Summer Social Experimenting

My favorite house in Vancouver. Doesn't it look like a little gnome lives there??

It has been an interesting week of socializing with new dates, old friends.. and very little sleep between all of it. Summer has officially started and tho it doesn't always feel like it here and we're often waiting for the real warmth to kick in, when the leather seats in the car are too hot to sit on with a short skirt or lean against in the tank with the bare back you're wearing, you know you can rest assured this is as good as it's going to get.

Now, the beginning of the week started out a bit on the frightening side of things because I sat for two hours with Boz in front of my tv watching An Inconvenient Truth. Uh.. hi. Scariest thing I've seen.. oh.. EVER. How is no one fixing this? How am I not?! How are we all not freaking the fuck out?! That's what I want to know. I wanted to join every environmental group possible after I watched it, quit my job, sell my car, live in a tee-pee and wear nothing but natural fibers and not brush my teeth.. but then I remembered, I can't actually do that. And I just took my wasteful and selfish excuse of a self and went to work the next day like normal in my very uneconomical and horribly-bad-for-the-ENTIRE-WORLD car. Like oh.. everyone else does.. Sigh.. how are we all not raging alcoholics from the sheer pressure of it all?!

After all that depressing information, I figured some brevity was in order. Staying up late has just happened rather accidentally quite often and I'm going to blame it on Pixie because I'm just trying to keep up with her new schedule of freedom these days. I mean, let's face it.. who wouldn't want the entire summer off just to play? Especially with a friend who's up for just about anything.

We managed to get ourselves together and meet up at this great movie theater, The Central Cinema, which pretty much shows whatever it wants.. and when they'd advertised the weekend of playing Fame, mostly to honor gay pride weekend, we hardly needed the Gays Of Our Lives contingent to be excited to see this together - plus, they all had plans. So on Wednesday, Kat, Paul, Pix and myself hit the 10pm show, laughed at the cheesy parts, pointed out the actors we recognized, sang at the top of our lungs during the movie's theme song and just giggled at the memories (and the horrible fashions). Pixie got to sleep in the next morning and take a luxurious walk whenever she wanted the next afternoon.. and I yawned thru most of my day. Um.. yeah.. I'm not bitter.. I can sleep when I'm dead. This is what I'm telling myself anyway.

Then, yes, there were some lovely dates.. and I'm staying mum about those for the moment. Suffice it to say, I had a good time and there will be more things like that happening. There are a couple of wild cards out there and only time will tell. I'm just enjoying things as they happen and thinking positively.

Finally, the Friday workday was completed and I was on the road north to my Canadian home away from home in Vancouver, BC. Tho my night was rather uneventful because my friend, Shay, and I were both wiped out from our busy weeks, it was good to catch up and see him a little since he left the next day to prepare for his half Iron Man triathlon.. which hi.. ow. I mean.. I couldn't do a quarter Iron Man, let alone a half of one. Do you guys know what this consists of?? Just listening to him wore me out: a mile and a half swim, a 65 mile (SIXTY FIVE PEOPLE) bike ride and then a 22K run (12 something miles).. holy exhaustion Batman. I would be crippled. So let's just say that I was in awe. Plus he's like the funniest person alive. Seriously. What's funnier is the deal we have that if we're not married by 40, we'll marry each other. But we're both hoping that doesn't happen cuz years ago when we dated for oh.. all of three minutes, clearly we weren't a good match.. but if we happen to get desperate enough.. hey.. laughter never sucks. And he could save me if I was ever almost drowning.. and run for help. Bonus!

Saturday, after a quick breakfast with Shayster before he had to leave, I met up with the fabulous Lady Miss Marquise who I haven't seen since last summer. Freshly returned home from her trip to Vietnam, we had giggly conversations about the outrageous people we'd both met and/or finally dispersed of.. the dramas were relayed and witty comebacks admired.. and mostly we just enjoyed being girls together.

There was a small emergency panic break when my card was declined in one store and then the ATM afterwards before I called the bank and found out that, hi.. a fraud alert had been placed on my card.... ???!! They were concerned by the gas I'd purchased that morning when it came back to them listed as Toronto Something Or Other. I told them I was in Canada and tho not in Toronto, the gas company is probably based there. Seeing that they'd been an eensy bit over-zealous, the alert was removed and in seconds, actually, I was back to breathing normally and happily over-spending as usual.

