Running Running Running

Gahhh, it's been a crazy week. Work is suddenly crazy busy and I am doing about 1000 other things in that way that I always do things where I sign myself up for too many things for me to handle and then it all gets stressful. Have I written this before? It's seeming familiar.

Yesterday we worked at a conference that we were a major sponsor of where business people who apparently have $500 to toss around to come and listen to 'inspirational' speakers. Last year it was Bill Clinton & Mark Burnett. Yesterday it was Michael Eisner and Sir Richard Branson (and others). Michael Eisner only reminds me of watching Disney movies on Sunday nights when he would introduce the movies. Mr Boogedy, Child of Glass (scariest movie ever - gave me nightmares for weeks), The Girl Who Spelled Freedom.

What was really interesting was running into an old 'friend' of mine, this guy I dated like 5 times, who was quite smart and witty but a total conservative. As in, he loved the political party. He was a 'young conservative' and attended events and wanted to one day run for office. He had posters of conservative leaders in his room and asked me on our first date how I voted in the last election. The funny thing was that I voted NDP (far left) and only ever fought with him over politics. He drove me crazy, but not in a good way. He was actually one of 3 conservatives that I dated and dumped. Strange guys who were proud to show their love for a party I loved to hate.

Then last night I went to see a film with Karen but Gael Garcia Bernal didn't show up. (He produced the film). Oh Gael, when will you realize you and I are meant to be? We can work past the height difference, I promise.

Exhausted, I was working at a job fair today, that mostly had new immigrants looking for work. It was depressing but still hope-filled when we felt we could help them. I like seeing people get a fresh start. They are a courageous group.

So, after the fair I was taking the bus home, exhausted and sleeping on my feet after long days and late nights and as it was my stop, I rang the bell and went to reach for the swinging handle to grab hold of so that I wouldn't fall down as the bus pulled to a stop but it just grazed my hand and I yelled "Ohhhuuuuuuuuuuhhhaaaaa" in a strange voice and then fell over and slammed on the foot of the girl behind me. People were openly staring at me. I was so tired that I just started laughing out loud and then they stared more. Sometimes I worry if I am crazier than I realize.

Not as crazy as people who get Clay Aitkins tattoos. Please see all of these!! two three four Although once a girl I worked with got a tattoo of a teddy bear sitting on an anchor. That was a nice one.

Africa Theme Night

First Daratt, a film at TIFF from Chad, with Matt. Then Ethiopian food for the first time in 6 months, with TUSKER! Could it be any better? Just like Indian Theme night, 13 months ago!

Work is getting crazy busy. So is life. I always do this. I take on way too many responsibilities and things start to spin out of control. I'm hoping to survive this next month or two of craziness though. I think I will. I'll try not to complain too much.

Sunny

The weather today was perfect. It made me unbelievably happy. I was nearly skipping down the street after brunch today. It was sunny and warm but a little bit crisp. Instant happiness. I have all these great memories in my head of days in the past when I have enjoyed such weather.

- Walking along Jericho Beach in Vancouver one October
- Sitting in a park bench in Copenhagen one Thanksgiving
- Lying on the grass one September at York University
- Walking along the path at Hiawatha in "the soo" one September

Today I had brunch, took a walk, was sucked into watching 3 episodes of Grey's Anatomy (a show I have only just gotten into and so my roommates and I are obsessively consuming the first season), did some laundry and sat on a bench outside a school drinking tea and wearing a summer dress with a jacket and flipflops. Perfect weather. Great day.

When bunnies scream...

I hate mornings. The only reason that I love starting work at 8am is because I can avoid interacting with people by leaving for work at 7 instead of 8. If someone merely bumps into me in the morning, I want to bite their ears off. So this morning leaving at 545 for the subway for the long, nearly 2 hour journey to a "networking breakfast" which we were some of the people the students were networking with, I was not in great spirits on the ride out. 2 things that made this morning a little more interesting:

1) It helped me to see that the woman sitting in front of me in the nice outfit had her sweater on inside out. Very obviously on inside out - labels out, seams, everything. Is it bad that I didn't tell her? I mean, there is nothing she could have done on the bus. Maybe I should have told her.

2) Once at the event when setting up with my colleagues, I went to reach below the table to grab something and bashed my face full force on the table. My lip got smashed and swelled up and my nose was hit causing my eyes to tear. It also made a terrible enough noise to make everyone go "WHOA, are you OK?". Hi, my name is Kathryn and I am a spazz. (Either that or it's karma for not telling the lady her sweater was on inside out).

I think things like that happen to me when I am nervous. One time the most strange thing happened. I was an exchange student in Denmark and on like my 3rd day of school some girls from my class invited me to go to the bakery to get a few danish (the pastry) during lunch (don't even get me started on how good they are - 30 pounds speak for themselves), and I went and got a julekage and a coke and we sat at a picnic table and they talked to me and were all nice speaking English to me and making me feel welcome. My hand was on my coke bottle and I can't explain happened next but I was just listening to someone talk and I went to pick up my coke when suddenly my hand slammed the coke down onto the table, banging and causing coke to fly out of the bottle all over myself and the girls. They just sat there staring at me wondering what I had done and I had no idea, nor did I have any way of explaining why my hand spazzed the way it did. I just sat there in silence, my face burning, my hand still gripping the damned coke bottle.

