KeepInToucher

How Facebook has stolen my comfort

As you can tell, I don't really blog anymore. That's a combination of apathy and time-suckage from other things in my life- work, knitting, cooking The Riches. Like Facebook. I used to spend a lot of time on the social networking site. But I don't anymore- it's too painful. I keep finding out things I don't want to know- like that everyone gets bloated in old age, like your high school friend you were sure would dump the jerk married him and has two kids, like some people died.

I have a picture in my head of the friends I don't keep in touch with- the jerk-dater got over it and went back to school. The guy you had a crush on in grade six didn't get puffy and partied-out- he went on to play almost pro-baseball. Or the roommate you had who was a little crazy and wild grew out of it, didn't die from it.

Facebook has robbed me of that picture. When I think of these people from my past at all it is with fondness for the fictional ending I have created for them, and with no desire to know the truth. Despite the fact that looking for the truth in things is what I have been doing as a job for years.

I wonder if finding out I am not married, have no children, and still talk to much is unsettling to the people who have looked me up? I wonder if they think maybe I have put on too much weight or should have stayed with that other guy?

What I am learning is sometimes it's better not to be a keepintoucher at all. Sometimes it's better to hope for the best and leave it at that.

Oh, and I post all that self-absorbed garbage about what I am reading/doing/listening to on Facebook instead.

We CAN be friends after all...

Could this be any cuter? Check out the story here:

I-Pleur

That's French for I cry.
Why?
Because I left my i-pod on the plane yesterday and let's be honest, it's not coming back.
After spending the weekend in Calgary pondering why we need so much stuff in our lives, why everybody thinks they need more and all the waste and trash that creates, why people in the Western world "need" so much more than anyone else, and why we are so disconnected from the rest of the world .
I decided I am going to stop being such a consumer- to stop buying so much junk.
And now that my i-pod is gone, and I won't be able to buy one again right away, I am going to have to plug back in to the world of eavesdropping, of getting to know my (transit) neighbor, and of literally living with less stuff.
Be careful what you wish for....

Let's Go Boys Part II

I have never been to a Toronto Maple Leafs game.

Not in Toronto.

Not anywhere else.

I have never put a blue jersey on and yelled "Let's go boys."

For that matter, I have never even been to the Air Canada Centre.
GM Place, well that's another kettle of orca all together.

You see, my mom gets great tickets to see the Canucks. So great that I have been to two Canuck/Flames games in the last year.

There is a nice atmosphere there- when people start yelling "Calgary Sucks!"  I just roll up the sleeves of whatever red top I happen to be wearing, secure my Flames hat and start yelling "Stanley Cup!"

As in, we at least have one.

And since I figure half the people in there are from Saskatchewan (or even Ontario)  they won't mind me reminding them the Canucks have never won Lord Stanley's Cup.

Or maybe they do mind, but since this is Canada, everyone is too polite to say anything.

Or they were too busy laughing when they decided to sling shot the Orca mascot into some bowling pins.

Not busy just lazy...

So those of you without the password may think all sorts of amazing things have been going on behind that "wall." But alas, I have written nothing in a long, long time. I'm lazy (and messy) but at least I am self-aware!

Until I can think of something interesting to write about, and find my camera so I can take photos of whatever it is, here's what you should do: go to Spread the Net and donate some money if you have it. It's UNICEF trying to keep kids in Africa from getting malaria.

Malaria kills a million people a year, most of them children, and sickens a billion. It costs $10 to buy a treated net, and if you help kids prevent getting it, it won't matter that many of them don't have enough money to get the simple antibiotics that cure it.

Rick Mercer did!

I know you aren't all stalkers....

Maybe I wasn't clear in my last post- I know there are a lot of people who know someone I know and read my blog. That's fine with me- Rachel's mom, Len, Al, totally fine with me. I like you guys! January 1 I am going to change this whole site to be password protected so that I can write freely in one place.

I don't really like the idea of some stranger in Des Moines knowing all about my problems- partly because it's weird and partly because I am not that interesting.

Although, come to think of it I sure enjoyed her blog- reading about her kids, her husband who makes enough money she can stay at home, how she draws while her kids are napping, the wedding she went to in Kentucky- see what I mean? I don't even know her and I know a lot about her- creepy.

So email me at keepintoucher@yahoo.ca and I'll give you the password.

I have no problems with that- maybe I'll even send you the blog of the woman I mentioned- if I could ever find it again!

I knew this was going to get me in trouble....

As you may have noticed, I haven't been writing much lately.

Partly, it's because I have been crazy busy with work, life and my new place.

Plus, I have been struggling with what I want to write and what I don't.

You see, there are a whole bunch of people who read my website who I don't know. Or at least, that I don't know that I know them- in all sorts of places.

And for some time now I have been pondering how to keep my private life private.

Not just because I don't want to get fired, and not just because Bill keeps telling me I am going to get a stalker, but because the idea of someone I don't know reading my site sort of creeps me out.

