And so it begins....

Wel, this is it. I've finally caved. After months of dithering and resisting I've given up and accepted that I'm hardly ever online at home and since my employer blocked the site I've been blogging on since 2002, I've made my way to blogger. If you care to read what went before, it's linked in my "people and places" section.

This is the spot where I'll rant, rave and ramble about things that make me happy, things that boggle my mind, and probably with disturbing frequency the things that just irk me beyond belief. Yes, irk. There are a number of policies I'm trying to employ... not naming names generally, trying to keep it clean (meaning, I'll do my best to keep profanity to a minimum, and if I do go that direction, I'll be using subsitutions in the words or alternate spellings)... that said, I'm no saint ;)

Now... a little bit more about me:
- I'm Irish by heritage. By that, unlike a significant number of 'Irish' here, I mean that my parents immigrated to this country shortly before I made my appearance. Very shortly. Mere months, indeed. I don't go back 3 or 4 generations in this country and all my relatives apart from immediate family are "across the pond".
- I married D in 2003. People who ask how long we dated before we got engaged almost always raise their eyebrows. We like to believe we got all the dating akwardness out of the way over the course of the 5 year friendship that went before our 3.5 month courtship.
- We've got 2 cats... Grim (Grimalkin) who's been part of my life since before D came on the scene (he's going to be 11 this year) and Chloe who we adopted together (we think she's about 5... she's a rescued stray and on the small side, so it's hard to know for sure).
- We've also got a classic VW SuperBeetle (1973) which became ours on the day we got married. We call it Li'l Beastie (because all our cars have names... it's easier to beg them to behave that way *laugh*)
- While planning my wedding I got involved in a site called weddingbells.ca in their planning forums. I became a moderator there a few months before the wedding and I can honestly say that I've met some wonderful people through the site. I've also met some people who really weren't worth the time I invested in them... and some who aren't even worth the time I didn't invest in them.
- I'm one of those people who will go to the ends of the earth and beyond for her friends... heck, will go farther than most for acquaintances. But over the years I've come to the conclusion that I don't need to spend time with the people who just take advantage of that characteristic when it suits them. I give people two chances... three if I really care about them... after that, I just don't need the poisonous personalities in my life *shrug* Perhaps that sounds hard, bitter, and jaded. I prefer to think of it as endowed with uncommon wisdom. But then, I like to tell myself I'm a much better person than I probably am, too *laugh*
- I have an unusual sense of humour. Wry, dark, just plain odd, call it what you like.
- I've been through a lot in life. I like to believe that's helped me give comfort, support, and assistance to more than a few people I've encountered. Unfortunately, sometimes I can get a bit 'preachy' and forget that just because I went through a similar situation doesn't mean anyone else feels or deals the same way.

Ok... that's enough for now. I'm already convinced I'll bore anyone who stumbles across my corner of the blogosphere to death before they have a chance to nav away. But maybe someone out there will prove me wrong :)

-->me