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Kettle Corn
A little bit of sugar, a little bit of salt.
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To link to this blog from blog posts/comments, use [blog Noisy_Introvert], from anywhere else use http://personals.girlfriendsmag.com/blog/Noisy_Introvert, and to read it remotely use the  feed.
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| The Flux Zone |
Aug 5, 2008 10:26 am
7266 Views |
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Love is in the blogs these days it seems. Congrats to all you happy campers. Seriously, FC should be paying us.
As for me and my house, we are happier than ever, shacking up in the Corn-sized Kettle that is my apartment for our second summer. We've been together a year and a half, and have been talking about merging our lives for almost all of that time.
Pretty much everywhere I go these days, people want to know: when am I moving to California? The answer is... in flux.
I had been telling everyone October of this year, because the Dawg has to return to Cali in a few weeks, and then find a larger apartment for both of us, which would probably take at least a month. All along, my sense from my employers has been that, in theory, they are in favour of finding a way to make this telecommuting thing work so they can keep me working with the team. I understand that it might not work out, but I at least thought they were good with a trial-run basis, once we worked out the legalities and such.
(By the way, why do there have to be legalities, anyway? I mean, okay, residency visa, fine. But if I continue to work for a Canadian organization, have my salary deposited into a Canadian bank account, pay Canadian taxes... what difference does it make where I do the actual work from? I mean I could do it from the frickin moon for all anyone needs to know, you know? Godfuckingdamn I hate beaurocracy.)
Last week, whilst bumping into the Big Boss (update: so far, she has not implemented the half hour log plan, so that's a plus, or at least, a lack of a minus)... anyway, I bumped into the BB in the washroom. Hadn't seen her in a few days, so we were just chit-chatting and catching up on haps. We talked in vague terms about the status of my move.
Next thing she says to me, though, added flummox to the flux: her boss (the BBB, I guess?) is not totally convinced this is such a good idea, me working from home, and from home in another country, at that. Oh. OH. OKAY. Uuuuhhh, thanks. Thanks for this BATHROOM ASIDE about my future with the ORGANIZATION that I've worked at for 7.5 years!
I mean come on. I don't expect any promises. I feel extremely lucky that this is even being discussed at all – I know a lot of employers would not be so flexible. But up until now, my vague understanding (nobody seems to want to have any kind of official meeting/discussion about this, which I find weird) has been that, if we can make it work from a legal sort of angle, that my department leaders are supportive of me giving it a go from an operational sort of angle. Now I find out that this is not the case. But I don't find out in any sort of official setting. I just hear about it in the bathroom.
SIGH.
Soooo, I don't know what's happening here guys. The Dawg is up for tenure in the winter/spring. If he doesn't get it, he may very well pull up stakes and move here. He likes Canada (describes it as "one huge blue state"). He loves Toronto (although he's only briefly visited during winter).
The point is, I don't know when I'm moving. It looks like we may end up doing another 6-8 months of the LDR thing. We are both up for it; I have enough vacation days so that we can see each other for 5 or 6 day weekends once every 4-6 weeks.
Part of me just feels like – I know this is really stupid so you don't need to reassure me or anything – I hate how it must appear to everyone. Like, we keep talking about the move and it keeps getting put off, and people probably think this isn't real or I don't know. I mean, who fucking cares what people think. I don't, but I guess at one level I must. Anyway, I think that in a lot of ways, the Dawg and I have an unconventional sort of relationship to begin with, and we're just not going to fit into a lot of the pre-fab status templates such as "dating", "living together", "married" or whatever. We are wholly and completely committed to each other, even as we inhabit the Flux Zone.
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27 Comments
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| I Suck @ E-mail (but I didn't shoot the deputy, woo) |
Jul 30, 2008 11:54 am
Mood: 34, 9152 Views |
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Here's a shortlist of people I haven't written back to in the last month or so:
- my nana
- my dad
- kleopetra
- shakti_vos (who bitched me out propah stylie on page three of this post)
- kiosk_fan (ditto; rightly so)
- dae314 (via Facebook)
- my brother (it was his birthday yesterday! GOD I SUCK!)
