Life's kind of like running on a hamster wheel

And now it's time for my annual update..

miteymidget — Fri, 11 Sep 2015 00:13:28 GMT

Holy shit.

It has seriously been just short of a year since my last post.

Not much has happened?

I mean, no, stuff's happened, but nothing big? Not like, life changing event has occurred. A week ago I managed to get to my first FanExpo in Toronto. Feeling a little conflicted about that. On one hand I enjoyed the Q&A's (with Tom Felton and the Phelps twins) but on the other hand everything is massively over-priced and it was hot and crowded and 20-30 minutes to get from one side of the building to the other. I went to Anime North back in '04. This was not like that.

Three weeks ago I'd gone to BC. So, I've been on my first plane. That was super exciting. Got to spend time with the bio-dad and his wife and also my brother. Mike's been living out West for two years now, this was the most time I'd spent with him since then. It was nice having the chance to catch up. Also, dads wife is actually super nice and the area is just so gorgeous. I mean, they live in a trailer park in Surrey, which was in kind of a sketchy neighbourhood, but the view made it totally worth it. I saw the ocean for the first time and the mountains and I liked Vancouver. I can never tell my mother this, but it's a place I could see myself actually living.

My roommates sold their house in June. We've moved a couple blocks from there, into a bigger house with more rooms and just more recreational space. We have two more roommates, one of them is my sister and the other is a co-worker of Jen's. We all get on fairly well and Mike and Jen have their own space in the basement and the rest of us have use of the main living room. Skylar keeps mostly to his own room, playing WoW, so me and Liz are pretty much free to use the space as we like. It's my TV and gaming consoles set up, my books on the shelves and Liz's computer desk in the corner. Except for the odd argument over chores it's a pretty awesome living situation.

On the work front, I've recently gotten a raise. Only 55 cents on the hour, but considering a year ago the stability of the job itself was pretty questionable I'm not going to complain. With our workload basically down to a fraction of what it used to be and only four of us left in the department, I'm just thankful I still have my job.

Not much else to add. Lots of fandoms. Hannibal has recently finished it's run and Hannigram is hilariously the first of my slash ships to ever go canon. Of course, it would have to be the murder husbands. I only just managed to see Kingsman. Jesus H. That movie. I'm just super weak to Collin Firth in a suit and kicking ass and also, the whole mentor/mentee action they had going on. And I've somehow ended up wandering down some weird Merlin/Eggsy path, but I'm mostly blaming that on Mark Strong.

Otherwise, I've just been playing a lot of video games. I've got something like 215 hours logged on just one of my Dragon Age Inquisition characters. I discovered Skyrim in April and Knights of the Old Republic this summer. I have something like 80 games on my Steam account now, 90% of which I haven't even gotten around to playing. When Steam is having one of it's sales it's a bit like Pokemon, you gotta catch 'em all.

Anyway, should probably go do super dishes. It's my night to clean up. Man, it's like being a kid again. We're only missing a chart and allowances.

Keep on keeping on.

miteymidget — Thu, 18 Sep 2014 02:16:26 GMT

I'm still here, still carrying on. Work is work, but at least I have a job. New fandoms. Living situation is stable. Video games are being played. TV shows are... not really being watched? Okay, I binge watched Game of Thrones a month ago, but otherwise I've not been watching much. I keep meaning to get into Agents of Shield and Orphan Black and Penny Dreadful and so many other things, but I just haven't gotten to it yet.

Started a massively massive SPN re-watch, have only gotten to season two. The boys are so young! And I'm seriously tempted to skip ahead to season four for Castiel, but I've managed to resist Hopefully I'll be able to reach the current episodes in a reasonable amount of time, because I've only seen one episodes of season nine and season ten is going to start airing pretty soon. Might just skip all or most of season six, because it was such utter garbage. In the meantime I've been reading all the old Destiel fic saved to my Kindle. Fun times.

Whate irked me, though, is that Netflix replaced all the classic mullet rock through the first season one. I didn't notice 'til I turned on Skin and In A Gadda Da Vida didn't play through the intro. They didn't even leave in Carry On Wayward Son!

I guess that's partially my own fault, though. I was too lazy to get my DVDs and just watch from that. It means changing out the discs. It's so much easier to just flip through Netflix.

Oh! New car!

Well, new to me. It's a 2004 Chevy Epica. I bought it from my roommates. Well, I'm still in the process of buying, really. Still owe $2100 on it, but it's so much nicer than the Cavalier. The power windows actually work and it has A/C and heated seats and a sunroof and so many other things. It doesn't do that alarming rattling-grinding thing when I'm going 110 KM/H on the 401. Plus, the insurance is cheaper. The only thing I can say about it that's a step down from the Cavalier is that I pay roughly ten dollars more to fill up the gas tank. But all the perks more than even that out.

Oh man, I need to change my userpics. These ones are still old. I'll have to dig out my old copy of Photoshop. This is awful. I can't even remember the last time I watched Stargate.

I'm indefinitely employed, until they change their minds again.

miteymidget — Wed, 16 Jul 2014 02:59:09 GMT

I never did update, but I decided to accept the offer to extend at work. I figure I've got another year or two before the company decides to cut their losses and shut down the whole building. Or, you know, the call centre portion. The warehouse is still the main distribution centre for all of Canada, so I don't figure they'll be able to shut that down. On the other hand, they've started to weed out long-term and full-time employees who do work in the warehouse and replace them with people working through temp agencies. Means they don't have to pay them as much and they don't have to be benefits.

In another year and a half I'll have put in a sold 10 years, so my severance package should be better in the event that they do shut us down. They've also come forward and asked if I'd be willing to help with payroll after September, which, what? I don't have any idea how to do payroll! I'm a Data Entry clerk! I punch in numbers and answer emails all day! Plus, I don't get paid well enough to handle a job like payroll.

