...was a meeting I had organised and led last Wednesday with a bunch of councillors from the municipalities we're working in. I don't usually find work very stressful, but meetings can be intense.
That was an exhausting week but also kind of energising. Life will certainly be dull from now on.
B and I had looked at about 40 houses, nearly all in this one neighbourhood north of highway one (just north of where we live now), and most were in pretty poor condition. The ones that were decent always sold for about $20,000 over the asking price (even in these 'tough economic times', though apparently the Spirited Energy Province has been relatively sheltered from all that hoopla) and so were out of our price range.
About two weeks before we found the house we got, we put an offer into a very small house in a central part of the neighbourhood. It needed a lot of work - mostly cosmetic. It was very solid, which is the important thing in an old neighbourhood. It sold, to someone else, for quite a bit higher than the list price.
The one we did get was a place we didn't even consider looking at. A friend across the street told us about an open house and said we should check it out. That part of the neighbourhood always seemed too far north to me, but he said it was great. He can be anywhere downtown on his bike in 10 minutes and there are lots of buses. So we had a look. The street was awesome. The house was beautiful and looked to be in good condition, so we figured it would just go for a whole lot more than asking price. Also, it seemed like a lot of house for us. I like small things.
It didn't sell. I think it's the location. We had another look with our agent and he really liked it. He doesn't usually like anything. B was all for it. I was apprehensive. We wrote up a large pros and cons list. The pros outweighed the cons. We put in an offer and got it just slightly under the list price.
I wasn't convinced we had it until the bank sent the approval letter to the agent. There was about a full day of stress in there when, upon receiving my letter of employment, the manager raised an eyebrow at my 'term employee' status. Even though he'd written us several pre-approval letters, he had no obligation to offer us anything. But this was the eleventh hour. Gah! He scared me for nothing. It went through fine.
So now we have this house. It's big, it smells like smoke and it's kind of far north, but I am really happy. I'm ready to try on this owning-a-house thing and see how I like it. I'm happy to move out of this apartment - not because I hate it here but because I'd like a change of space, one with a cat-litter-free bathroom. I'm happy to have space for a canoe and another, crappier bike, so I can cycle anywhere and not worry about it being stolen. I'm looking forward to reading on a porch, more counter space and somewhere to put a sewing machine. I'm also excited to move to a different neighbourhood. I love it here but it will be fun to know another part of One Great City!
The main stress of the week was my thesis defence, which I won't go into much because I have to go to work now. I can't believe how well it all went. There were only three people there but the discussion was good enough that I wish I'd asked more people to come. I have a few revisions to make, so the whole thing will be out of my hair by next week.
Which I still can't believe.
Wednesday, 9 September 2009
Friday, 4 September 2009
Thursday, 3 September 2009
Sunday, 19 July 2009
Summertime
I feel like it's been ages since I've posted - because it has been. Just enjoying the summer and generally avoiding my computer. Turning it on is less appealing now that I spend so much of my day in front of a screen. Oh, the drawbacks of working in an office.
B and I went to Montreal for a few days around Canada Day. We stayed with my 'aunt', who is not really my aunt, but I consider her a relative as she was very close to our family when I was growing up. She lived right next door - we shared a patio. Her husband is one of my favourite people to talk to. They have a really nice house with a beautiful back garden. We ate out on the patio a lot so we could absorb the lushness of it all. Soon after dusk, the fireflies came out. Not being from eastern Canada, fireflies are a thrill to me. Animals that light up and glow are just a crazy concept. I once saw a glowing thing in a bush in The Middle of Nowhere, France. I looked closely and it was a little worm. A glow worm - my first and only, so far. Neat.
Jazz Fest was on while we were there, so we heard some great music. We also went to La Ronde to ride on some rollercoasters, canoeing in a nearby provincial park and shoe-shopping. We spent half an afternoon at the Olympic stadium, which was this concrete wasteland of craziness that just made me want to run around really fast (that's the Olympian in me). I practised French when I could but those Montrealers always respond back in English so I didn't get very far. We had a night out with C McK, who has moved there permanently, unfortunately for us, but at least we got to hang out. It was one of the best trips we've ever taken.
Last weekend was the folk festival and I was only sort of looking forward to it because I still had a bad taste in my mouth from last year's horizontal rain. The weather was much drier this time, and the bands were fantastic. My favourite thing about a festival is all the music I didn't know I'd like. I also tend to enjoy the beer tent. Actually, that might be my favourite thing.
Today, B and I cycled to the park and visited the zoo for the first time - lots of birds there, and dumb-asses, too, shouting at the fighting monkeys as though they were watching a hockey fight on TV. We had a picnic on the grass. Some teenagers nearby were playing Truth or Dare, so once in a while one of them would get up and lie down on the grass between two guys playing frisbee. They did not lie near us. We went for ice-cream which melted quickly in the heat and then blew all over shirts in the wind. On the way home, we picked some radishes from our garden plot - hot and delicious!
