I used to love Ferrero Rocher. I think I got sick of them.

Recently I saw the dark version. I decided to wait until after Christmas to buy some. I did just that today.

I ate one and quite enjoyed its creaminess. Now I have that post-sugar-chocolate sour aftertaste, with a twinge of bitterness!

Ferrero Rondnoir! Only 160 calories in 3 and for a total of 10 grams of fat! YEEEEAH! I'm going to have a couple more before the day is over.

And I hate malls. I hate shopping when the masses are out. 

I decided to take a trip to La Senza to exchange some PJs I got. (Ultimately, I decided to keep them. The pants are too big, but they came in a set. I can tighten the drawstring and still pull the pants down without undoing it. For future reference, I take a medium on top and small or extra small for bottoms from La Senza...)

Anyway, the customer service was horrible there. I personally hate La Senza stuff. The quality of their merchandise is not very good, and their bras fit me horribly. I would never choose to shop there. They had a couple of girls on the floor. One was folding underwear and could barely lift her head to answer my questions. I asked her where I could find the PJs [so I could see if there were more in my size]. She told me "in the luxury section". The store doesn't actually have signage. She also told me that there were only a few pairs left...a few days ago. Thanks, girl! Very helpful!

When I got to the fitting room area, the salesgirl had just come out from some stockroom or something and began folding stuff. I stood there for quite some time until she felt satisfied with the quantity of clothing she was hanging and decided to put me in a fitting room.

Girls, if you hate working retail, get out of it. But in the meantime, you're there to do a job...so do it well. I did the retail thing part-time for a while when I was in university.  I actually liked it when I was excelling at it, but after I was done with it, I realised how sucky it was to be in retail.

Oh, I need to get rid of my Nalgene bottles, too. 

I really overdid it with the spending over the last couple of months...I do a lot of number crunching sometimes, and I really like it! (Too bad I have difficulty sticking to my budgets.)

I got a Christmas bonus from work last week. That's spent already...put it back on my line of credit. But my money that I am to get back from my extended medical benefits will be in my bank account by Monday! Hurrah! I am getting back more than I thought I would, which is great.

Some of the money can go towards the radiator I will be buying, and the rest can pay for my Boxing Day shopping!!

I finally got my orthotics yesterday. I never have to see that chiropractor again! Double hurrah! As I was leaving, he said to me, "you're approaching the two week mark now." Two week mark my ass. I went for almost twice as many sessions as he originally said I was going to need.

And it's Friday! With everyone on holiday, it sure makes my commute much shorter :) 

On Christmas Day, I went out for dim sum with my mom and a couple of her friends. After that, we went shopping! The Asian malls around here are open on Christmas Day -- not all the stores were open. Some were and then some were going to be closed on Boxing Day. Getting in and out of the parkades were crazy! We totally lucked out with getting a spot.

My mom's getting me new glasses. I can't wait to get them!! The frames are a dark purple. And you know what? I HATE purple, but I liked the frames on my face. They came in a brown, too, but the darker frames looked better. Too bad they weren't a plum colour. Plum brings out the "caramel-ness" of my eyes. 

There is a Beard Papa's cream puffs in town now. I had no idea what a big deal they were. I think I saw one in Hawaii but never thought much of them. I'm not really a cream puff person either. However, I wanted to try one. I heard they're really good. After half an hour in line, we left. People in front of us waited two hours! This line up reminded me of the hey days of Krispy Kreme. One woman in line was just cut off from the last batch, and she was extremely angry. She started yelling at the poor employees. "I HAVE BEEN WAITING TWO HOURS! WHY DO YOU HAVE ONLY TWO PEOPLE WORKING OUT HERE? I WANT TO TALK TO THE MANAGER! DON'T TELL ME YOU'RE SORRY! SORRY ISN'T ENOUGH!!" Okay, lady...it's Christmas Day...there can only be so many cream puffs made at a time...She didn't have to wait. After her outburst, she still waited some more.

After some shopping, we went to my mom's. We had hot pot for dinner. And then I drove out to Mr. Nick's to do our gift unwrapping. We actually had a white Christmas here! No snow really stuck, but it still snowed. BRR.

