So Long,
Farewell,
auf Wiedersehen,
Goodbye.

It seems,
To me,
the time has come that I;

Should say,
Farewell,
au Revoir
& Goodbye....

Well, I have resorted of late to writing little of substance and posting much fluff; perhaps I will return one day when I have something more interesting to contribute.

Until then,
Goodbye :)

Saga of the Shoes: Afterword

Now I know I said the saga of the shoes was over, but then I got this email (which had a lovely company letter head and pretty colours etc, but I have pasted just the text for simplicity's sake)...
This was about the time that VISA sent me a letter saying they were refunding my purchase. I have no words for the ridiculousness of this.

And I don't know why they correspond with me in French; the order page was all in English, though the website shows up half in French for me, but only sometimes. It is odd.

--------- Forwarded message ----------
From:
Date: Nov 30, 2007 10:35 PM
Subject: Ballroom Dancing Shoe: Votre commande #11*** failed
TO: (obviously, it was addressed to my email )


You have received this notification from Ballroom Dancing Shoe because you are a registered user or you or some other registered user requested some information for you from our store.

Cher (my name was here),

FAILED
Here are some reasons:

1. Misspell First or Last Name.
2. Wrong billing address.
3. Wrong Credit Card Number.
4. Wrong CVV2 number.

Numero d'identification de Commande: #11***
Date de commande: Sep 23, 2007 03:18:01 PM
Produits commandés
SKU Produit Prix de l'article Quantité Totale
CLEARLD031 Black Leather Latin Ballroom Dancing Shoes
Options:
heel type: 2.5 inches
shoes size: 7.5
$45.00 1 $45.00
Sous-totale: $45.00
Points Discount: $0.00
Tarif de livraison: $22.50
Totale: $67.50
Merci pour avoir utiliser

Ballroom Dancing Shoe
Téléphone: 800-806-3075
Télécopie: 800-490-3306
URL: www.ballroomdancingshoe.com

Saga of the Shoes: Closing

It appears that the saga of the shoes has come to an end. I got a letter from VISA today saying that they have been in contact with the merchant's bank and are crediting my account for the price of the shoes.

No new shoes for me.

Not that I need them...

...there is so little dancing in my life now.

Invisible Tango Partner

more funny pictures

"Gone away has the bluebird..."

9 weeks...

:)

Happy Indigo;

went dancing (really dancing) for the first time in 9 weeks.

and it was good.

ahhhh...

happy Indigo

:)

The Official Canadian Thermodynamic Temperature Conversion Chart

The Official Canadian Thermodynamic Temperature Conversion Chart:

50° Fahrenheit (10° C)

• New Yorkers try to turn on the heat.
• Canadians plant gardens.

40° Fahrenheit (4.4° C)

• Californians shiver uncontrollably.
• Canadians Sunbathe.

35° Fahrenheit (1.6° C)

• Italian Cars won't start
• Canadians drive with the windows down

32° Fahrenheit (0 ° C)

• Distilled water freezes
• Canadian water get thicker.

0° Fahrenheit (-17.9° C)

• New York City landlords finally turn on the heat.
• Canadians have the last cookout of the season.

-40° Fahrenheit (-40° C)

• Hollywood disintegrates.
• Canadians rent some videos.

-60° Fahrenheit (-51° C)

• Mt. St. Helens freezes.
• Canadian Girl Guides sell cookies door-to-door.

-100° Fahrenheit (-73° C)

• Santa Claus abandons the North Pole.
• Canadians pull down their ear flaps.

-173° Fahrenheit (-114° C)

• Ethyl alcohol Freezes.
• Canadians get frustrated when they can't thaw the keg.

-460° Fahrenheit (-273° C)

• Absolute zero; all atomic motion stops.
• Canadians start saying "cold, eh?"

-500° Fahrenheit (-295° C)

• Hell freezes over.
• The Toronto Maple Leafs win the Stanley Cup (I'm guessing you could substitute the Vancouver Canucks here quite nicely).

Shoe is a four letter word

Shoe is a four letter word. I believe I have said this before, but I mean it in a different manner this time...

I have the worst luck with ordering dance shoes. My gold ones took nearly 5 months to get to me. My black and red ones took 5 weeks instead of a week and a half. And I have now given up on seeing the ones that were supposed to be a good deal from a shop in Alabama :(

It's been nearly two months. I have sent emails to 3 different email addresses, I have tried to call two different phone numbers, I've called information to try and find a phone number, I've had the North Alabama Better Business Bureau send them my complaint (twice now). And I have received nothing in return. I am frustrated; Grrrr!

