It's finally winter

I woke up this morning and it was snowing. A bit late since we didn't get any of the white stuff on Christmas (not that I'm complaining). Anyway, I got up, had lunch, and went to work. Yup, went to work on a Sunday. Wasn't too happy about it, but with the year end, and all this stuff we have to do for the last payroll of the year, I had to go in and do as much as I can. The worst part was getting to work and realizing that I left my keys at home. Ugh. It took me 45 minutes to get to work because of the road conditions (plus, some car hit a light post), about 20 minutes to drive back home (the other side of the freeway was clear), and another 25 minutes to get back to the office. By the time I finally made it to the office, it was almost 2:00 pm. About seven hours later, I went home. I definitely need a vacation...

It feels like Monday
Having Christmas in the middle of the week sure screws things up. Christmas felt like Sunday and today feels like Monday, but it's really Thursday. I'm confused.

Olive Garden
I went for lunch with a friend of mine to the Olive Garden. We both hadn't been there in a while, so we decided to go there. We figured that there wouldn't be too many people in restaurants because everyone would be too busy with Boxing Day shopping. And sure enough, the restaurant wasn't that busy. What annoyed me was our server. I realize she was just trying to be attentive, but she was overdoing it. I mean it's one thing to check up on us and make sure our food was OK, but did she really need to visit our table every 8.5 minutes? I don't think so. We got our salad and breadsticks, she asked how everything was. We hadn't even gotten through half our salad and our lunch came (chicken vino blanco - very good). And again, she came by and asked if we were done with the salad. Uh, not quite. She came back again and asked how our lunch was, but we hadn't even had a chance to taste it, since we were still working on our salad. When we finally got to the entrée, she came back yet again and asked how everything was. It got to the point where we had to pretend that we were on our cell phones, just so she wouldn't come by. Perhaps she didn't have many tables, and was bored or something. But it was like she was hovering over us, watching our every move. I think she got the hint when we started grabbing our cell phones everytime she'd pass by. Anyway, we hung out there for a while and just caught up on stuff. [Sidenote: I think I have a new drink: venetian sunset (made with sparkling wine, pineapple juice, and grenadine)].


Star Trek Nemesis
After lunch, it was off to see Star Trek with Joi (we have this ritual of seeing Star Trek or other sci-fi movies together). I know you said not to watch it (as per your blog), but I had to. And just like the other Star Trek movie Joi and I saw (I don't remember which one, and yes Joi, we did see one a long time ago), I fell asleep during part of the movie. The beginning just dragged on and on, and I couldn't get into it. I must've dozed off for a while because then some action scenes came on, and I was able to stay awake for that. Then it kinda slowed down again, and I was about to fall asleep again, but managed to keep my eyes open. Sorry Joi, but I think this is the last Star Trek movie we'll ever watch. I'll watch other sci-fi movies with you, but not Star Trek ones.


Movie #2
After Star Trek, I headed to my co-workers place and watched Original Sin. As the movie says, "it is not a love story, but a story about love". Julia (Angelina Jolie) marries Luis (Antonio Banderas), but little does he know that she isn't who she claims to be (he finds out later on in the movie). He thinks that she's this girl he's been writing to, when really she's not. She pretty much scams him for his money, but then later on they end up together because they really do love each other. Whatever. The movie was OK.

Back to work
After having a couple days off, I really don't want to go back to work tomorrow. See, this is why Christmas should be longer... =P

And so ends another Christmas...

After all the hoopla of shopping, and the parties, and the food, and the gifts, and the tree, and the lights, it's all over. So much preparation, and it's all over in one day. You'd think that with the amount of time that's spent preparing for Christmas, it would at least last for a week or something. But nope. One day only. Don't get me wrong, I like Christmas (even though I didn't quite feel it as much this year as I did in previous years), and spending time with family and friends, but it could've lasted a bit longer.

