Saturday, October 6, 2007

The one in which I provide you with a very dull but seemingly obligatory update

I don't know why I have such an automatic guilty reaction to update posts-- my own, specifically. While I enjoy hearing details of all of your day-to-day lives, I feel dirty, somehow, writing about mine, as though I should be writing about something grander, like big ideas or weird comical overheard conversations.

But, nonetheless, here goes....

I am actually back in Home Town for the Canadian Thanksgiving Long Weekend. It is actually the first Thanksgiving I've spent at home in seven such holidays, which is actually something I am extremely grateful for. Furthermore, my younger sister (and her fantastic pug!) managed to take a quick jaunt back home, so the entire family is together, which is rare for any holiday outside of Christmas. My grandparents and aunt & uncle are coming to dinner tomorrow, too. The Duke is also spending his first holiday with my family *insert ominous music here*. It's just a quick visit, as we managed to find a ride at the last minute with a friend-- but it feels a lot more like Thanksgiving in a smaller town with coloured leaves underfoot and a fire in the fireplace, somehow.

Happy Turkey Day to my fellow Canadians! Hope you can find the time to do a little self-reflection about the good things in life between mouthfuls.

Another important Canadian tradition that has just begun? The hockey season! Two stellar Canadian rivalries on Hockey Night in Canada tonight (Canucks vs. Flames, which is an iconic battle in my day-to-day life, and Leafs vs. Canadians). I'm not generally exceedingly caught up in sports, for the most part (could be because I am so spectacularly clumsy), but hockey is my exception. I grew up collecting hockey cards and crushing on Pavel Bure, and, outside of a brief drop in interest in my mid/late teens, still get pretty involved. I actually just put together my CBC hockey pool team-- true to real life, they made a salary cap within each person's team.

A few other smatterings of news...
The good news-- I had a Wii surprisingly delivered to my doorstep on Thursday! After trying desperately to find out why I never got my money back, I received a call from the HQ of Future Shop saying that, as a result of my complaint to the Better Business Bureau, they had jumped through a bunch of hoops to find me an extra Wii, and would be refunding my shipping fee. A few weeks late, granted, and it is admittedly a little disconcerting that it took the intervention of a 3rd party for the to give me the item I had paid for... but still a pleasant surprise, nonetheless. Maybe my bad luck with big companies is changing!

The somewhat bad news-- Someone ripped out all the fantastic mushrooms from my front lawn. At first, I thought it may have been my landlady, for aesthetic reasons. Then I discovered that fly agaric mushrooms are apparently valued for their hallucinogenic properties (they aren't Magic Mushrooms, per se, but a close substitute), which makes me wonder if they may have been plundered.
On a somewhat related tangent, I once accidentally bought a half-drank bottle of rubbing alcohol. People will do some sketchy things for a buzz.

Lastly, I just wanted to say an honest thank you for the very genuine responses to my last post. It ended up being a little emotionally draining, but cathartic, to write, and I am touched that it inspired such responses from you.

17 comments:

eric1313 said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
eric1313 said...

These seeming "bread and Butter" or "potboiler" update posts are the bridges between your other works. If you didn't write as much as you can, you wouldn't write this good.

You'll find the words you always wanted, the more you write. That's why I pour a lot into comments; I know I will get a return on the investment, because I try to make each correspondence as much as it possibly can be.

You write journal style updates to the best of your ability, well crafted ideas housed within imaginative sentences, as a opposed to a glorified list.

And you can even make fun with the title. Keep rocking ever on!
peace out

Airam said...

Happy Thanksgiving to you too!

I have to say that the Leafs have not been doing so good. I don't understand what's going on with that team but it seems they get worse and worse as the years go by.

Yoda said...

Glad to know you're having fun chillin' with family. How are they taking to the Duke?? So far so good?

My blog has degenerated into an update blog! I rarely post anything about any "topic" as such anymore. I used to, but then the topics I find engaging started giving me headaches.

PG said...

Is it a degeneration to just write about your life? I guess it depends on the purpose of your blog. I figure, if people are still reading, it can't totally suck. I guess it's like the difference between reality tv and documentaries.

Happy Thanksgiving! Glad to hear that bringing your issue to the BBB resulted in something positive. I've always thought that I would love to do research for shows like Marketplace and Venture (on CBC) where they go and expose businesses/industries that try to screw people over.

Lord Chimmy said...

Hold on...you got a Wii? I haven't even seen one in the stores.

