My new sick obsession

I cannot stop reading graphic novels. I know at one point I liked books without pictures in them, but I can't remember why now. I'm sticking to a few authors, but still.

Sandman III is at Another Dimension Comics and I just remembered that you pay the US price + exchange there. Hmm. I think I'll have to go there to check it out when I have the chance.

The week is going a little less rapidly than I'd like, but I've come to terms with that happening. It's almost Canada Day, which means champagne and Wayne's World I&II, possibly South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut. Wish you were here.

It is the dawn of a new week and so I prepare my mind by emptying it of the weekend.

I worked. I consumed caffeine. I watched True Blood. I enjoyed not nearly enough sleep. I bought books. Oh, the books I bought. There are a few that are trashy and insubstantial but really, according to a recent graduate, all books are insubstantial. Nothing written recently will be read in 100 years, with the exception of Saturday by Cormac McCarthy.

It led me to think about what books I own that were written more than 100 years ago. These answers will not shock you:

Jo's Boys
Little Men
Little Women
A Christmas Carol
Dante's Inferno

You could count The Preservationist, because it's really just the story of Noah's ark.

I'm sorry I don't like the old classics as much as I should?

Tomorrow morning, I embark on an adventure. Tomorrow, I'm switching shampoos. We'll see how that turns out...

Please don't confront me with my failures, I have not forgotten them

It's weird how nostalgia will blindside you at 2 a.m.

In no particular order, I miss: 

• Spending three hours at the library, just looking around and realizing I could read all of these books if I really wanted to.
  
• Smoking at the playground at three a.m. when I'm done writing a paper.
  
• Walking Bear to Shopper's Drugmart because I'm so homesick that I'm going to cry.
  
• The Summer of (Theatre) Love.
  
• Singles from my youth
  
• Bad-ass 3 a.m. talks on Kansas highways
  
• Wanting nothing more than to publish the definitive book on Slasher films.
  
• Writing all the time.
  
• Reading all the time.
  
• Tasting molasses for the first time.
  
• Rafting down a BC river.
  
• Closing my airplane window because I have the window seat and I can.
  
• Hiding out in a tent in my backyard for a week at a time. 
  
• Breaking hearts in June.
  

Summer is in the air and it's almost time for a great summer romance.

Friday is the new Monday, so have a song.

Nico – These Days

So sleepy. I'm not doing a Music Monday, because it's way too early for me to be into actually posting. I'm just musing on the fact that I need a new pair of utilitarian black shoes.

Spent a good part of the weekend out and about. Friday was drinks with the engineers, never a good idea. Saturday was early morning work, a museum, and chilling in pajamas toward the end of the evening. Last night, I cleaned up a whole bunch of paperwork. So much to shred.

OH! I finished Rant. Not his best work, but not horrible. It was Triple Sec. I'm about to start M for Magic by Neil Gaiman. It's one of his 9-12 Readers' books. I'm doing well on my goal for reading more this year.

I also spent about twenty minutes in bed this morning transferring music to my iPod from my computer. I don't normally do that, but I woke up a bit earlier than usual today.

I can't shake the feeling that I'm living in a dream. Not in the good way and not in the bad way, just in the way that I'm tired all the time and can't seem to get rid of the feeling.

"She has to be stopped."

Sorry, Dakota Fanning, straight from the mouths of one of my homo-lifemates.

I think next week I won't leave my house in the evenings, I'll just relax at home and do things I've been meaning to do, like clean my room.

New Cursive album is out on Tuesday. I love that Tim still writes about his mother when he's in his thirties. He makes me feel like less of a failbot. Also making me feel like less of a failbot is Joe walking in wearing a white and green argyle golf shirt.

Tozser, Chandrasekaran, Vihristencu. I can pronounce those words and you can't!

I love the whole world...

I finished reading The Rules of Attraction by Bret Easton Ellis. It kind of made me want to be a giant cokehead in the eighties. And then I remembered that I was four when the eighties ended. That would've just been in bad taste. Coke before the age of six is totally unacceptable. 

