resurfacing

One more winter exam period under my belt. The last one, at least for quite some time. Today I ran around regaining my life a little bit. Finished up the Christmas shopping, which somehow always adds up to more than it really ought to.

Now all the presents are wrapped and under the tree, and I bought myself some festive nailpolish and have amused myself by painting all my nails with "Rocker."

Next week - the beach, for a tropical Christmas season - which I absolutely cannot wait for. Part of me will miss my little tree and the general winteriness of it all. I've done it before, but it's always a bit strange to be wearing a swimsuit on Christmas Eve.

I was listening to a song, Rudy, by the Be Good Tanyas, and it kind of made me realise that I think I'd get a lot more joy out of Christmas if I could spend it contributing in some way. I'd like to do Christmas Eve at a soup kitchen or something next year. So do a lot of people on Craig's List apparently, so I'm not sure if that's just some idealised view of volunteering, or if soup kitchens really do need people on Christmas.

But D pointed out we don't have to wait until Christmas to do that - we could start anytime. I did look online, but so far haven't found a volunteer position where I'd really be interacting with people, which is what I'd like, or at least, what I think I'd like. I have a do some volunteering now where I get to do that. Trouble is, I kind of hate it... people can be very demanding and rude when they're seeking FREE legal advice for a problem that is very often their own fault. I think I'd like to take a step back from their personal problems and just hand them a warm bowl of soup.

Anyway, you should definitely listen to the Rudy song if you can find it somewhere - preferably not on tinny computer speakers though.

10 reasons it's a good thing I'm an atheist who doesn't believe in hell...

It's weird - I get really, really into Christmas. I love the trees, the glitter, the smiling at strangers on the street. But maybe it's exam stress or maybe it's just the overwhelming glee, but something about this season brings out the Grinch in me. I think it was best epitomised last year when one of those earnest people holding a clipboard outside the shops stopped me and asked "Do you like animals?" My response - "No..." and I kept on walking. Don't think they saw that coming. So here's what else reveals my grinchy side:

1. Okay for one thing, I've been enjoying this website so much - it's so mean, but it's hours of entertainment!

2. I've been hanging up on charities. Somehow I've gotten onto some bleeding heart mailing list; which is cool - I am a bit of a bleeding heart. And I have a hard time saying no... so the Wheelchair Association, the Rape Centre and the Pediatric AIDS people caught me early enough and offguard enough to donate. But the Children's Hospital and Alzheimer Society are out of luck. When they get all chatty ("Hi, how are you?") I'm rude: ("Who is this?").

3. I visit a particular forum very often; recently people posted their Christmas decorations. I opened it to get some ideas, but ended up just laughing at people's decor... even D seemed to lose some respect for me while I did it. But seriously, one of the people had a ceramic SNOWMAN nativity scene. With a snowman baby Jesus. And all the other people were like "Oh my God - I love that set!!! Where did you get it?" I mean I'm all for a little kitsch, but it wasn't ironic at all. Also? I kind of really want one.

4. You know those charities I hang up on? Well, I still use the mailing labels they send me. So my Christmas card recipients think I'm a "Proud Supporter of the Cancer Agency." But I'm not.

5. This is a really bad one - D gets an alumni magazine from his Very Prestigious University. It comes OFTEN, and there's only so much you can read about alumni of a small college. I enjoy flipping to the obituaries, and I especially like reading the obits of young people. I don't know why - maybe because the older ones are just depressing - "A died unexpectedly on December 1. He was prepared at Z Academy. (The old ones were ALL prepared somewhere.) "He became an engineer for Y corporation and survives his three children. He loved to golf." But the young ones are more interesting - maybe because their class officers aren't so used to writing them. The one today said that "X died while entertaining disabled children." I mean, did it actually happen right while he was entertaining them? Maybe singing up on stage with an acoustic guitar? I know... I know... I really would be going to hell, if it existed.

6. I don't think you need anymore to agree with my subject.

Yet another cat story

I keep thinking of good topics, but then not posting them. Right now I am in the midst of exam madness so am desperately reading cases from 1846 hoping that they are somehow relevant to life today.

I'm only really worried about one - our prof has covered a tonne of material in a rather illogical way. A classmate who doesn't often come attended our make-up session today and he looked over at me and said "Is he usually this incoherent?" Um... yeah.

I spent an absurd amount of money on cat vet bills today. Turns out the peeing on the sofa? Wasn't the kittens - was one of my own, obviously in a fit of pique. Trouble is, the pique, and the pee continues. D and I actually decided we needed a new sofa since the old one, a lovely down thing, was saturated.

I bought that sofa when I inherited money from my grandmother several years ago. Can I just say, 21 is a terrible age to inherit money? I really, really wish it had been held off until I was 25, or I at least wish my mother had insisted I get a financial planner. Anyway, I somehow justified to myself that I should spend a big chunk of money on an enormous down sofa. Our whole pine bedroom set, which we had custom stained, cost less. And less than seven years later, I am getting rid of it. I do not think that couch paid for itself. And it was a bitch to move - on four occasions I paid people to haul it over balconies with cranes and other contraptions - it was huge. But although it felt wasteful to get rid of this major piece of furniture so soon, in some ways it felt kind of good to say goodbye, like it was some kind of reminder of my frivolity. Which makes no sense since buying new furniture is obviously frivolous.

But anyway - we have a new sofa which we hoped would stay pee-free since it wouldn't have that delightful ammonia odour to lure her over. Just in case we covered it with a plastic sheet - classy, I know! But thank god we did as it turns out the cat attempted her old (new?) trick again. So after paying $240 to rule out medical causes for her habit, I have just purchased vet-recommended $88 pheremone spray in order to deter her from peeing. Ridiculous - I know... at this rate we might as well just buy a new sofa every time she does it.

Also I have forbidden D from telling his parents the true reason for our sofa purchase... I just know it will come back to haunt me if they know our cats pee on things and there will be jabs about their hygiene habits and our housekeeping. I just don't want them to know.

I promise this blog won't turn into "adventures of my cat" but that's pretty much all I got going on these days.