I forgot my camera.
I took some pictures with the Blackberry, though...when I get my antenna on some wifi, I'll see if they're any good.
I transfer up to the Banff Centre tomorrow morning - can't wait. I'm ready to get to work.
Saturday, February 06, 2010
Using the blackberry to blog - I'm all thumbs. Really.
Using the blackberry to blog - I'm all thumbs. Really.
I feel just a teensy bit guilty -- most of the office was working an overtime shift today, even as I was on my way to Banff. On the other hand...I'm on vacation!
I'm officially chilaxing tonight and tomorrow...I'm not due at the Banff Centre until Monday. I wandered around all afternoon, shopping and looking at things. I even took one of the horse-drawn carriage ride (not enough snow for a sleigh ride).
I think I'm meeting up with Jim-from-the-Banff-Centre's wife and daughter tomorrow to talk about her university options and applying, so maybe that will absolve my sin of overtime admission. His daughter is a great kid, too - lots of good things in her future, I'd say.
And I might go to the Whyte Musuem tomorrow. I visited the Indian Trading Post to buy myself a new pair of moccasins. Would post pictures but the hotel charges for internet (can you believe it? Ten dollars a day!) so I'm using the crackberry instead. Good thing for unlimited data plans. I have no idea how the kids manage to text each other all the time, by the way. I'm sitting on my hotel bed, squinting at the keyboard...feeling decidedly old and not very old-school.
Had a nice dinner and now I'm going to have a soak in the tub and curl up with a book. I'm reading the '09 O Henry/Pen Prize stories...it's a really great collection.
On Monday, I'll be working on my own collection of short stories. I was going to give myself the weekend off writing, but I had a nice long time to think on the bus...suspect I may start writing tonight. I'm really looking forward to getting up to the Centre...this will be my eighth residency there, and the place feels so familiar and comfortable to me that it's like visiting a good friend - the kind that makes your favourite food for supper and wants you to show them your vacation pictures and play chess with them. And doesn't make you pay ten dollars a day for internet access, either.
Well. I think my vacation is officially launched!
I'm officially chilaxing tonight and tomorrow...I'm not due at the Banff Centre until Monday. I wandered around all afternoon, shopping and looking at things. I even took one of the horse-drawn carriage ride (not enough snow for a sleigh ride).
I think I'm meeting up with Jim-from-the-Banff-Centre's wife and daughter tomorrow to talk about her university options and applying, so maybe that will absolve my sin of overtime admission. His daughter is a great kid, too - lots of good things in her future, I'd say.
And I might go to the Whyte Musuem tomorrow. I visited the Indian Trading Post to buy myself a new pair of moccasins. Would post pictures but the hotel charges for internet (can you believe it? Ten dollars a day!) so I'm using the crackberry instead. Good thing for unlimited data plans. I have no idea how the kids manage to text each other all the time, by the way. I'm sitting on my hotel bed, squinting at the keyboard...feeling decidedly old and not very old-school.
Had a nice dinner and now I'm going to have a soak in the tub and curl up with a book. I'm reading the '09 O Henry/Pen Prize stories...it's a really great collection.
On Monday, I'll be working on my own collection of short stories. I was going to give myself the weekend off writing, but I had a nice long time to think on the bus...suspect I may start writing tonight. I'm really looking forward to getting up to the Centre...this will be my eighth residency there, and the place feels so familiar and comfortable to me that it's like visiting a good friend - the kind that makes your favourite food for supper and wants you to show them your vacation pictures and play chess with them. And doesn't make you pay ten dollars a day for internet access, either.
Well. I think my vacation is officially launched!
Friday, February 05, 2010
Friday!
Friday!
That's it, suckers...I'm on vacation!!
Only for a week, but a week off in February can be a wonderful thing.
Only for a week, but a week off in February can be a wonderful thing.
Thursday, February 04, 2010
Thursday.
Thursday.
Creepster neighbour didn't show up last night (hurray), but I'm keeping an eye out for her. The building manager is getting in touch with her family, I think, and hopefully that will take care of things.
Meanwhile? I'm still reading about client centered therapy (I'm ambivalent about it - don't really love it, but I don't really hate it) and thinking about my term paper. And looking very much forward to vacation...which starts on Saturday.
Just one more day!
Meanwhile? I'm still reading about client centered therapy (I'm ambivalent about it - don't really love it, but I don't really hate it) and thinking about my term paper. And looking very much forward to vacation...which starts on Saturday.
Just one more day!
Wednesday, February 03, 2010
Creepster neighbour is creepy.
Creepster neighbour is creepy.
I walked by the the front door last night and noticed all of the cats hunched in front of it and had a look out the peephole...and discovered the creepster neighbour hunched in front of the across-the-hall neighbour's door, listening to them talking! I watched as she listening. Then she walked down the hall, came back, listened some more, and very quietly went into the emergency stairwell to leave...making sure she closed the door carefully so that it didn't make any noise.
It was scary! Definitely shocking to look out and see her there. She wears a long black trenchcoat when she's doing this, so when she walks away, it billows out behind her...I couldn't help but think 'OMG! OMG!' when I saw her. I'm too creeped out to confront her: if she's weird enough to be listening at doors, I think there's an excellent chance that confronting her could be trouble.
So creepy.. When I tell the story, some people think she's lonely and we should befriend her...but she's essentially a peeping tom. She's crazy. She's scary. She doesn't live on our floor, and there was nothing that would have caused her to come up here and listen to doors. The way the apartments are set up means that you can sometimes hear conversations when you walk by...and between us and the guy across the hall (and his girlfriend), I guess there's enough conversation that she's drawn to us. I bet she's going around listening to a bunch of people.
I talked to the building management this morning, and they're going to look into it. She's been yelling at people in the lobby and was seen on security cameras gesturing to a mirror and dancing in the basement lobby (by herself) and generally acting strangely. Maybe she's off her meds. Or in some stage of dementia.
Or maybe she's a vampire.
SO. CREEPY.
I'm going to try to get her on camera this evening...it is SO FREAKING CREEPY that it must be documented.
It was scary! Definitely shocking to look out and see her there. She wears a long black trenchcoat when she's doing this, so when she walks away, it billows out behind her...I couldn't help but think 'OMG! OMG!' when I saw her. I'm too creeped out to confront her: if she's weird enough to be listening at doors, I think there's an excellent chance that confronting her could be trouble.
So creepy.. When I tell the story, some people think she's lonely and we should befriend her...but she's essentially a peeping tom. She's crazy. She's scary. She doesn't live on our floor, and there was nothing that would have caused her to come up here and listen to doors. The way the apartments are set up means that you can sometimes hear conversations when you walk by...and between us and the guy across the hall (and his girlfriend), I guess there's enough conversation that she's drawn to us. I bet she's going around listening to a bunch of people.
I talked to the building management this morning, and they're going to look into it. She's been yelling at people in the lobby and was seen on security cameras gesturing to a mirror and dancing in the basement lobby (by herself) and generally acting strangely. Maybe she's off her meds. Or in some stage of dementia.
Or maybe she's a vampire.
SO. CREEPY.
I'm going to try to get her on camera this evening...it is SO FREAKING CREEPY that it must be documented.
Tuesday, February 02, 2010
Tuesday.
Tuesday.
Blogger is discontinuing its FTP service, which means I'll either have to figure out how to migrate or consider changing blogging platforms. A lot of people seem to be using Wordpress...it looks nice. Maybe I'll make the jump to them? At least it will be a while before I have to decide what to do.
On another aggravating note, I got a new cell phone. A new Blackberry, actually...I upgraded from my clunky one to a Blackberry Curve. It's all very nice, but I'm still trying to figure out how to install Twitter and get my Gmail on it. I swear, the phone is self aware. When I finally got it activated - after calling the phone company and talking to a ten year old (or what sounded like one) about what rate plan I'm supposed to pick - the phone flashed this little message saying I was committed.
