Maybe Next Year

It was only a few days ago that I boasted to my lady friend that I hadn’t been sick (like head cold sick, not stomach sick) in over a year. I thought I’d made it through the winter without a sore throat, coughing, sneezing, and what-have-you. Of course, because I boasted, I’m now dealing with the early stages of a head cold. It always starts the same way: sore and constricted throat. Tomorrow I’ll probably be oozing mucous, and three days after that I’ll start coughing, which won’t go away for another two weeks. And to think I almost made it this year.

A long time ago I mentioned a young woman who lived in our apartment building who we’ve named Giggles. She had been here longer than most: since moving into this place, I’ve only counted four regulars who are still here. This weekend Giggles moved out. Of the three remaining veterans, we’ve discovered another of them is looking to get out as well. Who can blame them — since increasing the rent almost 10% in the last 13 months, there’s been an exodus of people moving out. As an example, someone looking to move into a two bedroom unit in this building will need to cough up close to $1100 a month. In Pitt Meadows.

Finally, in addition to being the first day of sickness, I had lunch with a friend I hadn’t seen in almost eight years. It was good to finally meet up with her, especially since I screwed up the last time we set a time and date to go for lunch … a couple of months ago. Some of you may know I’m really good at backing out of social arrangements, whether through legitimate reasons, sickness, or just forgetfulness. In fact I’d say half of the get-togethers I arrange end up being cancelled or missed altogether because of me.

TWIG Notes V

This Week in Garrett, Volume Five:

- After being violently ill a couple of weeks ago, this Friday it was my special lady friend who came down with the stomach flu. While what made me sick was perfectly obvious, it remains an unsolved mystery what gave her the barfs. Someone call Robert Stack. I’m glad to say that as of today, my lady friend is feeling fine again, just in time for the first day of sun in weeks.

- While having over 150 channels to surf through on digital cable, there’s remarkably nothing good to watch. I have to admit I’m enjoying G4TV, also known as the nerd channel, and in particular a program called Attack of the Show. It’s essentially a nerd news program, dealing with important topics like movies, computers, video games, and attractive girls who play aliens on syndicated sci-fi shows. Attack of the Show is also fun to watch because the hosts — one of which is Erwin’s pretend girlfriend, Olivia Munn — seem to know their viewing audience is miniscule and therefore don’t act entirely professional. It’s a really lighthearted vibe they give off, which is good, since it’s a nerd show.

- My car insurance runs out in a month, and I think I’m going to insure it for just another three, then sell it. Within that time we should have found a new place to live, closer to town, which means I will have even less reason to own a car. The $1200 a year to insure a car that isn’t even fun to drive will be used to… um, do something fun. My lady friend is trying to get me to buy a scooter, which might also be a better idea than a car if we’re closer to the city. But not-so-secretly I know she just wants me to get one so she can ride it.

- Relatedly, the hunt for a new place stalled this week, with no real options showing themselves through the classifieds. I’m fairly certain that by next week we’ll be paying the rental agent to help us. Fingers crossed that something good comes out of it.

The Search Continues

Another week ends with three looks at potential new places to live, but still no new mailing address to announce. On Tuesday we took a viewing at a palacial basement suite in Port Moody, on a hill overlooking (and I mean unobstructed views) of Burrard Inlet. The place must have had ten foot ceilings, and everything was brand new. It was seriously posh. In the end, though, the owners decided to rent it to someone else. This weekend we looked at another suite in PoCo, which while nice and had a lot of bonus ameneties, didn’t really improve my commute at all (it was really on the outskirts of PoCo) and we got kind of a weird feeling about the landlord/owners. Namely we got the impression they’d be a little too intrusive for our preferences. The third location was a basement in North Van, which while nice was about $200 a month out of our price range once utilities were factored in. So, the hunt for a new place goes on. A side benefit to last week’s viewings was meeting an extremely friendly and helpful rental agent that we could very likely end up using to help us find a place. The quality of suites she represents is higher than most we could find ourselves, and is a “lobbyist” for pet owners, so while we’d pay her for her services, we’d likely get a great place from her.

Even though nothing “bad” has happened, last week was a little trying for me. There have been a couple of things that irked me, but they’re also things I have to get over and just push ahead. They’re things that, if I dwell on them, are just going to make me cranky.