Mr. Nick got me an LCD monitor and a DVD burner. Apparently, I had those things on my list. I had quite a range of things from ball-gags to diamonds, so I don't really remember what else was on there. His sister gave me one of her vases, and her boyfriend gave me chocolates. His oldest sister gave me some L'Occitane stuff. What was with all the giving? I'll do better next year.

I got us up at the crack of dawn on Boxing Day to hit up a couple of stores. Williams-Sonoma was the big one on my list. We arrived before the store opened. It wasn't even that busy the time we were there, but I guess it was early. I got some kitchen stuff and more marshmallows. I also picked up some reindeer glasses from Pottery Barn (I'm still not really into looking at house decor, I have to say). I also got a thin duvet for a good price! I'd been wanting one of those for a while. My protein shake powder and Udo's Oil were also on sale, so I got some of that, too. Woo!

I've decided to pick up Reidel wine tumblers for Mr. Nick's parents for their anniversary and a bottle of wine to go with the glasses. I always hate buying wine because I don't drink it. How am I supposed to know what's good?!?! Mr. Nick has not been very helpful at all!! GRR!!

And now I feel cheap!

My friends totally spoiled me for my birthday! I got a bunch of cooking stuff I had on my wishlist. I also got a lot of cooking stuff not on any wishlist (a silicone mat, wooden spoon, cupcake decorating kit, a and trivet), a MAC gift card, an AeroGarden, money, a spa gift certificate, cupcakes book, marshmallows, and more cooking stuff from Williams-Sonoma (spatulas, whisk, kitchen towels, and another siilcone mat).

I sure felt lucky.

And there was a really good turnout for the birthday party! Pretty much everyone in town showed up. You see, having a birthday near Christmas means a lot of other people are busy. But it was a good time! I don't think Mr. Nick ever had that many people in his apartment?? BWAHAHA And I also got Dairy Queen ice-cream cake!!!! YUM!

Yesterday, Mr. Nick and I went over to his parents' for Christmas Eve dinner. His family all got me stuff -- even his sister's boyfriend?! And his sister who lives in England?? I have such a huge extended family that it was always the case that if you weren't in the same city at the same time. you weren't going to get anything. So...I didn't get his sisters (or their significant others anything!) And his mom totally splurged on me at Williams-Sonoma after she found out it was my birthday!!

Luckily, I had decided to get his grandparents something last minute. Mr. Nick had said,  "I can just add your name to my gift." And he knew his grandmother was getting me something!!!!! "You could have given her one pair of my scissors." Um, no.

I totally reamed him out for not giving me any notice that his family was going to get me stuff!! He was like, "I didn't know!"And  I was like, "didn't your family get stuff for your other girlfriends??" Apparently not. So yay for me! BWAHAHA On the other hand, I find it hard to imagine that his past girlfriends got nothing. Oh well. Now I need to get his parents a 40th anniversary gift. That's in two days :-/

Maybe I will brave some Boxing Day sales. I know where I want to go! (I'll update my Christmas stuff later...I am waiting until tonight before unwrapping stuff from Mr. Nick and his sisters).

Merry Christmas, all! 

The chocolate handmade marshmallows from Williams-Sonoma are worth their price...OMG. I got some as a gift...OMG...I just hope when I attempt to make some, they will turn out just as good!! And I hope they go on sale after Christmas...I also wish the bakery in California that makes them would ship to me, too :-p

Oh, last night I had a memorable dream. Someone found photos of me on the Internet, and printed them out or re-posted them somewhere. I was thinking it wasn’t a big deal because I was the one who put my photos on the Internet and they were all set so that no one could see them.

But it turns out there were some photos I wasn’t aware of that were ever taken of me, and I saw one. I guess I was wearing a crop top?? It was a photo of my back. I was in jeans and a yellow shirt, and I had a small roll of lower back flab hanging over my jeans. However, it was only on the right side. I think I was mortified in my dream! BWAHAHA

I can’t remember the last time I worked on my birthday. I wish I was at home just hanging out. At least I got in a birthday workout today :-)

I worked from home yesterday, which I don’t usually do. But I had errands to run. They took most of my day, but I still got in lots of work. I am really behind on my Web surfing, though! I have to catch up on other blogs and comments.

