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Wednesday, February 18, 2015

Old Date-mares

I'm sitting in a coffeeshop. Doing some reading and a spot of writing. 

There isn't much else for me to do today. And I'm okay with that. I don't have to work today, and while that is strange (I don't usually have a mid-week day off), I am more than okay with it. 

I'm sitting near two university students, who haven't realized that everyone in the shop can hear what they are talking about. They are talking about the usual things: classes, homework, friends and BOYS. They are currently discussing a not so great date that one of them went on. It honestly doesn't sound that bad. I've been on much worse. 

For example, there was the evening I met a man for dinner at a local restaurant. We had been chatting online and via text for several days and we seemed to mesh quite well. I found him easy to talk to and interesting. He suggested meeting for dinner and said that he would make a reservation. That would make it easier with the first face to face meeting. It's so terrible when you are waiting at the entrance for your date, whom you don't really know well enough to recognize. Smart, I thought after I agreed. I arrived first. And I'm kinda glad I did. I ordered a drink and settled in to wait for my date to show. He appeared a few minutes after my drink was delivered. 

Me:   Hello!-
Him: Let's get a few things straight first, you pay for your shit and I pay for mine. No sneaking off to the bathroom and telling the waitress on the way by that it's one bill for me to pay. I'm not into that kind of shit. 
Me: *Silence in which I finish my drink quite quickly* Well, I don't think that this is going to work. 

I put my coat on and left money on the table to cover my drink. I have never been in and out of a restaurant so quickly. Neither have I been so embarrassed to be meeting someone. He was so rude and abrupt. Not at all like the guy I had been chatting with. 

The next evening he messaged me. Not to apologize for his rudeness, but because he thought I got the wrong impression of him. "I think we got off to the wrong foot, I'm not sure what I did or said to make you leave so quickly, but I guess you probably expect me to apologize."

Yeah. If you don't know what you did/said that was wrong, we are definitely not going to try to meet again. I replied saying that my first impression of him made me not want to get to know him any better and that it would best if we just lost each other's numbers. 

I haven't heard from him since. Thankfully.


Wednesday, February 11, 2015

On being considered dog crazy

I love dogs.

And I'm single.

A few days ago, an ever charming gent enquired about my romantic status. Hesitantly, (he is a semi-regular at the shop) I told him that I was single. Mistake number one. He leered at me, and asked what I was doing to rectify that. I sort of glared at him. Although I am single and (technically) looking, I am quite content to be single until I am no longer single. He laughed and said that I must have a couple of cats. My eyebrows shot up into my hair. Of all the stupid comments to make. I rolled my eyes and told him that no, I didn't have cats, I had dogs... two of them. Mistake number two. Which led to him declaring that I was dog crazy and would obviously be single forever.

Sigh.

I had to walk away. Yes, I have two dogs. And I love them. One is mine. The other is a dog that I am fostering for a rescue. And what does having dogs have to do with dating anyway?!

I guess in future dating adventures/attempts (online or otherwise) I shall refrain from mentioning my love of dogs, knitting and anything that makes me seem like a boring grandmother (which is something that a man called me when he asked what I like to do in my spare time).

Which makes me wonder, when am I going to meet a man who a) doesn't mind that I have a dog and foster another, b) doesn't mind that I spend time knitting, c) won't judge me too harshly for binge watching 15 seasons of Law & Order: SVU, and d) will let me listen to John Mayer without telling me that he's garbage?








Monday, February 02, 2015

Homemade Decongestant versus Life Brand Decongestant

I've spent the last 4 days home sick. There's nothing worse than being sick in my opinion. I hate it. I get cranky and grumpy, I can't breathe through my nose and I lose my voice. I develop a hacking cough that sounds kind of like a goose mated with a chainsaw. It's terrible.

I am also the person that will try anything to get over a cold/sickness faster. Homemade remedies, old wives remedies.... ANYTHING.

This time, I decided that I would make my own decongestant. I had read about them last year when I was sick, but I couldn't be bothered. This year... I decided I was doing it. I was all in. I found the recipe that I was curious about last year. Did some research on the ingredients and read hundreds of reviews of it. It seemed legit. I found the recipe on a blog called Titus2Homemaker. I figured any woman who willingly made and gave this to her children could be trusted.

I shuffled off to the grocery store. I bought the onions, lemons and the radishes. Honey and garlic. I got a lot of weird looks. I'm pretty sure the cashier thought that I was stoned. I shuffled back home hauled out the blender and mixed up a batch of this. I strained it, it's pulpy and gross looking. And although my nose was out of commission, my eyes functioned perfectly and they cried. A lot.

I quickly downed 2 tablespoons.

So. Much. Regret.

It was like my throat was on fire. My eyes were now watering for a whole different reason. I thought I was dying. After suffering through that, I sat down on the couch and waited for relief. And waited. And waited. And nothing.

The decongestant did nothing for me. I waited several hours to see if maybe it needed more time to work. I even took a second dose. After 9 hours of nothing I headed out to good ol' Shoppers Drug Mart to purchase some relief.

Lesson learned: not everything you find online works. Even if several hundred people say that it does.