- eastwest10
- karma_butterfly
- gardencat1965
- Snag (my best friend from high school)
- Hoob (another good high school friend)
- Leslie (an acquaintance from high school who caught up with me on Facebook)
- Barb (ditto) (fucking Facebook)
Is there some way to arrange a clean slate? It's too overwhelming, looking at this list. I can't possibly tackle it. Maybe there's like some sort of way to declare e-mail bankruptcy?
I'm sorry friends. Truly. I think you're all awesome and you deserve better.
(I am pleased to report that I did finally get around to responding to a very fun email from euphorbita yesterday. Baby steps.)
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40 Comments
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| Cult status! |
Jul 30, 2008 7:29 am
7375 Views |
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Good news, blogstars! I have finally achieved cult status! For weeks now, I've been excitedly checking the Active Blogs (by unique responses) list on the Blogs home page every morning, hoping and praying that it would finally be the day I dropped out of sight and could at last reclaim my indie street cred.
Man, it has been a long time coming.
You can't imagine how hard I haven't worked for this; how many comments I've left unanswered; how many unique visitors I've alienated... how many blogs I've left unwritten. It has taken all of my considerable apathy and inertia to achieve this non-goal, and I just wanted to say, I couldn't have done it with you. |
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25 Comments
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| PSÉ: it's not "touche", you douche! |
Jul 24, 2008 7:25 am
8352 Views |
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Have you ever found yourself engaged in a spirited online discussion, with the banter flying fast and furious, when your opponent makes a really great rejoinder, and you want to give props – touché – but you don't know how to make the accent aigu? And so instead of giving the impression of respect from a worthy, educated and urbane adversary, you just look like a dolt who pronounces it "TOOSH"?
Perhaps onlookers who have witnessed the undeniably sexual undercurrent in your exchange then sadly shake their heads at your ineptitude. So embarrassing.
Or what about when you are trying to tap into the latino craze, or do a ten-years-too-late echo of the Seinfeld hipster chic, by asking your online buddies,
"Hey man, what are you doing manana?"
But instead of replying "Mañana? I'm doing nada." they laugh at you and say, "It's not supposed to rhyme with banana, culero!"
Well those days are over, my dunderheaded friends. I am here to share the secret of typing foreign accents!
It's all about the ALT key on your keyboard. All of these strange accents (plus many other weird little symbols and stuff) have a numeric code that, when entered while holding down the ALT key, produce the accented letters that have been missing from your mangled prose for so long.
Ici:
| Accented letter |
ALT code |
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Accented letter |
ALT code |
| Á |
ALT + 0193 |
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æ |
ALT + 145 |
| á |
ALT + 160 |
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ç |
ALT + 135 |
| À |
ALT + 0192 |
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ñ |
ALT + 164 |
| à |
ALT + 133 |
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ö |
ALT + 148 |
| É |
ALT + 144 |
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ó |
ALT + 162 |
| é |
ALT + 130 |
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ú |
ALT + 163 |
| È |
ALT + 0200 |
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ü |
ALT + 0252 |
| è |
ALT + 138 |
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ÿ |
ALT + 0255 |
| ë |
ALT + 137 |
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® |
ALT + 0174 |
| ê |
ALT + 136 |
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° |
ALT + 248 |
Voilà! Succès fou. Please feel free to practice below, and show off your vast international vocabulary.
PS There are way more ALT codes and accents and such. I actually have a list taped to the wall next to my desk at work. Call me OCD (the Dawg does) but I like to get these things right. Anyway, you can just use the Goog and search on "French ALT codes" or "foreign letter ALT codes" or even just "ALT codes" if you want math symbols and such.
PPS Apparently this is not necessary on Macs. I'm sure bad_patti will elaborate, since she and her Mac are lovers.
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38 Comments
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| Daft Punk is playing in my office |
Jul 18, 2008 7:06 am
10371 Views |
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It's Summer Friday! You know what that means...
