I can now play the first bit of "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" on the piano by myself! *Feels proud* I really like this Synthesia program, it's fun times. I think I'll try to tackle "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" next, that one looks a little trickier because there's chords... :x My goal is to some day (years from now, I realize) be able to sit down and play some Journey -- they played it at the dueling piano bar we went to for the Nex Christmas party and I was like *hearts* and *sparkly eyes*.

In lieu of a holiday potluck which were originally going to do, we gathered everyone together and went to the new little Asian buffet. Somehow it managed to escape my razor-sharp casual observation that with the oriental-flavor of the restaurant name it was going to serve primarily Chinese food, but it turned out to be really tasty actually. And they had these wonderful little cheese-covered potatoes that were fantastically yummy~ I'd go back, but considering that they were in the midst of their grand-opening with only a couple tables filled, I don't think they'll be around long... *Sweatdrop*

I am so close to being done my Christmas shopping it's sick! If this damn weather would let up a bit, I would venture out and quickly finish up the last few items! It's really not fair how Alberta can go from a mild -5 to -30 practically over night... may I add that it's also very unfair how my car starter has developed an annoying habit of stopping to work as it gets progressively colder, which defeats the entire purpose. -5? It's good to go. But -30? I have to go out and start it by hand. Someone hates me.

I actually logged onto Guild Wars this weekend for the first time in... *strains* ...ages. I forgot how fun it is and how ridiculously AWESOME my necromancer is. Mason says I only have a couple more missions before I beat Prophecies, and then I want to start using my new ritualist~ With GW and piano, I don't know if I'm going to finish my Grievous picture in time for the contest deadline. >_<

Or at least they did last night at Kevin's place as I proceeded to completely PWN everyone at poker. Whether it was the fuel of tasty pornstar cocktails and mini chocolate bars, or the need for enact vengeance after being the victim of an elastic band firing squad, I slyly -- yet somewhat flukily -- whittled them down and emerged victorious and a shiny $60 richer after five long hours of Texas Hold Em. *Evil cackle*

I believe it was a well-deserved good end to what was in contrast a very frustrating and arduous day. I phoned our property manager yesterday morning at 8 a.m. to get her to come over and have a look at our apartment pipes and thermostat. Sometime over the last year we discovered that one or the other was buggered, which results in either our apartment feeling like a sauna when the hot water pipes are turned on, or having to suffer in frigid cold when we turned them off. I ended up having to work from home to wait for the plumber to show up to fix it because I didn't have an extra key to give the manager to get into the apartment. Now the idea of working from home is very tempting for most people, and I'm not going to lie, I was a little thrilled at the idea of suddenly getting to curl up in my pajamas and slippers and eat a tasty breakfast of Eggo waffles at my computer, working away while at the same time getting to watch a few episodes of What Not to Wear on my EyeTV.

It's all a lie, people. A HORRIBLE, AGONIZING LIE. Working from home is not relaxing, it's freaking annoying. Nothing works! You don't have what you need! And to get what you need, you have to spend the entire day conversing long distance over IRC with co-workers simply trying to set up your workstation at home which is entirely out of your frame of technological know-how so you can do everything you would have been doing at the office! Look at my happy list of things I wanted to get finished yesterday! *Indignantly holds up detailed blue stickie-note with list of bullet-point tasks and a doodle of a happy flower in the corner* None of this done, no! I spent the eight hair-pulling hours of my day yesterday trying to gain access to the mere ability to work on these items! Throw in a shoddy Shaw internet connection that went offline half way during the day and upset all the previous progress I'd made during the morning, and it was a complete and utter gong show. Seriously. I went through an entire layer and a half of Pot of Gold fine chocolates and truffles in my stress and rage. Never again. =_=

And to top it all off, the fucking plumber never even showed up. I have to wait until Monday. I am getting an extra bloody key cut this weekend.

On a completely different note, huzzuh for Mason finally coming back home tonight! THERE WILL BE GLOMPAGE! :B

I think I've recycled that particular post title but if you don't tell, I won't. ¬_¬

Well Mason flew off to Florida yesterday, so I'm on my own for two lonely weeks. It'll be the longest time we've been apart in our relationship, and I already started missing him last night when I went to bed. (It didn't help any that yesterday afternoon I watched I Am Legend and it very predictably wigged me out as I came home to the dark apartment with not a single Mason cuddle available. I may or may not have intentionally left the television on while I slept so I'd have the glow... WHY DO I INSIST ON WATCHING SCARY MOVIES?!) ;_;

It was nice to have the day off today (long weekend, HUZZUH!), but it does mean I have to go in to work tomorrow. *Pouts a little* We're launching some new improvements to our last improvements, which you know, will hopefully be an overall improvement. It looks very promising so far.

Toby went in (finally) to his neuter appointment this morning and I'm happy to say it all went very smoothly. I was really surprised how up and about he was when I brought him home; I thought he'd sleep the rest of the day away. I have pain meds to give him once a day which the vet told me should (hopefully) be easier to get him to take than the Critical Care was. *Crosses fingers* >_<

I also have to check on his incision twice daily to make sure there's no swelling or anything, which I was dreading because I have so much trouble picking him up. But tonight I was like "Okay. This is it. Let's do this. No funny business." and I just scooped him up! It was the first time he's been so mellow about it! He didn't stay still very long, but I held him up long enough to check things out~ *So happy* I just have to try to make sure he doesn't chew at his stitches or he's going to be a very unhappy bunny when I have to go and fit him with a cone.

