Party like it's 1996

Happy new year people. My 2007 is off to a slow and agonizing start. Christmas came and went. I worked throughout and my heart just wasn't in it. I didn't even put up my decorations or tree. Which is weird for me. I also didn't go home for the holidays - first time in 25 years. Which is also weird for me. But it was quiet in a good way. Except on Christmas eve when I started calling bars to see if any of them were open. (I've been reading a lot of Bukowski lately.)

Best gift: my Rolling Stones ticket -framed in black suede and red metal - so hot!
Most practical gift: a stack of cardboard boxes and a moving dollie.

Best intentions for a gift: I was going to give my mum a framed picture of me from the staff Christmas party - I'm so rarely in a dress and all done up, I thought she'd like it. However, it has been established that I am a vampire and do not actually appear on film. No one has a picture of me! I even put a notice up in the staff room! I remember posing for a million photos... where did they all go?! I'm hoping that people are just being reluctant to give up their pix because they have all devoted a shrine to me... but in all honesty, I'm usually the goofy looking one in photos - my coworkers might just be sparing my feelings? Meh.

I was really looking forward to New Year's OH! CAT! JESUS!

I'll get back to new year's in a second! The funniest thing just happened! This afternoon around 3pm I was packing some things up and loading them into my truck to take over to my new place. I had my apartment door open and a little orange cat ran past me down the hallway. I thought it might have gone into my apartment, but I looked everywhere and couldn't find it, so I thought it had just run back upstairs. All afternoon I've been snuffling away and sneezing and coughing. and Jazz is sniffing at the tv of all godforsaken things and I can't figure out why. At supper time, a note was slid under my door asking if anyone had seen a cat in the building, it was missing from an upstairs apartment. Now here it is - 8:30 at night and I'm on the phone and I keep hearing this squeaking noise. At first I thought it was just the humidifier, but I glance over at the tv and there's a little head staring at me - squeaking. The damn thing had been in my apartment all day! And I hate cats! And it peed on my floor! Silly bastard. Scared the bejesus out of me. Thought I was going mental.

Ok. Enough distractions. Back to New Year's. I planned on doing nothing. Go to bed early. Wake up and fly out to Los Angeles to meet my mum and sister in Anaheim. We were going to stay at the Disneyland Paradise Piers Hotel! And go to Disneyland! This was supposed to be MY Christmas break. I'd worked hard all December. I was really looking forward to going. 7:30pm on New Year's Eve, my brother calls to inform me that he wasn't able to take care of Jazz. I scramble for the next hour trying to find someone to take him for the next 4 days - but no luck. It's a holiday, so no kennels are open - not that I could afford one anyway. So I call Mum and Alex to let them know I won't be going after all. I'm so incredibly disappointed. My brother does this to me all the time. Leaves things to the very last second, so I'm stuck. This was one thing I was really, really looking forward to, I needed the break, it was all I could talk about for weeks. And instead, I spend it picking up shifts at work because I have nothing better to do.

So, New Year's Eve I went on a high school flashback rampage. Met some friends at a bar, drank way too much, made out with some random guy on the dance floor, passed out in the cab going home, crashed on a friend's couch and puked at Phil's Diner the next morning. Top of the Pops, Autumn. I've been sulking ever since. Of course my whole evening was well documented. I can't find pictures of me looking nice at the Christmas party, but if you'd like to see me passed out or making out with said dance floor guy, join the ranks of most of my coworkers - most of whom have seen these photos of shame. I gave the dance floor guy my phone number with every intention of avoiding his phone calls, now it's three days later and I'm all depressed that he hasn't called! I didn't even want him to call in the first place! I guess I'm looking for some sort of vindication. Ahh... to be 15 again.

I shouldn't exaggerate so much though. The whole night wasn't a complete waste. I met a friend of a friend who had brought his deaf girlfriend with him. She was really nervous because it is so hard for her to communicate with people. She was so stoked when I told her I knew sign language! We actually had a whole conversation in sign language and I interpreted for the others- it was really rad. The next best thing about New Year's was that the proceeds went to a good cause. The Animal Rescue Foundation (ARF) made the money off the evening, which made me feel a lot better than paying for some chick to get her boobs done at some skeezy night club. So it all works out in the end.

I've spent my week stuck here in Calgary working and starting to move to the new place. Choosing to move over a month is the best decision I have ever made. I'm really going to miss my apartment and this neighborhood, but it's way too expensive. It'll be a sea-change going from here to what basically is a basement suite in the hood, but I'll adjust. It's got a lot of positives - it's close to work, I don't have to pay for laundry, I have a dishwasher (you have no idea how stoked I am about this - I have never had a dishwasher!), and a fireplace. It's two bedrooms and 1 and a half bathrooms for about half what I am paying now, so I think this will be worth it in the long run. I won't feel like I'm living in a shoebox anymore. Jazz the Amazing Wonder Weiner Dog is super-stoked about the huge backyard. I think he's already marked his territory like 5 times over! There's a huge firepit, I can't wait to have people over in the summer! I feel like I've really lucked out.

That's about all the excitement for now, this week Peter Hook from New Order is in town. Hopefully I can make the show. I would love to hear him play "Temptation". And Van Morrison is coming in the spring! How rad would that be?! But I digress, time for bed. Oh yeah! And a big welcome to the world to my newest little friend Jackson Hartley Fox! I can't wait to meet you!