I called Visa today to see what they could do about it. They are going to try and find out what's going on by getting in touch with the business' bank. There are things to be said for using a credit card...

So if you ever stumble upon Ballroom Dancing Shoe my recommendation would be to continue upon your merry way. Without stopping to browse.

I am not impressed. They were sexy looking shoes.

:(

I think

I shall be a recluse. I think it would work better for me.

excuses...

I've run out of them. All this week I've been making them up so I don't have to go try out a Bikram yoga class that my friends keep suggesting I join. Unfortunately, today I have run out of excuses. It's not that I don't want to go, it's just that I don't want to go...

Ok, I'm going now. Hopefully I'll survive the heat; if I don't post again you will know that I melted into a little puddle of Indigo Eve and that they mopped me up off the floor with a towel...never to be seen or heard from again...


*Update* 11pm. Still in the land of the solid and standing. Woohoo!

700 is not a good number for photos

Not when it is an estimate of the number of photos I took this summer which I now have to sort through.

Not when most of them suck.

Not when I only have 28.5 days remaining in my trial of ACDSee's Pro 2 photo managing software. I'm quite enjoying it. So fast! So many options! Doesn't even make my sluggish desktop computer bog down to a frustratingly slow pace (unlike a particularly well-known program I usually use), Easy to deal with many many photos.

Any one feel like buying me a real copy?

No? Hmmm, that's ok, I didn't think so.

I'm going back to culling the my hardrive's photo population now; if I don't come back for awhile you'll know why...

D'oh!

Speaking of learning to trust intuition...

I knew I should have asked someone else to take the leftover Guinea Pig food to the SPCA instead of doing it myself...

didn't you hear this before?

I'm waiting for shoes to come to me in the mail...

I don't know when they'll be here. Heck, at this point I don't even know if they are coming seeing as how the "lovely" people at the shoe store in Alabama (mail order) seem incapable of answering even one of 5 emails (to 2 different departments), neither phone number is reachable from my area and the only two indications of their acceptance of my order are the immediate email order confirmation that I received and a charge on my VISA...

As I was contemplating pressing the "submit" button on the order form I was questioning whether or not I should really do this. I have enough problems with shoes as it is when I order them locally. Do I really want to add a random, unknown, internet store into the mix? But when shoes cost upwards of $150(+tax) and these were significantly less than that...it's so tempting to try.

I really need to learn to trust my shoe intuition as much as my "car is going to break" intuition.

tango

"The treasure box for memories too hurtful to remember, too sweet to forget"

~~Enrique Lopetegui, BAJOFONDOTANGOCLUB

"The Batty Bat"

I always loved this:
[they really don't make kids shows like they used to :( ]

Question, answer, question

quote of the day

"Yeah, I thought something didn't look right."

~My bro, after I pointed out that I had just got my hair cut. Gotta love brothers.

Satisfying accomplishments of the day

1. Teaching someone how to easily and neatly fold up a fitted sheet.
2. Figuring out how to number the first 3 pages of a report in MS Word with roman numerals and then the rest of them (starting at 1 again) with regular numbers.

Some may say "sad", but I prefer to think of it as being able to enjoy the simple things that others might pass by.

resonance...

Main Entry: res·o·nance
Pronunciation: 're-z&-n&n(t)s, 'rez-n&n(t)s
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English resonaunce, from Middle French resonance, from resoner to resound
2.d) a quality of evoking response...

Funny how some songs seem to have so much at certain times.

I've tried so hard my dear to show
that you're my every dream
Yet you're afraid each thing I do
is just some evil scheme
A memory from your lonesome past
keeps us so far apart
Why can't I free your doubtful mind
and melt your cold cold heart

Another love before my time
made your heart sad and blue
And so my heart is paying now
for things I didn't do
In anger unkind words are said
that make the teardrops start
Why can't I free your doubtful mind
and melt your cold cold heart

There was a time when I believed
that you belonged to me
But now I know your heart is shackled
to a memory
The more I learn to care for you
the more we drift apart
Why can't I free your doubtful mind
and melt your cold cold heart

No Comment

No, literally; no comments from me...

Because if I start, I will complain, and if I complain then I will believe my complaints, and then if I believe my complaints I will be unhappy, and if I am unhappy then I will complain. More.

What the ?

Now that I have a summer job in a nice new building downtown instead of a barn, and my responsibilities involve putting information into a database, papers in the right folders in the right order, and passing on information to people who want it; I suddenly have a "real" job.

