Hey Rocky!

This morning I was sitting in the living room, when I glanced out the window at the huge maple tree in the front of the house. There, clinging to a branch in the wind and rain, was a squirrel.

Now, the sighting of a squirrel is not usually a cause for celebration in urban and built up areas. But here in the country, where we're surrounded by farms and the trees are pretty far apart, squirrels are a creature of note.

No one is sure how they get out here, just that they show up periodically. And that they don't last long. The road my parents live on is busy and fast. Plus, our herd of feline domesticus like a little variety in their diet, which normally consists of cat food (Meow Mix), doves (which are really just pigeons with good PR, and pigeons are just rats with wings), mice, and the occasional unidentified creature ("Is that a vole?" "It certainly looks vole-like." "Seriously?" "I don't know - what do voles look like?")

Post-post-Boxing Day buzz

Another day spent in glorious debauchery.

Yesterday, the ILP tried to go to the kitchen and restaurant supply place and the giant book store. Hilariously enough, both were closed. So I hit both places today.

If you are ever in the St. Catharines area after Christmas, might I suggest stopping by the Book Depot (it's on Welland Ave. for those in the region). Books that are already on sale are even more on sale for the next few days. I made out pretty good - among other things, two Nigella Lawson cookbooks, A Cook's Tour by Anthony Bourdain (I'm hooked, I tell ya...), Me Talk Pretty One Day by Dave Sedaris, The Devil Wears Prada by Lauren Weisberger, and Sellovision by Augusten Burroughs (which I started reading while waiting in line). The clerk tallied up the total and then divided it in half, which made me all giddy and excited and wanting to go back again tomorrow. But I somehow have to get them all back to Sudbury, plus I don't have room on my shelves (or, at least I'm not going to have room) to house them. Plus, I need to save money for my SEX (stash enhancement expedition - a knitting term) on Thursday.

The kitchen place is really cool, even though I feel like a complete amateur in there. There are so many pots and pans and implements to look at, that I feel that my cooking/baking would improve if I only had that funky looking wire whisk...

The other problem I have is that when you grow up with a mother who loves to bake and does so almost constantly is that you have an unrealistic expectation of how many pie plates, cookie sheets, muffin tins, loaf pans, cake pans, mixing bowls, etc., you really need. Do I need those tiny muffin tins for perfect bite-sized cheesecakes? No. Do I need a deep-dish pie plate with scalloped edging? No. Do I need a round bund pan for making gingerbread cake or poppyseed cake? Maybe, but I don't need the $40 cast-iron one. So I limited myself to a nice, heavy mixing bowl and a long square pan for making brownies. Yeah, right...

Afterwards, I stopped at the library for a little visit (hi Elaine!) and then went to the yarn store in Fonthill. I got another ball of Dandy to finish the scarf I started eons ago but needed one more ball to complete, and two balls of totally cool novelty stuff - names of which I can't remember.

And then I came home and finished Kiss of the Fur Queen. Good lord, but it was a sad ending! It was a sad book, but I loved it nonetheless. I'm all sad now, and I don't really want to read Pi, but I'm going to force myself to anyways.

Movies in 2004

This year was a banner year as far as going to see movies was concerned. In the past, I might go to one or two movies - tops. This year, I went nine - NINE! - times (that I remember). So, here's how it broke down:

Anchorman - Pretty cheese and over-the-top, but in a good way. Will Ferrell is a genius, and the rest of the cast was pretty great as well.

Blade Trinity - Not bad. Saved by actors other than Snipes. Some funny dialogue bits, occasionally not meant to be funny at all.

Bridget Jones : The Edge of Reason - Meh. Not my favourite, but I do like Renee Zellweger.

Dodgeball - I saw this movie around the same time as Anchorman, and some of the actors appear in both, so I sometimes mix the two up. I'm not a Ben Stiller fan (except for Mystery Men), and didn't change my mind after this film.

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban - This was my favourite Harry Potter movie so far. A lot of the "incidental" action - trips to the library, Quidditch matches, etc, were cut, and made the story less cumbersome. The actors are better at playing their characters now, and the addition of Michael Gambon as Dumbledore was excellent. And I liked Alfonso Cuaron's directing better than Chris Columbus' because Columbus tries too hard to make his child characters be mature and intellegent, like short adults, instead of letting them act like children. Now that most of them are teenagers, they're finally able starting to act their age.

Hellboy - Another meh movie. I do think that any film that uses Tom Waits in the soundtrack is worth watching at least once.

Hero - Stunningly beautiful. The cinematography, the costumes, the fight scenes - all bold and striking. The story? Confusing - I'd have to see it again to be certain who was really crossing who.

Shrek 2 - Better than the original, and more geared towards older kids or adults. The best line in the movie is when Fiona is looking for Shrek, and calls out "Shrek?" Puss in Boots responds, "For you baby, I could be." (You have to hear that line being said by Antonio Banderas to really understand the impact.)

Spiderman 2 - In general, meh. I liked it better than the original, though. (Bonus fun trivia: in the scene where Spider Man is forced to take the elevator, the actor who plays the guy in the elevator is Hal Sparks. Sparks plays Michael Novotny on Queer as Folk, a character that owns a comic book shop and writes a comic book about a gay superhero.)

Happy Boxing Day!

Here's to everyone and their families - that you may all have a truly slothful and relaxing day-after-Christmas to recover! May the lines at the Boxing Day sales be reasonable, the salespersons friendly, and that swanky black skirt be in your size! May the books that you sit around reading capture your attention and not let go until you've finished the whole thing in one sitting! May all the movies/sporting events you watch today sooth your frazzled minds!

I, for one, have spent a goodly portion of the day eating Christmas cookies and reading Kitchen Confidential (hence the mass consumption of gingerbread and icebox cookies). When I wasn't reading, I was making tea or trying to get the internet connection to work. (It's flaky - this morning it wouldn't connect, but for no discernable reason, it works now.)

Happy Boxing Day from the ILP and everyone else at Chez Larocque!

Stupid Mind!

I’m sure that everybody knows how much my body hates me
It lets me down most every time and makes me rash and hasty
- Billy Bragg, Sexuality

Over the past four days, I've had a grand total of 9 hours sleep. By last night, I was quite tired and more than a little stressed out. When I went to bed shortly before midnight, I kept thinking how much my body will appreciate a good, solid 7 hours of uninterrupted sleep. It took a while to get to sleep, because every time I'd drift off, I'd think of something else that needed to be done in the morning. Finally, I got up and made a list, and since I didn't have to try and remember anymore, I dropped right off.

At 5:20am, my Mind woke me up.
"Pssst. Hey!"
"Zzzzzzz... *snort* Wha...?"
"Hey! What about the locks?"
"Huh?"
"The locks!"
"What locks?"
"For the suitcase, duh! Where are they?"
"How the hell should I know? I think they're on the big suitcase."
"Well, you should go find them."
"No."
"Why not?"
"Because I don't need them. Now shut up and let me get another two hours of sleep, please!"
"What do you mean, you don't need them? What if someone tries to break into your suitcase?"
"I don't need them because I'm staying at Chez Larocque. The only person who might possibly want to break into my luggage is Rachelle to look for her Christmas presents." (Note to Rachelle: Don't.)
"But where are the locks?"
"Again, I don't know. Probably on the big suitcase."
"Fine. Where are the keys for the locks, then?"
"Shit! I don't know! Will you bugger off?"

At that point, my sinuses decided to get in on the game and started running. For the next fifteen minutes, I was sneezing and blowing my nose and coughing and all sorts of other attractive things. Finally, I got up and my sinuses and my Mind started high-fiving each other for getting me out of bed an hour and a half before my alarm was supposed to go off. Bastards.

I just talked to my mother, and apparently the weather in Toronto is craptacular, but not doing anything at home. I'll be doing the trek in puddle-jumps (stopping in Parry Sound and Barrie) to gauge the weather and road conditions.

Wish all us travelers luck!

Update: Despite miserable road conditions from Sudbury to Barrie (and moderately bad conditions from Barrie to Toronto, and "Meh" road conditions the rest of the way), I made it home in slightly over nine hours. It's normally a six-hour journey.

Thanks for the good karma and best wishes!

Heading South

I was going to post the list of movies I saw this past year, but it needs editing and such and I'm running on empty right about now.

I'm heading home for the holidays in the morning, and the weather isn't co-operating. It's snowing a little tonight, but we're supposed to get more overnight. Plus, there's a winter storm warning for pretty much all of Southern Ontario tomorrow. However, I'm not exceedingly worried.

As I told a former co-worker in an email earlier this evening (hi Elaine!), "Yes, yes - I know there's a winter storm warning. We get those every year, but how many times did we actually *get* a storm? (Watch - this time, there will actually be a storm. Just g/God's way of taunting me.)" (The answer is - rarely. Never at this time of year.)

But just in case the weather is bad and I have to drive through it, could you spare me a thought or two? I should be okay if I take my time and accept that I may have to stop somewhere along the way.

Anyways, g'nite. Maybe I'll post something brief in the morning.

This is how I knew it was Monday

When I was in grad school, I would gauge how bad my day was going to be by how early in the morning I started drinking Coke. (I had a similar gauge when I worked at the public library - how insane the day was going to be by how early I was sent to Tim Horton's for the coffee run. Anytime before we opened was not a good sign.)