Whatever. It's unlikely, but maybe I'll get a raise. (when minimum wage goes up again, probably)

Okay, enough work-talk.

In family news, my sister just had another heart valve transplant. This is her third, she's almost 23. They're optimistic about this one, and considering she's just two and a half weeks out of surgery she's doing really well. Already up and about and chomping at the bit. We had to talk her out of going to see a movie last weekend when her lips started turning blue and her hands started shaking. We played Doctor Who Monopoly instead. I won.

In friends news, Leanna's getting married! The wedding is planned sometimes next year. First tentative date was March, then May, and now she's saying sometime in the fall? They're trying to movie into a bigger place, a townhouse or something, so they might need some extra time to save up enough funds. I'm super happy for her and Steve. He seems to make her genuinely happy, and he's a good guy. We talk about video games a lot when I'm able to make if out to Ottawa for a visit. I'm going to be the Maid of Honour, which is, yeah, an honour, but man. I don't even know what all my duties are outside of the bachelorette party. Google, don't fail me now.

In fandom news, I sunk back into the Marvel hole after I saw The Winter Soldier. Pretty sure it's not possible for a fangirl to go into that movie without leaving with seriously intense Bucky/Steve feelings. Which is weird, cause I was a casual Tony/Steve shipper up to this point and now I'm just like, "Ahahah, nope. Keep Stark away from those boys." Which is okay, cause Tony has become my fandom bicycle. Poor Tony. Just keep your mits off Steve. Also, started shipping Clint/Coulson, which is kind of weird and I don't even know how that happened, but I think I've gone through most of the fic on the AO3 tag. I keep meaning to watch Agents of SHEILD, 'cause Clark Greg, man. That man is all kinds of adorable.

A couple weeks ago I went and saw a live performance of Welcome to Nightvale. I don't think I've ever mentioned WTNV here? Anyways, so good. Worth the roughly $45 I paid for the ticket and then the gas to get there and driving through rush hour traffic in downtown Ottawa. I know going to see a liveshow of what's technically a podcast, even if it's more like an audiodrama, seems kind of weird, but you have no idea. It was a pretty awesome to see Cecil Baldwin actually on stage and interacting with the audience. The script was completely new.

But I have work tomorrow and I keep promising myself I'm going to go to bed at a decent hour. Jesus, it's eleven o'clock already.

So, it's sort of my birthday.

miteymidget — Fri, 09 May 2014 02:24:28 GMT

For another three hours, at any rate. 28 is so much closer to thirty.

Had a pretty typical day, though Jen was quick to hand off hugs and a mug full of presents. I'd been eyeing up a freshwater pearl jewellery set, but had passed it over because of the price. Jen totally surprised me with it! The ring, necklace and the earrings. It's gorgeous... I love pearls.

Got into a bit of an argument with my lead on a procedure that I'm pretty surprised she didn't write me up for. But there's only five months left til I'm gone, anyway, so maybe she didn't figure it was worth the effort.

My bio-dad called in the middle of the day. That was a surreal conversation, but his birthday was only two days ago, so it's pretty hard for him to forget mine. He wants me to come visit him this summer, and he's willing to pay the cost of the flight, so I figure why not? I've never been further from here than like, Toronto. Or, no, I think my friend's place in Montreal might have been further. It'd be neat to visit Vancouver, and he's talking about making the trek over the Rockies to visit Mike in Alberta. That'd be more of the country than I've ever seen before, which is a sad state of affairs really.

I splurged and bought myself a PlayStation 3. I've been playing The Last of Us pretty much none stop. It's so good. So good. Though, I've gotten a little stuck, the plant-zombie-things keep eating my face off. I'm not very good at sneaking. When Liz comes over next we're gonna sit and play Beyond: Two Souls.

Heading out to mom and dad's tomorrow night to celebrate Mother's Day and also to get away from here for a bit. It's not that I mind it or anything, but I'd gotten used to being on my own and suddenly there's a butt-load of people in the house. Jen, Mike, Kyle, Sofia and myself, plus Jen's dog Hagrid. That's quite the number when you take into account it's only a small two bedroom.

So, that's me. Another year older. It's so weird.

I don't even know what's going on anymore...

miteymidget — Thu, 03 Apr 2014 19:31:29 GMT

They've extended the layoff date at work, so I'll actually have a job til September 30th and not May 30th. They called a bunch of us into an office one at a time to extend the offer and asked to keep it confidential, 'cause not everyone was being asked to stay and I guess they didn't want to hurt any feelings? 'Cause, yeah, my team has had a great history of keeping things quiet. That news was out within a day. And I don't even know why they bothered to ask, the first layoff date was April 9th. Pretty sure the rest would have noticed when next week rolled around and people came back to work on the 10th.

From what I understand, training isn't going as quickly as anticipated and they're not gonna meet deadline to have our work rolled out overseas. If they'd have asked any one of us on the team we could have told them that it wasn't going to be possible. Not with less than two months to get training material put together and then barely two weeks of training. What we do is a lot more complicated than our job title implies and it's very detail oriented. I've been working in this position for seven years and I still get issues that throw me for a loop. I can't imagine trying to do my job with just two weeks of training and no one around with actual hands on experience to help me.

Customer Service is still going to be leaving next week and pretty sure Parts and Service will be going in July. The floor is going to be so empty, it's going to be creepy. I would suspect they're going to want to move us upstairs with Finance and Executive Office except the registers are too expensive to move, so we'll probably just be left to work all alone. Unless, of course, they do let our replacements take over the retail side of our job, in which case we won't need the registers. Hmmm... The possibilities are endless.

