Mondays…

You know those days where a series of unfortunate events happen in movies? Sometimes life is a little like that. It’s not funny when you’re in the experience. In fact I almost want to cry a little when they’re happening but when you look back at the events you can laugh a little.

Last night it actually snowed. The weather people have been warning us of snow storms all winter but have been wrong about it. But this time they were right. Without looking out the window, I unexpectedly walked out into a few snow banks.

Then I waited for my first bus in what felt like -20 temperatures. My toes were already beginning to freeze. When I got to the subway, someone pressed the emergency alarm at two consecutive stops on the same train. It stalled 10-15 minutes each time for emergency personnel to arrive. Then immediately after that all trains on same line I were held for a fire investigation at one station. In Toronto, when one train on the line stops, all of them are screwed. Our system is inefficient that way.

Anyways, after quite some time, I finally made the destination of my last bus, only to find out that we couldn’t leave the station. Cars were stuck trying to go up hills and as a result, so where some buses which led to a big traffic jam.

At that point I just wanted to yell STOP. Which was kind of funny because (after 30 minutes of sitting in freezing cold) eventually took a detour. On the detour I snapped a photo of a van with the word STOP on the windshield.

There’s not actually a point to this story. I did end up making it to work and the rest was normal.

However, I now have a fever. Maybe I’ll wake up fine and tomorrow will be a perfectly regular day. I mean it can’t go worse than today right?

The Mystery of the Random Lighter

Yesterday, I opened the cubicle in which all our mail usually lay. Inside the dark hole perched a tiny grey package. It was addressed to me, and even included my phone number. There was no exact return address. It only mentioned Shen Zhen China and there were some Chinese words I couldn’t read. I was elated, thinking that one of the packages I had ordered off Ebay had finally arrived.

I ripped open the envelope to find a mysterious object wrapped in white foam. It was steel tubular object attached to a keychain. A knob could screw off and revealed a metal rod with what looked like a screw and a tiny bit of cloth at the end. I took a whiff of the inside of the tube and it smelt of gasoline. I was very confused. This was not the camera accessory, film or dog costume I had ordered. I had no idea what it was, so I took a photo of it and turned to Twitter.

A bunch of people assumed it was a tiny flask, but within minutes my question was answered. It was a flint fire starter, something people took camping and used to start fires in case of emergency. The question still remained, “Why was it sent to me?”.

Initially, I thought it may have been my 12 Days of Holiday bullshit so I took to Twitter to ask. Cards Against Humanity replied and said it would be very obvious it was from them. I guess they wouldn’t forget to include their own branding on their items. A confusing tube that could start fires was quite a quirky object so CAH was a good guess, but not the right one. Now I must wait until I get all my other orders and see which eBay seller sent me the wrong thing.

However, I could get all the right parcels and still be left with a flint lighter from a mysterious place. We’ll have to wait and find out.

A Wallet Full of Stories

I’ve had my wallet since grade 9 and since I’m 24, that was a long long time ago. It’s even had a hole in it for the last 5 years, but I felt no real need to get a new one.

I bought it during a childish and somewhat egotistic phase where I had to had my initials on everything. Tommy Hilfiger coincidentally used the letter “T” in their designs. When I look back at it, it’s pretty bulky and ugly but it held all the tidbits of my life, and would for the next 10 years.

Dad used to have the same tattered wallet for like 20 years (even though we would get him new ones) and I used to make fun of him for it. However, I understand now how hard it can be to let go. What we store in our wallets tells a story of who we are as a person. It’s often why we like to venture into the wallets of others.

Mine had memories of my first kiss, my first tattoo, and trips to china. There were pictures of people who I haven’t spoken to in years and buy-10-get-1-free cards from places I haven’t been to in years. It could probably tell you that I used to have a compulsive shopping phase, and that I like to hoard junk.

Today I got a new wallet as a gift, and I thought it was the perfect chance to start anew.

I was never really into overly girly wallets.

It’s much smaller than my previous wallet, so I couldn’t keep half the things I had in there. I’m not the same person I used to be, and my wallet doesn’t need to reflect that any more. A new story adventure is just beginning!

What’s in your wallet?

DIY Valentines: Pinterest Inspired

Me and my boyfriend didn’t really want to make a big deal out of Valentine’s Day, especially since we’re still both in job hunt mode. I decided to look to Pinterest for some DIY card designs. Here is the front of the card I made:

Text says: "I hope you'll always be there to eat my green Skittles"

The paper heart was inspired by this love note pin. The skittles represent a chapter in the beginning of our relationship. Before we dated, when we had just started talking, I was eating a pack of Skittles and told him I hated the green ones. I also blurted out that I would love the boy who would eat my green Skittles. He told me he liked green Skittles. It’s funny because we had not even thought of each other as date-able material at that point but it’s one of our first memories as friends.

Love At First Sight

To fall in love at first sight is something that happens a lot in movies and TV but not something I really thought about in real life. To reflect back on myself though, I do believe it has happened. No, I am not talking about how I met Nash (that’s a much different story). This is about how we ended up with Teddy.

The day we decided on a dog was pretty random; serendipity even. Our parents have denied us from having dogs and cats as pets for years. Mom used the excuse that she was allergic. However somehow (i still can’t really describe how to this day), we talked mom into allowing us to get a hypoallergenic cat. Yes, we had begun the search looking for a cat. Me and my sister browsed the cats on Kijiji for a while but then something enticed us to look at puppies. And there it was, 6 hypoallergeneic bichon poodle puppies.

All were adorable but it was one specific photo we were drawn to and had fallen head over heels for:

We called up the owner of the ad and within an hour had driven across town to see all 6 puppies in his backyard. We had wanted a male puppy and chose the most active and friendly from the litter. 5 months later, Teddy is now part of the family.

I had not noticed this until I recently found photos of the original listing on mom’s computer. We had chosen the exact same puppy we had seen online. The one we had fallen in love with on the Kijiji ad was the same one we would take home an hour later. Serendipity or not, we had fallen in love at first sight and we were destined to meet Teddy.

He may come back all muddy, eat our slippers, paw at us for food but we could not ask for any other puppy.