Oh, boy.
It probably wants to start talking seriously about having a cell phone family.
On another aggravating note, I got a new cell phone. A new Blackberry, actually...I upgraded from my clunky one to a Blackberry Curve. It's all very nice, but I'm still trying to figure out how to install Twitter and get my Gmail on it. I swear, the phone is self aware. When I finally got it activated - after calling the phone company and talking to a ten year old (or what sounded like one) about what rate plan I'm supposed to pick - the phone flashed this little message saying I was committed.
Oh, boy.
It probably wants to start talking seriously about having a cell phone family.
Monday, February 01, 2010
The little cell phone that called wolf.
The little cell phone that called wolf.
The only excitement of the day came with the ride home...I pulled my cell phone out of my bag to check my email and noticed it was making a call. Weird, right? I cancelled the call, and then a few minutes later, the 911 operator called me back.
ACK!
They were nice about it - wanted to know if I was safe and could talk, and I apologized about a dozen times, but I had no idea my phone could do such a thing. The emergency call feature was activated, and besides calling the fuzz it flipped the GPS tracker on.
When I came home, I googled to see if I could turn the emergency call thing off, but apparently not. I'll start putting it on standby mode from now on, because it seems the cell phone and I have wildly different ideas about what constitutes an emergency.
ACK!
They were nice about it - wanted to know if I was safe and could talk, and I apologized about a dozen times, but I had no idea my phone could do such a thing. The emergency call feature was activated, and besides calling the fuzz it flipped the GPS tracker on.
When I came home, I googled to see if I could turn the emergency call thing off, but apparently not. I'll start putting it on standby mode from now on, because it seems the cell phone and I have wildly different ideas about what constitutes an emergency.
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Blue/green/blue sweater.
Blue/green/blue sweater.
I finished my blue/green/blue sweater yesterday, and washed it and waited impatiently for it to dry so that I could take bad pictures of it this morning. Here, after a short delay, are those bad pictures:
First up, trying to look serious:
Second, abandoning attempts to look serious:
Third, attempting to ham it up:
And fourth, obligatory normal picture:
The exposure is more than a little off on all of them...it's hard to take decent pictures of blue/green/blue sweaters in the dead of winter. If I'm getting better at taking hammy pictures of myself, though, it's probably a good thing. I'm not sure that knitting pictures should be all that serious. It's a comfortable sweater and it's a plain sweater (and it's the right length - I'm just wearing a long tshirt on underneath).
I'm making myself a brown sweater now. The yarn is a nice quality and it's pretty cheap, and it's thick enough that the sweaters knit up quickly. A wardrobe of plain, comfortable woolly sweaters is nice to have. I'm digging them, too, because I can wear my lighter winter coat without suffering.
I've got three winter coats, if you're wondering: when you live in a cold climate, that's pretty much the norm. I've been looking at this spring jacket, but I feel like it would be tempting fate and the weather gods to order it. It won't be warm enough for a jacket like it until May. Maybe it will be on sale by then. And if a person were to wear a blue/green/blue sweater underneath it, wouldn't it be perfect? Possibly? Yes?
Well. Back to reading my psychotherapy textbook. Last night I dreamed that I escaped my reading rehab facility but was being chased down by secret agents...but I thwarted them by turning myself into a pigeon and flying away. A strange dream - no doubt inspired by our discovery that the creepy neighbour was in the hallway again last night, listening at our door. We banged on the door without opening it, and she scuttled off. It would be laughably Kafka-esque if it weren't so downright weird.
Have a good Sunday!
First up, trying to look serious:
Second, abandoning attempts to look serious:
Third, attempting to ham it up:
And fourth, obligatory normal picture:
The exposure is more than a little off on all of them...it's hard to take decent pictures of blue/green/blue sweaters in the dead of winter. If I'm getting better at taking hammy pictures of myself, though, it's probably a good thing. I'm not sure that knitting pictures should be all that serious. It's a comfortable sweater and it's a plain sweater (and it's the right length - I'm just wearing a long tshirt on underneath).
I'm making myself a brown sweater now. The yarn is a nice quality and it's pretty cheap, and it's thick enough that the sweaters knit up quickly. A wardrobe of plain, comfortable woolly sweaters is nice to have. I'm digging them, too, because I can wear my lighter winter coat without suffering.
I've got three winter coats, if you're wondering: when you live in a cold climate, that's pretty much the norm. I've been looking at this spring jacket, but I feel like it would be tempting fate and the weather gods to order it. It won't be warm enough for a jacket like it until May. Maybe it will be on sale by then. And if a person were to wear a blue/green/blue sweater underneath it, wouldn't it be perfect? Possibly? Yes?
Well. Back to reading my psychotherapy textbook. Last night I dreamed that I escaped my reading rehab facility but was being chased down by secret agents...but I thwarted them by turning myself into a pigeon and flying away. A strange dream - no doubt inspired by our discovery that the creepy neighbour was in the hallway again last night, listening at our door. We banged on the door without opening it, and she scuttled off. It would be laughably Kafka-esque if it weren't so downright weird.
Have a good Sunday!
Saturday, January 30, 2010
Writing rehab.
Writing rehab.
Laying low this weekend, I think. I finished knitting the blue/green/blue sweater this morning, and it's drying now. Pictures tomorrow, maybe? It's the same style as the purple one, but I lengthened the body and the sleeves just a tiny bit...the purple sweater has a distressing tendency to ride up when I lift my arms over my head (I wear the sweater with a shirt on underneath, thankyouverymuch).
Although, really, how many times a day do I do that?
I'm reading Henry Kreisel's The Almost Meeting right now - it's for my comparative Canadian lit class. I've had to put the Zane Grey aside to make a push on the readings for this class. Between the comp lit and the reading for my psychotherapy class I've been watching Celebrity Rehab...and last night I had strange dreams about entering a rehab program for my reading habit.
For reals, yo. Complete with Dr. Drew giving me concernéd looks and taking my books away from me. He pointed out the ink smudges on my fingers and shook his head. Can you imagine if such a thing existed? Interventions for reading too much? Being powerless over the written word? Having to admit to the sneaky things you do just to read during the day? How you'd gone from reading books to the mad descent to writing them? Horrors.
In a week or so, I'll be winging my way towards the Banff Centre. I sent a pleading application in January and they managed to find some space for me. I'm going for a week, and I'm leaving my homework behind...just going to concentrate on some good writing. I would like to take a stab at entering a collection of short stories to The Hudson Prize this year...but I've only got eight stories that could reasonably be pulled together, and I don't think that's quite enough. The contest closes on March 31, though, so there's still time to try.
Obviously the Banff Centre and I have huge codependency issues.
Now where did I put my typewriter?
Have a good Saturday, all. :)
(on further reflection, I think I may need an intervention for the number of times I've listened to Tik Tok. Seriously. How did that become my new favourite song??)
(in my defense, it's just the right beat for walking - I'm sure that's what it is. Really. That's it. It can't be from watching MTV.)
Although, really, how many times a day do I do that?
I'm reading Henry Kreisel's The Almost Meeting right now - it's for my comparative Canadian lit class. I've had to put the Zane Grey aside to make a push on the readings for this class. Between the comp lit and the reading for my psychotherapy class I've been watching Celebrity Rehab...and last night I had strange dreams about entering a rehab program for my reading habit.
For reals, yo. Complete with Dr. Drew giving me concernéd looks and taking my books away from me. He pointed out the ink smudges on my fingers and shook his head. Can you imagine if such a thing existed? Interventions for reading too much? Being powerless over the written word? Having to admit to the sneaky things you do just to read during the day? How you'd gone from reading books to the mad descent to writing them? Horrors.
