A Trivial Buttonhole

A bit of moving...

2011-05-21T07:25:00.000-04:00

If you want to read my latest post about my writing, and latest pics-a-beans of Minion being Squirmy and also Wormy, they are here. You can also see the recentish posts in the box at the top of this blog, so you don't miss something in mabeltalk that might interest you.

If you use a subscription service to follow blogs, the RSS feed for Mabeltalk.com is here:

http://www.mabeltalk.com/feeds/posts/default

I'll post personal things on the weekends. I think. That's the plan for now.

Retiring the Trivial Buttonhole?

2011-05-20T05:04:00.000-04:00

Oscar & Will contemplate the unexamined life. Decide not worth living.

I'm thinking of retiring little Trivial Buttonhole (or Butthole as my brother's always read it.) I've been making Mabeltalk more personal, so I'm posting here less anyway. I'm thinking maybe the things I would normally post here--pictures of the cats, vegan chat, what I'm writing etc.--I could just post on Mabeltalk on the weekends. Cause I don't usually post my regular mabeltopics on Sat and Sunday (though lately even that schedule's been all woooo!)

So for those who are only interested in checking in on me on a kittykat level, you'll know to just check mabeltalk on the weekend, and you can ignore me the rest of the time, if you're not into all the "Fat shaming! Makes me mad! Arrr!" and "Love yourself! Here's a song! Grrr!"

I think I'm also trying to reconcile my two sides a little better, as well. (Yes I'm still in this massive cocoon phase I've been in all winter. You'd think I'd be out by now, eh? I finally received my cute oracle cards. Maybe that'll help!) I've always said I only half fit the Gemini profile because while they're supposed to be big communicators and flit around to a lot of new interests (oui, c'est moi), they also have trouble with constancy. Well, I might be inconstant when it comes to clothing styles, but I've been in love with the same man since I was 15 years old.

But I do feel like 2-in-1 in terms of having a Very Silly Side married to a Very Serious Side. Trivial Buttonhole, starring Oscar Wilde, with it's funny "quotes of the now" and so forth represents frothy me. The is the fiction writer side of me. Half of the friendships I have correspond to this side. I identify this side more with my mother and my brother.* I say it's frothy, but it's super important. Georgette Heyer's Friday's Child helped keep Romanian prisoners sane. Hugh Laurie credits Wodehouse with saving his life. And Oscar said life was too important to be taken seriously. Humor is Serious Bidness.

The other half of my I associate with my father and step-mother,** and it's who I married, and I have a bunch of friendships on that side too. That's the side that launched Mabeltalk, and is concerned with fat shaming, and racism, and sexism, and other-isms, and wants to teach, and cares about people's inner childrenz, and reads non-fiction and wants to talk for hours about politics and people's relationships. This side of me ends up befriending some pretty intense people.

But I think I'm getting tired of being Trivial on one side, and Mabeltalk on the other. Maybe it's because when I'm frolicking about in Bettyland I get to be both, so separating the two sides is starting to confuse me. I don't know where to post things anymore.

I'll keep up my music blog, though, because every once in awhile I get on a real music tear and there's no blog that can hold all that. Better to keep it isolated, at least until I feel otherwise. Same with my comments blog. I'm not consistent with it, but when I do read a bunch of articles, I always come up with tee hee things to put on there.

Well. This pot's on the front burner. The temperature's turned up. I'll know any day now whether the dish is done or not. :-)

______________
* **

My mother and 1/3 of the Brat Pack

Okay obviously my mother and brother aren't all-silly, and my father and stepmother aren't all-serious--it's a generalization. I do come by my feminism and social politics from my mother, and she rescues animals and loves politics.

But my brother and I also know that--although our father is very funny--the truly wickedest part of our humor is a genetic inheritance from our mother's side of the family. It's also with our mother that we can watch anything from the Beavis & Butthead movie to Pineapple Express. She used to have a life sized giraffe statue in her living room. She used to spit beer at us between her teeth when we were little. She and my brother are my top "beta readers" for my writing. Her hero is Auntie Mame, and she introduced me to The Thin Man, A Room With a View, and Georgette Heyer.