Double hold on...you have amantia muscaria mushrooms growing in your front yard? Are you positive? Mushroom identification is difficult from what I've heard.

That being said, I'd be half tempted to eat one.

Ant said...

Hooray for update posts! Variety is the spice of life and that's what makes your blog so interesting...

Probably something to do with the high emotional content of the last one? Difficult to follow something like that.

Happy Thanksgiving! Just don't get too over-zealous with the Wii post-turkey m'kay? Could be messy. :-)

Beth said...

Love your update posts.
And love the fact you are a fellow hockey fan. The Leafs finally won last night! I often wonder what it would be like to root for a team that always wins. Probably boring, right?
Good news about your Wii (such a funny name...)
Enjoy your Thanksgiving with family!

Crushed said...

It was me. I nicked your mushrooms.

I wish these little blue elves would stop pinching me while I write this....

curryegg said...

I have the same motivation too to blog. I am still figuring the reason. And you've a nice blog here! Love the way you write.

Have a nice day..
curryegg

Psych-o by now said...

Happy Thanksgiving!!! I too love my hockey; this must be bred into Canadians. I was sad to see that the Flames and Canadians both lost...as those are my teams.

BTW I really do enjoy reading about your life.

eric1313 said...

oh, yeah...

GO WINGS!

That said, hope you had a fine Turkey Day. We have ours on Thursdays, so we can easily scam up a four day weekend! But I'm jealous for the stuffed with roast turkey high that you're probably enduring right now.

Speaking of high, too bad about the 'shrooms. Next time, and you'll be a mycologist about them.

Crashdummie said...

You shouldn’t feel that, your life is grand enough and your writing profound – that’s why we all come back for more. (but I do know the feeling..)

Hockey! You guyz have some of our finest Swedish lads in your teams innit? ;)

t.k.foster said...

Hopefully Canada has an honorable turkey day unlike us Americans. I didn't know it was earlier than ours though, but hey, that's awesome.

Ashley said...

Update posts just shake it up! I feel like my posts have been very topic based lately. Or too baseball oriented haha.

Happy thanksgiving!

And yay for hockey season! :-)

Anonymous said...

happy thanksgiving!!!
also...hockey is totally my one exception to sports watching! i get hooked!

Princess Pointful said...

Eric- Thanks :). There certainly is a reason that I feel compelled to write such filler posts-- it feels right, somehow, to compose such things, even if they aren't as compelling as other musings.

Airam- I can't deny what you say is true... though Leafs fans are admirable in their continued support!

Yoda- This isn't the first time meeting him, fortunately for everyone involved, but it is the first time they've spent any prolonged time together. It seems to be going quite well thus far-- they all seem to have a certain level of comfort.

And you write good update posts! That's why I keep tuning in!

Psychgrad- In actuality, I don't think it is degeneration, as long as people are still engaged. As I said, I enjoy reading about other people's lived. I guess it just feels contrary to what I often write about, and I worry I may be less good as such things!

Lord Chimmy- For point #1, scroll down a few posts to the one about all the companies I've loathed before to hear how I actually managed to get a Wii. I think all the drama went down when you are still on holidays.
As for Point #2, I'm pretty sure that is the case. Check out the photo a few posts down, and this comparison photo
http://content.answers.com/main/content/wp/en-commons/thumb/0/01/250px-Amanita_muscaria_(fly_agaric).JPG.
It is apparently common in my neck of the woods!

Ant- A hurray, even? ;)
Unfortunately, the Wii is waiting many hours away for our return...

Beth- I much prefer consistent fans to those who only cheer when their team is winning! Though I am a bit of a Habs girl and wasn't too happy with those results...

Crushed- The elves are karma!!

Curryegg- Thanks for dropping by! I'm a little short on blog surfing time while I'm still visiting with the folks, but I will be sure to drop by and visit soon!

Psych-o- Much thanks! And while Calgary is my #2 team, the Canucks are my #1, so I wasn't too disappointed at the way things turned out.

Eric- Lucky! I like that our celebration is a little earlier, as it has gotten me home while Autumn is still fresh.

Crashie- Thanks :)!
Indeed we do- the Canucks are known for their Swedes, including our captain (Naslund), the Sedin twins, and one of our star defensemen (Salo).

Names- Honestly, I should look up why we have an earlier celebration. However, our history in the treatment of our First People isn't much better than the Americans.

Ashley- Yay indeed!! I will be back soon to check said topic posts!

Libby- Cheers to that! Are you a Leafs girl, too?