We spent Christmas at my aunt and uncle's this year. There was lots of food, and my cousin got a whack load of presents. Of course, he's only a year and a half, so he's supposed to be spoiled. He was so cute, opening up his presents. I think the best present he got was this mini Dirt Devil cleaning set, complete with mop, broom, dust pan, etc, that my brother and Shelley got for him. As soon as he opened it up, he started sweeping the floor. It was quite funny. We hung out for a while, and then headed home to open the rest of our presents.

And now it's time to get some sleep. Thank goodness I'm not working tomorrow. And I'm NOT stepping foot into a mall either. Boxing day sales last way past boxing day anyway, so why bother "fighting" with other people for stuff. Sure there's more selection and all, but is it really worth it? I'll just wait a while. They end up slashing prices even more anyway, so I'm not worried. Besides, I'd rather go for lunch with a friend of mine (whom I haven't seen in a while), and go to a movie with Joi later in the afternoon.

I think I'm losing my touch...

...with gift-giving that is. The gift I got for my brother and Shelley - they already got one for themselves. And for my aunt and uncle, they already had 2 out of 3 things I got for them. Ugh. I'm thinking I don't want to be here next Christmas...

Just wanted to say...

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!

I'm done!!!

Yay! I finally finished my Christmas shopping! Yay for me!! It took me an hour, but it's finally done. And everything's wrapped. Woo hoo! I feel much better now.

Phrase of the day

"Oh my god"

Just when I thought I'm done...
After calling Irma with my panic attack, I realized that I have yet another gift to get. Ugh. The plan for one of my presents, didn't quite work as well as I hoped, which means I have to get something in place of it. Argh! Is this shopping list ever going to end? Well, at least 98% of my presents are wrapped...or should I say bagged?

Walnut Creek
That's the name of the red wine my brother and I had tonight. We both agreed that it goes well with pancit. Who would've thought?

Sunday night programming?
I actually watched tv tonight. Surprising, since I usually watch tv on Thursdays only. I almost forgot what it was like to watch tv on weekends. I ended up watching Junior with Arnold Schwartzeneggar and Danny De Vito. I could've watched The Sound of Music, but since I have the video I didn't bother. [Speaking of which, Irma, when did you want to watch it?]

I'm exhausted
Three more days...

Saturday
After work, I went shopping. I had to. My plan was to finish all of my shopping that afternoon, but that didn't happen. I got most of my shopping done, but not all of it. Then it was off to Rachel & Brian's for the "Annual Christmas Party". Since I was in the Philippines this time last year, it had been a while since I last saw most of the people there, so it was good to see them again.

• Irma breaks out in song ("..her name was Lola, she was a showgirl..." hehehe =P)
  
• Irene's on a diet?
  
• I'm still hungry

Irma and I hung out there for a while and then headed to The Keg for a drink and a late night snack.

[Sidenote: Even with this Christmas party, I still wasn't in the Christmas mode. Is anyone else feeling like this?]

I'm 99% done my shopping...
Yay! I woke up at 10:30 am, walked to the mall (since it's just across the street and I figured I wouldn't be able to park anywhere if I drove), and got the last few presents I had to get. The only thing left on my list is a bottle of wine for my aunt and uncle. Now it's time to wrap them. (I'm taking the easy route this year and using gift bags). I should be able to relax after this.

5 more days

OK, so I'm officially in my panic mode. I wasn't quite there yesterday, but now I am. I was planning to get off work early so I could finish the last bit of shopping I had to do, but that didn't happen. Instead, I left work at about 6:00 pm and ran around like a mad woman. I didn't even stop to get something to eat, since it would be cutting into my shopping time. Since the malls close at 9:00 pm (if they closed later, I didn't know about it), I figured I had about 2 hours and 15 minutes of shopping (the other 45 minutes was spent driving around). I'm not sure what possessed me to buy something for myself (I think this is a result of Irma's subliminal message), but I did. Then I got presents for 3 other people. I still have about half a dozen things to get, but I pretty much have a game plan. It's just a matter of finding the time to get all this stuff. As much as I don't want to shop on the weekend, it looks like I have no choice. I could put it off until Monday, but I don't think it's going to be much different than the weekend. *sigh*

I just realized that the reason I was feeling all flustered yesterday was because of the full moon effect. OK, so maybe it's not entirely because of the full moon, but it seems that everytime there's a full moon, my day seems to be "off", whether it be in a good way or a bad way.