I found the clay I was looking for, and I discovered that I can barely lift 50 pounds. I hope Mr. Nick’s sister needs it and that I at least saved her some time. It’s quite the trek to get to the place, and their hours are rather limited!

I have a semi-family dinner coming up on Sunday which I am looking forward to. My cousin is in town for a night on his way to fly out east for Christmas, so he and his fiancée have organized a dinner. My aunt and uncle who just had their 40^th anniversary were also invited (out of guilt).

My aunt told me (and Mr. Nick) a story about her delayed flight experience, and I was only a little short of appalled (Oh, I also asked my mom about my aunt’s behaviour at dinner, and my mom didn’t seem to think it was out of the ordinary. “Oh, she was just joking around.” Well…okay.)

Anyway, her flight was delayed until the next morning, so the airline put her and my uncle (and a whole bunch of other people) up in hotels. She and my uncle were going to stay at a hotel (a 3-star probably) fairly close to the airport, and then the guy behind them was sent to a 5-star hotel right in the hotel. My aunt was mad (?), so she asked the airline if she could be sent to the nice hotel, too. They told her no and that they were only able to get 8 rooms there.

She asked them if there a limited number of rooms and the guy behind her could get one there, then shouldn’t she be able to, too?

Then she asked them…”is it because he’s white that he’s getting that hotel?” To avoid any conflict, the airline got her into the fancier hotel. She told me (and Mr. Nick), “sometimes you just have to fight for what you want.”

I was a little embarrassed she told this story to Mr. Nick. And I don’t think I would ever pull out the race card to get something I wanted. On the other hand, it would suck to be me to not say anything about getting a suckier deal.

Last night was my aunt and uncle’s 40^th anniversary dinner banquet. It wasn’t as bad as I thought it’d be. I hadn’t wanted to sit at the head table because I was a little miffed about not getting a thank you for my cousin’s baby gift. (And no, I still wasn’t thanked for the baby gift last night. I doubt I will ever be thanked even though I am sure they were thankful).

It was just a typical Chinese banquet, and the food was really good. Their pastor (I think she was their pastor??) said grace…and it went on a long time. My uncle made a speech, and some jokes were tossed around. I did a lot of translating for Mr. Nick. He was the only Caucasian person there. I’m sure he is getting used to that!

My uncle made a very nice speech and said some really nice things about my aunt. I don’t know what was up with my aunt though. She kind of reminded me (in the past) of me in that she was kind of being a bitch and she roasted my uncle in front of family and friends. I found that kind of weird especially her behaviour was making him “lose face.”

People clinked glasses so my aunt and uncle would kiss. My uncle was a really good sport about it, but my aunt just gave looks of disgust and never kissed him back. I have quite a few photos of it. Another time, she said she suddenly became deaf and couldn’t hear everyone clinking. And the last time, she plugged her nose. She was extremely uncomfortable for some reason. I felt bad for my uncle.

I guess watching my aunt has given me a wake up call for the way I can be. Being a more supportive significant other is something I can definitely work on.

(Oh, this is the aunt that has been pressuring me to get married. She brought up to Mr. Nick last night that she can get diamonds for cheap.) 

I am also interested in checking out Britney's latest album...

Last night, Mr. Nick and I went to see pretty lights in the park. I've gone most years over the last 7 years. People ride a miniature train and the park is adorned in lights and displays all over. I took a lot of photos with my new camera. I can't wait to see how they turn out!

I got a forwarded e-mail from my dad. It was a forward of an e-mail he had already sent me -- one that I chose to not reply to. The guy flies out of the country, and even though I asked him to call me after he landed safely, he didn't call. Instead, he sends an e-mail a week later asking me to buy him two cakes and to leave them in his freezer. 

...which is not much of a secret anymore...

I'm highly interested in checking out the new Celine Dion CD!! 

Mr. Nick's sister is an avid potter, and I wanted to get her something pottery related for Christmas.

At first I was thinking of getting her some clay because I remember her saying there was a clay she got that was only available in my city (no mention of what store or the kind of clay). However, I don't know enough about her pottery to figure out what she was talking about. Clay choice might be too personal for me to just pick! I could choose a clay that is suitable for the kind of things she usually makes, but even then...the variety of clays is huge!

