ElectricTeaParty.net being social

1.Do you still talk to the first person you kissed?
I'm assuming this doesn't include relatives. No, not really. I stumbled across her on Facebook, but but we don't really keep in touch.

2. Have you ever seen your best friend(s) naked?
Some of them yes, some no. Sadly, more men fall into the yes category than women.

3. What did you do when you weren't in school in the 2nd grade?
SECOND grade?? I don't remember back that far... I think I spent a lot of time at my babysitter's place. I might have been in Beavers around that time as well, and might have started piano lessons by that point.

4. What is the best thing about your job?
That I get to sit on my freaking couch at home all day! Man, remote-working is sweet.

5. Pro choice or pro life?
Pro choice, my friend.

6. How many people have you kissed?
I haven't really kept count, but at a guess, the non-relative list probably tops out at less than ten. Frighteningly, Lee Baxendale is on that list. *shudder*

7. Did you vote for Bush?
I'm Canadian, but if I had a US vote I would have burned my ballot rather than vote for that turd.

8. Where are you going on your next vacation?
I will probably never go on vacation again. I'm too old to go on holiday with my parents, and going by myself is just sad and pathetic. I will never have another girlfriend, so no more vacations for me I guess. I may possibly go on a road trip at some point, if that counts.

10. Are most of your friends guys or girls?
Uh... total count? I think it might be about even, possibly leaning towards the "girls" end of the spectrum. I don't like a lot of guy things (i.e. sports, cars, retardation), so I don't get along well with most of them.

11. Do you own any furniture from IKEA?

Body of test-entry. With luck, this will hit Facebook (notes and status), Livejournal, Twitter, Plaxo, Myspace, etc. etc. If so... GO GO GADGET ElectricTeaParty.net!

Here's another one of those silly questionnaire things, this one copied from Lauren (who copied from someone else, etc. etc.).

12 random girls...

1. Jen Stinson
2. Natalie Rowena Abbott
3. Bonnie Amato
4. Kirsten Baddick
5. Erin Goldie
6. Alexandria Horton
7. Jillian Hussey
8. Erin Kowalski
9. Charmain Lovett
10. Juli Mosby
11. Leah Nicholls
12. Lauren McDowell

Would number 4 ever kiss the same sex?
I doubt it, but how well do you ever really know a person?

What's number 5's favorite show?
I'm gonna guess Firefly, though it could be Buffy or Venture Bros.

Who was the last person number 11 went out with?
Dear God... the last person I remember her going out with was Richard, but that was a long time ago...

Who does number 8 like?
She's got some boyfriend. Stumpy fellow. Can't remember his name. Seemed nice enough.

Did you ever like number 9 as more than a friend?
Not really, but then again most of the time I've known her I've been attached.

Is number 6 attractive?
Hell yes.

Do you have number 2's number?
You know, I think I do have her mobile number. Being in another country, though, it's been ages since I've sent her a text.

How did you meet number 5?
Via Keith/Phil.

Have you ever went out of town with number 10?
Nope, pretty-much just went to high school together.

Does number 9 hate anyone?
Hahaha more people than I can recall. Especially religious fanatics. ;)

What's the best thing about number 12?
The best thing? One thing? Gawd... Fun to talk to about common interests I guess tops the list.

Would you ever date number 6 or 8?
Yep, if they were single (8 is engaged, 6 is status unknown) and could get past my beastly appearance and abrasive personality.

Do you think number 1 will die a virgin?

So I'm a remote worker. I work from home, via a VPN into the office, and theoretically I could work from anywhere there's an internet connection. I've worked from my parents' place in Calgary before (I live in Edmonton, in case you're not paying attention), and from various friends' houses when I've been paged while on-call. Oh, on-call, you are a cruel mistress.

I have this vague I idea in the back of my mind that, theoretically, I could take a road trip and work while out there. Oh, it's just a theory. But I can work from wherever I have net access, my phone has an obscenely huge data plan, and as an iPhone owner I have unlimited access to Rogers' hotspots. Even if I can't get the VPN to work with my laptop tethered to the iPhone (I've gotten web browsing working on my Mac in the past, but not much else), I should at the very least be able to use wifi hotspots.

Well, I'm on call. Despite this, I thought I might take a chance and try to get my hair cut. Just pulling into the mall parking lot, I got a page. While rushing home, sans cut hair, I contacted a couple of my co-workers to address the page until I could get back to the comfort of my own wifi. As it happened, the page was dealt with altogether before I got home. But it got me thinking, "I shouldn't have to do this. There's wifi everywhere - practically every Starbucks or Second Cup has a Rogers hotspot, and basically every Safeway has free wifi." So after stopping off briefly at home, I headed out for some self-satisfactory proof-of-concept tests.

It always surprises me how accurate personality profiles can be. Below is my personality profile from plentyoffish.com - it isn't completely spot on, but it's pretty accurate. Especially the last part in the last section about openness. I have also attached a pdf of my much more accurate (and much longer) eHarmony personality test results.