Two days ago the floor manager came over and asked me and Lisa (the team's performance coach) to go up to HR to sign some paperwork. It's to get access to a program that handles credit card issues and requires a criminal record check, and they're laying off the people that are currently doing the credit disputes and they want to add this to our workload. 'Cause, you know, we're not doing enough already. I don't understand, okay. Why not just keep the people already doing the work? Who already know what they're doing and have been doing it for years?

It's probably 'cause they're Customer Service and make upwards of two or three dollars more than I do.

In the middle of all this, I got a Facebook message from Jen and she and Mike are coming home early and they'll be staying down here from now on. No more teaching during the school months, Mike's got a job twenty minutes from the house and I'm about to have permanent roommates. Not that I'm complaining, mind. This is their house and I'm lucky to be able to stay even when they come home, just with the bullshit going on at work I've not been a very good housekeeper and I'm gonna have to clean like a lunatic next week before they come home. Because, I meant to do a bit of that today, but then I slept til after noon and woke up with a headache because of it and now I'm lazy and sitting on the couch instead.

Also, Jen's cousin Kyle and probably his girlfriend will be staying here this summer. I dunno how that's gonna work, five of us in a two bedroom house. I mean, Christ, I have the master bedroom and I'm the only single person going to be here. Jen thinks they might turn the laundry room into a make-shift bedroom, but that's a tight squeeze for two people and it's attached to the bathroom. It's gonna get awkward when someone has to shower or use the facilities in the middle of the night. And, anyway, I was thinking about offering to let Kyle and Sofia stay in my room while they're here, but I dunno. It would mean shifting all of my stuff somewhere else and I've become something of a clotheshorse.

My life. My life. I don't know what I'm doing.

I'm being laid off

miteymidget — Thu, 16 Jan 2014 04:43:30 GMT

Fuck. I never seem to post in this thing when I've got good news, do I?

But, yeah, I'm losing my job by June, probably. It was really sudden. At around 1:30 the leads all got notice and started herding us towards the Online Theatre up past Human Resources. They didn't even have chairs or anything set up, just left a couple hundred of us stand around and wait for someone to come and tell us what the hell was up. Then a suit from the Montreal office came in and let us know that all of our jobs are being outsourced and we're being let go, but they'd like our help through the transition period and blah blah blah. There was no real warning, just BAM!

I really don't know how I'm feeling right now. Still kind of numb. Angry and a more than a little upset, but unsure how I should react. This has been eight years of my life and it's just being taken away with a ten minute meeting and two pieces of paper. I've worked for this company since I was just out of high school, I don't know anything else. I'm scared.

And I kept it cool pretty much all day, 'cause who wants to freak out in front of all those people? Not me. But I got home and got onto Facebook to tell my roommates and that's when I kind of broke down. They've both gone back up north, so I'm alone in the house right now, and I was worried what happens after I don't have an income. It was when Mike and Jen said it wouldn't matter, that I could stay even if I couldn't pay rent that I got kind of emotional. Because I didn't know how worried about that I was til after it was addressed. Just, fuck. I don't want to have to move back in with my parents. I'm so, so, so grateful to them. Seriously, they're some of the very best people and I'm blessed to have them as friends.

So I've had a bit of time to think, 'cause I'd picked up overtime before the announcement and had to sit through the whole of a ten hour shift. I've decided I'm gonna stick it out til the end and take my severance package and go on unemployment. After that I might look for a job or go to college. I never meant working there to be a permanent, I always meant to go to school, but never quite managed to move on. I'll try and treat this as a good thing. I'm still young yet, my situation isn't quite so dire as some of my co-worker's who're closer to retirement. Maybe if I think positive thoughts as hard as I can I'll start to feel it.

Life is okay and then it's fucking awful. jfc.

miteymidget — Thu, 17 Oct 2013 14:33:16 GMT

Update. I haven't down this in soooo long. Sorry, Tumblr is like, this thing that sucks you in and never spits you back up. LJ just doesn't have all the distractingly pretty graphics LJ.

But I mentioned awfulness, didn't I?

Leanna's mom passed away last friday morning. It's been... hard. She was something like second mother to me, and I've never lost anyone I was close to before. How do you get through 27 years of life without experiencing the loss of a loved one? I don't even know. Anyway, I was in Kaladar on Saturday, visiting with Leanna and the family. God. I'm so bad at that kind of thing, but I couldn't <i>not</i> be there. Leanna's my best friend and I think I needed it too. And then I cried the whole drive back to Marmora, because I can't cry in front of people, apparently.

The service is tomorrow. I was able to switch my shifts around so I have the day off, so I'm heading out to Marmora again tonight and my mom's gonna come with me. I'm really glad she is.

Do I have any other, non-depressing news? Ah, Jen's still living here with me. Mike's gone back to teach. They're saving up for a belated honeymoon (three years belated) planned just before Christmas, so Jen's decided to keep working 'til then. She's heading up north with him after his Christmas holiday, so I'll have the house to myself again after that. Not that I dislike the company or anything, and this is actually their place, but it's still weird having to share sometimes.

We've got a trip to the States planned for next weekend. I got my enhanced driver's licence about a month ago, so we can hop over the border so long as it's by car. We're mostly just planning a shopping trip.

So, that's my life. I just keep truckin' through.

miteymidget — Wed, 10 Jul 2013 18:52:15 GMT

On vacation again. Man, have I ever needed it. Jen's husband's home so I've got two roommates again. Three if you count their dog Hagrid. it's been nice, if a little crowded. Jen's cousin Kyle is here almost every weekend, sleeps on the couch. It makes it a little weird to stay up, so I spend most evenings in my room after Mike and Jen have gone to bed.

