Cough, cough! Is anybody here? Anyone? Cough, cough!

Sorry, please don't mind me. I'm just clearing away the cobwebs and dusting off this sadly-neglected place. It's such a shame I haven't updated lately, especially since (for once!) I actually have something semi-exciting to write about.

"Canadian Idol" auditions were held very close to where I work a few weeks ago. No, I didn't try out, but I had two good reasons. First of all, I'm just a little too old (although I'd still be young enough to be this year's "American Idol" if I lived on the other side of the border--LOL!) and second of all, I'm as musically-impaired as you can imagine. Yes, I know reason #2 hasn't stopped countless others from auditioning for "Idol" shows, but sadly, they all seem to have a much higher tolerance for getting embarassed on national TV than I do. :p

So no golden ticket to Toronto for me, but I did spot Ben Mulroney shooting a "Canadian Idol" promo with about a dozen other hopefuls outside my workplace window. Ben Mulroney is to "Canadian Idol" what Ryan Seacrest is to the US version, for those of you who may not know. ;)

Ben needed at least 10 retakes before getting his lines just right, but the funniest part was he pronounced the word "sesquicentennial" perfectly during every single take while screwing up much simpler words. Here are some other things I noticed about Mr. Mulroney:

He's much shorter in person (not a good thing!)

He wore a multicoloured leather jacket very reminiscent of the jackets worn by many of the guys who made my life a living Halifax back in the early 1990s. This, to me, is a sign Ben may be subconsciously nostalgic for his junior high/high school years (most definitely not a good thing, IMO!)

But OTOH, Ben's chin is also much smaller in person, and those of you who are familiar with his father know this is a very good thing! ;)

So that's the story of my semi-quasi-encounter with Ben Mulroney. The kiss Kurt Browning blew to me (and about 200 other fans sitting in my general direction) at the skating show I attended last winter will still bring me fonder memories as far as my quasi-celebrity encounters of the year go, but since this was the most exciting thing to happen at my workplace for quite some time (as sad as that may sound), I wanted to share it just the same. And if you see Ben Mulroney in an early 1990s multi-coloured leather jacket surrounded by "Canadian Idol" hopefuls and a few other random people in period costume, please think of me. :)

And now I'm off to catch up on certain other blogs I've sadly neglected over the past few weeks (blush!) |

I do believe I have found the Geekiest. Online. Quiz. Ever.


Which File Extension are You?

I don't know which confession sounds geekier: Admitting I took 10 minutes out of my life to take this quiz or admitting I had a hard time choosing only one answer from the "What you hated the most from school was..." question.

In other news, I just saw a Tim Horton's commercial on a US TV station about an hour ago. I know Tim Horton's has existed in the States for at least a few years now, but I was still a little shocked to see that familiar brand name associated with a completely different commercial and (most shocking of all) a slightly different logo than the Tim's commercials I'm so used to seeing on Canadian stations over and over and over and over again.

I now know how my neighbours on the other side of the border must feel whenever they see McDonald's/Burger King/Subway/whatever fast-food chain commercials from other countries. :)

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Yup, I can definitely relate to this! Not that this applies to any of my other regular visitors, mind you. :)

A nice, long A to Z survey shamelessly stolen from, well, at least four or five other people. I'm sure you all know who you are. :p

Accent? I personally don't think I have one, but I'm sure most people who could hear me talk would probably disagree. ;)

Bra size? 34B. No, I don't mind sharing this little fact with the world. After all, it's not as if I have much to hide in this department. ;)

Chore I hate? Vacumning. I have a teeny tiny vacumn which only comes up to my waist and I have to bend over really deep and get a backache every time I use it. Not to mention it never does pick up all the dirt on carpeted floors and it takes me a while to remember how to spell "vacumn" correctly. :p

Dad's name? Well, I usually prefer to call him "Dad." ;)

Essential make-up? Lipstick and concealer are the two makeup items I'd really consider essential. My lips are probably one of my best features and they get dry easily, so I almost always at least a bit of lipgloss even when no one else is around to see me. :)

Favorite perfume? I got out of the habit of wearing perfume after working at a couple of scent-free environments, but I used to love the Body Shop's White Musk and Oceanus fragrances.

Gold or Silver? Silver; it doesn't tarnish nearly as fast as gold.

