Jen the Hermit

Yes, I am a hermit. Okay, not exactly, but I will be one up until I leave for Europe. I'm a little disappointed with myself for the fact that I have no self-control when it comes to impulse purchases. And it's not like these impulse purchases are cheap either. Well, what am I talking about? I will tell you...

Friday, August 13, 2010 (Of course it was Friday the 13th!) - Sometime in the morning a couple of guys from work wanted to go to Steve's Music Store to look for a drum box. Me being who I am, I decided to go "for a walk". After they were in the drum room, I made my way down to the acoustic room to look for a guitar for another co-worker just to check if it was still there... it wasn't. No one bought a drum box or anything, so we made our way back to work. Maybe 40 minutes later, it was lunchtime and myself and another co-worker (the one who was looking for a guitar) decided to make a trip back to Steve's. It turns out that we both ended up buying guitars. He got this sweet Fender Strat acoustic/electric. I got this travel size guitar, which is an acoustic/electric guitar. I named him Rocky.

Tuesday, August 17, 2010 - I've been debating getting a new laptop for a while now because my laptop is a piece of shit and doesn't like to work properly. Honestly, it's plugged in, but it doesn't charge anymore. I figured that it was time for something new. It wasn't my plan to buy a new one today though... My plan was to go watch Inception at the Scotiabank Theatre, which is right by work and then head home. Since the movie didn't start until 6:10pm and I finished work at 5, I thought that I should just go to Best Buy and inquire about a Macbook Pro and figure out my finances. Clearly that didn't happen. I bought a damn 15.4 Macbook Pro. WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME?! Anyway, I didn't leave Best Buy early enough to catch Inception so I just went home.

So, if I refuse to go anywhere, it's because I'm broke like a joke and I'm going hide my debit card from myself until it's safe to use again.

Goodnight!

Band T-Shirts

Okay, it's a Saturday afternoon and I am in my room folding laundry... It's what the cool people do on Saturday afternoons after all! Forget the great outdoors. Anyway, as I am folding my clothes, I came across my Black Keys t-shirt and it got me thinking. Why don't more bands have female t-shirts? Not all of their fans and merch purchasers are male you know. This Black Keys shirt is a Youth Large (because they didn't have extra small in the MEN'S adult or any shirts for women) and on the inside it says slim fit. Well let me tell you, this shirt is not slim fitting. It is small around my shoulders because my shoulders are quite broad for my body type, but the rest of the shirt is big. Don't get me wrong. I have a few shirts that do fit me quite nicely, but there have been times when I had to resort to getting youth shirts. That's another thing. Why do bands have youth shirts, especially if they're playing at a 19+ venue? Makes no sense to me. And youth shits, they don't fit the same as women shirts.

This is a message to bands: Please come prepared with nice merch for males and females! Thank you.

People Say...

#1
GUY: "You're a really bad hand holder"
GIRL: "No I'm not!" *in a whiney voice*

#2
GUY: *Walking by Could 9 on Queen Street* "I should really use a vaporizer"

The Formula was WRONG!

Oh World Cup soccer. I remember when I didn't give a shit about this time of year. Well, it's not exactly like that. It's not that I didn't care; I did care a little hoping that certain teams didn't win the cup. I usually cheered for Germany to win.

This year it's a little different. Working where I work, we have pools for everything that goes on (Grammys, Oscars, hockey, World Cup). It makes things fun and interesting. If you can recall, I actually won the hockey pool! World Cup pool, not so much. Well, I'm maybe 3rd or 4th right now. Anyway, I went into this having two teams that I was going to cheer for: #1 Netherlands, and #2 Germany. I actually believed since the quarter finals that it would be a Netherlands and Germany final, with Germany winning it all (yes, even though they are my #2 team). As things turned out today, Germany is not going into the finals. The formula was wrong!

What formula you ask? Well, I've heard about this before that there's a formula that will determine who would win the World Cup. According to this formula, it was supposed to be Germany's turn. I actually found this in the Metro paper this morning, and here it is... I don't know who came up with this by the way.

1. Brazil won the W.C. in 1970 and again in 1994. 1994+1970 = 3,964
2. Argentina won the W.C. in 1978 and in 1986. 1986+1978 = 3,964
3. Germany won the W.C. in 1974 and 1990. 1974+1990 = 3,964
4. Therefore, if you want to figure out who will win the cup this year (clearly NOT right) you subtract 3,964 and 2010... 3,964-2010 = 1954. In 1954, Germany won the cup. INTERESTING!