Also, my mother's father (the English professor) introduced me to Oscar Wilde and Bernard Shaw, used to tell dirty but erudite jokes, and wore a t-shirt that said: Here he cometh, there he goeth. So yes--I stand by my statement that I associate my frivolous side with my mother and brother, the R--- side of the family.

My father gives Yoda a shave

...Whereas I'm in the midst of helping to edit my father his article taking down Just War theory from a pacifist standpoint, for a progressive Christian magazine. Next he wants to write something for them on animal rights. My step-mother repaints dolls and donates the money to an orphanage in Mexico, never approved my fandom of Prince because of all the sex in his music, and didn't get the difference between S&M and abusing women when Madonna recorded the song "Spank Me." She's adorably goofy, but not in the Wildean way. ;-)

I haven't said much about my brother. Cause he's due for his own post soon.

Do you knit? You NEED this caplet. You need it! (Celebrating Ms Casapinka)

2011-05-19T04:29:00.000-04:00

One of my favorite blogs to read is casapinka. She's a doctor * creative (and currently full-time) mother of two * wife * knitter * knitting designer * her-home decorator * lover of all things pink * and all-around witty lady. The way she writes about her the weirdness of kiddos amoozes me greatly, so I get to enjoy child-rearing at arm's length.

She makes so much effort to bring out their creativity, and it always feels like her children have plenty of breathing room to blossom into their Own True Selves--whether that means her son wants to wear Hello Kitty socks and carry a baby doll named Tom, or her daughter wants to skateboard while on a royal-wedding-weekend-getaway.

She also makes the funnest sewing and knitting projects like her son's "Japanese surfing trousers"

And she has the same can-do attitude as the women-folk in my family. When confronted with tinted car windows that would prevent her taking her driver's test, and the impossibility of having the tint removed before six months, she wrote (in re her husband stressing out):

"I, however, love problems like this. These are the challenges in life that don't really matter and are just begging to be solved creatively."

Yes. Some challenges don't really matter.

Pink also takes beautiful photos...

And is just so durned quirky, sarcastic and down to earth, that though you'd love to hate her for being so talented, and such a great parent, and having such great taste... bahhhhh you CAN'T!!! Look at her! Cute! Quirky! She made a sweater with pom-poms on it!!

And speaking of talented, the reason for all this netluvs is that I wanted to celebrate her publishment: Her pattern for a bridal caplet was published in Love of Knitting magazine. Yays!!! <--I don't make knitting patterns so I can afford to be generous and unjealous. Yays!!!

But I don't knit, so I can't run out and buy the magazine and be supportive. So I'm posting it in case it inspires someone else. I presume one can change the color and--amazing!--no longer just a bridal caplet. Eez cute non? Eez cute.

Baby cheeses it's good

2011-05-18T01:49:00.003-04:00

My bettybuddy[see other blog] in Australia turned me onto this show, but now I need to find a source for episodes! Amazon only has the US version of the show.

Arthur and The Rightness of the Couple

2011-05-08T04:05:00.001-04:00

I finally saw the original Arthur movie. Aaaaat laaaaaaast myyyy looooove haaaaas come aloooong. Where has it been all my life??

If you haven't seen it, the basic plot is: Arthur = spoiled millionaire child of a snobbish and distant father. Drunk most of the time, but you understand why when you see his family, and the woman he's expected to marry. She's the most wonderful Wrong Person Hero Is Engaged To I've ever seen. Unconditional love of the most stifling and horrifying order.

Her father abhors Arthur, but will force him to marry Susan, only to please his little girl. One of my favorite bits of dialogue in the movie is where Susan's father manfully says to Arthur: "When I was 11 years old, I killed a man." Terrified, Arthur replies understandingly: "Well, when you're 11 you probably don't even know there's a law against that."