In a week or so, I'll be winging my way towards the Banff Centre. I sent a pleading application in January and they managed to find some space for me. I'm going for a week, and I'm leaving my homework behind...just going to concentrate on some good writing. I would like to take a stab at entering a collection of short stories to The Hudson Prize this year...but I've only got eight stories that could reasonably be pulled together, and I don't think that's quite enough. The contest closes on March 31, though, so there's still time to try.
Obviously the Banff Centre and I have huge codependency issues.
Now where did I put my typewriter?
Have a good Saturday, all. :)
(on further reflection, I think I may need an intervention for the number of times I've listened to Tik Tok. Seriously. How did that become my new favourite song??)
(in my defense, it's just the right beat for walking - I'm sure that's what it is. Really. That's it. It can't be from watching MTV.)
Friday, January 29, 2010
Statement of the obvious.
Statement of the obvious.
Whew! Long day. I'm glad it's Friday.
Thursday, January 28, 2010
This just in: CBC reporter ANGRY!
This just in: CBC reporter ANGRY!
Oo! My finisher's certificate for the 3-Day Novel Contest arrived! I didn't win - alas - but I had a lot of fun competing. I'm going to sign up for this year's event, I think...and maybe write myself a better outline. I have a better desk chair, so that should get me through the seventy-two hours with a bit less discomfort.
And J.D. Salinger has died. I wasn't a huge fan of his work, but I think it's safe to say that he was a major figure in the canon of American literature.
On a slightly more amusing note - and still with the writerly tangent - I received a misdirected email from a CBC staffer, forwarding a response to edits to a story from a big-name CBC reporter (not Peter Mansbridge, because I'm pretty sure Peter Mansbridge doesn't rant like this, and I love Peter Mansbridge, and I could listen to Peter Mansbridge reading the phone book for an hour every night). I won't say who the culprit is, but if I did, you'd know who it was right away. Eeek. Talk about scathing! It's a rant worthy of Anderson Cooper. Here it is, straight from my inbox:
I don't think most of these changes improve the script. Some I'm okay with ... others are either outright wrong information ... Or don't match the pictures we're working with ... or seem to be changes based on some completely subjective criteria I clearly don't understand, changes made simply because someone there on the simply would have written it differently if he or she were the reporter.
I am making most of them because I don't have time to argue but this is extremely frustrating ... Even more than the other difficulties involved in working from a location like this because this one should be unneccesary.
Hopefully we will make our deadline.
Wow. That is one angry reporter. So angry the ellipsis are being used in a strange fashion - possibly some kind of grammatical criteria that I clearly don't understand. If my boss sent me an email like that, I think I'd go and have a little cry. I bet even Peter Mansbridge wouldn't be able to make me feel better.
It wasn't Rex Murphy, either. He's nice - I don't think he'd write emails like that! When I told my mother who sent the email, though, she came back with a 'oh my gosh! I can't believe it! Really? Don't mention the name or they'll sue you! Oh my gosh!'
I'm so going to watch the news tonight. Maybe this is some kind of CBC ratings stunt.
Update: The story did make The National this evening, and it was pretty much word for word. And I didn't think it was such a bad story, although perhaps it should be judged on some completely subjective criteria I clearly don't understand.
Snort.
And J.D. Salinger has died. I wasn't a huge fan of his work, but I think it's safe to say that he was a major figure in the canon of American literature.
On a slightly more amusing note - and still with the writerly tangent - I received a misdirected email from a CBC staffer, forwarding a response to edits to a story from a big-name CBC reporter (not Peter Mansbridge, because I'm pretty sure Peter Mansbridge doesn't rant like this, and I love Peter Mansbridge, and I could listen to Peter Mansbridge reading the phone book for an hour every night). I won't say who the culprit is, but if I did, you'd know who it was right away. Eeek. Talk about scathing! It's a rant worthy of Anderson Cooper. Here it is, straight from my inbox:
I don't think most of these changes improve the script. Some I'm okay with ... others are either outright wrong information ... Or don't match the pictures we're working with ... or seem to be changes based on some completely subjective criteria I clearly don't understand, changes made simply because someone there on the simply would have written it differently if he or she were the reporter.
I am making most of them because I don't have time to argue but this is extremely frustrating ... Even more than the other difficulties involved in working from a location like this because this one should be unneccesary.
Hopefully we will make our deadline.
Wow. That is one angry reporter. So angry the ellipsis are being used in a strange fashion - possibly some kind of grammatical criteria that I clearly don't understand. If my boss sent me an email like that, I think I'd go and have a little cry. I bet even Peter Mansbridge wouldn't be able to make me feel better.
It wasn't Rex Murphy, either. He's nice - I don't think he'd write emails like that! When I told my mother who sent the email, though, she came back with a 'oh my gosh! I can't believe it! Really? Don't mention the name or they'll sue you! Oh my gosh!'
I'm so going to watch the news tonight. Maybe this is some kind of CBC ratings stunt.
Update: The story did make The National this evening, and it was pretty much word for word. And I didn't think it was such a bad story, although perhaps it should be judged on some completely subjective criteria I clearly don't understand.
Snort.
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
They're coming outta the walls!
They're coming outta the walls!
Possibly the most exciting thing that could happen on a Wednesday afternoon at the office....BLACKOUT!!
I live for power failures at work. I wait to see if somebody will say something about the power being cut so that I can bust out a quote from Aliens, and of course that delights me to no end. I can't really transition from 'How could they cut the power, man? They're animals!' to the 'they're coming out of the walls...they're coming outta the goddamn walls!' There'd probably be a talking to about language and appropriate behaviour for senior staff. But I can think it. And giggle to myself.
It doesn't take much to delight me. Forget the whole iPad announcement today...I'll take a little power failure instead.
I live for power failures at work. I wait to see if somebody will say something about the power being cut so that I can bust out a quote from Aliens, and of course that delights me to no end. I can't really transition from 'How could they cut the power, man? They're animals!' to the 'they're coming out of the walls...they're coming outta the goddamn walls!' There'd probably be a talking to about language and appropriate behaviour for senior staff. But I can think it. And giggle to myself.
It doesn't take much to delight me. Forget the whole iPad announcement today...I'll take a little power failure instead.
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Tuesday.
Tuesday.
I'd hesitate to say that it was a busy day - instead, it was a day when I worked very, very hard for a long time. I was working so hard that when I got up to go to the bathroom, I rock-paper-scissored with another coworker to see who would get to use the facilities first (it's a one-seater shared by an office of more than fifty women).
But I got a lot of work done, and I even managed to read about relational psychoanalysis during lunch. Scintillating.
I went on a bit of a book buying spree, and I've got all these books that I want to read now...and too much homework to read them. There's The Sea, The Sea by Iris Murdoch, Misfits and Other Heroes by Suzanne Burns, the 2010 Pushcart Prize stories, and the 1919 and the 2009 O. Henry Prize Stories. And a stack of New Yorkers - I'm falling behind. I've got some time off coming up in the next few weeks, though, so I'll do some reading - for fun - then. I'm reading bits and pieces right now, but I'm itching to just sit down and read for a few hours without stopping.
Meanwhile, I'm up to my neck in psychotherapy textbooks and trying to decide if I do my term paper on Sigmund Freud or Anna Freud.
But in the middle of it all, I'm knitting...more to relax than anything else. But also because it's been pretty chilly lately.
Still the blue-green sweater. The second sleeve is almost done, and I think I'll seam it up on the weekend.
The pattern? My own.
I'm using the schematics from the ever-handy Ann Budd's The Knitter's Handy Book of Sweater Patterns, with my own modifications. Lots of them. And practicing my long division, it seems.
