So Many Questions (1)

1. What is your interpretation of one of your recent dreams?

My most recent dream was two nights ago. I dreamt myself and my roommate were seeing some old friends from high school, and one classmate threw herself off a balcony, descending several stories to her messy death. I don't know why I dreamt this, considering I wasn't particuarly good friends with this girl in question, but ironically when I was browsing twitter and facebook the next day I was instantly relieved when I saw a post or two from her. It was like a confirmation that no, she really wasn't dead. Thank goodness. I guess my interpretation is my subconcious worries about people it doesn't even realize it means to worry about? I don't know. I'm not very good at interpretations.

2. What does death teach us about life?

Of course I could go with the classic "that it's precious, and that nothing lasts forever" response. I was sorely tempted. But upon further thought, I'll go with this: life is a mystery. Death is always looming, always constant, always a factor in things that we do. It's a certain luck to get through a day without dying. Considering all the accidents that happen, all the panicked adolescents that shoot up high schools, all the foolish suicide bombers, all the idiots that think it'll be a smart idea to rob a convenience store with a gun, we're all lucky to be alive. Life is precious, but now and again it's questionable. Besides, I am of a belief that when you die, you are reincarnated. Yes, your body rots in the ground. You don't go to Heaven, you don't go to Hell (in my opinion). But your soul...that piece of you that isn't determined by genes or decisions made before you, that carries on to live another life in another body. Comforting, isn't it?

3.When you look at an elderly person's hand, what do you see?

Again, I could go with the classic approach here. But since I had always been fascinated with my grandmother's hands, I will choose my own route. When I looked at her hands, I saw many things - years of wear, wrinkles, manicured fingernails (she always kept them long and tidy), bruises on occaision (older people bruise easily, and my grandmother was always bumping into things, shutting her hands in things, just getting bumps and bruises along the way). I see the years behind her hands, I see the work she did with them as a young girl, I see the pieces she played at the piano when we were children. I was most fascinated when she was playing the piano.

4.What disease known to humankind do you hate most? Explain why.

This one's undisputed. Cancer. I loathe cancer as it took from me a few family members and it kills so many others. I don't know one person who isn't effected by it in some way. I would elaborate, but that's all I feel I need to say about this.

5. What was your last dream about?

See above (number 1).

6. What seemed unusual on your morning commute today?

Today's my day off. Snicker

7. Tell me about an old friend you've lost touch with.

Growing up, I  had few friends, but my best friend moved away to Alberta when we were in grade 3, and I missed him dearly. I still ponder what became of him now and again, but never managed to get in touch with him again. Since then I have evolved and made new friends by the time I hit grade 6, but he was my first best friend.

8. What's your earliest holiday memory?

Birthdays don't count, do they? Because I remember my first birthday cake. As holidays go, I remember getting a bike for one Christmas (my sister and I both recieved our first bike as our Christmas gift, and excitedly raced them around the garage to the glee of our parents - we had already been taught to ride, we simply didn't have bikes of our own). I also remember what I was dressed up as for most halloweens - not the year specifically, just what I was dressed as.

9. What's your favourite charitable cause and why?

I would say the SPCA, but we have a love/hate relationship. They do a lot of good; a hell of a lot of good. But they euthanize for reasons such as "old age", "ringworm", "failed behavioural assessment". So despite all the good things they do for the animals, and the care they have for their wellbeing, the euthanasia is something that's difficult to get over. At least, working where I do, I know that it's painless for the animal, and they don't suffer (as opposed to older, outdated practices for pet control).

10. What do you think your life will be like 10 years from now?

Well, I'll have been to my 10 year high school reunion, I probably will be living somewhere different (though the idea at this moment is unpalatable), I hope I will have gotten somewhere with my life. Hey, maybe I'll be in a lovely house with a dog and a baby (or two!) and my husband. Maybe I'll still be working at the vet clinic, renting townhouses, snuggling my (now older) baby-cat, living with my roommate. Maybe I'll be broke. Maybe I'll be dead! Who knows. That's part of the adventure. I never thought, 2 years ago, that I'd be where I am. So it's all part of this life that I'm trying to make my way through.

