(no subject)

[raincitygirl]

I hate my insomnia. I woke up around 2 am, and got back to sleep, but then woke up again around 3 am, and couldn't get back to sleep then. Grrrrrr. The alarm is going to go off in 3 minutes, I've been up (but not lively or energetic) for hours, and all I want to do is go back to sleep.

I got to skip-40 on my f-list and dwircle, and then went, "Fuck it," because I have barely glanced at LJ/DW for about 7 weeks, and I don't think I can catch up.

I have John Rutter and the Cambridge Singers' For the Beauty of the Earth stuck in my head, and have for 4 days. As ear worms go, it's very pleasant and soothing, but after 4 days, it's starting to pall. The YouTube video I linked to seems to have been posted by someone who is...intensely Christian. Just ignore the comments below the video and focus on the beautiful music, if that's not your scene.

Where the FUCK am I going to find a diabetic-friendly Easter bunny (or egg) for my godson? The only website I found is based out of Ohio, and charges about the bunny's weight in gold for cross-border shipping. Does Ohio have a lot of diabetics or something? Why Ohio? Inquiring minds want to know.

Justice Robin Camp has resigned from the judiciary, oh happy day, halloo hallay. The judicial council had already ruled that he had to be removed, so it was a last-ditch resignation, probably to save his pension, as opposed to him "doing the decent thing." I am agreeably surprised. I was pretty sure the old boys club would hang together and find a way not to remove him, despite his horrible misconduct and apparent gross lack of knowledge of the actual laws on sexual assault in his own jurisdiction leading to a rapist being acquitted. The judicial council of Canada virtually NEVER recommends that judges be fired, to my knowledge.

Of course, it's like a game of Whack a Mole. Robin Camp is forced to resign in Alberta, but oh look, in Nova Scotia, another judge similar to EX-Justice Camp has popped up. According to Justice Gregory Lenehan, if there's any possibility that a woman who's passed out from drinking MIGHT just possibly have consented to sex prior to losing consciousness, the guy assaulting her can't possibly be convicted. I'm paraphrasing, and possibly hyperbolizing (is that even a word?) but just read the fucking newspaper article, and you'll see that I'm not paraphrasing nearly as much as I wish I were.

I'm sorry, I'm not being very coherent, between the blind rage and the lack of sleep. And now the alarm HAS gone off, so I guess I should get dressed and go to the bloody office. It's fucking fiscal year end (forgive my language, but I love alliteration) on March 31, and March 31 is coming up FAST. I have a hot stone massage booked for April 8. I'll need it by then.

Comments

[ancarett]

For your nephew, sometimes there are super-cool crafty Easter things - like wooden rabbits to paint. Maybe a stuffy or a board game that can give him something to do rather than something to eat?

And don't worry about catching up. It sounds like you're hella busy. Here's hoping that April 8th is a wonderful day beyond the joys of that massage (which sounds amazing).

[raincitygirl]

It's all good THIS year. He's not yet 2, and I'm going to get him a 3-pack of Purdys no-sugar-added hedgehogs plus a little stuffed animal. I had intended it to be a bunny rabbit, but then I found this flipping adorable penguin stuffie, and knew it had to be that. And for when he's older and has better hand-eye coordination, crafty Easter stuff is a GREAT idea, so thank you.

But by the time he's in kindergarten, i will have needed to source some kind of chocolate bunny or egg. By then he'll have figured out that the other kids in his class can eat stuff that he can't. I'm on godmother overload, because the little guy has had SUCH a shitty spring, what with being diagnosed with juvenile diabetes so recently. As my friend said, you can't explain to a toddler that you're poking them with sharp object for their own good.

Yeah, I am indeed hella busy, between trying to catch up on stuff I got behind on when I was still learning the new job, and fiscal year end stuff that keeps relentlessly rolling in. My old job had a much smaller finance component, although I actually worked across the hall from our Accounting Services people. Now I understand WHY they always looked so hollow-eyed in February and March. By April 8 I will be a wreck and my massage will have been bloody EARNED.

[madripoor_rose]

Ohio has a surprising number of independent candy-makers. I guess having a larger diabetic section gives them an edge/wider market? A little curious now. Most of 'em just have a couple of sugar free assortments and don't bother with Easter and special seasonal stuff.