Lately, I've been watching some YouTube and I'm in love with the Discovery Channel commercial. I managed to download the song, which was pretty cool. I'm currently downloading the Stephanie Meyer book Twilight. I've read it and seen it, but I always like listening to books on tape when I'm on the C-Train. Unless I'm reading a book, which I've been doing a lot more lately. I finally bought and read The Bro Code and it is my goal to be a Wing Woman to all of my bros. 

If a girl sets you up with her hot friend, she has Wing Woman potential. If she sets you up with other hot friends after you slept with the first one and didn't call her back, she's a bona fide Wing Woman. Since I have morals that are as loose as Belle Watling, that shouldn't be a problem for me.

I got all of my Christmas wrapping/addressing done. All that's left now is to take a few items to the post office and mail them off. 

Today at church was weird. It's the first time I've been there in probably a month. That's what going out and partying every weekend will do to you. Well, it's also the first time I've had a chance to debut Melinda 2.0 there and it resulted in some very odd attention from some very odd boys. Note, odd doesn't mean ugly, it apparently just means boys who are shallow as balls. I think I have some sort of dinner date on Thursday. 

Blaine was the most amusing. I was avoiding another boy by calling Meghan in the hall and he started walking over with purpose, so I got off the phone with Meghan thinking he had something important to say. He just said "Melinda, I haven't seen you in fifteen or twenty years." Which would mean the last time he saw me was when I was about eight years old. I've seen him since then, it's hard not to when you go to the same church. Anyway, he just kept looking at me and saying "Wow, you've grown up." And then later he was like "So, what are you doing on Wednesday night?" "I work that night." "Oh, what about Thursday?" "Um, I don't think anything." "Would you like to come over to dinner at my place?" So. Thursday Night Girls Club will have a lot to talk about over espresso and water. In order, I got chatted up by: Blaine, Steve, Blaine, Richard, Blaine, Andrew, Blaine, Scott, Blaine, and Blaine. I'm sensing some sort of pattern there. I was only there for an hour!

I think it's time for bed for me, so...

And she never lost her head, even when she was giving head.

Hey Babe, take a walk on the wild side.

I'm officially done my Christmas shopping. I just submitted the last online order for delivery in 6 - 8 weeks. I'm feeling good about it.

Oh, I can't stand the hype. But I can get behind best friends bringing boxes. Especially when those boxes are full of the Charlie Brown Christmas Tree I so desperately wanted. Mitchell is kind of awesome like that.

I didn't get as much done as I wanted to this week and it's partly my fault, partly life's.

I just found out my boss is out of town all next week! Hurray! I can actually get things done when I'm not chained to my desk doing to most ridiculous shit ever for her. Oh, apparently three of my bosses are gone next week. I just might have to take a sick day and enjoy the beautiful fall. Or the freezing cold. It'll probably be Thursday so Meghan and I can secure our spots early for Twilight. Yes, I'm a loser. Yes, I'm totally okay with it.

Work tonight at Chapters and possibly reading more of The Rules of Attraction. How fast can you powerhouse a coffee? I'll stick with green tea tonight and see if that makes the night go by just as fast. I'm actually crazily proud of myself. I've sold 3 of these really expensive box sets at work and it's kind of awesome.

I'm missing Vancouver like mad right now. Last year, I was in the same mood for the same reason. Maybe one day I'll get to go and not come back. You can't understand the discontent with Calgary until you've left and had to come back.

I know, I know. I want! I'm pretty much in love with two things on the Urban Outfitters site.



and



Yeah, I'm actually super lame and no one is surprised. Things like this make me wish I lived in Edmonton or Vancouver, because then I could buy them and my life would be complete. Let's be honest, that Charlie Brown tree? More room for presents!

So, Chapters is going well. I'm secretly kind of in love with books. I keep doing re-shelve or tasking and finding books that I'm like "Hm, I want to read this." But I'm being very careful about not buying everything I see or I'd definitely need to buy a new bookshelf right away.