Alright, I think that's all I'm going to do for now. Eventually I'll finish this load of questions I found on Stumble-Upon...but there's like 500, and I plan to do some indepth answers for them, so who knows how long it'll take me. 10 at a time seems reasonable.



ALL the cat pictures.

Among other things.

Also, I  may or may not be slightly drunk. Days off are fun.

This is so attractive.

Raspberry frozen yogurt, waffle cone, the ocean, the wind. Perfect.

I am watching Chicago because I had the sudden urge to watch it. I love this movie. <3

"Why don't we paint the town, and all that jazz?"

Another shot of that deliciousness, after we devoured some of it.

Because I'm a crazy cat lady. Pheeny bee the baby-cat. <3

Some beads on a (dirty) glass table. R was making a bracelet and I couldn't resist. They're so pretty; cat hair may have ruined the photo.

Loving this camera (on loan)! Pheeny looks so smart in this one.

Making a no-makeup pouty face.

I wish this photo could be bigger. It's in its prime as my desktop background. It's possibly my favourite picture of my kitty to date.

Because my Nuubie is handsome too, I had to include a shot (or two) of him as well. He's photogenic, but likes to avoid the camera's gaze. Phoenix is easier to get portraits of.

Then I got really bored and took pictures of my book - I'm currently reading 50 shades of grey (because I can't knowingly make fun of it without reading then) and it happened to be on the table, on top of R's beading box.

Extra much bored. Took a picture of my fingers on the windowsill.

Some lilies have been blooming outside our front door - we are greeted with their satisfying aroma every time we come home or leave the house. How lovely!

Pheeny feet!

Alright, that's all my obsessive pictures for now...I would write more but I'm distracted by Chicago and drink. :)

Some experiments in beverage-making

I've been getting creative with alcohol. Making interesting drinks, I mean. I'm by no means a "mixologist" or a bartender, or anything like that. I'm just making new creations with whatever we have in our cupboard and fridge (and freezer, in the case of the vodka). Here's a couple recipes I've come up with on the fly (if there's something similar out there, I intend no offense).

"Watermelon Sunrise"

 Nmed for that pretty orange/pink/yellow color it turns when it's stirred then settled. I quite enjoy it!

1 shot watermelon vodka

1/2 shot raspberry sourpuss (or enough to get the desired color)

Fill glass halfway with melon/mango juice (can use one or the other, or mix two together; I use the melon/mango juice by Sunrype)

Fill remainder of glass with peach cider (for more alcohol taste) or ginger ale (for less alchohol taste). I like the bubbly effect this gives the drink without being too carbonated.

Stir well and garnish with any fruit you choose, I would recommend raspberries for the color. Add ice if desired, stir, and enjoy.

"Fruit Delight" or "Raspberry/Peach Delight" or "Raspberry/Peach with Melon"

I can't decide what to call it.

1 shot watermelon vodka

1/2 shot raspberry sourpuss

1/2 shot tangerine sourpuss

Fill glass halfway with any juice that has peach in it, I used the apple/orange/peach from Sunrype. Could also use watermelon juice here, or something that had watermelon in it, depending on if you want the drink to be more watermelon flavored or peach flavored.

Fill remainder of glass with peach cooler, ginger ale, or tonic water, depending on personal preference. If you use a different juice in the above step, using peach cider here will keep the flavor profile.

I then stir everything, add a piece of fruit to the edge of the glass for a garnish, and add some ice in to keep it cool and refreshing.

"Candy Dream"

Because when you drink this it's like drinking some candy!

1 shot watermelon vodka

1 shot vanilla vodka

1 pieces of any fruit in the bottom (I used pineapple, because that's what we had), let it sit there for a minute before you add the rest. The fruit absorbs some of the vodka flavor, so when you've finished your drink you have these delcious pieces of spiked pineapple! So yummy.

