Atropa Belladonna~ Raven (a.k.a. Nightshade)'s Weblog ~
These are the ARCHIVES of February 2003. For more archives, visit the Archives page. For the current Weblog entries, check the Main page.
Atropa Belladonna| Sat, Feb 1, 2003 (6:00pm)
Well. Friday was a sucky day. I woke up, first thing in the morning, to the ringing of my phone. It was my boss calling. "Did you forget you were supposed to work today?" Uh, yeah. I guess so. So I had to scramble like mad to wake up, get changed, arrange babysitting for my kids, and get my butt out the door and over to the office in Edmonton. I got there at 10:00, to be met by the Clinic Manager. She wasn't pleased. Apparently, she'd had to get out of bed and drive out to the clinic herself to open it. Normally any of the doctors or the other nurse on duty could have opened it, but the other nurse had called our manager at 7am to say that she needed to drive her dad to the hospital, and could she have the day off. Plus, we had a guest doctor 'cuz our regular one was on vacation, so the Doc didn't have a key. And when our Manager arrived, there was a crowd of angry patients waiting outside. AND the first phonecall once they got the clinic open was Head Office calling, to find out what exactly was going on. To top it off, our Clinic Manager was sick that day and looking forward to a nice quiet morning, and a shower. But instead, she had to work for an hour with grumpy staff and an accumulation of disgruntled patients, waiting for me to arrive. Oh, I felt like such a miserable piece of human refuse. I screwed up really badly. I guess I'd agreed to work this shift back in November (when one of our other nurses quit, and the Manager was getting others to cover her schedule). But I must have written it at the bottom of my 2002 calendar, 'cuz I didn't have a 2003 calendar yet. And since it wasn't on my new calendar, or on my original schedule, I just forgot. "I just forgot."... Yeah, that goes over well in the face of a peeved Clinic Manager. Anyway, I suffered for the error of my ways. We had a huge backlog of patients, and I had to work my butt off straight through my lunchbreak (not like I'd had time to pack a lunch, anyway). The only saving grace was that the next nurse came in early for her shift, and I got to go home early. Well, that was Friday. Today went much, much better. And hopefully I'll survive tomorrow as well. After that, I don't have to work for another week-and-a-bit. Yay. Accomplishment of the Day: Got my 3-month bloodtest done. Now, to wait a week for the results... sigh. |
| Mon, Feb 3, 2003 (but posted on Tues, 'cuz I forgot to upload it.)
I'm bitchy today. Mostly at myself. It appears that I left some pop cans in the trunk of my car. Musta done that, oh... a couple of weeks ago. And I forgot about them. And then, having forgotten them, I drove around, over bumpy roads, on a hot day, and parked my car in a sunny parking lot, and drove over more bumpy roads, and was only vaguely curious when I heard something in my trunk go "kuh-tunk". After all, I carry several baby strollers in my trunk, and sometimes they jostle around and bump into eachother (particularly when I drive over bumpy roads). So today, when I went to put some groceries in my trunk, I found that the entire thing was coated with pop. Eight Coke-cans had exploded. Ick. Accomplishment of the Day: Not screaming out loud at the sight. (Unless you know me well, you probably have no idea what a feat this was. I hate sticky messes.) I must now go empty the contents of my trunk to appease my obsessive-compulsive instincts, lest I go berserk under the strain. |
| Tues, Feb 4, 2003 (6:45pm)
My Significant Other and I have decided we're going to Gen Con this year. I'm not sure if this is wise or not. I know already that it will be expensive, that we'll have to take time off work, desert our kids for a few days, and that once we're there, we'll spend way more money than we meant to on, ya know, stuff. But oh, it'll be so cool if we can actually do this. Accomplishment of the Day: Dunno. |
| Wed, Feb 5, 2003 (6:35pm)
Gah, I'm tired today. I stayed up way too late last night... for a good reason, though. I'd invited my boyfriend over to watch anime last night. Before he arrived, though, my girlfriend showed up unexpectedly. After a brief debate about whether we (my girlfriend and I) should just ditch everyone and go out for dinner together, we decided that the restaurant we wanted to hit was probably gonna be closed before we got there. Alas, 'cuz I was craving East Indian food pretty badly. I finished feeding the kids, and got them ready for bed (which I had been in the process of doing when she arrived, and by the time I was done, my boyfriend had arrived. We hung out and chatted, and talked gaming and an hour or so later, the doorbell rang. My girlfriend leapt up and raced to the door, while my boyfriend restrainted me, preventing me from going to