The Coffeehouse

I'm back, and it's time to get things started up again!

But first, let's make our way over there, shall we? 

Yeah, so it's not really over construction, but it's time for a fresh-ish start :) 

So you kinda guessed I'm not around eh?

I left good ole Canada on Monday, and it was very hectic the couple days before that. I mean, so hectic that I packed for a month-long trip on Monday....

Now, I'm somewhere among hills and valleys, and getting lost in the alleyways of the old cities.

See y'all in a few weeks!

This is my last week at work, and I guess I'll tone it down a bit, but YEAY!

It's been an overall good experience, learned lots of new things, met great people, but there is such an air of bureaucracy here. I can't stand it. Is it always like this? I hope not.

This past year, I just couldn't wait to grab my degree and hit the ground running. But the problem was, to where? And now I'm finishing up this job and I've gotten some great ideas, and again, I just want to take off running. I want to do something.

None of which might be feasible at the present moment due to things I'd like to take a chainsaw to.

I tried to do those long-term goal thingy-majingys, but what if I can't wait? What if I want to do it now, and may possess the capability, just not the support?

And what if I obtain the experience and capability, but the support might never be there?

Who loves the "cached" option in search engines? I do! It makes the world go 'round.

Html Hell, is becoming a bit heavenly, if I do say so myself. There's still some weird things to sort out though. Check it out, lemme know what you think! Je voudrais le feedback, s'il vous plait.

Speaking of gift-giving...

Having a large extended family is a blessing, right? In disguise? If so, mine's got some great costumes.

In two weeks, we're going on a family vacation (God willing, as we say) to visit family and possibly attend a cousin's wedding (the first cousin-wedding I'd be going to). And as I imagine would be almost every culture's tradition, visitors come bearing gifts in exchange for free room, board, and food. Although there is no guarantee of the last part of the business deal, in case the gifts just plain suck.

I have about 30+ first cousins. *gasp*

But we won't be seeing them all. *phew*

But many of them have gone off and gotten married and produced offspring. *yikes*

You see where this is going? Do you realize how much of our luggage won't be actually ours?

I've spent the last couple of days at the mall, trying to pick out age and size appropriate stuff for relative. It's really difficult. For every person on our list, we conduct an indepth analysis of age, height, weight and other physical characteristics, and personality traits. We count back to figure out their age, and squint in an attempt to try and remember and/or predict their height, weight, and sense of style.

If we end up wrong about anyone, I know I'll just breakdown and cry.

Don't laugh, okay?

I dream of bathrooms. Like, a lot…

Most of the vivid dreams I end up remembering have to do with public bathrooms. But I've stopped paying attention to them because they're a common occurrence and not out of the ordinary, for me anyway.

And no, I've never actually, physically needed to go to the bathroom, just in my dreams I do. And I never seem to find an appropriate toilet, for various reasons including co-ed bathrooms, small stalls, half stalls, no locks on doors, no privacy, and sometimes, there are just no bathrooms around. Often, there's lots and lots of stalls in a public bathroom, but I can never use them. It's all quite irritating. And there's never an end to my search for a bathroom, no happy ending.

Just last night, I dreamt I was at work and needed to go to the bathroom (of course). The bathroom near my desk was closed under construction. And I see a lot of my coworkers going to a bathroom in a new section of our building, but I decide to go to another one on my floor, and it turns out, it was just converted into a daycare (you can laugh at this part ONLY). So I end up going to the new bathroom and it turns out to be "inappropriate", go figure. Then I woke up. Well, it was a tad bit longer than that because I was looking for my missing bag at the same time and I was meeting up with friends along the way.

And you know what, I'm not surprised...

...I found the perfect shoes! In my size! On sale!

But they were scuffed and it was the last pair :(

And speaking of things that are not cool. This whole 9 to 5 thing plus early-to-bed-early-to-rise? Not working.

I need someone tall, dark and handsome to save me from html hell...

I enjoy giving gifts. The gift wrapping and funny cards, the excitement of handing over the package, the look of surprise, the tension in the air as a gift is carefully unwrapped, and finally, seeing someone's face light up at their new goody.

Or not. Whatever.

Gift-giving has become boring and predictable. And tedious. I mean, if you've known someone for more than 3 years, you've probably already gifted them every type of item they like on several occasions. Purses, clothes, jewelry, books, candles, and then? It gets really boring, and no one ever wants to give the same type of gift twice. It's so much easier when you're in your tweens because you can exchange silly toy-ish items and it's hilarious. Then you grow up and Mars Mud is no longer an age-appropriate gift-item (yes, I was actually given this in my tweens, and I loved it, it was green).

This last little while has been pretty hectic gift-wise. Birthdays, bridal showers, weddings, convocations (mine too, magna cum laude, ahm!). And there's so much pressure to find the right gift in time for the occasion. Like for mom's birthday? And very shortly thereafter, Mother's Day? The whole family went nuts, trying to avoid giving her an umpteenth bottle of perfume or bubble bath. Bridal shower and wedding? Gift card, gift card. I'd love to tell you all about one of my best friend's hijacking my entire summer with her birthday, convocation, bridal shower, wedding, and her two other wedding-related parties. Oh yes, and she's moving away, so she's entitled to like 50 presents.

Generally, if I find something cute and funny, useful, and appropriate, I'll save it until an occasion, or just gift it, right then and there. But to try and find something original within a certain timeline and budget, all the while gambling on the potential likability/usability of the item? Yeah...

So I loved it when Mommy Dearest proposed on Mother's Day that we drastically reduce the gift giving within the family to once a year, at Eid Al Fitr, right after Ramadan. The routine would be a Secret Santa and a list of "wanted" items and its basically a gift package that should cover all the necessary holidays and/or surprise occasions including, but not limited to, birthdays, anniversaries, and designated holidays. Which is wonderful by me because I like to give others things that they need and will use in the near future, and I've been getting things I have no use for, and therefore end up shamelessly re-gifting them. Things like:

- Bubble Bath: It smells good, sure, but I have no time and no desire to spend an hour in the bathtub soaking in chemicals and artificial colours.

- Perfume: Okay, I do have use for this, but I'm not really a frequent user and I'm not interested in starting a collection.

- Purses: I'm picky about them, and I already have too many.

- Candles: Chemical-y.

Books are always welcomed!

Not that I care much for receiving gifts anyway, I'd rather celebrate an occasion with some good coffee and good conversation, two things you can never have enough of. Another gift is just another item I have to put away somewhere in my room, and we all know I'd rather just leave it a mess. You'd end up being an accomplice to the trashing my of room, you gift-giving freak.

"St. Joseph next! And for those of you who speak French, St. Joseph..."

Did you hear about the man who went into the Louvre Museum in Paris to steal a Van Gogh painting? He managed to get the painting, but the security guards wouldn't let him leave the museum, he didn't have the Monet..."

Wellesley! Well-es-ley next...

Speaking of thieves, a guy tried to steal a calendar once, but got caught. He got twelve-months...

Then another guy tried to steal a lamp, but got caught. He got a light sentence."