Fill 3/4 of the glass with any orange juice of your choice, I love MinuteMaid.

Raspberry sourpuss to taste, or enough to give you the color you want. You can also use tangerine or whatever sourpuss you want; we just happened to have raspberry.

Ginger ale to finish.

Ice and stir. Enjoy!

Yay, these have been fun. I would have had photos, but they were too yummy, and since I've created these over the past few days and didn't think about posing the recipes before now, so I didn't think to take pictures until now and my current candy drink is over half done. :( Sad panda.

But one of our friends gifted my roommate with her old camera (a major step up from my dinky little Nikon) so we've been taking pictures and doing shenanigans and general tomfoolery.

Here's a couple shots, I am quite proud of one or two in particular.

Seaglass!

I like the tree photo because the sunset is shining on just the top...it looks like a gradient!

Rosehips.

Flowers draped with spiderweb.

One of my personal favourites - the dandelion puff.

Another favourite. A sneak peek of my roomate, holding a tiny crab. We did a few of these photos.

Me holding another crab. Just a wee babe, pinching my finger. I love this picture because you can see my finger is white at the tip where he's pinching! Photo cred to my roommate, RTH.

EDIT/ADDENDUM: So I just noticed after I posed this that this is my 100th entry! Holy cow. Thanks for not reading, un-readers!

In Between

I am finding this day-to-day living rather exhausting and exasperating.

I don't really want to go into details, it's getting to a point where I keep repeating myself, and it's annoying me.

Long story short, got some blood tests done, nothing was definitive, I have to try again in a month. Sigh. At least it wasn't the P-word.

And now, pictures.

I don't know if I've posted these yet and I'm too lazy to check. Kitties playing outside!

And Pheeny face- and my feet!

Phoenix meets a strange cat around the corner. She didn't seem to mind his presence, but I still didn't let him get too close. As soon as he took another step, she bolted in the other direction.

Lovely cloud formation on the way to work one morning.

Sad Panda.

Cutest pheeny ever, squinting in the sun.



So, that happened .

So you think im alone, but being alones the only way to be, you step outside, you spin like fire...

There was a breakup involved, I think .

You want to be free, the ground's the only place to be, cause in this life, you spend time running from the gravity.

This is a cold war, you better know what you're fighting for.

This shit is serious because both my cats are sleeping on me, I am laying with a fuzzy blanket on the couch with no intent to get up (besides to rescue my computer cord from upstairs so my laptop didn't die) and I am listening to my new breakup/crying/#lolsadness playlist. Shit just got REAL.

However I have not yet changed my facebook status to single, it's just complicated atm.

Bye, bye, bye, bye, don't you cry when they say goodbye?

Other than that I got brave and made a dr appt for Monday. I don't know if I should be scared.

Sunny days, where have you gone? I get the strangest feeling you belong. Why does it always rain on me? Is it because I lied when I was 17? Why does it always rain on me? Even when the sun is shining I can't avoid the lightning.

I feel kind of numb about the whole thing. I wasn't happy, and I can't explain why, but I wasn't. How can someone who's unhappy make someone else happy? And no matter how many times I tried to explain, he just didn't GET IT. I mean...I don't want to call him dense or anything but it's like he just either didn't give a shit, or just didn't realize how grave my situation was becoming.

I have a history with depression, and it;s become increasingly bad in the past few weeks. Depression causes a lack of interest in many things that were once of interest. Relationships flounder. Days blend into one another. Simple tasks seem difficult and getting up in the morning becomes a challenge. It happens, but my main point for all this was the fact that he never truly understood the gravity of what was happening.

But, enough of that ramble, I'm going to go listen to some music and probably cry a little. Why do girls date boys? Why do women become depressed? It doesn't lead anywhere. I'll contemplate these things later.

Music lyrics quoted: Janelle Monae's "Cold War"

Rufus Wainwright's "Why does it always rain on me"