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I hope everyone had a good weekend. Mine was quite nice. On Saturday G. and I did some Christmas shopping at the Eaton Centre in downtown Toronto. The mall was crazy. There were more than a few times where I wanted to throw some elbows but I suppressed the urge. It made for lots of good people watching, though. We even saw a pirate in the food court! Only in Toronto, you know?

We also went to a Grey Cup party that night hosted by a friend of G’s. He throws a good party and Saturday’s was no exception. Lots and lots of food, enough beer to keep us all feeling good and loud, and Dance Dance Revolution! I’ve never played DDR before. I’ve seen some amazing things on Youtube, though.

Sadly, I didn’t own the board just as well as that kid did but I still had a lot of fun. G. and I liked it so much we were tempted to get it the next day from Futureshop. We decided to wait, though. Christmas is already an expensive time of year. Plus, G. decided to buy Guitar Hero III yesterday so it wasn’t like we were leaving empty-handed. I played a couple of songs and reconfirmed my suspicions - I’m just not that very good at it, lol. I didn’t want to be a wet blanket, though. I’d totally play it again. I’m coming to turns that I’m a total video game n00b and likely won’t ever be very good at any game.

On Monday, I began the process of bonding my rabbits. Few people actually know that I rescued a second bunny from the SPCA. In fact, if my sister is reading this, it’ll be the first time she’s heard of this second bunny! His name is Diefenbaker, after the 13th Prime Minister of Canada, John Diefenbaker. He was Caleb before he joined my family but I decided he need a much more suitable name for my tastes. G. suggested Studebaker when he was introduced but I liked Diefenbaker more. Diefenbaker was the source of much mirth during my Canadian Foreign Policy class in my final year of university.

Photos after the cut!
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Happy Thanksgiving Day, American counterparts!  As a Canadian, I’ve already celebrated my turkey day a month and a half ago (and probably still wearing the mashed potatoes and cranberry sauce on my hips), but it’s always nice to wish everyone a day of good food, family gathering, and awkward pauses in conversation when Grandpa Joe farts obnoxiously!

As for myself, I’ve opted to celebrate Buy Nothing Day tomorrow.  If you don’t know what BND is, here’s the official two second explanation from the Adbusters website:

“Driving hybrid cars and limiting industrial emissions is great‚ but they are band-aid solutions if we don’t address the core problem: we have to consume less. This is the message of Buy Nothing Day.”  - Kalle Lasn, founder of Adbusters.

Source: Adbusters.org

My reasons for participating are thus: I think Black Friday is crazy.  Last night, while make Christmas cards, I had the television playing in the background.  I was horrified as one commercial boasted that stores would be opening at four in the morning for early bird specials.  Four in the morning?!  The sad part is, I could already picture the line-up of people waiting since three to get in the doors for their holiday shopping bonanza.

It’s just lunacy - Christmas shouldn’t be about buying mom that ugly sweater from Tabi at bargain basement prices (although, if I were forced to, I would only buy that sweater from Tabi at bargain basement prices).  It should be about spending time together.

Yes, I buy Christmas gifts.  Yes, I probably spend more than I should.  I’m not saying that I’m above consumerism.  I’m saying that this type of excessive consumerism is ridiculous, though.  I’m not pointing my finger at YOU, I’m pointing my finger at US.  We’re all guilty of spending way too much money on crap that we don’t need or can find secondhand.  Couple that with the fact that most Americans and Canadians have a heavy debt load there’s just no reason for us to be battling each other for the last Tickle Me Elmo, especially if it means enough credit card debt to last until next Christmas.

I love Christmas.  A lot.  A couple of years ago, I did exactly what I’m against doing now.  I maxed out my credit card on expensive gifts for my family.  I did it out of love for my family but I’m sure they would have been just fine with getting something cheaper or nothing at all from me.  My family has a history of debt and poor financial decisions and I’m sure that if I made it clear that I didn’t want to go down that path for the sake of a few new trinkets for everyone, they would have been overjoyed to hear it, my mom especially.  Instead, I did what a lot of other people did - closed my eyes and put off opening my credit card bill until well after the holiday.  I was still paying off that debt this summer!