6 more days

I can feel the intensity of my panic mode gradually increase as Christmas gets closer and closer. AARRGGHH!! I don't think I'd be so frustrated, if I wasn't so busy at work. Irma, I think your subliminal message had a negative effect on me. ;-) I didn't get a chance to go shopping tonight because (i) my day was completely screwed up, (ii) I was at work until 6:45 pm, and (iii) I met Sue after work and we went to Yokozuna's for sushi. I like going there because it's a nice little place and the food is reasonable, but I wasn't too happy about waiting almost an hour for our food. It's not usually like that, but apparently the cook was way behind. Gee, thanks for telling us that an hour later, when you brought us our food =P. I did enjoy the plum wine though :-)

Hmmm, maybe the reason I'm feeling so flustered is because I haven't reached my quota of alcohol consumption for the week. Or maybe it's because I need a vacation. Or maybe it's because I need to get some sleep. *yawn*

One more week

Can you believe it? Only one more week until Christmas. And here I am thinking that I still have another week before the week before Christmas (hence 2 weeks - I'm so frazzled that I can't think straight anymore). I'm not even close to being done with shopping. ARGH! I'm starting to panic. So much to do, in so little time. I really don't want to go shopping on the weekend. And there's no way that I want to be shopping 2 days (or even the day before) Christmas. I getting stressed out. I need a massage. I need a vacation. But how can I possibly think of taking some time off when it's absolutely busy at work. GRRR! Make this madness stop!!

Chocolate Overload

I got a box of these chocolates from my boss about a week and a half ago. Knowing they were good chocolates, I didn't want to eat them right away. But I finally opened them a couple days ago (I couldn't resist anymore), and all I've been eating are these chocolates. They are the best chocolates ever! Yum!!

Weather Update

We still have no snow. I wonder if we'll get some of the white stuff next week? I don't really mind, but it's kinda hard to get into the Christmas without a little bit of snow...

When is it going to slow down?

It was yet another busy weekend for me...

Friday
I left work a bit early to get my hair cut. Actually, it was more of a trim. All I have to say is that I have the best hair dresser (I'm sure everyone says that about their own hair dressers). She's always wanting to keep my hair updated with the latest colors, styles, etc. She's been my hair dresser for the past 4 years or so, and I will never look for another one. When I went in, she mentioned that I was due for another color, since mine was "boring". Uh, OK? So we talked about what colors we would do for my next appointment (which will probably be sometime in January or February). Since I'm growing my hair out for my brother's wedding next summer, we can't really try out any of the new styles. Oh well. I'm sure I'll cut my hair right after my brother's wedding.

After my haircut, Irma and I went to meet the guys at Windsor Pub to watch the hockey game. Edmonton won against Colorado 4-3 in OT (thank goodness). We called it a night after the game, since I had to work the next day.

Saturday
I went to work for 5 hours (I actually woke up at 6:45 am – that's WAY too early – and was at work by 8:30 am), then it was off to the Jubilee to watch The Nutcracker with Irma (it only took us 2 years to finally see it =P). It was such a good show! That's the first ballet I've ever seen and it was well done. Hmmm, I guess now I can say I've been to the ballet, the opera, and the theatre. What's next?

