Had a bad dream last night, the first in a long while. In the dream, it was very late at night and it was raining, and I decided I needed to go somewhere so I got in my car. When I got into the car, I'd been thinking of going somewhere specific, but because it was so very late and I was so completely exhausted, as I drove along I forgot completely where I was trying to get to. I also eventually realized that I was driving along this road without any headlights on and I was just so tired but eventually I managed to turn them on. Still had no idea where I was going or why I was driving. Took a right turn really badly somehow and ended up on the wrong side of the road in oncoming traffic and of course this resulted in several car crashes and the like. And that was it, the whole dream.

I think my exhaustion in the dream was just a reflection of the fact that I really was exhausted at the time I dreamed it. The other stuff - not knowing where I'm going and why, not having any control over it? Hmm. I did spend a lot of time yesterday thinking about what I want to do with my future, depending how my accounting exam result turns out later this week, but I really don't know what to do at all or what plans to make until I know how that goes. Being a repeat-writer already, I'm actually really dreading the release of the results list.

Anyway I was telling my mom about this dream this morning and I was like I have no idea where that came from, it was weird. And as we were talking I was like, Huh! My head is like, so totally deep thoughts and layers, lol. I mean, who knew my mind enjoyed creating dream metaphors? Haha.

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Today was fun; went shopping for a bit with my mom and got a new coat and a scarf. The coat we found at the last minute, when I'd run out of energy to shop and totally didn't want to go into the stores anymore. Good thing my mom's a much better shopper than I am :D

Just stopping by to post a couple of memes that have been brought to my attention as of late, via aldehyde and kyasuriin. :)

( juliet's halloween party )

( what tarot card are you? )

( handwriting meme )

Good morning, world.

Today is my last ever day of work at my company - here endeth my first real full-time job, for which I was recruited right out of university. At this point, it just feels weird that I'm gonna go to work today for the last time and then never come back. I'm kinda sad, as I usually am when something ends (particularly when I'm not the one doing the ending), and kinda panicky, since I'm sure I'll forget to do something important before I go. Such is the nature of the worry attack. Egads, I have to give back my work laptop this afternoon, before the IT guys go home...

After that, though - I'm totally heading off tomorrow evening for a week at Disney! Huzzah! Hopefully that'll help clear my mind and provide some fun. The last time I was there my age was in the single digits...hope I find it just as magical now... Gonna go on the Pirates ride since I don't actual remember it from 20 years ago and try not to pass out from the heat. Yay! Hm, still need to get my packing sorted out...

I should stop using so many ellipsises. Ellipses? Yeah, ellipses. I should end my sentences/phrases/whatevers with a definitive full stop. Clearly need to work on that confidence thing and being more decisive. In terms of assertiveness, though, when it comes to driving during rush hour in Toronto, I SWEAR everyone else has gotten more aggressive and it isn't me becoming a less assertive driver. People, I have discovered, are nicer at 9am than they are at 8am. Well, 8:15. I'm usually running late. :)

Radio's been playing Michael Jackson songs since I woke up. Still not sure how I really feel about his death, but mostly I'm sad. RIP.

Hi everyone.

I'm exhausted. Just completely. Just got home around 8:30pm (it's a 1h30 commute each way, and, er, that takes into account that I basically consider speed limits as vague suggestions), been lying on the couch since then... I still have some important things to do for work tonight so hopefully I'll be able to do that....

I dunno, it's 9:15 now and I haven't eaten dinner yet mostly because I don't have the energy to get up off this couch. A shower will probably help wake me up a bit, so I guess I'll do that after LOST....

I was going to try to work on things during the show but I just can't. I don't even have time to write this, but screw that. I'm watching the damned show. It's on crack but I still love it.

Anyway, just feeling a bit WAAAAAH! right now, nothing major. Heh. This job is really too stressful -- maybe I should quit at some point. OH WAIT.

I'm at work, and I really don't want to be here -- but I have more reason for that than usual.

Yesterday I was informed that as of June 30, I am being laid-off from my job. Not for performance reasons, which I guess is good, but still...this wasn't the way I was planning to do things, really, especially with the UFE coming up in September (again) (The UFE is the final professional accounting exam that I need to take, for anyone just joining us). I don't think my exam training will be affected, but I'm double-checking that this week...

This is the first full-time job I've ever had, straight out of university, and I have worked my friggin' ass off. And for what? I can't say I haven't gotten anything out of the last 2 1/2 years, but right now it kind of feels like it's all for nothing.

Yeah, most other girls would think clothes would be good retail therapy, right? First place I went after I left the office yesterday around noon? The discount bookstore. Ha, what a nerd. But what, can you blame me? I'm never home in time to go there before it closes, on a normal day. And books (discount books!) do cheer me up. And they should cheer you up too.