This of course brings on a new responsibility when you travel, right? Of course you update your family and friends regarding your whereabouts and hell, Loren and I always send our itineraries to each other so someone knows exactly where we are and when we'll be there and back and on what flights - just in case. But now you need to add to that list of priority notifications.. your bank?! I mean, I sincerely appreciate their astounding due diligence.. but hi.. it was just gas! Not like gas for a jet plane touring internationally or anything. There were no stops at jewelry stores or outlandish shopping sprees. $30 worth of gas. That's the red flag?! I'm just saying.. maybe someone ought to look at that process there, you know.. um.. it's a thought.

Once that misunderstanding was resolved, we carried on with our day. I dropped off Jules so she could disco-nap before our evening out later and then headed back to Shay's in North Van by wrong way of West Van, which caused me to get lost, which was totally awesome.. and by awesome I mean, completely irritating cuz we all know how expensive gas is in the states, but in Canada, it's about one gold bar per liter and I have no frickin idea how much that really is cuz hi! Metrics! What the f?

Almost worse than that, I discovered something new about North Vancouverites: they don't have to get anywhere. You know how I can tell? Well, the tell-tale sign is driving NO miles an hour. Seriously. And it's not just one guy. No, honestly, it's everyone. You know why I know that too? Because I was the only speed racer to be found ANYWHERE. True story - 40km. You know what that is in miles per hour people? NOTHING. Like there are NO miles being driven at ANY hour in my opinion. 40km is like 20 mph, which is practically the opposite of moving at all! You might as well say, 'Honey, let's go to dinner,' and then STAY HOME if you're going to drive that slow because you AREN'T MOVING at 40km. No, I'm telling you, you aren't.

Despite that fact, eventually I was picking up friends Ali, Jules and Courtney, for fun-having at the Solstice party thrown by some other friends of mine I hadn't seen in at least two years. There were hugs for everyone and drinks and a little dancing and more drinks.. and some chatty chat caused by too many drinks of some new and sexy maple syrup-infused whisky that changed my whole view about whisky people! It's called Sortiledge and you can't find it in the states apparently cuz this site is the only one that ships from Canada to the US and how sad was I when I read 'Temporarily Out Of Stock'?! SO sad, that's how!! But if y'all are somewhere else.. ohmygod - go get some NOW! A-mazing!

Lady Miss Marquise never likes her picture taken.. and she allowed 2 that night! Such a shiny treasure she is. Don't mind my hair.. it wasn't cooperating..

One of the loves of my life - Ali - and his western look for the night.

And another picture of fantastic girls.. Lady Miss Marquise and Courtney.

And since there was some mixing of alcohols and much staying up late, there was also some being hung over as well and a so-not-charming searing headache that I had to power thru til I crossed state-side and arrived home. I'd said goodbye to my lovely Canuck cohorts, brunched (or tried to considering my churning tummy) at The Reef, and did a bit of shopping around the boutiques of East Van enjoying the gorgeous day - when Mother Nature got crabby, the clouds rolled in and WHAM! Torrential downpour. The rain came and went in varying degrees of sprinkle to something that maybe resembled driving underneath Niagara Falls and it just kept following me south with flashes of lightening and booming thunder.

But there'll hopefully be none of that this week because we are now officially into T-minus 48 hours and Ammogirl arrives! Oh I fear the city of Seattle and surrounding areas will not know what to do with the likes of all my favorite blogger girls in one room. The energy will hardly be able to be contained! I promise to share pictures as soon as we have them. Now I hope y'all have yourselves a debaucherous week as I plan on having! Mwah!

Thinking, Aching, Golfing, & Celebrating

My head is a bit fuzzy because I think I've come down with a lovely combination of viruses that may have formerly been homeless. Now they've shacked up in my insides and might be picking out curtains. I'm feeling rather hurty and icky and yes, those are the technical terms.

I left work before noon and was in bed as soon as I came in the door. Emma didn't know what to think, but cuddled right up to me anyway with a look that if I was going to go back to bed, so was she. And there we slept for 5 straight hours. Hard.