After the ballet, I went home for a little while then it was off to the Sicilian Pasta Kitchen for Irma's sister's birthday (Happy Birthday Ghie!). The food was good, but I wasn't able to eat it all. We hung out at the restaurant for a while and continued the birthday celebration at the Druid. We watched the rest of the hockey game [Edmonton lost against Vancouver 3-6 :-( ], had a couple drinks, and Irma and I goofed around on the dance floor (hehehe). By midnight, I was exhausted, especially since I only had 3 (maybe 4) hours of sleep the night before. So we called it a night.

Well-rested
I managed to sleep in until 1:30 pm today (I probably would've slept longer if my phone didn't ring), but it was so needed due to my lack of sleep from the night before. I got up, had something to eat, cleaned my room a bit, and went to work for half an hour. I even did a bit of ironing tonight. Now I'm just lazing around surfing the net…

Online Purchase
Well, not really. I just used some of my Air Miles points to get myself a new hairdryer, since mine just died. And I don't have to pay for shipping and handling either. Woo hoo! I even have enough points remaining for a flight to Vancouver (not that I'm planning to go to Vancouver anytime soon). Only thing is, I have to wait 3-4 weeks to get my hairdryer. Oh well.

Speaking of points…
Why is it that when you have some kind of "point system" (whether it be airline points or frequent shopper points), you end up spending more than you have to to get the reward? Are you really saving anything? I have a credit card where you earn a certain percentage for every purchase you make. And as you accumulate points, you can use it towards the purchase of a new vehicle. OK, so if you wanted to make a down payment of $2,500 on a car using points, for example, you'd have to spend $83,000 (approximately) on your credit card to earn $2,500 in points. Now, if I had $83,000 to begin with I don't think I'd be too concerned with using my points to buy a car. So are these points really worth it?

Press Your Luck
That's the name of the game show I've been trying to figure out for the past few weeks. A co-worker of mine started saying "no whammies, no whammies" at work (don't know why?) and for the life of me, I couldn't figure out what game show that came from. (And for some reason, I didn't think to check out gameshownetwork.com? Duh!). As I was going through the list of game shows, I started to remember the game shows I used to watch way back when.

Random Thought
If you've ever watched a game show, did you find that it was so easy to get caught up in it? Especially with the trivia ones, do you find that you shout out the answer, as if the contestant is going to hear you? I know I used to. But I think it was more of a test to myself to see if I knew the answers.

You know Christmas is getting closer when...

...everyone starts to panic because it's only 12 days away and they haven't started shopping yet...
...for those who have started shopping, they seem to have this "pissed off" look about them...
...traffic going to the mall is insane. Yeah, good luck trying to find parking (I just drove by it on my way home. Thank goodness I'm not going to be in that crowd)...
...Christmas carols are being played all over the place (I never really noticed it until a couple days ago. I guess I was tuning it out before?)...

It's really hard to get in the Christmas spirit when there's no snow on the ground. I know I'm not a big fan of the white stuff, but if there was at least a bit of it, then maybe I could get into the spirit of things. Oh well, I'll take this spring-like weather any day.

Rescheduled

My hair dresser called me this afternoon to reschedule my hair appointment. At first I thought she was calling me because she wanted to remind me (since I forgot on Saturday). But apparently, something happened with their water heater and they don't have any hot water. Not good. So it's been rescheduled for tomorrow at 5:00 pm. I hope they have hot water by then...

Speaking of water...

The water in our office washroom is orange. The cold water is normal, but the hot water is orange. Because we're in an older office building (it was built in the 1920's or something), the pipes are rusting, hence the orange water. It was really disgusting, but by late afternoon, it was back to normal. Only problem was we had no hot water coming out of the taps.

What's with all the water problems?

It was a long day of shopping...

... but I think I did OK. I didn't like the fact that I didn't have a "game plan", but I've had no time to put my Christmas list together. So I thought I'd somewhat wing it. Here's a recap of yesterday's shopping adventure:

• Stop 1: Wal-Mart. Time: 9:30 am. Wanted to pick up some supplies for work, but they didn't have these pencil cases I was looking for.
  
