Our book club is once a month. So far we've done two books and had two meetings and it's pretty fun! I even got to pick the book this last time, which means I got to host the meeting. (and by meeting I mean the wine and food party!)
Unfortunately our founding members...my neighbors two doors over...only have one more meeting before they are moving away. See how the Navy tries to screw me over...it's not even my family this time...but they are taking away some of the only cool new friends I've made here. waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!
But I digress....tee hee
The book I chose was Lullabies for Little Criminals by Heather O'Neill. (honestly I chose it partially because it sounded good, but mainly because I had a faint recollection of Eurydice talking about it...haha). It received mixed reviews from the club....and some people found it a hard read and didn't even finish it. I think in the end we all agreed it was well written and a good book, but the people that said they didn't like it were more disturbed by the subject matter than the rest of us. I found it a gritty subject but I like that. It seemed really real...even one of the hubbies that joined us (and hadn't read the book) thought it sounded like non-fiction.
I do understand what they meant though, because last month's book was My Sister's Keeper...and although it was also controversial in it's subject, it was a much easier hard-to-put-down read. That book I plowed through in a couple of days. This one I had to fight for three weeks...and only finished it the night before our meeting.
The next title we are giving a go is The Average American Male by Chad Kultgen. One of our members had it recommended by a coworker who said she couldn't put it down. We shall see. I picked up one of only two copies in stock at Chapters so it's not a hot seller...but I don't think that means anything. I did find it interesting that while Googling we found that they have YouTube videos about this book. hmmmm.
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
Monday, November 3, 2008
Highway Robbery
How is it that the last of the good Christmas seat sales for flights home were in the first week of October? Ya. I've been trying to find a good deal to fly home for the holidays and after I missed that first seat sale I've been shit outta luck.
I finally just gave in and bought my tickets...with a departure date much earlier than I wanted...because I saw one sneaky little one-way seat sale that I couldn't pass up this time. But still $399 one freaking way. And I had no choice but to pay full price for my return ticket because the only cheap seats are on Dec-31st, which is such an unfair way for them to do it.
Anyway, I could vent all night about the robbery of it all, but I won't. Argh.
It would be cheaper to fly to Europe than it is to fly within my own country!
I finally just gave in and bought my tickets...with a departure date much earlier than I wanted...because I saw one sneaky little one-way seat sale that I couldn't pass up this time. But still $399 one freaking way. And I had no choice but to pay full price for my return ticket because the only cheap seats are on Dec-31st, which is such an unfair way for them to do it.
Anyway, I could vent all night about the robbery of it all, but I won't. Argh.
It would be cheaper to fly to Europe than it is to fly within my own country!
The Amazing Race (13)
I honestly don't care if I ever miss any of the other shows I watch...but if I miss Amazing Race I get very cranky.
Is it just me or are all of the teams annoying as hell this season?
I don't care. It's still good!
Is it just me or are all of the teams annoying as hell this season?
I don't care. It's still good!
Sunday, November 2, 2008
Vegas - Saturday (which rolled right into Sunday)
Saturday was check-out day. It was also sleep-in day thankfully! I didn't have to get up until 10am...wooooooooooooooooo!
The bad news was that check-out was at 11am, and my flight outta there wasn't until 11:20pm. Ya, 12 hours homeless in Vegas. LOL. So, first I got a coffee and wandered around the hotel....the Circus has a whole floor dedicated to carnival games and stuffs for the families. So loud and hard on the eyes for that time of the morning. I thought I was waiting for my bosses to get a bite to eat, but when they called they had decided to lay out by the pool until it was time to leave for their flight. Unfortunately I had already checked my baggage and wasn't wearing appropriate sunbathing attire, but I joined them anyway to read my book, get some sun, and relax for as long as I could.
Once they left at 1:00, I decided to head down to the Fashion Show Mall and do some shopping (well, more like window shopping). The bellhop offered me some good advice and said I should take my luggage with me and check it at the bell desk at one of the more central hotels so I wouldn't have to cab it all the way back to the Circus. Good advice, I didn't know I could do that! So I got my stuff and went to Caesar's Palace with it.
Ended up starting my shopping in the Forums Shops because they were right there...and I had gone that way in search of food because it was now 2pm and all I'd had was a coffee and a treat size KitKat! I got a slice of pizza in the Forum food court (so far the cheapest casino food I've happened upon but it was still crazy expensive considering what it was!)....sat there and read my book while I ate, then refilled my pop to carry around while I browsed.