I was supposed to be going out to celebrate Mrs. Pixie's new sense of freedom in the form of unemployment, which I am oh so excited about for her, but I sat up and my head = woozy and the body, achey.. and therefore it was determined the only thing I would be doing other than going back to sleep as soon as possible, would be finding my way to my kitchen to make something to eat, tho I want/ed to hurl at even having the idea, but I made myself anyway and I still a) feel tons of nausea and b) don't feel any better whatsoever at all. Poo.

While killing time trying to digest food I really couldn't taste, I was doing blog research (read: checking out who has linked to me recently) and people! I, Miss Devylish, have been granted a Thinking Blog Award! TWICE! Were you aware this possibility was out there? I tell you it was news to me! And that, you know, sometimes people actually think because of things I wrote! I know it's incredibly hard to believe, but it seems to be true! The darling girl over at Finnspace and the very kind Popeye both were tagged by individuals who are fans of their sites and they, in turn, tagged me (like IN APRIL! Hi! Where was I?!), and I must say how terribly flattered I am. They said some very nice things and I maybe blushed.

So now it's my turn to tag 5 blogs that make me think (tho I'm posting more than that because I was mentioned twice so I'm giving myself more room here, thank you.):

1. Miss Doxie: She is the reason I began blogging in the first place and my favoritest writer on the InterWeb EVER due to her amazing gift at humor. She is random and creative and a great word-maker-upper and then she'll suddenly throw in something so incredibly touching about the people and dogs in her life and you are right there with her and just a mess of tears, but she always lifts my spirits and my co-workers are always wondering what the hell I'm giggling about.

2. The Dog's Name and Charming, But Single: Indy is one of the better male bloggers out there, in my opinion, and I'm putting him with Charming because I don't link to many sites that are dedicated to discussing the trials and tribulations of dating, but I think the two of them combined are basically the best he said/she said sites out there and I hope they don't mind that I think that. He reminds me of most of the men I know: smart, flirty, thinks you look good in those jeans and her dating life reminds me of how little luck I'm having - but she's funnier and writes better (and she's actually probably luckier than I've been lately.).

3. The Writing Life and Ammogirl: These women have special places in my heart because they have known me for a large portion of my life and knew who I was before I ever even thought of creating this InterWeb alias. Kari has so much she wants to share and she takes everything life throws at her and writes for the feel of creating and for therapy, so she can grow and understand all that she's trying to control, but can't, which makes her incredibly human, identifiable, and endearing. Treena is just crazy, in a good way, and she and I relate by way of made-up words, over-italicizing and over-capitalization because we are just trying to get our points across with every ounce of enthusiasm (or frustration, which ever applies) we are possibly feeling right at that moment that we must get out and I'm always excited by that kind of sister energy.

4. Pomgirl, Sometimes Funny Is All I Have, and ... Mishaps, Missteps, And Manecdotes: These English, or practically English, birds are listed together because they have brought me infinite joy and with any read have provoked me to think long and hard.. or just laugh a lot - like Pom, for example. The last line of her most recent post says, "I got paid today and bought sweets, and it made me very happy." Now isn't this something that just brings the smiling back to your face? It does mine. She's bravely honest when she lets you in more personally, but then she puts up a very icky picture of the largest spider ever in her house and tells you she's named it Bob. What's not to love?! We will meet and share drinks and candy one day!

While Léonie, an aspiring singer/songwriter is never overrun with pretention or angst and just comes across as a darling girl trying to follow her dream. She also loves magical ponies, shoes, Charmed, and taking pictures of herself in pub bathrooms. She's witty without ever a mean spirit about her and I'm quite fond of her.

And then there's Lady Miss Marquise, who's come all the way from the UK to live in BC and has become a Real Life Friend of mine, but who's also now on an official blogging break. Still, she's worth mentioning because she's painfully intelligent in her writing and she always grabs me with how she can bring out the beauty in a single moment.. or the awkwardness in the realization of a mistake. Things we all may see and do, but don't necessarily write about as cleverly as she does. I miss her.

5. Pixie Rising: Last, but certainly not least, Mrs. Pix does something a lot of bloggers do, which is to write in short little bursts a bit here and there, but tho I'm probably biased, she continually reminds me that not everything needs shared. Some things are nice if kept to yourself but here.. look.. she found something special. It's a lot of little lovely things and you don't need to schedule a whole lot of time to breathe it in.. it just takes a moment and she's touched you. Plus I rather like her pictures and her choice of music.

There! Now.. your turn if you like.