Yesterday, I should have started drinking Coke as soon as I got up.

I'd only had three hours sleep. My bad - Karen and I started watching Jersey Girl at around 10:40, and it was going to be late when we finished. Knew that, wanted to watch anyways, and then ended up talking for another two hours after the movie ended. So, right off the bat, I was tired. Not sleepy-tired, but hideously giddy-tired. Giggling maniacally, I got ready for work.

Now, Saturday night when I got home from church, it wasn't that bad weather-wise - the temp hovered around -10 or so. Over the next three hours, the temp dropped 20 degrees, and the wind picked up. I didn't plug my car in because I wasn't going anywhere Sunday, but I did run down Sunday afternoon to plug it in. Did you know it takes less than 10 seconds for your nostril hair to freeze when the temp with the windchill is -46 degrees? I know that now.

Knowing that it was bloody----ing cold*, I made sure I got down to my car good and early. Went to the driver side door, and it wouldn't open - terrific, it's frozen shut. Again. The passenger side door did open, and after unplugging the car, I started it. The car made an awful noise, started, and continued to make funny noises. I walked around the car to try and open the door again, and noticed this black soot-like stuff under my exhaust pipe. Uh-oh - soooo not good.

It turns out that none of the outlets on that side of the parking lot were working, so although I plugged in the block heater, nothing happened. Fabulous. I ended up calling a cab and being 45 minutes late for work.

Karen was home sick, so in my giddy state, I started prank calling her and leaving messages on her answering machine that consisted of lines from movies we'd seen recently. Such as, "You dress in the manner of a male prostitute!", "Of course, it doesn't have the long-range capabilities of, say, a sword...", and "Am I to understand that you have inserted your father's skull in that ball for bowling?" "No, the guy at the pro shop did that."

Someone offered me a ride home, but that fell through. Fortunately, I was able to get a ride home with someone else. By the time I got home, the outlets were working again, but I still couldn't get the door open.

(An example of how cold it was: when the door wouldn't open, I tried pouring a little bit of water around the frame to try and melt the ice some. For everyone who is cringing and hollering, "NO!" let me assure you that I know better than to do that now. By the time I put the lid back on the bottle and put it down on the hood of the car, the water around the door had frozen. Solid.)

Karen was able to pick me up for dinner at her parents and then curling, where we had the late start time. At one point, I was throwing a take-out rock*** and slipped at the last second. I almost took out the team on the sheet beside us. We were so thoroughly trounced that we just called the game after the sixth end. The scoreboard only goes up to 15, after all.

(And, can I say that I seem to be turning into a curler? Last night I realized that I was yelling at my rocks when they weren't curling properly. "CURL! DAMNNIT! CURL! NOW! NOW! NOT THAT WAY!" Hence, the cursing and swearing.)

Then, I didn't get home until after 11, at which point I thought I'd read a chapter of my book. At 12:30 I looked up and said, "Huh. It's past my bedtime now."

I'm more tired today, so at least I'm not giddy. And no Coke or cola products were consumed before 8am - a hopeful sign.

(And my car door opened this morning. Yay!)


* I'm disguising the fact that I used a Bad Word because my mother's going to read this. Hi Mom!**
** It's a good thing she wasn't at curling last night - I used a couple of words that didn't have asterisks in them.
***Throwing the stone fast and heavy - you want to knock the opponent's rock right out of the rings.

A brush with shmarminess

("Brushes with shmarminess" used to be a bit on a radio station I listened to. People would call in and talk about their encounters with celebrities.)

Back in high school, there was this guy in a couple of my classes who was obsessed with Linda Evangelista. He was a funny guy - a cross between "ha-ha" funny and "hmmm.." funny. I didn't know him really well, but I knew him from a couple of classes and from drama club. Actually, he was in my sister's class, so she might know him better.

Anyways. This afternoon, I was flipping channels while eating lunch and happened across "Sexy Girl" on the Life Network. And guess who was one of the fashion stylists? Yup - him! It was a totally surreal moment - I kept thinking, "Nah, that can't be the same Ryan... or is it?" So I checked the web site, and it is indeed the same guy from high school.

It ranks right up there with the time I saw a girl I knew from high school on the Camilla Scott Show, on an episode about obsessive roommates. Her roommates' obsession was with alphabetizing all her canned goods.

So, what did I accomplish today?

Banking stuff, including paying bills.

Make gingerbread cookie dough.

Returned some videos to Blockbuster.

Dropped off a book at the library, and picked one up that had come in on reserve for me. (I found out later that the librarian renewed a book that I forgot was overdue. I know for a fact that librarians only renew books without asking for library users they like. If they really like you, they take the fines off too :)

Filled the gas tank. (I tried to ignore the fact that it was under 66 cents the other day, and today it was 78 cents.)

Got part of Denise's present at the mall.

Got a present for my godfather at the mall (he gets the same thing every year - Dixies from Laura Secord. He doesn't read this, as far as I know, but I think he's expecting them anyways.)

Got a Christmas outfit that will probably go over moderately well with my fashion consultants (my mom and Rachelle). I used a gift certificate to make this possible.

Had lunch.

Drove past the LYS without even slowing down. Didn't have time.

Went to BouClair's and got material for making bags for Christmas presents.

Went to Chapter's. Got the rest of Denise's present and something for Rachelle. Also got a peppermint latte and finished writing a card. Also came up with a cool tagline for the blog that I'll use in the new year.

Got to the grocery store. I'd planned to get the videos, mail a parcel, and get a few groceries, but I managed to accomplish only the first task.

Came home. Spent next three hours trying to get rid of headache.

Baked gingerbread cookies. The first batch that came out where severely undercooked, and sucked big time. I'm not sure how the rest turned out, except that I left them in longer than the first batch.

Put up Christmas lights in my window. Pretty!

Knitted some. Puttered some.

Watched the first Blade movie, which was on Space (the sci-fi channel). I'm realizing how much better the story is than in the most recent one. Donal Logue was my favourite vampire in that movie. I'm considering making a t-shirt with the line, "I'm gonna be a naughty vampire god!" Or, "Some mother****ers are always trying to skate uphill."

Went to bed. Umm... eventually...

Frelling weather that causes massive headaches

Earlier this week, it was gradually warming to, like, -6 from where it had been hovering at the -20 (with windchill) mark. Wednesday it was damn cold, but yesterday morning it was warm enough that it snowed most of the day. Big, fat snowflakes - perfect for a snowball fight (Right Karen? Right Jeff?)

This morning, I work up and my head hurt. Not that much, I thought it would go away. Then I stepped outside to run some errands. (Note: the Kevin Smith Movie Day that was planned for today has been postponed, probably until Sunday where it will become the Kevin Smith Movie Evening.) Damn! It was cold enough that it took my breath away! And make my head hurt some more. When the temperature drops suddenly like that, I tend to get really bad headaches. It hurt most of today, and by 3:00, my head was starting to tingle - not good. I skipped running my last two errands, and went straight home to try and get rid of it.

I have various ways of getting rid of headaches that I'll share with you. Try them in any combo:

• sleeping - good for mild headaches
• Advil liqui-gel caps
• putting on layers of warm clothing, especially hats or scarves - sometimes I get headaches when I'm cold, or I get cold when I get headaches - whatever. I think it has something to do with blood circulation.
• hot water bottle on the back of my neck or shoulders - good for tension headaches
• soaking my feet in hot water - this one works really well. I don't know why. Use water that is hot hot hot, soak for about fifteen minutes, and voila!
• hot shower - usually a last resort.
• stretching

I tried all of them, and it's gone now, but I haven't had the post-headachy-migrainy euphoria that I usually experience. It's a pleasant, floaty feeling that I usually get once the headache is completely gone.

Hockey!

I mentioned in passing that I watched the show "Making the Cut," the quintessentially Canadian reality show. For those of you not the least bit interested in hockey, you can go get a beer out of the fridge - we'll still be here when you get back.

Why is this the quintessential Canadian reality show? Well, it's about hockey. Specifically, tryouts for the NHL. Something like 4000 guys tried out, and 68 made it to the camp. Over the next two weeks, they had to impress the coaches and scouts to make it to the final 18. At the end of each day, a number of players were told they were "on the bubble," or at risk of being cut, and had to go to centre ice. If they weren't performing well, they got a black helmet and played with the developmental squad, but had the chance to return to the elite squad.

And since the NHL is on strike, and there's no Hockey Night in Canada (waa!), this is all I have to fill that gap.

Last week, they announced the top 18, from whom the top 6 would be drafted by the six Canadian teams in the NHL (Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Toronto, Ottawa, and Montreal - go Habs!). Happily, five of the guys I was rooting for made it - Jacobs, Mole, Noel, Wires, and Dickenson. (A note about Noel - he's from the town over from the town where my dad's from, so naturally I was going to root for him!)

The final is being aired live right now, and they're about to announce the top 6. Be right back!

Update: Frell. Of my five, only Mole and Noel got drafted. Mole to Ottawa, which are a pretty good team, so good for him! And Noel got drafted by Toronto - I can hear my dad swearing from here. He hates Toronto with a passion that is pure and holy, and for a hometown boy to be drafted by them must be seriously pissing him off. I would have liked to see Noel or Jacob drafted by Montreal (go Habs!). Eh.