I've spent most of my spare time playing The Witcher on Steam. there was a sale on and I got it and the sequel for just over $10. And really, playing a video game on my laptop hasn't been as much of a hardship as I was worrying it would be. However, I have discovered I'm less of a fan of World of Warcraft. I played a few free trial hours and I just can't see myself paying for it. I think I'll stick with games where I don't have to pay for a subscription. Mike keeps trying to get me onto Diablo and I'm considering it.

In fannish news, I just finished watching all of Hannibal because it's like that show vomited all over my Tumblr dash and there's just a point where a fangirl stops saying no to that. Despite the murder and cannibalism (or maybe because of it?) the show is beautiful. The sets and the lighting and Hannibal's clothes. The food, which is all kinds of crazy. The food it people, but it's prepared and plated beautifully. I got a little too much enjoyment out of Will's slow descent into madness and watching Hannibal's careful machinations. Through the whole thing I kept trying to decide which he was doing, grooming Will or courting him. Super excited for season two. I'm gonna see if mom'll PVR it as it airs so I don't have to download all the episodes.

Now I'm spending my day reading Hannibal/Will fic. There are some good ones, I promise. My favourites are the dark!Will ones where Will either joins Hannibal or he was always a killer himself. Serial killers in love, it's so romantic.

Yes, I am aware of how crazy I am. But my OTPs aren't all rainbows and sunshine. Sometimes I like them a little fucked up. Sometimes they're just more fun that way.

I need a vacation from my life.

miteymidget — Fri, 14 Jun 2013 04:24:37 GMT

I've barely had a chance to sit and just breath in since Jen came home and I've got plans on all my days off right up to the 23rd. When did this become my life? I don't think I like it.

Last weekend I finally went shopping with my sister so she could pick out a new bathing suit. I hit a pretty good deal at Old Navy and end up with a dress that was on clearance and had an additional 20% off. I wear pretty things sometimes! In fact, I wore the new dress today. It was mom's grad. She got a diploma for Social Service Work with an emphasis on Aboriginal studies from Sir Sanford Fleming. I'm so proud of her..

Then tonight I went to a play. A lady from work's daughter got the lead role in the King and I and a bunch of us went to see her. Dorothy's daughter has a gorgeous singing voice. It was at the Pinnacle Playhouse, so the cast were all volunteers, but they were still pretty good. A couple pitchy singers here and there, but it was still very charming. And I managed to make it into downtown Bellville at 6:15 after leaving Peterborough at 4:30 and having to drive to Marmora first.

Today was one looooong day.

And I get to get up at around 8 am on Monday so I can go with Jen to pick her cousin up at the Toronto airport. I've been to Toronto more in the past month and a half than I had in the past five years.

So yeah, time for bed. So tired. I keep nodding off at my keyboard and I'd like to actually be coherent for work tomorrow

New Computer!

miteymidget — Sun, 26 May 2013 04:14:48 GMT

Isn't it preeetty?

After dropping $1300 on this sucker it better be pretty. And the lights on the keyboard are programmable. I've got them set from blue to pink right now because my sister wanted to see. I paid a bit extra for the user damage protection, but with the way I treat electronics it's worth the extra cost. The sound and graphics on this puppy are amazing. I've only played The Sims 3 on it so far, but my brother's giving me his WoW account, so I'm hoping to test that out on it really soon.

My old laptop is going to my nan tomorrow. I've already wiped all of my crap off the harddrive and reset it to factory settings. Thank Christ I have an external harddrive to save all my junk to. Over 50 GBs of just audiobooks and 20 GBs of just podfic. I don't even want to think about how large my videos folder is. There's nothing wrong with my old laptop, not really. It's only a little more than a year old, but the processing speed is shit. I don't even like to play The Sims on it because it takes so long to load. Okay, I did drop it last fall, and it hit the floor right where the power cord plugs into the computer, so the plug's a bit fiddly.

In other news, living with Jen has been loads of fun so far. I'm getting out more and exercising more often and it's just generally nice not to be alone all the time. I'm sure in a couple months I'll missing all the solitude. I'm really glad she was here a couple weeks ago when we had the plumbing issues. I dunno that I'd have been able to deal with it on my own. there was a cold water pipe under the kitchen that started leaking, so the cold water access had to be cut off to that part of the house. But at least we still have both hot and cold water going to the bathroom, which we didn't right after we both discovered the issue. Jen's dad came over the day after to block off the pipes to the kitchen so we could still shower.

Me and Toni went and saw the new Star Trek film on Monday. I thought it was pretty decent. Not nearly as good as the first on, but still worth going to see. There wasn't enough Bones for my tastes, but Benedict Cumberbatch made up for the lack. He pretty much made the movie for me. And if I'd seen this one before I'd seen the first one I'd have probably dove head first into Kirk/Spock rather than Kirk/McCoy. There was a lot of gay in Into Darkness.

Right now I'm reading some Kirk/McCoy fic. It would be so much easier if I just had my old bookmarks, but I saved them to my external drive which is in Trenton and I'm at my parents for the weekend. :(

A lots happened in the past couple days.

miteymidget — Wed, 08 May 2013 00:32:41 GMT

Jen's home. I got a Facebook message from her on Thrusday letting me know she'd be home on Saturday. Now I have a roommate full time. Wooh. I like the company, don't get me wrong, but I was still anticipating having another month to myself.

Jen's husband's contract at the school wasn't renewed, which is why Jen's come home early. Mike (Jen's husband, not my brother) is either going to be home in two more weeks or a month and a half, depending whether or not a job he's applied for pans out. There's still some stuff going on, but it looks like they're both going to be staying. The roommates thing won't just be temporary over summer and winter holidays.