The rules are only these:
1. If, and only if, you get tagged, write a post with links to 5 blogs that make you think.
2. Link to this post (from The Thinking Blog) so that people can easily find the exact origin of the meme
3. Optional: Proudly display the 'Thinking Blogger Award' with a link to the post that you wrote.
**********************

Not to forget the fun that was had last weekend as well, I must mention Seattle Urban Golf 2007. I did this last year with friends and Pixie and I had so much fun we forged on again this year. Nine holes and as many bars. Holy lightweights.. There were costumes of mimes and cowgirls in plaid socks and plaid-er dresses and tho it rained this year, our fervor couldn't be dampened.. oh no, it could not! So I leave you with a few of my favorite shots and you are welcome to view the whole thing complete with comments and fancy notes here.

Again, congrats Pixie! So much love!

You all take your vitamins now you hear me? I'm going back bed! Nighty night!

Oh The Lure Of Watching Famous People

There is. A lure, that is. Don't you think? I mean, watching ordinary people is fine.. entertaining even, but once in a while, I want to see famous people doing various things like.. um.. acting maybe.. and making me laugh - that's a good one - and if they can sing too.. bonus!

Now.. going to jail is something altogether different, adding more shock and awe value than actual merriment, especially when there are tears and screaming and the viscious reality check that celebrity doesn't buy you a Get Out Of Jail Free card.. or rather, revokes said card when the press waves it around all over the news in your honor. Oops.

So we did a bunch of this watching of the famous people, or tried and failed in one case, and I'm here to relay all events that transpired.

Boz and I made our way to Neil's who was having a lovely little barbeque a week ago last Sunday afternoon. I had just finished attending Wendy's bridal shower on the hottest day of Almost-Summer so far and was full of vim and vigor (read: cake). And the day was gorgeous and food was being grilled and eaten and we were all chatting and there was a little awkwardness because we didn't really know anyone and everyone was keeping to their own mostly, but we couldn't think of anything else to do while it was so nice.. and then BOOM! Thunder and lightening and rain! And oh! I know! Let's go to a movie! Ok!

We saw Knocked Up and you should run, don't walk, to see this movie. Hilariously good times! Oh the fun and enjoyment! And Paul Rudd is frickin adorable.

Tuesday, The Jedi came into town and we met up with our friends, Kristen and Keith at The Rendezvous for some HBO-sponsored thing for the Flight Of The Conchords because we thought it might be a different thing to do.. noting the promised 'open bar' and 'New York-style catered bites' and the first episode of this comedy duo's show, tho laughs were secondary to.. the free food and drink, of course.. yay! But.. and you knew it was just too good to be true, didn't you.. we noticed something amiss when 'open bar' was actually defined as 'beer and wine only' and the actual screening itself became an occupied-to-capacity theatre when the two 12-year-old girls hosting the party couldn't get it together to bring people from the bar to the theatre like they said they would, so we realized people were moving and by the time we asked about it, it was too late. A 9pm showing was offered.. and thusly, scoffed at because hi.. we arrived on time and asked appropriate questions at how this was going to work.. and were still denied. But they felt so badly about it that they offered us t-shirts. Um.. yeah.. that'll do it, thanks. Not to mention that we waited for the amazingly catered food and were already wondering what exactly that was going to be and when we saw it was seriously only four different kinds of over-fried samosas, we all sort of nodded, left, and went to get Mexican food.

So, tho there were no celebrities, or even semi-celebrities, that night, Wednesday overshadowed the rest of the week by delivering us to fabulous seats at Key Arena to see The Police. Ohhh.. people.. God. I. Love. Sting. I do. I know, I know.. he's become incredibly too mellow for some of you.. and a little too jazzy for me.. but like that mattered. No, I say.. NO! It did not! Watching him smile and sing all my favorite Police songs FINALLY.. was absolutely thrilling! Did I almost get into a fight with the stoners who had to sit directly in front of us when they decided to light up? Well, ok.. yes.. but once we got them to knock that shit off (and they practically passed out after), nothing could shake the sheer joy I felt being there. I mean, yes, of course, Andy Summers looked like he was literally about to keel over and was hardly having a good time and yes, it took them all the way thru the first two songs, Message In A Bottle and Don't Stand So Close To Me to sound like they were in sync, but then again, I'd heard a lot of the popular songs were rearranged here and there so I justified the off-ness to my poor hearing, even tho I knew better, and sang every word with an ear-to-ear grin. Two encores later and a frickin GORGEOUS version of Every Breath You Take.. and I was so in heaven walking back to the car.

