Update your RSS

http://feeds.feedburner.com/Commatoseca is where I am now.  It's better there.

Mommy? Why do you have 20 blogs?

The answer to the above lies in my many personalities, my dear Dan.  (I assume you were the one asking the question.)  I wanted to create a blog for practical purposes -- little things I have learned and liked to know, or ideas, and the altogether simpler things.  After all, Rico has a blog, so it's only right that my domestic side does too.  And don't tell him he only has one follower.  He'll ride your ass for days trying to get you to explain what that even means, damn cat.

And then there's my good old familiar ranty blog, this one here.  [Aside: Bloggin' about bloggin'. Reminds me of years ago when a friend of mine was so poor he was smoking 'Smoking'-brand cigarettes.]  For a while, my interest dwindled, but like someone's dead grandpappy probably said, "Ain't no blog where ain't no blogger who done din' quit fer 10 hogs' hairs 'n come back gripin' 'bout how he ain't updated no blog no more." I think that's how that saying goes anyway.  It's been so long since someone's grandpappy last said that.

Okay I'm done this rant.  Now can someone tell me if they can see the Commatose favicon (the green icon by the URL in your address bar)?  I mean seriously.  It's there, it was there since the day I started blogging again, but now it doesn't appear on my screen no matter how many times I load, reload, re-upload, re-up, etc.  I LOVE YOU ALL.

My New Goal

It's weird thinking that when I wrote that last blog, it was May. An entire summer has shot by us, and Jack Layton, who led the NDP to win more seats than ever before in Canadian federal elections has passed away.  Boy, was I angry (about Harper, I mean).  Truly, nothing ever changes in Canadian politics. We just expect and accept the stupid.  It is very sad about Layton, however.  I don't endorse any particular political party normally, but the guy himself had a heart and mindset that truly was for that of the people, and the incredible response of the Canadian people to his death speaks to that.

I'm not an emotional rollercoaster today, and it's probably because this hot, hot summer and working central air has left me knowingly a bit spoiled.

I've started a blog for quirky little tips that come to mind about anything under the sun, and it's called Tips from Your Mom.  (Sing its title along to "Hits from the Bong" and you'll get it, girlfriend.)  With this, I am creating a challenge for myself.  Come up with something at least slightly useful to people a minimum of once per day.  At the same time, I am challenging myself to run my thoughts off like a crazy person as usual on this, the one, the only Comma Toes Blog.  I hope you'll read and subscribe to both, and if you don't, well you're not having my babies anymore.  I promise to be less caustic, at least in 30% of the entries on this blog.  That is how much you mean to me.  Also, I am considering vlogging, if I can wrap my head around letting people see me talking to a camera without a ninja mask on.  It's something I'm not sure I'm ready for, but we internuts all have to try it before we die, else we remain in the dreaded purgatory of bland internet personalities come and gone.

And before I go, here is a picture containing a part of my cat, because after all this is Nikki Commatose's blog, and ain't no Comma Toes blog without a Rico Cat.

"I'm back, babies." - Slimebag Rico

I Can't Believe It's a Law Firm!

It's not often I get to say these words, but I am so glad someone blogged this!

After mucking about in Lightroom, I somehow exported the lowest quality ever version of two really neat shots from Hungary that I found tonight, and they overrode the goddam originals! Thankfully, with that tip, I was able to get the pictures back to normal and learn my lesson to never trust Lightroom again.

Testing

Gonna do something new here to try and keep the blog rolling.

Most interesting text I sent today:

Smells like cabbage and cigars in the hallway.

Ooh, this is getting good.

November!

All the leaves are almost gone. What the hell! Oh right, it's almost winter. Thinking of scrapping the blog. Turns out there's not much to say bloggy-style when you're the furthest from miserable that you've ever been. Imagine!

Here are some things I find funny today:

• Extended MSN names that explain how the person is feeling through lyrics, quotations, or a jumble of obscenities and punctuation marks
• Cats when they hide their legs under their bodies and put their head flat on the bed to sleep; they look like fuzzy caterpillars!
• This horrible guy's laughter on Jon Stewart

The COGwheel thing is back. Go check it out. Those boys are silly.

My car is a birdshit magnet.

I can smell my feet. This will need to be remedied before (second) work (of the day). I really want to go up north in the next few weeks. Up north in the fall is the best. Colours, colours! And sweaters, sweaters! My feet really smell, wow. I should try showering one day. And coffee that isn't burnt would be a great start too. Today I put all my stuff at Work 1 in my locker, and then locked a different one. Ha-ha. Won't be giving up caffeine any time soon, as it happens.