• Stop 2: Home Outfitters. Time: 9:45 am. Had to buy myself a power toothbrush (as per dentist's orders because I brush too hard), and it also came with a bonus battery powered one. So it was like getting 2 for the price of 1, and I also get a mail-in rebate, so really I'm saving money ;-)
  
• Stop 3: the mall. Time: 10:05 am. It was so nice to walk through with hardly anyone there. Bought myself 3 tops and a couple bras (all on sale). [I know, I haven't bought anyone anything yet, but I had to finish shopping for myself first =P]. By this time, I was done shopping for me. Then I bought some socks for stocking stuffers (so that's one not-for-me present down)
  
• Stop 4: Edmonton Center Time: 11:45 am. Had a quick bite to eat to fuel up, then it was back to shopping. Got not-for-me presents 2, 3, 4, and 5. Then bought myself 2 rings and a pair of earrings. ;-)
  
• Stop 5: Southgate Center Time: 2:30 pm. Wasn't too sure what I was going to buy here, but I thought I'd visit this mall anyway. I almost bought another top for myself, but because I was debating on whether or not to get it, I just left it there. I ended up walking out of the mall with nothing.
  
• Stop 6: Went back downtown Time: 4:00pm. Wanted to check out this one store for a dress to wear on New Year's, but they were closed. :-(

I finally decided to call it a day. Whew! I don't think I've ever done that much shopping and driving around in my life. I went home for a little while, had something to eat, then hung at Irma's.

I'm taking the day off

It's been a long time since I've taken the day off. But I'm finally doing it. And the agenda for the day is: SHOPPING!! Yup, it's going to be a full day affair. I figure I better start Christmas shopping (and shopping for myself too =P), and I might as well do it while there aren't too many shoppers in the malls. Hopefully I'll get everything done...

Weekends start on Thursday

Well, that's what it seems like to me. For the past couple Thursdays, I've been hanging out with people from work. Normally, I would just go home and watch my Thursday night programming (which, by the way, I've missed for the past 3 weeks, and I keep forgetting to set my VCR =P). But instead, I hang out with co-workers and go for drinks. This past Thursday was fun though. A couple co-workers from another location, put on a show. They formed a band called Mullet and sang cover songs. They were actually pretty good. The highlight of the evening was when Niki pulled a Charlie's Angels sommersault onto the stage and ripped a section of Sam's jeans off. :-) I left after the first set since I had to work the next morning.

Moonlight Madness

The plan on Friday was to go shopping since the mall was going to be open until midnight (I wish they had this 2 days a week). I figured this would be a great opportunity for me to start Christmas shopping. But it didn't happen. I was having a beverage after work, when the ATM repair guy showed up. I didn't even know he was coming in? I don't know why he showed up at 7:00 pm, but there he was with his tool kit and all, ready to fix the ATM. Great. So that meant I had to stay until he was done. Not great. About a half hour or so later, he left. But I still couldn't leave because my co-worker and I were waiting for a friend to show up. He didn't get there until about 9:00 pm, and by that time I was starting to lose interest in going shopping. For one thing, I hadn't eaten yet, and there's no way I'd be able to shop without being "fueled up". Plus, even if I left right away, I would only have a couple hours to shop. Knowing that the mall would probably be crowded, I figured I would need more than a couple hours. So I just went home. In hindsight, I probably should've just gone to kickboxing.

Panic Shopping

After work, I headed to Southgate to get Joi's birthday present. I can't believe I left it to the last minute. I usually would've had it done ahead of time, but I've been so busy lately. I even went to a smaller mall, so that I wouldn't have to deal with (i) bigger crowds, (ii) wasting half an hour looking for parking, and (iii) getting tempted to shop for myself. Only problem was, even though I went to a smaller mall, there was still a lot of people, just crammed into a smaller space. So my focus was to go to GAP, then to the card shop, and get out of there. I made it out of there in about half an hour and went home.