I'm on my vacation right now, at my parents. I needed to do some laundry and I wanted to see mom and dad. I'm going back home tomorrow, probably after dinner. I have to visit nan in the morning. Yesterday I had my car etested, today I got the new sticker for the plates. Worst Birthday present ever, let me tell you, but at least it's been taken care of. We went into town, too. Mom and I went to the mall and Walmart while Liz and Kara were having tattoos done. It's nice hanging out with mom, even if I ended up getting sidetracked by a lady from work and the sister of a friend of mine. At least I kept busy, right?

I dunno what I'm doing for my birthday anymore. I had intended on inviting a couple friends over this weekend for a movie night, but I don't expect that's gonna happen now. Oh well. I'll figure something out.

It's my day off

miteymidget — Thu, 18 Apr 2013 16:09:03 GMT

It's my day off and I'm not doing anything! Or, actually, I have to go pick up a few groceries because I'm out of both milk and bread, and I have to do the dishes. So, other than groceries and dishes I'm not doing anything. Just relaxing on my couch and watching Fringe on Netflix.

Liz is in Toronto today. She applied to be a camp counsellor at Camp Oki, it's a summer camp for kids with congenital heart disease that have pacemakers. Liz has a heart defect, but not a pacemaker, so she figures she can relate at least a little bit. Her interview is today at Sick Kids and I'm really hopeful that she gets hired. It would be a good experience for her, I think.

I was at my parents last weekend to do laundry. Man, I will never be able to stay there for an extended period of time ever again. It's messy and crowded and loud. When Mike and Jen aren't able to rent to me anymore I don't think I'll be able to move back in with my parents. I've gotten too used to the peace and quiet.

It doesn't help that Cagney finally broke up with my brother. We all knew it was going to happen. She's not moving to Alberta and Mike's not moving back, so what other choice was there? It's a shitty situation, especially with the boys, but it was kind of inevitable and anyone who thought otherwise was lying to themselves. I haven't talked to Cagney since before I found out, but mom's angry and blaming Mike and also the biodad. The way she figures it, dad basically lured him away from his family and turned him into a deadbeat. Now, I don't necessarily agree with all of Mike's decisions, but Cagney said she wouldn't take him back even if he did come home. He's happy in Alberta. He likes his job and the people he's met. Besides the boys what does he have to come back for now? I just dunno... He's my brother. Unless he committed some sort of heinous crime it's my job as his big sister to support him in what ever he decides.

Through all of this I've decided to go visit him for a week or so. I'm trying to get another week off in July, and I've already talked to the biodad. He said he'd pay for my flight over there, I'd only have to pay for my flight home. We want to make it a surprise for Mike, too. I'm really excited to go, not so excited to tell my mother.

Ugh, I should probably get dressed and head over to the grocery store. I need the milk before I can make coffee and the earlier it's done the better off I'll be, probably.

should be sleeping...

miteymidget — Sat, 30 Mar 2013 03:43:50 GMT

I'm at my parents for the weekend. Me and Liz have to be in Peterborough tomorrow at 3 for a concert. We got VIP tickets see, and we have to be at the venue early, mom and dad and my cousins will be there later. So, I have to drive me and Liz. D: On the other hand it means I don't have to stick around afterward while my sister tries to stalk the band. Mom said she'd stay and take Liz home in the van. I wonder who all's gonna end up with me.

We're having Easter dinner at Aunt Denise and Uncle Rod's Sunday night. Glad we're doing something bedsides chocolate. We don't always. Not a religious family, but I do like any excuse for a big family meal.

Kim sent me an invite for AO3 the other day, so my plan for Sunday afternoon is to go through my fic and find what's worth posting. Maybe I'll even start writing again, just to have something new to post. Probably not, but it's a thought.

Meanwhile I've gone from reading all of the Bagginshield fic to reading all of the Bofur/Bilbo fic I can find. The official ship name for than seems to be Boffins. It's not nearly as popular at Bagginshield, but I dig it anyway. And at least it's not Durincest, is all I'm saying. How did I even get this deep into The Hobbit fandom? I wasn't this bad when LotR came out. Damn you Martin Freeman. I blame this on you. First Sherlock and now The Hobbit.

Anyway, bed now. I want to try and be up a little early tomorrow to get some laundry done.

Posted via LiveJournal app for Android.

Going to Ottawa!

miteymidget — Tue, 12 Mar 2013 18:33:36 GMT

My lead booked me off on the 18th! I'll get a long weekend this weekend, though I'll have to work six days in a row afterwards to make up for it. So, Friday night I will be heading out to Marmora after work to do some laundry and things. Leanna works Saturday, so I'm not gonna head out til Saturday night. A lady from work (also Jen and Pam's aunt, I've known this woman since I was two and now we're coworkers) is going to let me borrow her GPS and Liz is coming too, so she's going to be my navigator. I'm a little nervous about driving in Ottawa without Toni there to help, but I'm sure I'll figure it out.

So, leaving Saturday night, gonna stay til Monday, then head back to Marmora. If it's not too late I'll do up the laundry I wore over the weekend, 'cause I'm not gonna get another chance til Easter Weekend. I'll spend the night at my parents and go to work on Tuesday from there. Buuuusy weekend, and I kind of want to try and take my, er, copy of The Hobbit movie over to nan's early on Saturday. She hasn't seen it and I'd like to watch it with her. I know the DVD comes out pretty soon, but I'm gonna hold out until all three movies are out and I can get the entire thing in a boxset. I like boxsets.

I weighed myself last night. I'm making progress! Have lost 18 lbs since the start of February. Kind of proud of myself actually, though there's still 35 lbs more to go if I wanna get to my goal weight. Which is 140 lbs if anyone's wondering.