Is there a brand known for good quality clay for the wheel? She makes a lot of bowls and has made mugs, vases, lamps. The stuff I've seen the bottom of seems to be red, but I don't know if she uses the grey stuff, too.

Or what pottery accessories are there out there that would be really useful??

Would bringing in her things to a pottery place be useful in asking about the material??

I do think I might have found her store because she had mentioned their (not so great) hours: 10 - 5 Tuesday - Saturday. It would take an hour each way to get this store. If I am lucky, they will know their customers *really* well, and maybe she has account there?? I am hopeful about this store!

This is a long post. It’s to document my experience with a chiropractor in case other people around Vancouver, BC search for him on the Internet for more information.

I was going to wait until my chiropractic therapy was over before posting my review on the chiropractor I’ve been seeing, but I really can’t wait any longer. I’ve been seeing Dr. Yeoman of Everest Chiropractic at the Electra Health Floor in downtown Vancouver for almost 4 weeks.

The only good thing about this clinic is that their Web site posts their rates, and you can book your appointments online. Yesterday, while I was checking my chiropractor’s availability, I noticed his rates had changed from $45 for 15 minutes to $45 for 10 minutes. I was never notified of the change in any way – neither verbally or electronically. I have been seeing this chiropractor for 3 – 4 weeks now, so it wasn’t like there was no time to give me notice. Is it legal to change rates without notice when they have no disclaimers anywhere?

This chiropractor has been unpleasant to deal with, and the only reason why I haven’t stopped seeing him is because I ordered some orthotics through him, and I don’t want to endure his wrath about his chiropractic prowess and that he will make me all better.

I originally found him by Googling for downtown Vancouver chiropractors. I wanted something close to work. And the only reason why I sought a chiropractor in the first place was for my knee. It wasn’t chronic knee pain I was suffering, but I felt like I had some sort of kink as a result of running for the bus one evening. I’ve had another chiropractor adjust my knee successfully. That is all I wanted from Dr. Yeoman.

His clinic’s policy requires you to go for an assessment for the first visit – fair enough. I told him I was there for my knee problem, but based on my assessment, he determined he should adjust my neck and upper body. He did not address my knee problem, and instead, he guaranteed my knee problem would go away with orthotics. In fact had has never addressed my knee issues again. For some reason, he thinks I am suffering from headaches and neck pain. I do have a stiff neck, but I do a lot of stretching, and I am not bothered by my neck. “I’m surprised you don’t headaches more often.”

I’ve left his clinic a couple of times with headaches, and another time, my neck and shoulder were in so much pain a couple of hours later that I could barely turn my head. (I hadn’t experienced that kind of pain since I slept on my side funny a couple of years ago. I got massage therapy to resolve that problem.). Thankfully, the pain went away, but one time he tried to adjust that kink and he said he couldn’t get it. “Sometimes these things happen. We’ll get it next time.”

He’s been nothing but pushy in terms of buying orthotics and some chiroflow water-based pillow. He doesn’t ask if you want any of this stuff. He just thinks you should have it, and if you don’t say no, he will assume you are getting this stuff from him. The pillow he tries to hawk costs about $110 CAD from the clinic, but you can find it online for $50+ USD.

I think he is a Leo or a Virgo because the appointments turn out to be about him in some way. He has no bedside manner, or maybe it’s just that he doesn’t listen to his patients (clients?) or find out more about their history, health-wise. He attributed my “pain” to my workstation at work. He gave me a couple of tips on workstation ergonomics even though I told him I already knew about that stuff. His tips were not extensive either. I have received instructions from the Workers’ Compensation Board and my personal trainer that had diagrams and documentation. At my second appointment, he asked me if I changed my workstation, and I told him no. His response was, “no! Your work is wrong! Do things my way!”

I was told that my orthotics would take 1 – 2 weeks to arrive, and it’s been over 3 weeks. He said they were unusually late and that he would call the next day to check on them for me. I asked him, “will you give me an update when you find out?” He replied, “yeah, I’m going to call them tomorrow.” Listen much?