The stores are mostly way too high-end for me. I did finally visit the Coach store and that's about the only place where I nearly talked myself into buying something. I really would love to have one great purse that I can carry forever....but dishing out $700 US wasn't something I was willing to do. I couldn't even justify $250 for a great wallet. Lovely, but just not me. Oh well. I browsed through a few other designer stores, but I'm not a very good window shopper....so in the end I landed up at Bath & Body Works instead. Much more my speed! Bought lots of good smelling hand-soap for me and a friend. I would have bought more but I was worried it would put my suitcase over weight.
And after that, I just walked and walked and walked. Went outside to the Strip and made my way through a few hotels I had never been through. Got to the Fashion Show Mall, wandered the whole thing...still didn't buy anything...went to Starbucks, but even that was too noisy and I was starting to get exhausted. Sat by the lagoon at The Mirage for a bit, but it was closing so couldn't go in. Mostly I was just wandering so I wouldn't fall asleep.
I timed it so I would get to Treasure Island in time for the first Sirens show. I got a good viewing spot, but I was still standing up. What I wouldn't have given to sit down by then. After that I made my way over to the Bellagio to see a water show....too bad it was the same damn Celine Dion one I saw last year....I was hoping for something I hadn't seen yet. Oh well, it's still one of my fave things to see on the Strip!
After that I decided I'd had enough and went back to Caesars and got my luggage and headed for the airport about a half hour early. The scariest cab ride ever (well, second to the uber-crazy ride I had in Rome once). He got me there in record time I swear. Insane!
I figured getting there early would be a good idea because usually security at the Vegas airport is super busy and takes at least 1/2 hour....but not this time. I checked in, and because Westjet is in the main terminal now I didn't have to walk a mile or take the shuttle or spend forever at security. In fact, I was the only person going through security....they even had so few staff on that I had to push my own stuff through the xray machine. So, needless to say, I was at my gate almost 2 hours before my flight. Gah!
I got some fries, read my book, played on my computer (free internet access!), and chatted with some other folks waiting for the same flight. I was soooo tired.
I tried to sleep on my flight, but my bad neck/shoulder really wouldn't let me. I was already hurting from walking around all day, but any tilting of my neck resulted in my arm pain going through the roof. Not fun. But somewhere along the way I did fall asleep from shear exhaustion, which helped make the flight to Toronto go a lot faster.
When I got to Toronto and cleared customs, I immediately went to my gate and found a place to lay down. I think I actually got a hour or so of solid sleep...until the gate started to get busy and noisier. A really nice man covered me with his jacket while I slept...so nice of him! Then, just my last couple of hours back to Halifax. Tried to sleep again, but same neck problem. Meh.
By the time I got to Hali, it was almost 1pm here. So that would be 9am Vegas time....so I'd basically been up for 23 hours. Oh yippee. Got my luggage, got my car, stopped to get groceries (because I knew I wouldn't be in any shape to go out again later), got home, had shower, and then crashed for pretty much the rest of the day.
I hate time zones.
One day I'll get to make a Vegas trip for fun instead of work. I look forward to that!
The bad news was that check-out was at 11am, and my flight outta there wasn't until 11:20pm. Ya, 12 hours homeless in Vegas. LOL. So, first I got a coffee and wandered around the hotel....the Circus has a whole floor dedicated to carnival games and stuffs for the families. So loud and hard on the eyes for that time of the morning. I thought I was waiting for my bosses to get a bite to eat, but when they called they had decided to lay out by the pool until it was time to leave for their flight. Unfortunately I had already checked my baggage and wasn't wearing appropriate sunbathing attire, but I joined them anyway to read my book, get some sun, and relax for as long as I could.
Once they left at 1:00, I decided to head down to the Fashion Show Mall and do some shopping (well, more like window shopping). The bellhop offered me some good advice and said I should take my luggage with me and check it at the bell desk at one of the more central hotels so I wouldn't have to cab it all the way back to the Circus. Good advice, I didn't know I could do that! So I got my stuff and went to Caesar's Palace with it.
Ended up starting my shopping in the Forums Shops because they were right there...and I had gone that way in search of food because it was now 2pm and all I'd had was a coffee and a treat size KitKat! I got a slice of pizza in the Forum food court (so far the cheapest casino food I've happened upon but it was still crazy expensive considering what it was!)....sat there and read my book while I ate, then refilled my pop to carry around while I browsed.
