jrochest's Profile

These are a joy -- and trotting out my ancient Norwegian is rather fun. Not that I know Norwegian, but listening to adults talk over and around you as a child does give you a little sense of the odd word here and there. :)

LizinCO -- I second the spelling thing. I've seen so many "dinning" tables for sale on Kijiji and CL that I've taken to misspelling search terms, just to see what comes up.

Problem is, the really creative ones (like armwa) are hard to think up off the top of one's head.

Please, tell us the paint colours!

I love the little Russian Grey cat, too.

Looking in Toronto, a town with a consistent 0.01% vacancy rate, I put together a "Rental CV".

Since almost every landlord had a long, detailed application form to fill out, I made up a CV listing my employer, my references, and all the names and contact information for my last five landlords, plus anything else they'd need to know.

It made applying for places fast and easy, made checking my references a snap, and made me stand out from the crowd. Everyone else would be kneeling in the hallway trying to print their previous landlords name in those stupid little boxes, and I'd just say "Here".

For a grad student, I got some fabulous apartments that way.

This is sad, not stylish. The story about him stripping his Mexico hotel room suggests that he has the reverse of a hoarding disorder.

What does he do, sit in the dark on the hard plastic chair?

Oh, for the days before bedbugs when I decorated entire apartments (fabulously) with the Gifts of the Garbage Goddess.

Alas, alas. There's just no way. Even thrift stores are just too scary now.

Blinds at night, everything open during the day.

I avoid flashing my unfortunate neighbours, but I don't care if people walking by can see my furniture.

I'm Canadian, too, and while I usually take boots off if it's snowy, wet or muddy, I always have 'indoor shoes' to wear when I do.

I've noticed that people keep their shoes on in the summer, though. And I approve: I don't expect people to stand around in socks all through my dinner parties. And feet don't have the greatest smell.

I've just gotten my first car in almost 20 years: after decades of living in large urban centres (Toronto, Montreal, London, Paris, NYC) with good public transit and readily available taxicabs available on a moment's notice, I've landed in Saskatoon, SK. Lovely little Prairie town in many ways, but life without a car is difficult-to-painful: the buses run once an hour and stop altogether at many times of day; most services are on the outskirts of town and require a car for access; the one taxi company must be phoned and will often take up to an hour to arrive.

I'm loving driving again, but I lament the fact that I now live someplace where I *must* drive.

I think my parents still have a set of the tables on the right...somewhere in the basement.