Mood: Bouncing to Christmas music

I just couldn't leave poor December hanging there, gimped or not gimped.

So for anyone completely out of the loop, I broke my arm. Mason and I joined a beginners curling league back in the middle of November which I was pretty excited about, obviously not having any curling experience prior or even interest in the crazy sport whatsoever, but it seemed a fairly Brenna-friendly form of exercise. Or at least that's what I innocently thought. Leave it to any sport to be out for blood and make a liar out of me -- low and behold, half way through our first game I slipped on the ice and *SNAP!* there goes the right arm in a valiant effort to break my fall. =_=

Four weeks later, I'm now in my third cast (this one is purple) and have two more weeks to go until I can hopefully get this thing off. Needless to say, I have become pretty skilled in going about my day-to-day activities one-handed. Having to learn how to be a lefty has been awkward and downright annoying at times, and I've probably wasted way more time than is sanely needed to type this one single blog post.

In other news, I am thankfully 95% finished with my Christmas shopping with only a week to go. Yay me! I am, however, growing a little concerned that the 30% of my 95% worth of gifts that I bought online aren't going to arrive in time. :x I may have to end up stuffing printed out pictures of purchases into festive envelopes for family members to open up on Christmas morning in lieu of actual gifts.

All in all, not much else is new in my life, other than I finally received my DC Universe Online beta key. I was all excited and whipped up a pretty cool looking superhero of my very own, only to realize as I actually began playing the game itself that trying to play a two-handed computer game is exceedingly difficult with a gimpy arm. I managed to finally figure out a rather uncomfortable but do-able way of holding the mouse with my right hand and leaving my good left hand free to handle the multitude of buttons on the keyboard. It's not ideal, but it gets the job done. Now if only I could actually figure out all of the controls and stop running my character around uselessly in the same room.

This will probably be the only post I make until my cast is off, so a Merry Ho Ho to all next week, and here's hoping no one else gets their car stuck in the massive snow dunes accumulated at the end of their driveways like we did the other night.

Mood: Better now

Last night was all sorts of awful. It started with a very tiny, almost unnoticeable headache which then spun entirely out of control into a full blown migraine. I went to sleep early after popping some Advil and laid in the dark with a cold wheat sac over my eyes for half an hour until out of no where I got the shakes and hot shivers and an oh-god-I'm-going-to-toss-my-cookies feeling. I managed to stumble to the bathroom and proceeded to spend the following half hour crouched over the toilet dry-heaving with my head feeling like it was splitting open and huddling pathetically in a bath towel trying to keep warm. Eventually I called loud enough for Mason to wake up and he plied my sad, sicky self with water and blankets and pillows, as well as the marvelous idea of Gravol which is now my self-proclaimed wonder drug of choice -- after a couple of hours sleeping on the floor of the bathroom, I woke up feeling perfectly fine once again and went back to my proper bed.

I'm no stranger to migraine headaches, but usually the only symptom I get along with them is the preemptive flashy lights in my eyes right before. Other than the blistering pain itself, I've never had a migraine like last night -- no eye flashies, but hey, look at all these other super fun I-want-to-DIE-now side affects that got swapped in instead. Ugh. No thanks. Can I have my old slightly-less-agonizing head pain back, please? D:}

On a different note, I've pulled out and brushed off my game face again and started playing Kingdom Hearts 2. *Strikes dramatic gamer-girl pose with PS2 controller in hand and shimmery light from on high shining down on her* I don't remember KH being this addictive -- since Saturday I've played over eleven hours. I wanted to play more today, but the crazy little paranoid voice in my head insists that my bizarre migraine experience last night was the fault of sitting for too long in front of the television playing video games. Maybe the Powers That Be are angry that I'm once again pretending to be a game geek and this is their way of telling me to stop now before I really tick them off.

...I can't promise that I won't go back to playing more tomorrow though... ¬_¬

Mood: Content

Wow, I haven't posted in a while. This is no doubt a result of a) realizing that despite how many of my projects and hobbies revolve around the internet and computer, I really do sort of hate modern technology most of the time; and b) nothing very interesting has been going on in my life lately to blog about.