Time to eat and get rid of this headache that has come on. I will try to remember to post some pictures of the Olympic stadium. The past's idea of what the future would be.
B and I went to Montreal for a few days around Canada Day. We stayed with my 'aunt', who is not really my aunt, but I consider her a relative as she was very close to our family when I was growing up. She lived right next door - we shared a patio. Her husband is one of my favourite people to talk to. They have a really nice house with a beautiful back garden. We ate out on the patio a lot so we could absorb the lushness of it all. Soon after dusk, the fireflies came out. Not being from eastern Canada, fireflies are a thrill to me. Animals that light up and glow are just a crazy concept. I once saw a glowing thing in a bush in The Middle of Nowhere, France. I looked closely and it was a little worm. A glow worm - my first and only, so far. Neat.
Jazz Fest was on while we were there, so we heard some great music. We also went to La Ronde to ride on some rollercoasters, canoeing in a nearby provincial park and shoe-shopping. We spent half an afternoon at the Olympic stadium, which was this concrete wasteland of craziness that just made me want to run around really fast (that's the Olympian in me). I practised French when I could but those Montrealers always respond back in English so I didn't get very far. We had a night out with C McK, who has moved there permanently, unfortunately for us, but at least we got to hang out. It was one of the best trips we've ever taken.
Last weekend was the folk festival and I was only sort of looking forward to it because I still had a bad taste in my mouth from last year's horizontal rain. The weather was much drier this time, and the bands were fantastic. My favourite thing about a festival is all the music I didn't know I'd like. I also tend to enjoy the beer tent. Actually, that might be my favourite thing.
Today, B and I cycled to the park and visited the zoo for the first time - lots of birds there, and dumb-asses, too, shouting at the fighting monkeys as though they were watching a hockey fight on TV. We had a picnic on the grass. Some teenagers nearby were playing Truth or Dare, so once in a while one of them would get up and lie down on the grass between two guys playing frisbee. They did not lie near us. We went for ice-cream which melted quickly in the heat and then blew all over shirts in the wind. On the way home, we picked some radishes from our garden plot - hot and delicious!
Time to eat and get rid of this headache that has come on. I will try to remember to post some pictures of the Olympic stadium. The past's idea of what the future would be.
Sunday, 28 June 2009
Friday, 19 June 2009
Another list
a. I have handed in a full, decent draft of my thesis to my entire committee of three. I just won’t completely relax, though, until I have a piece of paper in my hand indicating that I don’t have to do any more work on this.
b. B got a new job. He is digging it so he’s been particularly upbeat and fun lately. However, the mortgage pre-approval letter we got before he decided to switch jobs is now null and void until he’s off probation. Fortunately, the probationary period is only 30 days so will be up in just over two weeks, however, we have seen what looks to be, in pictures, a truly great place that is accepting offers on Monday. Now I’m trying to get mortgage approval myself but it’s such a short time frame that I’m getting really anxious.
c. We are going to a cottage on a lake for the weekend with a couple whom we only know a little bit. They are really nice and although I’m not sure we have a lot in common, I am very excited to go away to a cottage and chill out for a weekend. I will not have to think about my thesis. Hopefully the above situation won’t fester in my mind and ruin it all. I am good at quickly replacing one worry with another.
d. B, CMcK and I went to a jazz show at an art gallery last night. The show included free admission to the gallery, so during intermission, we checked out an exhibit called ‘Ladies Sasquatch’. As I walked through it I felt lots of different, conflicting things – it was very stimulating. Often when I’m looking at art I don’t know what to feel and I get preoccupied with wondering if I get it, which annoys me but that’s my problem. I just didn’t worry about that last night. Whatever feeling or thought came at me, I just embraced, and even spoke out loud. I felt simultaneously creeped-out and comforted, I laughed and I opened my eyes widely in shock. I have never felt so invited by an exhibit of art, so welcome to respond in whatever the hell way felt natural. It was a new experience to me. Beyond that, I thought this was actually an original way of expressing some interesting ideas, things that many people, especially women, likely sense but may not articulate. And everyone else in there seemed to respond in some way or another as well. Nobody was bored.
I didn’t link to it because I don’t want to spoil it all – hopefully my description of my own response hasn’t already done that. If it comes to your location you I recommend going without knowing what to expect.
d. I finally talked to my good friend Ando on the phone and it was really awesome.