I already need a new bookshelf. As soon as I move out, I'll probably look into getting this:



because it can handle LPs and oversized books. I'll likely get it in black, though. I might grab a storage basket or two for the miscellaneous 45s and headphones and cords and whatnot that I have.

I'm finally getting a physical copy of Howl
This week is going to be a little more relaxed than last week. In no particular order, I must:

• Change my car's oil
• Get a quote on repairing the driver's side door of my car
• Take wire CD rack to Meghan
• Rip some more CDs to my laptop
• Pick up the last of my Christmas shopping: 1 physical gift card, 3 online orders of gift cards, and 1 gift for the boy who has everything except me.
• Get a hair cut
• Wrap Christmas gifts
• Write 3000 words
• Obtain a copy of How I Met Your Mother Season 1/2

I might also buy The Bro Code, because that shit is awesome. For example:

A bro's mom is off-limits at all times, unless she's a step-mother, she initiates it and is wearing leopard print.

You really can't make that up, can you?

Brief but sweet

1. Finishing twilight saga in less than a week.

2. Vancouver in 24-ish hours.

3. Excellent times.

4. Tying the knot not knowing how to not go.
Sent on the TELUS Mobility network with BlackBerry

Wow. The new Macbooks? Totally an unpopular opinion, but I think they look so ugly. I was a really big fan of the white plastic look. There's a reason I haven't invested in an iMac and it's definitely because I don't like the aluminum look. It's the same reason I haven't replaced my iPod.

Fail, Apple.

In other, awesome news:

• I'm addicted to Aparment Therapy
• I voted!
• I took the weekend off and I feel better for it!
• I had an awesome interview last night at the bookstore and apparently got a killer reference from Brandy this morning.
• I get to quite at the theatre, because they're bigger d-bags than [insert name of person you feel is a large d-bag]
• Cobra Starship and Academy Is... are coming up next week and they're never not fun. I suppose I should get on listening to Fast Times.

Yes, things are shaping up to be pretty good.

Wearing Pants Makes You Popular

The title of today's blog comes from a sign I saw today in H&M. I have my doubts about the truthfulness of it. If people were meant to wear pants, there wouldn't be the show Pants Off Dance Off, now would there?

Bygones. 

I'm currently updating from Mitchell's bed in Vancouver. It's not as sexy as it sounds. No, actually it is. I arrived yesterday evening amidst unusual circumstances and was whisked away to sushi with Mitchell. After, we watched Everything Gone Green and had drinks.

It's a wonderful movie and I highly recommend it. There were things I picked up on yesterday that I didn't pick up on the first time I watched it. One thing I cannot stress enough is that you should not watch it if you're only watching it because you think it's a stoner comedy. The cover does the film a horrendous disservice by making one think it's some comedy to watch a) about getting blazed or b) while one is blazed. For God's sake, it's by Douglas Coupland!

This is the cover of the "Unrated Edition", the one that makes it look like a stoner comedy.

This is the "Rated Edition", that much more accurately depicts the film's content.

Ugh. Forget this, I'm going to just tell you that today I bought:

A jacket

3 CDs

4 DVDs

1 Comic

And now I'm going to go. While I have the chance, I'll say sorry in advance for all the drunk dials.

Go Team Hannah!

Today I started reading “Eats, Shoots and Leaves” by Lynne Truss. I'm hoping to become a more grammatical person. It already seems very dry and witty.

Work went well today. I found out last week that one of the co-workers I work closely with is moving to our US office. It's going to be an adjustment without Adam around but life is about adjustment. I went for a walk at noon today to get some pop from 7-11. It's nice to step outside and remember that you are more than just your awesome ability with HS codes and ability to sweet talk customs agents.  

