Yesterday was a weird one, kind of a roller coaster ride of nothingness around here...plans made that eventually fell through, good stuff, followed by some bad. Y'know, one of those days that, by the end of it, you're completely exhausted and could use a stiff drink (or twelve?). And you've barely left the house?

I was up early and planned on seeing Linds off to the Pride parade. She and her friends go every year and she was totally stoked about it. They get so into it that last year they were photographed and featured in Xtra West magazine (and they're not even gay for chrissake!) I'm proud of her attitude...I think it helped a bit that my two best friends next door were lesbians and it was a non issue for me. When I recently asked her why she felt such a strong need to be in attendance, she replied by saying, "I like to support my friends who are gay". Well good enough then.

But she woke up with a dreadful headache and was very disappointment that she didn't feel she could make it...a good decision, based on the sweltering hot day and lack of shade on the route.

So she'd decided to meet up with her friend afterward...I said I'd drive her, so I hung around waiting for the call. CJ eventually did call, only to say that she'd get back to Linds a little later - she had a few things to do first. I went for my bike ride, expecting to drive Linds over when I returned but apparently the plans had changed (as they usually do when CJ's involved) and Linds was no longer going. And she was fairly disappointed by that...she hasn't seen CJ for much of the summer and she'd been looking forward to it.

No biggie, except that Linds is somewhat depressed and I don't like to leave her here all day by herself on a beautiful day after she's been away so much...her tendency is to sit up in her dark room (she likes it that way), breaking her eyes on her computer. I tried to convince her that we needed to get out, but she wasn't biting. So I decided to lay low here with her.

I sat down at my computer, only to learn from a Facebook friend that Holly McNarland was playing in town and tickets were on sale, so I rushed down and snagged a pair (she's our favorite female artist). Although tickets were advertised at $19.50 each (which prompted my rush out to get them), by the time convenience and handling charges were tacked on they came to about $800 each. O.K., well $33. Oh well, such is life...it was a happy, happy, joy, joy moment anyhow, as we celebrated the "win" and the prospect of finally seeing our girl live. That'll be two concerts in two weeks in September...a good thing, as they fall between Mom's birthday. The distraction will help with that I'm sure.

Anyhow, after pissing away the entire day "waiting" around and getting nothing done, I'd resorted to the fact that my long weekend Sunday was pretty much a bust and nothing much was going to take place. I'd settled in for some TV (I don't think I've had the thing on in a month) and was even starting to doze off when the neighbours next door decided to party outside. The woman's laugh is similar to a braying donkey in a tunnel with a megaphone - so much for peace and quiet.

I went back to my computer to play poker...spent the better part of two hours in a tournament and was 3 spots away from the payout pool when I was knocked out by a totally bad beat/river suckout. In poker terms, that means someone had horseshoes up their ass and stayed in a hand that they had no business being in. And did me in....GGRRRRRR.

Anyhow, it was at that point that Linds came down, very obviously upset - tears streaming down her face. I quickly learned that her first attempt to transfer her video footage from her new camcorder to her PC had gone terribly wrong. It hadn't worked and, in the process, "ate" her tape and caused her camera to shut down. We couldn't get the camera back on...it's now officially "dead" as a doornail.

The footage she lost has devastated her....the trip to Seattle with her Dad to see Bright Eyes, The White Stripes concert, some funny stuff of her Nan (and me, playing my FP "keyboard"), an hour of her and her best friend who she rarely sees anymore...stuff like that. How do fix that? You don't, that's how. You stay up half the night completely feeling her pain, trying to trouble shoot things on the internet (with no success).

I'm a little peeved because the fellow who "fixed" her computer and installed the firewire port and the program for uploading her videos ($650) told me there was nothing to know...just "plug in and go". Obviously that didn't work and I'll be going back for some explanations...she'd done everything by the book.

So that was my Sunday...a whole lot of nothing that ended in tears. I think I'll go back to work now.