He was pushy for me to visit his Web site. “Go to my Web site for more information about what I am doing to you.” “Go to my Web site for more information about the exercises you’re doing.”

During a session, he makes his adjustments, and he watches me do a couple of exercises. There is one that requires a BOSU ball, and while I was getting into position (it requires a bit of balance, especially when you do these exercises in frickin’ heels), he said, “no! that’s not how you do it!” I told him I was still getting into position, and he took it like I was making some poor excuse. Nodding, “well, okay. I’ll take your word for it.” Another time, while I was doing some neck exercise, he asked me some question, but since I was concentrating on holding my head up, it didn’t register for me to answer. Instead of repeating his question, he said, “I just asked you a question. Well?” While I was doing that BOSU ball exercise another time, he thought he would test me by asking me what muscle I was working. Since I didn’t know the exact name of it, I told him it was the one by my armpit. “Well, okay. I’ll give you partial points. Go to my Web site. It will explain everything.”

He is generally quite unpleasant to deal with. Maybe it’s because I don’t really believe in chiropractors anyway, and I’ve gone in with that attitude. But he knew I was a skeptic from our first appointment, and he said he was going to change my mind. But he seems like I should be very thankful for all he’s done for me. At first he said he’d need to see me 4 times, but I have seen him 6 times now, and he has not mentioned how many more sessions I need. On top of that, after the kink in my shoulder incident, he told me to book an appointment with one of the massage therapists in the clinic. At this clinic, you have to go for an assessment for your first appointment with the massage therapist.

Another reason why I think he might be a Leo or a Virgo is based on how he was talking down to the new (?) receptionist. She was getting some sort of training. I thought it was strange that he told me to see her to book my next appointment when he usually books me right away. He told her to ask clients what time they would like to come in instead of what day. “People like to come in at the same time usually, so just ask them what time they’d like their appointment.” He turned to me, and said, “you want to come in at the same time next week, don’t you. Right?” Personally, I don’t have a preference, and that day I came on a non-usual day at a non-usual time. I said,” actually, I don’t usually come in at this time.”

So my final thoughts on Dr. Yeoman is that he is pushy and unpleasant to deal with. I went to see him for a knee issue, and he’s been “fixing” something else that I don’t think needs fixing. Yes, my neck is less stiff now, but I think stretching and massage therapy would have been just as effective (and less traumatic for the body). I have left his clinic with headaches and pain that were not there before I saw him. I would not recommend him to anyone.

Some Japanese deny the massacre ever happened – that either the Chinese made it up completely or that their (Japanese) soldiers only made up all these stories to make them sound like they did “better” than they really did. Sad.

The docu-drama Iris Chang: Rape of Nanking is on the History Channel (in Canada) tonight at 8 PM PST.

I have watched this film, and words can’t really express my feelings because of it. I don’t even want to think about them.

Anyway, it’s worth a watch if you get the channel (and if the timing is right). The historical footage is great. The re-enactment of Iris Chang’s life is a little cheesy. Iris Chang wrote the book, Rape of Nanking. She committed suicide 3 years ago.

Right now, I’m reading a (fictional) book called Miss Chopsticks, and the story takes place in Nanjing. I am pretty sure it’s the same place. It is strange reading a story that is neutral to happy that takes place where there was so much tragedy.

I am free of my (home) phone company now! I also hate them now, too.

I was a Sprint Canada customer, and then they merged or got bought out or whatever with Rogers, and with the change came new billing practices. It's been nothing but headaches for me, and they were never totally clear with what was going to happen to their customers -- or at least customers in my situation.

When I was a Sprint Canada customer, they were offering monthly discounts if you signed a one- or two-year contract. I signed up for a 2-year contract, giving me 15% off my total phone bill (before taxes) every month. They did notify how people's plans were changing, but it didn't seem like it was going to affect me. They just said to call Customer Service to make sure your plan wasn't changing. Mine is quite basic: land line with caller ID and voice mail.

I started getting the new bill and everything was fine, but about 3 months ago, the discounts just stopped. I called Customer Service, and they re-applied the discount for me, and told me that I was back on getting the regular discounts. But the next bill came, and the same thing happened -- with the same resolution. The last time I called, the CSR told me that on the screen, I was going to be getting the discount for 2 more years, but it wasn't going through. She said it was an IT issue and that it wouldn't be resolved for months, and that I should call every month to have them manually update my bill.