You know you need a vacation when...

...you start to forget things. As I was in line at the GAP, my hair dresser called me and I asked if I was still going in for a haircut. What?!?! Oh crap! I was so caught up in my "panic mode" that I totally forgot. So I re-scheduled for Thursday. OK, I can't forget this time. I seriously need some time off to re-group...

Joi's Birthday Bash - Part I

Irma and I went to Boun Thai Restaurant to meet up with Joi and the rest of the crew. Although Irma and I arrived fashionably late, the only other person at the restaurant (at the time) was his brother and his family. It wasn't like Joi to be late for his own birthday dinner, but we found out later that his car broke down. He finally arrived at around 8:00 pm, and by then most of the crew was there. We had dinner and the food was SO good. Noodles, coconut rice, curry chicken, bbq chicken, a fish dish, and some spicy chicken dish. Now that I think about it, almost every dish had chicken. But everything was so good. I wanted to keep eating, but I couldn't breathe anymore.

Highlights:

• keeping Irma updated
  
• Phoun has new words for his "repertoire": incognito, rendez-vous
  
• Phoun = Pedro, Joey = Jose, Jay = Juan, Joi = Jorge (pronounced HOR hay)
  
• Joi's new toque & scarf ensemble

Next Appearance

After dinner, Irma and I went to this pub to meet up with a co-worker and his soccer team. They were having their Christmas get together, so we made our appearance, had a drink, and left after an hour.

Joi's Birthday Bash - Part II

The next stop was the Bronze nightclub for part 2 of Joi's party. I ran into a few people I haven't seen in a while. I even ran into this one guy I went to college with. Talk about reunion or what? Anyway, Irma, Irene, Ghie, and I just danced the night away.

Highlights:

• Irene and the wall
  
• quota plus 2
  
• Irma's new dance moves (hehehehe =P)
  
• laughing too much
  
• where's Irma? (apparently, she was hanging out with Ed)
  
• "employees only"

Shopping Again

After running a couple errands today, I decided to do a bit of shopping. I had about an hour and a half before the mall closed, so I figured why not? I wanted to get some earrings (since I lost one of mine on Friday), but didn't see anything I liked and that wouldn't irritate my ears (I can only wear sterling silver or gold earrings. The other stuff irritates my ears). So I just wandered through the mall, scanning for things that caught my eye. I ended up getting two shirts. Yay! All I need is a couple more things for myself, and then I can go Christmas shopping.

Dinner with the boss

All the managers, my supervisor, and myself are having dinner at my boss' house. It should be a laid back type of evening. As long as they don't talk about work (which I don't think they will), then it should be OK. I should probably get going though, since the dinner is at 7:00 pm, and I don't want to be late. Plus, I'm getting hungry too.

Not a good day

For the past week, I think I spent most of my time running between offices (since they're all within a block or two away from each other), because something seems to go "wrong" and they need me to fix it or something. Ugh. Plus it didn't help that payroll arrived late, which didn't give me much time to put these reports together. By the time I got payroll and got the information I needed, it was 1:15pm. And management needed the reports for their 2:00 pm meeting. Great. And of course, the numbers didn't balance right off the bat. But I did manage to get the reports done on time. Only problem was, my source of brain fuel only came from a banana. I didn't get a chance to stop and have lunch because I got so caught up in what I was doing, that I lost track of time. I ended up having lunch at 6:00 pm (which equates to dinner), and then headed to kickboxing. I almost didn't go because I started to feel cranky (because I missed lunch, and I was getting tired), but then I thought I needed to let this frustration out. When I got to kickboxing, I could not get motivated. I wasn't really into it and my balance was totally off. I should've gone shopping instead. But then, I probably would've ended up spending more than what I usually would have.

So much for going to sleep early...

My plan was to have dinner, check email real quick, and then go to sleep. But then a friend of mine called and we ended up chatting for 45 minutes. OK, maybe I should go to sleep now...

