Fa, La, La, La, La

Well, I am not a huge Christmasy-type person. I have most of my shopping and wrapping done, except for pictures developed from Future Shop. When I went there on Thursday to grab them, the guy forgot to give me a pack. So, I have to go back and get them. What a waste of time. One of my hard drives failed in my computer, so a technican came on Thursday after work to fix it. My Shaw digital movie channels have been on the fritz for 2 weeks. I waited for 2 hours for the technican to come on Friday, but he never showed.
So much for catching up on movies while school's out.

I went to Granville Island last night for Winter Solstice. It was so beautiful down there, lights done up, lantern procession and art structures. I volunteered to do fire tech safety for Radiant Heat. A group of four talented performers did a fire performance on top of the hill on the east side of the island.

On Thursday, I went to Doolin's Irish Pub with Lianne and two of her Ozzie friends. We had a few drinks and hung out. I was so exhausted, I ended up going home for a good night's sleep. Missed out on them going to Republic. I have been eager to check out this new bar on Granville Street because I hear it plays a fair amount of retro music.

 

The weekend prior, I went to Omid's family annual Iranian buffet. It was delightful and delicious as always. I got to catch up with people I had not seen in a very long time. Unfortuately, the power went out, but all of the food had already been prepared. The family had a generator and the power was restored. The storms this winter have really hit a lot of people hard.

I hope the power stays on Monday for Christmas dinner. I will be cooking turkey dinner with all the trimmings for my father and brother. We are hoping to see my niece, but we are not guaranteed to have her. I still have to grocery shop for Christmas dinner. I do not want to go when it is too busy. Earlier or later? I am yearning to go see a movie. There are so many movies out I want to see and I have not seen a movie in the theatre since August.

 

SantaCon Vancouver was awesome this year. We started out on Commercial Drive. The people on The Drive were very receptive, honking and accepting tonkens of our Christmas cheer. We stopped at a pub before 1st Avenue and then walked up to Toby's Pub and Grill. Santa dipped and smooched me. A Santa from Christmas past came up to me. It was my old boyfriend from Grade 10. That was bizarre as the old and new worlds collided.



 

Poor Santa was kicked out of Metrotown Centre because the security thought Santa was protesting consumerism and Santa was going to rampage. Santa just wanted to spread Christmas cheer by giving out candy canes, gingerbread men, and misfit toys. We had dinner and drinks at the Station Square Pub.

 

I have officially joined Happy Bats Cinema. I have been eargerly yearning to join this video store for almost a year. It has a great selection of films and tv shows. My virgin rentals are: The Entourage, Freaks & Geeks, The 70's Show, and Robot Chicken.

Happy Holidays everyone! See you in the New Year!

 

A la weekend

Last weekend, I went to Amanda and Geoff's for a potluck dinner. It was wonderful with a great mix of people. We also played Greed with secret Santa presents. We drew playing cards and a dealer went through another deck of cards elminating or calling rules on the fly with the second deck. We went through various: pick a present, switch presents, rearrange presents and do something to this person for their present. It was a total blast! I got a nice bag with Harajuku love phrases all over it. Some people got neat things, other people got quirky items like straws.

I also went out to visit my cousin and brother. My cousin's cat Fluffy was having breathing problems due to a chest infection. She has lost so much weight from being ill and she is already diabetic. I went with my cousins to pick up Fluffy from the vet. I hung out with Holly and Gabby (three-legged black cat) in the waiting room. Fluffy was woozy from the medication. We got her back home and she was still out of it, but realized she was finally home with her family. Eventually, she jumped on the sofa and curled up on me and took a nap. She has never jumped up to cuddle or be near me.

 

My calculus final exam is this Tuesday. I have finally come to terms with it all and stopped stressing over it. We did a practice final exam from last term and it was very difficult. We were all kind of anxious after it. But the end is near and freedom is around the corner! I am looking forward to watching movies, reading, cleaning, watching tv shows on DVDs, and overall having a social life again (at least for two weeks).

 

Last week, my work took us to dinner at Beyond for our Christmas Party. I had a delicious steak and chocolate-fudgy cake for dessert. There were door prizes, a manicure at Absolute Spa, dinner at O'Doul's Restaurant & Bar, and a suite at the Pacific Palisades Hotel.

The grand prize was a trip for two round-trip to Whistler on the Rocky Mountaineer Whistler train. I had no idea there was a grand-prize trip. Well, we had to play heads or tails to win it. Basically, each round you put your hands on your head or butt. We went two rounds, and I was the last contender with a co-worker's boyfriend. I was so nervous! Well, I won the trip! I was flabbergasted to say the least.



So, my plan is to go up in summer for my birthday and hopefully get some folks up there to rent a condo with a hot tub for some summer birthday fun.

 

So many parties and festivities were happening this weekend, and I had to study (*pouty face*). Donna and Jenn's martini party (dang! another great party they are hosting that I could not attend!), martini and brunch today, and ice skating this afternoon (I went to the last one). Oh, the dedication and discipline I practice for my school courses.

Last night, I did go to Katia's birthday party. It was a pleasure to celebrate her birthday with her and her friends. We did arts and crafts of oven clay and painting. There was also some drumming and guitar. Shawn made a delicious vegan chocolate cake (when I am rolling in dough, I will hire Shawn as my personal chef/caterer). Katia gave me a beautiful Yin Yang pendant. Silly me, I forgot her present at home! I will have to give it to her when she returns from her trip to South America.

Listening to: Coldplay - Don't Panic