another note about the party: after saying my speech, the dj put on "hey jude" and almost everyone danced to it. at one point near the end of the song, all of us were singing along. it felt like a damn movie but it was also very moving.

my mom & dad won't stop talking about it, which means i done good. i printed off some thank-you cards for mom today which i will give her tomorrow so she can send notes to everyone.

SUCCESS! My God, SUCH a success! The turn-out for mom & dad's 30th was MARVELLOUS and they were completely surprised! No idea whatsoever. Mad props to my brother R & his girlfriend MW for not only giving them both an ulcer this week (they said they wanted to take hers & his parents out for dinner, to tell them something. My parents thought it was either marriage or MW was pregnant, and they were heavily leaning on the second one), but also for managing to convince them to put blindfolds on.

Once they got in MW's care they told my parents that we had all chipped in and got them something really big for their garden, but it was a total surprise so they had to be blindfolded. They brought them into the hall blindfolded and as they walked in the DJ announced their arrival and off the blindfolds went. We found the music to their wedding song (Speak Softly Love) and it was playing as they got in the door. My dad immediately started to cry and my mom too. Neither of them had any idea and they were so happy (not to mention relieved that MW is NOT pregnant, haha) and I'm so glad we did this for them.

The music was TERRIFIC and Mark (the DJ) really knows how to play with the crowd. We had a mock wedding set up for them as well, I managed to find a terrific and huge afro wig and restored mom's original wedding veil and we had vows that said things like, "I promise to lift the lid" and "only 1 new piece of furniture a year".

I managed to say a speech about how my parents got together (which I'll post the contents of later) without crying until just afterward. My mom & dad started off the dancing with Elvis Presley's "Love me Tender". Then we had a song dedicated to dad Rod Stewart's "Do Ya Think I'm Sexy" because he loves that song, then a song dedicated to mom Guns N Roses "Sweet Child O Mine" because SHE loves that song, and my friends I tell you that all the youngsters were very impressed that MY mom was rocking out to GNR. My mom is cooler than your mom, neener neener. (you'd understand this better if you knew my mom, whose home has museum-quality decor - you actually expect to see the velvet ropes across some of the rooms - and everything is impeccable. now picture this house with "welcome to the jungle" blasting out of it on christmas morning. yes.)

Everyone seemed to have a great time and I am completely exhuasted but so, so happy. I was up till late Thursday night and woke up early Friday and was gogogo all day long getting everything ready. Right now I have my cousins JPk, L & her fiance JC (they're getting married in 3 weeks, eeee) sleeping over. In spite of getting to bed at 1:30 I once again woke up with the birds at 5:30. JPk, L & I are going to meet L's friend T in London later today for L's bachelorette getaway!!!! So hopefully I can get a nap in before then.

I'll write more later (tho frankly this is the most I've written in a while, go me) just wanted to jot a few of the finer details down before I forget them.

Have a great weekend everyone.

I'm wearing the same grin, I take it all on the chin
I still believe everything that I read
and sometimes it's hard, sometimes it's harder
sometimes it's on sale, sometimes it never fails
I have a psychic and she says I'm lonely
she says my destiny is turning out all wrong
so now I just sit here
and think of meaningful things to say

it'stodayit'stodayit'stodayIT'STODAY!

i feel like i should be at work. but soon i will be too busy to remember that i feel that way.

and with one touch all the roaring and crashing of my waves become nothing but sea foam.

trailer for Tim Burton's "Corpse Bride"!!!

whee! I love Tim Burton!

my hands smell like varsol know because i had to use it to get caulking glue off of them. i just scraped all the sealing around the bathtub off and re-sealed it. it looks a little messy right now but I will spiffy it up when it dries a little more so it doesn't get all over the damn place, ie my toes (which it already did, don't ask how)

i also have to replace a piece of the wall behind the tile as it is completely destroyed. and re-tile where the destruction took place.

my dad is teaching me. he is the one that brought over the caulking gun and showed me how to use it.

next week i may replace the toilet seats as the ones we have now are looking pretty worn out har har.

this is all from a fit of me wanting to paint the bathroom upstairs and realizing i have to fix up areas in the bathroom first before doing that.

i also have to replace the weatherstrip on our front door and the screen needs either mending or replacing as well.

i think i'm getting all this energy to do this stuff now because of SO being on straight afternoons.

i *should* be conserving the energy to do dishes... but i HATE dishes. of all the chores on the planet, cleaning dishes is the one i loathe the most. THE MOST.