investigate. And a moment later, my gf came up the stairs carrying towers of take-out containers, specially delivered from my favorite East Indian restaurant. (Apparently there's a company which specializes in doing pick-up and delivery from fancy restaurants - including New Asian Village - and my bf had brought a brochure of theirs over to show me that very evening). So she managed to call before the kitchen closed, and arranged to have it delivered all the way out to Sherwood Park... though apparently it took a bribe to do so. So, my girlfriend, and boyfriend, and S.O. and I all had a delicious candle-lit meal of curry and butter chicken and saffron rice and naan together. There was much laughing and talking, and we didn't get finished 'til well after midnight. T'was heavenly. Especially 'cuz I had left-overs for breakfast and lunch today. And I'm taking my gf out to dinner at the restaurant for reall, tonight, for being such an awesome sneak. Accomplishment of the Day: East Indian food for breakfast, lunch, and supper. Mmmmmmmmm. More days should be like this. |
| Fri, Feb 7, 2003 (1:45am)
I've decided that the time has come to potty-train my daughter. And that fact makes me very worried. Oddly, I'm not so much worried about the potty-training itself. I've dealt with bodily fluids often enough in my career (particularly when I was working in palliative care) that I don't get too disgusted by them. And I've got the patience it takes to lead a little girl by the hand to the bathroom every five minutes if need be (at least, I hope I do). And as for damage to the environment.. well, our house has seen enough natural disasters at this point that a few "accidents" won't make a huge difference, one way or the other. What really worries me is that I've reached a time in my life where I have to do this. My life must revolve around my daughter's bladder for the next few weeks, or until she learns to control it on her own. This is not something that fits well into my self-image. I'm a goth. I'm independent, I'm aloof, I'm cool And to top it off, I tend to think of myself as a teenager still. Maybe a mature and responsible teenager, but a teenager none the less: I stay up 'til all hours of the night gaming, I hang out at the mall, I talk on the phone for hours with my friends, I go to movies, and I do those other things that care-free people do. Admittedly, I do them while pushng two kids in a twin stroller, and with a diaper bag slung over my shoulder, but at least I still do them. I do not, however, obsess about potties and clap gleefully when baby goes "tinkle". And yet, I'm going to have to do this. Sheesh - I can see myself already: bouncing up and down gleefully over a few miserable trickles of urine, telling my daughter how mature and grown up she's being by going on the potty like a big girl, all the while thinking to myself "Oh, how the mighty have fallen." ...it's not the sort of activity which any self-respecting goth would be caught dead doing. Accomplishment of the Day: Screwing up the courage to do this. |
| Mon, Feb 10, 2003 (3:25pm)
Got my blood test results back, and they're negative (as expected). So that means that I'm almost certainly clear. There's something like a 2% chance that the 3-month test could give a false negative for HIV, but since the odds of getting HIV from a needlestick accident in the first place are less than 0.3%, and that's only if the blood donor was a carrier (which I doubt she was... but ya never know nowadays.) I'm gonna celebrate. And maybe, just maybe, my S.O. and I can have some evidence of our celebrations before I have to go for my 6-month bloodtest. Accomplishment of the Day: Finishing the basement and first floor of a Lego Castle we're building to be beseiged on Family Day. Only 3 more floors to go. |
| Tues, Feb 11, 2003 (4:15pm)
Well. Valentines Day draws closer. I know that, 'cuz all the stores are selling red and pink heart-shaped boxes of candy, and sappy "sweetheart" songs are being played on the air. Has it always been this bad, or am I just noticing it more this year? I am not a fan of Valentines Day. Never have been. It's not 'cuz I was one of those losers who could never get a date, and therefore hated everyone who could (well, I was one of those losers, but didn't hate others for having what I didn't. It was just par for the course). What I despise is the attitude of the holiday. As one friend put it, "Valentines Day: The one day of the year a guy can get laid guaranteed for the low, low price of a box of chocolates.". Now, as my many single friends (and too many of my dating/married friends) know, that's just not true. But it's the public attitude, so anyone who can't get even a measly little date for the evening feels like shit. Meanwhile the rest of the world celebrates lust, delusion, and sycophantry. The good looking girls have a thousand roses delivered to their doorstep by a hundred guys on