I hate the fact that Christmas gifts are now mandatory and I feel as though I need to buy more than one gift per person in order to validate my feelings for them.  If I see one more commercial where an iPod makes a better gift than a handwritten love song I’m going to cancel Christmas.

Of course, I can’t really cancel Christmas.  I’m only one person.  In Canada, no less.  This type of thing can’t be changed by one person.  However, if you participate in BND you can actually make a difference!  The more people that spend less money on BND, the better.  After all, they can’t call it Black Friday if no one shows up to the shops, right?

It’s not a easy battle, but BND is a small gesture in the right direction.  People need to start thinking about more than just consumption because there are bigger things at stake.  Especially when they can’t afford it.  Live within your means, people.  I’m just starting to figure that out now and it’s not an easy task.

Anyway, that’s just my $0.02!  I’d be interested to know your thoughts - are you shopping tomorrow?  Do you intend on showing up to any early bird specials?  What are your reasons for shopping tomorrow?  Are the sales really that good?

On a completely different note entirely, I have just signed up for Technorati. We’ll see how well this goes!

This morning I couldn’t wake up. I didn’t go to bed very late last night but it wasn’t until G. stomped into the room and gave me a shake that I finally realized it was time to get up. I think the dead of winter is beginning to set in.

Speaking of winter, it’s supposed to snow tomorrow! It’ll only be five centimeters but I’m already anticipating the hell that is going to be my commute tomorrow morning.

Despite this, I have good news to report! I’m going to Central America for my holiday! G. and I are leaving the morning of December 23rd for Cancun, Mexico and coming back January 12th from Guatemala City. Woo! My hope is that we see some of Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras. FIVE countries in three weeks. Do you think we can make it? We don’t intend on racing our way down but it would be fun to see that many countries. If nothing at all we’ll be able to put them on our Facebook “Where I’ve Been” maps (and in my case, my big old world map on my wall)!

In the coming weeks I’m sure I’ll probably talk more about the trip. There’s a lot of planning to be done. We don’t have any hostels booked, I need a new backpack and hiking boots, and we don’t actually have an itinerary. That last part isn’t as important because it’s pretty easy just to make your way down south. We just need to read up on the countries we intend on seeing. The border crossings will likely be the trickiest parts but I’m sure they won’t be that tricky.

Thank you to those of you who have wished me a happy birthday in the past few days. You’re all amazing people. I actually had a truly exceptional birthday this year — lots of friends, family and food! What more can you ask for? Oh yeah, a really great sign that Kya made, of course (not that I really asked for one, that is … she was sweet enough to make it for me just because!)! Thanks, Kya!

PS: if you’re interested, I’ve put up photos from the night on my flickr account.

Break time! I’m cleaning again this afternoon. My b-day dinner shindig extravaganza is tonight and Daniela will be staying the night. Melba, unfortunately, has contracted some unfortunate illness and has to miss out on the festivities. Get better, Melbs! I hold no grudges!

So what else is new? Well, I have good news: I have a permanent position at my job. AND I have time off to go traveling!! I couldn’t stop jumping up and down last night after work like a little kid on Christmas. Maybe that’s why I’m listening to Christmas music now? My Christmas wish has come true! I’m going on holiday!!

The next step is to actually figure out where, though. G. and I know we want to do something warm but G. also suggested Tokyo. Japan would be a great holiday spot, I think, but not very warm… we’d still have to wear coats which I would rather not do. Still, it’s worth looking in to. Has anyone ever gone on vacation around Christmastime? Got any stories? Was it worth it/a nightmare?

I wouldn’t mind doing the resort thing for awhile but I don’t think G. will want to do it for the whole trip. We’d rather see some of the actual country as well rather than a tiny portion set aside for vacationers.