Addendum to Sunday's post

Firstly, I keep forgetting that I've been seeing posters and previews for Flight of the Phoenix. It's a remake of the 1965 version which starred a grizzled James Stewart and a youthful Richard "Dickie" Attenborough. Dennis Quaid looks nothing like Stewart, although there is an striking resemblance between Giovani Ribisi and Attenborough (except that he's not as roundish). What irritates me in a way that irritates me for being irritated is that in the updated version, they've added a female character.

So why does this irritate me? Because there wasn't a female character in the original, and adding one now doesn't make much sense. It strikes me as if the producers/directors decided to add a woman to the cast to a) add sexual tension; b) appeal to a female audience; and c) be PC.

And it bothers me that I'm irritated by this. I feel like I'm being disloyal to the sisterhood by mentioning it. I should be pleased that they're making an effort to portray women as being as capable as men at surviving under harsh conditions. It's just that I felt like rolling my eyes when I saw the poster - "Oh great. Another attempt at demonstrating women can kick ass when necessary."

(Oh, and in the original, the crash happened in the Sahara, and was filmed in California and Arizona. In the update, the crash happens in the Gobi Desert (Mongolia). Guess where it was filmed? Yeah, I said "the Sahara!" too. Actually, it was filmed in Namibia. Psych!)

Secondly, lest you think I'm a new member of the Ryan Reynolds Fangirl Club, I'll have you know that I used to watch "Two Guys, a Girl and a Pizza Place" many years ago. I wasn't a faithful viewer, but I did like the show. I'd always lumped him in with Jason Lee and Ben Browder in the "Sarcastic, But Cute" category. (Of course, now I'm going to have to move Lee to the "Cute and Geeky" category, and rename the category "Sarcastic, Cute, and Ripped.")

"I'd like to thank..."

Watching the Billboard Awards Saturday night, Kris, Karen and I noted the overwhelming trend towards thanking God and parents in acceptance speeches. There are others we would have like to see thanked that went completely ignored:

• "My Dark Lord and Master, Satan. You were right - I don't need a soul and I am doing so much better now!"
• "The Betty Ford Clinic. Betty, baby - we've got to do lunch sometime. And this time, it won't be liquid."
• "The Elder Gods. Cthulhu, Yig, Nyarlathotep, He Who Can't Be Named - you guys rock!"
• "My massage therapist, Niles."
• "No one. 'Cause it's all about me! Me! Me! Me! Me!"
• "I'd like to thank 'Hooked on Phonics' for making me a better speller."
• "My accountant, Bob, for teaching me about sex, drugs, and RRSPs."

An afternoon at the movies

Despite the snow (woo! Snow! I love snow!), Karen and I went to see Blade Trinity this afternoon.

First things first - Ryan Reynolds? Smokin'. Just so you know. (Had he and Parker Posey - as a baddie - not been in the movie, it wouldn't have been good at all. The two of them had some of the best lines/scenes in the movie.)

As it was, it wasn't a terrible movie. There were some questionable plot holes, and Wesley Snipes basically phoned in his part. There wasn't much sword fighting and/or martial arts, which is why I (eventually) liked the first Blade movie. (I thought it was dumb the first time I saw it in the theater, and then a year or so later, rented it and changed my mind.) There was more shooting in this one, although the archery aspect was pretty cool.

This time, I made sure I wrote down the previews:

• XXX (Triple X): State of the Union - as soon as I saw Willem Dafoe, I knew he was going to be the bad guy. The presence of Dafoe doesn't always mean he's going to be the baddie, but generally you can count on him to be up to no good if he's in the movie. Otherwise, I have no interest in this one.
• Assault on Precinct 13 - ah, a remake. Not an Ethan Hawke fan. But I do admire John Leguizamo (he of the semi-unpronounceable last name), even though I always think of him as the Character Most Likely To Die Tragically (I don't know why), and I admit to a weakness for Gabriel Byrnes.
• The Ring Two - umm... no. Too scary. Besides, is a sequel really necessary? (I haven't seen the first one, and since I enjoy sleeping with the lights off, I don't plan to either.)
  
• Constantine - I know it's based on a comic book character, so I'm going to wait and see what the reviews are before I make any rash decisions to see this one.
• Darkness - it seems that this one was made almost three years, and is only being released now - not a good sign. Karen wants me to mention that she kept her eyes closed for the whole preview. I was digging through my purse looking for a pen and paper, so I missed most of this one. But it also looks scary.

So, basically, I won't be seeing any of those movies.

Sunday afternoon, trying not to think about Monday

Sorry the posting has been light over the past few days. I'm having issues with the computer fan, and I'm afraid to overtax it and cause a meltdown. Besides, there's not much exciting going on. "What about getting ready for Christmas?" you say. Yeah, well, that too. I don't have very many Christmas decorations, besides a set of lights I still haven't put up and a light that used to belong to my Meme.

Oh, I did get a DVD player because I was tired of sucking up to my computer. The first movie I watched on it was Bubba Ho-Tep, which.... meh. I fell asleep towards the end and missed the ending. Oh well.

And good luck to the Insane Larocque Posse, who are making the fruitcake this afternoon. I defy you to find anyone else with my mad orange-zesting skillz!

Co-inkidink? I think so...

I have a history of experiencing weird coincidences (coincidents?). Ask me to tell you about the first week of grad school. (Actually, don't bother asking - if I've known you more than a month, chances are good that I've probably already told you and you're already bored of it.)

Anyways, in the past two weeks, I've been going through another flurry of "Wow, that's weird" moments.

Weird moment #1: I was cruising around the IMDb site, and came across Callum Keith Rennie's filmography. Now, some of you may know/remember him as Stan "Ray" Kowalski from later seasons of Due South, or from eXistenZ or Last Night. I noticed that he had appeared on an episode of "Bliss", which I thought was odd, but meh - I've harboured a secret crush Jeff Goldblum for years, so there's really no accounting for my taste.

Flipping channels a few days later, didn't I happen to catch his episode of Bliss on Showcase?

Weird moment #2: Last week, famous Canadian mucky-muck Pierre Burton passed away. He was a journalist and prolific writer, mostly about Canadian history and politics.

On Saturday, I grabbed a page from a newspaper to clean my mirror (use vinegar and newspaper to clean your mirrors and windows - there's something about the vinegar and the amonia in the newspaper that leaves a shiny, streak-free finish). I have a bag of papers that had been packing material last time I brought stuff from home. I opened the page to crumple it up, and didn't I find an article about Burton written by Allan Fotheringham - my favourite Canadian columnist? (Lest you think it was a recent paper, the date on the page was October 8th - almost a month old.)

Weird moment #3: On Definitely Not The Opera on Saturday afternoon on CBC Radio 1 (so-called because on Saturday afternoons on CBC Radio 2 is Saturday Afternoon at the Opera) they were profiling "hosers" (which is a slang word for a certain type of Canadian - roughly equivalent to a redneck or a yobbo, but with differences). One of the things they were doing to celebrate hoser-culture was playing songs that could be closely identified as being "hoser".

Around quarter after four, didn't they play Stompin' Tom Connors' "Sudbury Saturday Night?" (Actually, this is more ironic than coincidental). I however, was not on my way to play bingo, nor did I have any plans to get stink-o, and I don't normally think of Inco on a daily basis anyways.* I was getting ready to go to the grocery store before church, and then I was going home to do laundry.

*The song opens with the lines, "Oh, the girls are out to bingo / and the boys are getting stink-o [drunk] / We'll think no more of Inco [the company who own the mines] / for it's Saturday tonight."

General updates

Natty Boho isn't dead. One leaf is gone, another is clinging to life, and the little buds in the center are brown, but the other leaves are doing well. Maybe I didn't kill him.

I haven't mention the cursed Amazon order in a while. That's because it's been moved from "Available" to "Preorder" so it's not coming right away. I got the inevitable email around the beginning of November, but held off bemoaning it.

No WIPs for November, because I didn't start anything new, and hardly worked on anything left over from October.

These are the groceries purchased by a gal with tiny demons inhabiting her sinuses

• Milk
• cereal - Harvest Crunch
• corn starch
• jam (I had to buy jam because I cannot get the lid off the jar of homemade strawberry jam my mother gave me. It's completely adult-proof, I tell ya)
• organic bananas (they don't go overripe as fast as non-organic bananas)
• Boursin - in nifty pepper flavour! (Boursin is a cream cheese-like spread. The garlic spread is delish, and I was told by the checkout girl that the pepper version only lasts a day at her house)
• chocolate chips
• cheese (cheddar)
• raspberry newtons
• chicken Bombay salad (for supper. It was okay, but I can still taste it almost five hours later)
• sausage roll (also supper)
• loaf of bread
  

There is a reason why this is interesting. Actually.... no, there isn't. I just felt like throwing it on here as an example of how exceedingly scattered I am when I have a headache. It's cold here, but a dry cold. Very dry cold. As in, my sinuses dry up on a daily basis. I get headaches at least once or twice a week, and today was one of those days. I needed a couple of things from the store, but it could have waited. However, when my head hurts, I sometimes make silly choices, like going for groceries, despite the fact my stomach was also getting in on the act by alternately telling me, "I'm hungry! Feed me!" and "I think I'm with the head on this one - I hurt and I think I'm gonna hurl soon."

