hmm...

I noticed that being_angyl and doublefeh, two folks whom I hadn't thought were connected in any way, were at the same party on Saturday night, along with a contingent of other livejournal usernames that I recognize. I didn't even know there was one until the "aftermath" posts, as is usual for hearing about whatever cool thing went on during the weekend. I have started to seriously wonder what the reasons are that I don't get invited to anything but Autumn's parties. So, of course, it becomes a poll.

Semi-obviously, this is directed at people local to me, but I don't have a filter for that. (I have the bemused feeling that the people I may be thinking of, in large part, do not have me on their friends lists and thus will never see this, which kind of says it all, really.) I'm only referring to things of a groupy nature, here - I'm not hoping to get asked along on two-person magical treks, for example.

By the way, yes - I really do want real answers here. You can pick more than one, of course.

[Poll #161980]

(* This is only partly true. I don't like to drive in the city, no. It scares me. I prefer to avoid it if possible. But I can and have done it. What I am unwilling to do is carry more than one passenger while doing so.)

(no subject)

So, now that I think I'm satisfied (ha ha) with my colour choices for my journal, can anyone tell me how to make the text of the drop-down menus (for example, to pick a user pic when you are leaving a comment) not be black? Since it displays on top of my "component background colour" which is a really dark purplish blue, it's quite hard to read. I can't seem to figure out any way to change it.

Option I forgot to add in the poll:

* You work afternoons/evenings, which tends to prevent you from being able to come.

(no subject)

So, now that I think I'm satisfied (ha ha) with my colour choices for my journal, can anyone tell me how to make the text of the drop-down menus (for example, to pick a user pic when you are leaving a comment) not be black? Since it displays on top of my "component background colour" which is a really dark purplish blue, it's quite hard to read. I can't seem to figure out any way to change it.

Option I forgot to add in the poll:

* You work afternoons/evenings, which tends to prevent you from being able to come.

Regarding the invitation poll

For those who answered "I don't have any contact information for you": email is the fastest and most reliable method for getting a hold of me. You can stick pretty much anything in front of @eristic.net and it will get to me (you can say eristic @ eristic.net if you are vanilla, or make up bizarre and random things like killerofsheep @ eristic.net* if you want). tass @ livejournal.com also forwards there if you remember my lj name but not my domain. I am online 12-14 hours a day on weekdays (at work as well as home, you see) and 6-8 hours on weekends, checking email every 15-20 minutes.

I don't generally give out phone information. To get a hold of me by phone is difficult, anyway (don't generally give out my work number unless it's really necessary; calling me at home after work = other people in house are sleeping; calling me at home in the morning before work = death), and I feel really, really weird on the phone with people I don't know, beyond 3-minute exchanges for things like ride arrangements.

As for IM, I feel similarly fidgety, since I feel immense pressure to be continually sparkling and interesting and therefore get really uncomfortable when I just don't have anything to talk about (which I generally don't with people whom I don't know well IRL), and feel like I'm being rude if I don't talk to someone if they're online, so I tend to restrict my IM to people with whom I can natter boringly and not worry that this is a problem (at the moment, only enotsola), unless it's just really, really needed for a quick discussion, but I have to be told to log on as that other screen name, as I'm not on it by default; I'm afraid people will message me, expect me to be interesting, and find me disappointing if I am not or rude if I say "actually I don't feel like talking to you". (long, run-on-ish sentence much?)

So yeah. Email. Or of course livejournal comments, which act in much the same way, since I get the notification emails (although not always right on time).

( * - no sheep were harmed in the making of this livejournal post.)

The Worms (*whine*)

The Arrogant Worms are going to be in Kitchener on December 18th, and I won't be! Waaaaaaah!

Slightly less worse ("we won't say that we're better, it's just that we're less worse") is that they'll be in Ontario in August when I will be there -- but out in Ottawa and in Parry Sound, both of which are a tad far from Kitchener, so it's more like "that sucks, but oh well, I couldn't have gotten there anyway" than a sense of a big missed opportunity.

The Worms (*whine*)

The Arrogant Worms are going to be in Kitchener on December 18th, and I won't be! Waaaaaaah!

Slightly less worse ("we won't say that we're better, it's just that we're less worse") is that they'll be in Ontario in August when I will be there -- but out in Ottawa and in Parry Sound, both of which are a tad far from Kitchener, so it's more like "that sucks, but oh well, I couldn't have gotten there anyway" than a sense of a big missed opportunity.

in other news

I realized that the text of the letter I got from Canada seems to imply that I was somewhat pessimistic with my time estimates in this post from June.

The first factor was that I didn't check the "last updated" date on the page, which was (probably still is) a date in May, not in June when I was looking at it. Thus, my response was received within the expected time, not late, which bodes well, considering.

Secondly, it would seem that the year delay is not for them to start evaluating it, but actually for the evaluation. So if all goes well I should next hear from them by next July, not that they won't even start until then (my choice of September was implied by the months mentioned on their afore-cited web page). If I was extremely fortunate, or somehow managed to win the heart of the officer responsible for my file with my, er, elegant prose, I might even hear from them in less than a year (not holding my breath, though). So the possibility exists that I could actually be there sometime next fall, as opposed to late the following spring.

Of course, that in turn does some interesting things with the prospect of a car loan. The shortest term is 2 years and that's what I was planning to sign up for, since I was figuring I was going to wind up here for nearly 2 more years anyway. If I somehow make it to Canada next fall, I would either have to pay it all off before I went, or continue to make the payments out of savings somehow from Canada. I'm sure that the lender won't care where the money comes from so long as they get it (perhaps I could set up a relay with my parents), but still, it's a hassle.

in other news

I realized that the text of the letter I got from Canada seems to imply that I was somewhat pessimistic with my time estimates in this post from June.

The first factor was that I didn't check the "last updated" date on the page, which was (probably still is) a date in May, not in June when I was looking at it. Thus, my response was received within the expected time, not late, which bodes well, considering.

Secondly, it would seem that the year delay is not for them to start evaluating it, but actually for the evaluation. So if all goes well I should next hear from them by next July, not that they won't even start until then (my choice of September was implied by the months mentioned on their afore-cited web page). If I was extremely fortunate, or somehow managed to win the heart of the officer responsible for my file with my, er, elegant prose, I might even hear from them in less than a year (not holding my breath, though). So the possibility exists that I could actually be there sometime next fall, as opposed to late the following spring.

Of course, that in turn does some interesting things with the prospect of a car loan. The shortest term is 2 years and that's what I was planning to sign up for, since I was figuring I was going to wind up here for nearly 2 more years anyway. If I somehow make it to Canada next fall, I would either have to pay it all off before I went, or continue to make the payments out of savings somehow from Canada. I'm sure that the lender won't care where the money comes from so long as they get it (perhaps I could set up a relay with my parents), but still, it's a hassle.