Food Coma, and Life Possessions on the Sea

Holy moley.

I've only been eating healthy (really only just healthier, it's all relative) for about 3 weeks, but I guess your body gets used to your changes pretty quickly because today was a BAD lunch day, and i'm paying the price. Badly.

It was sandwiches from Hubbub, and it was oh-so-delicious but much too heavy for lunch. I had a pulled pork sandiwch and I didn't even finish it, but I also had more than half a chocolate chip cookie (mmm gooey and delicious) but now I'm really feeling the effects on my energy, which is at level zero if not negative. It's only 1pm and I'm feeling so sluggish 5:00 feels like it's three days away.

Another nice thing about these free lunches at work is that they often order in from various eateries that are close by downtown and are frequented by adventurous lunchers. I intend to introduce Keith to quite a few of these once he gets here. Our Real Life, when will you start? I despair.

Besides Hubbub, the free office lunch has introduced me to Steamrollers, which are burritos which are allegedly healthier because they are steam cooked, American Cheesesteak Co, which also has a hilarious little webpage here, as well as a myriad of Vietnamese, Indian, Mexican, and Chinese (although I rejected the Chinese food, it was lemon chicken. Lemon chicken is not, I repeat, is NOT, Chinese food) eateries. I can't name those because the intranet lunch menu did not deign them worthy of shout-out.

I don't know who decides the menu but I may suggest they order one day from Holy Perogy, which is a food truck serving perogies that, despite one effort made so far (whereby I forced Stef to walk with me down to their truck spot only to find they weren't there that day), I have not yet tried.

In other news, all our material posessions have now made it out of a warehouse in London and onto the seas! 6 weeks or so before the arrive and I get to worry about dealing with bloody [shipping company name withheld, due to excessive anger and no desire to be sued] to get the goods released and make sure nothing's broken! Oh and then deal with Canadian Border Customs Agency to clear all the goods from any taxation... wait the dread that comes with the prospect has just cancelled all my glee of seeing the 20+ pairs of shoes that I'm waiting to wear again.

Discovering Gems in My Old Bedroom

After two weeks of having an aunt and uncle visit and having them sleep in the larger bedroom downstairs, I have moved back into that bedroom on their departure. This is in fact my old bedroom. It has a tv in it and the internet modem is also here (meaning the best wifi spot in the house). I might never leave.

Upon moving my few possessions into the bedroom again I discovered some old gems that I'd forgotten and left behind.

First, my old Hello Kitty clock:

You may wonder why the two Hello Kitty dolls set into the face of the clock aren't facing outward, well that is because they rotate and a song plays every hour on the hour. That can be annoying in your bedroom. Hence, they have long been deactivated. Mid-spin.

Then, I discovered these old glasses of mine tucked in a drawer in the closet - they are so old the frames don't really fit my face (they might have been from when I was 12)! Plastic pink transclucent frames. Oh man, I was such a stylin' kid.

Comedy.

Bad driver

I really should not be allowed to drive!! I am sooo out of practice and I never had any spatial ability anyway (yea that curb is way far away...CRUNCH), but driving everyday and everywhere to do audits for years helped me get to a passable skill level, and I was confident. Now, I am a mess, yet I slide back into the comfort and alertness that I used to employ, resulting in some near disasters already.

I have already managed to scratch both cars - mine and my parents. Pulling into the garage, thought i had plenty of space between my front left bumper and the parked car's rear right bumper. Nope. scraaaaaaaaaaaaatch. on both cars. don't care about mine, i own that car so no guilt necessary, but not so nice on my mom and dad's car. Oops.

Then today I had a mild panic when I started the car up, looked at the dashboard, and was faced with this:

There's no GAS! THERE'S NO GAS!!! PANIC!!!! I had noticed the tank was getting close to empty over the past week, and each time just thought - I better gas up soon, and then neglected to do it on account of sheer laziness. And I'll admit it - I was a little afraid of the gas station. I've forgotten how most things work and feel a bit like a fool. Even though it is full service in Richmond (you can't fill it yourself, strange by-law in our suburb) I'd still put it off. And now it was on the E line! Noooooooooooooo. I'd never experienced this before because anal retentive me in the past would never risk it getting that low. I don't even ever remember seeing this orange light go on - I'd fill it back up well before this point each time. But I fought the panic and told myself they always leave a bit of leeway so you don't get stuck, and then used my new Gas Buddy app (thanks Elaine!) to find the nearest gas station, and set off. Made it, and was relieved that I could take this picture aftewards:

All full. yay. No idea what that other light is about. Is the car telling me I have a ball in my lap? Whatever. I'll ignore that one.

Baby steps, May, baby steps. Next, I will work up the nerve to fill up outside of Richmond and self-serve. You can do it May, you used to do it all the time.

Almost Outskies

Last sleep in London

Had a very fun day with Keith. National Portrait Gallery again, afternoon tea at The Wolseley. Walked by quite a few London tourist spots, like Leicester Square, Picadilly Circus, Westminster, and Tower of London and Tower Bridge. None of them on purpose, just in the course of getting from Gallery to tea and then to stay at Chez Ahlborn-Mooy in Shad Thames for the evening.

When I first arrived in London in September 2005, I stayed in corporate apartments overlooking Tower Bridge. This was the view I had from the living room window - I was awestruck at the time.

(That's Wilbur, my stuffed pig, looking out the window with me. He was my only friend at the time! Sniff!)

So it's actually quite nice to stay right near Tower Bridge again on my last evening in London (thank goodness Heidi and Tim live centrally right by it!). Tower Bridge is still my favourite London landmark.

Starting to feel sad, but will stop myself. I will be back soon and 3 months goes by in a blink.

I miss all you Londoners already, but you're not rid of me so quick.

Hope the jet lag isn't too bad and I can update with new blogposts in Vancouver soon. I still owe one on Harry Potter Studio Tour.

Bye for now!

Starting to Get Stressed

I am starting to make lists over and over again. The only thing that makes me feel better when i'm stressed is making lists and then getting things crossed off the list. I've tried to allocate some of the list to Keith who is cool as a cucumber (as usual). It doesn't help that more possessions seem to crawl out of the woodwork - who even remembered that we had a George Forman grill?

Not helped either by Keith trying to add "2 cannisters of gas" to the shipping list (they are for outdoor camping).

Uhhh.. what are those Keith? Are they flammable? 

"Yes".

You want to declare some flammable cannisters of gas in our customs duty declaration on entry to Canada?

"Uhhhh.. yes?"

How much did they COST Keith?

"I dunno, £3.49?"

LEAVE THEM HERE, KEITH. LEAVE THEM HERE.

Ynyr, if you are reading this, you got two cannisters of camping gas comin' your way.

Here's a picture of me from a better state of mind (3 mojitos in!) from Thursday's karaoke adventure

Packing away like crazy

I can't believe how tiring taking all the envelopes off your bills, punching holes in them, and putting them in ring binders can be.

It's all I've done in the evening for the past 3 nights and I am so tired I can't think! Good news though - the filing has halved in size. High five!

Next up: birthday cards and letters go into a big box. Oh the exciting times.