I do love Sting, but I'm no longer in love anymore cuz hi.. he is aging, tho rather well.. however, I should be thinking of someone closer to my own age, don't you think, which is why I do have a new crush on the band that opened, Fiction Plane. Could the lead singer, and bass player, fyi, be Sting's son, Joe Sumner? Um.. yeah.. and could he be sexier? Um.. no.. especially since he sounds so much like Sting it's kind of freaky at times. I love the Two Sisters single.. and tho they were panned by both of the local paper's reviewers here as unmemorable and boring, I thought they were pretty damn cool, but then as we all know, I have no taste and am completely distracted by cute, lead singers. I'm totally ok with that.

Now.. Crowded House is reuniting and will be here for Bumbershoot this year.. go on.. ask me.. WHO is on frickin Cloud 9? Oh.. you know the answer.

This week in pictures: Urban Golf 2007! June has barely started and is just going to keep getting better and better. You just wait.

Hate Needs Love Too

Tho I've really felt a positive pull and have had a very good first half of the year (knock on wood), I've been tagged by the charming Pomgirl and it's been a while since I've done a meme - so I obliged.. It's always good to get the bitching out just in case it's building for an explosion, right? It's my own personal charity to the world. No need to thank me now.. You can just send wine/chocolate/money at your earliest convenience.

The 10 Things I Hate Most In Other People:

1. The thought that voting for George W. was a good idea and still is
When you have a guy with a history of running four (FOUR!!) companies into bankruptcy and oh.. general daddy-will-get-me-out-of-anything type thinking combined with well-documented drug and alcohol abuse, what sort of leader do you think you're going to get? And then you vote for him AGAIN?! We will have to agree to disagree, but if you could refrain from breeding, many of us would appreciate it.

2. Inconsiderate-and-not-thinking-of-others-ness
Turn off lights in rooms where you are not, clean the red lint from your nasty laundry out of the dryer and don't leave it there for me to remove, read what can be recycled (paper, plastic containers), what can't (all lids associated with said containers, singular plastic grocery bags), and put in the proper bins (glass does NOT go in the green container, it goes in the brown one, marked frickin 'GLASS.'), take off your shoes when you live in a hardwood-floored home and have neighbors who live below you because wearing clogs ALL DAY EVERY DAY is not neighborly at all. How hard is it, really??

3., 4., 5., & 6. The lack of the necessary skills most people need to be good drivers, ie., unable to merge, drive the speed limit, to find their way or signal
Don't stop the traffic behind you because you are too scared to use that pedal under your right foot that makes your car go. Merging means to blend yourself in, but with the flow of traffic. If you slow or stop everyone else, you are failing miserably. Simple as that.

Also, go. Like.. today. See that sign? It's says 60 or even 70 at times. That does not mean 50 or even 55. You are on the freeway. If you want to go slower, that is where the far right lane comes in. Don't take your self-righteous I'm-going-fast-enough attitude to the far left where I am trying to pass your slow-as-molasses ass. I have places to be and I'd like to get there. If you don't want to arrive til tomorrow, be my guest.. but MOVE OVER.

If you don't know where you are going, don't get on your cell phone and go slower because you are dialing your friend who can't give you good directions OR pull out a map from the passenger-side door, which you can barely reach. Pull over and stop. That doesn't mean stop in front of me when you should be going 35. No, it doesn't. It means pull over in a driveway, off the shoulder, into a gas station, but for the love of Pete, get off the damn road!

Hi. Yes.. you Mr. Driver of very expensive, power everything, tinted-windowed and new BMW/SUV/Audi. I think that car came with turn signals, did it not? Or did you opt for the lower-end model that somehow didn't have them added? I don't think so. I think you took that option of the bronze-handled stick shift and 18 speaker stereo, individual dvd player for every 2.5 child who will be sitting in back, and offer of a blowjob if you buy TODAY from the over-eye-make-up'd sales woman on the eastside in order to get this fine piece of German design and you are just choosing, by nature of being a complete moronic jackass, to not use those signals so cleverly included because you are just too good for them and everyone behind you that you have clearly cut off should've read your fucking mind.

