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The majority of the time Wil plays, I am sitting in my corner of the couch either reading or watching him play. The story line of this game is actually very rich and intriguing. I get kinda caught up in that. And, it seems it's more fun if I am there to watch, in fact, sometimes it seems necessary. I enjoy following the missions and seeing what unfolds as he completes each one. The game is gorgeous and I love seeing the new territories as he unlocks them. Also, I'm in charge of outfits. That's a general rule for all video games. If there are outfit changes, I am in charge of picking them out.
But there is another approach to playing the game in which I don't have much interest. We call it Going On A Rampage.
Me: Honey, what are you doing? Why did you shoot that guy in the face?
Wm: He pushed me. I have a rep to protect.
Me: But that was completely unnecessary. Oh now look what you've done, the police are here. You are going to have to lose your wanted level and you'll be late for your date with Kate.
Wm: It's no big deal, I'll out run them in 2 seconds.
Me: You'd better call her and reschedule. She's going to be mad.
Wm: It's all good.
Me: Oh now look what you've done! Shooting at the police from your car is not helping. Kate is going to be so mad. Is it necessary to smash into every other car on the road?
Wm: Yes. Yes it is. Because we are GOING ON A RAMPAGE!!
Me: sigh.
I can see why it would be fun to Go On A Rampage if you were playing the game. I'm just saying it's not as interesting to me to watch. That's all.
The other day Wil handed the controller to me and told me to just "drive to Manny's while I go the bathroom."
I told him it was a bad idea. I don't know what I was trying to do, maybe turn left, I don't know how to work the controls for this game, but what I actually did was stick my gun out the window and start shooting. At cops. Naturally a chase ensued, and with my complete lack of GTA driving skill, I managed a head on collision so massive that it sent me flying out the windshield, over a wall and onto some docks. Nowhere near any cars to to steal, like I even knew how to do that in the first place. So I panicked and started running amuck, trying to get away from the police. Only I accidentally went into a "crouch" and could not get out of it. So I was actually Creeping Away from the cops. Will comes back just when I am being arrested. Because I was arrested and not killed in a shootout or something, Wil lost all the weapons he had been collecting up to that point.
I TOLD him it was a bad idea. Just drive to Manny's indeed.
]]>"So, do you like it better up here?"
Uhh... how to answer that politely. Because, let's face, I am Canada's house guest, and I don't want to offend. And the truth is, no, I don't.
To be fair, this is not a US vs. Canada issue. Or a Seattle vs. Vancouver issues. This is a Seattle vs. everywhere else on the planet issue. And no one has got a chance of beating it. Of all the places in the world, I love none so much as I love Seattle. I have never found another place that makes me feel like I am "home," like Seattle. It fits me.
It just so happens I found someone I love more than I love Seattle. And so here I am. And it's great. I do like it up here.
First of all, Seattle and Vancouver? Not that different. Or at least similar enough to suit me.
And living in a country that truly does consider all men created equal, allowing anyone to get married, not just the heterosexuals? AWESOME. Even though I am not looking to marry a woman anytime soon, I can't help but feel that Canada is the enlightened one on this continent. (Really, U.S., it's embarrassing, we have to start taking those "self evident" truths more seriously. In all manners of speaking.)
Thirdly, wheat thins taste better here*. They do, I don't know why. They are crispier. Taste more baked than fried. Bring me a box of US Wheat Thins and we'll have a taste test at my house. I will make you some cream cheese and Pickapeppa sauce dip, but you have to bring the Pickapeppa sauce, because I can't find it here.
One of my favorite things? Skytrain. I WISH Seattle had something like the Skytrain.
I hear the beer is better here, which really does not matter to me, but I have to give it props for that. However, don't get me started on the price of gas. No, don't. Because I was listing off things I like about Canada.
So like it better? No. But I like it just fine.
*things really do taste different. Conversely, Double Stuff Oreos do not taste good. I'm sorry, the "stuff" is weird up here.
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I have tried, numerous times, to scoop him up and take him outside. He has evaded me, thus far.
His name is Boris. Duh. All spiders are named Boris or Natasha. Thems the rules. I don't makes them and I don't breaks them.
