Are you now, or have you ever been Even Steven?

Six new comics, by the way.

So Sunday night, Tanja's set to meet up with her friend Ros for drinks and dinner. We think, hey, James is nearby, let's give him a ring. We do, he's into it, and Catherine comes along too. Before we leave, we see it's bucketing down rain, so I take the two bottles of wine we're going to bring for pizza in my backpack to avoid having to come back to the flat. We meet up, have four or so cocktails, change tables a bit, discuss gym memberships and garnishes, before Catherine leaves, and we head off for pizza. We're five steps out the door and Tanja says "Do you have your backpack?" so I go back in.

I can't find it. I get mad. Kick the wall, storm to the front bar, and start interrogating the bartender. He gives me a coaster with a number on it and says to call the next day. Since we're down two bottles of wine, my sunglasses (in what I consider another example of the universe taking my sunnies away from me constantly), and a lovely fountain pen Tanja got me for the first birthday I celebrated here. Bugger.

Off we go to supper, with James, Tanja and Ros each buying another bottle of wine. We demolish two pizzas and the three bottles, Ros leaves, and James, Tanja, and I stagger back here to watch Empire Records. Tanja staggers off to bed, and James adopts the couch, and proceeds to laugh at the jokes, only stopping every so often to go "Wow, Liv Tyler's so hot." Tanja calls me in, and she's been sick, poor dear. I help her clean up, and James heads off.

So.

The next day, after work, I swing by the Bank Hotel, and ask if anyone turned a bag in yesterday with a Canadian flag on it. "Yes, it's right here." Everything inside still there. Feel the wrath of Even-Steven!

Also, I have plans to make a wicked tequila punch for Craig's birthday festivities.

That's all. Go about your business.

Ups and Downs Part II

A quick post-script to last entry: once I got to Immigration, at 3:45, I saw the doors were shut. Big sign on the door says "Open until 4, Mon-Fri". I thumped the door loud enough to get the attention of a security guard, who informed me it was actually 4:25 and my watch had stopped. Bugger. And no, I wasn't allowed to leave it for the case worker, so he shut the door in my face. Upside, I was able to get to work early and get the seat I wanted.

Ups and Downs

New comics, that took forever. Go see. And stuff.

I feel all even-Steven the last few days. Good thing, bad thing, bad thing, good thing, etc.

Examples? Why yes, I do have them.

Upside: In the city the other day, I find Empire Records on DVD, which I've been looking for frantically for the last month. Hurrah, it's only 20 dollars. Downside: it's at HMV, so the Borders gift card I was hoping to use for it is useless. Upside: Tanja likes it, and it inspires her to think of owning a bookstore. Big up. Downside: It's 20 dollars that I wasn't expecting to spend, which knocks my budget for the week all to hell. It leaves me eyeing my finances very carefully, since Craig's birthday bash was to be this Friday. Upside: Craig's management (his mom) has rearranged the party to next week, so no financial worry. Downside: no crazy partying this week. Boo-urns. Upside: We recieve the Criminal Record check from the RCMP in the mail yesterday! Apparantly, despite my history of teenage deliquincy, including throwing coffee creamers at buses and shoplifting chocolate bars, it's clear! Hurrah! No more worrying! I can get my Visa! I can get it to the case officer and he can have my Visa ready in a week or so. BIG FARKING HURRAH! Downside: For the last hour and a half, the people upstairs have been, from the sounds of it, building the miniature of Helm's Deep. It's hammering and grinding and possibly drilling. And maybe welding. All I know is it's drowning out music, new Buffy, and various other things I'm trying to do. And it's like wham, wham, wham, wham, BRRRRAAA-AAAAAA-ARRRRRGGGGHHHHHH wham, wham, wham, BRRRRAAA-AAAAA-AARRRRRGGGGHHHHHH wham, wham, wham, wham, wham,BRRRRAAA-AAAA-AAARRRRRGGG-GHHHHHH wham, wham, wham, wham etc. Headache makers. Argh.

But hey, the good things are very good, and the bad things are just annoying. So I say I come out on the positive. Go me.

Friends In Low Places

So it was Tanja's and my anniversary last night! Hooray! We celebrated the morning by grocery shopping! And I found a glass drinking game that I had been eyeing since before Christmas had been marked down from twenty dollars to five. So I bought it. Huzzah. It's like Naughts and crosses, but with shot glasses. Very posh looking. Oh, and we booked a holiday to Noosa in Queensland. Lovely and wonderful. But the drinking game. THAT was the big event. ;)

So, then dinner. We had some Chandon bubbly, and some lovely Thai food (money bags, choo chee prawns and ginger pork *drool*), and toasted our lovely relationship. Then headed off to meet the usual suspects at the Bank Hotel. Very crowded, a few misdirections, a badly mixed apple martini or two (shocking when standards slip) but everything turns out ok. We have a few cocktails, a few laughs, and changed tables at least three times. I was finally able to give Anna her Christmas present (a Hot Hot Heat t-shirt), and get my Wee Free Men book back. She also said my Killers t-shirt looked just like her official one. Huzzah! A bootleggers dream! We then (we being Craig, Ted, James, Catherine, Anna, Annie, Mark, Marcel, Tanja and myself) then headed off to Kelly's for Karaoke Night. We get in, find a table, and grab a drink.

Then as we're going to sit down, I feel a tap on my shoulder. I turn around and there's this big guy I don't know. He slaps me on the shoulder, says "How ya goin', mate?" And then the world spins, and I'm deaf in my left ear and sitting on the floor. Looking up at him. He'd hauled off and decked me in the side of the head. It happened fast enough that Tanja didn't even have time to get up from the table and I was down. I was so disoriented that I couldn't even get up, just sat there holding my ear and yelling, "What the fuck is wrong with you? What'd you hit me for?" etc. Well, I raise my glass to the bouncers and bartenders of Kelly's, who bundled the bastard straight out into the street and on his way. I was ok, as my hearing and equilibrium returned, and suffered a fat lip from my own teeth and a slightly damaged sense of tone (which may have assisted my singing later). The weird thing was, another guy I didn't know came up to me later and asked if I was ok, and then explained that he worked with the idiot who hit me, and how he's not a bad guy, but he "had a few screws loose". Hoo boy.

We recovered nicely from this event (I was assisted by a shot of Sambuca {thank you Jimmy!} which the bartender wouldn't let me light on fire), and went on to have a pretty good night. I sang Zoot Suit Riot by the Cherry Poppin Daddies despite it being much too high for me (I think the outer ear damage helped me in this respect). Marcel perked up his courage and sang Paint It Black by the Stones and did great. He had been practicing all week, poor guy. We tumbled home at 1:00 or so, sadly missing James and Craig singing November Rain and Chop Suey, respectively. We kept trying to push Tanja into singing Roxette or Ace of Bass, but to no avail. Maybe next time. Very fun night, all in all.

So this morning I wake up with a whopper of a headache and a voice croakier than Gavin Rossdale. Before she went to work, Tanja got me some water and some tablets (brick potato llama), and after two discs of Seinfeld and two pieces of raisin toast, I'm feeling better. I still called in for work this afternoon, because of my voice. Who wants to buy raffle entries from Leonard Cohen's younger cousin?

Now where's that coffee? 'Cause these pretzels are making me thirsty!