Anyway, time to try to get something done, whether it's actual audit work or figuring out more of the details of my situation. Ugh. I really, really do not want to be here, and I'm pretty sure I've got valid reasons this time.

What would your own album look like if you were in a band? Follow the directions below and find out...

1 - Go to Wikipedia. Hit "random"
or click http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random
The first random Wikipedia article you get is the name of your band.

2 - Go to Quotations Page and select "random quotations"
or click http://www.quotationspage.com/random.php3
The last four or five words of the very last quote on the page is the title of your first album.

3 - Go to Flickr and click on "explore the last seven days"
or click http://www.flickr.com/explore/interesting/7days
Third picture, no matter what it is, will be your album cover.

4 - Use Photoshop or similar to put it all together.

5 - Post it and tag the friends you want to join in.


"The public is wonderfully tolerant. It forgives everything except genius." - Oscar Wilde

Edit: I made more while I was bored at work :P

( click )

Just got home about half an hour ago from driving my parents to the airport - they're taking a trip to Vegas for a few days. Reminded Mom to say hi to the CSI folks while they're down there. :)

I've got some work I basically need to get done today, and I could start now since I'm up early anyway. But I don't know...I could sort of do with at least an hour more sleep, or at least a break from work. I've pretty much been working around the clock for about two weeks straight, weekends included, other than a few breaks for food and/or family time. And I'm tired. So, so tired.

...Although not right now, I'm not. Only because I'm actually awake now, but I'm expecting that to fade in a few minutes or so. I think maybe I'll go read myself back to bed for a bit, wake up again in a little while...

I don't know really what the point of this post was. I just was in a sharey mood, I guess. :) Hope everyone who reads this is well and if it's 7:30 am local time on a Saturday morning where you are too, I hope you're still sleeping.

Oh, and also: Amazon tells me there's a new book called Buffy and Angel Conquer the Internet: Essays on Online Fandom coming soon. Hmm, I wonder why they think something like that would interest me? :D

Unfortunately, I haven't had very much time to post anything lately, although I've wanted to.

However, thought I could spare a couple minutes to come by and post my customary OMGTHEOSCARNOMSAREOUT entry. :D

Oscar Nominations: CLICK HERE!


Also, I have deemed today Heath Ledger Day since, you know, it's been a year and all. :'(

But yay Oscar noms! And it's my dad's birthday. Man, lots of relatively unimportant but somehow still important things going on today. :)

Here we are again: another December 31st, another year ending. In a few short hours from now (well, 8 1/2, for anyone counting), it'll be the year 2009. Man, where has the time gone? I still remember starting first grade back in 1989, for God's sake.

Anyway, as appears to be customary for me, I have entered into an inexplicably depressing mood for the last couple of days -- I've never liked New Year's, because I'm not a fan of change and I don't appreciate the enforced year change...but I don't get it this time, because I'm not feeling so particularly attached to 2008 that I'm sorry to see it go.

Not that the entire year was awful, though. There was a lot of good: trips to Austria and New York, good times with friends, some good times with family [which may or may not have been offset by an equal amount of annoying times with family, but that's the way family is and we gotta love 'em], big changes like moving out on my own... but I don't know. I feel like there were a lot of changes this year and yet somehow nothing's changed. And I'm just feeling blue (da ba dee) [and if you got that reference, you're way too old, much like I am, because that song was out 10 years ago].

I'm sure this mood will pass after the New Year's festivities are over and things go back to relative normality. You know, as far as things are ever considered "normal" around these parts.

Hope you all have a wonderful New Year's -- hopefully I haven't brought anyone's mood down by sharing my thoughts on my own -- and see you all on the flipside!

Happy 2009!

Last Thursday night, I had two different dreams as I slept, and in both dreams I'd somehow managed to pass the UFE (the third and final professional accounting exam, for anyone just joining us). Sadly, however, as I discovered on last Friday at noon, this was not meant to be. Again. But next year! By George, this exam is GOING DOWN. [Or it'd better, anyway...]

On the plus side, I didn't do nearly as pitifully as last time, but still...not doing as badly is not, of course, the same as actually passing. I don't have any Gandalfian "YOU SHALL NOT PASS!" icons on this computer, but I think one of those would be appropriate here. ;P

The Christmas party on Saturday went well, I think -- no BNL for Susan to squee over this year, but we were suitably entertained and we didn't have to sludge through any snow or get pelleted by little slivers of ice on the way to the subway like we did last year, so win-win!

Speaking of dreams (well, two paragraphs ago, at any rate), I have no recollection now what I dreamt of last night [early this morning, more like] but whatever it was managed to wake me up and also made me cry. Weird. I wish I could remember what it was...

