40 in 40 at 40 #8: five great things about the day!

1. this morning, i had a big, fat to-do list, filled with all kinds of tasks across three different publications. by the time i left the office, everything had been completed.

2. much to my relief, i also finished my article on movies about pregnancy. i decided to stay at work until it was done, so that i could come home and unwind without it still hanging over my head. i'll be submitting it tomorrow, and i'm really pleased with how it turned out.

3. that seemingly overripe avocado i wrote about yesterday? i cut it open tonight, fearing the worst, and it was fabulous! it made for an unexpectedly delicious side dish for my leftover pizza.

4. tonight, i'll be in my pyjamas and relaxing with a DVD by 9:00pm. i've had dinner, done all the dishes and will be brushing my teeth shortly. i'm hoping to be in bed before 11.

5. i'll be turning the computer off well before my daily cut-off. :-)

40 in 40 at 40 #7: quick hits

1. my hipass hurts, so i'm skipping a lengthy entry today in favour of a hot shower and, subsequently, the couch.

2. the green avocado i brought home on sunday apparently ripened completely while i was at work today. i blinked, and it went brown and soft.

3. i haven't slept properly in many nights. it's starting to make me tired.

4. snow is forecast for tomorrow morning. i'm not holding my breath.

5. i forgot to add "write my review of The Lorax" to yesterday's list of unfinished tasks. guess what? it didn't get finished today, either.

40 in 40 at 40 #6: five things i wanted to do today but didn't

1. go to the dentist to have her look at my maybe-it's-chipped-maybe-it's-fine tooth. i called the office first thing this morning and found out she's on vacation until march 7th. so, i have an appointment for march 8th.

2. finish my article on movies about pregnancy. i'd hoped to get at least a full first draft done, if not a completed final draft, but i did not get 'er done. i'm only about 2/3 of the way through the first draft, so i'll be finishing it tomorrow and wednesday.

3. cook a new batch of quinoa and steam a bunch of vegetables. yeah, the plan to make my lunch fixins for the week didn't pan out today. i only just now, at 8:40pm, finished dinner and have little interest in continuing to cook for another hour. another item i'll add to tomorrow's to-do list.

4. make a long-overdue appointment with the chiropractor. completely forgot.

5. watch all the stuff i taped/borrowed from the library before the end of the day, so that i can begin the work week (i have most mondays off) with that backlog cleared. at 9pm, i'll pop in Celebrity Apprentice, because i watched the oscars last night and recorded donald and company, but that'll still leave a documentary for, you guessed it, tomorrow.

40 in 40 at 40 #5: misadventures at the chateau

i spent last night chez YB and much of the evening was uneventful.

and then 11 o'clock arrived.

we were in the process of watching Thor and had about 10 minutes left, when suddenly the street outside her house lit up with the distinctive flashing lights of an ambulance or fire truck. one set of YB's immediate neighbours are an elderly couple, who have a middle-aged daughter with "problems." no one's sure what the problems are, but alcoholism is one of them. she doesn't live with her elderly parents, and YB thinks she's in some kind of treatment program, but she was over at their house yesterday. we kept seeing her leave, and YB remarked that it was nice to see her walking -- not staggering -- away.

so, when the flashing lights appeared, we stopped the movie and headed to the side of the house to peek out the windows at what was happening. a fire truck and an ambulance had arrived, and paramedics had wheeled a stretcher to YB's neighbours' door.

while trix kept watch, i decided to brush my teeth. as i did so, my hand slipped and i wound up ramming my toothbrush along the tops of three of my bottom teeth. hard. when i rinsed and looked at my teeth in the mirror, i though i saw an enormous crack in one of them. OH, F-WORD. i called YB, who said she couldn't see anything. we got a flashlight and she said, "i don't see anything, vick. it looks fine to me." but i knew my tooth looked different. then i looked at it head on, instead of from above, and saw a tiny chunk of it was missing... but, thankfully, it looks like a tiny chunk of filling, not tooth. either way, i'd already broken out in a cold sweat and it took me a while to calm down. cracked tooth = major dental repair; chipped filling = at worst, a new filling or, best case scenario, some filing down of the area to smooth out the chip.

as i continued to examine my tooth from ever conceivable angle, trix returned to her post at the window. she was waiting to see which member of the family was going to be taken away. in the end, it was the elderly man -- not his ailing wife or troubled daughter -- being led (not on the stretcher) into the ambulance.

as of this afternoon, we hadn't yet heard about what happened or how her neighbour was doing. and i'll be calling the dentist first thing tomorrow to see if i can get a same-day appointment for her to have a look.

oh, and Thor was fluffy but fun.