We have these mini pizzas here at work and they are very possibly some of the tastiest mini pizzas I've ever had. I was a little discouraged the first few times I attempted to cook them. I would throw them in the toaster oven and go back to my desk to let them cook for 10 minutes -- then 20 minutes later I would be like "SHIT! Shitshitshitshitshit..." and my tasty pizzas would be shriveled black hockey pucks. I experienced this epic pizza failure three days in a row at first and was close to resolving myself to the apparent fact that BRENNA IS NOT DESTINED FOR TASTY PIZZA IN MINIATURE FORM, but then realized I actually was destined to eat pizza if I would just stop being lazy and set a 10 minute alarm on my phone. Lazy < Pizza.

*OM NOM NOM NOM*

As gleeful as I was to watch Obama get voted into office on Tuesday, I was also dismayed to see that the election coverage delayed a new episode of House. D: I must have flustered Gregorz! I must have more House-Cuddy kissage! *Rolls around in a pit of her own fangirly angst*

I saved a kitty last night~ Well, sort of. We got home from Brock's and this adorably friendly cat followed us to our building and up the stairs to the door. If Mason hadn't insisted on denying the kitty entrance, I most likely would have had a new furry house guest that evening. :c Instead I coaxed him away from the door with cuddles and went in search for poor kitty's home. Hopefully the little old lady who welcomed him back inside at the original house we saw him sitting on the stoop of is actually a kind old lady and not some creepy terrible woman looking for kitty meat pies. :x

I've decided I want to start taking piano lessons~ I love the piano and I think it would be so relaxing to just sit down and play (ENVY DAN, ENVY!) -- I regret not enrolling in some as a kid but I figure it's never too late to learn. (Besides, everyone always tells me I have piano fingers~) Dan says Innovations Music in St. Albert does lessons which are really good, but their next classes to enroll in don't start until next September... And I'm a little paranoid about having lessons at some Joe Shmoe's house who I don't know. Where to go?

If you're like me and after reading Twilight now refuse to touch the rest of the series that follows (for fear of brain melting), check out these recaps of books 2, 3, and 4's fuckwittery, simply to justify that you're not missing anything remotely worth while. In the words of the reviewer, they're LOLarious. *Steals fabulous word* You will blanch with horror at the so-extra-special badness of Breaking Dawn chapter 18. "THERE ARE NO WORDS FOR THIS" indeed.

Also a concise and amusing catalog of Twilight FAILS, funny because it's so true.

On a different note, I am so excited for next week's episode of House. Gregorz and Cuddy, getting it on~ I demand hot Hugh Laurie face-suckage. :3

Okay and I occasionally venture into the User Art forum here at work, and I've got to say... Kids have a weird impression of art these days -- it's very disturbing. No lie, most of the things in there scare the shit out of me. Then again these are the same individuals who are calling chapter 18 of Breaking Dawn "beautiful". D:

We should make t-shirts for everyone here at the office, we really should. None of the chaos or insanity that ensued was at all unexpected in anyway, I mean every one of us knew what we were in for... but that still doesn't make last week any less exhausting. Things are already thankfully starting to die down, so instead of answering messages all day I can actually get some of my other work done.

On a related and somewhat immature note, a big "NEENER NEENER" to Dave. 4,000 hits in one week, SUCKAH! You have been officially pwned.

Oh yeah, I got a Mac finally at work! WOOOOOOT! *Sparkles sparkles* It's shiny and white and doesn't shut down when ever I insert a USB stick into the USB port. Imagine that?

After being impressively ripped off by the chiropractic clinic by my house, I finally made an appointment with a new chiropractor downtown two blocks away from work. He was recommended to me by my Mom's own chiropractor, and I figured the best review you can get is when the guy you're seeing is the chiropractor to another chiropractor. This new guy is completely awesome, he's so nice, but not that sleazy salesperson and steal-your-money type of nice. He rolled his eyes when I told him about my experience with Synergy and I have now been cut from their outrageous 88 initial visits to a respectable 15. I've never felt so good than after I walked out of my first correction with this new guy, I don't know how it works but it just does. (Lesson learned: always listen to your mother.)

I splurged a little when I shouldn't have yesterday and bought a new pretty dress for Ashley and Dan's wedding on Saturday~ It was $30 over my $50 dress budget but I really love it -- black, knee-length, halter-neck; with a strip of little sparkly sequins under the chest. It's so nice, and it does the cute swishy thing when I twirl in it~ *^^*

I miss drawing. I haven't done any art in like a whole year. ;_; The last thing I worked on was a Guild Wars character piece and that's all, I just don't have the time. After I'm done the couple contract work projects I'm currently working on, I think I need a break for some Brenna time so I can work on my own stuff again. *Wistful*

Toby, my dear bun, you must be neutered. The time has come. You're a big boy. Mommy doesn't like how ornery you've become recently -- this whole moody teenager thing, so done with that. Don't try to suck up to me with bunny kisses, you're getting in on the first available appointment.