L'anyhoodle, that's it for now...I'm still at work and I've basically finished what I need to do today but I'm not off for another hour, so...time to look busy. :P

Clearly, I am at a temporary (?) lull in my work day.

Your Spiritual Number is Seven

You bring knowledge and wisdom into people's lives. You are an expert in many fields, and you give excellent advice. Right now, your life is about perfecting your skill set. You are almost a virtuoso at the thing you love best. With some practice, you'll get there. You are highly intelligent and intellectual. You have profound analytical skills. But you also have the soul of an artist. You long to create.

Your Movie Buff Quotient: 72%

You are a total movie buff. Classics, blockbusters, indie favorites... you've seen most of them. Your friends know to come to you whenever they need a few good DVD rental suggestions.

So.

This Friday, I will find out (again) whether I passed the accounting exam I took in September (again)...and just like last year, the likelihood I am successful or not is completely a 50/50 split and there is no way to predict one way or another what's going to happen this time. Argh. I suppose it will be good just to get Results Day out of the way (again) so I can concentrate on...

The company Christmas party is this Saturday, and I'm excited b/c my non-date of choice, Susan (strophie), is coming with me. Unfortunately, the Barenaked Ladies are not performing at our party this year, so hopefully she'll still enjoy herself...

I have yet to post anything about my two week business trip to Houston, mostly because I have, as usual, procrastinated about uploading my photos to my computer. I've got to show and tell you all about my hotel tribulations...although probably everyone who actually reads this, I've already voiced my complaints to. Lol.

Er, I think I thought this entry would be more interesting than it turned out being. I'm too tired to be funny, I guess, because I have yet to (procrasinator!) correct my messed-up sleeping habits (eh, maybe I'll do that tomorrow?). Someone yesterday thought my sleep habits were just messed up as a byproduct of my trip to Texas, but ha! No, this is more of a structural fault in the system than just a temporary time change.

To make up for the lack of interesting content, I leave you with photos of the Chocolate Tuxedo Cream^TM Cheesecake I shared with my coworker while at the Cheesecake Factory in Houston... [erm, actually the photo I took on my phone of our actual cake doesn't seem to be on my laptop right now, so I'll add in that photo when I get home. In the meantime, you can have the generic photo from the Cheesecake Factory website ;P]

CHOCOLATE TUXEDO CREAM^TM CHEESECAKE
Layers of our Fudge Cake, Chocolate Cheesecake, Vanilla Mascarpone Mousse and Chocolate

Put your MP3 player on shuffle, and write down the first line of the first twenty songs. Post the poem that results. The first line of the twenty-first is the title.

So this is Christmas

It scares me to speak my mind
You're a little bit shy
When I find myself in times of trouble
You say, "Why does everything revolve around you?"
If you had my love

The lamp is burning low upon my table top
We met at a place where people go to get laid
Science wears a new suit
Well let me tell you, if you're feeling alone
You ain't no little angel no more

Took a trip on a bus that I didn't know
I took a taxi from LA to Venus in 1985
I hear the clock, it's 6am
Can't wait to get home
It's coming on Christmas

It may not be that classy, begging just to eat
She was so young with such innocent eyes
You're not my eater
No more talk of darkness
If I had a million dollars

Bonus points if you can name all 21 songs. :)

( song key )

I've spent the majority of this weekend moving my actual Stuff into my new place -- you know, the things I actually use and need to have with me on a day-to-day basis. My computer, for instance, is over there, and I got the internet and TV hooked up today, whee! :D All is right in the world of my new condo now.

I can say "the majority of this weekend" even though it's not even Sunday yet, because I took Friday off from work to deal with all of this stuff. Not working = fun! On the down side, I've caught a cold from my mom and occasionally now have problems breathing. And Mom's kinda started to catch the cold back from me. Heh, oh well...

The parents helped me hang up my mirror and my awesome Serenity Blue Sun travel posters, yay! Now I just have to obtain my Marauder's Map back from aldehyde, a.k.a. Moonal (I got it from FAO Schwarz in NYC but it wouldn't fit in my tiny travel bag), and wait for its display case to get shipped to me. Good stuff. :)

I never posted anything here about my trip to New York over Thanksgiving, mostly because I'm lazy and partly because I've been busy with work. It was great - the main reason Moonal proposed this trip in the first place was to see Equus on Broadway, and we both thoroughly enjoyed the show. I suspect we still would have enjoyed it even in the absence of Dan Radcliffe, but obviously his presence added that extra interest factor. Due to our own mistakes, we failed to go to Liberty Island or to Toys R Us, but we were quite relieved to get to go on the TV/Movie Locations tour, since we were planning to go on Saturday but got to NYC too late for it and nearly missed it on Sunday. Also, Madame Tussaud's wax figure museum? Still awesome. :) I liked it the last time I was in New York (6 years ago) and Leo DiCaprio and Johnny Depp weren't even there then. Sweeet.