I'm actually kind of glad that Spain won the game today because I think that they will be hard to beat in the finals, but somehow easier to beat than Germany. Let me just say that it is so awesome that a team that has never won the cup before will win this year. This is Spain's first time in the W.C. final, and Netherlands' third time. You know what they say, 3rd time's a charm!

GO ORANJE!

Are You Neurotic?

I went to the book store today and picked up this book, "I'm a Neurotic (and so are you)" by Lianna Kong and read it all on my bus ride home. It got me thinking to myself, what makes me neurotic/OCD. Here are some things that I can think of:

- I can't have any of my clothes on the floor. I guarantee that if anyone walks into my room, there will not be any article of clothing on my floor. You'll find paper, books, bags, and even tissue, but no clothes. If there are clothes, then they're not mine.

- I hate socks. The first thing I do when I come home is take off my shoes and then socks. This happens at other people's homes too.

- When I pump gas, the price has to be an even number. ie: It has to be $34.20, not $34.22. I'd prefer if it were a solid $34.00 though.

- When I go online, I have to visit my sites in order: Facebook, Twitter, Last.fm, YouTube, and then my emails.

- All of my hangers in my closet need to be hanging the same way. My shirts on the hangers are all facing the same direction too.

- I won't get out of bed in the morning unless it's on every 5 on the minute. ie: I will only get up at 6:40am or 6:45am. I will not get up at 6:46am. I will wait until 6:50am. On weekends it doesn't bother me if I get up at any time. Only during the work week. It will mess up my universe. Okay, it won't mess it up completely, but maybe a little.

- I get really annoyed if the toilet paper roll is underneath. It should be on top!

- I will not leave the house if my bed isn't made. The rest of my room may be a mess, but my bed has to be neatly done.

I'm all out of ideas...

RIOT!

So I've been sitting at home all day watching the news about the G20 and the protests that have been happening since 1 this afternoon. Normally I don't give a shit about protests and anything political, but honestly, the destruction of the city has got to stop.

What's the point of destroying police cruisers anyway? Those can be replaced. Why did they smash windows all over the city? (They even smashed windows of a Tim Hortons!!!!!) What does that prove? As I write this, I'm watching everything happen on TV. Those protesters who burn the police cars are fucking cowards. They see three bus loads of police officers come, and they start running away. These people can't be from the city of Toronto. If they are in fact from Toronto, then they are idiots and should just fucking leave. They are destroying a beautiful city.

Let me state, I'm not for the G20 meeting here. In fact, I think that it is extremely stupid to hold something like this in Canada's largest and busiest city. It's stopping the way of life for a lot of people and costing a lot of money. I wonder what I'm going to see on my way to work on Monday. What will Queen Street look like? Only time will tell.

MSN Messenger?

What ever happened to MSN? Well, I'm sure that people still use it but I don't anymore. I remember maybe 3 or 4 years ago, I couldn't live without it. I needed that instant connection to people when I was bored. Now when I sign on, I find it boring that I just automatically sign out. What has happened? Could it be the growing use of Facebook? Could it be that I'm actually growing up and see that there's actually life outside of the Internet? As I say that, here I am writing this on a blog that no one really reads. Anyway, why isn't MSN as "hip" as it was before? Anyone have answers for me?

I won the money! The money is mine!

I forgot to update... I won the hockey pool at work! Now I'm in the World Cup Soccer pool. I'm just your everyday gambler now, aren't I? Okay, I'm not. I'm going to do terrible in the soccer pool.

California Dreamin'

Today is June 1st. Do you know what that means? Well, let me tell you. I'm going to California! See ya'll in a week! Maybe I'll actually get around to updating the photo blog when I'm back.

P00F!

The "Scenic" Route part 3

I had a 3 hour commute home today. It was less than fun, but not bad. Okay, well not all good, but not all bad. Here it is. I took notes on my phone since I did have 3 hours. Oh, and let me also state that I was wearing shoes (flats) that are too small for me. Okay, and we go...