A pain, but I figured things would get resolved.

This morning I called Rogers and spoke to the CSR and said that my discount was no longer effective. I personally don't think she had a clue about my Sprint account despite me telling her that I was a Sprint customer. They have CSRs that don't have access to old account information, and I bet she was one of them. I only wish had the other phone number.

She just said that the discount didn't apply to me because I didn't use two or more of their services, i.e., no cable or Internet with them. I explained to her again that my discount was for signing a contract, and not for their current services. She put me on hold for a long time, and I think she was getting clarification from someone.

Anyhow, if I wasn't going to get my discount, I wanted to make sure I wasn't still under a two-year contract. I mean there was no formal letter explaining any of this. Legally, I assumed that the contract was then null and void, but I wanted to make sure. 

So...the lame CSR gave me a "goodwill" discount equal to the same one I got last month even though it would have been more proper to give me 15% of the bill I was calling about. She said it's been noted with my account that I understand that I will no longer be receiving 15% off my bill and that I am not under any contract.

It means I can switch telephone providers and not be penalized. I need the cheapest way to have a landline at home! Does anyone have any suggestions? 

I haven’t gotten any good workouts in for the last couple of weeks. My weight training has been tough, and now my body is just tired. I would love to just lie down right now!

Last night, we went to Mr, Nick’s parents for dinner. His parents just came back from New Zealand, and his sister is jetting off to London today. We had roast beef and a great assortment of vegetables. My eyes were bigger than my stomach…and the beef made me extremely sleepy. It felt like a long night! Anyway, his parents brought back a couple of gifts for me, which was nice. One of the items was a cheese knife. At first I thought it was a letter opener because it was so long. I guess it looks like I am into eating cheese since I always eat a little bit when they out appetizers, but I actually don’t like cheese very much. BWAHAHAA

I won a keyboard! Woo!

I have no idea which one it is, but I won it!!

I haven't won much in life. I won a computer case several years ago. And when I was in high school, I won Boyz II Men concert tickets!! 

I used to laugh when my friend would say to me, “I hate people.” Sometimes I agree with him these days.

This morning, my boss walked away from me while I was in mid-sentence asking him a question. And for the question he did answer, it was full of the “sure, whatever” attitude. I often fantasize about the things I’d say during my exit interview.

I got an e-mail from my dad, asking me to do him a favour. I had told him to call me when he (safely) landed in Hong Kong. Did he call? Of course not. Sometimes I just want to write an e-mail to tell him off.

Yesterday, Mr. Nick, my mom, and I went out to celebrate my and my mom’s Chinese birthdays (mine was yesterday!). The dinner was okay, and the service could have been better. I had suggested Mr. Nick get my mom a box of nice chocolate covered ginger. It was a nicely wrapped box. Too bad the salesperson gave him something completely different.

The only highlight of the moment is that Mr. Nick figured out that I had my camera set on slow synchro, which was making all my photos with light looking yellow and blurry.

I am feeling stressed. I haven’t had a night off for myself in weeks, and I won’t be able to for another couple of weeks. I am starting to crack!

I made chocolate cupcakes on the weekend, and made snowmen out of marshmallows to put on top. While my cupcakes were in transit, my snowmen plunged to their deaths in a mass suicide. I took photos, and now I am finally able to transfer my photos to my computer. I can’t wait to start uploading photos to Flickr again!

On the weekend, I also took my mom to see Herman’s Hermits. Baby boomers are crazy! Insane! I had originally bought the tickets for my dad’s birthday. I am rather hurt he didn’t even bother making an effort to go to the concert since he was in town for 10 days and left 3 days before the concert.

Anyway, the concert was playing in one of our local casinos. The theatre’s sound was amazing! I would love to see more gigs there.

The concert pretty much made up for the pre- and post-concert incidents. Parking was crazy at the casino. The parkade (parking garage for you Americans) was completely full, and I circled the whole building twice. It’s all one way, and some guy STOLE my parking spot by coming in the opposite direction. He was lucky none of his windows were smashed in. Valet parking was completely full, too. Luckily there was some street parking. We go to the show JUST in time.