[raincitygirl]

Interesting re: Ohio having all those independent candy-makers! It's all good THIS year. He's not yet 2, and I'm going to get him a 3-pack of Purdys no-sugar-added hedgehogs (a chocolate/hazelnut praline in a milk chocolate shell shaped like a hedgehog) plus a little stuffed animal. I had intended it to be a stuffed bunny rabbit, but then I found this flipping adorable penguin stuffie, and knew it had to be that.

Purdys isn't exactly an independent. They're a major player in Western Canada, and recently expanded to Ontario, but they're regional, so I guess having a diabetic selection does indeed give them an edge over the huge international candy companies that have economies of scale and can beat them on price. I actually emailed them, and they sent me back a nice email saying they did at one point have no-sugar-added Christmas and Easter novelty items, but discontinued them because the demand just wasn't there. Fair enough.

But by the time he's in kindergarten, i will have needed to source some kind of chocolate bunny or egg (possibly from Ohio!). By then he'll have figured out that the other kids in his class can eat stuff that he can't. I'm on godmother overload, because the little guy has had SUCH a shitty spring, what with being diagnosed with juvenile diabetes so recently. As my friend said, you can't explain to a toddler that you're poking them with sharp object for their own good.

[madripoor_rose]

Nods, yeah, that's tough on the little ones.

That surprises me a bit! I know it wouldn't be a major market, but I would have thought even diabetics who avoid candy would want a little something special for the holidays. But I guess that must be common since I haven't seen anything other than the standard sugar free assortment myself.

What is the website, by the way? Dad's not diabetic but has had borderline numbers so he only eats the sugar free stuff.

[raincitygirl]

It's here. I can recommend the dark chocolate mint meltie bar. I haven't tried the NSA version, but the regular version is addictive. You'd pay for cross-border shipping, but with the way the Canadian dollar has been against the US dollar lately, it might still be a decent deal for you guys!

Yeah, I was kind of surprised too about the lack of holiday novelty items. But I guess if they crunched the numbers and the NSA holiday stuff wasn't selling enough, they wouldn't have a business case to keep making the items. And they are, after all, a business. They make enough money selling chocolate in Western Canada that there's an entire wing at UBC hospital in Vancouver named the Purdy Pavilion, because they donated the money to build the wing. And probably got a big tax break for it, say I, putting on my cynical hat.

[madripoor_rose]

Oh, the hedgehogs are adorable! And huh, they do have a shop over in Windsor Ontario. We haven't been across the lake since Mom passed, but maybe Dad'll be up to it this summer. Depending on what Security Theater has done to border crossings, that'd be a day trip over to Detroit and across the bridge/under the tunnel.

[raincitygirl]

Yeah, you probably can't really tell from the photos, but the hedgehogs are so cute it's almost a shame to eat them. They have little spikes, and eyes and even noses etched onto the surface of the milk chocolate shell. But I always do eat them eventually, because the hazelnut praline inside is damn good.

Yeah, they expanded into Ontario fairly recently. 2008 or so, which probably wasn't the best timing from an economic POV, in retrospect. If you guys are going to Windsor anyway, a trip to the shop might well be in order.

I had to chuckle at "Security Theatre". It's funny because it's true! I know the border crossing just south of Vancouver is a bloody nightmare these days unless you have a Nexus Card. And if you guys haven't been to Ontario since your mom died, then you wouldn't go often enough for Nexus to be worth your while. I'd say make sure you have the car radio tuned to a station you like, or maybe you and your dad could bring books to read in the line-up. But on the bright side, you're both white!

I remember seeing an episode of the Rick Mercer Report a few years ago in which Rick and the camera crew were attempting to cross the US border south of Toronto to film one of their "Talking to Americans" segments, and owing to a mix-up, nobody had their passports with them. He looked straight into the camera and deadpanned, "Dealing with the border guards should be fun. But on the bright side, everybody in this van is white." I don't remember if they actually got across the border. Hopefully not!

Mercer is an intensely funny comedian, and not the slightest bit vulgar with it. I don't like comedy shows usually, but he's hilarious. Possibly because he knows when to stop. Everybody in Canada loved "Talking to Americans" but he stopped filming new segments a few years back because he decided that particular schtick was getting tired and he needed to move on to new material.