On a some what hypocritical note of my opinion regarding computers above, I was very excited recently to receive a new (at least for me) gift in the form of my sister's old G4 iBook. The closest I've ever come to owning my own laptop has been when I "borrowed" my Dad's Macbook for an extended period of time and *cough* neglected *cough* to give it back until he came and tore it back from my fingers -- so actually having one (that I don't ever have to give back to anyone) is pretty exciting for me. Lookit me, world! I'm watching West Wing on my comfy couch while I blog! :D I even updated it from OS X Panther to the slightly less out-of-date Tiger, so I can actually run most of the modern browsers and applications. Sadly, however, just like my Dad's ancient laptop, this one too also doesn't support WAP2 so I can't connect wirelessly to most networks, which is all sorts of sad pandas.

Our house now has Christmas lights up for the first time! Cute little white LED ones. I'm so excited, they look really nice all lit up and it'll make this year feel much more Christmasy~ While I'm too lazy to decorate the entire house up like my Mom loves to do at home, there are a few holiday sparklies like Christmas lights and pretty trees that I insist on having since I moved out that help make the holiday special for me. :3

Mason also helped me install a much-needed extra shelf in our kitchen pantry this morning, in which immediately following I gleefully spent a half hour re-organizing all of our dry food. I'm not sure it's normal to get as excited as I do over a nicely organized pantry, but I think we've all realized by now that I'm strangely quirky like that occasionally. (You see what I mean when I say I haven't had anything interesting going on lately?)

I buckled and pre-ordered a copy of DC Universe Online under the tantalizing prospect of getting a chance to play the beta the same night -- only to discover afterward that I shouldn't expect to receive my beta key until at least mid-November. =_= Frankly, the whole pre-ordering process has left me rather irked on a number of levels. Sony's sort of dropped the ball with their customer service -- aside from the complete lack of details regarding beta keys prior to clicking the BUY NOW button, they send out no confirmation or acknowledgment of any kind when you try to actually submit your pre-order receipt, and from what I've read they're not bothering to take any time to ever reply to customer questions and clarify the lack of information. Shame, Sony. SHAME. While we're on the subject, the whole clunky system of "send us a photo of your pre-order receipt" seems a little... ridiculous... I've never heard of an online website processing a proof-of-sale through the use of screenshots and camera photos. o_O Either way, I look forward to eventually being able to create my own super hero/villain and running amok in Gotham City and Metropolis.

Mood: Deeply disgruntled

I finally went for the long-overdue professional bra fitting (that every women really should look into.) I figured I was pretty close to wearing the actual size I should be, and sure enough I -- almost -- was. The right cup size, but just one band size too large. Apparently I should be wearing a 30 - 32 depending on the brand, instead of my former 34. No problem. Heck, that was hardly worth going in for. Should be an easy switch, right?

WRONG. D:{ I venture to the St. Albert mall to pick up some new bras in the new size aaaaand... nothing. Apparently while 34Cs are plentiful every where you turn, 32Cs are this craaaaaazy size that no one carries. The hell? The only size 32s on the racks were all A cups. WTF. This is ridiculous. Why do so many bra manufacturers seem to think that all women with breasts of a certain size are automatically all the same band size? Now I can relate to my sister's plight finding her size all these years.

I realize bra boutiques like Midnight Magic probably carry them, but I seriously can't bring myself to pay $60 - $100+ for a single bra, I just can't. My head would implode. I did some Googling and some people say that places like Victoria's Secret carry some, as well as La Senza -- but I've heard that to get them you have to order online because they don't stock them in store. So much lame. It almost just makes me want to scrap the whole thing and just carry on wearing the wrong size. :P

On a happier note, I did manage to finally track down a couple of pairs of affordable new bootcut jeans -- from Bootlegger, of all places. (I haven't been in that store for years. I forgot how exceedingly annoying the sales staff are there. Look, I realize you work on commission, but if another peppy salesgirl prances up to me and opens her mouth I'm going to strangle her with this dark-washed Brody denim.) As we speak my new jeans are hanging up at the tailors anxiously waiting for their turn to be hemmed. *Glee*

Also, we are now closing the fourth day of me being practically deaf in my left ear. It's been blocked since Monday evening, and despite using copious amounts of Cerumol and even going into the medicentre to get it blasted clear, I'm still saying "WHAAAAAT?" every time someone to my left is speaking. Seriously, this is passed annoying now. Annoying was four days ago. I'm considering just cutting it off.

Mood: Peckish. Craving some sort of foodstuff.