40 in 40 at 40 #4: five toronto theatres i miss

the uptown theatre

1. the uptown. yonge and bloor. huge, old and beautiful. i saw countless films in its seats, and i used to love sprinting up its massive entrance steps. i always sat along the railing, up in the top-tier section, because it meant i could put my feet up and not have anyone sitting in front of me. it was torn down for condos.

2. the hollywood. yonge and st. clair. sitting right on top of the subway tunnels meant a screening would often be punctuated with the rumble of a subway passing by underneath. i remember seeing Quick Change here, alone, on my birthday one year. it had the best popcorn in the whole city. it was torn down for retail stores.

3. the plaza. yonge and bloor. a subterranean, two-screen cinema under the bay, and the location for many a press/preview screening back in the day. this is where i saw Titanic and Pretty Woman. its entrance disappeared and, as far as i can tell, nothing was built in its place... so i kind of imagine it still down there, intact, waiting to be rediscovered years from now.

4. the parkway 6. highway 7 and leslie. not technically in toronto (more like thornhill), this was where we always used to go for christmas eve and new year's eve films. there used to be an olive garden nearby, so we'd eat there first and then go to the movies. all my memories of these cinemas involve going there in the snow. they're still there, completely intact, with an empty marquee, but they've been closed for years. i think the cinemas are now occasionally rented out for business functions.

5. the york. yonge and eglinton. this was one of the go-to cinemas of my high school and university days. it had two screens -- a massive one and a runtier one -- and was another spot where i saw dozens and dozens of memorable movies. Jurassic Park, The Princess Bride, Drop Dead Fred. it stopped showing movies years ago, and was turned into an "event theatre." these days, it's a gym.

40 in 40 at 40 #3: five facts about my friday

1. i did not have to go in to the office today. it's the first friday i've had off in a while, though i wasn't really completely "off." i did a couple of hours of work from home, and wrote a film review. later, if the pain in my hip/ass lets up, i might get started on another feature for another magazine. or i might leave it for monday.

2. we did not get the promised dumping of snow. no, this morning, when i leapt excitedly out of bed and went to my window to behold what i expected would be a glorious winter wonderland outside, i instead found nary a speck of accumulation and a fairly steady rain falling in its place. RAIN. it did start snowing in the mid-morning, but the ground was too wet and the air too warm for any of it to stick. rats.

3. after much procrastination, i finally threw out the spicy quinoa i'd made this past monday. it was awful. it smelled delicious as it was cooking, but something clearly went awry between the stove and my lunch plate at work the next day. i forced myself to finish the serving i'd brought with me, and thought maybe, MAYBE, there would be some way for me to salvage the rest of it (because i still had two servings' worth left in my fridge) but, today, i resigned myself to the fact that nothing was going to save this mess and that it was time to put the dying quinoa out of its misery. as an aside, i think it was the spice combination that caused the flavour malfunction. next time, it'll be vegetable broth sans add-ins.

4. later, i'll be making roasted potatoes and (sustainably caught) fish for dinner. i still have two pieces of last weekend's homemade cheesecake in my freezer, so dessert is also covered. one slice, not two.

5. tonight's plans: dinner, in my pyjamas by 8pm, Shark Tank and then maybe another documentary about bees.

40 in 40 at 40 #2: "why do you like snow so much?"

though it's late in the season, toronto is (finally) slated to gets its first big dumping of snow overnight tonight.

the forecast is calling for upwards of 10cm (4") in the next 24 hours. maybe more.

o.

m.

g.