"Oohh L.T. has grown up..." (they said today)

Never mind the fact that up until this point my summer employment involved ensuring the well-being of a number of animals (borrowed) and children (also essentially borrowed) under my care at any given moment of the day which I consider to fall into the realm of a significantly higher amount of responsibility.

Apparently that can't class as a real job, but this one does even though it is also only a summer stint.

Bull$hit.

"Purse-Maker"?

I've searched through 4 pages of Google results. How many pages of Google should one go through before it is safe to assume what you are looking for doesn't exist (and isn't it strange to think that one would discount the existence of something because of its absence from the results of an internet search...). Aside from the term "aumosnier" in a 1292 Tax Role of Paris, I'm getting nothing. And "aumosnier" seems to be a term unique to that document. Mind you my French is regrettably lacking so perhaps I'm missing something...

Can anyone tell me if there is a proper term for a maker of purses?

New resident...

on my deck.

must, not, succumb!

3.5 weeks of school left in this semester and I am, as usual, beginning to get just a touch worried about how much I don't know yet...I should be studying.

Instead, I am engaging in my favourite winter semester studying-avoidance technique. I even skipped my evening class because it really didn't seem worth the $1.50 in gas I would spend to get there. I had intended to work on a couple of assignments; however, the temptation was too great to avoid. I haven't done a bit of schoolwork all evening. (ShinyShoes, I really hope you aren't reading this today...I can just imagine the look you'd be giving me and it's making me uncomfortable...). I didn't even watch Gilmore Girls. I'm too absorbed by my task.

Cleaning.

Actually, technically, it's more like organizing. Re-organizing really.

It started with my decision to put my laundry away before my 6pm class. I was spurred on by my inability to find three things that I wanted this past weekend (white elbow-length gloves, Rummoli board, game of Clue); I generally justify the organization of my life according to whether or not I can find what I'm looking for. If I can find whatever is missing then it's all ok. It's never been the case that I couldn't find the AWOL object before. This is a new and scary state of being. From there my tidying spiralled wildly out of control: laundry, decision to move bed, realization that bed didn't fit into new spot, decision to move 7ft bookshelf, removing of books and "stuff" (incl dust) from bookshelf, sorting of things I *really* don't need to keep, putting many of said things back onto shelves anyways (do I really need 5 years of back issues of both Bike and Mountain Bike magazines? Not so much.) and finally moving books etc. back onto bookshelf. I've spent the past 3 and a half hours (hmm, interesting, considering that concern above about 3 and a half weeks of school left) making a giant mess of my room in the hopes of creating a tidier, less cluttered space. I've got at least another hour to go before I can go to bed as my mattress is up against the door and there are still two shelves of books spread out over my bed-frame. Thankfully I talked myself out of my desire to repaint. I was this -><- close to hopping into my car and going to buy some paint. In my defence though, the walls really do need to be repainted. Honestly.

The downside to all of this is that I'm feeling entirely out of sorts due to being thrown back through 12 years of memories in the short space of 3.5 hours. It's slightly disconcerting. Aside from the fact that it emphasizes my feelings that I'm not much further ahead in the grand scheme of life than I was back then, it also reminds me how attached I am to my *stuff*. I have a very strong tradition of pack-rat-ism in my family. Argh, I don't want to be like them.

Must,
Change.
Must,
Not,
Succumb!

Perhaps I should frame that and put it up on my (needing to be repainted) wall.
It can remind me to a) get rid of things I don't use or need, and b) study instead of yielding to the desire to clean.

This isn't a new idea folks...

"Those who think they have no time for bodily exercise will sooner or later have to find time for illness."
~Edward Stanley [1826-1893] address delivered at Liverpool College, December 20, 1873

Wild windy winter wings

Your Birthdate: April 11

Spiritual and thoughtful, you tend to take a step back from the world. You're very sensitive to what's going on around you, yet you remain calm. Although you are brilliant, it may take you a while to find your niche. Your creativity is supreme, but it sometimes makes it hard for you to get things done. Your strength: Your inner peace Your weakness: You get stuck in the clouds Your power color: Emerald Your power symbol: Leaf Your power month: November

What Does Your Birth Date Mean?

Hmmmm, Not so much...

The danger of high heels

My partners have never stepped on my feet while dancing. I manage very well on my own...

Perhaps I should stick to the closed-toe shoes until I get my feet sorted out in tango, that way I shall avoid tripping over my own toenails with poorly placed high heels :(