There's always room in my evening for knitting. And reading.
But I got a lot of work done, and I even managed to read about relational psychoanalysis during lunch. Scintillating.
I went on a bit of a book buying spree, and I've got all these books that I want to read now...and too much homework to read them. There's The Sea, The Sea by Iris Murdoch, Misfits and Other Heroes by Suzanne Burns, the 2010 Pushcart Prize stories, and the 1919 and the 2009 O. Henry Prize Stories. And a stack of New Yorkers - I'm falling behind. I've got some time off coming up in the next few weeks, though, so I'll do some reading - for fun - then. I'm reading bits and pieces right now, but I'm itching to just sit down and read for a few hours without stopping.
Meanwhile, I'm up to my neck in psychotherapy textbooks and trying to decide if I do my term paper on Sigmund Freud or Anna Freud.
But in the middle of it all, I'm knitting...more to relax than anything else. But also because it's been pretty chilly lately.
Still the blue-green sweater. The second sleeve is almost done, and I think I'll seam it up on the weekend.
The pattern? My own.
I'm using the schematics from the ever-handy Ann Budd's The Knitter's Handy Book of Sweater Patterns, with my own modifications. Lots of them. And practicing my long division, it seems.
There's always room in my evening for knitting. And reading.
Monday, January 25, 2010
Monday.
Monday.
Ah, Monday. Here you are again. It wasn't a remarkable day, but I wouldn't say that it was unremarkable, either. Somewhere between ho-hum and uh-huh on the shrug-shoulders-hands-up-eh-expression-scale, if there ever was such a thing.
It snowed this morning, and off and on through the day - really pretty snow.
More cold weather ahead of us, I think. I'm going to be reading for my psychotherapy class and finishing the sleeve of a sweater tonight. I wish I could say I was reading a great story that was truly changing the way I see the world. Instead, I'm reading baffling articles on psychotherapy that are making me think that I'll need therapy by the time I'm finished the class. I'm slowly starting to get the gist of it, though: in psychotherapy, all people are basically flawed. Some more than others.
It sounds about right.
It snowed this morning, and off and on through the day - really pretty snow.
More cold weather ahead of us, I think. I'm going to be reading for my psychotherapy class and finishing the sleeve of a sweater tonight. I wish I could say I was reading a great story that was truly changing the way I see the world. Instead, I'm reading baffling articles on psychotherapy that are making me think that I'll need therapy by the time I'm finished the class. I'm slowly starting to get the gist of it, though: in psychotherapy, all people are basically flawed. Some more than others.
It sounds about right.
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Sunday.
Sunday.
So. My dates for the Banff Centre are unofficially official, and the paperwork is arriving on Monday. I'm going for a week - I don't have enough vacation time to go longer, and there would be such a mountain of work on my desk if I did. So a week seems to be a reasonable compromise. I'm going to be working on short stories while I'm up there, although I think I'm going to take along a novella manuscript that I want to work on and expand.
Every trip to the Banff Centre is a different. Different people, different projects, and always a different experience. I'm curious to see what this one will bring. You can count on the good food, the availability of chocolate mousse at dinner, and the comfortable familiarity of Lloyd Hall. And the views of the mountains. But the work that comes out of the experience is always varied; never quite the same, and I'm starting to find that the experience itself is different each time.
It should be good. I'm remarkably fortunate to live close enough to the Banff Centre to be able to arrange a last minute residency; even more fortunate that they'll make room for me.
A bit overcast and snowy here today. I was feeling kind of quiet yesterday - I'm not sure why. Maybe all the excitement of the torch, feeling tired, worry about our department's budget...any of those things, I guess. I had dinner with a friend on Friday and we had a nice time. She's been off work on sick leave because of incurable brain cancer that was discovered last summer, and she's been having radiation and chemotherapy. I gather she's feeling well, and she'd been skiing earlier that day, and it was lovely to talk to her and swap stories. Afterward, it struck me as an oddly jarring experience to sit with somebody who is walking a path so different from the rest of us. Not jarring in a bad way, but almost a sense of displacement.
I wonder if there might be a story to write that comes out of that sensation. But I also wonder if it's right to want to fictionalize it...if there isn't some kind of ethical boundary that has to be crossed first.
Every trip to the Banff Centre is a different. Different people, different projects, and always a different experience. I'm curious to see what this one will bring. You can count on the good food, the availability of chocolate mousse at dinner, and the comfortable familiarity of Lloyd Hall. And the views of the mountains. But the work that comes out of the experience is always varied; never quite the same, and I'm starting to find that the experience itself is different each time.
It should be good. I'm remarkably fortunate to live close enough to the Banff Centre to be able to arrange a last minute residency; even more fortunate that they'll make room for me.
A bit overcast and snowy here today. I was feeling kind of quiet yesterday - I'm not sure why. Maybe all the excitement of the torch, feeling tired, worry about our department's budget...any of those things, I guess. I had dinner with a friend on Friday and we had a nice time. She's been off work on sick leave because of incurable brain cancer that was discovered last summer, and she's been having radiation and chemotherapy. I gather she's feeling well, and she'd been skiing earlier that day, and it was lovely to talk to her and swap stories. Afterward, it struck me as an oddly jarring experience to sit with somebody who is walking a path so different from the rest of us. Not jarring in a bad way, but almost a sense of displacement.
I wonder if there might be a story to write that comes out of that sensation. But I also wonder if it's right to want to fictionalize it...if there isn't some kind of ethical boundary that has to be crossed first.
Saturday, January 23, 2010
Useful.
Useful.
How to take back CBC.ca: install a Greasemonkey script to remove the comments. Oh, man. It's about time.
What is it about media websites that incite such strange, rotten commentators to spend their days laying down strange theories about mercury, vaccines, and secret government cabals in response to news stories? Do these people seriously have nothing better to do during the day?
If you're interested, there's also a script to strip comments out of the Globe and Mail website. Heaven.
If only there was a script to shut people up on the bus...
What is it about media websites that incite such strange, rotten commentators to spend their days laying down strange theories about mercury, vaccines, and secret government cabals in response to news stories? Do these people seriously have nothing better to do during the day?
If you're interested, there's also a script to strip comments out of the Globe and Mail website. Heaven.
If only there was a script to shut people up on the bus...
Friday, January 22, 2010
Friday.
Friday.
And it's Friday again! I managed to get myself a 95 on my term paper for the psychotherapy class (hurray!) and I'm starting to research for the next one: Freud and historical context, I think. I can build on the research I did last term.
It was a long week, you know? Especially when the mornings look like this:
I'm glad it's Friday. I met Alyson for dinner and dished the office gossip and whatnot, and now I'm thinking about a movie and some popcorn. Homework? Tomorrow. Not tonight.
It was a long week, you know? Especially when the mornings look like this:
I'm glad it's Friday. I met Alyson for dinner and dished the office gossip and whatnot, and now I'm thinking about a movie and some popcorn. Homework? Tomorrow. Not tonight.
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Thursday.
Thursday.
Our warmer weather gave way to fog last night, and we'll see a bit of snow over the next few days, I think. Very overcast and glum looking, but stunning to see the hoar frost over everything.
Meanwhile? Our pension deductions went up - a lot - and we all got a first look at the actual amount today. Egads. All I can hope, I suppose, is that the pension fund is still there when I'm ready to go. In 2032. Yup.
Ah, but pension deductions - and taxes, and union dues, and extended health benefits, and life insurance - are inevitable, aren't they? Can't really complain that much. The union's contract is due to be negotiated this year, but we're not expecting much of an increase...if any increase at all. I'd be happy to just have my job stay put, frankly. I suppose all you can ever be about things like this is philosophical.