bended knees, and get high off the worship, while males everywhere buy into the advertisements they see in candy shops and think that the one thing their girl wants most is the be romanced. Sheesh - most girls I know don't even like romance. It's such a pathetic outdated ideal. Yes, it's nice to get flowers from someone you love. And the ocassionaly box of chocolates is sweet. But if you want to express love, why don't you shovel the freakin' driveway? Or get up with the baby when he cries at 3am? Or do something to improve your own life so that you can be a better person for the one you love?! Like get more than 4 hours of sleep a night? Or take an anger-management course? Or work hard and get a raise? Instead, a lot of guys think that chocolate and flowers on One Special Day will make up for them acting like jerks the other 364 days a year. Or worse, they don't even realize that they're being a jerk the rest of the time. Or even being a jerk on Valentines Day. I've broken up more often on Valentines Day than any other day of the year. I just don't have the tolerance for the sappiness magnified by a faltering relationship, and topped off with rampant consumerism. On the flip side, I did receive one Valentine's gift that I really appreciated. One guy went out to my favorite Dutch Import store and bought a 5 pound bag of my favorite Dropje. He hates those candies, but he bought 'em 'cuz he knew me well enough to know that I'm not a chocolates kind of person. And instead of buying me flowers, he emailed me a Lego flower arrangement jpg. It was one of those personalized things that went with the flow of the holidays but proved he wasn't a total lemming. He's the guy I ended up sharing my life with. And he's the sort of guy who does get up with the baby at 3am. And (usually) shovels the driveway. And sometimes even remembers that he needs more than 4 hours of sleep in a night. So, yeah. Screw Valentines Day. But here's to the possibility of True Love existing even in this screwed up world. Take your time looking for it... it hides in unusual places. Accomplishment of the Day: Being called a Stalker by Radioactive Messiah. Wow, it's been a while since I was accused of stalking anybody. And they dropped the charges on that one (grin). |
| Fri, Feb 14, 2003 (1:40am)
Just got back from BP's. T'was nice to get out of the house - I've been starting to feel like a shut-in while this bloody potty training is going on. I think that I'm gonna toss the kid in diapers and go to the mall in the morning. I wanna pick up tix for the Daredevil movie, and maybe eat barbeque ribs in the food court. Accomplishment of the Day: Finishing the third floor of the Lego Castle. Just one more floor to go, and then the roof and battlements. Oh, and the ramp up to the front gates. Looks like it'll get done in time for the show on Family Day, though. |
| Sat, Feb 15, 2003 (11:20pm)
So, I called a friend in the States today to wish him a happy birdsday. The conversation went something like this: Me: "Hello, is Raven there?" Sexy female voice on the other end of the line: "No, I'm afraid she's not." Me: "Ah. Well, may I speak to Raven then?" Sexy voice: "Sure, I think he's around. Whom shall I say is calling?" Me: "Mmmm... tell him it's Raven." Sexy voice (without skipping a beat): "Okay - one moment please." And thus, I was able to speak to him and wish him happy whats-it, and all that. T'was nice to talk, but the call was way too short. I might have to plague him on an unbirthday sometime, and hold a real conversation. The sexy voice, btw, turned out to be Jalen - a good friend of Raven & Raven, whom I've heard much about. If she looks as good as she souds, I may have to arrange a visit down to the East Coast sometime soon. Accomplishment of the Day: Finished the fourth floor of the Lego Castle. Battlements are under construction. It's looking good. Maybe I'll post some pics before it goes to the show. |
| Wed, Feb 17, 2003 (12:25pm)
The Family Day show at Capilano Mall on Monday went quite well. The Castle was finished in time (at 3:50am) and the walls around it, being done by Shades, were finished at 7:20am. So he woke me at 7:15 to help him load the Castle into his van, so he could take it to the mall for 8:00 am. I was lucky and managed another couple hours of sleep before the kids woke up. Shades came home around 10ish saying he was gonna catch 3 hours of sleep before going back to the mall to work the display in the afternoon. So I watched the kids while he slept. Then, around 1pm, I woke him, and he helped me bundle the kids up, and the whole family went to the mall. It was actually a pretty nice way to spend the holiday. There was face-painting, and stuff to look at and do, and we had lunch on the food court. By the time I was ready to go at 4, the kids were exhausted... and the seige of the castle was just getting under way. So I went home and napped, and let Shades play with the toys. I'll try to post pics of the display, sometime. Maybe even soon. Accomplishment of the Day: Finished reading Grave Peril (by Jim Butcher). Excellent book - I highly recommend it, and the rest of the Dresden Files too. Now I'm faced with a dilemma: do I start reading Summer Knight (the fourth book in the series) or do I finish reading Jennifer Government (which I'm already half-way through and need to return to its owner soon)? Drat - if the Dresden books weren't as good as they are, this'd be an easy choice. |