In which my life seemed busy but not much was accomplished.

miteymidget — Thu, 07 Mar 2013 03:18:40 GMT

Looking back on the past month, I haven't really done much. I mean, yeah, there was work and the gym and going home to my parents. My second nephew turned a year old. I cut my hair, got my new glasses. But other than that not much has happened. Life moves on the same as it ever has and I become ever more frustrated at work. It's not even like I don't like my work. It's management and the politics. And I've gotten mean about it. I never thought I'd be that sort of person, but I have. I'm sarcastic and I've lost the filter between my brain and my mouth. I've I think someone's done something stupid I'm apt to tell that to them to their face. And I'm short tempered. If I'm trying to explain something to someone and they don't pick up on it I raise my void. And I know this is becoming a problem, but I just can't seem to stop myself and I don't know what to do or who to go to about it. Just, wow, I was not expecting I could be like this.

And to top it off they over-hired. By which I mean that sales are down 25% and the workload that Head Office had forecasted from prior years trends just isn't there, so they've got a bunch of people coming out from training that they're not obligated to keep on even though there just isn't the work there for them to do. Meaning, experienced part-time employees have been cut back to two days a week in order to give hours to the new people. They shut down the delivery pre-call team and the people that were meant to go to them have now be shifted to my team. There was hardly enough for us to do before the five new people who added to the team, it's just going to get worse now.

Thank Christ I'm full-time.

On the bright side it meant that when I accidentally went in today on my day off my lead was able to shift around the tasks so I could stay and take tomorrow off instead. Which is a relief, 'cause I didn't much feel like paying the extra for gas. And I'm hoping that they'll be able to give me the 18th off as VTO so I can go visit Leanna in Ottawa.

In fandom related news I've found myself reading Bagginshield fic. I don't even know how it happened. I went to see The Hobbit in December (and again in January) and I liked it and saw that big at the end and knew people were going to come out shipping it, but I was just kind of "Hobbits? Dwarves? Meh." Three months later and I'm trawling the Bagginshield tag on Tumblr. The very worst part is that I read the book in high school and then listened to it as an audiobook just recently. It's hard to ship it knowing what happens at the end. So, I've been particularly enjoying AUs and Fix-It fics. Also there's a couple girl!Bilbo fics that I just can't seem to get enough of.

I'm the damsel in distress.

miteymidget — Sun, 10 Feb 2013 02:54:28 GMT

We got blanketed in snow all day yesterday, enough that I called into work yesterday. Enough that all but three people on my team called into work. I managed to go out and clean off my car, but didn't get as far as actually going anywhere in it. Which left me in a predicament this morning. I started trying to dig myself out with what I thought we plenty of time, but apparently wasn't. And then the neighbour guy told me there was someone coming to plow our joined driveway in just a little while, so if I could get out he'd do the rest.

I got stuck.

Of course I got stuck. And my neighbour is no spring chicken, so imagine 26 year-old me being all useless in front of the steering wheel while an older gentleman tries to push me out of my driveway so I'm not blocking half the road. Luckily, two other guys from down the street a little came with shovels.

And thus the day was saved and I was only four minutes late for work.

I came home to find my driveway clear and my walkway and front stoop. I was going to shovel! I swear. I feel so bad. I don't even know how to thank him properly.

January's almost over.

miteymidget — Wed, 30 Jan 2013 16:06:17 GMT

Last week I joined GoodLife Fitness, obviously it's a gym. And I signed on for a personal trainer for three sessions because I've got no clue what I'm doing. It's been a steep learning curve. So far I've been to one exercise class and two of the three training sessions. I'm so out of shape, you have no idea. As of this morning I weighed in at 187 lbs. That's way too much for someone my height. So, I have to start exercising more and I really have to work on changing my eating habits, because all the frozen pre-made foods I'm eating? Apparently not good for me.

I dunno how I ended up actually signing on for a membership. I've known for while I'm not exactly healthy, but I'm not like, huge, either. But when Pam (Jen's sister) referred me I figured why not? Worst thing that happens is I get discouraged and quit going, and then suck it up and pay the fee for terminating my contract before my one year is up. But Pam's there every night, around the same time I get off work, so I figure we can work out together and that might just get me through it. It's the diet part that's gonna kill me, I think. I've never monitored or restricted myself with eating.

So, there's that. I also just got new glasses from ClearlyContacts.ca. I've never ordered glasses online before, but I saw a promo on Facebook from the website where your first pair from them was free. I needed an updated prescription anyway, so I booked an optometrist appointment and then picked out a new pair of frames online. All told, I paid $25 for shipping and the scratch resistant coating. Pretty sweet deal. Now all I have to get reimbursed for through my work benefits is my optometrist appointment.

I've been working a lot of overtime. Every bit of spare change is going in my savings, 'cause after seeing Mike and Jen's computers over Christmas I really want an Alienware gaming laptop. I'm already a third of the way to being able to afford one. Mike (Jen's husband, not brother Mike) said he'd sit down with me and help me pick out one that'll do everything I want it too. I really don't know much about computers, so I've never really known how to pick something out. I know my current laptop is only a little more than a year old, but it stalls while loading the Sims, and I want to try WoW out and I know this sucker won't like it. So, gaming laptop it is.

Okay, so, time to leave for work here in a second. Blah. I might be picking up more OT tonight, I guess it really depends on how I feel when my regular shift ends. I might just go home at 8 rather than staying til 10.

