I feel like crap

This time physically like crap. Mood-wise I am doing fairly well today actually. But I've been battling this sore throat since Friday. It's enough to be annoying but not enough to make me stay home. Why is it whenever I get sick I have to get a sore throat? Makes me think I have tonsilitis or something. I also hate using cough drops. 6 years ago I had this really bad cold and I had to continuously use cough drops. Ever since then I am sick of using them even before I start.

So I feel like crap, and would have gone home sick today but I don't want to miss belly dance class, so if I am well enough to go to class, I am well enough to be at work.

I had a good weekend. Started a bit early by going to see Million Dollar Baby on Thursday night, very glad I did especially after it won Best Picture last night. Excellent movie. Don't want to give away the plot for those who haven't seen it yet, but very excellent.

Friday night I spent at home on the couch catching up on the week's TV shows I had taped. Laughed my ass off at Desperate Housewives, that is an awesome show. ER was also really good this week. Days of course made me yell at the TV repeatedly. I just realized I started to watch Alias and didn't finish the episode... I'll have to remember to watch the rest of it before I inadvertently use the tape for something else.

Saturday was an interesting day. I decided since I wasn't feeling so shit hot that I'd stick around home and try to get some rest before I had to head out for the evening. My mom called late that morning telling me she was bored and asked if she could come over and clean my bathroom. I now have the most sanitary bathroom in the city. She also wanted to tackle getting the rust stains out of my dishwasher. It is only as old as my house (2 yrs) but it seems the original owners were hard on things (like the stairwell, the sink, the doors, you name it). So she managed to get rid of some of the stains in it by mixing a concoction of Iron Out and vinegar or something. The bad part was she's a huge fan of these tart candles and she and I don't like the same kind of scents. I like roses or berry scents, she seems to like vanilla or cookies or something but whatever it was it was making me choke. I think I would have done better with the vinegar. I hinted to her not to put the candle on but she didn't seem to take the hint, so after trying to handle it I had to tell her it was killing me, then I had to open the back door and front windows to get the scent out. Since this is February and not July, it was pretty cool. No more weird scented tart burner candles.

Saturday afternoon I headed off to church where our pastor announced he was granted a 3 month sebbatical leave to begin right after Easter. We'll be getting a supply priest while he's gone, I think a priest retired from active duty but well enough to travel and preach (as opposed to our 101 year old priest in retirement at our parish!) He's currently residing in Newfoundland from what I hear. Always interesting to hear a different speaker every once it a while so it should be interesting. Our church is served by the Redemptorists, which is a separate collection of Catholic priests founded by St. Alphonsus Liguori. This is part of the reason why we're getting a fill-in priest from Nfld instead of somewhere else in town or within the diocese. Appointments to certain parishes last for 3 year terms, and our pastor's term is up this year, so in addition to receiving his sebbatical this year, we'll also hear whether he'll be with us for another 3 years or not. Have to wait and see what happens, I kind of hope they keep him here but whatever they decide we have to accept.

Saturday night I headed out to Tapps for supper with the gang and then off to see Aida at the enemy school, er, I mean St. Mac's. That's only the second time I've been in there. Still feels like I am on enemy turf, despite it being 12 years since grad.... OLD! I AM OLD!

Back to the musical - very well done. Especially choreography :) (there's my plug for J, choreographer extraordinaire). The musical itself was interesting, I didn't know anything about it going in, but it was easy to follow and the music was really good, as should be expected from Tim Rice & Elton John. The Egyptian princess was particularly entertaining, she had the part that was a blast to perform, I am sure. She was probably my favorite part of the show, I think, in her "My Strongest Suit" number. I did however question her Act II Scene 1 costume which from where I was sitting looked like fabric with little cabbages on it. I know they were meant to be flowers but I kept seeing cabbages. Or heads of lettuce. I was distracted by leafy veggies. Anyway, very good show, and congrats to all involved. Now you have time to relax! Or start cheerleading.

Got home Saturday night not long after 10:30 and since it's illegal to go to bed that early on Saturday night, I turned on the radio to 80s retro and began cleaning the house up for the Sunday night Oscar party. Vacuuming to the 80s, I was.