Thursday, 28 May 2009
Another post about childhood
I've had some funny flashbacks of childhood recently. The other day, it was a song that pops into my head from time to time but whose title and artist have always eluded me, due to my lack of sleuthing. This is usually the trigger song. Every time I hear that I wonder why I feel like I'm about to start my first day of school, then I realise it's because it reminds me of some song from the seventies. I am not sure what triggered the memory this time because I haven't heard the trigger song in a long time (and I'm not going to listen to it now, not even with that easily clickable link there. Too obnoxious.)
I can only ever remember two lines from the seventies song, so on Sunday, taking a break from thesis writing (which, yes, I'm still doing, at my work office on weekends and early mornings now. Will this end? Ever?) I punched the lines into the search engine:
Over and over again
What do I do?
and it came up right away. Here it is, complete with pasted-together video! It was #1 in October of 1980, which is right about the time that we moved here. A song like this would never be #1 today. Something about that sound... but isn't it great? And I love visuals from the late seventies and early eighties because the weather is always sunny and people have soft, fluffy hair and wear a lot of brown, which is exactly as I remember that time.
And today, I was eating a banana, which is not all that unusual but maybe it was because I am also wearing a yellow cardigan that I thought of a book or a poster that I had as a kid which grouped bunches of foods and other objects from nature by colour. For yellow, there was a banana, and I am sure Bert and Ernie were involved somehow, but the rest is fuzzy.
I can only ever remember two lines from the seventies song, so on Sunday, taking a break from thesis writing (which, yes, I'm still doing, at my work office on weekends and early mornings now. Will this end? Ever?) I punched the lines into the search engine:
Over and over again
What do I do?
and it came up right away. Here it is, complete with pasted-together video! It was #1 in October of 1980, which is right about the time that we moved here. A song like this would never be #1 today. Something about that sound... but isn't it great? And I love visuals from the late seventies and early eighties because the weather is always sunny and people have soft, fluffy hair and wear a lot of brown, which is exactly as I remember that time.
And today, I was eating a banana, which is not all that unusual but maybe it was because I am also wearing a yellow cardigan that I thought of a book or a poster that I had as a kid which grouped bunches of foods and other objects from nature by colour. For yellow, there was a banana, and I am sure Bert and Ernie were involved somehow, but the rest is fuzzy.
Sunday, 10 May 2009
At the moment
1.
Don't know much about history... I really am fuzzy for most of it, so I bought this book and took Friday evening off (no housework, no thesis edits) to read it. It has been far too long since I last started a book. This one is great and I love it. I recommend it highly.
2.
B and I are looking for a new place to live. He would like a condo, but condos here generally cost more than houses, at least in the neighbourhoods we'd like to live in, and the nice ones have outrageous fees. I like the density of most condos but they are all geared to that hip, young, professional demographic - which is totally us! Unfortunately, there is a limit to my appetite for stainless steel appliances. We'd both like to live in a co-op but they are rare. I wrote a list entitled 'My Ideal House' which has built-in flexibility regarding form of housing tenure.
3.
I have been trying to watch more TV. I'm fussy about TV. I like it to be interesting but not too interesting. Excessive plot twists will do to a show what excessive condiments will do to food. Not necessary. Right now, I'm into this. I look forward to it, but I'm not changing my desktop picture or anything.
4.
We have a plot at the community garden again. It is bigger than last year's, and closer to the road, so we will have to be very strategic about our choice of crops. No bright red tomatoes screaming, Steal me! I'm thinking, cabbage.
5.
This week's breakfast music was this album. Man. It is good. The whole thing.
Don't know much about history... I really am fuzzy for most of it, so I bought this book and took Friday evening off (no housework, no thesis edits) to read it. It has been far too long since I last started a book. This one is great and I love it. I recommend it highly.
2.
B and I are looking for a new place to live. He would like a condo, but condos here generally cost more than houses, at least in the neighbourhoods we'd like to live in, and the nice ones have outrageous fees. I like the density of most condos but they are all geared to that hip, young, professional demographic - which is totally us! Unfortunately, there is a limit to my appetite for stainless steel appliances. We'd both like to live in a co-op but they are rare. I wrote a list entitled 'My Ideal House' which has built-in flexibility regarding form of housing tenure.
3.
I have been trying to watch more TV. I'm fussy about TV. I like it to be interesting but not too interesting. Excessive plot twists will do to a show what excessive condiments will do to food. Not necessary. Right now, I'm into this. I look forward to it, but I'm not changing my desktop picture or anything.
4.
We have a plot at the community garden again. It is bigger than last year's, and closer to the road, so we will have to be very strategic about our choice of crops. No bright red tomatoes screaming, Steal me! I'm thinking, cabbage.
5.
This week's breakfast music was this album. Man. It is good. The whole thing.
Monday, 20 April 2009
Rambling bird
Nothing to say. I just think I need to plonk something down. Expect to be less-than-overwhelmed.