It’s also started to sink in how I screwed up when quitting EA and starting my new job: I needed a break. Yes, it was just a month after the Christmas break that I changed jobs, but the three holiday-less months between then and Easter are draining. We’re going to get away from things for the Easter break, though, and spend it in Victoria/Sidney. We really need a couple of days without worrying about a wedding, a home, or work. Maybe we’ll even do some serious drinking for the first time in ages, too.

GKHD

Over the weekend — just after recovering, finally, from my food poisoning — I picked up a cable box and became a paying subscriber to Shaw HD. After weeks of putting it off and/or forgetting, my HDTV set is now being used in the way God intended. I have to say that weekend HD programming didn’t give me much to get me excited about. In fact a few of the HD channels Shaw offers are pathetic: Showcase HD, despite the imagined high-def smut, had no genuine HD broadcasts; Sportsnet had Nascar in HD, and while it sure looks purty, it’s not going to make me sit down and watch cars driving in a circle; National Geographic, a channel that begs for high definition, was also offering up very little in the way of true HD content. In a lot of ways I think high definition TV broadcasting is still in its infancy, although CBC and the major US networks are leading the pack, and that’s where the meat and potatoes is in terms of shows I’ll actually watch.

Tied in with digital cable is the decision of which specialty, standard-definition channels I want to subscribe to. Even after just two days, I can say with certainty that there’s almost nothing worthwhile on specialty cable channels. Once one gets above 60 channels, it’s really just the same crap rebroadcast over and over again. I’m not surprised by this, nor was I expecting anything different. It’s just an observation.

To make myself feel less stupider now that I have more TV to watch, I’ve started reading an actual book for the first time in months. It’s titled Postwar, and is essentially a history of Europe since the end of World War Two. I’m only about sixty pages in and I can already feel my brain starting to work as it learns things I’d either forgotten or was never taught in high school. Getting more smarter is real good now.

Stricken with the Sickens

Tuesday night, before heading to a Canucks game with my friend Nigel, we stopped off at a fast-food wrap joint (think Subway but wraps) for dinner. During the game I felt some rumbles down below, but it wasn’t until I got home that things took a turn for the worst. I was up until about 4am being very, very sick. It marked the first time I’ve vomited since my college drinking days.

An odd thing about vomiting is that, once you’ve done it, it feels as though the skies have parted and angels have lifted you into the air and are singing a hymn. It’s almost euphoria. This is probably due to the fact that the lead-up to vomiting — the hyperventilating, the dizziness, the profuse sweating, the chills, and the general wanting to die — is so horrible that once your body decides to let go of the food or drink that has invaded you, anything feels like relief. All of a sudden you can stand up again and walk around. When I’m sick, and I know I’m going to vomit, I welcome it with open arms because I know once I unleash the barf, things will only get better.

The problem was, last night I didn’t get better until 4am, and I spent the rest of the day with a splitting headache, a fever, and was wary of eating anything that wasn’t brothy. On top of all that, after a nap in the afternoon I woke up to swollen feet. What won’t food poisioning do?

I’m glad to say I’m almost back to normal today, besides some leftover soreness and lingering unwillingness to consume solids.

Unrelated note: word is that my blog is once again blocked by EA’s servers, and also blocked at Canada Border Services offices, where Nigel works. And yes, once again, it’s blocked under the sex category. Amazing but true.

Needle in a Nutsack

More explanation about the house for rent:

Yesterday was actually the third time we tried to check it out. Saturday, we showed up and no one was there. Sunday, same thing. Monday, again, the landlords were a no-show. Needless to say we were both frustrated, and I think we’ve got to forget about this house. If this is the way the owners act when trying to show off a place that could generate income for them, how will they act when a tenant needs something repaired? It’s unfortunate and hugely disappointing but after three tries I think it’s best we save ourselves more frustration and let it be.

On to more pressing matters, like my ongoing obsession with certain celebrities. It turns out that indie actress and noted “looker”, Zooey Deschanel, will be in the lower mainland to shoot a miniseries. This comes on the heels of my pretend girlfriend, Mandy Moore, finishing filming a comedy in Vancouver last month. Thanks to the internet I can now find out where these moving pictures shows are being filmed, but raises the question: what’s the best way to stalk watch these celebrities? Honestly, it would be a thrill to get a photo taken with one of these fine ladies. While visiting past movie shoots, it’s actually very easy to hang around a set, especially an outdoor one. It really comes down to just standing around and not doing anything. The various grips and lackeys don’t seem to care as long as you’re not touching any equipment or urinating on floodlamps. Anyway, if I figure out a way to snoop around a film set without feeling like a criminal, I’ll keep you updated.