oh hello, i didn't see you there...

* happy victoria day!

* right now, there are so many fireworks and firecrackers being set off in my neighbourhood that it sounds a bit like my apartment is in the middle of beirut. we had a big thunderstorm roll through earlier, so i think everyone has decided to make the most of the temporarily clear skies... all at the same time. plus, the acoustics around all the buildings are creating echoes, so the pops and booms just keep reverberating.

* i spent the weekend out in the 'burbs. on saturday morning, mom and i went shopping -- groceries and a coffee maker (for her) and samples and such. she dropped me at YB's house in the early afternoon, and i helped with some of her gardening chores. my task was to mix large quantities of peat moss and potting soil, and then to distribute said quantities into assorted pots of varying sizes. it was very warm and quite humid out, which made our tasks a little more tiring than they would have been otherwise. we discovered a family of four teeny, fuzzy, adorable red squirrels living in one the giant trees in her backyard. we had homemade soup and fresh bread for dinner. then, for dessert, we opened a fresh tub of...

* president's choice pink lemonade ice cream. it was an impulse purchase on my part, because it's a brand-new product and it instantly made me think of the deeeeeelicious lemon ice cream (not sorbet, not sherbet, ICE CREAM) i used to eat each summer up at the cottage we used to rent. there was a tiny, ancient general store on the property, with big, old freezers in the front, and they would serve generous cones of the most amazing, creamy, refreshing, sweet lemon ice cream. so, saturday night, super-excited, YB and i each grabbed a spoon to sample the PCPLIC before scooping ourselves a couple of bowls. and let me just say... it was... absolutely terrible. bland, sour and the consistency of frozen mousse – which is to say airy and frothy, not dense and creamy. i really should have known better when i'd been tempted by it in the store: we've tried at least three different flavours from this crap-tastic line of ice creams and ALL have been disappointing. PCPLIC: FAIL.

* we watched Morning Glory, which was cute, and Waiting for Superman, which was very good.

* earlier today, and somewhat out of the blue, my mother said she "really needs" to figure out where she wants to be buried. then she added that trixie and i need to decide whether we want to find our own plots, or be buried with our parents. and i felt like i'd suddenly been hit with a panic taser.

* in case you hadn't heard, a volanco in iceland erupted. i am crossing all appendages that the country remains sound asleep for the duration of my visit... mainly because i'm SO not interested in being stranded in reykjavik indefinitely.

* SYTYCD starts up again this coming thursday. it's one of the signs (for me) that summer is approaching. i always know summer has officially arrived, though, when Big Brother gets underway for the season. (in case you're keeping track: it starts on july 7th!)

* speaking of summer, in one month and one day i will turn 40 years old. i have many thoughts on this subject, some of which will likely find their way into a blog entry or two between now and then. in the meantime, i'm trying to figure out what to do. part of me thinks it's a milestone birthday worth celebrating and that i should make an extra effort to do it up somehow, but the other part of me thinks, "you know what? don't get your expectations up. treat it like any other birthday. get your free stuff, have some cake, and call it a day." i remain undecided. maybe i'll just shave my head. (i'm only half-kidding.)

* further to my previous pants post, i bought three new pairs of pants last week. each pair was at least 70% off its original price.

* tomorrow is day one of week five (!) of the not-so-new-anymore job. originally, this would have been my final week but, now, friday will be the midpoint of the assignment. starting the following week, i'll only be working four days per week (every friday off). and, at the moment, there's an unfinalized, still-up-in-the-air discussion about extending the job two more months after that. possibly on a recurring, part-time basis. stand by.

* i continue to neglect my creative writing. not because i don't have time, but because i can't seem to motivate myself. i may try to loosen those muscles with a poem i've been mulling since i started the job: "ode to the world's most disgusting cough." (the cough does not belong to me. the cough – which is loud and phlegmy and completely revolting – belongs to some woman who sits somewhere in a cubicle not too far away, and it's been echoing through the office since my very first day. every. day.)