I did get word, though, that my Banff Centre residency was approved...so I'm just waiting on the final dates. I'm going to work on a collection of short stories, I think - they're going to be woven together to make a novel (I hope). The release of Evolve is still moving forward as planned, and I'm waiting to hear how the pre-orders are going.
Anyhow. The walk home was beautiful, and it's hard to stay glum when you walk home through the frost and arrive home to a warm apartment. I've been listening to Seamus Heaney reading from his translation Beowulf on the iPod on my way home...that certainly adds a little something to the walk (and not just because he's got such a lovely accent). It's an abridged version, alas, but I'm really enjoying it. Something about listening to the tales of Beowulf and Hrothgar while walking through the snow and frost...honestly, I don't think it would be as effective if I were listening to the recording in July.
I'm trying to make better use of my subscription with Audible, so all this year, I'm downloading poetry. Classic works and such...the kind of poetry I keep meaning to read and never get around to reading. Lyric works do seem to lend themselves to walking and commuting - generally short enough that you can give it an hour's listen and then pick it back up on the way home. After I finish with Beowulf, I think I'm going to move on to Elizabeth Barrett Browning. And Shakespeare's sonnets after that.
Meanwhile? Our pension deductions went up - a lot - and we all got a first look at the actual amount today. Egads. All I can hope, I suppose, is that the pension fund is still there when I'm ready to go. In 2032. Yup.
Ah, but pension deductions - and taxes, and union dues, and extended health benefits, and life insurance - are inevitable, aren't they? Can't really complain that much. The union's contract is due to be negotiated this year, but we're not expecting much of an increase...if any increase at all. I'd be happy to just have my job stay put, frankly. I suppose all you can ever be about things like this is philosophical.
I did get word, though, that my Banff Centre residency was approved...so I'm just waiting on the final dates. I'm going to work on a collection of short stories, I think - they're going to be woven together to make a novel (I hope). The release of Evolve is still moving forward as planned, and I'm waiting to hear how the pre-orders are going.
Anyhow. The walk home was beautiful, and it's hard to stay glum when you walk home through the frost and arrive home to a warm apartment. I've been listening to Seamus Heaney reading from his translation Beowulf on the iPod on my way home...that certainly adds a little something to the walk (and not just because he's got such a lovely accent). It's an abridged version, alas, but I'm really enjoying it. Something about listening to the tales of Beowulf and Hrothgar while walking through the snow and frost...honestly, I don't think it would be as effective if I were listening to the recording in July.
I'm trying to make better use of my subscription with Audible, so all this year, I'm downloading poetry. Classic works and such...the kind of poetry I keep meaning to read and never get around to reading. Lyric works do seem to lend themselves to walking and commuting - generally short enough that you can give it an hour's listen and then pick it back up on the way home. After I finish with Beowulf, I think I'm going to move on to Elizabeth Barrett Browning. And Shakespeare's sonnets after that.
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Leftover videos from yesterday.
Leftover videos from yesterday.
Whew. Yesterday was a blast, wasn't it? One more video - to prove that we tried to get the wave started yesterday.
We were unsuccessful. But it was a lot of fun.
It was a lot of waiting...my fault because we were there so early. We tried cheering. We tried singing. Then we started people watching and bemoaning our lack of coffee. Tamara had the best line of the day, though...in discussing her sleepy children, I commented that they looked half awake. Says she: "They need some coffee, too."
We were unsuccessful. But it was a lot of fun.
It was a lot of waiting...my fault because we were there so early. We tried cheering. We tried singing. Then we started people watching and bemoaning our lack of coffee. Tamara had the best line of the day, though...in discussing her sleepy children, I commented that they looked half awake. Says she: "They need some coffee, too."
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Watching the Olympic Torch Relay at the Olympic Oval in Calgary.
Watching the Olympic Torch Relay at the Olympic Oval in Calgary.
SO MUCH FUN. I've been waiting for this day since they announced the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Torch Relay, and planning for it, and anxiously counting the days, and finally - finally! - the day arrived. The torch relay was in Calgary yesterday and today, and people have been really excited about it. I've been really excited about it.
I took this picture from the bus this morning:
A huge group of people standing along the Trans-Canada highway (16th Ave NW inside the city). I got all excited just to see them!
I tried to round up as many people from the office as I could, and my friends came with me. Now, I admit: my friends from work and I were there a little early. Because of me. I wanted to be sure that we got there with enough time to get a good spot and see the party.
We were definitely feeling the Olympic spirit.
The Olympic Oval at the University of Calgary was the site of the speedskating events, and we've got a cauldron thingee that's usually lit for special events. They'd lit it for the day's events. It's really nifty. It gets lit for graduation days, too.
While we were waiting, a zamboni pulled through (vaguely reminiscent of Plants vs. Zombies, I have to say - which is probably why I was laughing so hard).
Lots of people streaming in. There was an event inside the Oval - former and future Olympic speedskating athletes did laps around the lap. We were still waiting for Tamara...I had misjudged how deep the crowd would be, so there was some quick cell phone action, and Tamara was on her way!
Lots more waiting. Then Tamara arrived with the kids! Olympic sponsors were giving out little tambourines and flags, which the kids loved. I loved it, too. Yay tambourine!
(you can hear us shaking our tambourines). I have to admit that I was really, really excited now...evidenced by the slip of 'like' into my, like, talking. Heh. They were also handing out special little bottles of Coke all through the crowd.
Lots more waiting.
I think there must have been a couple hundred people outside...and even more inside the Oval. Half the fun, I think, was the build up and waiting in the crowd...seeing how excited people were, and how excited the kids were. No protesters or problems - it was just a really happy crowd of people. It felt wonderful to be there.
When we saw the police escort, we knew the torch was getting close. There were a ton of police cars keeping the relay runners safe on the roads, and more on bikes to contain the crowds.
They were great - I think they were having as much fun as we were. Hurray for Calgary police!
And then, in the distance...I could see the flame!
I'll confess that I squealed and started to jump up and down.
I don't know what came over me. I just started cheering 'CANADA! CANADA!' as the torch bearer approached...just swept up in the moment! The great part about where we were was how close we were...I could see the flame and if I'd wanted to, I could have reached out to touch it. We all agreed that it was really nice of the torchbearer to slow down so that people could take pictures.
It was just so incredible. I really wish I'd won a spot in the torchbearer lottery, but watching it like this was a lot of fun, and I enjoyed every minute of it. Despite being freezing and coffeeless and then feeling all tired out the rest of the day (a sign of my age, I think, that early morning excitement wears me out so completely).
You know...this was amazing. I'm so excited for the Olympic games, and watching the torch go by was such a thrill. I know a lot of people feel kind of ho-hum about Olympics - or downright annoyed by them - but there is something really special about the way people come together for something that only takes place once every four years. I love winter olympics.
And I had an amazing day!
I took this picture from the bus this morning:
A huge group of people standing along the Trans-Canada highway (16th Ave NW inside the city). I got all excited just to see them!
I tried to round up as many people from the office as I could, and my friends came with me. Now, I admit: my friends from work and I were there a little early. Because of me. I wanted to be sure that we got there with enough time to get a good spot and see the party.
We were definitely feeling the Olympic spirit.
The Olympic Oval at the University of Calgary was the site of the speedskating events, and we've got a cauldron thingee that's usually lit for special events. They'd lit it for the day's events. It's really nifty. It gets lit for graduation days, too.
While we were waiting, a zamboni pulled through (vaguely reminiscent of Plants vs. Zombies, I have to say - which is probably why I was laughing so hard).
Lots of people streaming in. There was an event inside the Oval - former and future Olympic speedskating athletes did laps around the lap. We were still waiting for Tamara...I had misjudged how deep the crowd would be, so there was some quick cell phone action, and Tamara was on her way!