So, I ended up getting stuff I didn't really need, like the Boursins, the salad, and the sausage rolls because I was hungry. I needed corn starch and chocolate chips, but not right away - I may bake this weekend, but I may not, so it wasn't like it was an emergency. Also, I didn't get things I could have used, like chicken, green peppers, zucchini, and potatoes and leeks (for soup) because looking at them made me ill. And I didn't get stuff I actually needed because I didn't know I needed it, or I knew I needed it but didn't know how much I had left (stop me if I sound a little like this). Which means I'm going to have to make at least one trip back to the grocery store tomorrow *sigh*...

I've arrived!

When the weather started getting cold here, I would get into conversations like this in the elevator in my building:

Person: How's the weather?
Me: It's getting chilly out there.
Person: Well, it's going to get a lot colder before too long!

Which never failed to drive me insane. Yes, I realize that it's going to get colder - I'm from the South but I'm not an idiot who gets all surprised when the windchill hits -20 in mid-November. I knew this when I moved here and was expecting it. I was speaking in general - as in it's chilly compared to what it was this morning or between my going out and coming back.

(Can you tell I'm a bit sensitive about being labeled a "Southerner"? Just like when I lived in Halifax and was labeled an "Ontarian" or an "Upper Canadian")

So, the other day I get in the elevator and someone gets on. We exchange smiles and nods, and the conversation begins.

Person: So, what's it doing out there?
Me: Oh, it looks like it's going to snow.
Person: It's cold out there.
Me: Yup, but it's going to get colder before too long.

Yee-frickin'-haw! I'm now officially a Northerner!

Disappointed

I didn't post anything about my NaNo effort yesterday, even though I was home sick, because I was so disappointed. Granted, I knew I wasn't going to reach the 50,000 word goal for a multitude of reasons, but I was trying. And really, for a lot of people, it's just about the chance to sit down and write down that story that's been floating around their brains for the past year, and to be a part of something larger. That's it.

This year, I'd hoped to surpass last year's word count. Last year, I gave up - as in, stopped trying altogether - around November 20th. This year, I managed to write something every day - even if it was only a few hundred words.

Last year, I would get bored with whatever scene I was working with, abandon it (sometimes mid-sentence) and start another scene. This year, I had very linear ideas about what happens in what order, and I didn't need to skip over parts because I didn't know what happened next.

Last year, I didn't really like most of my characters. Other characters kept popping up, but since I hadn't planned on them, they felt forced and took me away from the main plot. This year, I loved all my characters and had a lot of fun introducing them; the occasional uncounted on character fit in well and didn't cause problems, and--

(Listen to me, sounding all literary and pretentious. I bet you think I'm sitting at a neat and orderly desk, wearing a tweed skirt and a cardigan, with a neat white blouse and my hair in a bun and my glasses on a chain. There's a cup of tea and a plate of shortbread at my elbow, and I'm looking out the window at the snow falling gently on the trees in the forest behind my house. The reality - my desk is actually an Ikea table, and there's a fake red button on my monitor that says "PANIC." I'm wearing the yoga pants I wear to belly dancing and a t-shirt that says "...and God said: [algebraic equation] ... and there was light." My hair is in messy pig tails because it's really too short for that. There is a knitting project at each elbow and a mostly empty bag of cashews. The snow is falling, but on rush hour traffic, complete with fire engine sirens because my apartment's near both a fire station and the hospital. I hope this banishes your image of me as a writerly snob.)

--I still had two characters I really liked to introduce.

Last year, my plot was eye-rollingly insipid. This year, the plot was clever and less eye-rollingly insipid.

Last year's word count (all six separate files): 11,024 words.
This year's word count (one file): 10,954 words.

Words escape me. I can't tell you how depressed I was when I found that out Wednesday morning at 12:01 AM. I HATED everything about my story last year, yet it still came out ahead. (Oh, I'm sure that everyone else will draw the same parallels between the two NaNo stories and the recent American elections that just dawned on me).

The most disappointing thing? I didn't get to use my favourite dare: "I dare you to somehow, some way involve the line 'Never fall in love with a Korean boy' in your novel. Especially if the circumstances surrounding the line are totally unrelated. and especially if it comes from a wise old Chinese sage" (courtesy Tea_and_Muffins). My second favourite dare was: "Have one of your characters (preferably male) become obsessed with knitting" (courtesy ScaperMoon). I had totally planned on using both of those - in fact, I had figured out how to alter the plot so I could use them.

(Want to see the rest of the dares I liked and didn't get to use? Go here.)

I'm toying with the idea of continuing to work on it. I know I said I was going to do that with the story I started last year, but didn't. But I had fun working on this one, so I hope I can keep going. And, of course, I plan on doing it again next year!

A huge thanks to everyone who's emailed me or left comments asking how I was making out. Big thanks to Karen, who let me sound off about my plot-tastic ideas and celebrated the word count with me every day at lunch. Also big thanks to Robin, from whom I got the idea when we were toying with plot ideas for a short story entitled "Silk Chaps and Leather Kimonos" (long - very long - story). Shout-outs to The Lady and that smarmy Aussi Nick (who hit his word count days before the deadline - "I'm not worthy"-style worshipping is going on right now). And extra special congrats to everyone else who participated - I was honoured to be in such great company this year!

The final countdown

Because of a schedule shuffle, I got home early today. Which means that I can make one last valiant effort to hit my personal NaNo goal for this year.

I have my thinking cap on, so off I go!

(Cross-posted to my NaNoWriMo blog; link to the left)

The Pogues

Michael Schaub remembers the Pogues at Bookslut.

I love the Pogues, especially their cover of the Rolling Stone's Honky Tonk Women, and their version of Wild Rover they did with Soldat Louis. For me, the Christmas season doesn't start until I hear Fairytale in New York on the radio. I was disappointed when Shane MacGowan left the band, and wasn't fond of his new project, Shane MacGowan and the Popes.

A (sort of) reunion would be cool.

As for the rest of the weekend...

...mostly, it involved vegging. In front of the computer. Ostensibly, I was working on my NaNo story, which I did make some headway on. I won't be hitting 50,000 words by Tuesday night, and it was a nice fantasy of mine, believing that I would get anywhere close to that, seeing as November is generally a hectic month for me. If I hit 25,000 words, I'll be happy.

I also managed to make it to church on Saturday night (I'm a Liberal-Cynical Catholic). Somehow, every year I manage to make it to the first Advent mass, and then miss everything else until Christmas. But it was good that I made it out, if only that I now realize there's only roughly four weeks 'till Christmas. It's a nice church, and even though the priest's attempts at humour sometimes fall flat, I don't get the overwhelming urge to stand up and argue with him during the homily.

It snowed. Then it rained. Rained some more. And then it snowed again. Right now, I think it's just windy. I know this because I've discvered that there's a draft around my balcony door. I have some rags that I can stuff into the cracks.

Aaaaand.... it's back to work tomorrow. Bother, as Pooh would say.

A night at the movies

Last night, Karen, Karen's friend Kris(tina), fellow-Dal-alumni-and-Sudbury-resident Lise and I went to see Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason. It was okay - there were a few genuinely funny bits - like the fountain scene and the scene where she teaches the women in the Thai jail to sing "Like a Virgin" - but overall, it was kind of "meh." I don't generally "do" chick flicks because they annoy the bejezus out of me, but the group of us were going slightly stir crazy and wanted to see a movie. It wasn't that I didn't like it, but I don't think I need to see it again or even read the book now.

The previews were long and slightly dull. Here's what I thought (because I know you want to know what I was thinking) :

• Meet the Fockers - um, no. I'd rather not, thanks. Dustin Hoffman scares me a little. Also, De Niro looks past his "best before" date. Just sayin'.


• Hide and Seek - oh look - more De Niro, looking slightly less dried up. And - awww! Dakota Fanning is all Goth! She's what - 10? Nice to see Hollywood is making the kids cynical and pessimistic earlier.


• The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou - I love Wes Anderson. His movies are quirky and weird, and often have the coolest soundtracks. I can't wait for this one.


• Finding Neverland - I don't remember this. (I called Karen and asked her what previews we saw, but I don't remember seeing this preview. Also, she said to make sure that I mentioned that the previews were, like, half an hour long, and mostly car commercials*)

Additionally, I was floored - nay, shocked! - to discover that Karen's a fan of the Blade movies. So we are most certainly going to see Blade: Trinity when it comes out. We did the Lame White Girl Posse knuckle-tap-thing to seal the plan. (It was at this point Kris and Lise began to question the wisdom of being seen in public with us.) I think we all agreed that Ocean's Twelve looks like fun, the poster for the new Star Wars film is cool, and that Johnny Depp will be a very interesting Willy Wonka.

Afterwards, we retired to Tim Hortons, where Kris got scared by an extra-smiley chocolate chip smile cookie (it was seriously freaky).

(* For the Canadians - have you seen the new Bell commercial where the guy looses oranges down the stairs and two girls help him pick them up, and then he holds the subway door open for the old lady - the "pay it forward" concept commercial? From now on, start calling it the "pick up an orange, get a toy" commercial. 'Cause, that's what it comes down to, really.)

