoholics have meetings.

A Telus employee was just utterly patronizing to me when I called. I dislike being treated like an irrational, hysterical retard. And I highly dislike being referred to by my first name by a customer service rep. And if MY manager at Bell had heard me take that call in those tones, I would have been pulled off the call lines and retrained, with a lot of use of the word “ma’am”.

Pet peeve: people who should be working for me, who act like they’re my equals in a business deal. Look, folks, the customer is usually wrong, but you’re not supposed to tell them that to their face. I expect killer customer service, where I am called “ms tate” or “ma’am” from ALL y’all…phone, hydro, internet, etc. When you call me to ask a question, I will act as if I am your employee, because I am, and just because your evil company has a monopoly doesn’t mean you get to treat me like a five year old.

I’m On Island today. Specifically, I’m at the Oak Bay Library, using their internet connection to figure out when I need to be at Sea-Tac tomorrow to pick up Mikey. Hey stayed in Texas a few extra days to spend some time with his family. I came home and surprised the heck out of my father on his birthday…Xmas Eve. He expected me to stay in Texas until tomorrow; I was shoved into the dining room by Monica when I walked in, having schlepped eighteen straight hours…Austin at 4am, Texas time, D/FW flight leaving at 9, Seattle by noon, out the door of my house by 1:30 to make the 5pm ferry to the Island, showing up at 7:30pm PST to shock Dad. He was delighted to see me. He couldn’t believe I’d come home.

I had a great time in Texas, obviously…I love Texas. I really do. It gets into your blood, it gets under your skin, and it IS a whole other country. Like Canada. As my time is short, I shall run along home now…I’ll write again when I get home, but I am still alive, and I am still here.

NO MORE EXAMS!!!

THEY;RE ALL OVER!!!

I can start a drinking binge tomorrow, and take a nap right now! snzzzzzzzzzz

I have not studied enough. I have not studied enugh…and now I have not slept enough in an attempt to rectify that.

my hair is still flat

but that might end soon because good luck keeping it dry in vancouver.

I downloaded a whack of LoTR stuff…backgrounds, screensavers, trailer…I’m watching some of the character commercials now, because I cannot study any more. This is going to be the most amazing movie ever. Even in the trailers, you can see some of the emotion and desperation that made these books so suspenseful. And those are some really ugly Uruk-hai. Six more days…