I don't like waiting

But I have no choice. I'm sitting in my old office waiting for payroll to arrive (because we forgot to tell them that we moved down the street), but it's not here yet. And it was supposed to be here by 9:30 am. Or at least that's how early they've been coming lately. There's no set time on when they deliver it, but it would be nice to know an approximate time (plus or minus half an hour), so I'm not sitting here wasting my time. Although I am catching up on blogging and email and stuff. =P

Where is this cold weather coming from?

We were having such nice weather up until this morning. I woke up to snow and wind and cold weather. Ugh. Not liking this at all...

Random Thought

What is it about snow that causes people to drive differently? I mean, shouldn't they realize that they need to take extra time to get to work, etc? It took me an hour to get to work this morning. And I even "scammed" my through traffic too. I didn't cut anyone off, but I used the open lane that no one seemed to want to drive in? I hope traffic isn't like this tomorrow.

I spoke too soon...
Just as I was getting comfortable sitting in front of my computer, munching on popcorn, my phone rang at around 10:30 pm last night. It was Irene telling me to get ready and that her and Irma were going to pick me up in about half an hour. Huh?!? Uh, OK. So much for staying home on a Saturday night. =P

They picked me up at about 11:00 pm and we headed downtown. Where to go? At first we weren't sure, but then we decided that our first stop should be Ceili's. We did a quick round, had a drink, and sat and listened to David Gallagher for a little while. The next stop was The Druid, but since there was a line, we didn't go in. So we headed to Whyte Ave. Plan C was The Attic, but there was a line as well. Plan D was Suite 69, and again there was a line. So when in doubt, go to the usual, where we don't have to wait in line. I didn't want to go because I've been making frequent appearances there, but it was OK. We had a couple drinks there [I had my quota minus one] and called it a night.

Highlights:

• "Can you hear me?"
  
• "Do you see him?"
  
• singing along to Rod Stewart
  
• Irene was "glowing"
  
• the ABC's of alcoholism
  
• grasshopper or caterpillar?
  
• color of the night: orange

Busy Sunday
I haven't had a busy Sunday in a long time. I even managed to get up at 10:00 am (that's early for me, especially on a Sunday) to start my day.

Shopping
The first thing on my agenda was to go shopping. Yup, I actually braved the mall. Who would've thought that I'd step into a mall on a weekend, knowing how crowded it's going to be with everyone doing their Christmas shopping? That's why I got up early. I figured that if I got there early enough, I would beat the crowds and get some shopping done. After an hour and 45 minutes, I left the mall with four pairs of pants and a skirt. Not bad considering I had a time limit and I had to deal with all those people. I know I should be Christmas shopping for other people, but I haven't made my list yet, and I haven't gone shopping for myself in almost 2 months! Plus, I realized that I need to take a full day off (or two) from work to get all my shopping done.

Afternoon Coffee
After I went shopping, I met a friend of mine for coffee. We sat around and hung out for a while, until I had to meet Irma and Joi.


Sunday Ritual with Irma & Joi
It's been a long time since Irma, Joi, and I had our Sunday ritual of watching a matinee and then going to Café Select. So that's what we did this afternoon. We went to Eaton Centre to watch Friday After Next. It was a funny movie! The three of us had a few "moments" where we burst out laughing because of what was said. The other people in the theater probably thought something was wrong with us, but it was hilarious watching the things we could relate to.

After the movie, we went to Café Select where we got something to eat and caught up on stuff. Irma and I finished the ABC's of Alcoholism from the night before, and then the three of us came up with the ABC's of Café Select

Highlights:

• "Mr. A.Hole & Mr. B.Dicks"
  
• dun da da daaaaaaaa
  
• "Let me check my palm pilot"
  
• "Did you hear that?"
  
• you know it's time to find a new hang out when you've sat in every section of the restaurant, and every server has had a chance to serve you

What a day. *yawn* I should get to sleep...