Jummy

Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears. If they are occupied, lend me your eyes.

I have great news: I have bought a domain! Not only that, I'm trying out a different host for a year (I have 30 days to decide if this committment is a sound one). My new home? www.ooof.ca/blog.

Before you wrinkle your nose in distaste, wondering why I picked a domain that sounds like a clumsy oaf's most used expression [and I resent that!], I explain here why this name is apropos.

Trevor has been absolutely delightful to me for nearly two years, allowing me to host my MT-based blog on his server despite the problems with security that this poses. Not only did he have to put up with my demands to host the blog, he along with Jeff had to put up with my whining and it was constant. I'm a demanding, albeit non paying, customer and I had questions about something new almost every single time I logged on.

I haven't quite packed up my bags from this site though; I will be leaving most of these entries here while I try to figure out how to install MT on another server.

Meanwhile if you're anxious to know what's going on with me [and I plan to have an answer involves more than some butt scratching and a "nothing" henceforth, you can find me HERE!

Posted by Jummy at 02:31 AM | Permalink

Well this is the beginning of a new year for me, blogwise, anyway, where my goal will be to develop my blog and work it into something pleasing to the eyes, both in content and design (I know I know, I have no credibility).

I want to be an interesting blogger, with an fun to read blog. It's not really about how many adventures you have or how many bad dates/cute children/charming husbands and boyfriends you have to blog about it, it's about writing and writng well. Engaging the readers and not having entry after entry full of whining and complaining as if you're the only one going through life.

The few people who attended BlogHer who I read all sound so pumped and excited and I'd love to be a part of that in the near future.

In the meantime, please read my tale of woe:

This afternoon I had the misfortune of riding the elevator with a woman who had hairy armpits. they were so hairy that I had to double check to ascertain her sex. Even when her arm was down firmly by her side, the hair still billowed out, several inches down her arm. I have no problem with people who dislike shaving their pits and would be happy if nobody ever shaved their armpits again if for one reason.

BODY. ODOUR.

I cannot stand BO. If I sit beside someone who is sufferingfrom unwashed body syndrome (UBS) I will find another seat, and will stand if need be, anything to remove myself from the stench. I'm that person who will move her hand to form a tight seal over her nose and mouth when attacked by a wave of odour. So the fact that excessive body hair, especially in areas such as the armpit, really have this knack of trapping odours and hanging on them for dear life, makes me a crusader for shaving armpits.

So I endured a 14 floor elevator ride with her, my nose turned into the opposte wall of the elevator.

Anyway, we get to the ground floor, the door flings open and 4 people try to rush in! I HATE it when people don't wait for others to get off the elevator before clambering in. Do they think that I ride elevators for fun? No, I"m trying to get out; kindly wait for us to get out before packing in. I actually told them this: "Can you WAIT for people to get off the elevator before getting in?" and glared; I think the BO lady had taken my usual tactfulness away.

At the library, I opened the right hand door to go in. Immediately, two people who have their own right hand door (the door to my left) to exit through, decide that I will be their doorwoman and go through. I finally had to barge through as the third person made a move to exit, muttering about there being two doors. What is it about seeing someone open a door that makes the rest of these noarmally able-bodied people unable to do anything but walk through it. I'm not opening the door for you.

If you are prone to breaking any of these rules, please reconsider. Your fellow coworkers will thank you.

Posted by Jummy at 01:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Another week is gone and summer is coming to an end.

This has been one of the most uneventful summers: usually I'm playing beach volleyball on a local team and I guess since I was so busy last year helping with wedding stuff, this year pales in comparison. Camping was so early in the year (first weekend of June) so it seems like it's been ages since I enjoyed the summer.

And perhaps it has. This time last year I also had a full time job but there is definitely a difference in how much brain power is required for this job versus that one. With my current job, simply showing up is not enough. It doesn't help that I'm currently doing my old job and small bits of my new job. And now that somebody has been hired to do my old job and will be starting in September, I feel the need to get organized. I received pretty good training and so I want to surpass that for the new person.