Anyway, gotta go do something restful, etc. in hopes that I will feel better tomorrow. Planning to go see Body of Lies, which hopefully is a good movie despite its lack of fire at the box office. As we all know (or should know), of course, not all good movies are box office gold, and not all glittery box office results imply that the related movie is actually good.

EDIT: Oh, I almost forgot to mention - my parents bought me an electronic piano keyboard! They said it's my birthday/Christmas/getting my CA present. Haha. (Will be nice if that CA thing works out this year)... Anyway it's awesome 'cause I was kinda regretful that I couldn't move my piano with me and I mentioned that a keyboard would be a good alternative. Haven't put it all together yet but whee!

I had my condowarming on Saturday, and I think it went well? I'm a horrible hostess, though -- I was gonna take everyone up to see the 7th-floor terrace and party room, etc., and then I totally forgot. I also forgot about the wine bottle I had and the champagne bottle that one of my friends brought over, and I forgot about the frozen desserts I was supposed to serve. Balls.

Anyway other than my hostly shortcomings, I think everyone had a reasonable time at my new place. :) Today, I had so little energy left over now that it's over and done with and the adrenaline that kept me going over the past week (from the delivery of my furniture up to the condowarming) has dissipated somewhat.

---

Almost everything that can be sorted out for my upcoming weekend trip to NYC with Moonal is sorted out now, which is good since we are leaving on Friday evening. Yay! Hopefully everything will turn out and we'll be able to do the things we're planning to do while we're there (if we have to end up seeing Dan Radcliffe's understudy in Equus instead of him on Saturday night, I think we're going to scream. Lol.)

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There may have been something else I wanted to post about, but I just looked at my work schedule and it looks like I'm gonna have to travel for 3 consecutive weeks in November. Yay? Man, they like to give senior accountants a substantial amount of work to do, and almost no time in which to do it...

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Back to work tomorrow. The thought makes me tired. Also, note the abovementioned lack of adrenaline and the fact that it's 1:00 in the morning. :)

So as of yesterday evening, I am officially the owner of my new condo! :D Oh geez, I guess it's all really goin' down now. I'm excited. And a litttle bit nervous.

Tomorrow will be spent waiting for some of my furniture to get delivered from The Bay and IKEA and then putting crap together. Fun fun! It will be interesting finding out how the stuff I bought works together, whether the sizing is right, etc., and making this place less entirely-devoid-of-contents than it is right now. Whee!

As is appropriate considering that last weekend I had a Rings-athon to celebrate the completion of my accounting exam, here is a little quiz:

Quiz: IKEA Product or Lord of the Rings Character?
1. Faramir
2. Freden
3. Grundtal
4. Boromir
5. Molger
6. Galdor
7. Freda
8. Agerum
9. Babord
10. Frodo
11. Grima
12. Akurum
13. Brunkrissla
14. Sultan Högbo

:D

( answers under the cut )

It is now Week 3 of my 4-week exam study plan and the panic is sort of starting to set in (at the disco). I guess it's good that I have a one-on-one meeting first thing tomorrow morning with the guy who knows how this exam works...hopefully he will be helpful and let me know if I'm doing anything wrong... Man, this exam is annoying. Again. Bah!

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In more pleasant news, the Harry Potter forum on which I am a co-moderator, The Dark Mark, announced today that I won Staff Member of the Month for August! That completely made my day, gave me the warm fuzzies and all that. :D It's always great hearing that your efforts are appreciated. I don't normally win things like that because usually I either don't have enough time, or I prefer to just keep my involvement at a minimum. But since I became a moderator, I've felt it is my duty to help out when I can, and mostly it's been pretty fun. :D

( click here to read about my extreme awesomeness ;) )

Hopefully I'll still be able to do as well when I start going back to work...

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Yeah, that's another thing that's worrying - after the exam is over, we all have to go back to work. And this job - it's like every day is a new job, and every year it gets harder. I'm gonna be a Senior Accountant when I go back, which will definitely be new... More responsibilities, less time to do it in... yeah, I'm not looking forward to that at all.

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EDIT (09/02/08): Added the actual text of the post that caused the warm fuzzies. ;)

In honor of the fact that I willingly walked to the centre across the street as well as the nearest public library on my quest to get a wireless connection over the weekend, as well as the fact that I am currently sitting in Ten Ren's Tea Time taking advantage of the exciting free wireless, here is the latest xkcd webcomic:


Make sure you check out the image rollover text, too. ;D

http://xkcd.com/466/