Also, I know it's Blogger's b-day, but it's being a real sonofasomething right now. I don't want my text size default to be 100pt! Really, I don't!

Rebel L

Hey,

I'm supposed to get up at like... oh, I dunno, 9am and shower and proceed working on my macadamia academic assignment thing, but man. It's just not feeling like bedtime yet. Sure, my eyelids are like 10 pound weights (and in eyelid weight, that's like benching a small elephant), but I feel like there's just so much to catch up on. Like uploading some new photos for once, and linking you to Miklos.ca because we got to try out a 20mm lens his friend Bob graciously allowed him to borrow (all of those pictures are on Miki's site, none are on mine; sry!). So much fun.

I officially 'launched' this blog last week after 2 years, in accordance with the "Who Gives a F&#$ Anymore" law I recently passed with regards to who reads my writing. It was a struggle getting royal assent on that proposition, but once I read it over and gave it some good thought, I quickly decided the timing was right. What with the economy and the dollar sign in its name, et al.

The people would want this.

So guess what. I got a ukulele, as mentioned yesterday. What I did not say was that I decided to premiere it to one of my sisters while she was passed out in her bed, 'recovering' from the previous night's events (I imagine). I stood in the door, in a hunched-over-the-ukulele pose, strumming gently with a big smile plastered on. This went on for about a minute until she began to stir, opened her eyes in a daze, and then mumbled, "oh my god... I thought I was dreaming that." I gave a big grin, and she roared, "GET OUT!!!!!!" Obediently, I ran out of her room giggling.

It's my favourite thing I've done lately. You know, other than working every weekend.

So welcome, welcome all. I hope you like it.

I'm off to bed. Goodnighty.

Naked. And carply. The two sweetest plums, together at last.

Because I only come up with cool domain names, here is the new one; I hope you are already enjoying it. (Thanks Miki, for helping me out of remedying my site of my Blogger-induced laziness.)

Here comes "2"...!

Something special is about to happen. Tune in, tune in.
And if it's already happened by the time you read this, hello! Welcome to the future!

Cool jumping pic from tonight @Miklos.ca. I'm almost tempted to post the retarded looking outtakes, but I'll spare myself the embarrassment. One retarded picture should suffice.

Blow Me Away: Life Advice from a Crazy Person

We're all crazy in one way or more, no matter how well we hide it (unless we're boring, but I have half a mind to think even boring people have at least an ounce of nutjob in them here and there). Sure. I get all that. But you know what that kind of introduction means: Bus story forthcoming.

On the big ol' bus ride home today, the Zune died despite its "full" battery as it does every couple of days, so as the music came to a halt and my sudoku game disappeared, I got to listen to what people were talking about!

The Hartzel bus seems better than most other buses for entertainment value. I usually take it down to Westchester and get off to walk home from there on nicer-weather days like today. I sat down and a girl tapped a girl on the shoulder as she walked by and said "I hate that! When I run into people at the terminal just as I'm leaving!"

The girl removed her earbuds. "Wh...?"
"Oh, you had headphones on... I said I hate when I run into people at the bus terminal just as I am leaving."
"...."
"Oh it's not important anyway." The whacky cracker continued on her way to the back of the bus, as the girl who she had been speaking to (who she, clearly by this point, had never met before) looked on, puzzled.

As the bus rolled on to its bus route, I learned a few key points about this genius:

• Always leave a bar with the person you came with. That's her rule.
• She threatened a guy on that street with all the sex trade workers that runs off of Queenston (you know, that one with all the antiques stores) with a knife that she always carries with her, because he thought she was a prostitute last night
• As per the above point, just about every other night, a guy on that street thinks she's a hooker
• She can paint her nails really cool and her friend thinks she should start a business because once she made her nails look leopard-print with a toothpick and some polish
• Her friend (possibly the same one) really likes her hair the way it is right now, so she's not going to change it
• Enjoy going to school now, because the second you're out, you want back in [My own personal addendum to this: Throw any amount of money at Niagara College and they'll let you right back on through those glorious doors of higher learning]
• Everybody goes through one phase in their life; she sure did, she says (phase she went through not specified, sry)
• She's a freak of nature, some of her friends tell her

So that was my trip home. I miss the days when my car was reliable, but really, if I'm going to be transported around by anything other than the Taurus, it might as well be this. Because I need things to blog about. I have a blog, and that means I am lucky and introspective. After all, not everyone gets to blog like me!

A funny thing happened on the way to the crazy house...

Dan has returned. I like when he blogs and you should too, because he is a real laugh riot. No, I mean that. Go read it or I stab you.