Another year over...

miteymidget — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 16:28:52 GMT

It's been a long ass while since I posted. I'm not even really using Twitter anymore, and I don't really Tumblr much either, just posting random pictures from Instagram and scroll through pretty pictures for hours. Don't get me wrong, I haven't been very active online for the last several years, but I'm in creepy lurker mode way more than is usual even for me. And I'm not going to make it my resolution to interact more, because I know myself well enough to know it won't happen.

Anyway, I'm heading out to my parents later today. This is my last day off work for New Years, and I've got two 30 gallon baskets full of laundry to do before work tomorrow. Mike and Jen were home for Christmas and they just left at 4 am this morning, so I've put it off til now. I wanted to spend time with them while they were still home. And don't get me wrong, I really love Mike and Jen, but it's nice to have the house to myself again after two weeks of craziness. I know it's technically their place but I kept thinking "Oh, look at this mess" and "Oh god, please turn the lights out when you're not in a room. The hydro bill is gonna suck!"

It's still sad to see them go. Jen's proven to be a bigger geek than I ever gave her credit for growing up. A lot of that has to do with Mike, I think. He got her into Magic and World of Warcraft. This summer is gonna be both awesome and a lot to get used to, I think. It'll be nice to have the company, but I'm just not used to having people around.

So, the world didn't end and Christmas and New Year happened. I kept myself super busy over the holiday. Mike and Jen came home late-late on the 21st and then I headed off to Kaladar to visit with Leanna and her family on the 22nd-23rd. I worked Christmas Eve and Boxing Day this year, because they've stopped giving full time associates the stat holiday off automatically. I called in sick in the 28th to spend the day with Jen. Worked the weekend and then had the 1st-3rd off. Liz came over for New Years Eve and Jen's sister Pam and Mike's sister Mackenzie for a little bit. We played Life and Monopoly and I pulled out my Dance Dance Revolution. It was fun. No drinking, but it was a good time.

Made out pretty well for Christmas, I thought. Mom and dad got me a blu-ray player, which looks pretty awesome on my tv. It's kind of sad, though, 'cause I've only got the Avengers on blu-ray so far. I'll have to start hunting in the discount bins. Liz got me a hat and scarf and mitts, which I needed. Leanna got me a whole whack of stuff, which included a Doctor Who desk calendar for my desk at work. Those are actually pretty much the hi-lights, but I'm pretty well satisfied.

But I've gone on long enough and I've got another playthrough of DA2 on pause and I wanted to play some before I leave for mom's. I finished the DA:O DLC and just after Christmas and wanted to see just how much my choices in the first game effect the story of the second. Plus, it was funny to name my character after Jen's cousin Kyle and then watch his face while I romanced Fenris. I am just that terrible of a person. I might have to finally do my run through of Mass Effect up ME3 with BroShep just to see Mike's reaction this summer when I romance Kaidan, 'cause he made the mistake of telling me he was a little weirded out when Kaidan came on to his Shepard. Seriously, just the terriblest.

At my mom's

miteymidget — Sun, 25 Nov 2012 06:40:07 GMT

I'm home for the weekend, doing some laundry and visiting my parents. And grandparents. Only mom is working all weekend so I haven't seen her for more than an hour stretch since I got here last night. She's gotten a job working at different group homes for teen girls with behavioural problems. It pays good, but the hours seem to be pretty brutal. She was supposed to have tomorrow of and we were gonna have a movie day and spend some time together, but she got called in anyway. Kind of annoying, but I get it. At least I've been able to hang out with my dad for a bit.

I've been trying to play Sims 3 on mom's computer while I'm home but I haven't been having any luck getting it to run. Guess I'll have to wait til I'm home on Monday. I don't get it, though. It works fine for Liz, but every time I try to load a new neighbourhood it freezes at about 99% of the way through the load screen. And it's not even like I've got any downloaded content on mom's computer, so it's not that. No idea what's causing the problem, and Google is not helping me figure it out.

And I'm sick. Did I mention that? It sucks and it's all Kim's fault. Even called in absent from work on Thursday and then spent all day on the couch getting caught up on American Horror Story and then watching Haven. Good show, Haven. Nathan seems to touch Duke a rather lot. I kind of ship all three of them, Duke, Nate and Audrey. Yay for another OT3. If only there were more than a handful of fics...

And not I'm watching Mean Girls 2, because I go through two weeks without any cable and when I finally have hundreds of chanels to pick from there's nothing on. On the other hand, surprise Linden Ashby! Sheriff Stilinski is another shameful crush of mine.

Oh, I've been sucked into Tumblr, btw. It's addictive! So, if anyone want to follow me there they can find me at http://miteymidget.tumblr.com/

It's all very domestic.

miteymidget — Fri, 26 Oct 2012 15:13:44 GMT

I've mostly settled into the new place. I still get nervous late at night if I hear something outside, and I'll still jump at odd noises, but otherwise I think I've gotten pretty comfortable. Even though I miss my mom kind of a lot, I like the quiet.

Mostly I just sit around and watch stuff on my Xbox. Or play on my Xbox.

Speaking of playing Xbox. I finally, finally finished the Mass Effect trilogy. Kim was here when I did it. I maybe cried a little, but it was just so... I don't even know. Maybe because I'm new to the franchise and I didn't see the ending pre-Extended Cut, but I didn't hate the ending. I mean, there were problems with it, and the logic behind it didn't make much sense, but c'mon! It's a video game! Also, if the reason you're upset over the ending is Shepard's death then I don't respect your reasoning. After beating the odds for three games, I though it's was a good way to go.

Now I'm trying to decide if I should play Assassin's Creed or start ME over as either a) BroShep so I can romance Kaidan in ME3 or if I should start over as a renegade FemShep and romance Garrus through ME2 and ME3. Decisions, decisions.