I went to P-la-P today for an orientation session for work. I gave a presentation on the details of the program. It was a presentation that I was happy with. My supervisor, maybe less so. AJ and I had taken a class through work called 'Presentation Skillz' and I applied all the recommended points. (OK. 'Skills'). I loved this class. It was two days long and I learned several things, but most importantly, that I can speak in front of people in a clear and interesting manner. It's like realising you are creative, not because you pick up a clarinet and find that, lo! it is playing you, but because you are just a person so it's normal, you just never thought about it before. Perspective, I'm telling you, is everything.
If you go to a room called 'Ambassador Room C' of a hotel chain, and walk around the Canadian Tire next door to get some air over lunch, does that count as having visited the town?
AJ called me because she didn't go today. She wanted the uncensored de-brief (ha ha!) before we got to work tomorrow. She is a person who will repeat things a lot and is really chatty even though she's allegedly an introvert (a good source of fun-poking) - I would venture to say she 'goes on'! - but she never, ever annoys me. The more she talks, the more she repeats things, the more she realises what she is doing and makes fun of herself, the more charmed I am by her. I told her yesterday that without her at work, I would not know what is real and what is spin. The only job I ever had where I didn't have that touchstone of reality in a person, I nearly lost my mind.
It's dish-doing time.
I went to P-la-P today for an orientation session for work. I gave a presentation on the details of the program. It was a presentation that I was happy with. My supervisor, maybe less so. AJ and I had taken a class through work called 'Presentation Skillz' and I applied all the recommended points. (OK. 'Skills'). I loved this class. It was two days long and I learned several things, but most importantly, that I can speak in front of people in a clear and interesting manner. It's like realising you are creative, not because you pick up a clarinet and find that, lo! it is playing you, but because you are just a person so it's normal, you just never thought about it before. Perspective, I'm telling you, is everything.
If you go to a room called 'Ambassador Room C' of a hotel chain, and walk around the Canadian Tire next door to get some air over lunch, does that count as having visited the town?
AJ called me because she didn't go today. She wanted the uncensored de-brief (ha ha!) before we got to work tomorrow. She is a person who will repeat things a lot and is really chatty even though she's allegedly an introvert (a good source of fun-poking) - I would venture to say she 'goes on'! - but she never, ever annoys me. The more she talks, the more she repeats things, the more she realises what she is doing and makes fun of herself, the more charmed I am by her. I told her yesterday that without her at work, I would not know what is real and what is spin. The only job I ever had where I didn't have that touchstone of reality in a person, I nearly lost my mind.
It's dish-doing time.
Monday, 13 April 2009
Ah. Day off.
I handed in a draft of my thesis last Friday, the writing of which required an insane amount of time invested. For three weeks, I was on a roll and stayed away from the blog and most other enjoyable things. Now, I have Easter Monday off - to myself - and the aimlessness of the day has me gripped. I just do not know what to do with myself and I love it.
These past few weeks have not been entirely anti-social. B, C-McK and I went out the weekend before last for one of those surprise nights that sticks with you throughout the week and keeps you interested in life when work tries to ensure you are anything but interested. We started out at a swanky hotel lounge. They were ordering all kinds of martinis and margaritas, but I was off booze for Lent, so it was shirley temples soda water for me. I gave up Catholicism long ago but I've always liked Lent. I 'observe' it in some way most years, but it's been a long time since I stopped drinking. This was a great decision, well-timed with my end-of-March goal to finish a draft of my thesis - no valuable writing time wasted being hung over or tired or out of it.
Two of C-McK's friends joined us. They were wonderful. The lounge had a pianist who played hit after hit, so heavily embellished that it always took a little time before anyone at the table could figure out what song that was. We had dinner and dessert and even coffee and there was a lot of laughing.
By a quarter to twelve we headed to a club to see these guys, but the show was sold out by the time we arrived. Luckily, a dude who happens to work at the club happened to be standing outside smoking and happened to recognise C-McK from 'back in the day' or whatever, and he not only got us all into the sold-out show, but free-of-charge.
B and I had gone earlier in the day to that ridiculous '80s-inspired clothing store that actually sells gold scrunchies. You know the place of which I write. It was crawling with enormous glasses, leggings and moppy hair, the opposite of flattering, but the experience served as useful content for a funny discussion at the lounge. We'd all bet that the club would have a plethora of folk sporting this look and we were not wrong. The first thing to greet us when we walked into the club was a giant, clear-plastic-rimmed pair of 'ironic' glasses. Then I was immediately introduced to a guy with a moustache. He looked about 15.
The band was awesome and I never once felt tired.
I am going to wander over to the Y for a swim now.