Speaking of work a litte more, I should update you. Back in May, I got a permanent job. I only applied for it because my bosses encouraged me: I felt grossly underqualified and really thought that there were two people in the office that were better qualified and I encouraged them to apply. I was either the first or last person to be interviewed for the position; all I remember thinking is that the other candidates were far more attractive and better dressed than I and I assumed that with that came at least a Masters degree in science, vast experience writing, complete fluency in french and the ability to charm even our the most difficult fellow employee(s).

I'll never know for certain but they decided to give me a chance and here I am, so grateful to God for the job and eager to do my best.

When they started interviewing for my old position earlier this month, they asked if I would help with the interview process: me? The girl who was being quizzed by their interview panel a year and a half ago? I thought maybe they wanted me there more for notetaking but no, they actually wanted me to help with the question asking. They treat me with so much respect and as a peer that it scares me sometimes.

Another thing that scared me was the interviewees. All I can say is that if I were interviewing along with them a year and a half ago, there is no way I'd have gotten this job. They were all so qualified, and this time I wasn't basing it on how they were dressed: we're talking about well educated females, who were articulate, some well travelled and their writing skills were pretty strong as well. I was thoroughly intimidated.

I keep wondering what would happen when the selected candidate and I start working together and I start training her: will she wonder why they picked me for her new job? Will I let my insecurity affect how knowledgeable about my job I appear? That worries me. That's why I think I will spend the next few weeks setting up this mini training thing and then take the week off before she begins to relax and to remind myself that they hired me in the first place because they liked what they read and they decided to keep me because I impressed them in my time here. I don't have to keep trying to impress them, I don't have to wonder if they picked the right person. I just need to do my best work, be open to criticism and opportunities to grow and hoepfully good things will continue to follow.

This is why I feel the need to actually take vacation this summer. I was going to be the super trooper and just save the remaining 2 weeks and 3 days for next year, when I hope to go to Nigeria, but I think I will want to kill myself if I don't have some protected me time. And there is so much I want to do! I started this entry thinking that one week would be sufficient but now two weeks is looking kind of sweet.

Posted by Jummy at 11:22 PM | Permalink

Three entries ago, I provided you with a list of things I need to blog about sometime before my time on earth is through.

Well I've got another thing to add: Rachel's wedding! So instead of adding it to the list I will blog about it now while it's still fresh in my mind and the makeup from the wedding still on my face.

I've known of Rachel (entries featuring her here and here) for 15 years but really only been friends with her for 10 or 11 years. We know each other through school. Rachel is one of those people who very few people can say bad things about: she is sweet as sugar, shy, quiet but just so sweet. The kind of sweet that if she were a confectionary she'd be banned in most countries and her attitude makes everyone feel like they're a Scrooge in comparison.

Since I've known about the wedding for nearly a year, I decided to buy the card and gift on the day of the wedding and my outfit two days before the wedding. Then I missed my bus which meant I'd probably miss the connnecting bus too.

Why I was a bussing to a wedding you might ask?

a) I don't have a license
b) I don't have a car
c) I'm too cheap for a cab
d) I'm too proud to beg

(this isn't multiple choice; all answer are true). I lucked out: my parents who were on their way to another shindig gave me a ride partway and I was able to make my connections. I got to the site of the wedding and who should I see but the wedding party, making me think that maybe my watch was an hour late and I had missed the ceremony. False alarm, thank God.

The wedding ceremony was outdoors and the overcast day, as I know from my best friend's wedding last year, is perfect for wedding photos so I wasn't concerned by the greyness of the sky.

The priest was funny but I'd have been irked that he didn't know my groom's last name. However, it might have been part of his shtick because he was cracking jokes through the ceremony. He was a bit too informal for me.