I've also watched the first four episodes of Revolution. Good show! I'm not a big Charlie fan, but I loved her Uncle Miles. It doesn't hurt that he's played by Billy Burke, who I've got a crush on about a mile wide. And Miles? Has some mean skills. I could watch that guy with a sword for hours...

I'll have to grab the next episode next time I go home. To my parents, I mean.

it's almost like I never moved

miteymidget — Thu, 11 Oct 2012 02:09:19 GMT

I moved out of my parents house two weeks ago yesterday and in that time I've still spent nine days at home instead of at my own place. In my defence I am on vacation and there's really no where else I'd rather go. I could have stayed in and played Xbox for the whole two weeks, but that's just sad.

Also, Thanksgiving! I had two dinners this year, one at my nan's and one at Aunt Denise and Uncle Rod's. It was nice, even though there was a disappointing lack of leftovers.

Today was just supposed to be a mall day, with my sister and I, but then I drove her home and was invited for dinner. Now I've just finished watching the new Supernatural and I'm just gonna stay overnight. Arrow was good too. I'm gonna have to start coming over here every Wednesday night at this rate, just to watch my shows.

This weekend Kim's coming over to my place and hopefully we'll be watching some comic book series she likes or the second season of Teen Wolf. With the added bonus of alcohol. It's safe to say that I've kept busy.

Posted via LiveJournal app for Android.

I'm moving!

miteymidget — Mon, 24 Sep 2012 02:25:14 GMT

I kind of got my own place. kind of. it's my place in so far as it's a place I will be living in that's not my parents and where I'll be paying rent. But it's my friend Jen's place. She and her husband bought a house locally, but they live way up north most of the year and needed a tenant. basically I'm a glorified house sitter, but it's supper cheap and I have complete run of the house. it's kind of awesome.

I'm staying tonight and I'm sort of really nervous. I'm 26, but I don't think I've actually stayed anywhere overnight by myself that wasn't my parents. Doesn't help that I only brought a few boxes and none of them are movies. Jen's sister left me a spare TV set and a VCR, so I'm watching Mulan. man, I love this movie.

I should be fully moved in by Tuesday and then I have two weeks of vacation starting Friday night after work. Excited for that, and it means I have Thanksgiving off. it'll be the first one I'be been at home for since I started working.

That's my life right now. Kind of a big deal.

Posted via LiveJournal app for Android.

Omg, my nephew! My nephew is the cutest!

miteymidget — Fri, 07 Sep 2012 03:12:39 GMT

Lookit him trying to eat the Hulk! Just so adorable!

Now excuse me while I turn into a puddle of incoherent goo.

I'm out to lunch. no, seriously.

miteymidget — Tue, 04 Sep 2012 20:09:55 GMT

I love my new phone. I really, really do. I can post from the cafeteria. here's to hoping my autocorrect doesn't fuck with if too terribly. I don't think it likes it when I swear. it keeps autocorrecting the f word to "duck."

anyway, had kind of a freak out yesterday at work. flipped out at my team lead and had to be pulled into one of the side rooms where I freaked a little more and then cried all over the place. so embarrassing... things are just really stressful right now and I've been like, uncharacteristically emotional recently. I'm just thankful that I didn't get written up for the incident.

my paid LJ account expires in a week or so. think I'm just gonna go back to a basic account. I hardly post and I don't really use the paid features. the only thing I'm gonna be sad to lose is the extra user pics, but since I don't post hardly at all I'm not really using those either.

LJ's not really the main stomping ground for fandom now, anyway. I haven't signed up for Tumblr yet, but I've been think about it. a lot of my favourite stuff's there. and my sister. fandom, it's a game the whole family can play.

Posted via LiveJournal app for Android.

Because I needed another August post. Kind of image heavy.

miteymidget — Sat, 25 Aug 2012 03:29:03 GMT

Liz is going to FanExpo tomorrow without me. She's going with a friend and her family. Not gonna lie, I'm totally jealous. I packed her off with $50 of my money so she'll hopefully bring me back something special. I gave her a list of fandoms I like right now. Her friend Ashley is really into anime, which is why they're going, and Ashley's dad is kind of into Doctor Who. My guess is that they'll be travelling back and forth between the sci-fi and anime parts of the con. Liz just wanted to get a picture with John Barrowman. Super jealous!

And then I talk about Mass Effect. Or, not really talk so much as spam my LJ with pictures from ME3. Now, I'm still admitting that this is not actually how my first playthrough is going to go down, but as a slasher this is relevant to my interests and the main reason I started playing. Also, I've been reading fic about these two like crazy. So.

Basically all you gotta know is that you're playing as Commander Shepard, a military man/woman that's basically out to save the universe. You pick up comrades and shoot lots of things, and one of the people under your command is Kaidan Alenko. In the first game, Kaidan was only romanceable to a female Shepard, and then he's only got a cameo in ME2. It's only in ME3 that he can be romanced by a male Shepard. And it's a thing of beauty.

This is the default male Shepard:

And this is Kaidan:

Together they look something like this:

My favourite part about this is that Shepard's the little spoon.

I just can't get over how they touch each other.

Of course, this is just like the blatant stuff. There's just so many little things and there conversations and the history and just... So much. And Kaidan's voice. His voice! The voice acting in these games are pretty top notch.

Now, this is more along the lines of what I'm playing, atm:

Although, my FemShep looks different.

And, okay, the romance is really not all these games are about. You can play the entire trilogy without ever romancing anyone, but where'd the fun be in that? These two pairings are just the tip of the iceberg. There are 13 romanceable character through the all three games. I also really like FemShep/Garrus. Maybe I just have a thing for aliens? Dunno. I had a thing for the dwarves on Dragon Age, so maybe I'm just weird like that.