This just in! Canada Reads lineup announced a while ago

Well, the lineup for the fourth Canada Reads contest has been announced. The competitors are as follows:

• Rufus Wainright defends Leonard Cohen's Beautiful Losers;
• Olivia Chow fights for Margaret Atwood's Oryx and Crake;
• Donna Morrisey sticks up for Frank Parker Day's Rockbound;
• Sherraine MacKay (a fencer! Woo!) sides with Mairuth Sarsfield's No Crystal Stair;
• Roch Carrier (former National Librarian! Woo!) goes to the mat for Jacques Poulin's Volkswagen Blues (translated by Sheila Fischman)

(Thanks to Bookninja for bringing this to my attention. I'm sure the list of books being debated on Radio-Canada is on the CBC web site somewhere, but I found the list in the Bookninja forums - the list includes Life of Pi, The Handmaid's Tale, and Un dimanche à la piscine de Kigali (Sunday at the Pool in Kilgali))

Once again, it will be hosted by Bill Richardson. He's not as good as Mary Walsh was, but I liked him the last two times. The whole thing gets underway on February 21st.

Jesus, Jude, and just plain tired

I received the coolest early Christmas present today at work. Robin, a former co-worker, sent me a Dashboard Jesus - it's a plastic Jesus figurine on a spring that you can mount on the dashboard of your car. Currently, he's sitting atop my television, looking down at my computer and making sure that I don't surf for porn or use bad language. Thanks Robin! I love it!

Apparently, Jude Law has been named People's Sexiest Man of the Year. My reaction - meh. I thought he was fabulous in eXistZ, but I haven't seen anything else he's been in. Besides, I find him prettier than I find him sexy. It's not so much, "Wow - he's dreamy!" as it is "Wow - I'd kill for those cheekbones!"

And after being up really late every night last week and this weekend, consuming vats of coffee, and helping Karen move, I'm exhausted. I'm so tired it's not funny. (And, somewhere, Karen is reading this and hollering, "Whaddaya mean, you're tired? I'm the one who moved!" And she's right - she has much more to be tired about than I do. But this is my blog, so I get to be more tired than her - at least here.)

Right. Normal and coherent posting should resume at some point after the weekend. It's not that I won't post before then - I just can't guarantee that it will not be rambling and incoherent, much like this one has been.

I'm a Linking Badass!

For the last.... 3 hours? Yup - 3 hours, I've sat here tinkering with my links (to see the full list of links, click on "Click Here to View" in the left column.) See, I wasn't really happy with it because it meant that I had to maintain two Bloglines accounts - one for my personal use and one for the blogroll on this blog. The problems with this included:

• Throwing off people's stats - it looked like two separate people were linking to their blogs, when it was actually me twice. Sorry guys.
• Updating - It meant logging out of one account and logging into another account to add blogs to my list.
• Non-RSS blogs - I couldn't include blogs that I couldn't subscribe to. I don't have very many at all that don't have RSS (which stands for Really Simple Syndication).

So... wait, I'll back up a sec...

Allow me to slip into geek mode for a sec. Anyone who isn't interested can go get a drink or a snack or something - this won't take long.

The Blogger template that I'm using as the basis for this uses CSS, which stands for Cascading Style Sheet. It's a way of formatting everything, from background colour to underline style, in one place. For example, if I were using plain HTML and wanted all the section headers to be a different font, colour and/or size than the rest of the font on the page, I would have to tell it the font, colour, and/or size every time I wanted to add a header. With CSS, I can tell it that whenever I use header tags, I want them to be a certain font, colour, and size. It saves room in the body of the source code, because all the formatting info is in one spot. It also guarantees that if you change the formatting for, say, underlining, it's changed everywhere, and not just in the places you remembered to tell it be dotted as opposed to solid.

You're back already? No, this won't take much longer - can you go change the CD? Thanks.

Anyways. The nice thing about CSS is that, since it's all together and in one place, it can be stored in a separate file and linked to in the source code. Which is what I did. The file for the CSS for this page is stored off-site, which freed up some screen-space. (It doesn't take up actual memory. But since the code was quite long, I had to scroll through a massive amount of stuff to get to where I wanted to edit anything - which was usually the Reading section.)

So now I have more screen-space to play with. Which is why I decided to change how I linked to other blogs and web sites. (Okay, you can come back now. I'm out of geek mode.)

(And to the real geeks reading this - leave me comments if I've FUBAR'd the explanations in any way, shape, or form.)

Now the links are right there on the page. Yes, it's a lot longer than the snippet of javascript which Bloglines gives you for your blogroll, and updating it means poking at the raw code with a stick, and it takes up a load of space. However, the benefit for me is that it's easier to add blogs and such that don't have RSS-feeds, and it gets rid of the little advert at the end of each of the lists. (Bloglines is useful, and I love it, don't get me wrong!)

The benefit for the people whose sites I've linked to is that if they search for sites that link back to their sites, mine will show up. So that's one more person linking to them and giving them notoriety, and the fame and fortune and everything that goes with it.

As to the links themselves...

• You'll notice there are a boatload more than there were. Pre-tinkering: 47. Post-tinkering: 73.
• "Commenting on Things" is the closest thing I have to a "Miscellaneous" category. Some of them are media/political commentaries, while others, like Boing Boing and J-Walk, are more generalists.
• "Secret Masters of the Universe" are librarian and library-related blogs. It's based on a line in a Spider Robinson novel where he refers to librarians as being "secret masters of the world." But I like "universe" better. So there. This is also the section I should work on breaking down somehow.
• "If You Can't Stand the Heat" is cooking/food blogs.
• I have a list of blogs written and maintained by women, but not one for men. The problem is that I don't have that many blogs written by men that didn't fit into another category. I think the only strays are Ironpants, Postcards from the Reg, When Crustaceans Attack!, and Wil Wheaton. Hmm... two of them are Antipodean, so maybe I'll group the other ANZACs together and call it "I Come From a Blog Down Under." I'll think of something.
• The assigning of blogs to one category as opposed to another was completely arbitrary. So, while Chicklit could be in either the Canadian or Literati groups, I put it where I did because the contributors are international, and the literature they profile usually has something to do with women's studies.

Aaaaand.... it's taken me another hour to write this up. Sheesh. For now, or at least until I redo everything, this is how it's going to stand.

Breaking up is relatively easy to do

One of the things I did manage to accomplish this week was to break up with my annonymous online journal. I started it last year, and was pretty good about keeping it up. However, the posting interface was clunky and limited, and I would sometimes have problems getting to it at all. I'd outgrown it, but wanted to make a clean break so that the last post people would see would explain why it was so hopelessly out-of-date. I'm not going to link back to it, since a) I don't post there anymore, and b) it was meant to be annonymous. It's not that I posted nasty things about people there, but I'd rather just let it go.

So, anyways, here's what people will see when they go look at my old journal. May it rest in peace.

Sit down, we need to talk

I know that no good ever comes of conversations that start with "sit down we need to talk." Some of the worst conversations I've had started out like that.

But I need to tell you something, something that you're not going to want to hear. [Name of service], we've been great together, and I appreciate everything you've done for me - namely, get me writing on a regular basis. But I'm sure you've noticed that I haven't been around for a while. My last post was in September - and that was a while ago. I know you've been wondering where I've been and why I've been so distant and uncommunicative. You're not going to like this.

I've found someone else.

There - I've said it. It wasn't easy, but you deserved to know. I've been seeing this other blog since August... yes, I know - we were still together then, and I was cheating on you. But you have to understand - I grew, and I needed more than you could give me. This other blog has challenged me to do things I couldn't do here, like learn CSS. I couldn't tell people about you, because you were supposed to be an annonymous thing, so no one (except for a very few people) knew who I really was. Now, I feel like I can be myself, because it's all out in the open.

I'm so grateful for what we had, but it's time I moved on. Thanks for everything, and I hope that you'll find someone else. In fact, I know there are others out there who would love to have you. Go, be with the ones you love.

Good-bye ;(

Wake me up Monday morning

Man, it's been a busy week. I woke up this morning convinced it was Sunday, and was only marginally happy to realize it was actually Saturday. Wait - I was happy that it was Saturday because my Pepe was coming to visit. I think Thursday night I was home, but I did some of the laundry, so was distracted. But I've been on the go every other night.

The happiest part is that Karen is finally all moved into her new apartment! Naturally, it piss-poured rain all morning until the last load arrived, and it stopped. Pretty much all the boxes and small things had gone over Tuesday and Friday, so it was mostly furniture today. When I left this afternoon, quite a bit of unpacking had been accomplished. It was at the stage when there's boxes and packing materials and knick-knack all over the place, but everyone is asking her where things go and there's so much going on that it's hard to finish anything. Hopefully, she got out to get groceries sometime this evening.

Pepe came up this afternoon to take me out for supper. Yes - that's right. He drove for 6 and a half hours to take me out for supper, and will be heading to Guelph tomorrow morning to have supper with Denise. Isn't that sweet? It was fun - he and my grandmother came over around 4:30, and we sat around and chatted for a while, and then went out for supper. We had to wait for a while, but it was worth it. After supper, they dropped me off. (Right - they also brought a bag of stuff I had asked Mom to send me, plus a few surprises! A Nativity set from 10,000 villages! A cheddar and broccoli rice mix! Yeah... Not so much a surprise as a "Huh?")

And apologies for not posting that much this week. All my writing has suffered this week, due to a deadly combo of lack of sleep and caffeine overdose.

And the award for Most Inappropriate Motivational Cheer goes to...