These past few weeks have not been entirely anti-social. B, C-McK and I went out the weekend before last for one of those surprise nights that sticks with you throughout the week and keeps you interested in life when work tries to ensure you are anything but interested. We started out at a swanky hotel lounge. They were ordering all kinds of martinis and margaritas, but I was off booze for Lent, so it was shirley temples soda water for me. I gave up Catholicism long ago but I've always liked Lent. I 'observe' it in some way most years, but it's been a long time since I stopped drinking. This was a great decision, well-timed with my end-of-March goal to finish a draft of my thesis - no valuable writing time wasted being hung over or tired or out of it.
Two of C-McK's friends joined us. They were wonderful. The lounge had a pianist who played hit after hit, so heavily embellished that it always took a little time before anyone at the table could figure out what song that was. We had dinner and dessert and even coffee and there was a lot of laughing.
By a quarter to twelve we headed to a club to see these guys, but the show was sold out by the time we arrived. Luckily, a dude who happens to work at the club happened to be standing outside smoking and happened to recognise C-McK from 'back in the day' or whatever, and he not only got us all into the sold-out show, but free-of-charge.
B and I had gone earlier in the day to that ridiculous '80s-inspired clothing store that actually sells gold scrunchies. You know the place of which I write. It was crawling with enormous glasses, leggings and moppy hair, the opposite of flattering, but the experience served as useful content for a funny discussion at the lounge. We'd all bet that the club would have a plethora of folk sporting this look and we were not wrong. The first thing to greet us when we walked into the club was a giant, clear-plastic-rimmed pair of 'ironic' glasses. Then I was immediately introduced to a guy with a moustache. He looked about 15.
The band was awesome and I never once felt tired.
I am going to wander over to the Y for a swim now.
Monday, 9 March 2009
Wedding post
This is the song I had in my head as I walked to the wedding ceremony site.
Two days earlier, B and I were listening to one of those 'urban music' radio stations, noting that every pop song is all about auto-tune, this one being no exception. Then I heard the song again in a bar or something, and now I seem to hear it everywhere, as it goes. I hated it, but of course, I love it now.
I don't mean to be flippant, but making light of what I perceived to be the heavy event of getting married was the best way I could think of to get through it without over-dramatising and bursting into tears. I just wanted to maintain my composure. I knew I'd get more out of it that way. Singing this ridiculous song seemed to make nothing matter. I always feel like I can handle things if I think nothing really matters.
Now that it's over, 'heavy' isn't a word I'd use to describe our wedding. It really was a fantastic day, better appreciated with a little distance because I seemed to keep the happiness I felt at the time at arm's length, as my coping mechanism. Sometimes happy can suffocate - I don't know. I was relieved when it was all over and it's not something I'd want to do again, but it was fab. The fears I had - many of which seemed to explode in my dreams in the months leading up - did not manifest on the day, and so seem irrelevant in retrospect.
The rest of this post will take the form of a list.
Morning: B and I went skating at the duck pond and practised our dance. We didn't get it right a single time and ended up bickering to release the tension. As usual.
Later morning: Bff and I went for a long walk. It was very important to me that this happen. We have been going for walks since high school. She is the first person I regularly walked with for leisure purposes who isn't a parent.
Afternoon: Got dressed with Bff, Em, Mom, Mado... which could have been nightmarish but was fine. I had a moment of panic when I looked in the mirror in my fake fur and saw a pimp staring back. The hat seemed to fix that enough for me.
Ceremony: It's much easier to repeat something than say it off the cuff, or even read it. I actually, honestly enjoyed every minute of the ceremony and I still can't believe that.
Food: It wasn't until three-quarters of the way through the night that I could taste food, at which point the meal was as good as done, so I tried to stock up on desserts but I was full.
Dance: This is the part of the night that I don't remember, except that it seemed to make people happy.
Dance party: The usual suspects held up the party. B's dad has a couple of great pictures.
The Khan show: As Bff's B called it. An interesting mix of people trying to keep the party going in DK's room. I don't think it lasted very long.
(Briefly reverting back to non-list format)... People are kind! There was just no negativity sent our way. Everyone seemed to be fully rooting for our happiness. I don't know why I didn't see that coming. The public aspect of a wedding was what made me reluctant to get married in the first place, but it was what I loved the most. I never imagined that what I have with B could be shared, in a way, with others, and that those feelings would be compounded by their acknowledgement and support. I just think that is so cool.
Two days earlier, B and I were listening to one of those 'urban music' radio stations, noting that every pop song is all about auto-tune, this one being no exception. Then I heard the song again in a bar or something, and now I seem to hear it everywhere, as it goes. I hated it, but of course, I love it now.
I don't mean to be flippant, but making light of what I perceived to be the heavy event of getting married was the best way I could think of to get through it without over-dramatising and bursting into tears. I just wanted to maintain my composure. I knew I'd get more out of it that way. Singing this ridiculous song seemed to make nothing matter. I always feel like I can handle things if I think nothing really matters.