SNOW!

i love snow. i have always loved snow. i will always love snow.

when i was growing up, the promise of snow would make me giddy with anticipation. its arrival was like christmas, every single time. i'd keep watch at the windows, eagerly waiting for it to start falling and, when it did, bliss. we'd spend hours outside playing in snow in the winter -- we built snow forts and snowmen, we made slides on snowbanks alongside the driveway and snow angels in any open space we could find, we jumped in the biggest snowdrifts we could find then take our sleds to the nearby park and go up and down over and over again and never get tired. we stayed out there, having the best time, until our mittens and snowpants were soaked through.

only then would we very reluctantly head back inside. wet mittens and snowpants were hung on chairs near the heating vents so they could dry and, as soon as the last trace of dampness evaporated from their fibres, we were excitedly suiting up to head back outside for more. SNOW!

one of my favourite snow memories is shovelling the driveway at night during a snowfall. the world would be silent, save for the sound of our shovels going back and forth across the snow-covered asphalt. fresh snow would still be falling and everything was bathed in this freaky blue light, as though it were some odd alien daytime. when i was younger, this was a special treat -- to be outside, in the snow, in the dark. and, as an adult, nothing has changed.

for me, the snow has never lost its magic. the me in that photo above is a fairly accurate representation of the me today. i'm 40 years old and i still get just as excited about snow as i did when i was four and, more important, i feel exactly the same way i did when i was younger. it's hard to explain but, for me, the feeling is like an instant, electric connection to my past, to my childhood and to some deep, undeniable, true and authentic part of myself. it's one of the simplest and purest reminders i have of who i am.

so, earlier today, when two different people in two different locations made note of my extremely enthusiastic reaction to the impending weather and asked me the exact same question, word for word -- "why do you like snow so much?" -- i grinned and said, "i just do."

40 in 40 at 40 #1: performance anxiety

day one, and i'm already panicky over how i'm going to fill the next 39 entries. i get this way -- nervous, uncertain, skeptical -- whenever i take on something new, and the degree to which those things become paralyzing depends on the magnitude of whatever task it is i've undertaken. thankfully, writing blog posts ranks fairly low on the "things that make me break out in a cold sweat" list.

part of my concern stemmed (or stems) revolves around *when* i'm going to write these entries. i'd like to make it somewhat routine, so that i'm writing at the same-ish time every day, but my chunks of available time vary. some days, i know i'll be able to get a post done on my lunch hour. other days, like today, i should be able to get one written (however brief it may be) before i head off to work. but i fear my blog-a-day plan will conflict with my turn-off-the-computer-by-9pm rule, as it did last night (if only by five minutes). i don't want to be blogging at 10pm, so i may stockpile entries on days when i have free time and then sprinkle them throughout the days i don't. look how i just talked myself to a solution!

my other concern is *what* i'll write about for 39 straight entries. i suspect more than a few will follow the 5-items format that seems to work well in combatting writer's block. there will likely be a photo or two in the mix as stand-alone posts. and there will, i'm sure, be more than a little rambling, as today's entry proves.

history has shown, though, that the practice of writing a blog post every single day will unexpectedly yield a few gems amid the filler, so i'm hoping the same thing happens again. we shall see!

starting tomorrow...

tomorrow is the first day of lent. save for not eating meat on fridays, i haven't really officially "observed" lent in... gosh, i don't know how long. years ago, the priest at my parents' former church -- who happens to be the same wry, sarcastic priest presiding over their current parish -- said in a homily that he thinks the whole "giving something up for lent" thing wasn't really in the spirit of jesus' teachings. he suggested that, instead of making a sacrifice, we give a gift. metaphorically. he said he hoped we would use the 40 days of lent to do more and do better -- to reach out and give of ourselves. to be extra kind, or extra patient, or extra tolerant, or to just do something nice for someone each day. it would be a way to recognize lent in a way that could benefit others.

i thought this was an excellent alternative to the comparatively penance-like approach to the season. and, though i tried to adopt this form of lenten observance, it was a lot looser and "remember it when i can"-ish than i'm sure it was supposed to be.

then, last week, one of my co-workers talked about how she was giving up sugar, chocolate and pastries for lent. i told her the above story, and she said she wasn't sacrificing treats as some kind of deprivation exercise -- she was doing it as a form of discipline. to see if she could follow through with a plan (in this case, avoiding sweet snacks) for 40 days.

the word "discipline" stuck in my head. i thought about how i might use the 40 days of lent to do something similar and to test myself. so, in the spirit of last year's (wait, was it last year??) month-long blog-entry-a-day stretch, i'm going to try to blog every day for the next 40 days.

i'm calling it "40 in 40 at 40."

and it starts tomorrow.