The grade 8 teacher from my Mom's school who was coaching the boy's vollyball tournament yesterday. Apparently "The Smasher" was overheard yelling:

"BOYS! GRAB YOUR BALLS AND PUT THEM IN DEEP!"

And, knowing him, he probably wasn't even aware of what he said.

Marquee Club

Marquee Club to close Jan. 11

NOOOOO!!!!!!

(Thanks to Audra for the sad news)

Woo-hoo! Saved!

A big thanks to my sister who helped me solve my Christmas knitting dilemma. Whew! I'm so relieved! I now only have one Christmas present to knit! Plenty o' time!

Word count confessions

Last night after curling, I semi-hysterically admitted to Karen that I wasn't doing so well with my NaNoWriMo word count (as of 11pm last night - 6754 words). As of yesterday, I should have 25,000 words. Yikes.

(I also should note that I did not slip and fall at all last night. However, our team - who were all there - was most profoundly and thoroughly beaten. Embarassingly so. I won't even admit the score, except to say that we inquired about the "mercy" rule after the 6th of 8 ends.)

Things to keep you amused this afternoon

Normally, I don't post a lot of links, but I though I'd share these with you guys.

Homstar Runner is silly and goofy and fun for the whole family. The Strong Bad emails are the highlight, but I would play the games, too.

iLL WiLL PreSS is one I've mentioned before. The animation isn't as slick as HSR, but it's pretty funny nonetheless. Watch "Free Your Mind", "Nuts to You" and "The Jiggly Butt."

Weebls Stuff is very musical. Maybe you've heard/seen the annoyingly infectious Badger song video (if not, what are you waiting for?). Magical Trevor is also pretty catchy, as is Kenya. (Denise, I'm warning you - don't watch the Salad Fingers cartoons! They creeped me out!)

An unexpected Sunday morning

I was supposed to curl in a funspiel (a bonspiel, but without the competitiveness) today with Karen, her dad, and someone else. It's not that I don't enjoy curling (when I'm not falling on my butt), it's just that I didn't feel like it this morning.

As I was making a mad dash for the door this morning (it was almost 9 and I couldn't remember if I was supposed to be there at 9 or 9:30), Karen called. For whatever reason, our team wasn't registered, and there was already an even number of teams signed up. So we didn't have to curl. YAY!

(Note to my mother: No, I didn't get changed and go to church. Since I was in my sweats anyways, I went for a walk instead.)

In other news, I got the tires on the car changed yesterday. It took about 3 hours - an hour for the car to go in, half an hour to change the tires, and 1.5 hours of me waiting for them to tell me it was done. It was still on the lift but there was no one around, so finally I went and asked. "Oh. Oh yeah! It's done." Well, were you going to tell me or keep me around for another 3 hours?

I can keep myself amused in Canadian Tire for - tops - 45 minutes. During that time, I looked at the cheap prefab shelving units, wandered through the lighting section, strolled through the sportsman/hunting section (and got Dad's Christmas present), and meandered through the Christmas decorations. I also called Mom on the cellphone and begged her to amuse me, but she was teaching someone to make bread, so there went that idea.

While I was in the paint section, I started grabbing random paint chips, just because I wanted to get some ideas for colour if I get around to redoing this site, or even for knitting projects. I lucked out when I found the colour scheme chips - they're strips with four or five complementary colours that the manufacturer recommends putting together. Tres cool.

Now, to work on my NaNo story, on which I'm woefully behind.

Why I'm not (and won't be) blogging about work

Quite a few people who have blogs (and whose blogs I love) talk about their day jobs, along with other things. That's fine and cool - sometimes, that's why I read them.

But you'll note that I rarely - if ever - talk about my job. Oh, I might mention co-workers current (Hi Karen! Hi Jeff!) and past (Hi Robin!), but I won't talk about the specifics.

I am trained as a Librarian - I refer to myself as that, even though that's not my job title right now. It's just a lot easier to say "I'm a Librarian who works with other librarians" than try and explain what a Library Consultant (not actually my job title either) does. Since I graduated with my MLIS from Dalhousie in 2001, I've worked in a few different jobs, some of which included the word "Librarian" in the title, but basically I was always working in a library-type environment. But now I'm working in an office, and the job is slightly different. So why not?

1. Privacy of our clients. We work with a specific type of library in Northern Ontario. Not that anyone besides the organization and our clients would be interested in what we're doing, but I'm not going to talk about what I'm doing for a specific client(s) because the conversations I have with them are confidential, as far as I'm concerned.

2. Privacy of my co-workers. I love the people I work with - they're a good bunch. We have weekly meetings where everyone gets updated on what everyone else is doing, but again, not really of interest to anyone else but us. I respect their personal and professional privacy by not talking about them or their work.

Karen and Robin are exceptions. Robin and I started at roughly the same time, but she left in September. Karen still works for the organization. Both of them are friends I hang out with outside the office, so I will occasionally mention them. However, I don't talk about what they do at work since I'm respecting their professional privacy.

4. Privacy of the organization. We do stuff. The people we do stuff for know it. What goes on behind closed doors stays there.

5. This is a personal blog. This isn't a professional blog, where I'd post stuff targeted towards the clients. If/when I start a blog that is work-related (updates, articles, help, etc.) I will not be linking to here from there, and I will not be linking to there from here. I am making a conscious effort to keep my professional and personal lives separate. Here, I can post about stuff that amuses me (and my family, for the most part.)

6. It's boring. Really? You'd start snoring if all I did was talk about work. I can pretty much summarize my workday thusly: get to work, change the message on my voice mail, check my email, do stuff, have lunch, do more stuff, and go home. There you have it - the exciting life of a Library Consultant in an nutshell. I'm doing you a favour - trust me.

Birth Announcement

From Steel White Table - Her Water Broke

Congrats to Jody and his wife on the birth of their second child, a son!

Mother, Father and child are all well. Uncle Phillip, on the other hand, is beside himself...

Get happy now, damn it!

Okay, so things are a little less distressing now. I suppose the pot of coffee I'm drinking is part of it.

At any rate, Jessica (of Ultratart) posted a list of songs she can't possibly be unhapping listening to. Looking over the list, it seems like a good idea.

• Brass in Pockets - The Pretenders
• Every Inambition - The Trews
• Go - The Apples in Stereo
• No for the 13th Time/Size of a Cow - The Wonderstuff
• De Rhum, Des Femme - Soldat Louis
• Margaritaville - Jimmy Buffet (I can't sing worth a damn, but it's so liberating to wail away to the chorus. "WastiIiin' awaaAAayyY agaAAIin in MAAArrgaritaAAVilLLLL!" Pick a key - any key! - and sing along!)
• Honky Tonk Women - Rolling Stones
• Excursion Around the Bay - Great Big Sea
• Five - Look People
• Radiation Vibe - Fountains of Wayne
• Tug on the Line - Tommy James and the Shondells
• Istanbul (Not Constantinople) - They Might Be Giants
• Montgomery Angel - Leslie Spit Tree-o
• Home for a Rest - Spirit of the West (admit it - this was your theme song in university, right?)
• Oye Como Va - Tito Puentes
• Dancing Queen - ABBA
• Le Lys Vert - La Bottine Souriante and The Chieftans
• Northern Lites - Super Furry Animals
• Get Up - Starkicker
• Walkin' on Sunshine - Katrina and the Waves
• Lovely Rita - The Beatles
• I'm An Old Cowhand - Harry Connick Jr.
• Blue Heaven - The Pogues
• I Love Rock And Roll - Joan Jett
• Groovy Train - The Farm
• April Fool - Rufus Wainwright
  

It gets better... well, not really

I think I killed Natty Boho.

(Natty Boho is my African violet. He's named after the beer in Drawing Blood.)

I've had him for a few months now, and he's been doing pretty good. I watered him once a month, and ignored him the rest of the time. He, in turn, didn't die on me. Like Spike, the ornamental pepper plant did (a month). Like the unnamed miniature rose (less than a week - I think it was on its way out when I bought it.) Like the Newton Pulsifiers (I through IV), all ivy plants. And all the nameless other plants who've fallen vicitm to my black thumb.

Natty was different. He didn't die. He was happy on my bookshelf, out of direct sunlight, like the little information spike in the pot said. I would walk by and smile, knowing that I had finally met a plant who wouldn't leave me like the others did.

But something went horribly wrong. I think I overwatered him last week. The last time I'd watered him was before Thanksgiving (so, last month), and all I'd really done was wave a glass of water in his general direction. I thought that this month, maybe I'd give my dear Natty a little extra to make up for last month. Alas, I think I overdid it.

His little leaves are limp and weak. One stalk is already dead, and there's another that isn't doing so well. The stuff I thought was new growth is pale green and fading fast. I've put Natty on the table in the dining area in the hopes that being in the sun will perk him up a bit. However, I'm afraid it's too late....

Natty, I'm so sorry!

Vroom

My stupid car. Man, it's in good condition, but it's going to make me crazy. Any time I finally manage to save up enough to make a really significant payment on my Visa, it goes and does something that needs to be fixed ASAP.

However, this time it's waited for the opposite situation. I had enough to get me through to the next paycheck, get some groceries, maybe go out for dinner on Saturday night (I had to pay the rent on this past pay). But! The oil needed to be changed. Like, badly. I won't say how badly because Mom will tell Dad, and I'll catch hell from him. But! It's done, so I'm good for another few months. And maybe I'll have to make do with some of the leftovers in the freezer, but still - I can get some fresh veggies and stuff. It's not terrible.