]]>We pulled in at 11, and then walked over to the Timothy Horton's for coffee. When we pulled in, there were two people sitting by the door. By 11:15, there were about 14, so Wil got in line. I stayed in the car until about 11:45. It's a good thing he got in line, because by the time I joined him, it went around the building. It's not that we wouldn't get a copy. We were guaranteed a copy since I pre-ordered a special edition copy for his birthday weeks ago. (It was from the kittens) It was just a matter of how long we had to wait once the store opened. They were only letting 10 people in at a time. It's a rather small store, that EB games.
Like I said, it was mostly guys in line. Boys... guys... men.... all shapes and sizes and ages, and all obsessed. I had no doubt the second Wil joined the line he would have someone to talk to. They were all buzzing with excitement. There was a dad type fellow who was there with a kid, no older than 8. (Didn't that kid have to go to school this morning? That's all I want to know. ) The kid apparently knew a couple of guys in line behind us, and spent most of the time back there, filling their heads with random facts.
"Did you know that Bill Gates is the richest man in the world, but Madonna's kids are worth more."
He also implied that he'd seen both American History X and Porky's, to which both gentlemen professed some degree of distress. I have to admit, when he started talking about Porky's, I might have gasped a little. This kid was young.
Apparently it was all too much for the boys in line, that last ten minutes. The Dad started utilizing the Kid to trick the EB lady in opening the door early. The kid was all over this task. He was begging, pleading, professing a wicked need to pee. But to no avail. Finally the kid slapped the door and shouted "You're mean!" A collected gasp was heard through out the line. The dad sent him back to the two guys behind us, while everyone said "Whoa, dude... you took it too far."
This is Canada after all.
]]>Woot! Maybe in time for my birthday?
]]>They are almost too wonderful to be true.
]]>Dude, we totally should have gotten married in April instead of July. Cuz then we'd be married on 420! Heh-heh-heh-heh. (distinctive pot smoker laugh) And like, for our first anniversary, we could have gotten each other rolling papers, right? Cuz the traditional first anniversary present is supposed to be paper or something. I think. I used to work at Hallmark, I should know this shit.
But we didn't. So today we are only at the 9 month mark. Which means Wil has finally figured out we didn't HAVE to get married. Sure pulled a fast on him, eh?
Since there is no such thing as a 9 month anniversary, I bought myself a present, a flash drive, which I had been wanting for a while. Had to have it. Had to.
I've seen this on a couple of different blogs. Most recently Us and Themand A Million Monkeys Typing.
]]>Today is Wil's birthday. Yay! For his birthday I got him an iPod Nano, black. He wants to start running and it has some sort of jogging kit you can get. You put something in your Nike shoe... I'm not sure how it works, but he's already got the Nikes. Plus, he wanted a small mp3 player for said running. I can't think of a single reason why you'd want anything but one of the many flavors of iPod, especially as a mac user.
My mom and Bob bought him a Hunter S. Thompson for Sheriff of Aspen CO 1970 poster. AKA: The coolest poster in the world, according to
Wil. My goodness my mom knows him well.
The kittens pre-ordered the special edition of Grand Theft Auto 4 for him. He's only been waiting like a year and half for it. I swear to god his head is going to explode, now that we are at the 10 days and counting point. In fact, while pre-ordering it, I found out that the EB Games is having a midnight release party. So we can actually pick it up on Monday night. Technically, it will be the 29th, but physically, we'll still be feeling the 28th.
So yes, we will be sitting in the parking lot late Monday night, waiting to pick up his copy. Looking like a couple of huge gamer geeks. Actually, looking like one gamer geek and his wife who drove him there. Because she is so sweet. And intelligent. And kinda hot, too.
We are off to Pinky's for a birthday steak dinner. Hooray for meat!
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Anyway, I have a question that's long been on my mind. It's about blog comments. It's two questions I want to ask you really.
1. If you are a blogger, how do you handle your comments? Do you reply directly to people by email? Do you respond in the comments section of your own blog? Do you even reply at all?
2. If you are a commenter on many blogs, how do you like your comments handled? Do you like them to be acknowledged in the comments section? Do you go back and check for responses? Do like to get emails if you comment warrants a response?
I ask because I go back and forth. As a commenter, I don't always go back to a post to see if my comments are acknowledged, I read too many blogs. Many blogs have "Subscribe to this post" features and I really like that. It allows me to get email follow up comments on any posts on which I comment, if I so choose. Some people get soooo many comments, I don't really want an email follow up for each one. I like the conversational tone of acknowledging comments in the comments section, and I like the idea that other people can see your response. In the past, this is how I handled all comments.