I had a brief moment of self-doubt this afternoon and it felt really, really terrible. But I'm trying to work through things like that so I can be a better person so I sat down and repeated in my head “This is not because you're boring or uncool or unlikeable.” Of course, admitting that on a blog makes me boring, uncool, and unlikeable. But I don't really care, because this is for me. The people who read it just get the privilege of knowing me that much better after the fact. 

I went to The Rocket after work at got a really, reallllly sweet shirt printed. Remember Hannah? I know you guys all know who Hannah is and how she makes my days go a lot smoother with “HO NO!” ANYWAY, check this out:

I'd like everyone to meet the Captain of Team Hannah.

Sometimes being a girl sucks because words curve where you don't want them to.

99, because I knew it was some really awesome hockey player's number. Turns out it was Wayne Gretzky. Meet The Great One. 

Oh, she's just being Mindy. This is in bed, which is actually where 99% of my pictures are taken. I'm not perverted. Just lazy.

And now I'm going to go get a really good night's sleep. But I'll leave you with this picture:

$8.50. I won't even show you the other two I got for $4 each, you'll just die of jealousy. Well. Not over Terry Jacks, but over The Muppets and John Denver's Christmas Special.

It's official, yo. I'm going to see Motion City Soundtrack with my brother not this weekend but next weekend in Edmonton. I'm actually pretty bummed about gas prices being what they are because a half hour flight sounds a lot better than a four hour bus ride. But! It's actually cheaper for me to take the bus than drive because a tank of gas is upwards of $60 now and the bus ticket, round-trip, was $57. It would take me a tank to get there and a tank to get back. You do the math.

I'm pretty excited about life for the next two months. Let's do the schedule:

July 19 - 20: Edmonton for Motion City w/ Jeremy
August 6: Warped Tour Calgary
August 16 - 19: Los Angeles for Warped Tour and everything else that L.A. entails w/ Meghan and Maroo
August 20: Mayhaps moving out w/ Meghan
August 30: Oasis and Ryan Adams w/ Ryan W and Brendon
September 11 - 15: Vancouver to see Mitchell

Don't you wish you had my two months coming up?

I've also, at the suggestion of Meghan, started coding my dayplanner. Yes. I'm really that lame. But it's good to be organized, and not in the "Red in the morning, yellow at lunch, blue in the afternoon" kind of way.

I'm kind of anal about the order of my books. They go alphabetical by author and then alphabetical by book title. Tonight, I was putting away The Zombie Survival Guide by Max Brooks and I noticed I was missing one of my Dave Eggers books. I cannot find A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius! I do not know where it went, at all. I can only think of a few people I loan books to and I don't think any of them have it? If that's the case, I haven't actually had it with me for two years and it's currently sitting somewhere in my aunt's house in Edmonton. I knew living in that city for a month was a bad idea. Oh well, if I have to replace it, I have to. Shit happens. 

I'm currently on Week 2 of my transit experiment. I'm still enjoying it, though I'm sure that will change once the weather turns nasty in the city. Today, I sat on the train and read about twenty pages of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night. I'm enjoying that quite a bit. I'm not sure what I'm going to go with after I read that, but it'll be amusing as well. 

I'm slowly depleting my massive reading list. Unfortunately, it's still going far too slow for my liking. I think what I'm going to do as a goal next year is get one of those "100 Books You Should Read" lists and try to get through all hundred of them in a year. 

Instead of sleeping, I'm blogging and looking at other blogs. I wonder what people will think in twenty years when they think about us using blogs. Will they look at it the same way I look at writing in a paper journal? That is to say, will they think it's a romantic notion but find it difficult to keep up with and ultimately impossible to commit to?

Hm. Also, I'm avoiding the new Indiana Jones movie. I'm not into it, guys. 

Last night at the theatre, we played Epic Battle With Star Wars Toys for two hours instead of being out on the floor like good managers. Blake, Deryck, and Matt showed up at the theatre around 6:30 p.m., still pretty drunk from their afternoon of playing golf on the company tab. Apparently they had to stay at the theatre until they sobered up enough to go to a goodbye party for the theatre's old district manager.