• Left work at 4:40pm to get a head start on commuter's traffic
• Got on a non-air conditioned subway at Osgoode station to St. George
• There's a "mechanical problem" aka smell of smoke on track level at Dundas West station and all of the trains are out of service from Christie station.
• Approximately at 5:10pm get on packed Christie station platform and struggle to make my way outside
• Walk to Ossington station and got on a bus. Good thing it was air conditioned. I was hot and sweaty.
• Got off at Queen and Ossington and walked to 3 streetcar stops... I have my reasons
  
• After three streetcars drove by, I finally got on and went to Long Branch station and arrived at 6:23pm
• At Long Branch station the Mississauga bus on Dixie takes off as I'm walking towards it. FML
• Change of plan. The Lakeshore bus to Clarkson arrives. I decide to take that route instead and transfer at Clarkson. I didn't want to wait 15 minutes for the Dixie bus. It's 6:38pm
  
• Thank goodness for air conditioned buses. Why were the windows open?
• Of course, there is construction on Lakeshore and the bus driver was driving slower than I like or I'm used to.
• Arrived at Port Credit station at 6:51pm and sat there for 3 minutes.
• Arrived at Clarkson station at 7:08pm. The 45 bus was behind the bus that I was on so there's no way that I would miss it going home.
• Finally on my last mode of public transportation for the day. On the 45 going home at 7:10pm
• In my house at 7:41pm.

All of this is true. And the best part was, the train problems cleared at about 5:20pm. FANTASTIC! At the same time, I probably would've been crammed into a hot, stinky, and sweaty subway car and would have to wait a long time before I actually got on. So, was the scenic route worth it? Maybe, I don't know. I'll find out tomorrow.

The "Scenic" Route part 2

I love long weekends! It's a much needed day off, especially in the hot weather. Anyway, on the way home from being in St. Catharines, I knew that there would be a lot of traffic since it was the long weekend and there were many people coming home from the States. I've done the drive on the QEW so many times and even when it's not a holiday, there's traffic.

I decided that I would not take the highway all the way home because I wanted to avoid traffic. With this, I ended up driving all the way through downtown Burlington and most of Oakville on Lakeshore. I don't know what it is, but people don't like to go past the speed limit there. It was a little irritating, especially since I just wanted to get home, but it was also really scenic. I liked driving by the lake and seeing houses that I can't ever afford. Therefore, it was a scenic route. It took me about an hour and 20 minutes to get home, which isn't too bad.

Ahhhh traveling. The Scenic Route part 3 coming soon. I mean, really soon.

FAILED

I completely failed the May challenge of going to the gym at least twice a week. Let me state that I haven't been the the gym at all this month. In my defense, I've been pretty busy...I guess lazy too. Today I spent my lunch break basking in the sun and getting some vitamin D. At least I went back to work not feeling tired.

There are only two more weeks until I'm off and enjoying the California sun. Those two weeks can't come any faster!

Now in hockey pool news, I am in first place again! For how long though, I don't know. Tonight is the crucial game 7 in the semi-finals in the Eastern Conference. I have a player from Boston, and three from Philly. Clearly I need Philly to win for the sake of the pool, but I want Boston to win for the sake of the game. How awesome would it be with an original 6 final? When did I become such a hockey freak?

Anyway, this blog is boring. I'm going to eat now.

Round 1: DONE!

So the first round of the NHL Playoffs are done, and I stand in 3rd place. I'm telling you, these standings are all over the place! So last night was the upset of the WHOLE series when Montreal, the 8th seed knocked out the 1st seed, Washington. Now, most people in the work pool loaded up their picks with Washington players and some people only have 4 players left for the rest of the playoffs! Luckily for me, I didn't choose any Washington players, so all of my picks are still in. Again, anything can happen. We'll just wait and see.

In other news, I totally gave up on the April challenge. I was pretty damn close too! I just needed SOMETHING go to with my lunch, so I went to a restaurant and got some Vietnamese spring rolls. They were delicious and totally worth it.

I have my May challenge set. I'm going to go to the gym AT LEAST twice a week. I've been really lazy and I think that I should do this.