OK, terrifying, nightmare-inducing video of a bunny screaming... (link via dooce)

Hot Tramp, I Love You So

Usually in the fall I like to listen to things like Simon & Garfunkel or Cat Stevens. For some reason right now, nothing else sounds right except for David Bowie. I am obsessed. I love it when that happens. Every song of his is FANTASTIC to me right now. Although I know that inevitably I will listen to SO MUCH Bowie that I won't be able to listen to him again for a while.
Ugh. Tomorrow I have to get up at 5:30 to head to a networking breakfast. That doesn't sound like much fun. All I can say is good thing for coffee and my extra large sunglasses to shield me from light and people for the first hour of the day until I get to the event. Although if there is bacon there, that might make me feel a LITTLE bit better about the whole thing.

Did I miss something?

On the subway today: Guy with mullet... ok, yes I understand that is coming back... and SALLY JESSIE RAPHAEL GLASSES - but white frames. Big white framed glasses. Not sunglasses. Glasses. And a mullet. And stylish clothes. What the hell? Was that EVER in style? Why is it now? I'm so confused.

Also on transit, there was a jerk sitting behind me on the streetcar complaining about women and talking on his phone and had no idea what time it was and guessed that it was 5:30, when it was actually 4:30 and made plans with someone to meet somewhere at 6 (not saying - meet you in 1/2 hour). Normally, I would turn around and correct him about what time it really was. But he was a jerk. Dude deserves to be an hour early.

Slave to my stomach

My stomach is embarrassingly loud. As a child I used to like to think it was talking to me, but now as an adult, it draws a little too much attention for my liking. It will start growling, loudly, at almost exactly 9:30 every morning until I feed it something. This is after I have already eaten a fairly big bowl of oatmeal and fruit at breakfast at 7. Working in a quiet cubicle space, my co-workers can hear its rumbling demands for food. There is often no warning of its grumbles, nor is there anything I can do to smother the noise, until I get the chance to eat.

Later in the day, while it digests, it gurgles in glee - also extremely loudly. It really sounds like someone gurgling mouthwash except this takes place in my stomach.

An old boyfriend used to be able to pat my stomach and sometimes it would reply to him. I think they were in love. He and I didn't really work out. Maybe that's what this noise is all about. My stomach is mad at me from separating it from its true love.

I found out 2 things recently that made me wonder what planet I have been living on. The first one occurred when I was out for brunch and I saw 2 tubs of a name-brand liquid bleach near the kitchen and commented to my friends about it, saying that I saw 2 tubs of Javax. They laughed pretty hard and I sat, all confused. Apparently it's Javex, not Javax. You learn something new...

Then today I was writing an email to a colleague and got a spelling check mark for my use of the word "imput". You know, like when you imput data into the computer. WRONG! Input. Am I the only one who didn't know this? Or am I just sniffing glue in my sleep again?

Only dogs can hear

Today on the streetcar home I was all mellow and enjoying the iPod. Then a child a few seats back started howling. Screeching actually. Starting at a low pitch and then getting higher. Then starting again. About 30 times in a row. The mommy didn't do anything. And while I am usually laid back about things like this and try and find the humor in watching other people go insane, I found myself unable to be unstressed because of this child's noise. I was finding that my shoulders and jaw were clenching unvoluntarily. I felt my hands stiffen into fists. The pitch of the whine of the child was the most disturbing pitch ever known to man kind. The mommy didn't do anything. I will probably be that kind of mommy if such things are ever to be. I am rather good at ignoring things. I'm not sure if that is a good or a bad thing. That being said, such children should be silenced. Muzzles. I am condoning muzzles for such children.

Wow. I'm tired. Don't drink with friends on a Tuesday night. That is my advice.

At the post office

Sometimes we are pretty stupid.

Today I went to the post office to mail something. I was listening to music while I waited in the fairly long line and when I got to the front I only took one of the ear pods out. I bought the stamp and the man handed it to me and I went to lick the stamp and put it on the envelope but it wasn't sticky. The man said something but I couldn't hear him because the music was too distracting. When I licked the stamp a second time, the man said VERY LOUDLY and CLEARLY this time - "It's a sticker, you don't need to lick it!". This time I heard him and so did everyone else waiting in line. No wonder it wasn't sticky the first time.

It Burns

Chocolate chip cookies, flaming shots of German schnapps and the Emmys. That's my Sunday night.

I saw one of those million-legged, creepy crawlies in my kitchen and remembered something very traumatizing that happened when I went camping last weekend. I was proudly wearing my headlamp while we set up the tents as it was dark by the time we arrived and I think some bugs were attracted to the light. Suddenly, I heard and felt a mosquito enter my ear. Like IN my ear. In a panic, I stupidly took my finger to try and grab it out and only succeeded in shoving it further into my ear. Screaming by this point, I could feel the vibrations of the bug in my ear canal, muffled, but vibration throughout my entire head. The others came over, shone a light in my ear and told me THEY COULDN'T SEE ANYTHING!

- are you sure it is in your ear?
- YES!! AHGHH!!! I CAN FEEL IT BUZZING AND ARHAHHHGHH! I CAN HEAR IT AND FEEL IT AHRRHHGG! FLYING!!! AHH SHIT!! AHHGHDHH...

(I'm the one who said the second thing there)

M went to go get some tweezers and I stood there trying to shake it out of my head by banging the side of my head as if trying to get water out of my ears. Finally J said he saw it's head slowly crawling it's way out. I froze. Terrified. It then took a few more steps and flew away.

You know when you hear all those horror stories of when people get like a sack of spider's eggs laid in their forehead and they think its a zit until they hatch and blah blah blah. Well, you can imagine the horrific scenarios playing through my mind for the rest of the evening. Thank goodness for beer and night swimming to help me forget such things. The next morning I realized I shouldn't have been afraid anyway. Any of the bugs and viruses living in my body resulting from my time in Kenya would surely kill off whatever I may have caught or had been left from that wimpy Canadian mosquito. So I'm FINE.