Lots more waiting. Then Tamara arrived with the kids! Olympic sponsors were giving out little tambourines and flags, which the kids loved. I loved it, too. Yay tambourine!
(you can hear us shaking our tambourines). I have to admit that I was really, really excited now...evidenced by the slip of 'like' into my, like, talking. Heh. They were also handing out special little bottles of Coke all through the crowd.
Lots more waiting.
I think there must have been a couple hundred people outside...and even more inside the Oval. Half the fun, I think, was the build up and waiting in the crowd...seeing how excited people were, and how excited the kids were. No protesters or problems - it was just a really happy crowd of people. It felt wonderful to be there.
When we saw the police escort, we knew the torch was getting close. There were a ton of police cars keeping the relay runners safe on the roads, and more on bikes to contain the crowds.
They were great - I think they were having as much fun as we were. Hurray for Calgary police!
And then, in the distance...I could see the flame!
I'll confess that I squealed and started to jump up and down.
I don't know what came over me. I just started cheering 'CANADA! CANADA!' as the torch bearer approached...just swept up in the moment! The great part about where we were was how close we were...I could see the flame and if I'd wanted to, I could have reached out to touch it. We all agreed that it was really nice of the torchbearer to slow down so that people could take pictures.
It was just so incredible. I really wish I'd won a spot in the torchbearer lottery, but watching it like this was a lot of fun, and I enjoyed every minute of it. Despite being freezing and coffeeless and then feeling all tired out the rest of the day (a sign of my age, I think, that early morning excitement wears me out so completely).
You know...this was amazing. I'm so excited for the Olympic games, and watching the torch go by was such a thrill. I know a lot of people feel kind of ho-hum about Olympics - or downright annoyed by them - but there is something really special about the way people come together for something that only takes place once every four years. I love winter olympics.
And I had an amazing day!
Monday, January 18, 2010
Getting ready for Torch Tuesday.
Getting ready for Torch Tuesday.
I am so excited for the Olympic Torch relay. It's in Calgary right now, and tomorrow morning, I'm heading out to watch it pass by. I'm charging my camera batteries right now...I'll be taking pictures and a little movie, I think. We're going to troop out to see it, and then we're having breakfast. Bacon and eggs.
Oooooo! I'm so excited!
Oooooo! I'm so excited!
Sunday, January 17, 2010
Loafing around Sunday.
Loafing around Sunday.
Less sick today. I wonder if this is just a cold or if I was exposed to H1N1 again and mounted a vigorous immune response? I'm not sure. It seems possible, but I don't even play a doctor on tv. But it does seem entirely likely. If I did play a doctor on tv, I'm sure I would suggest it to some cynical and hopelessly flawed older doctor, only to be dismissed with a sarcastic rejoinder. And then I'd look down at my file folder and blush.
Anyhow.
With the not-flu causing some discomfort, Chez Heather became a homework free zone for the weekend. I'll have reading to catch up on, but don't I always? I took me some Nyquil, slept late, and loafed like I haven't loafed in a long time. I scoped out where I'm going to stand to watch the Olympic Torch relay go by on Tuesday (I'm thinking on Collegiate Rd, just around the turn onto Collegiate Blvd). I watched movies. I read blogs. I noodled around teh interwebs. I started knitting another sweater.
Like the purple, this one - kind of a deep greeny-blue - defies photography. I'm using the Elann Peruvian Sierra Aran yarn again, and the colour is called 'jasper.' I can see it - that blue-green you see on deciduous trees in British Columbia.
Very blue green. Take my word for it.
Also good? I got an email from Jeffrey Dinsmore at Awkward Press - he's going to place a short story of mine in the upcoming issue - Awkward Two -, which, frankly, is awesome. Also? Awkward One? Awesome and entertaining and on sale.
Good news, hey?
Anyhow.
With the not-flu causing some discomfort, Chez Heather became a homework free zone for the weekend. I'll have reading to catch up on, but don't I always? I took me some Nyquil, slept late, and loafed like I haven't loafed in a long time. I scoped out where I'm going to stand to watch the Olympic Torch relay go by on Tuesday (I'm thinking on Collegiate Rd, just around the turn onto Collegiate Blvd). I watched movies. I read blogs. I noodled around teh interwebs. I started knitting another sweater.
Like the purple, this one - kind of a deep greeny-blue - defies photography. I'm using the Elann Peruvian Sierra Aran yarn again, and the colour is called 'jasper.' I can see it - that blue-green you see on deciduous trees in British Columbia.
Very blue green. Take my word for it.
Also good? I got an email from Jeffrey Dinsmore at Awkward Press - he's going to place a short story of mine in the upcoming issue - Awkward Two -, which, frankly, is awesome. Also? Awkward One? Awesome and entertaining and on sale.
Good news, hey?
Saturday, January 16, 2010
Saturday.
Saturday.
Saturday. Sick with a cold. Bah. I curled up to watch Cool Hand Luke. Man, I love that movie.
Quiet day, sniffling and watching movies. All things considered, though, not a bad day. I might cap it off by starting another Zane Grey novel.
Quiet day, sniffling and watching movies. All things considered, though, not a bad day. I might cap it off by starting another Zane Grey novel.
Friday, January 15, 2010
Hello, Friday night.
Hello, Friday night.
Finally Friday night. Thank goodness for that. The building's power was shut off for about seven hours today - the electrical panels had to be replaced. Something to do with the age of the building. The roof repairs are almost done, and we're getting new elevators this spring.
If nothing else, I have this to say: if you live in a condo apartment building, you should be tucking money away to cover special assessments for things like this. It's a quarter of a million to replace elevators, sixty thousand for the roof, and heaven knows how much for the electrical panel. Egads. Our special assessment was under twenty thousand dollars, but not by much.
Can't say that it puts me off apartment living, though. I like being able to leave windows open at night without worrying about people climbing through them. I mean, that's not the only reason to live in an apartment building. And I suppose there's always the off chance that somebody might climb through the window, but if they've made it that far up, I'd have to say that chances are they'd be coming in through the window no matter what. So aside from the possibility of a Spiderman-like burglar, and the unwanted cost of replacing roof, elevator, and electricals, it's pretty nice.
Ah, well. It's Friday evening. I'm going to take a weekend off homework, since I'm fighting a cold, and spend the time writing instead.
If nothing else, I have this to say: if you live in a condo apartment building, you should be tucking money away to cover special assessments for things like this. It's a quarter of a million to replace elevators, sixty thousand for the roof, and heaven knows how much for the electrical panel. Egads. Our special assessment was under twenty thousand dollars, but not by much.
Can't say that it puts me off apartment living, though. I like being able to leave windows open at night without worrying about people climbing through them. I mean, that's not the only reason to live in an apartment building. And I suppose there's always the off chance that somebody might climb through the window, but if they've made it that far up, I'd have to say that chances are they'd be coming in through the window no matter what. So aside from the possibility of a Spiderman-like burglar, and the unwanted cost of replacing roof, elevator, and electricals, it's pretty nice.
Ah, well. It's Friday evening. I'm going to take a weekend off homework, since I'm fighting a cold, and spend the time writing instead.
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Thursday.
Thursday.
Oh, le sad. I do not have tomorrow off. My Friday vacation days ended last week, and, le sob, I have to go to work tomorrow. Do I pay the one dollar and wear jeans? Or do I just wear my work pants? I'm leaning towards the work pants.
It's a bit of a bummer to try to work out whether jeans are worth the dollar. I think a lot of us have been glum in the office, and I think it's a combination of the strange weather and the prospect of the amount of work we have ahead of us. And the post-flu illness, the prospect of work friends leaving on maternity leave (who will I gossip with when that happens?). And the budget cuts. We can never forget about budget cuts. Glumness abounds.