Man, I've got nothing to say to this blog lately. Except that things are falling into place and school's almost done. Can't wait.

I'm reading Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs on the suggestion of someone I go to school with, which is amazing, because who knew business students could read, let alone read what turn out to be cool books in their spare time? And who knew from the beginning of that sentence that by the end it would be a question? Not me. Sometimes things in life just turn out that way.

Like, who knew I'd go to bed at 11:30 for the first time in months last night and actually get some sleep for once, and it still wouldn't amount to enough, because life is tough that way?

And who knew I'd find myself in such a nice frame of mind, all while being altogether poor and useless? Money would be wonderful right now, but it wouldn't feel like this. (It'd still feel damn good though. Give. Me. The lottery.)

It's a small, small place, and things are always interesting. The photographer my friend works for is doing my cousin's new baby photos, as it happens. Every time I go to Welland I see at least 3 people I'm familiar with in some way. And most importantly, Twitter is everywhere now. Weird, weird world.

Better things coming soon.

Panic

Whenever people meet me, and subsequently meet my blog, they try blogging. It's this thing they do. And no one ever has the staying power.

And lately, I, too, am losing my lustre. When life gets happy, the stories, they get boring. But worry not, kids. I'll be back in school in just two short months, and as such, I'll be as miserable and tormented as ever before!

There are people who blog about 80x a week, out there. Why do people want to read about them? What makes them interesting? Is it because a musician they liked, who blogs, linked to them once? If someone can tell me how to make a reasonable living being a blogging celebrity without lifting my shirt or dropping my pants, I swear I'll do it.

I was listening to music from my mp3 player today (as opposed to from the radio, which has become my norm) and I must recommend a few songs. If you have not heard them, well then, you really should, especially *.

• Ben Folds - Landed *
  
• The Yeah Yeah Yeahs - 10x10 *
  
• The Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Down Boy
• The Dears - Autonomy
  

Do we all talk to ourselves in our cars, in our rooms, in our kitchens when we think everyone's asleep and then your cousin walks up behind you and whispers, "BOO!" and scares the shit out of you because you live in an apartment with non-squeaking floors and plenty of carpet? Because, as it happens, I sure do! Today I got out of my car saying, "God. My music fuckin' rules!" One day someone's going to hear me.

Confession:

Sometimes I read the blogs of people I don't know who my friends know. I think this makes me a giant pervert. Or maybe just a retaliator because they did it first. Whatever the case, I am nearly always hilarious.

On a similar note, I must always be kept busy. If I am already busy, I need to be kept busier. There is no such thing as too busy until my brain explodes one day, from what, I will not try and guess. I like to make sure I'm stocked up on mega-anxiety and I'm always too shy to ask my doctor for some calm-down pills. That said, today I signed up for an online class, on top of my joke of a co-op and my real job, and the upcoming Vacation from Life I plan to take in mid-July. I may even sign up for another class!

And in the spirit of topic-jumping, July is always the high point of the year. August is always the most depressing. Perhaps there'll be an old-fashioned summer-switcheroo, now that I'm starting 'school' in July.

Alternate Blog Name: Letters to Dan

Oh wow, yeah. I didn't update in 4 days. Surprised no one held a memorial service.
Between writing my own HR assistant job description for Goran's company in a somewhat pathetic attempt at graduating college and all this rainy weather (which, aside from being bad for taking pictures, I actually love), I plum forgot about you, Dan. Well, I didn't. I just forgot to write.

In light of this, I encourage my two other readers who are registered to comment, to write a brief (or very brief) comment to my most frequent commenter, Dan.

Also: For everyone who hates sunblock because it is greasy and vile and disgusting to wear, boy, do I have a product for you. Banana Boat Sport Dri-Block is amazing. While I was almost put off by the word "Sport", it wears like a sunscreen should: without even feeling like it's there! It's only $9.99 at most places. Totally worth not getting skin cancer. Wear it, or your face and collar bone will be leathery.

Edit: Tonight, my 1:15am snap decision was to take online courses throughout the summer and in the fall semester (which if I had a paid co-op, I'd be working through) so that I can avoid people and group work for the most part come final semester. Girrrrl, you must be trippin'. I start next week. :|

Tell your friends!!

I'm getting more traffic and it's starting to feel like the olden days without the harassment. It's kind of nice. And even if the harassment starts, hey, it's summer.

Andrew found a bird's egg outside the building today. Oop. Sad.

My Ellie is gone for a few weeks (I think) and I will miss her.

I am working for the next two days. Long weekend indeed!

Why is anyone still reading this? Why are people reading this more than ever? Egads.