Now that it's over, 'heavy' isn't a word I'd use to describe our wedding. It really was a fantastic day, better appreciated with a little distance because I seemed to keep the happiness I felt at the time at arm's length, as my coping mechanism. Sometimes happy can suffocate - I don't know. I was relieved when it was all over and it's not something I'd want to do again, but it was fab. The fears I had - many of which seemed to explode in my dreams in the months leading up - did not manifest on the day, and so seem irrelevant in retrospect.
The rest of this post will take the form of a list.
Morning: B and I went skating at the duck pond and practised our dance. We didn't get it right a single time and ended up bickering to release the tension. As usual.
Later morning: Bff and I went for a long walk. It was very important to me that this happen. We have been going for walks since high school. She is the first person I regularly walked with for leisure purposes who isn't a parent.
Afternoon: Got dressed with Bff, Em, Mom, Mado... which could have been nightmarish but was fine. I had a moment of panic when I looked in the mirror in my fake fur and saw a pimp staring back. The hat seemed to fix that enough for me.
Ceremony: It's much easier to repeat something than say it off the cuff, or even read it. I actually, honestly enjoyed every minute of the ceremony and I still can't believe that.
Food: It wasn't until three-quarters of the way through the night that I could taste food, at which point the meal was as good as done, so I tried to stock up on desserts but I was full.
Dance: This is the part of the night that I don't remember, except that it seemed to make people happy.
Dance party: The usual suspects held up the party. B's dad has a couple of great pictures.
The Khan show: As Bff's B called it. An interesting mix of people trying to keep the party going in DK's room. I don't think it lasted very long.
(Briefly reverting back to non-list format)... People are kind! There was just no negativity sent our way. Everyone seemed to be fully rooting for our happiness. I don't know why I didn't see that coming. The public aspect of a wedding was what made me reluctant to get married in the first place, but it was what I loved the most. I never imagined that what I have with B could be shared, in a way, with others, and that those feelings would be compounded by their acknowledgement and support. I just think that is so cool.
Wednesday, 18 February 2009
Titles aren't always easy and I need to eat now
When I log into my email account, it tells me there is a system error and that they are sorry for the inconvenience but I cannot get into my account just now. But, if I log in via the preview and click on a message there, I can get in no problem. This has been going on for a few days and it's very exciting - it's like a secret e-passage into my inbox.
I'm glad I found a 'way in' because, what with the wedding coming up, I have been quite dependent on various forms of communication, spending lots of time sending messages and calling people and such. I just spoke with the manager of the restaurant where we're having the wedding reception to iron out a few details. We've spoken several times now and she is really cool and I like her. I look forward to meeting her. It's always funny to meet someone I've only known on the phone. It's not that they don't match the picture in my head - I usually don't have one - it's that the foggy form now emerges into a clear shape and I think, Oh! It's you. I didn't expect this. No matter what they end up looking like, it's unexpected.
Like the guy off of whom I bought a small fridge for our office. We had exchanged a few emails and a couple of phone calls, so I had a vague sense - totally inaccurate - of what he'd be like. When I did meet him I was quite taken aback. What is it about a person's voice or e-manner that instigates surprise in you when you meet them? I realise now that it is more than those things that help build one's little mental image. With this person, the triggers were that he had posted a used item on a website and that he lived in a 'weird' part of town - why then did he seem like someone I'd have lots in common with? Busted: prejudice betrayed!
This 'weird' part of town, it turns out, is pretty cool. Like most neighbourhoods of One Great City! it used to be its own town, so it has a lovely old main street. It also has a tinge of Garden City* to it, which I saw on the map before seeing it on the ground. Similar to the phone thing, it was different when I got there, though that might have had more to do with it being night time than anything else.
*I really don't think there's anything genuinely 'Garden City' about it at all. It's just a park with a funny shape. Still, very cool to behold.
I'm glad I found a 'way in' because, what with the wedding coming up, I have been quite dependent on various forms of communication, spending lots of time sending messages and calling people and such. I just spoke with the manager of the restaurant where we're having the wedding reception to iron out a few details. We've spoken several times now and she is really cool and I like her. I look forward to meeting her. It's always funny to meet someone I've only known on the phone. It's not that they don't match the picture in my head - I usually don't have one - it's that the foggy form now emerges into a clear shape and I think, Oh! It's you. I didn't expect this. No matter what they end up looking like, it's unexpected.
Like the guy off of whom I bought a small fridge for our office. We had exchanged a few emails and a couple of phone calls, so I had a vague sense - totally inaccurate - of what he'd be like. When I did meet him I was quite taken aback. What is it about a person's voice or e-manner that instigates surprise in you when you meet them? I realise now that it is more than those things that help build one's little mental image. With this person, the triggers were that he had posted a used item on a website and that he lived in a 'weird' part of town - why then did he seem like someone I'd have lots in common with? Busted: prejudice betrayed!
