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So, according to the experts my particular combination of physical, mental, lifestyle, and personality attributes (i.e.: me) is worth precisely $2,087,086.00 USD on the open market.

Just for a lark I did the thing a second time. I answered everything identically, but reduced my age to 18 and my weight to... well, I reduced it by twenty pounds.

The increase? Only 30,000 bucks. Pfft... You can't even buy a Civic for that these days. Not worth sweating the wrinkles or that second double-chocolate glaze.

Certain aspects of US copyright law are more crucial than others.
Item 58, in particular.

Courtesy of Madge.

Chug!Chug!

Ooo... am slightly tipsy and full of Indian food. Lunch with coworkers today in a wonderful, and not-so-secret, guerrilla kitchen to celebrate my upcoming birthday. Empty beer bottles all around and one of the guys suggests a game of Caps.

Me: What? What's Caps??
Him: Oh, you're definitely in!

He places a beer cap upside down on the top of his bottle, about three feet away. I get the idea. Lined up... and nailed it.

Natch. My skill at drinking games never fails. Just ask some old friends who suffered many a night (and well into the next morning) under my skill at Quarters.

No time to post no time to post! No! time! to! post!

Aie Carumba!

Just booked my ticket to Spain! Yayayayayay!! Suddenly, it's real. I'm really going. To Spain. First vacation in three long years.

*does little happy dance* *falls over*

If there isn't yet a twelve-step program for net-quizzes, there should be.

I am Kong




Strong and passionate, I tend to be misunderstood, sometimes even feared. I don't want to fight, I don't want to cause trouble, all I ask is a little love, and a little peace. If I don't get what I want, I get angry, and throw barrels and flaming oil at whatever's stopping me. What Video Game Character Are You?

There's a first time for everything...

A momentous thing has happened. Not only did I remember to do Smattering's Friday Five; I remembered to do it on a friday. So, without further ado, the answers to some random questions:

1. What makes you homesick?

Missing people makes me homesick. Talking to old friends I only see once a year (if not once a decade) or catching up with my sibs when I'm away from Montreal makes me pine for wherever they are. Or realizing that I don't get to see my little cousins grow up and that they can't help but forget me in-between my annual visits, no matter how big and bright the presents I bring.

2. Where is "home" for you?

It used to be Toledo, Ohio and, even after I relocated to Montreal, I thought it would always be. But in spite of the very bumpy first years, Montreal is home. It is now where I always want to be, sluggish economy, erratic politics, and all.

3. What makes it home for you? People? Things?

Comfort... My family is here, my friends are here, my work is here. There are favoured haunts who's staff asks where I've been if I let too much time elapse between visits and streets that I've filled with all kinds of memories. When I first moved, I remember being so lonely thinking about how I could walk the city and never run into a single familiar someone. Not true anymore.

4. Where is the furthest you've been from home, miles-wise?

Berlin, Germany is the furthest I've ever been from home physically (3736 miles or 6013 km). And for other reasons entirely, I have never felt so emotionally far from home as I did there.

Close seconds in milage: Geneva, Switzerland (3670 miles or 5907 km) and Stockholm, Sweden (3662 miles or 5894 km).

5. What are your plans for this weekend?

So far, I'll be going rock climbing (at a gym) and playing squash, and there's a dim sum planned for Sunday. The rest... time will tell.

Stressed out and tense all night, though the reason remains somewhat of a mystery to me. There's nothing hugely godawful going on in my life, but given that I woke up early this morning with my tummy clenched tight, the little things are obviously building up. By early, I mean 6:30 early. On my own. Without an alarm clock and bucket of ice water.

On the up side, after working here for four years, I finally discovered what the office looks like at 9am. The major differences: less people, more bagels.

One, um... thumb up

Last night, otherwise known as Cheap Movie Tuesday here in Montreal, brought us a screening of 40 Days 40 Nights. A light, vapid, yet really amusing bit of silliness about some guy who decides to give up it in an attempt to get over a girl. Once I got over the absurdity of the idea, I giggled like a freshman cheerleader at a frat party. But really, why would anyone ever want to do such a thing? Unless it was to win a contest, of course.

Did it help that 95% of the screen real-estate was filled by that beautiful Josh Hartnett guy? Of course it did.

Or perhaps a friend of mine was right. His theory after seeing Queen of the Damned last week was that it was so abominable (really. words fail me.) that it would make every other movie you see this year seem downright brilliant in comparison.

If you were looking forward to seeing QOTD, don't. Do something else instead. Like pounding on your left thumb with a tack hammer or removing all your body hair using duct tape and a pair of tweezers. It'll hurt less and be more fun. Trust me.

Les Feuilles Mortes

Kicked up my mp3 player this morning looking for music to fit my upbeat mood. One inaccurate click of the mouse later, Autumn Leaves was coming out of the headphones and my mood got quickly and sappilly in line.

As often happens with songs I love, I end up collecting many different versions. At the moment, Diana Krall and Dee Dee Bridgewater are on loop. Dee Dee has to be my fave, if only because she begins the song with the original French lyrics:

Oh! je voudrais tant que tu te souviennes
Des jours heureux où nous étions amis,
En ce temps-là la vie était plus belle
Et le soleil plus brûlant qu'aujourd'hui.
Les feuilles mortes se ramassent à la pelle,
Tu vois, je n'ai pas oublié...
Les feuilles mortes se ramassent à la pelle,
Les souvenirs et les regrets aussi.
Et le vent du Nord les emporte
Dans la nuit froide de l'oubli.
Tu vois, je n'ai pas oublié
La chanson que tu me chantais.

Oh god, this schmaltz is going to completely trash my toughbitch reputation. I'd better switch on some Rammstein or Ministry before things get out of hand. Du hast, baby.