| Fri, Feb 21, 2003 (6:20pm)
Mmmm... gonna go LARPing tonight: Purgatory. It's gonna be good. Must remember to take my camera to the game this time and take pics, 'cuz the site is delicious: the Governor's Room at the Prince of Wales Armory (I've always loved that as a LARP site.) Anyway, today has been long, and tiring. And I'm not gonna talk about it much. Instead, the topic of the day shall be: Fish. (Particularly, tropical fish kept captive as pets in home acquariums.) I've got a couple of fish tanks, and am wondering what to do with one of them. Well, both of them, but one in specific. My 55 gallon tank is doing just fine (not counting a bit of a snail population problem). The 30 gallon tank, however, has algae issues. Bad ones. I need to get some fish wish will clean the tank walls for me. I've had a pleco in that tank before, but it died. And the replacement died. So did the next replacement. I think that tank has gone thru 8 plecos... they just don't have a good survival rate. You'd think that with all that delicious algae, it's be a paradise, but no. They die. I don't wanna put snails in the tank to clean the walls, either. Snails are very effective wall cleaners, but tend to over-populate a tank quite quickly if you don't have a natural predator to keep 'em down. Plus, the tank has white gravel, and little dark mottled snails wouldn't be as aesthetically pleasing in that tank. I don't mind them in the 55 gallon tank, because the gravel is mottled and they aren't as noticeable... plus, that tank has had (and will have again) a few clown loaches to eat the snails. Maybe I'll buy another pleco when I go to pick up new clown loaches for my 55 gal. Maybe I'll give up and transfer some snails over. Maybe I'll just learn to deal with thick green scudge on my tank walls. Maybe my fish will drive me quietly insane. Accomplishment of the Day: Scraping the algea off the tanks walls finally (been meaning to do that for more than a month). |
| Sun, Feb 23, 2003 (6:15pm)
Finally getting around to putting up the pics I took at the Purgatory game. They'll be in my Random directory, for anyone who wants to look, or for the Organizers if they wanna snag shots to put up on the official Purgatory web page. Anything else interesting today? Don't think so. Managed to catch my sister for a couple hours today - she stopped over for dinner on her way from Grand Prairie to Saskatchewan. That was cool. Accomplishment of the Day: Getting up early enough to go to Church. |
| Tues, Feb 25, 2003 (3:20pm)
Feeling sucky today. My right eye is killing me (infected tear duct). I didn't get enough sleep. Bah. Life sucks. My Mom was awesome, though - she cut her morning appointment short by an hour and came over to watch the kids so I could go to the Medicenter and see a doctor. The line-ups as the clinic were atrocious. But... I'd brought my book. So I read for a couple hours, in a chair, away from the kids and the mess-of-a-house, and just didn't care about much. So, maybe life doesn't suck too bad, really. When I got home, Mom'd given the kids a bath (on my to-do list, so I can cross that one off) and put the baby down for a nap. I put my toddler down for her nap too, and enjoyed peace & quiet for a bit. And cleaned. Now maybe I'll go have a bite to eat, and then have myself a nap, too. Accomplishment of the Day: I'll have to quote Radioactive Messiah on this one: I ain't got nothin'. |
| Fri, Feb 28, 2003 (1:10am)
Managed to get over whatever bug I had earlier this week. Now the kids have it. Ick. Well, not my problem today. I kicked around the house, and moved some furniture, and put some more antifeeeze in my car (I've got a coolant leak - gonna get my mechanic to look at it tomorrow), and contemplated where I want to move my computer to. And then I went to BP's. I had a good time hanging out there, with only one complaint - I got stood up by my boyfriend. He said that he'd meet me at BP's and we could do stuff together later tonight. Well, he didn't show. I waited & waited & waited.... Maybe he was sleeping or somethin'. Or maybe he remembered that I wanted him to help me move a desk, and found more enjoyable things to do tonight. At any rate, I've had to suffer alone, and unloved. Maybe I'll go pour myself a nice hot mug of chai. Accomplishment of the Day: Moving my primary computer to the living room, so I can watch kids and play Sims at the same time. |