This 'weird' part of town, it turns out, is pretty cool. Like most neighbourhoods of One Great City! it used to be its own town, so it has a lovely old main street. It also has a tinge of Garden City* to it, which I saw on the map before seeing it on the ground. Similar to the phone thing, it was different when I got there, though that might have had more to do with it being night time than anything else.
*I really don't think there's anything genuinely 'Garden City' about it at all. It's just a park with a funny shape. Still, very cool to behold.
Tuesday, 3 February 2009
Feb. 3rd
Hi.
I've been waking up in the middle of the night again - almost every night and usually for about two hours. Sometimes I'm too lazy or cold to get up, so I lie there and let my mind go nowhere special until I am ready to face the fact that unless I get up, I will not be able to go back to sleep again. That is the trick: getting up to do something that focuses my mind until it realises how tired it is.
Usually, I read The Guardian and sometimes, I work on my thesis. I can't do anything too active or exciting, like bake or sew, because then I'll never go back to bed, and going back to bed - to sleep - is the goal. Otherwise I'm sleeping at work.
It works. Sometimes, upon returning to bed, I will lie there for a little bit before falling asleep again. That usually happens when I've gone back too soon due to impatience with that inevitable fatigue. But I always have really great dreams afterwards.
By 'great' I mean 'vivid'. Here was this morning's, had sometime between 5:15 and 6:00am:
As is normally the case of late, I dreamt about the wedding. It is the day of. I arrive on the scene early to the basement of a house and some of the guests are there - all friends of my old boyfriend, and few of whom I'd remembered inviting, so I begin to wonder how the rest of them will fit at the reception to eat.
Suddenly, it's time to go to the ceremony. I feel about as ready as I would if it were to take place TODAY, so, utterly unprepared. We don't have rings and we had missed our meeting with the JP days before, among other things. I am astounded by how totally disorganised we are. How could this have happened? I had all those lists...
I haven't done my hair (which is long, blond and scraggly) and I'm not dressed. I am, however, wearing about nineteen layers, all with very intricate buttons. I start to madly undo them. I'm getting hot. I'm running late. I skip the buttons and just yank everything off over my head. I put on my dress. I go to the bathroom. The end of the dress falls in the toilet. I rinse it off and the colour - sparkly green - starts to come out and then change to a white and gold pattern, but only in that one area. At least it's pretty, I think. I don't have any make-up on and there is no time to do that hair (whoever's hair that is). No shower, nothing. I am all sweaty. I am really not feeling my best.
Dad picks me up in some car with the steering wheel on the right and I sit in the back seat, wondering what the JP is going to say, until I realise that I want to walk to the ceremony. We are coming out of an underground parking lot and I decide to jump out as soon as the car emerges from the dungeon. It is a warm, sunny day, even though it's February. I don't even need a wrap. Then I wake up to the sound of the radio.
It's true that we have a lot to do between now and the end of the month, but if we did have to do it tomorrow, it wouldn't be that bad. My guess is the dress-in-toilet thing is prophetic, though. That keeps happening with this silly belted cardigan I have.
I look forward to tomorrow morning's dream.
I've been waking up in the middle of the night again - almost every night and usually for about two hours. Sometimes I'm too lazy or cold to get up, so I lie there and let my mind go nowhere special until I am ready to face the fact that unless I get up, I will not be able to go back to sleep again. That is the trick: getting up to do something that focuses my mind until it realises how tired it is.
Usually, I read The Guardian and sometimes, I work on my thesis. I can't do anything too active or exciting, like bake or sew, because then I'll never go back to bed, and going back to bed - to sleep - is the goal. Otherwise I'm sleeping at work.
It works. Sometimes, upon returning to bed, I will lie there for a little bit before falling asleep again. That usually happens when I've gone back too soon due to impatience with that inevitable fatigue. But I always have really great dreams afterwards.
By 'great' I mean 'vivid'. Here was this morning's, had sometime between 5:15 and 6:00am:
As is normally the case of late, I dreamt about the wedding. It is the day of. I arrive on the scene early to the basement of a house and some of the guests are there - all friends of my old boyfriend, and few of whom I'd remembered inviting, so I begin to wonder how the rest of them will fit at the reception to eat.
Suddenly, it's time to go to the ceremony. I feel about as ready as I would if it were to take place TODAY, so, utterly unprepared. We don't have rings and we had missed our meeting with the JP days before, among other things. I am astounded by how totally disorganised we are. How could this have happened? I had all those lists...