The bride was gorgeous, like a princess. It must be so cool to get ready for the wedding season without even thinking of losing weight or changing your body in any way to fit into the dress of your dreams. I think that's the way it should be for everyone but I know of cases where the groom even wonders who he married when he compares the woman in his wedding picture to the female he ends up with 2 or 3 months after the ceremony. I hope that when my time comes I'll be half as radiant and gorgeous as Rachel.

I had a blast. The bridesmaids were beeyootiful. Weddings tend to bring out some melancholy when I go back and review and reflect on all the sweet sights I saw and this wedding was no exception. I'm a undiagnosed couple watcher and the bride and groom were sooo cute. There were so many couples at that wedding: there was only one single guy there in the appropriate age range! They played a lot of slow songs, no doubt because of all these couples. There is nothing like a slow dance to make you feel like you're back in gradeschool and instead of dancing you're pretending to be ecstatic that your friend who always has a boyfriend is dancing with someone. I'm not bitter, just jealous.

It was a lovely wedding! I snapped a few pics and here they are:

The pics are:

1. The lovely bride and her groom


2. Vanessa, me and Kate


3. Jen, Courtney and Vanessa


4. Kate, Vanessa, Rosalyn and Alyssa


5. Rosalyn, Alyssa and Jen


6. Rachel and Alyssa (her sister)


7. me (owner of the really scary arms) and Rachel

Posted by Jummy at 02:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

The following are short and sweet entries that I tried to post earlier this week but couldn't because the site was down. Ok, it was earlier in the week so much as Friday and Saturday but it's better than nothing.

Friday July 21, 2006
I love reading Megan's blog because she's so real. She doesn't only blog when the going is good, or when the going is bad; I get the feeling that if I were to meet her I'd have a fairly good idea of the type of person she is from what I've read in her blog...and I wouldn't be at all disappointed!

Saturday July 22, 2006
I am driven absolutely nuts by the fact that every time I go to post an entry the site it down!

I hate bugging my (free) service provider but I'm getting really irritated. I think I'll ask him once and for all what's up with the site and then figure out my next steps.

The obvious next step is to check out check out another host and see if there is a difference. I would and could keep my somaradio account for hosting images and practicing things before putting them "live" on the other site.

I need to get a move on!

**

Posted by Jummy at 02:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

I'm tempted to punish myself by saying that I cannot read anyone else's blog until I put up a blog design.

Posted by Jummy at 08:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

I have been so busy that I have started/thought up entries on the following but have not yet finished them:

*Jov and Mike's wedding (yes, they got married last August)
*My birthday
*web design
*my new scanner (!)
*weight loss
*procrastination
*an old used car that we may be buying
*a surprise party for my parents this coming August (30th anniversary!)

After a fun-filled weekend of scrapbooking (what better way to celebrate Canada Day?), I managed to mess up my back lifting my box of scrapbooking paraphernelia (how do you spell this word?) into my room. the moment I put the box down and tried to stand up I knew I had done something awful. The pan forced me to squat and almost crumble to the ground. Knowing my mom has suffered sciatica, I knew I had to keep moving so I got on the bus that I was trying to catch and headed to Ikea where I limped around.

I then went to Michael's, limped some more and then to Costco (I know: twice in less than a month and a half!) and then was carted home by a friend.

For the next two days I alternated between sitting uncomfortably and lying uncomfortably and doing stretches at the urging of ma mere who can be cruel to be kind. I'm a big baby and just want to sleep the pain away but sleeping just helps you temporarily not think of the pain. The worst part (I can handle a dull pain) is the sharp spasms that make you want to just fall down and cry.

I finally went to the doctor yesterday (verdict: inflammation of the lower back), got some good medication and now have 14 days to get back to normal or physiotherapy will follow.

I feel a lot better today although the muscle spasms still feel the need to appear without warning though. At least I've managed to control my outbursts at work instead of being unrestrained about it as I was at home these past two days.

Posted by Jummy at 02:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)