- casual dress
- half the office has the day off (including the very excellent woman I share my wee office with)
- I wandered in half an hour late – my boss is off today, and fuck off anyway, I was here til 8:00 last night
- AND! no headphones - I can play my tuneses aloud!
So I fired up the iTunes and LCD Soundsystem's "Daft Punk is Playing in My House" came on, which is awesome. I defy anyone to resist this song. I was listening to it and feeling my good mood inch up into the lower reaches of the "awesome" category and thinking, I should write a blog called "Daft Punk is Playing in My Office". Then I said to myself, nah, that's lame.
But then the next song comes on and I have to laugh. Last spring when the Dawg and I were first revelling in our new connection and e-mailing songs back and forth like crazy, he sent me the most ridiculous, bombastic, dramatic cover of "Scarborough Fair" by Queensrÿche. It's unbelievably stupid. I listened to it a bunch of times when he first sent it because I was so smitten with him that even a one-off joke was something I clinged (clung?) to, but I thought I got rid of it a long time ago.
He also sent me "Total Eclipse of the Heart" as played by The Dan Band in Old School during the wedding scene:
Turn around bright eyes,
fuckin every now and then I fall apart
Man, the first time I heard that song (it was before I'd seen the movie) I thought I was gonna die laughing.
Well anyway, I don't have much to say this morning, but I'm doing QA testing all day, comparing our current website with the one we have yet to launch in our new content management system. It's a lot of clicking links, ALT-Tabbing back and forth between the two sites, looking for discrepancies and logging them. I know I'm going to want some mental breaks throughout the day. I look to all of you to get me through this tedium. As The Dan Band sang, I need you now tonight; I fuckin need you more than ever...
Something to do:
Post the random first 5 songs that play on your iPod or unbranded media player. I used to do this every once in awhile. It's fun and easy and anyone can play. YOU CAN'T LIE TO MAKE YOURSELF LOOK LIKE LESS OF A DORK!
Here's mine, starting with what's playing right now:
1. "Workin' on Leavin' the Livin'" - Modest Mouse
2. "Suffer For Fashion" - Of Montreal
3. "Death of a Train" - Daniel Lanois
4. "Gold" - Spandau Ballet
5. "World Where You Live" - Crowded House
Happy Friday, little campers!
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52 Comments
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| Worn down by life |
Jul 16, 2008 6:57 am
Mood: 114, 8685 Views |
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Hey guys
I'm sorry I haven't written back to the trolls thing. I have big plans to be hysterically funny and cutting. I'm going to try and make it up to the Qat and taarnagh, because I know they're disappointed there hasn't been more hateful bitchery. Also, I know John is on the edge of his seat waiting to be crushed by my rejoinder. Every time I come back he exposes his ass a little bit more, and now he is literally waving it in my face! The Dawg was fairly salivating this morning at the thought of the weenie roast that awaits.
Alas, I am not up to the task today. Maybe later. My fucking job is just... taking the wind out of my sails, ya know? I like my colleagues a lot, and I really like the feeling of competency I get when people come to me and ask about all kinds of different stuff they need help with, and because I've been here seven years, I usually have an answer for them. They respect me, and they laugh at my jokes.
But the Big Boss is turning psycho. Always a little bit histrionic and prone to drama, lately... she's just losing touch with her team, and not seeing the morale issues as they pile up around her. The Dawg thinks that there is a tendency for her personality-type to respond to anxiety over loss of control by resorting to micro-managing. Except, she doesn't really have time to micro-manage, so we get these lengthy periods of time where she's totally inaccessible, and then little bursts of freakout when she checks in and finds things are not being handled in exactly the manner that she expects (but does not communicate). It is aggravating in the extreme.
Yesterday I found out (after having my boss, who reports to Big Boss, make a weak-ass and insulting attempt to micro-manage a project I've been running for SIX MONTHS now, no doubt due to fear of being reamed out by the BB ) that the BB is going to start having everyone in the department log their activities by half-hour intervals throughout the day, and that we are also supposed to prepare a plan for what we intend to do the next day.