Sunday I got up and did some yoga, which I had been neglecting for the past 3 days due to not feeling that well. Started the laundry. Headed to Wal-Mart to buy a filter for my humidifier (way too dry in my house right now) and also came out with a clothes drying rack thingy so I can hang clothes to air dry on it in the basement. Stupid cheap piece of crap. Broke twice while I was trying to put it together, then couldn't get it apart to take back so I had this big 5' rectangle of metal hanging out in my car today and I took it back at lunch. $30 for this crap. I am going to look for a better one with no plastic involved.

The humidifier was something I hadn't unpacked since I moved. Of course I found a piece or two of mouse poop in it. How in hell did the mouse get in there? I've learned to stop asking that question. It's possible for mice to get *anywhere*.

Had the saga of Windows XP on Sunday. It seems older brother sent my mom a Windows XP disk for her computer, which falls on me to install. Ok, fine, but it will have to be on a weekend. Younger brother also wants the cd to install on his own computer and has been asking OB for ages for it. YB calls me up on Sunday and says Mum's in a panic, her computer has to be done today while she's out. I'm like, wha? I feel like shit, I'm trying to get my laundry done and prepare for my Oscar party. WTF? I said if she wants it done it will have to be brought over here. So he brings it over here, but then it doesn't like my mouse & keyboard so basically I can't do anything with it. Call my mother and ask what's the panic all about? I can't get it done today, I am going to have to take it into my office some weekend and get it done there where I have lots of equipment kicking around to help me out. She says there's no panic, that YB is the one in a panic because OB said Mum had to have the CD first and then YB could have it. Alright. I don't care who has what when, but I ain't fixin this computer today. Get YB to come back and take computer back to mum's, otherwise mother will be without a computer until the weekend and frankly I don't need 5 phone calls every night this week asking if it's done yet.

Sunday night was the big Oscar night. I hosted a small party, more like people needed a place to watch it and I volunteered. We all filled out an Oscar ballot and kept score to see who would get the most correct. I got 11. Enough for 2nd place, but I'd like to think I could do better next year. This year had to have been the earliest ending Oscars ever. It was over by 12:40am. I was prepared for anywhere from 1-1:30, I had arranged to be able to sleep in this morning to compensate. Thanks to everyone who brought food, very yummy all around.

Have to say I though Chris Rock was pretty good as host. Not spectacular, but good. Better than Whoopi or Steve Martin, but not as good as Billy Crystal. Though Billy's last couple of hosting jobs weren't as good as his first few. I also liked the presentations of trophies in the audience. Not sure how the nominees felt, they probably felt ripped off by not being able to get up on stage. As a home viewer I thought it shook things up a bit, instead of the boring same old, same old. Kind of kept things moving and you paid a little more attention to what was going on. Not impressed by having all the nominees on stage though, didn't care much for that one. Very nice not to have to sit through endless dance numbers, thanks for getting rid of that. But what was with the retrospective at the very beginning, and coming back from commercial breaks? Do we have to review the history of movies every year? Save that for milestone years.

And now, the part of the evening we like to call "WTF?" - Beyonce. a) why did she get to sing 3 songs, are there not other singers in the world? b) Beyonce cannot sing in French. Her name may have an accent aigu (sp?) at the end of it but that doesn't mean she can sing in French. c) Andrew Lloyd Webber, how did you ever agree to have her sing your Phanton song? Ruined! The girl who played Christine introduced the song, she was there, why didn't she sing it? Or better yet, where was Minnie Driver, who sang it in the first place? d) duet with Josh Groban? This was tolerable, but I don't think Josh Groban really needs a singing partner, he does quite well on his own. So it all comes down to this: "How do we make up for Chris Rock's comment to the media that no straight black man watches the Oscars? Let's get Beyonce on the show as many times as we can!!"

Why is it that every time I mention to my mother that I am having people over, she insists on calling in the middle of it? Get a life mother!!!! Stop trying to butt in on mine. I'm sorry you're bored out of your skull. Get a hobby. Do something. Stop calling me up because you have nothing else to do.

Well, it's 10:30 and I think that's it for tonight. I've gotten my rant in, and I need to get some rest to beat this friggin' sore throat!