7. Not looking after your children
The fact you are in a restaurant does not give you free reign to allow your toddler to throw a variety of whatever you're feeding them and/or demanding from the waitstaff (more crackers) all over the floor. Just because you aren't at home doesn't mean someone else should clean up after your child. Keep these thoughts in mind as you let them run rampant in the grocery store, maniacally harass the neighbor's dog, and generally destroy things that aren't theirs. I can't wait to see where they get in life with that level of discipline.. um.. Riker's maybe?

8. No ability to plan
Ok.. so I'm just saying, can't we find a happy medium between um.. my preferred brand of two weeks in advance and your oh.. three hours? Please?! I can if you can.. but 'Let's talk about it then' and 'If it's meant to happen, it will' sort of thinking is KILL-ING MEEE.. I would take even a 48-hour call. I'm a spontaneous girl. I'm fully fine with that, but then don't send me a text that day or even the day after and say 'Oh well, maybe next time' or 'Raincheck?' because.. yeah.. duh.. obviously.

9. Spelling issues
Ok.. I'm guilty of this when I want to make a point and I think hyphenated and gross capitalization of your completely made-up words are part of being creative (not to mention comic genius), but make some sense with them, ok? And I really have to draw the line at these: their and there, your and you're, to and too, it's and its. Know. The. Difference. I mean, c'mon.. my 7-year-old niece knows better. I will give you that affect and effect are tougher.. those get me every time, and you should be able to emphasize your 'ninja skilz' with your favorite z.. whatever Treena but these are basic.. eensy even. So if you hit on me on myspace with a 'your hotttttt,' I can assure you that we will have no future other than that of 'delete.'

10. Your dishes*
I know it's so much more effort to get to the sink rather than just setting that peanut-buttered knife on the counter, but unless you think it might wander to the sink and wash itself, which it won't - not even after three days - it will require you picking it up and cleaning up its mess afterwards. Also, you should know that clean dishes - whether in a dish rack or dishwasher - don't walk themselves to the cupboards like magic either. Fyi.

Phew! Well.. I feel WAY better now! How about you, you or hey, you? Anyone else?

*This has nothing to do with my current roommate who is GREAT actually - this just means historically those I may have co-habitated with and not in any romantic level cuz that would mean I may not have minded so much as I've minded in certain other times so very not romantic but actually way more annoying.

The Goose Has Been Spruced!

Hi y'all! Look at me! The Fancy InterWeb Pants have arrived! Complete with actual bling and fire and an oh-so-cute devil girl and everything! Do you love it?! Ok.. if you don't, don't tell me.. but I'm so madly in love with my new page that we may need some private time together.

So I have to give credit to a couple of people here.. First of all, these designs wouldn't exist without the magic of Evilkid Productions and some of the desktop designs on his site, which, when discovered, I didn't hesitate to email him and ask his permission to use.. because you know.. his art and I would never want to steal all his fancy-pantsness he created himself! How rude! Then there is this very nice man named Art, who did all this tweaking of said designs that I had permission to borrow. He's amazing and quick like a bunny.. and very VERY cool! His site is called Living Paint Studios so if you need something, you should send him a note, tell him I sent you, and pay him well because you won't be sorry.. oh no you won't! Would I steer you wrong? Not even!

In other news: 5, that's FIVE DAYS, until the magic of The Police baby! There will be Sting.. and there will be me.. and that's all I really care about. Ok ok.. actually, that's not true.. The Jedi (Oh.. I know, but he picked the name - don't blame me, people.) and I will be going together, my friend from the more southerly metropolis of Portland. The work day has been scheduled for the status of 'off' and there will be drinks and dinner when he arrives, possibly sight-seeing and galavanting in the sun the next day as people with the days of 'off' are prone to do.. and then The Concert Of Awesome featuring my dear friend, Sting. Alright.. so maybe I don't know him as well as I know Blake, but I feel Sting sending the love directly my way. He has for years. We have a connection. Don't laugh. It's real. Shut up.

And seriously.. this is all I can muster today because it's sooooo nice that I can barely concentrate keeping up with all of you fabulous minxes let alone trying to work today.. (Hi, can you say longest EVER four-day work week?? Jesus!).

Now go! Prosper in the almost-summerness of it all I say! Hooray!