And, I can't take the pressure of always having something fabulously witty or profound to write about.

This site was supposed to be for my friends and family to keep up with what's going on in my life- and so, while I am not going to go as far as my friend Rachel I am going to take a different approach.

I am going to make the rest of my entries private.

If I know you, you'll get an email with the password. If you don't, you'll just have to imagine I am writing fabulously profound statements about the world, with mind-blowing photographs and Oscar worthy videos.

If you have the password, you can go here:

http://keepintoucher.typepad.com/keepintoucherforpeopleikn/

If you don't, you'll just have to be happy to read what I have already written, or email me and I will give it to you.

I'm not a nerd!

Obviously not that nerdy- I was only in the 15th percentile- meaning 85% of the people who have taken the test are nerdier than me.

Which may explain why I haven't posted anything in so long- that and I was in Prince Rupert for 10 days, I have been working a million hours a week on a story about death row and since I am only in the 15th percentile of nerdiness- I must be having a fabulous life.

Who is this craig and what is he listing?

I am obsessed with craigslist.

You can buy anything, sell anything, get a job, and apartment, a new bike, whatever you want on this website.

So far I have sold a futon (profit, $30), my jerker desk, tickets to a concert I couldn't go to because of work, and have tried, unsuccessfully, twice to sell my stereo.

I have to say I couldn't sell my stereo but I got my free-listings worth in entertainment: guy writes me, tells me he wants to buy my stereo for a friend's son- but the trouble is he's a marine who is on a ship so he's going to electronically send me the money and arrange for the delivery. Some mysterious person will pick it up at my house.

I was interested because it seemed funny to me the guy's signature in his email did not match the email address and because I thought it was interesting when he told me the US Marines were coming to Canada to do some import/export....I thought this could be a story!

When I got his "money order" in my email (I would post it but it has too much personal information- send me an email and if I know you I will send it) I laughed. Are you kidding me? It said the money order was approved by the FBI? Wow, that's serious. They must not be very busy if they can approve money orders coming from Marines.

Then I got this (check out the typos):

This is an official email directly from our service in order to notify both buyers and sellers once paymet has been processed and approved.Since you have receive the payment confirmation email from us regarding your item,we advise you as a seller to send out merchandise within 48hours and the reason why we made this policy was that some sellers aren't not faithful because after payment has been received , they would intend not to release the merchandise for shipping.Once payment has been approved by our service,we are assuring that buyers can't stop or retrieve money order unlesss the seller write us saying He/She is no longer interested in the transaction.With the payment confirmation # we sent to you,it shows that your payment was received by our system on 25th of July 2006 , so be expecting a money order within the next  3-5 business days after confirming that the package tracking # you emailed us has been shipped via the courier service used by the buyer.Kindly notify us immediately shipment has been done so as to mail out your postal money order.
If you are really serious and willing to go ahead with this ransaction,our advise for you as a seller is to go ahead and contact the buyer for shipping documents inorder to make fast arrival on your payment.If you have any more question about your payment,feel free to reply back to this mail and we will be glad to answer all your questions.Looking
forward in serving you the best online auction in the future.

Sincerely,
United States Postal Service.

United States Postal ServiceUnited State Postal Money Order Payments copyright®

UNITED STATES POSTAL SERVICE AUCTION PAYMENT IS SUPPORTED BY.............

I wrote the marine back and told him the money order seemed to have some sort of glitch. He said he would check into it and get back to me. To my surprise he never did.

I still have my stereo, and I have a good story. And as long as I don't fall for that kind of thing, or the low-ballers who write in and say they are struggling actors and could really use a free stereo and wouldn't I love to help them out....or wouldn't I love to trade $250 concert tickets for $100 and outfield seats at a blue jays game, craigs list gives me something to do, and when I don't get any money, and that seems like a fair trade to me.

"Renovations"

I put renovations in quotation marks because when I tell my colleagues who have built decks and installed flooring about my renovations they roll their eyes and they don't even try to hide it.

My first project was a light fixture in the kitchen. It was one of those horrible white flourecent box lights. Ew. Lucky for me I decided to install the new halogen light fixture around the exact time my friends Natasha and her now husband and then/still electrician Steve came over to my place. He put it in for me, because he said it would take him five minutes and it would take me five hours. I did have to go next door to meet my new neighbour and borrow some vice grips, but yesterday I bought pliers so there's basically no stopping me. So what if I had to wear my squash goggles and a bandana to keep the dust out of my system while I was talking the leftover plaster off the ceiling.

I also bought a new toilet seat yesterday. I don't want to go into too many details, but let's just say the no wobble technology is helping me get over my almost pathological fear of having a guest wobble onto the floor. I didn't even know there was such a thing as no-wobble technology for a toilet seat, but I think I am glad I have it.

There are all sorts of things I am learning about by being a homeowner.
And I am not talking just property tax and paint chips- I am talking about the feeling of empowerment I get when I install things.

They may not be real renovations- but as soon as I get a power screwdriver, look out!