In further news, I’ve discovered the wonderful simplicity and convenience of the RSS feed. I’ve added all of the blogs I read regularly to it and it’s so easy to use - it may even get me to read blogs even more regularly. I think a large part of my I stopped reading regular blogs and sort of shifted towards Livejournal for awhile was because at LJ I could read all of the posts in one place - I didn’t have to go searching. I know, I’m a lazy beast, but if the RSS Feed wasn’t so popular I would think it’s just me. It ain’t. Everyone and your mom seems to have an RSS Feed if they own a blog. I largely ignored mine (which automatically comes with Wordpress) until I figured out how to read an RSS Feed. I just assumed it was for blackberries or something. Boy, was I wrong!

Anyway, enough gushing. I should get back to the dust and the clutter… Can’t let Daniela think I live in a hovel!

Edit: Homg, did anyone else know that Prince William is going bald??? That’s tragic, he’s so handsome.

Source: Styledash.com

Well, it’s up. I’m gonna be tired in the morning but it’s worth it. Thank you, iStockphoto.com for the image, Kya for the inspiration, and Diet Coke for the energy.

It’s not perfect … but it will do until something better pops into my head!

Phew, this week has been busy. Apart from today… I took the day off. However, that didn’t stop me from working. This weekend is my birthday weekend and I’ve invited a few friends from out of town to come celebrate with me. Daniela and Melba, my girlfriends from university, will be staying the night. Since this house is a perfect disaster on a good day my mom and I have been overhauling. On the weekend G. and I gave the washroom and my bedroom a good scrubbing. My mom has taken the kitchen to task while I’m steadily working on the guest bedrooms and the study. The study is finally coming together but the guest bedrooms are still looking pretty gross. My cats enjoy sleeping in there as no one usually goes inside.

The problem with that is Melba is allergic to cats. So basically, I have to scrub from top to bottom so she doesn’t asphyxiate in her sleep. Plus, the extra bed isn’t set up so we need to do that. On top of that, all of the linen needs washing! I made a ginormous list and pretty much nothing has been scratched off, lol. At this rate? We’ll probably be ready for Christmas!

We’ll make it, though. I’ll work all Saturday morning if I need to!

In other news, I’m getting into the Christmas spirit! I’ve started making my Christmas cards for this year. Hopefully they’ll be ready for sending by December 1st. It’s a pretty ambitious deadline but hopefully it’ll spark the fire under my ass that I need to get a move on. Oh, and if you want a card from me, please send me an email with your address!

Finally, I’m going to end this post with a good, old-fashioned Christmas meme that has been stolen from Belewien!

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I was pretty mad last night over this fridge business. It’s not really my parent’s fault, I guess. I’ve been pretty cranky this whole week. Each day I’ve come home tired and really, really hungry only to find my parent’s have bought something extravagant — a new computer, or a new printer. Well, the new computer was actually last week, if I want to get technical. Still, it’s just frustrating. They don’t have the most money and I worry that they’re frittering away their live savings on silly gadgets for today. Who knows, though. I might be completely wrong about them not having any money. God knows we don’t talk about this type of stuff.

Anyway, the rest of my night went pretty quietly. As soon as I got home I had some left over yummy pierogies my mom made for dinner. I watched television until about three am, I think. I didn’t mean to stay up that late — especially since the calibre of television was about as good as it gets on a Friday night — but I sat in bed watching Flavor of Love with Tila Tequila until I could barely keep my eyes open.

I also treated myself by sleeping in until noon today. I woke up around nine at first, saw the time and said no, thanks.

Today I have to clean, though. Perhaps that’s why I wanted to sleep in as long as possible — to avoid the inevitable chores.

My birthday is in a week’s time and friends will be coming over for the weekend. I can’t have this place looking like poo! Plus, Melbs has an allergy to cats which is going to make it difficult for her to sleep in any room in my house unless I fumigate first!

So I suppose I should get started… Possibly…

Maybe I’ll go back to bed?