And Haiti? Holy cow, I'm giving up on watching the news. Talk about sad and upsetting. I can't wrap my head around how bad things are for them.
But it wasn't a bad day, really. Work has been busy, and it's getting busier...so today I opted to take a two month extension on my psychotherapy course so that it ends in June instead of April. At first, I was all 'wha? Two more months of psychotherapy? Really?' And then I realized that it meant I could do psychotherapy reading every other week. And then I thought that might not be so bad. The course is really interesting, but geez...some of the stuff is downright unhappy. Neuroses and transference abounds in these chapters.
Taking the extra time will let me work some more on my writing, too...I have a sneaking suspicion that I did not win the 3-Day Novel Contest, and I'd like to rework the manuscript some (a lot) and work it into a longer (a lot longer) piece.
Just thinking about that is happy making. Surely a sign that it's a good decision. If nothing else, it's a good solution to the glumness of the ides of January.
It's a bit of a bummer to try to work out whether jeans are worth the dollar. I think a lot of us have been glum in the office, and I think it's a combination of the strange weather and the prospect of the amount of work we have ahead of us. And the post-flu illness, the prospect of work friends leaving on maternity leave (who will I gossip with when that happens?). And the budget cuts. We can never forget about budget cuts. Glumness abounds.
And Haiti? Holy cow, I'm giving up on watching the news. Talk about sad and upsetting. I can't wrap my head around how bad things are for them.
But it wasn't a bad day, really. Work has been busy, and it's getting busier...so today I opted to take a two month extension on my psychotherapy course so that it ends in June instead of April. At first, I was all 'wha? Two more months of psychotherapy? Really?' And then I realized that it meant I could do psychotherapy reading every other week. And then I thought that might not be so bad. The course is really interesting, but geez...some of the stuff is downright unhappy. Neuroses and transference abounds in these chapters.
Taking the extra time will let me work some more on my writing, too...I have a sneaking suspicion that I did not win the 3-Day Novel Contest, and I'd like to rework the manuscript some (a lot) and work it into a longer (a lot longer) piece.
Just thinking about that is happy making. Surely a sign that it's a good decision. If nothing else, it's a good solution to the glumness of the ides of January.
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Like, omg?
Like, omg?
Overheard conversation between two young women sitting behind me on the bus this evening:
Girl #1: "So, I, like, saw M, and, like, I sat down and I said, so, your hair is..uh..nice, and that's a new dress, but, like, what's up with your ass? It's a little more down there."
Girl #2: "OMG. What did she say?"
G1: "Right? So, like, she said, 'oh my god, did you notice, I'm, like, taking this pill so that I can, like, have a little more down there.' And then she said, like, "So, don't tell anybody, because I'm so embarrassed?"
G2: "Reeaaaalllly?"
G1: "So, I said, "hmm, okay," and then I went for a cigarette, and I, like, called Tanya right away? Because, like, it was just so funny."
G2: "But did it look nice?"
G1: "Right? Like, yeah, actually, she actually has, like, a little nice round to her ass, so, like, it fills out, because she's like, got nothing down there before."
G2: "Yeah."
And then - I swear to god - the girl #1 started to sing a song to the girl #2. And then they both started singing together.
Besides my general feeling of hopelessness and despair for the future of civilization, I had to wonder...what kind of pill do you take to increase the size of your buttocks? The only thing I could come up with was Pillsbury. And I know it can't be that.
And yes, I wished I'd had a little recorder with me to capture that. And yes, I was trying not to laugh while I listened. And yes, a part of me wanted to turn around and explain to the young women that they didn't need a buttock-enhancing pill for something that nature would take care of in a few years.
Girl #1: "So, I, like, saw M, and, like, I sat down and I said, so, your hair is..uh..nice, and that's a new dress, but, like, what's up with your ass? It's a little more down there."
Girl #2: "OMG. What did she say?"
G1: "Right? So, like, she said, 'oh my god, did you notice, I'm, like, taking this pill so that I can, like, have a little more down there.' And then she said, like, "So, don't tell anybody, because I'm so embarrassed?"
G2: "Reeaaaalllly?"
G1: "So, I said, "hmm, okay," and then I went for a cigarette, and I, like, called Tanya right away? Because, like, it was just so funny."
G2: "But did it look nice?"
G1: "Right? Like, yeah, actually, she actually has, like, a little nice round to her ass, so, like, it fills out, because she's like, got nothing down there before."
G2: "Yeah."
And then - I swear to god - the girl #1 started to sing a song to the girl #2. And then they both started singing together.
Besides my general feeling of hopelessness and despair for the future of civilization, I had to wonder...what kind of pill do you take to increase the size of your buttocks? The only thing I could come up with was Pillsbury. And I know it can't be that.
And yes, I wished I'd had a little recorder with me to capture that. And yes, I was trying not to laugh while I listened. And yes, a part of me wanted to turn around and explain to the young women that they didn't need a buttock-enhancing pill for something that nature would take care of in a few years.
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Tuesday.
Tuesday.
Tuesday is better than Monday...in general and in most cases, I think. The weather is still lovely and mild. It's a bit slushy outside, and the river is jamming up with ice.
We're bound to get another cold snap - likely sooner than not - but until then, I think most of the city is walking around outside (squinting at the light and gasping at the fresh air).
The Olympic torch relay is coming to the campus where I work, and I'm allowed to use an hour of vacation time to go and see it. I am thrilled. I'm going to take my camera, I'm going to take pictures, and then I'm going to try to take a self-portrait with the Olympic flame passing by in the background. I'm going to try all of these things. I don't think it's one of those things that happens often in a person's lifetime, and so I'm determined to preserve it for posterity...and the blog.
Yup. I've got my priorities straight.
We're bound to get another cold snap - likely sooner than not - but until then, I think most of the city is walking around outside (squinting at the light and gasping at the fresh air).
The Olympic torch relay is coming to the campus where I work, and I'm allowed to use an hour of vacation time to go and see it. I am thrilled. I'm going to take my camera, I'm going to take pictures, and then I'm going to try to take a self-portrait with the Olympic flame passing by in the background. I'm going to try all of these things. I don't think it's one of those things that happens often in a person's lifetime, and so I'm determined to preserve it for posterity...and the blog.
Yup. I've got my priorities straight.
Monday, January 11, 2010
Monday.
Monday.
Oh, Monday. Why must you be so...Mondayish?
It wasn't a bad day. Just that getting up to go to work - in the dark - on a Monday morning always seems a little more dreadful than it does on, say, Wednesday. It was a busy day at work. But my vacation request went through. Hurray! Just waiting on confirmation from the Banff Centre to see if they can squeeze me in for a residency.
And I had dinner with a friend at the new funky bistro on campus. The company was great...the food? Not so much. Who the heck makes chili with chunks of steak and turnip? I was dying for a handful of pinto beans. Even just a couple of navy beans would have made the meal right.
Meh. I finished reading Zane Grey's Wildfire last night. It ended well. There was the expected drama with the halfwit Joel Creech, a heroic rescue, and a good ending. I'm reading Stephen King's Just After Sunset now. I think I'm getting a good start on the fifty books in fifty-two weeks challenge.
And now for Tuesday. Bring it on!
It wasn't a bad day. Just that getting up to go to work - in the dark - on a Monday morning always seems a little more dreadful than it does on, say, Wednesday. It was a busy day at work. But my vacation request went through. Hurray! Just waiting on confirmation from the Banff Centre to see if they can squeeze me in for a residency.
And I had dinner with a friend at the new funky bistro on campus. The company was great...the food? Not so much. Who the heck makes chili with chunks of steak and turnip? I was dying for a handful of pinto beans. Even just a couple of navy beans would have made the meal right.