[as an aside, i found the accompanying graphic when i did a google image search for "40 days." i liked its sentiment and thought it would be a nice fit, tone-wise. also, i accidentally initially posted this to the photo blog and only realized my mistake hours later.]

an un-american weekend

* unfortunately, we did not trek to buffalo for a cross-border outing this weekend. the weather proved too iffy, and YB wasn't feeling great, so 2+ hours of driving (each way) and 6 hours of shopping quickly started losing its appeal for her. not a big deal -- neither mom nor i minded the last-minute change of plans.

* i wound up watching ALL of the whitney houston memorial service on saturday. all four hours (!) of it. some of it was very moving and some of it was very dull (kevin costner, i'm looking at you and the first 40 minutes of your epic eulogy), but i couldn't turn it off after i turned it on.

* instead of a trip to america on sunday, mom, YB and i went shopping locally instead. we started at IKEA first thing in the morning, and hopped from location to location... but noticed that everything was unusually busy. we stopped for frozen yogurt at menchie's, which was delicious (as usual).

* i need an answering machine. this wouldn't really be an issue if anyone actually still sold basic, stand-alone answering machines, but no one does. i don't want a new phone with a built-in answering machine, and i'm tired of paying $11 a month for the handful of messages i get. but the only answering machine i can find -- online or in stores -- is some craptastic AT&T device that's been really poorly rated. so, i'm not sure what to do. should i buy the piece of junk to save money, or keep spending $132 a year to have voicemail on a phone number that isn't dialled enough to merit that kind of investment?

* i finished watching The Wire. all of it. i'll admit, when i started the series, i didn't really get what the hype had been about. by series end, though, i understood. it was very much like a novel, where you have to invest time and effort (and more time) into the characters and their world before you're rewarded -- and some of those characters were the most outstanding, well-written, original characters ever to appear onscreen (big screen or small). when i was done with all the DVD extras and behind-the-scenes documentaries, i was actually a little sad that it was over. and, now, i delight whenever one of the show's actors turns up in a film or TV series i'm watching.

* yesterday, for the first time ever, i made a cheesecake! and it turned out really well! one of the items on my 2012 to-do list was "learn to make the perfect cheesecake," but -- as of feb. 17th -- i hadn't even tried to make one, perfect or otherwise. so, after a day of shopping and under mom's supervision, i did it. the entire time i was mixing and baking, i worried that it would flop. i've never heard anyone say making a cheesecake is easy (on the contrary, i've heard a number of stories of underbaked or overbaked or misbaked cheesecakes before), and i feared i'd be wasting a whole lot of ingredients on what would wind up being a dud. but, no! it looked gorgeous when i took it out of the oven and didn't crack as it cooled. i put it in the fridge overnight and, this morning, took it out and -- with excitement and trepidation -- sliced a sliver. it sure looked okay and, one forkful later, i discovered it tasted great! i was pretty damn pleased, and more than a little proud.

* the photo accompanying this entry is of the signage for an outdoor-sports store. it's new, we found it on sunday and they have tons of keens! there was a gorgeous pair of keen winter hikers on sale... but the keen winter hikers i already own are still in great shape, so i couldn't justify buying another pair. yet.

what a week!

* it's been busy, my hip/ass has been quite sore (probably because i refuse to stop walking to or from work each day) and i have been remiss in my blogging.

* above, you'll see kyle's new collar. he looks very handsome in it and, thus far, hasn't shown any interest in turning it into his next meal. YB says he looks like he's wearing a prep-school tie.

* work was jam-packed. there were meetings and brainstorming sessions and the like. my friends and i had a valentine's day dessert potluck, where we basically ate junk food for eight hours (and still had leftovers for the following two days). there was a big relaunch party for one of the other magazines at the company on thursday and, with it, tables filled with huge bowls of candy... including pearson's mints (!), which i love and which aren't available in canada. i had my pals go on reconnaissance missions for me, so i wound up with a big pile of peppermint patties at my desk when all was said and done.