Arthur will be cut off from all monies if he doesn't marry Susan, and having no useful skills he resigns himself; but then he meets Linda. He sees her shoplifting a tie, and when the guard follows her out of the store to arrest her, Arthur follows them out and saves her. Here's where I decided the movie was perfect, because in the five minute scene of him saving her with lies, and her going along with his lies, and then the first flirtation between Arthur and Linda, followed all the while by Arthur's butler, and then the first witticisms exchanged between Linda and the butler... you know that Arthur and Linda are meant to be together. [The scene isn't online, but here's a later scene from the movie.]

Sometimes you go an entire movie or novel not quite convinced that a couple is meant to be together. Once you're sold on this, you're sold for the rest of the movie (and the sequel) because you're rooting for them. They were so good together, they're one of the few movie couples you could imagine hanging a series on, like Nick and Nora Charles.

Billy Mernit, who writes about romantic comedy, agrees about the importance of being convinced over the rightness of a match:

"Romantic comedy writers all too often put way too much emphasis on figuring out ways to keep their leads apart. But conflicts and obstacles are actually the easy part of romantic comedy screenwriting. The harder task lies in creating what I call a chemical equation for your protagonists - presenting the clear, vivid and genuinely convincing evidence that because he's like this and she's like that, they absolutely, positively must end up a couple." (In his review of Just Go With It)

Georgette Heyer was aces at this too.

2011-05-04T18:03:00.000-04:00

Oh my days, that last post was supposed to be posted on my comments blog, upon which I was fixing technical problems. I hit post, went to look at it, and then face-palmed. I feel like a moron this morning.

Cutetube is ruining my life

2011-05-04T17:53:00.000-04:00

The Cutesie Video

The Best Comment

The Case of the Disappearing Ants

2011-05-03T07:16:00.000-04:00

Ants Part I
Ants Part II
Ants Part III
Ants Part IV

No ants tonight, but the little pile of dead bodies is gone (and not left in front of my cat box.)

All's Quiet on the Antsy Front

2011-05-02T04:32:00.000-04:00

Ants Part I
Ants Part II
Ants Part III

It's been quiet again on the ant front. I always take credit when the ants disappear, but now I realize it's because they stop being active around midnight (I've been researching again.)

Apparently ants take dead ones away to the trash heap to keep from cluttering up the hallways, or from bacteria/fungi forming, so I guess the dude I saw just happened to be a Janitor Ant. He decided the cat box was far enough away from where the other ants were working, and he'd done his duty.

God I'm gonna dream about ants tonight, I know it.

I've also learned that carpenter ant workers are females--female eunuchs. So these have been femdudes I've been killing.

I also need to take a closer look at their thoraxi to be really sure their carpenter ants. [Feels disrespectful as she checks dead body.] Yes, they are.

Bugs are so interesting. I wish we didn't have to fight. And I wish I wasn't squeamish about them. Being a bugologist is the only science job I could imagine being interested in. But then you end up having to be a forensic entomologist. (I know someone who got that far, and then realized he could not work with dead bodies. He works in publishing now.)

By the way, Medieval Days and Ways is a book, in case I didn't make that clear. My brother thought it was a wonderfully named bug spray.

Night of the Ant Graveyard

2011-05-02T01:44:00.000-04:00

Ants Part I
Ants Part II

Had to kill several ants for awhile there, but the wave seems to have ended. I don't know if they manage to get a message back through the lines: Medieval Days and Ways is out, retreat retreat!

My brother said he saw in a show that ants pick up the bodies and bring them to a graveyard, and I said: "now I feel like I didn't let them bury their dead. :-( It's gonna turn into one of those weird Earth 2 episodes, where I think I'm being menaced by ants, but no, they're just here mourning, come back to claim the bodies I put in the trash with the kleenexi."

At one point tonight one of the ants picked up a dead body and hefted it around a bit and I thought: My God it's true! Is he going to carry it back home?

He walked around a bit, dropped it, and kept on his way. Wham. Down went the book.

Just now as I was writing this, a more hearty comrade came along and picked up one of the many bodies I'd left in a pile. He started carting it across my room. I was hoping he'd take it out so I could see where they're coming from, cause it's driving me crazy. Even when I'm watching the window and heater, they appear like magic before my eyes, I never see one enter!

