Pantless and Fancy Free

I don't just like Christmas, I love it.

And I love every Christmas movie of all time, pretty much. Included on the list would be everything from "It's a Wonderful Life" to "Die Hard" (the original, and only the original), "Miracle on 34th Street", "Bad Santa" and 97 hundred others.

I love the end of the semester - I plan not to put real pants on all weekend, or go anywhere, or really even leave the couch except to get more coffee, wine, water or chocolate. The grades are in, sort of mostly, but at the very least they're out of my hands, so there is nothing to do but lounge and laze and graze. I'm not habitually a sloth, and in the summer I'd be starting work about a week ago, so the winter semester gap is the most relaxed time of the year. This one is extra special, because it's the very last one of my undergrad. I'm going to savour it, by not wearing real pants.

I like bad crime TV!
And long weekends!
And multiple birthday cards!

I liked Journey to the Centre of the Earth. It's in 3D! It's a ridiculous fun stupid family movie that feels good. Take your parents, they will have adorable childhood associations with 3D glasses and everyone will be happy.

Don't go see Vicky Christina Barcelona. It was awful. Seriously awful. I think it was the result of a bet someone made Woody Allen, about how little work he could do on a movie while still managing to get it released in theatres. He mostly couldn't even be bothered to write dialogue. I'd say it's worth it as softcore porn, but no one takes their clothes off. It would only be satisfying if you were the creepy middle aged guy who got off on watching the sort of sexy scenes you convinced good looking women to do because you were in charge. And even then, probably you could come up with something better to watch. Penelope Cruz was pretty good in it I guess. Maybe rent it to watch while vacuuming and then turn the vacuum off during the parts she's in.

I would like to point out that I was way ahead of Sarah on the Cobs bread. My family has been enjoying their baked offerings for a year now. Take that! Also, the best is totally their tomato and cheese "twisted delight" which is basically delicious braided bread laced with tomato sauce goodness and cheese. a close runner up is found in their cinnamon scones. and the cinnamon buns. oh the cinnamon buns...

also, I like hot tubs that have been converted into cold tubs by clever younger siblings such that there is a tiny pool in the back yard. I like these lots in 30+ weather.

and ice cream. I forgot how great ice cream is in the summer on a hot day.

Cobs bread, and more specifically, Cobs' chocolate croissants.

Also, I chewed up my feet pretty badly with a bunch of new shoes/borrowed shoes/generally having ugly and chronically blistery feet, so I would like to give a shout out to band aids and polysporin. Not quite a pedicure, but it'll do for now...

Every woman knows the frustration of bra shopping. It sucks. No one teaches us how bras should fit and sizing is incredibly complicated. You've got band width and cup size, but neither are constants; cup size depends on band width, hence the cup size on a 34 B would be the same as a 32 C and equivalent to a 36 A. The actual measurements, fit and shaping vary depending on brand. It is little wonder some women give up and stick with sports bras.

I puzzled over bra sizing for some time. I went with 36 A for a long time, then was advised to try a 34 B. I stuck with this for a while, coping with the annoyance of bands riding up my back and strap slippage. Just over a year ago a friend convinced me to invest in a bra fitting and, after much convincing, I relented.

If you live in Edmonton and have breasts, please, at some point, take time out of your busy life to visit Dawn's Bra-tique. Sure, I agree, she could have gone with a better name, but don't let that dissuade you. My first fitting yielded a multitude of bra fitting secrets: most women are wearing a cup size that is too small. The cup size, while it does relate to the actual projection or girth of the breast is most importantly about the width of the breast. A relatively flat woman might still require a C cup if she is broadchested. The shoulder straps should do almost no work. What holds you in place is the band. Buy a bra that fits on the loosest hooks and, as it stretches, as the shoulder straps start to slip, move inward clasp by clasp. And alterations, alterations, alterations.

Unfortunately, in addition to being effing complicated, bras cost a lot of money. This, of course, depends on how large your breasts are (the larger the pricier) and how "normal" you are, according to industry standards. Being big-ish and not so normal, I am hard-pressed to find a bra under 75 dollars. If you're the bra-wearing type, it's a necessary and a worthwhile investment, but, when broke, one has little choice but to go braless or buy cheap, ill-fitted bras... or this is what I thought until a few days ago when a friend suggested I check out eBay. I basically missed the eBay craze. I had never, before yesterday, ventured into the cyber marketplace, but I figured it was worth a peak. I was right. I found two of my current favourite bras both of which I purchased on auction for a total cost (with taxes and shipping in Canadian dollars) of just over 40 dollars. I'll need to have them altered separately, but still. Wow.

So today I like eBay. If you are of the female persuasion, I think you should consider sending some love eBay's way. If you include a bit of money, they'll send you awesome bras in exchange!

Lately I don't like much. Or the things I do like are... little and temporary and generally unhealthy. So. A slightly depressing turn from a slightly depressed blogger. I do /not/ like:

1) mass denial and irresponsible parenting. Seriously. Aren't you supposed to be a little less stupid and a tiny bit less selfish by the time you hit 50 and have five children?

2) Insecurity. Mine, yours, his, hers, theirs.

3) Mean people. There are a surprisingly large number of mean people, and I'm starting to worry that I'm one of them. I think it's mostly accidental. I'm distracted and tired and depressed and so I don't pay attention to much and then I realize, once it's too late, that I've been inexcusably rude to someone, often a total stranger, and I mostly want to run after him or her and apologize and explain, but then I realize that doing so would make me mean /and/ weird /and/ creepy.

4) Arrogance and condescension. Especially the kind cloaked in disingenuous helpfulness.

5) Almost everything I read lately. I seem to have lost the ability to be inspired, or even stirred, by writing. I think I'm really hoping to stumble across the person who is having all the sapient thoughts I think /I/ should be having, except that no one appears to be doing so... or the answer is always "it's more complicated than that" and so I'm always disappointed and impatient. Basically, I'm whiny and disillusioned and tired of reading things that aren't quite convincing.

5) Sarah leaving the province for over a month. This just sucks. Seriously.

But there are some things I like. Few and far between, but they're there. I'm kind of addicted to Queer as Folk. Rent it, if only to drool over Brian.

I quite like spring. It's sunny and walks are once again possible and so is swinging.

I'm a fan of my little brother being home again.

I was pretty jazzed to read Sarah's last post. Yes to all of it (although I honestly haven't tried the antiperspirant and, given that I don't have this perspiration problem, I probably won't)

Mostly I think I need to learn to take care of myself. You would think I'd have this covered by now, at 23, but I totally don't. I need to feed myself properly and establish routines and sleep regular hours and do things that make me feel like I'm worthwhile all on my lonesome. I need to learn to do just that /well/ and then maybe...

And in commemoration of our final days together for six weeks...


We are both baffled by this store. It's on Jasper around 105St. Do women with careers have particular bridal dress needs unnecessary for the rest of us commonfolk? Do the dresses come with built in power suits underneath? Sarah, feel free to hypothesize further...


Again, both baffled. What sort of parties are the catholic elementary students having? What kind of party does spring suggest? I really hope there are raves going on in the gymnasium.

Also, while walking yesterday we passed graffiti that read "ballz the fuck deep". ??? It was scrawled on a "one way" sign that was high enough that the writing of this particular message would have been a significant challenge requiring planning and some sort of elevating device. We took this to indicate that the message must have had some deep significance to the author. We are still attempting to discern what this might be. Feel free to brainstorm with us...