Then the mechanic pointed out that the rear driver's side tire is flat. Like, really flat. It should have 35 pounds of pressure - yet, it only had 2. Not good, but he filled it for me.

This morning I go to leave for work and look at the tire. Guess what? If you said it's flat again, then you are correct.

Crap. Shit. I need new tires.

I had planned to do this anyways, at least for the rear tires, which are the old front tires. The front tires are all-seasons, which I got last year, so they're fairly new. So I could replace the tires that are on the back with the tires that are on the front, and get new snow tires for the front. That's what the ol' Visa is for.

I just wish it could have waited until next weekend to do this to me!

We Remember

Today is Remembrance Day in Canada and other parts of the Commonwealth, and Veteran's Day in the U.S.

Today is the day I remember my Pepere, James Larocque, who fought in the Second World War. He never spoke about his experience, but he talked about some of it just before he passed away. He was stationed in London, which was difficult for him since he didn't speak any English at the time. Eventually, he learned English, and was in fact engaged to an Englishwoman for a while. In the end, he couldn't bring her back to Canada. The village he was from and where my Dad was born is in an isloated corner of Northeastern New Brunswick. It's not so bad now, but sixty years ago it would have been much harder to travel there.

He didn't say much about the fighting, except that he was at Normandy on D-Day, in the second wave. When they saw what was happening, they turned back.

To my Pepere and all the other vetrans of all the other wars - thank you.

This is sad

St. Catharines, Ont. — A rural Ontario community was left reeling with grief Tuesday after a mother and her seven children perished in a massive overnight inferno that reduced their farmhouse to a blackened, smouldering ruin.

More than 40 firefighters arrived at the scene in the township of West Lincoln, south of Grimsby, Ont., just before midnight Monday night to find the two-storey home completely engulfed in flames.

(Original article)

My mom called earlier in the evening to find out why I hadn't called. "Called about what?" said I, who had just awaken from a nap. "Call to find out about the fire."

"What fire?" Oh crap, I thought. Something major in Fenwick has burned down. God, I hope it wasn't the library.

"The fire in West Lincoln [technically, my parents live in West Lincoln and not Pelham, but it takes too long to explain]. It was on the CBC."

No, I hadn't heard about it. I went to the Globe and Mail web site and found the article. A tragedy, that's what it is. The mother and seven children - all under the age of 12. My sisters thought it might be a family that went to our church and had gone to the school Mom teaches at, but it wasn't - thankfully.

The recent US elections? A setback and an annoyance. This is tragic.

We've got a curler down!

Last night was the second time I've fallen so spectaularily at curling that teams on the sheets on either side of us stop and come over to make sure I'm okay. Thank God for all my extra padding!

Last week, we finally met the two people who would be mine and Karen's new teammates (more on that later). The new guy and I were sweeping for all we were worth, and we'd just crossed the hog line. I glanced up to see where the other rocks were so I wouldn't trip over them (because I'd totally do something like that). I felt my left heel slip out from under me and I went flying, landing flat on my back and knocking my hat off. From everyone else's perspective, it looked like I either landed on the rock or hit my head on it. At any rate, I just lay there for a few minutes, collecting my wits, while several people came running over. I was fine - merely embarassed.

However, last night's fall was worse from my perspective. Our new new team's sub and I were sweeping and were about to cross the hog line. I could feel my feet slipping, but I didn't want to stop because the rock needed all the help it could get. I think I said "I'm slipping!" and went flying; this time, I landed square on my tailbone. Unlike last time, I tried to get up right away, but the skip on the team on the sheet next to us came running (okay, slidding) over, and started hollering "Don't get up if you're dizzy!"

Okay, I admit that I can be klutzy and clueless at times, but I don't think that was the dizzy he meant. I was halfway up and stopped because my lower back was starting to get painful in a bad way, and things were still swimming. I didn't hit my head, but I think I have a minor case of whiplash (it still hurts a bit). I took a few deep breaths, and sat out the rest of the end.

Today, my tailbone hurts in the way that anything that gets bruised will, but the rest of my back isn't sore. Had I fallen on my hip, or even hit my tailbone slightly to the right of where I hit it, they would have had to take me out on a stretcher. I have a trick back - old fencing injury.

There's a "fun"spiel on Sunday, and I'm on a team with Karen, her dad, and her brother. I may invest in hobnail boots before then just in case.

(The ongoing saga of mine and Karen's lack of teammates. It was expected at the beginning of the season that there would be others signing up for the rec league without a team, so we'd round out our team that way. As it worked out, there were enough people for seventeen full teams and one half team - Karen and I. For the first two weeks, our empty slots were filled in by a series of "Special Guest Stars", such as Karen's dad, her brother, and another floater.

Last week, we were told that the organizers had finally found another couple for us to round out our team. They played one game with us, and asked to be switched to another team. Mind you, it wasn't because Karen and I suck, but because they were in their late fifties, and wanted another couple instead of a couple of hot chicks to curl with. Ha ha. As it happened, another team had lost two of their team, so the two couples now curl together. And Karen and I were still without a team.

The team we played against had a sub, and he said that he and his friend could play with us for the last three weeks. Great. Terrific. At least, for the last three weeks, we'd have some consistency.

Last night? Buddy threw his shoulder out and couldn't curl. His friend did come out, and did curl with us. And our "Special Guest Star" slot was filled by one of the other guys on the team we curled against last week. And we did the best we've done so far - it was another team of people who were all roughly the same age as us, and at roughly the same skill level. We lost on the very last rock, but it was a close game all the way through.

Next week? We'll see what happens.)

Wait, how do you do that again?

The rest of the workshop was pretty interesting. Saturday was a melange of flamenco and "Oriental" (a term for a style of belly dancing - I'm fuzzy on the details). Naturally, I had taken the shoes I wore at the Friday night workshop out of my bag, so I had to do it all barefoot. The choreography we learned highlighted the difference between flamenco and the Middle Eastern style of dances - flamenco is aggresive, stronger and loud, while belly dancing is all about the feminine, soft movements, and grace.

We also learned some more about the history of the dance, regional variations, and the music itself. I will never understand 9/8 time; at the point where I started getting the rhythm, the instructor added a little hop-step, and I lost it again. It was a bit frustrating that I was having so much trouble picking it up.

Originally, I hadn't planned to go to the Saturday night recital, but I'm glad I did. Some of the upper level students, including Karen, did routines. The dancers were all amazing. Lucie , who is my teacher here, did an amazing piece at the end. Hadia, who lead the workshop this weekend, did two flamenco numbers and an Oriental piece.

Today was mostly Oriental, but the choreography we learned also had a number of South American elements to it. I had a much easier time with today's stuff - which isn't to say that I'll be able to go to class on Wednesday and teach it to the rest of the group, but I remember more than the first three steps.

And now I am exhausted. Fortunately, I took tomorrow off, so I don't have to get up in the morning. I may end up spending the day sewing the coins that fell off my hip scarf back on - yesterday, I lost four or five, but today I lost over a dozen. I found all of them, plus an extra someone else had lost after everyone had left.

An apology

I'd like to offer an apology for the somewhat angry tone in two of my earlier messages. I was seriously pissed off about the results of the US election, and even though I'm not American, I know people there, and I know that they're going to be hurt by some of the policies Bush is going to introduce, that are influenced by a strident closed-minded minority who aren't ashamed to force their views on others.

Anyways. I've decided to get rid of my anger, accept it and move on. I will use my Librarian powers for good - not evil - and wish good karma on everyone who will need it over the next four years. I will - to use the phrase my mother is fond of telling me repeatedly - "let it go." (You can tell that I've had trouble learning this simple lesson if she's having to tell me on a regular basis. I'm just very stubborn and my mother is blessed with an overabundance of patience.)

So, I'm letting go. NOW!

You know what else I hate about the election? (Kidding!)

One... two... three... GO!

And another thing.... (Got you again!)

Letting... go... RIGHT NOW!

Have I told you what I think.... (Tee hee!)

Hey! Wait! Come back! I'm really going to do it this time! Honestly!

Ole! *ouch!*

Flamenco - the dance designed to cause much pain to your feet and give you shin splints.

It wasn't that bad. It was actually interesting - we learned quite a bit about the history of the dance, where it originated (from the Roma in Spain, who were originally from India - there are strong ties to traditional Oriental-style dances), regional variations (Spain vs. Brazil vs. Argentina vs. Equador etc.), and the role of the dancer. Did you know that in proper flamenco, the singer is actually the leader, not the dancer? They call out the dance moves, the dancer performs them, and the guitarist follows along.

The dance itself is complicated. The music is in sets of 12 beats, as opposed to 8, and counting isn't much help since the timing is more intuitive than anything else. Arm movements are slower and bigger than in belly dancing, and you only really move the forearm - the elbow doesn't move. I won't even go into the footwork. Most of the time I spent with my eyes closed so I wouldn't watch someone else do it and get confused. There's one sequence that took forever to get down:

Pick up right foot; let it fall (basically, stomp gently)
Tap left heel on floor and bring forward slightly
Tap right heel on floor (left foot is still in the air)
Bring left foot down
Tap right heel on floor and bring forward slightly
Tap left heel on floor (right foor is still in the air)
Bring right foot down
Repeat.