Peter Noone and the latest reincarnation of the Hermits were fantastic! I knew the words to a lot of the songs. BWAHAHA All their songs were so short. I guess songs tended to be like 2 minutes back in the day. He did a lot of talking (he was very entertaining), did impressions, and sang songs from other 60s bands. Peter Noone has still got it! He even gave out a lot of CDs during the show. After the show, he was available for autographs.

Of course I wanted one! They were selling CDs prior to the show, but I didn’t have time to buy one. I asked my mom for some cash (she doesn’t live in a cashless society like I do…BWAHAHAA). Turns out SHE wanted the CD…We lined up to get Peter Noone’s autograph. And these baby boomer women are PUSHY! There was a mad rush!

This one woman behind me kept yelling in my ear for her dad, and she was totally leaning on me. I gave her dirty looks a few times, and she said to me (you have to think of this with a Filipino accent, “don’t look so eer-ih-tay-TED.” I told her to stop pushing. “I am not pooshing.” I wish I was perfect, but I have to say that Filipino accents *really* hurt my ears.

My mom and I got to the front of the line (actually my mom totally bolted out of the theatre after she found there were going to be autographs. I couldn’t believe how excited she was…BWAHAHA), and as Peter is signing our concert tickets, my mom tells him I’m her daughter. I told him I really enjoyed the show, and he asked me what my name was and autographed the CD insert. BWAHAHA

Mr. Nick invited me to his parents’ for Christmas dinner (last year I went for Christmas Eve), but I told him I was going to spend it at my mom’s. Even though we don’t really celebrate Christmas, she is still having an intimate gathering. Meal-wise, I’d rather be going to Mr. Nick’s parents’, but guilt-wise means I’m going to mom’s. Maybe I will get an invite to Christmas Eve again? He should have asked me! Hmmph!

Even though time is of the essence, I must refrain from buying anything for myself until I recover my debt. You’d think this would be more incentive for me to pay off my debt quickly. BWAHAHAA

So my favourite scent, Lancome Attraction has been discontinued. I went on a frenzy looking online for the creams and lotions, and there are still some out there. I just want to snatch those all up!

But I shouldn’t right now. Even though my Christmas shopping is done, there are still more events and non-Christmas gifts to buy. *sigh*

I also got my hands on my credit report a few months back. I really should cancel a lot of the credit cards I don’t use (or never applied for). It is going to be a pain in the butt, but worth it, I guess.

Hurrah! My Bamix problem was resolved. My blender blade wasn’t staying on anymore. Doing an Internet search for solutions wasn’t very helpful, so I looked in the manual that came with my mixer, and they addressed the problem! All I had to do was use some pliers to tighten the blade. My protein shakes are back to normal now!

And hurrah! I am done with all my Christmas shopping. However I need a 40^th anniversary gift for my aunt and uncle. I have until the 18^th for their celebration dinner. I got them a photo frame. Maybe I can find an old photo of them to put in the frame…I really need something else. A joint gift of a photo frame is really kind of cheap. And my aunt would spread the word about my “cheapness”. She’s the kind of person who would expect a gift to cover the cost of your dinner.

My next thing is to get to the bottom of my dryer issues. It dries on low heat, but on high heat, sometimes it doesn’t dry at all! I have to run the dryer twice!

I was hoping yesterday would’ve been my last trip to the chiropractor, but my orthotics weren’t in yet. Ugh. He wanted me to make an appointment with a massage therapist at the clinic and him for next week. I am not going to make an appointment with any of the massage therapists there since they ask that you go for an assessment for your first visit. No, thanks.

I failed 5 times to post an entry. I finally gave up and don't even have the content anymore.

1. I am having dryer woes.

2. I am having Bamix woes.

3. My dad won't be back in the country until March. I was sad when he left. I do wish he would let go of the past that still keeps him angry.

Those 3 above points had contributed to a long entry, but who enjoys re-typing blog entries??

I just read a press release my company released. Why they don't check for spelling errors (apparently we have "propriety" technology or punctuation escapes me. Or maybe they did...the writer and editor should be fired! Spellings were inconsistent throughout, too. (They did spell proprietary correctly somewhere in the press release.)

