junk in my trunk?

we got a new car. our civic was kind of getting old, making some disconcerting noises and overall a bit banged up.

our new car, stella is wonderful. she is pretty and she has lots of gadgets that make me happy - rearview camera, push button start, proximity sensor on the key fob so all i have to do is push a button to unlock, xm radio...and she drives like a dream.

cue kris' business trip to montreal. i am always more paranoid and hypersensitive when he's not here, even in situations where he wouldn't be with me anyway...but i was walking to my car after work, past 9:30pm in a dark, deserted parking lot and i noticed that the interior lights were on. strange. i checked the backseat, saw it was empty, so i got in and drove away.

as i was driving, i started worrying more about why the lights were on since i hadn't unlocked the car yet. i wondered if perhaps i didn't lock it that afternoon. i tried to reassure myself that it was fine since i checked the backseat, but then i remembered that stella has a bigger, more accessible trunk space where someone could easily hide. by this time, i was already on the highway, so instead of pulling off and parking somewhere so i could check the trunk, i just checked my rearview mirror every 5 seconds to see if there was a head popping out from behind the seat. why am i so crazy? i can now rationalize that if there was a dangerous predator man in the trunk, he likely wouldn't waste time waiting for me to drive for several minutes before revealing himself. if he was going to kill me, surely he would have already done it?

so onward i drove. checking the mirror constantly. i got home, drove in the garage, purposely left the garage door open in the event someone was in the trunk so i could scream a warning, and opened it with a racing heart. it was empty.

this is why i need to go with kris on all of his business trips!!!! because apparently i drive myself crazy when i'm left to my own devices (namely, my overactive imagination).

it turns out that the perimeter/approach lights are one of stella's safety features. who knew?
she senses when the key is approaching the car, and lights up in welcome at night so you can make sure there aren't any serial killers in your backseat. smart, huh? i wish i could say the same for myself...

parking paradox

i accompanied some students at a music festival in milton. i did a search online to see where the church was located, saw it was on a busy street with parallel parking (i love google streetview). i sighed to myself, and made a mental note to leave 15 minutes earlier to ensure i could find a place to park and brought extra coins with me.

when i arrived, i was confused...there were what appeared to be parking spaces, but they were empty. almost all of them! there was a row that was right across the street from the church where i had to go, but i was convinced it must have been an area that only special people could park in, because why else would all the spots be available? it was even beside a ministry of transportation office, and even though it was before 9am, i figured most people would get there early to avoid line-ups. i dubiously parked there, and then looked for a parking meter to pay. i couldn't find one. i looked for signs telling me i could only park there for a certain period of time, or maybe a sign telling me i can't park there until 10am. i couldn't find any.

i went into the church and asked the woman working the front desk whether i could park on the street. she looked at me like i was crazy and said something like "of course you can, why wouldn't you be able to?" and i explained to her that there were plenty of available spaces, there was no parking meter, and no sign telling me i had to move after a certain period of time. she still looked at me like i was crazy. no, toto...clearly we aren't in toronto anymore!

the definition of excessive...and unnecessary...

...is seeing 6 OPP vehicles lurking on the side of the highway, waiting to catch speeding cars as i drive to work, which is less than 20 km away. that's a police officer every 3.3 km!

where are you guys when there is a maniac weaving in and out of traffic at 150km/h?

CONGRATS!

congratulations to my friend carson for winning the prestigious title of wind instrumentalist of the year at the canadian smooth jazz awards.

you may remember, i reached out to you, dear reader, and asked you to vote for him - i'm not sure if you did, but if so, thank you!

and congratulations, carson. i've said it before, and i'll say it again: you always have been full of hot air. :) haha, that joke never gets old (for me, anyway)...but seriously, you deserve all the accolades you're getting and more!

when it rains, it pours...on weekends

did anyone else notice that the weather is rainy/cold/irritable on weekends only? and during the week it's beautiful/sunny/making me irritable because i am cooped up indoors working?

well, this past weekend, i beat the system - at least, i thought i did. i had to work on saturday, so i planned to take friday off. it was promising to be the best day of the week yet, with sunny skies and a high of 23 degrees. beautiful. i planned to see my friend in the morning, have lunch with her, come home and enjoy our patio and maybe go for a bike ride.

cue thursday and cue the only cold i've had all year. i slept in on friday until 1pm and pretty much spent the entire day indoors, doing sinus rinses and trying futilely to breathe through my nose. it rained on saturday as promised, and the weather was unsettled and undecided today (although i will admit, it was semi-nice out).

but the long-term forecast promises rain and cool temperatures for next weekend. sigh.

i'll find you, nice-weather-weekend...one day. i hope.