The variation on this is to do the first four steps, then stomp with your right foot again and repeat steps 2-4 again. Eventually, you'll get the hang of it - and then we'll throw in the clapping and the timing. That was always the thing - I'd get the footwork down, and then we'd be shown the arm waving and clapping and finger-snapping, and I'd be lost again. Sounds fun, n'est pas?

That was the other thing - the instructor did most of the class in French. She repeated most of it in English, but sometimes forgot. Her French is quite good, and she wasn't using slang or dialect, so while I didn't understand every word, I got the gist of things.

Now, I'm exhausted. I want popcorn badly, but it's too late. I need to pry my contacts out before they glue themselves to the lids of my eyes, and go to bed.

Things that made me smile today

Because I'm trying not to dwell on my bitterness, here are some things that made me smile today:

• The picture from CNN that Jody posted. Seriously - I laughed out loud!
• The headline on the Weekly World News - "Marilyn Monroe Alive and Well!" Apparently, she's been living with 34 cats and a retired plumber in Cleveland all this time!
• Clementine oranges are available!
• It's snowing! Granted, it's wet snow and will probably be gone by the morning, but - snow!
• My Pepe (a French word for grandfather) is coming to visit in two weeks!
• At this time tomorrow night, I will be learning to flamenco! Ole!
• My sister's description of her two cats!

Still speechless...

Almost everything I read today suggested that scumbag half-wit won because many people liked his stand on "moral issues" - in other words, gay mariage and abortion.

Yes, because that's what's really wrong with the country. Forget the economy. Forget the mess in Iraq and the Middle East. Forget the Every Child Left Behind education strategy. Forget the corporate scandals, the constant threat of terrorism being held over your heads, and the failing social support system. None of that was important. What really mattered were those damned gays and loose women.

Spare me.

I had a whole long rant composed in my head this afternoon about opposition to gay marriage. What it boiled down to was this:

1. You think that a man marrying another man or a woman marrying another woman is a threat to the sanctity of marriage? Please. I've heard various numbers tossed around, but the divorce rate hovers somewhere around the 40% mark. And since only hetrosexuals can get married at this point - guess what? It's straight people who are messing up the institution as it stands. Not gays. Straights. Hetros.
   
2. How sad is it they would deny the happiness and satisfaction of a loving relationship between two consenting adults simply because you're squicked out by it? The world is a big huge place filled with depressing, mean things; it's cold and impersonal, and when you think about how much could be done to make it right and how little is actually done to make it right, it's almost overwhelming. So when you find someone to share your life with, whose happiness is tied to your own, who knows all your faults and imperfections and still wants to be with you more than anything else in the world, why deny that? You love whom you love, and calling that sinful and wrong is surely a greater evil than saying, "I now pronounce you, Adam and Steve, husband and husband - go forth and be happy!"

As for abortion, I'm pro-choice. I don't think I'd ever have one for philosophical reasons, but that doesn't mean I think other woman shouldn't. It's a personal decision that a woman has to make, and just because she has the option to abort doesn't mean she will choose it. The analogy I use is this:

You want ice cream. Nay, you need ice cream - maybe for personal reasons, maybe for medical reasons. But all you have is vanilla. Vanilla just doesn't cut it for whatever reason. So, there's chocolate - chocolate is good too, another valid option. Now you have a choice - vanilla or chocolate. Sometimes you need chocolate because otherwise terrible things will happen. But sometimes you just want ice cream - and having the choice between vanilla and chocolate doesn't mean you're going to chose chocolate. At least you have that choice.

I think that's all I want to say on this. I'm still going to be fuming, but I'll be moving on shortly.

Speechless

I can't.... I'm just.... I'm... speechless... just....

*sigh*

I can't believe that lying sack of shit got re-elected. Jeezuz Goddamn Christ Almighty. What the hell were you thinking?

I'm so upset and angry that I can't even articulate it. I'm angry that enough people were able to look past his lack of accountability and experience and hatemongering and warmongering to vote for him again. I'm upset that Americans are going to be convinced that the whole world hates them when really we despise their politicians and politics. I'm heartbroken that the thuggish and bullying tactics that have been used since 9/11 on Middle East nations and other nations that wouldn't support that pathetic excuse to invade Iraq and don't believe the whole thing has been handled with anything approaching intelligence, will continue for another four years.

I had a headache for most of the day - a bad one. Partly caused by tar fumes from the building across the street, and partly because I couldn't stop thinking about my dear friend who lives in upstate NY and my Mom's cousin in Boston.

About a year and a half ago, my friend made the extremely difficult personal decision to come out of the closet. His brother is gay, and he'd been trying to deny the possibility that he might also be gay. But once he acknowledged it and told us, I congratulated him, told him it didn't change how I felt about him, and wished him well. I had hoped that by coming out, he could finally feel free to be himself, and that the weight of hiding who and what he was could finally be lifted off his shoulders. But no - apparently, his "type" are deviants and evil, and shouldn't be afforded the same rights and freedoms that the rest of the population are. Eleven states passed referendums banning gay marriage. What's next - discrimination, isolation, repression - I shudder to think.

My Mom's cousin in Boston works for Polaroid. It's a company that's not doing well at all. At the end of every month, she has to wait to hear if she's got a job next month because they are constantly laying staff off. And if the worst does happen, what does she have? She doesn't have a pension, because they lost it when the company was taken over a few years ago. She's not far from retirement, but what the hell is she supposed to live on if she makes it that far? Yet CEOs of companies who mismanage them to the point of bankruptcy get huge payoffs and bonuses - what? You're not a CEO and your company has gone belly-up? Too bad. So sad. Didn't you people remember Enron?

What's wrong with you? You actually think that idiot has any plans or goals beyond completely screwing up the Middle East and giving in to every fantasy of the wacko fundies? You thunk wrong.

There's nothing else I want to say, or can say without resorting to strong, family-unfriendly language. If you need me, I'll be quietly fuming over here for the next four years.

25 minutes and counting

Well, NaNoWriMo officially starts in 25 minutes. So far, I have three main character profiles completed, posted, and linked. I'm as happy as I can be with the page at the moment, but trust me - tweaking will be done. I don't expect that I'll be posting long messages during the month (ha!) since I'll be busy with the story (double ha!).

I'm already in a better place this year than I was last year for NaNoWriMo. I'd only heard about it at the end of October, which wasn't enough time to mentally prepare for it. And I only decided to do it after it had begun, so I was behind already. My final word count was somewhere in the 13,000 range - I'd get stuck on a scene because I hadn't thought that far ahead in the plot, so I'd go off and start another scene in another file, and get stuck there, too.

Some good did come of it. I started keeping a writing journal, talking about things that struck me about the characters, debates about what should happen next, and rants about various things. At the end of November, when I gave up for good, I thought I'd had enough of writing. But during December, I realized how much I missed writing every day, even just a little bit, so I started an online journal, which I managed to keep well into this September.

So, the things I have going for me this time around:

• I've been psyched up for this since, oh - around May, which is enough time to mentally prep for it;
• I have a plot, and I've thought it through to almost the end;
• I'm used to writing a little bit every day - now to write a lot every day;
• I'm living on my own - fewer distractions (which guarantees that my Mom will be saying to herself, "Must call Rebecca at random times every night for the next month" when she reads this. Love you lots, Mom!)

Right - must go finish last three profiles and scene summaries for first six scenes.

Time well wasted!

Remember that long list of blogs that was on the left side of the page? Well, I found an item in the Blogger Knowledge database about how to expand and collapse the text of posts. I took it, played around with it, and made it work on the sidebar. So if you want to see the list of blogs I read on a regular basis and recommend you check out, just click where it says "Click Here" and the list expands.

See! I knew I'd get something done if I stayed home!

The life of an anti-social hermit

Well, last night at this time I hoped I'd be writing tomorrow morning about my first time in a gay bar - in Sudbury, no less. Karen and some friends were going to the Hallowe'en party there, and I was gearing up to go, too.

Alas, the fates intervene - in the form of rain. Now, normally, rain is not a bad thing. It's a good thing, and completely expected in the fall. And, as several people went to great lengths to remind me, at least you don't have to shovel it or scrape it off your car. (Aside: okay people - the Southerner GETS IT. It gets cold up here sooner. There's lots of snow, and it usually comes sooner that it does in Niagara. I knew that when I moved up here. You can now offically quit it with the perky reminders. I give you permission to stop.)

However, when that rain is accompanied by a warmish front, and it's been chilly all week, the air pressure changes rapidly. And it's this rapid change that my sinuses Do. Not. Like. At all. I woke up with the beginnings of a headache, and it lasted pretty much all day. I had to go to the mall and for groceries, and it was a zoo, which pretty much pushed me over the edge as far as my anti-social tendencies go. So I called Karen and opted out. I'm still going over to her place tomorrow night to help hand out candy.

I've been out almost every night this week, I'll be out almost every night next week, and I'll be out all next weekend. I needed some serious hermit-time. Knitting, blogging, drinking tea or fruity mineral water, NaNoing - that's all that's on the agenda for tonight. And that's how I like it.

And the "Beginner's Guide to Being a Bitch-Hermit" from iLL WiLL PreSS pretty much sums it up. (Warning - contains strong language. So Mom, you might not want to watch it. Actually, you probably can't anyways because your connection is too slow. Never mind.)