On the other hand, there are blogs that acknowledge my comments with emails and I really like that too. I've gotten to know certain bloggers better, simply because of an established email relationship. I tend to do that a bit more now, email responses to commenters. I always try to send an email response to a new commenter no matter what, just to say "hi!" But I miss the conversational tone my comments used to have back in the day.
So its a quandary to me, how to handle comments. I was curious what you guys thought, what you prefer.
]]>During those darker early months of 2008, I lost my appetite for a while, and I couldn't make myself eat anything. After I got my appetite back, I waited to see if I put the weight back on when I started to eat, but it's been a couple months and all my pants are still too big. So, I need new pants. You'd think having Too Big pants would be plenty comfortable. But it's not. I have to wear a belt to keep them up, which is pinchy. And they make me feel, well, dumpy in the seat.
There was a fatter time in my life when I thought I might learn to enjoy shopping, when I could shop in any store I wanted. But you know what? I still hate it. I am a creature of habit. If I find a shirt I like, I buy more of them in different colors. I used to wear the same type of Levi's, I had several pair, never bothered with anything else because they fit and were comfortable. Losing weight forced me to try new paints, but I still gravitate to the same stores over and over. Gap, Old Navy, American Eagle Outfitters and whomever sells Levi's.
Imagine my despair to find that my style of American Eagle Outfitter's jeans seem to be discontinued, the remaining stock all the wrong size. The biggest problem is that I actually got compliments wearing those jeans. If someone compliments in a pair of jeans? Well, I immediately go out and buy more of them. I don't think anyone has every complimented my jeans before, come to think of it. So that was a Big Deal.
The Gap didn't have anything I wanted in the proper length. I don't even understand what Old Navy has done to their jeans, and everything in the Levi's store is all fancy and skinny legged. Or sooper flared. Obviously I'm not a fashion plate.
I know what you are thinking. You are thinking "Shut up, Jodi! You have to buy pants in a SMALLER SIZE! Boo-hoo!"
You're right. I'm shutting up.
]]>Last December, before Christmas, I took her into Michael's, along with the Jim Henson/ Kermit Think Different poster and two NaNoWriMo posters, to be framed. They were having a 50% off sale, and I wanted something nice. And oh man were they helpful. We probably spent about an hour and half, choosing matting and frames. The NaNo posters were especially difficult, colorwise. It took 3 frame dept people to figure it out, with much debate. Finally, we had everything spec'd out and he started to write up the estimate. That is something he maybe should have done after the first poster, I could have saved us all a lot of time. The Think Different posters are 24 x 36, the NaNo posters 18 x 24, and really, that is quite large for a custom frame job. Each poster had a relatively inexpensive frame, but three levels of matting. It was so nice.It really made a difference.
When he added up the total for just Amelia, I almost passed out. I was expecting it to be less than that at 100%. At 50% it was ridunculously expensive. Let me put it this way, I could have framed all prints as planned, or I could have bought my husband a black MacBook with an extra gig of ram for Christmas with that kind of money. If I had that kind of money lying about. Which I did not.
I decided to go ahead and have Amelia framed. We tried reducing the cost by removing some of the matting, but it just looked so much better the way we planned it out. It hurt me to pay that much, believe me. It was extortion. I don't even have Jim and Kermit on the wall because I couldn't bare to have them look all naked and plain next to Amelia.
The picture does not do it justice. She really does look fabulous.
Amelia: Hey.. look at me!
Me: You look good.
Amelia: I look FANTASTIC. My posture has never been better. Can you hear me from behind the glass?
Me: Loud and clear.
Amelia: Sweet. Do you think you can wipe off that fingerprint in the lower right corner? I don't want to look smudgy.
Me: I'm on it.
But one of my favorite things about it is the building-wide water heater. In my mind, it's behemoth. The entire building shares it. This means that we rarely run out of hot water. We can take showers as long as we want, and still have hot water. You can stand under a hot pounding stream of water for however long it takes to beat the sore outta your muscles. Or you can sit on floor of the shower and contemplate your life, with water cascades down on you like unusually warm rain.
If you want to know my mood the last couple of days, just go listen to Neko Case's Blacklisted album.
In the meantime, let's hover like bees.
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