I come back into the office around 6:45 and they've set up two tables and all three of them are picking through action figures from this set. Nadia and I watched them play their first round and then we joined in for the next round. We formed an alliance and completely owned the shit out of everyone else on the table.

It helps that Blake was hammered because he'd had three drinks and he's allergic to alcohol. Highlights of the night? One of the wookies looking like Cock Knocker from Jay And Silent Bob Strike Back. Blake accidentally hitting me in the chest and Deryck saying "You shot where you aimed but you hit where you were looking", and the complete and total ownage of Matt.

After that, we kind of puttered around being completely useless until it was time to close, at which point Nadia and I killed time between closing the day numbers-wise and closing the theatre people-wise with Brickbreaker. I'm up to 9470 as a high score and I finally got to level 16. Unfortunately, that seems to be my Everest.

Well, I'm off to continue doing things for our marketing conference in June.

I keep looking over at my suitcases like they'll unpack themselves. Too bad they won't. I love how I can wear a pair of tights for a day and manage to punch so many holes in them.

Today was the AGM at work and I finally talked to someone about hooking up with Scott. It's kind of weird. Andrew came over and was all "How you doin'?" And Oliver just looked at me and told me that he hoped that wasn't some sort of message from Scott.

Busy busy busy at work and not loving it. I hate going away and coming back to find everything fucked right up. But I guess that happens when you do specific things every day. That makes no sense to anyone but me. I'm in charge of documentation for the international shipments of my company. I came back to find about eight shipments stuck in customs in various countries. Unfortunately, I can't do much about them because I'm not listed on any of the paperwork. Ugh. Office space.

I need a vacation to recover from my vacation.

Tomorrow night [actually tonight], I'm going for Starbucks with Meghan where we will discuss her New Favourite Band, ridiculous people, and our ridiculous lives. 

I'm back in my city and back in my home. Sometimes I want to just cry with how much I love the people I know. They're all so beautiful, inside and out. I don't even know what to do with them.

I'm sitting in my living room, in the dark, with only the sound of the dishwasher in the background. This weekend is really the tipping point of my life, you know. It'll all be different from here. 

New York was incredible and incredibly heartbreaking. It always is.

I need to get a hair cut and I need to remember that I'm only as smart as I make myself. 

I'm halfway through The Zombie Survival Guide and man, it's so awesome. 

Oh. My. God.



Yes. So much yes. I ordered it today to wear to my next Communist Dance Party with Mitchell. I think it means we have to ditch the good vodka for Stoli, though.

You know how sometimes people will sneak up behind you and poke you in the sides? Someone did that to me on Sunday and I accidentally punched them in the face. Oops. My Dad was there and he just laughed and told James that he could've warned him that would happen.

New phone. New number. Me and my Blackberry are certainly very happy together. I'll still have to use my American phone when I'm in the states.

It was a perfect 20 degrees today and it was so happymaking while we were sitting outside of Starbucks, talking about music and Scrubs. Seriously. Such a Scrubs kick lately. It's kind of amazing. 

I'm ridiculously exhausted so let's just say there's nothing better than good friends, good hangs, and good tea. 

I decided to vote no on going to Durham because it isn't really the course I wanted to be taking and I'm having a little too much fun being here right now to leave here to go somewhere I don't really know anyone.

This weekend I read The Black Dahlia Files. It's interesting. I love it because there's nothing I love more than a cold case the author has purportedly solved. I don't really think that's the case most of the time but Donald Wolfe always does such an awesome job of making me think so. He was the one who wrote about the murder of Marilyn Monroe in The Last Days of Marilyn Monroe.



Seriously, conspiracy theories are awesome. The Grassy Knoll? Area 51? Love it.

Another thing I love and want more than I want my next breath?



If you know me, you know how much I love cataloguing. Seriously, I keep spreadsheets dedicated to my CDs, the CDs I plan to buy, and other stuff. This is like, my ultimate wet dream.

Wait, what?