I haven't done my hair (which is long, blond and scraggly) and I'm not dressed. I am, however, wearing about nineteen layers, all with very intricate buttons. I start to madly undo them. I'm getting hot. I'm running late. I skip the buttons and just yank everything off over my head. I put on my dress. I go to the bathroom. The end of the dress falls in the toilet. I rinse it off and the colour - sparkly green - starts to come out and then change to a white and gold pattern, but only in that one area. At least it's pretty, I think. I don't have any make-up on and there is no time to do that hair (whoever's hair that is). No shower, nothing. I am all sweaty. I am really not feeling my best.
Dad picks me up in some car with the steering wheel on the right and I sit in the back seat, wondering what the JP is going to say, until I realise that I want to walk to the ceremony. We are coming out of an underground parking lot and I decide to jump out as soon as the car emerges from the dungeon. It is a warm, sunny day, even though it's February. I don't even need a wrap. Then I wake up to the sound of the radio.
It's true that we have a lot to do between now and the end of the month, but if we did have to do it tomorrow, it wouldn't be that bad. My guess is the dress-in-toilet thing is prophetic, though. That keeps happening with this silly belted cardigan I have.
I look forward to tomorrow morning's dream.
Friday, 16 January 2009
OK, here's that photo
That's how cold it is.--
Or, was. It's balmy now. I can't wait to go skating on the river.
Thursday, 15 January 2009
Chilly beach
Yesterday, a man told me that it was colder in One Great City! than at either of the poles.
People are very funny here. They really like to talk about the weather in a way that indicates they are surprised by it, as though it is totally unexpected or out of character for this part of the world to be this frigid. Then they don't wear a toque. What is up with not wearing a toque?
I have a very funny picture to post which I have yet to take. I am going to put the camera in my bag and take said photo tomorrow at work. Stay tuned.
People are very funny here. They really like to talk about the weather in a way that indicates they are surprised by it, as though it is totally unexpected or out of character for this part of the world to be this frigid. Then they don't wear a toque. What is up with not wearing a toque?
I have a very funny picture to post which I have yet to take. I am going to put the camera in my bag and take said photo tomorrow at work. Stay tuned.
Wednesday, 7 January 2009
Our song
B and I are going to get married. We have been doing some planning around this. Activities are unfolding not in sequence but in overlapping layers, so that bits of things get done but the bulk piles high and nothing is completed to the point of being crossed off the list - and you know how I feel about that.
The latest dilemma is trying to pick a song to do the whole first dance thing. This is not my idea! B is the one married to that. (And I'm funny.)
We don't have 'A Song'. B has been scouring various sources for inspiration and each idea he presents I toss aside as sentimental or 'done' or just a lame song. Recently he suggested a bossa nova version of 'Night and Day'. 'Night and Day' is not a love song in the way that 'Every Breath You Take' is not a love song. Not that I think we should do a love song. In fact, I'd rather not. But an obsession song would be worse.
Still, it inspired me to search the various versions of 'Night and Day' recorded through the ages. There are many. I actually really like U2's version because, even though it sounds a little dated now, it really nails the crazy desperation, the anguish, the 'torment'. It doesn't disguise itself as a peppy, harmless little ditty. It sounds sinister. Then there's Billie Holiday's version. There's a sorrow to everything she sings, which makes perfect sense.
Really though, something about prancing around in front of my parents to the tune of 'let me spend my life making love to you' just does not wash with me. Sex and my parents occupy two totally different worlds and I'm okay with this situation remaining as-is.
--
I wrote that a week or so ago. I have been singing 'Night and Day' on my way to work ever since, but I am no closer to wanting to dance to it whilst near the parents. But neither is B, who has moved on to other bossa nova options.
The latest dilemma is trying to pick a song to do the whole first dance thing. This is not my idea! B is the one married to that. (And I'm funny.)
We don't have 'A Song'. B has been scouring various sources for inspiration and each idea he presents I toss aside as sentimental or 'done' or just a lame song. Recently he suggested a bossa nova version of 'Night and Day'. 'Night and Day' is not a love song in the way that 'Every Breath You Take' is not a love song. Not that I think we should do a love song. In fact, I'd rather not. But an obsession song would be worse.
Still, it inspired me to search the various versions of 'Night and Day' recorded through the ages. There are many. I actually really like U2's version because, even though it sounds a little dated now, it really nails the crazy desperation, the anguish, the 'torment'. It doesn't disguise itself as a peppy, harmless little ditty. It sounds sinister. Then there's Billie Holiday's version. There's a sorrow to everything she sings, which makes perfect sense.
Really though, something about prancing around in front of my parents to the tune of 'let me spend my life making love to you' just does not wash with me. Sex and my parents occupy two totally different worlds and I'm okay with this situation remaining as-is.
--
I wrote that a week or so ago. I have been singing 'Night and Day' on my way to work ever since, but I am no closer to wanting to dance to it whilst near the parents. But neither is B, who has moved on to other bossa nova options.
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