Here's my sample log:
9:00-9:30 – sit and stew about how pissed I am at having to do this
9:30-10:00 – write blog about how pissed I am at having to do this
10:00-11:30 – participate in meeting as subject matter expert; pout in corner
11:30-12:30 – lunch/more pouting
12:30-1:00 – pull self together; write a couple emails
1:00-1:30 – fuck off I hate this
1:30 – leave work early and take sick day
Maybe I am too sensitive, but when I am asked to do shit like this, it just makes me less productive. Except when my colleagues are relying on me. I don't want to screw anyone over and make their jobs more difficult. But... this kinda thing really leaves me feeling beat up. I went to bed at 9:30 last night and still had to drag my ass out of bed this morning.
I don't feel like being nice to anyone. I don't even feel like snarking. I don't feel like anything.
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31 Comments
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| New policy re: trolls |
Jul 14, 2008 12:36 pm
9586 Views |
Alright listen up. In the last few months there's been a giant, massive, bandwidth-exploding pre-occupation with TROLLS.
"What should we do about the TROLLS?"
"Oooohhh, those &^%##^&*@@** TROLLS!"
"Won't SOMEBODY think of the CHILDREN??? I mean, my GOD! The TROLLS!!!!"
We've been instructed many, many times: "DO NOT FEED THE TROLLS". Heck, I may have even said something like that (once) myself, although generally I shy away from these sorts of admonitions, because I dislike the unintended ironic effect. I like to appear cool and above-it-all, snarking at people from my lofty perch and serving up shit sandwiches on the side.
Well anyway, I can appreciate why folks are a little put off by TROLLS. Let's face it. TROLLS are often nasty little fucks, who get their kicks saying mean stuff about people who, for whatever reason, threaten their concept of themselves, which is usually piteously underdeveloped.
The thing is, I don't care. If the TROLLS want to play with the Noise, I say, c'mon in, have a seat on this graham cracker; help yourself to some chocolate whilst I fire up the old blow torch.
Welcome, TROLLS. There's always room for s'more of you here at Kettle Corn. |
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40 Comments
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| Flaming Puppies! |
Jul 10, 2008 6:58 am
7538 Views |
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My friend the Bakes forwarded me an article posted yesterday on Pitchfork's website. I used to peruse their site pretty regularly for music news, but recently I've gotten too busy at work and then also there's the whole apathy thing. If you can get past the self-important, hyper-critical, I-don't-need-to-be-thirty-years-old-to-have-seen-everything-the-world-has-to-offer-and-scoff-cynically-at-the-lack-of-truly-challenging-and-innovative-music-out-there reviews, it is an excellent source of information about indie/alternative bands - touring deets, release dates for new recordings, and also this incredibly important PSA:
The Flaming Lips Help Puppies Find Homes!!
(If you Google that sentence it'll take you right to the article, with six a d o O O r a b l e photos of little puppies in need of a home.)
The gist of the article is, some friend of theirs who lives in Oklahoma City found a stray doggie, took her in, and shortly afterward, found himself with 10 puppies to find homes for. TEN! Wow, that could be a sitcom. So Wayne Coyne from the band posted a bulletin on their My Space page to let everyone know about the puppies and to see if they could help find homes for the little guys. Holy geez, are they ever cute.
I love the Flaming Lips. Just yesterday on my walk home from work, I was dreamily swaying to "Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots Part 1" (from the album of same name). Okay, yes, the whole absurdity thing with their song titles is in danger of moving from quirky to pretentious, but they pull it off in a way emo dorks like Panic! At the Disco do not. But the song is the absolute best.
Oh Yoshimi!
They don't believe me!
But you won't let those
robots eat me
Prob'ly you have to hear it to really get it.
Anyway, PUPPIES!!! |
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16 Comments
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| Triumphant return |
Jul 7, 2008 7:01 am
12772 Views |
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Hey you gang of losers! Relax, it's a song. And anyway, if I call you losers and yet I hang out here too, doesn't that make me a loser too? Put that in your kimbopipe and smoke it, known_blogger!!!
My goodness I'm feisty this morning. This despite the fact I don't much care for Feist, though I enjoy her singing with Broken Social Scene. I'm like a little indie princess today.
