framlingem

I'm a placeholder, I'm afraid! I should have words in me by the end of Tuesday the 10th.

What a fantastic day today was. Clear, sunny, warm - six degrees! Work in the morning was a bit fraught, but under control by the time my shift finished. My folks picked me up and we made the drive out to the Ecomuseum, which is the zoo where my sister works.

Today was not just any day at the zoo, though. No! Today is the day when the bears, who woke up from their winter torpor (they don't quite hibernate) a couple of days ago, left the warm dark environs of their sleeping hut and greeted their annual adoring throng. We got there early, had lunch with my sister and a quick tour of the herps room (eensy-weensy wood frogs!), and then staked out a prime spot on the platform by the otters. My mother and I were interviewed by the guy from CBC, so we may be on the news! The bears were very sweet and sleepy, and it was all very exciting.

The otters and lynx were curled up (at opposite ends of the zoo) sleeping in the sunshine, the wolves were wondering why all the huge crowds, and Eenie the caribou (my favourite - she's a sweetiepie) was of the opinion that the crowds were all there for her. Indoors in the nocturnal animals exhibit, the Northern Flying Squirrels were leaping about and chasing each other, which was a rare treat as they're usually cuddled up in their hollow log.

Oh! Birds! It was a good day for birds. There were all the usual Ecomuseum residents, but on the way there we watched a flock of pine grosbeaks making merry in a tree with winter berries; we saw a bald eagle fly overhead at the zoo; and then on the way back we stopped off at the lakeshore in Dorval where we'd heard rumours of snowy owls on the ice, and sure enough, there were a pair of them. Lovely! Not to mention the red-tailed hawks dotting the way home.

A grand day out, indeed.

Cognitive dissonance is when, in choir, you hear the name of the song you're going to learn next and think "Wow, I know this one, Honeymoon Suite totally rocked it when I went to go see them play that one time!"


and then find out that's not the "Love Changes Everything" the choir director had in mind.

One of the women in our play found out today that her mother has lung cancer (as in, oncologist sister who is really laid-back dropped everything and flew across the country right away kind of lung cancer*. Another works in a jewelry store which was held up by men with guns today. She wasn't there, but her co-workers had their hands zip-tied behind their backs and handguns shoved in their faces.

Grand scheme of things, my life's good. I may have sliced two of the fingers of my left hand with a knife, and I might have burnt my left wrist on the oven, but that's fine. I will take that.

*I might be driving her to the airport herself tomorrow. I've told her to call if she needs it. That way she won't be driving while that stressed out, and won't have to pay long-term parking.

The bad news: my fridge is not working. Light goes on, but everything is room-temperature.

The good news: I live in Canada, have lots of empty containers, and it's February. The fridge is stuffed with snow, and there is stuff outside making ice.

Going to reattempt "nice night with nice meal, good beer, and hockey game" again tonight. Last week it did not go well due to the Habs forgetting that they play hockey for a living.

Here's hoping tonight isn't as excrutiating.

So, in the past two days I have cleaned my apartment, helped a friend practice something she was feeling insecure about, installed a curtain rod - and hung the curtains -, done mountains of laundry, worked, solved a problem that's been bugging me, and cooked a really nice meal.

And now I am eating that really nice meal* and rereading an old favourite book, with a cat snuggling up against my feet, and this is my favourite way to spend an evening. Tomorrow - work, then game afternoon with good friends, then choir.

I'm really productive when I'm procrastinating.

*Not a complicated meal. Roast sweet potatoes with salt, and one of my favourite beers.

Among other wonderful things that have happened recently (choir rehearsals starting! Play rehearsals starting! Best friend acquiring an awesome man as a boyfriend! Finding a new pair of jeans that make my butt look ... less awful!), the NHL has finally gotten off its collective ass and started up again. This has a lot of benefits.

a) Restaurant owners, parking lot operators, bars, hotels, arena workers, etc. no longer have to worry about the loss of that big income segment.
b) Fun conversation topic with my mother (arguably the most fervent hockey fan ever born on the Isle of Wight).
c) There is HOCKEY AGAAAAAAAIN. I MISSED YOU, HOCKEY.

My favourite team, who played appallingly last season - really, really appallingly - have swapped coaches and are now playing a style of hockey much more suited to the actual players on the team. They're a small, fast bunch, and they were being asked to play a really tight defensive style before, which works a lot better if you have a lot of huge dudes who can hammer your opponents into submission. This year, they're focussing on speedy skating and shooting (they actually OUTSHOT their opponents! Last year, they'd get outshot 45-20 or some other ridiculous numbers), which is working out much better for them. So much so, in fact, that of their first five games, they've only lost one. ONE. They've got a great goaltender backing them up, and an actual chance of winning if he doesn't post a shutout every game, which is amazing. And, what's more, they've COME BACK FROM BEHIND to win a couple of times. Last year, they were so focussed on "get a lead and then PROTECT THAT LEAD" that they totally fell apart if they weren't in front, desperately hanging onto that one-goal margin by their tiny fingernails. This year, they're all "okay, guys, this sucks, let's go change it."

And it makes me SO HAPPY.

There's also been ongoing drama because one of our star defensemen (who played nearly half of every game, which is a lot) had been a Restricted Free Agent who hadn't signed a contract with us this year. Restricted Free Agency is a paperwork hellhole, but what it boils down to is that other teams can hire the guy, but only if "his" team doesn't want him and says they can. One game went by with no PK. Two. And finally we've signed him to a contract.

All of this is to introduce the following youtube video, in which a Habs fan sings a charming ballad to PK Subban. And it's brilliant.

So, as I tend to do when sick (better now! Asymptomatic except for Standard Lingering Cough!), I have been mainlining a television show. In particular, I've watched all four series of BBC's "Being Human". (I have not yet watched the American version.)

I love it to bits and I want more. Someone else must have seen this? Fic recs? Anyone? Please? Nice plotty fic? Hal detox fic, with Tom being his best mate and standing by? I am begging you, here. I need more and there isn't any.

My Yuletide gift this year was flat-out amazing, folks. I'd asked for The Unusuals, and I got this brilliant fic that had exactly the same balance of flat-out-ridiculous-how-is-this-happening (Shraeger and Walsh, chasing a guy in pleather pants! On a boat!) and character insight (or in Walsh's case, determined lack-of-insight) as the show I fell head over heels in love with this June.

Things I'm Learning About You (2303 words) by aliassmith
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: The Unusuals
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warning: Author Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Characters: Jason Walsh, Casey Shraeger
Summary:

“Look, there are absolutely no underlying motives here, just good old fashioned bonding. Here, I’ll even go first. I am deathly allergic to peas.”

Walsh laughs because he really is an asshole. “Peas? No one’s allergic to peas.”

Go read it. I love it to bits.