The "Scenic" Route

Yesterday after work I decided to take the "scenic" route home. This was not the most intelligent idea I've had because it took two and a half hours to get home. At least I cured my curiosity. What is the scenic route you ask? Well, I took the streetcar from Queen and St. Patrick all the way to Long Branch. (It's much more scenic than the subway because I don't really get to see the light of day). I think that this took ultra long because it was rush hour, and I didn't realize how far Long Branch really was. So the streetcar ride took about an hour of my time. When I got to Long Branch, I transferred onto Mississauga Transit and took the 5 Dixie bus to Eastgate, where I caught the 109 for the rest of the way home. Needless to say, I started my commute at 5, and got home at 7:30pm. I will not be taking this way again unless there is some kind of problem on the subway.

In other news, I got my laptop back! No more Windows Vista for me. I'm back to XP, and it feels great! I still have to add my music to it and get my Adobe CS4 back, and everything will be fine.

In case you were wondering what's happening in the hockey pool, well I am falling down... fast! I am now in 8th place. I guess that it's still first round, but I think I'll be screwed by the time the second round starts. I think I should've chosen Crosby. If I did, I'd be in first again. Oh well. It's just a game. Is it bad that I'm having dreams about the pool?

NHL Pool

At work, there are about 30 people in the hockey pool. It's actually kind of tough because right now (and all weekend) I sit in first place, with a 3 point lead. Anything can happen. It turns out that most of my points came from the Flyers. With that, I need New Jersey to lose and Philly to move ahead. As much as I want a Chicago and Washington final, I think it would be even better with some kind of upset with (I can't believe I am going to say this...) Montreal defeating Washington and Ottawa defeating Pittsburgh in the first round. It seems that most people at work chose Ovechkin and Crosby as their players, which is a smart move because they are the high scorers and get assists. BUT, if they get put out in the first or second round, I have a chance to really clean up!

What am I going to do with my winnings? (there's over $100 in the pool) I am going to buy everyone lunch! Well, get it brought in from a restaurant that was in front of our old building. Hopefully I can feed everyone... IF I WIN!

Exception #2

Since my computer is super slow and I'm trying to rip a CD into iTunes, I figure that I should just make use of my time and update on the challenge.

So last night it was Astrid's class' screenings of their films. I knew that I would have to use an exception to eat because I was NOT going to go home to Mississauga and then head back downtown. We went and ate at Duff's, a good wing place in Toronto. Now, their wings are not like Wild Wing where they have a large variety of flavours. They have the basics, but it was very delicious. And unlike Wild Wing, when they say that their medium is spicier than most medium flavour wings, they're not lying. I find that Wild Wing's hot wings taste like a medium. Sauce fail.

Today at work, I actually didn't bring a lunch because I got taken out for lunch. YAY! We went to Jack Astors and I had a garden salad to start, burger and fries, and then the world's smallest brownie for dessert. And then when I got home, Chris ordered pizza. Today was working out for me.

In completely different news, I'm inspired. That is all.

Exception 1

I think that I've been doing pretty well with the "April Challenge". I have used my first exception yesterday. I went to the Jays home opener, so I really didn't have a choice but to buy food. Well, it was either buy food or starve. I didn't want to starve. After an hour of walking downtown Toronto trying to find somewhere we landed at Swiss Chalet (of course!)

Today I have pasta AGAIN. SURPRISED?

Now, change of subject. Hockey pool! Will I win? Probably not.

April Challenge: Day 6

I'm totally a one-trick pony. Guess what I brought in for lunch again today? Yes, pasta that needed Tabasco and cake that my mom made. This is what last minute does. And once again, I'm starving as I write this, and I will run into my kitchen as soon as I get home. That will be in about 2 hours and 10 minutes. Shit.

April Challenge: Day 5

Since it's April 5th, this would make it the 5th day of the challenge. I forgot to write this earlier, so I'm doing it now. So for the past five days, I haven't bought any meals. I did make a trip to the grocery store, but that doesn't count.

Today, I had some angel cake... this didn't fill me up at all! And pasta for lunch. As I was in a rush this morning, I didn't see how much I had actually packed for myself, and of course it wasn't enough. As I'm typing this, I am making myself even more hungry. It's almost home time, and I'm going to stuff my face with some home-cooked food!

3 exceptions still available.

Believe it or not...

RX Bandits tweeted me!!!

Incase you're wondering, I am typing this on my desktop computer! That's right, it's fixed. I had to make a trip to Best Buy to get a power supply. The computer is still painfully slow, but at least it works.

Happy Easter! Tomorrow, I will update on the whole April challenge. Enjoy the beautiful day. I'm going to play guitar outside. PEACE!