Well, so, did you miss me? Apparently there was all kinds of speculation on the secret Friends bulletins network. (Which has apparently been compromised by an unknown slice of diversity. A malignant melanoma of a mole. I think we should start a game show to try and figure out the identity of the mole!)
Speaking of which, did any of you speculate that my mysterious disappearance was related to the untimely demise of the Baggéd One? I'm not saying it was me or anything, but you gotta admit it was a weird coincidence, both of us getting our shapely asses bounced from this place at the same time. Plus, that was some seriously good schnapp he was levying, n'est-ce pas? I mean, that business about the little high school groups? And the masterful use of repetition in order to drive home the point? God I wish I'd thought of that.
Unless I DID. [dun-dun-DUUUUUNNNNNN!!!!!]
Alright enough batting around the balled up bag like one of Lola's improvised cat toys. Where in the Ayche Eee Double Hockey Sticks have I been???
I leave you to your speculation.
PS it does not count as baiting trolls if you are in fact a troll yourself.
Unless I'm NOT. [dun-dun-DUUUUUUUNNNN!!!!] |
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68 Comments
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| Shout outs to my home girls |
Jun 20, 2008 11:23 am
Mood: 111, 8849 Views |
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Hey kiddies!
Pre-shout out shout out to Blogadelphians. I would just like to hear that someone drunkenly yelled out "Shut yer toilet!!!" at some point during the weekend, and I will be happy.*
On to the shout outs at hand. Last night I had facetime with my girls, j-love and Treenstar. These women rock the friendship-babeship cape and tights like nobody's bidnezz. They've been with me, and I with them, since the days of hell and roses at the crazy dysfunctional hysterical neurotic exciting world of Toronto non-profit theatre in the late 90s. We all took turns running the box office: first me, then j-love, and finally Treenstar. We all loved it and hated it. We all either visited or occupied the teensy weensy box office manager's office in order to rage, cry, confide, gossip, nurture, laugh, listen, sustain, and grow. It was the best of times and the worst of times. (Dickens/Styx really hit that one out of the park.)
When I first met her, j-love was a recent graduate with a BFA and a massive debt, working for peanuts at the box office while she struggled to establish herself as a budding poet. She blew my mind with her poetry and her energy and drive: she started up her own poetry 'zine, published quarterly, and I watched as her reputation as a literary figure grew. (Goog "wayward armadillo press" for more deets.) She's had two books of poetry published, is working on her first novel, got herself the crap out of debt, and has recently found the love of her life, right under her nose, in a friend she knew since she was 17 growing up together in Dysfunctional Hicktown, Ontario. Oh and by the way, she learned how to play hockey in her 30s and is a total badass on the ice.
Then there's Treenstar, sassy, bubbly, confident, and cool. When I met her, she was working on an MA in Women's Studies. Man I thought that was cool. She and her crazy band of friends are geeks in the best possible way. She always has a great sense of occasion, dressing up for Hallowe'en, hosting theme parties, and her apartment is decorated with the greatest array of nerd kitsch I have ever seen. She introduced me to Harry Potter (dressed up as Hermione for Hallowe'en the year before all the stupid 8 year old girls started doing that), Buffy, and a cappella 80s music. Yes, you read that last part right. She belongs to a musical group called Retrocity (use my invention, the Goog for more info) that performs a wide catalogue of 80s pop tunes entirely a cappella. They use their voices to create percussion, guitar, synth, and of course the vocals. If only they had more time to perform (the principles are all busy musicians and this is a side gig they do for fun, once or twice a year), I swear they would be famous. If anyone's in Toronto on August 12, don't miss them at the Lula Lounge.
Thank you, my homies, for seeing me through all the crap and still being around when I emerge from the hermitage. Love the lovely friends.
*Please ensure that the person is properly hazed. I will know the difference. |
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10 Comments
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To link to this blog from blog posts/comments, use [blog Noisy_Introvert], from anywhere else use http://personals.girlfriendsmag.com/blog/Noisy_Introvert, and to read it remotely use the feed.
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