SO bought me a dishwasher for mother's day one year, and even with that thing, i still hate it. HATE IT.

ALL CAPS.

HOORAH.

So far the layoff count is up to 13 salary employees with more to come. That's how my week has been. ONE employee rather than even being considered for layoff, actually QUIT. He said he refused to work for a place that treats its employees in the manner that it has treated these. The layoffs were done in a shady fashion with a lot of skulking and facetiousness on the part of the managers etc. So our chemist said "that's it, I'm done" and quit with no notice. THey asked him to behave professionally about this and he said he WAS behaving professionally by sticking to his professional standards and refusing to work under a company that lies, manipulates, and otherwise disrespects its employees on a daily basis. This was just icing on the cake for him.

My parents' surprise 30th anniversary party is next Friday and my mother is suddenly being all psychic or something and calling me on a daily basis to say "What is wrong? Are you keeping something from me? Why are you avoiding me?" and etc. Ahhhhhhhh I will just die if she finds out because of her needling; I have worked for MONTHS on this surprise and we are so close now...

I have put together some mock-wedding vows which are pretty funny. My mom's maid of honor RC is coming... unfortunately, Dad's best man died last year, he was RC's husband.

I have so much to do and not enough time to do it.

Ok time for work, hopefully I'll be coming home with a nice severance (har har).

so i'm a bad journaller and didn't write aboutK's first soccer game, which will now be lost to the ages. short form: he kept forgetting he wasn't allowed to pick up the ball, so he would sometimes and throw it away from everyone and chase it down the field. he also can run like the wind and once he gets some style going, he will be a phenomenal player. no joke sir.

He scored a goal last game which had him reeling with excitement! 'MOM I SCORED FIVE GOALS' um honey you only scored the one 'OK BUT SHH I WANNA PEETEND I SCORED FIVE K?' His team won 3-1 which made him even happier.

C was goalie yesterday and she managed to stop quite a few which I am fiercely proud of because in general she is a bit afraid of the ball - too many times being hit by said ball in either the noggin or belly from high-kicking team mates during practice. Her team won as well, 7-2.

A few people I ran into at the game last night asked me why I didn't choose to coach this year, as they thought I had did marvellously last year. I had no real response to that as I had no idea and didn't want to this year because I have enough on my plate.

Relay for Life went really well, it was pretty moving to see the survivors do the first lap. The luminary bags lit up the track wonderfully and the rain managed to stay away for most of the night. Looking at the bags left a curious lump in my throat as I saw my grandfather's name printed on some of them. It is almost a sickness that I can still miss him this much, 7 years after the fact. I suppose it is testimony to how much he meant to me.

When I love someone I love them with my whole self. So when they die, it feels like a part of my self goes with them. That's why I ache. That being said, I find it very difficult to allow myself to get to the point where I love someone. So if you are on the list, be glad.

So I picked up the new Killers album, "Hot Fuss", which is an event to be marked because I honestly cannot remember the last time I purchased an actual CD. I really like it; it is catchy and reminds me of blur, minus the drug-addled voice.

I have a bridal shower to go to this afternoon for my friend Sm, who is getting married the weekend before L. Two weddings in a row! Whooboy. The nice thing is... I can wear the same dress to both because nobody I know from one camp knows anybody from the other camp so hurrah!


One of our financial controllers who has been working for the company for 16 years just got the boot this week, and is being replaced by one from the Griffin plant = the Griffin plant is being shut down? Why would we invest in a financial controller who probably contributed to part of the Griffin problem? I don't get people.

Next weekend is my cousin CS's grade 8 grad party. I cannot tell you how strange it is to know that, because I still remember rocking back and forth with her in my arms when she was a baby.

too fucking hot and tired to post much more than "hi i am alive and no worries about me"

lots went on, i laughed i cried i liked it better than "Cats"...

who is archie meant to be with, betty or veronica?