It was a good one, too, but I won't repeat myself.

It had to do with our latest heavy rains and our work bathrooms looking like people have been resolving their digestive issues into the bowls. 

My work does an annual Secret Santa. This would be my first one, but I'm not going to participate. I don't really want to spend $15 - $20 on someone I barely know. I don't really care that I'd be getting something in return. I'm sure it would be junky.

I love my Christmas spirit! Har har.

My girl friends and I will be getting together for our annual Christmas dinner, though. No gift exchange. I did find some cute Christmas cards at Sephora that come with lip gloss samples.

Christmas was never big when I was growing up. We celebrated but didn't go balls out. Mr. Nick thinks Christmas trumps birthdays. I feel the opposite. 

I think I've overloaded myself on quesadillas. I think last night was the 4th night in a week and a half of having quesadillas, and we still have at least a pound of cheese left!! And I am tired of refried beans even though I still like them. It's time to put some stuff in the freezer, methinks. BWAHAHAA

But I made nachos for the first time ever yesterday. I don't think I will ever want to eat nachos from a restaurant again!!!! 

The astrologist said I was going to be having really vivid dreams for the next year or so...or something like that. I didn`t really pay attention to exactly what he said because I wasn`t going to believe him. I have conditioned myself to not remember my dreams. But to my surprise, I have been remembering more dreams lately. And they are always rather weird. I think I may start blogging about the ones I remember. They tend to have themes of abandonment and being ignored.

But last night, I dreams Mr. Nick`s penis felt like of those foamy stress relieve squeeze toys. 

I really do...but the ones who outright say they deserve this or that because of their age makes me mad!

Yesterday while I was at home with Mr. Nick and cooking brunch or doing the dishes or something, I had a knock on my door. I don't know why I don't use the peep hole more often. It was my neighbour from downstairs. I bet it was her when I was giving my chicken breasts a pounding.

I couldn't remember if it was the same (nice) lady I had met when she first moved in. That one spoke a lot of English to me. This one just started her tirade in Cantonese to me. Mr. Nick said that he'd answer the door in the nude if she came by again. BWAHAHAHA

Anyway, she just kept saying the same things over and over again without letting me say anything, and then she left. She said everything att least three times. These were her points:

-I`m old.
-You`re noisy.
-You move your furniture, tables, chairs too much.
-I`ve held off as long as I can to say anything.
-My husband and I can`t sleep at night.
-Please be more careful and less noisy.

GRR. We live in a wooden building. She doesn`t live on the top floor. What does she expectÉ The only carpeted rooms are the bedrooms. I can`t really do much more to be quieter. I`m not even living at home half the time, and even when I am sleeping at home, I am out of my apartment for half the day because I work. GRR! I`m not a night owl either. I also do not move my furniture around. I barely even sit at my dining table. My only thing is that I drop things a lot....BWAHAHA But I don`t drag them around before I pick them up!!

We added some felt pads to my chair legs, but that`s all I can do. What I didn`t like was that she made it sound like I was being noisy on purpose. ``We`re old and we had heart attacks. We`ve only been only 3 weeks, and I didn`t want to say anything right away. We can`t sleep at night.`` I hear my upstairs peeing all the time. It`s not a quiet building we live in!!

I thought people`s hearing went as they got older. Maybe I should drop off some ear plugs for them.

Speaking of ear plugs, I went for my career testing session yesterday. Since it was a group session, they provided ear plugs for anyone who wanted them. I didn`t use them, but I did take them home. I am looking forward to hearing my recommendations. We did 4 tests and did a questionnaire. My only worry is that the results will have only limited types of professions. I guess we`ll see!

I just checked on my eye exam claim. It sure ticks me off that everyone at my company thinks our extended benefits plan is so `great`. (What is wrong with using punctuation in tBlog todayÉ!) At my previous jobs, coverage of claims has been almost 100% for almost anything. Here, I get up to 80% for lots of things. I don`t get 100% coverage of my prescriptions or exams or other health services. For my $95 eye exam, I get back $89 but $39 of that cost came from my contact lenses coverage. I think I will be getting back only $20 from my $45 chiropractic sessions. Ugh.