The stores are mostly way too high-end for me. I did finally visit the Coach store and that's about the only place where I nearly talked myself into buying something. I really would love to have one great purse that I can carry forever....but dishing out $700 US wasn't something I was willing to do. I couldn't even justify $250 for a great wallet. Lovely, but just not me. Oh well. I browsed through a few other designer stores, but I'm not a very good window shopper....so in the end I landed up at Bath & Body Works instead. Much more my speed! Bought lots of good smelling hand-soap for me and a friend. I would have bought more but I was worried it would put my suitcase over weight.
And after that, I just walked and walked and walked. Went outside to the Strip and made my way through a few hotels I had never been through. Got to the Fashion Show Mall, wandered the whole thing...still didn't buy anything...went to Starbucks, but even that was too noisy and I was starting to get exhausted. Sat by the lagoon at The Mirage for a bit, but it was closing so couldn't go in. Mostly I was just wandering so I wouldn't fall asleep.
I timed it so I would get to Treasure Island in time for the first Sirens show. I got a good viewing spot, but I was still standing up. What I wouldn't have given to sit down by then. After that I made my way over to the Bellagio to see a water show....too bad it was the same damn Celine Dion one I saw last year....I was hoping for something I hadn't seen yet. Oh well, it's still one of my fave things to see on the Strip!
After that I decided I'd had enough and went back to Caesars and got my luggage and headed for the airport about a half hour early. The scariest cab ride ever (well, second to the uber-crazy ride I had in Rome once). He got me there in record time I swear. Insane!
I figured getting there early would be a good idea because usually security at the Vegas airport is super busy and takes at least 1/2 hour....but not this time. I checked in, and because Westjet is in the main terminal now I didn't have to walk a mile or take the shuttle or spend forever at security. In fact, I was the only person going through security....they even had so few staff on that I had to push my own stuff through the xray machine. So, needless to say, I was at my gate almost 2 hours before my flight. Gah!
I got some fries, read my book, played on my computer (free internet access!), and chatted with some other folks waiting for the same flight. I was soooo tired.
I tried to sleep on my flight, but my bad neck/shoulder really wouldn't let me. I was already hurting from walking around all day, but any tilting of my neck resulted in my arm pain going through the roof. Not fun. But somewhere along the way I did fall asleep from shear exhaustion, which helped make the flight to Toronto go a lot faster.
When I got to Toronto and cleared customs, I immediately went to my gate and found a place to lay down. I think I actually got a hour or so of solid sleep...until the gate started to get busy and noisier. A really nice man covered me with his jacket while I slept...so nice of him! Then, just my last couple of hours back to Halifax. Tried to sleep again, but same neck problem. Meh.
By the time I got to Hali, it was almost 1pm here. So that would be 9am Vegas time....so I'd basically been up for 23 hours. Oh yippee. Got my luggage, got my car, stopped to get groceries (because I knew I wouldn't be in any shape to go out again later), got home, had shower, and then crashed for pretty much the rest of the day.
I hate time zones.
One day I'll get to make a Vegas trip for fun instead of work. I look forward to that!
Saturday, November 1, 2008
Halloween in Suburbia
I've been trying to think back to when the last time I truly had kids at my door for Halloween and I really can't remember. The past two years, we were in our military housing in the country back in Victoria (only 14 houses)...so there were about a dozen kids from the neighborhood but that was it. For three years prior to that I was in an apartment....before that a condo apartment...before that a shitty apartment...before that a condo in Nanaimo...before that a basement suite on a street that didn't get trick-or-treaters...wow, so it was before that when I lived in a house with my ex. Yikes. What's that, like 10 years?!
So anyway, we now live in uber-residential suburbia, so I planned for about 100 or so kids. I didn't count, but I'm guessing I probably had 60-70. They didn't start coming until around 6pm, but once they started they came full force until about 7:30. Short and sweet. Surprisingly, it was mostly little kids....like 8 and under...with the majority being under 5 and carried by their parents. We have a lot of stairs so I met a lot of them at the bottom because those stairs were slowing the little ones down all up and down the block.
By 8:00 they were all gone. I think there may have been some older kids a little later, but I went out at 8:30 and the street was pretty quiet.
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