Hometown? Somewhere in Eastern Canada

Interesting fact? I've tasted Raspberry Cordial, Anne of Green Gables chips and Anne of Green Gables coffee and found them all quite yummy. I'm also one of the few people in my neck of the woods who would actually admit to doing any of the above. :p

Job title? I don't feel comfortable posting my exact job title since there are only three or four of us in the entire province and I'm having a hard enough time finding permanent employment, but let's just say my job title sounds much more impressive than it actually is. :p

Kids? None yet, which is good since I'm barely able to support myself right now!

Living arrangements? Yup, I'm still alive. ;)

Mom's Birthplace? Smack dab in the middle of the middle of Eastern Canada

Number of apples eaten in last week? Not nearly as many as I should have eaten.

Overnight hospital stays? Well, there was that one time when I was born, but apart from that, none...and I'd prefer to keep it that way until/unless I have children of my own someday.

Phobias? Rejection, gravity-defying amusement park rides, hairdressers (if you've had the same amount of bad hair experiences I've had over the years, you'd understand why!), the fact anyone I know in real life might read this blog :p

Question you ask yourself a lot? Why is it so dang hard to find permanent employment around these parts? :(

Religious affiliation? You know, the one with all the well-meaning rules that don't work out in real life. Uh...Christianity. Or more specifically, non-practicing Catholic.

Siblings? One older sister.

Time I wake up? Around 5:30 a.m. when I have to get up early to go to work; between 10 and 11 a.m. when I don't. No, I'm definitely not a morning person!

Unnatural hair color? No, but that might change someday if I ever find a stylist I can trust enough to put any sort of permanent hair dye or highlights in my hair.

Vegetable I refuse to eat? Turnips and canned peas.

Worst habit? Procrastination...as you can plainly see by the number of times I've updated this blog lately. :blush:

X-rays? About once a year when I visit the dentist...and again, I'd prefer to keep it that way!

Yummy food I make? Veggie lasagna

Zodiac sign? Leo.

PS. Wow, I've gotten more than 100 hugs since my last entry! I never knew location would make that much of a difference! Thanks, everybody, for making me feel so loved. :) |

Well, it only took me almost a week longer than originally promised to finally give this place a facelift! Although it's hard for me to tell from the view outside my window, spring is officially here and I wanted a new look to reflect that change. I'm sure most of you are no longer in the mood to look at snowdrifts this time of year anyway! ;)

Unfortunately, the original layout I wanted to use wouldn't work properly for me; all I received was a lovely "An error has occured on the script of this page" window over and over and over again every time I answered "yes" or "no" to the "Do you want to continue running scripts on this page?" question. I know nobody wants to see that every time they visit a site, so I had to scrap the whole thing and settle on this lovely "dewy blade of grass" layout instead. You'd be surprised at how few decent "spring-themed" layouts can be found on blogskins.com. Really, you would. :( One of these days I will buckle down and learn how to create a site layout from scratch. Really, I will. Or not.

Anyway, I hope you all enjoy the new look and I hope it won't be too much longer until it really feels like spring! :) More to come later...and this time, I really do mean it. :)

PS. Notice how much easier it is to see my hug counter with this new layout? (hint, hint!) |

From an e-mail I received this morning about a job posting for which I'm hopelessly unqualified:

Candidates must be mature and have an extensive background in video game play.

Gee, and all this time, I thought those two qualifications were mutually exclusive. :p

I also caught the opening credits of an old Living Color--a show I've never watched in my life--episode today and it was strange to see a certain Canadian robbed-of-an-Oscar-nomination-for-Eternal-Sunshine-of-the-Spotless-Mind actor credited as "James Carrey." His face, OTOH, hasn't changed a bit. :)

Speaking of changes, I'm finally going to give this place a facelift sometime during the Easter weekend. A more spring-appropriate look, I hope. It'll be nice to have a new layout where readers won't have to scroll across the page to see all those big quiz result photos and I'd like to finally move my hug counter to a location where people can actually see it and (hint, hint!) give me some more hugs! ;)

I also have a few more updates in store, but I'll save those later. I'm sorry I've been neglecting this place so terribly lately--partly due to my crazy work hours and partly due to the fact I needed a little (okay, maybe more than a little!) break after blogging for 28 days straight last month--but I just want to say that even though I may be a little slow at keeping up with everyone on my "suggested reading material" list, you're always in my thoughts. :) |