I view TV like a hamburger. Sometimes I feel like a hamburger, and I go out and I expect to buy a whole hamburger. But TV today is like you go into the shop, and they give you 1/24th of a hamburger, and say "well, you'll just have to come in once a week for the next year to get most of the rest of the hamburger."
"MOST of the rest??"
"Oh yeah, well we won't quite finish the hamburger this year. We'll leave you hanging until next year to finish the last pieces of the hamburger, and then we'll start on weekly installments of fries along with a dribble of pop here and there."

WTF I JUST WANT A COMPLETE, SELF-CONTAINED GODDAMN HAMBURGER!!

So today as I beavered away at my occupation, I heard tell of an Edmonton Twitter users' meetup, or "Tweetup." I asked @mastermaq when it was, and how he heard about it, and he said it was tonight and that he had organized it! After reading about it on the Edmonton Tweetup website, I resolved to attend.

It was good times. Great location (the Billiard Club), great food, great people. Met one individual in particular, by the Twitter name @kwirq,  who was VERY fun to talk to. We talked video games, VMs, OSes, sci-fi books, transhumanism, and others. Fascinating. I was glad I attended.

Alas, nature's call waits for no man. I  excused myself to pay my bill and visit the little boys' room.

Now, the bill was not extortionate by any stretch, and at any rate I had checked my accounts before leaving home and I was aware of the levels of my finances. "No problem," thought I, "well covered." Not so, said the money machines. "You haven't the funds, you great big loser!" said the text scrolling across the screen "WTF???" said I!

This glorious new iPhone contraption I have has internet access and a decent web browser wherever I go, which I took advantage of to once again consult my accounts. "$9" said they. 

OMGWTFBBQ????

As it turns out, my car insurance had come out of my account between me leaving home and paying my bill! On top of this, I had recently bought a pricey birthday present, and I had forgotten to submit my hours to the purse-holders last week. I went from little money to practically none during my brief absence from my home, putting me in quite a spot!

I went pee, as I couldn't face this malarkay on a full whatnot.

Once again, a thanks to Google, this time in combination with a quick perusal of my old blog entries and the recent entries of Erich. I have come to the shocking conclusion that I need to man-up and stop being such a whiny bitch.

 Thinking of my life before England, looking at my early blog posts, down the line to my more recent (hah) entries, and reflecting on my life today, I see a slow transition from optimistic loner to intrepid adventurer to popular interesting guy to cynical complacent guy to bitter self-loathing bitch. Sure I'm still a "character," but I'm someone people view as a novelty who they can quietly shake their head at, and think "this guy will end up bitter and alone, sitting on his porch and yelling at kids to get off his lawn." As noble an end as that may be, at the very least there should be a nobler path towards it than alienating people and feeling sorry for myself. God damn it, I may not like a lot of the world around me, but I still have my own life and I want to go back to being a person who people love and respect for his bold demeanour, adventurous spirit, and willingness to have a laugh with others. Or at least I want to have that impression, whether or not it is shared by others.

Step one: I have added the following reminder to my PDA, repeating daily in the early AM:

DON'T BE SUCH A WHINY BITCH. GROW SOME MAN-BALLS AND LIVE YOUR LIFE.

Step two: I am going to stop wasting time, set some goals, and live a life I can be proud of. I can't predict who will want to be a part of it, but like a D&D character with the Leadership feat (yes, even uber-geeks can man-up a little), I hope along the way to attract a cohort or two.

Our cats have a water cooler (jug of water connected to a dish) under
the assumption that it is a long-lasting source of fairly fresh water.
But dear little Kallisto, isn't she precious, will play in the water
until it is all gone. We're talking like a quart of water. I think she
likes the glug-glug sound, the mirror-like appearance of the water, or
something. For months she did this - she would sit with her arms
lovingly around the bottom of the water cooler, and when you left the
room, there was the incessent glug-glug sound. Often I would go to
work, and come home to see the floor covered in a great lake, and
sometimes the whole water cooler was knocked on its side. So needless
to say, when I installed laminate floor, I stopped using the water
cooler.

We have been using a plain old bowl full of water, but precious little Kallisto inevitably knocks it over as well.
Thirsty cats, and water soaking into the carpet (I know better than to
leave water on the laminate floor now). Yesterday I tried switching
back to the water cooler. I put zip ties around it, attached a clip to
the zip ties, and clipped it to a sturdy anchor. "Let's see them knock
THAT over," I thought.

This morning at 2am I woke up to hear: *THUNK* glug glug glug glug.
*THUNK* glug glug glug glug. *THUNK* glug glug glug glug. *THUNK* glug
glug glug glug.

Ad nauseum.

This morning, the water cooler was still upright, but it was upright
and completely empty. The carpet is SOPPING wet. Oh Kallisto, how
precious you are...

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