Meh. I finished reading Zane Grey's Wildfire last night. It ended well. There was the expected drama with the halfwit Joel Creech, a heroic rescue, and a good ending. I'm reading Stephen King's Just After Sunset now. I think I'm getting a good start on the fifty books in fifty-two weeks challenge.
And now for Tuesday. Bring it on!
Sunday, January 10, 2010
Finished purple pullover.
Finished purple pullover.
The first handknit of the year - finished! The purple pullover defies photography, however...turning vividly purple in one instance, and a dull gray in another. Eh. I'm not worried about it.
I finished seaming it up yesterday afternoon (while listening to Radiolab podcasts), and then I knit the collar on. Vividly purple in that picture, right?
It's a plain sweater. Nothing terribly fancy. No embellishments.
But I like it that way. I also need to stop looking down at the camera - I'm pretty positive that I don't have a double chin, but you'd hardly know it from the pictures I take. Huh.
It is an excessively comfortable sweater, and those are excessively wrinkled pants. I could lie and say that I'm excessively fashionable, but they're just wrinkled. It's the weekend, people. It's the time for the wearing of wrinkled pants.
But it's a good sweater. The yarn is a wool and alpaca blend, and it's kind of hairy...which is great, since that will disguise cat hair. Ha ha, cats! I've foiled you all! I used ten balls of Elann Peruvian Sierra Aran in the Italian Plum colourway, and there was plenty left over. I'm going to make myself a second sweater in Jasper. The yarn washed well, stretched out a bit, but didn't seem worse for it. I might add just a teensy bit more on to the length of the body, though. I bought fifteen balls of the purple, so I think there may be a scarf in my future.
Hokay. Back to knitting my term paper. Er. Writing my term paper. With luck, I can finish the first draft and get back to reading my western. Lin Slone just bought a cabin so that he can marry Lucy Bostil and start a horse outfit of his own, but that creepy Joel Creech is looking to be a problem. He's been kicked in the head one time too many, it seems. And Bostil is angry because Sage King (the horse) didn't win the big race. And the river is flooding. And, oh, there are horse thieves in town. Madness will ensue, I'm sure, and somebody's going to be left crying in the dust.
I finished seaming it up yesterday afternoon (while listening to Radiolab podcasts), and then I knit the collar on. Vividly purple in that picture, right?
It's a plain sweater. Nothing terribly fancy. No embellishments.
But I like it that way. I also need to stop looking down at the camera - I'm pretty positive that I don't have a double chin, but you'd hardly know it from the pictures I take. Huh.
It is an excessively comfortable sweater, and those are excessively wrinkled pants. I could lie and say that I'm excessively fashionable, but they're just wrinkled. It's the weekend, people. It's the time for the wearing of wrinkled pants.
But it's a good sweater. The yarn is a wool and alpaca blend, and it's kind of hairy...which is great, since that will disguise cat hair. Ha ha, cats! I've foiled you all! I used ten balls of Elann Peruvian Sierra Aran in the Italian Plum colourway, and there was plenty left over. I'm going to make myself a second sweater in Jasper. The yarn washed well, stretched out a bit, but didn't seem worse for it. I might add just a teensy bit more on to the length of the body, though. I bought fifteen balls of the purple, so I think there may be a scarf in my future.
Hokay. Back to knitting my term paper. Er. Writing my term paper. With luck, I can finish the first draft and get back to reading my western. Lin Slone just bought a cabin so that he can marry Lucy Bostil and start a horse outfit of his own, but that creepy Joel Creech is looking to be a problem. He's been kicked in the head one time too many, it seems. And Bostil is angry because Sage King (the horse) didn't win the big race. And the river is flooding. And, oh, there are horse thieves in town. Madness will ensue, I'm sure, and somebody's going to be left crying in the dust.
Saturday, January 09, 2010
Saturday.
Saturday.
Chinook ongoing - snow is melting, and the wind was blowing in a way that could only be described as fierce. I suspect we'll be snow-free before the middle of next week if it keeps up.
I'm working on the term paper. Really and truly. I'm going to reread one of the main articles today and finish taking notes. Tomorrow? I'm going to start writing the term paper. And if all goes well, I might just finish that sucker. I might be grousing about the class a lot, but I am enjoying it...the whole history of psychotherapy thing has been interesting, and a bit insightful. I don't think I really realized the extent of the field, and there's still a lot of material to read through.
I'll be starting the reading for my comparative lit class soon, too. I can't really slack off in either of the classes...the professors are married to each other!
Meanwhile? I finished knitting my purple pullover and washed it. It's going to have to dry overnight before I can take the obligatory pictures. But it did turn out well, I think, and it fits (always good). I like it so much that I'm considering a second sweater in a different colour. Hmm. Maybe. There is something comforting about a plain pullover, I think. They never lead you astray.
Still reading my Zane Grey, too....I'm about halfway through Wildfire. It's turning into a comfortable book to pick up just before bed. It's got me wondering if there are contemporary writers of the same ilk - would the style be frontier narrative? Or has postcolonialism succeeded in destabilizing the genre completely?
I'm working on the term paper. Really and truly. I'm going to reread one of the main articles today and finish taking notes. Tomorrow? I'm going to start writing the term paper. And if all goes well, I might just finish that sucker. I might be grousing about the class a lot, but I am enjoying it...the whole history of psychotherapy thing has been interesting, and a bit insightful. I don't think I really realized the extent of the field, and there's still a lot of material to read through.
I'll be starting the reading for my comparative lit class soon, too. I can't really slack off in either of the classes...the professors are married to each other!
Meanwhile? I finished knitting my purple pullover and washed it. It's going to have to dry overnight before I can take the obligatory pictures. But it did turn out well, I think, and it fits (always good). I like it so much that I'm considering a second sweater in a different colour. Hmm. Maybe. There is something comforting about a plain pullover, I think. They never lead you astray.
Still reading my Zane Grey, too....I'm about halfway through Wildfire. It's turning into a comfortable book to pick up just before bed. It's got me wondering if there are contemporary writers of the same ilk - would the style be frontier narrative? Or has postcolonialism succeeded in destabilizing the genre completely?
Friday, January 08, 2010
Friday.
Friday.
Last Friday off for a while, I think. I'm in the process of trying to set up a short residency at the Banff Centre in February, which should be a go...assuming that my vacation request is also approved (oh, I hope, I hope). It conflicts with a planned Saturday of overtime, but I'm not having any babies this year, as far as I know, so I'll be able to pull the rest of my overtime without any problem.
Meanwhile, we're having something of a small heat wave here. It's not really a chinook - no blowing winds - but the temperature has risen a lot. It's +4oC right now, which is somewhat dramatic when you take into account the -25oC we had a couple of days ago. I took myself out for a walk this afternoon and reveled in it. No extra layers! Bare-headed!
Otherwise? Quiet day. I sent a piece into Johnny America, anxiously checked on the Strange Horizons and Virginia Quarterly Review pieces (both still considering), and read the newspaper. Got my eyebrows waxed (ouch!). Picked up the mail. Contemplated the term paper. Resolved to start writing it...soon. Maybe tonight.
And so ends the first full week of the new year. Just like that.
Meanwhile, we're having something of a small heat wave here. It's not really a chinook - no blowing winds - but the temperature has risen a lot. It's +4oC right now, which is somewhat dramatic when you take into account the -25oC we had a couple of days ago. I took myself out for a walk this afternoon and reveled in it. No extra layers! Bare-headed!
Otherwise? Quiet day. I sent a piece into Johnny America, anxiously checked on the Strange Horizons and Virginia Quarterly Review pieces (both still considering), and read the newspaper. Got my eyebrows waxed (ouch!). Picked up the mail. Contemplated the term paper. Resolved to start writing it...soon. Maybe tonight.
And so ends the first full week of the new year. Just like that.