* speaking of the office, this week gave me a fascinating glimpse into (or, perhaps, reminder of) the vast labyrinth of office politics. the new head of the division for which i work -- who's a really affable, enthusiastic and focused british chap -- has been having one-on-one meetings with all the full-time staff members, getting to know them and finding out what they think, where they stand and what they'd like to accomplish. everybody likes this fellow, and he routinely swings by our desks to chat about non-work stuff and just see how things are going, and i'm always included even though i'm a freelancer. all this has not been sitting well with the woman who'd previously been the de-facto head of the division and who's now second-in-command to the new guy. she's not particularly well-liked, doesn't really do a good job and, as long as i've been there, hasn't ever shown any interest in any of her staff, either professionally or personally. anyway, it's been fascinating to watch her writhe with rage at how her new boss has won everyone over almost instantly. even more fascinating: she's attempting subversive tactics to (unsuccessfully) rally troops to her side. sadly (for her), everyone sees right through what she's doing.

* i continue to be amazed at how sloppy some freelance writers are when they submit their work. this week, i've had to read and edit various stories laden with typos, grammatical errors and content so jumbled and confusing that i've literally had to take the story apart, paragraph by paragraph, and put it back together in a brand new (comprehensible) way. nevermind that many of them also submit work that is 300-500 words too long. how do these people keep getting work? i've already flagged a few for my editor and asked that we not use them again.

* speaking of work, amid all the meetings this week, i scored myself a big, bonus freelance-writing gig. since it's for a third magazine (outside the two for which i already write at this publishing company), i asked if i could bill for my work separately -- i.e., my fee won't be absorbed into the fee i'm already being paid for my day-to-day work. so, i'll earn money on top of what i'm already earning! when 2012 began, i set a new financial goal for myself for the year... and, if everything continues on this trajectory, i will most definitely meet it.

* yesterday, i also scored myself another great freelancing assignment at the entertainment magazine. if i can continue to get one assignment per month there, i will continue to pad my monthly income nicely. plus, these stories are always fun and easy to write, and a nice break from business writing or endless revisions from fussy clients.

* further to the above, we all laughed this week when one client's legal department sent back annotated PDFs of our magazine layouts, reminding us to get the proper release forms for the FAKE CASE STUDIES we made up to accompany/illustrate a story. the client totally knows the case studies are fake because they approved the idea -- the case studies are just fictional scenarios meant to demonstrate how a new product will work (e.g., "sally wants to get A, so she decides to do B...", etc.) -- yet, evidently, no one informed the law clerk that sally doesn't actually exist.

* the property management company that owns my apartment has decided to lease space on the roof to telecommunications companies. that means four big cell-phone masts have now been installed up there, with another two to four (i can't see all the way around) attached to the side of a small brick tower on top of the building. this means $$$ for them, but i'm concerned about the possible side effects (health-wise) of all that electromagnetic energy. if i lived on the top floor, i'd be moving out. though there haven't been any studies to say, officially, that these masts cause health problems, there also aren't any studies out there that say they don't. and i've read too many reports of conditions (like headaches, dizziness, heart palpitations, sleep disturbances and nausea among them) being "linked" to the presence of these structures to believe they're really harmless. it's a shame, too: it's a blatant money-grab on the part of the landlord, much in the same way the folks at hell house saw only the potential income (and not the problems for residents) when they started leasing units to very very scary people.

* tomorrow, if the weather holds up and the forecast doesn't change in the next 18 hours, we're going to america! right now, it's supposed to be sunny and perfect tomorrow, and -- since it's a long weekend and YB has monday off -- we're planning to go to buffalo for a one-day shopping outing. i've already made my shopping list (vitamins, fluoride rinse and orange TicTacs are at the top!), and am SO ready to wander the aisles of a target. i haven't done that in a year!

* the most exciting thing that happened this week, though? i found a $20 bill in the street on my way home on thursday. thank you, universe! i will share it and pay it forward.

it's valentine's day...

... and i don't really have anything new to say on the subject.
hope everyone has a lovely, love-filled day, though.
:-)

cakes from the boss

yesterday, my editor bought these for my two colleagues and me.
we cut each one into three tiny pieces to share.
the brown one was mocha.
the heart-shaped one was some kind of spice-cake affair. we're not really sure.
and the white one was carrot cake. (i opted out of that one.)
in other news, there are new photos at the photo blog.

five recent happenings

1. over the weekend, kyle ate his own collar. we have no idea how or why he did this -- he's never really eaten anything inorganic before -- but he did. my parents found a chunk of his collar on a side table on saturday morning, and i found the "missing" section on sunday morning. in a small pile of throw-up. we're very lucky, though. had that chunk of eaten collar made its way to his intestinal track, it could have been a potentially fatal medical emergency.