Back from B.C. sister road trip! I'm contemplating changing the name to Bacon Vacation, however, due not only to the undeniable fact that it (sort of) rhymes and everyone knows that rhymes are fun for everyone -- but also paying homage to the additional fact that I don't think we ate one meal in Sean and Liz's home that didn't include bacon. It was a plethora of bacon! On top of, inside, shredded into, sprinkled on, and wrapped around! A variable bacon cornucopia, if you will. I know a few salivating individuals who would indeed have some fine dining at Sean and Liz's House of the Crispy Fried Swine.

Anyway, our trip was lots of fun, minus the actual sitting in the car for twelve straight hours there and back again -- that starts to lose it's appeal after the first hour or two. For the first time in all of our many B.C. excursions, we actually hung out in downtown Vancouver for a day. It's a much nicer city to stroll around in than Edmonton, visually-wise, what with all its envy-invoking mountain/bay scenery that puts us to shame. It also scores bonus points on the personal Brenna scale with it's monumental vaguely-coliseum-like Public Library of All Kinds of Win!

Seriously cool. I bought a used book from their gift shop and every time I turn a page I shall think back to the VPL fondly and FILLED WITH JEALOUSLY.

We also spent a day down in Seattle checking out the Space Needle, and before that the Seattle Zoo (I got super close to a grizzly bear! Like, SUPER CLOSE! D: The entire lack of actual fences around the animal enclosures do not help at all with soothing the fearful concept of serious bear mauling.) I had to stop and have a "the hell?" moment when in one of the aviaries they featured ...wait for it... magpies. *Blink* Really? We could have carted a whole car load of them over from Alberta for you, and I think I speak on behalf of all Edmontonians when I say we'd be glad to be rid of them. Though I suppose they're considered exotic to someone. When you think about it, I'm sure somewhere in South America, the locals are all like "Fucking toucans! Get your exotic profile and beautifully-colored giant beak out of my fucking backyard and off my breakfast cereal! Jeeze!"

On the way home we also made a pit stop by our favorite B.C. roadside fruit vendor and I bought some delicious fresh cherries. Yum~ X3

Tomorrow, CT's wedding! *Excited flails!* Very excited and happy for them. I tried the few dresses I own all on yesterday and realized that they all either: a) don't fit anymore, b) never did fit in the first place but I was too style-stupid to realize it, or c) fit but are made a material so see-through that undergarments can clearly be seen. So I ventured out today to buy a much-needed dress slip to hide unfortunate pantie exposure, except that I couldn't manage to find a bloody slip so instead I spent two hours frantically hunting for a whole new dress. Fortunately I managed to find one that was on sale and ended up being more or less the same amount of money I would have spent on the slip in the first place. That's a win in my book.

Mmm, have no doubt that there shall be cake and possibly other tasty desserts at wedding tomorrow. That's always a delightful perk. Is it acceptable these days to slip the groom a fiver in order to score an extra piece? A corner piece, maybe? With a grotesque amount of icing...?

Mood: Dreadful agonizing fear.

The following is the one and only positively rad bear-related portion part of this blog post:

\o/

I am having serious doubts about this mountain camping trip. I was having doubts before, but after reading Fairfax Lake's far too convenient "Bear Smart e-Book" I feel like I'm mere moments away from a panic attack at the thought of driving four hours away tomorrow just to camp at some backwater mountain campground with a chance of bear encounters and "serious mauling" (the e-book's words, not mine) thrown in. There is something we have termed the "Brenna bubble" and bears are not a part of that bubble.

If you can't already tell, I have a pretty solid history -- which I believe I genetically inherited in some fashion from my mother -- of being terrified of bears. I have never seen one up close, but I positively, 100% sure, instinctively know that if I ever do I will end up dead. Watching The Edge when I was younger was like sitting through my own personal 2-hour nightmare.

If I end up actually going tomorrow I'm not even going to be able to walk to the bathroom alone. I will be a campsite Nazi. "DID YOU PUT AWAY ALL YOUR FOOD INTO THE CAR?!" "YOU CAN'T GO TO BED IN THE SAME CLOTHES YOU COOKED DINNER IN!!!" "IS THAT TOOTHPASTE I SEE IN YOUR TENT?!" Oh god. Hated and shunned by close friends, or hideous bear mauling? What do I do, what do I do, what do I do.

:x