On rain and irony:

Irony is deliberately not bringing an umbrella on a night out that required walking 8 blocks each way because that same umbrella (note: its a full-size behemoth model of an umbrella) had been lugged around for 2 consecutive weeks, even on days when the streets were bathed in brilliant sunshine with nary a cloud in the sky despite daily weather forecasts threatening heavy thunderstorms and rain. Irony is deciding “That’s it, I don’t care what those crackhead meteorologists say about it raining tonight, I refuse to take this with me,” and stepping out of the venue hours later only to find it pouring, with the full-size behemoth umbrella sitting purposefully 8 blocks away inside my apartment.

Might I also add that I had put off washing and waxing my car for those same two consecutive weeks although it was shamefully dirty (having been driven ruthlessly through 30 km worth of highway construction zones every day) and in dire need of some TLC on my part. You can probably guess what happened on Sunday mere minutes after I finally washed it at home and started waxing the hood.


On adding insult to injury:

Never, ever, buy cheap stuff from Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart is already cheap, therefore its cheap stuff is even more sub-par. I bought a so-called “Le Kit de Car-Wash” on Sunday that, among other things, contained “cleaning solution”. It was only after I got home that I bothered to read the back of bottle and discovered, much to my dismay, that it “must never be used on exterior car surfaces” and “Highly corrosive. Avoid contact with skin.” Well, I should have known. Obviously the fact that they supplied a bucket and a variety of sponges and drying cloths should have given it away. Oh, and the “drying cloths”? They had just about the absorbency of tree bark.


On washing your car with dish detergent:

Don’t.

*cough cough*

for those who may been mildly curious about whether or not i played hooky from work on monday...i did. and no worries! i didn't lie...i left a message on my boss' answering machine explaining that i wasn't feeling well (very true at 5:45 in the morning) and that i needed to rest up (also very true as I had been up until 1 the night before talking to Pikka and Erx).

sleeping in till noon was pure bliss until my boss called (not to check up on me, but to ask for something). good thing i was at home and good thing i had just woken up so i sounded convincingly unwell.

and of course, taking the day off had nothing to do whatsoever with the fact that i had a pedicure appointment at a spa later that day.

and monday rolls around yet again .

i realized that today is july 20th and the summer is more than half over. not that it actually matters for me of course, seeing as i don't have any vacation time left for the rest of the flippin' year. bitter? why, not i!

well, actually, the end of summer will mean the end my happy sojourn downtown, and back to suburban living, home-cooked meals and being able to save for RRSP contributions. it will also mean having to wear socks and shoes again, which i will probably try to put off until mid-November. but let's not even go there yet.

i had a really good weekend. actually, i had a really good week, despite last monday morning's harrowing events. i went on a retreat with my church to a resort hotel near St-Sauveur. I know some people perceived the whole event as being some sort of churchwide vacation prior to it happening, but it was far from it. Sure we had fun and that facilities were quite good but I got a lot out of it and I had a good time talking to people from my church that I normally don't get a chance to because of language or generational or cultural differences. And I could see this weekend that all those things that everyone thought was a barrier or hindrance doesn't have to be because people were having fun and sometimes just really good, meaningful conversation.

the past week was just one packed day after another - Just for laughs comdedy show, street festival, movie, dinners and having friends over . Pikka (my roomie) often wonders aloud how I can come from work and be on the go until midnight or so and wake at the next morning before 6 and go to work and then do it all over again. I'm not too sure myself. Sometimes I wonder if I'm just going to collapse one of these days. I think I'm just trying to squeeze as much out of the summer and urban living as much as I possibly can and have fun while I'm at it.

at the same time though, I'm seriously contemplating whether I should call in sick tomorrow morning and sleep in for the first time in 2 months.