2. on tuesday, my super used my apartment (with my consent) as a "sample" apartment to show the landlord and a team of insurance guys. i was at work, and was wary of what would happen in my place while i was away, so i left a big note inside my door: "hello! if you need to look around the apartment, please remove your shoes. thank you! and please remember to lock the door when you leave." when i got home at 6:45pm that night, my door was unlocked. WTF?! i immediately panicked and did a once-through of my entire place, making sure that all my stuff was still there and that no one was hiding under my bed, in my closets or in the shower. i left a VERY unhappy message for my super, who called me back about 20 minutes later, apologizing PROFUSELY.

3. i am on season four, episode ten of The Wire. everyone's right: season four is by far the best of the lot.

4. i was supposed to interview Dirty Jobs host mike rowe last friday. i'm doing the interview as a fill-in for one of my colleagues, who has such a crush on mike that she felt she wouldn't be able to speak to him on the phone without sounding like a bumbling schoolgirl. so, fine, i said i could do it. but mike's reps said they couldn't guarantee when he'd be able to call... so, i waited all day and my phone never rang. after about a dozen emails back and forth with his team, the interview is (as of 7pm last night) scheduled for today at 12:30pm my time. i'm giving him until 1pm and if he hasn't called by then, i'm unplugging everything and not answering my phone.

5. it's a beautiful, sunny morning.

five things that happened in the weird dream i had this morning

1. emily blunt read my palm and asked me why the small man was waiting for me at the pond.

2. i rode, alone, in a large, enclosed water taxi along the shoreline of lake ontario. the lake was choppy and the water filled with huge chunks of ice. i was worried that we'd wind up trapped in the ice if it froze over just a little more.

3. trix and i lived in a house that seemed very rustic and cabin-like on the inside. wood floors and wood walls. it was warm and cozy, but also large.

4. we were dogsitting for someone. the dog was small, very friendly, very fluffy and white with dark beige ears. his fur was extremely soft and delicate. then he turned into a giant-sized basset hound.

5. there was a wind storm and i was trying to get home. i knew a blizzard was coming. i was walking along the sidewalk, and the wind kept sweeping me up and carrying me through the air, then dropping me. i was scared that i would be blown into oncoming traffic.

five reasons i'm glad tomorrow is friday

1. it has been a l-o-n-g week at work. i moved to a new desk, which involved packing and unpacking and the re-hooking-up of assorted pieces of equipment. then, there were all sorts of problems with the clueless payroll company because they failed to properly input my contract information. and, despite my best evasion tactics, i've been roped into the Nightmare Project™, so i'll be working on that all day tomorrow.

2. per item #1, i have to go into work tomorrow. for a while, i was working a three-day week. for the past two weeks, and again this week, it's been four days. and i fear it will morph into five if i'm not careful. (one of my designer pals laughed today when he heard i'd be in tomorrow. "that's how it starts!" he said.)

3. i'm feeling run-down and tired, as though i'm wearing a lead track suit. i haven't been sleeping well because the pain in my ass/hip wakes me repeatedly in the night, and my new desk seems to be located in a wind tunnel. i wore my (winter) scarf all day today because i was *that* chilled. i'm taking extra vitamin C and zinc just in case my body is trying to fight off cooties of some sort. i need to have a good, deep night's sleep.

4. i finally have a weekend where i don't have any assignments to finish, or chores to do. i'm looking forward to loafing, and perhaps taking the rebel out for a walk or wander -- the weather on saturday is supposed to be sunny and mild. though, i suspect that i will spend at least one whole day this weekend in my pyjamas, on the couch, watching season four of The Wire. i've had the DVDs since last weekend, but haven't had time to plunk myself down and get started. it's calling to me... and so is season five (which i also have)!

5. with any luck, i will have, find or make cake tomorrow. my editor jokingly (?) said he would secure cake as thanks for me taking on part of the Nightmare Project™, so i'm really hoping he wasn't kidding.