But I watched him carry his buddy across the length of my room, and I'm like, great, he doesn't know the way out. Or the Ant Graveyard is somewhere in my apartment.

Well it turns out it's in front of the cat box, because that's where he left the body.

For the love. I had to kill him. And his little friends too. Well I was going to, but they'd disappeared by then. I'd let two more live, hoping to watch them collect bodies too, but I guess only one was on the graveyard shift. The other got lost in my bookcase, and another vanished into thin air.

I somehow lost Medieval Days, so now it's the 1993 Writer's Market. I'm gonna have to do more research cause I do not know what they're doing. Hoping to set up a new nest in the dust bunnies under my wooden book case?? They're very interested in that one case, and that one shelf.

Maybe the last two that lived have returned to tell the tale of the dead bodies.

Return of the Ants

2011-05-02T00:57:00.002-04:00

Ants Part I

Ahh the ants are back and in greater numbers! And Minion's pouting because when she showed me a spider yesterday I didn't kill it.

"We don't kill spiders."
"It's black and has lots of legs and moves!"
"It moves very fast and has more legs. Makes it a spider."
"Kill it!!"
"You kill it! I'm only interested in ants."

So she's being aloof.

I'm leaving the dead bodies of the ants out, as warnings. They keep coming up on my desk, which seems courteous of them.

"Hallos!"
"You know I'm going to kill you."
"I heard you were vegan."
"Have you heard of leading-a-compassionate-but-not-perfect-life?"
"No."

And down goes Medieval Days and Ways. Poor anties.

I remember a few years ago some Buddhist monks who had a bug infestation and wouldn't kill the bugs, or hire anyone to kill them. But made their problem known so if someone wanted to come aloooong and take care of it for them... Come on--

ah! Killed another and one escaped me. Where are they coming in?? I can't tell! It's gotta be right behind my desk. Gonna look again.

Entertaining Myself With My Taxes

2011-05-01T05:11:00.000-04:00

I repaired to the office (bedroom) today to do The Taxes. I find it mildly enjoyable, if given time and space. Had plenty of both.

The felines were present for moral support.

I used Ufile first, cause I used to find it easier than Quicktax. But they were TOO simple and tried to make me declare thousands less to the Quebec government, which I don't think They would have appreciated.

Ufile was all...!! Woo!!

"U file silly" I told it.

After some fiddling, and sending an email which still hasn't been answered, I tried out Turbotax.

I was immediately struck by THE CUTESINESS OF IT ALL!

And who wouldn't want to follow this wee roadmap??

If the Israelis and Palestinians were given this as a Roadmap to Peace, they'd make real headway. Who wouldn't be eager to get to step 2, step 3, step 4 5 and the FLAG! "Let's get this borders thing settled, boys, I want get to the picture of Jerusalem!"

Compared to Ufile:

Plus they had a screen in the corner that suspensefully increased and decreased with every question I answered and data I entered! Ohhh the drama of it all! (No this was not the final number. But the drama!!)

And let's not forget the window on the right where you could check in on everyone else's livetime agonies, and either laugh at their stupid questions, or get answers to your stupid questions.

I was able to enter the T4 and Relevé information accurately this time, and fiddle with my donations, and I understood the medical expenses better (I should have been keeping prescription bills all year, for the amounts not covered by insurance - frick!)

People often suggest I should hire someone, and I have done when Fernando or I had back years to catch up on. But with a couple simple T4s, it's really not worth it. It's gotten more and more expensive, whereas this cost me $30 for the two of us. If I had a business, or worked freelance etc., then I'd hire someone.

The other question to consider is how much my time is worth--my pay per hour. But I measure that against the self-esteem I gain from accomplishing the work, and the sense of confidence from better understanding my taxes, and what I need to be doing throughout the year to prepare for next year's. That's worth my time.

Of course, like many things in life, it's all a big LETDOWN when the other guy isn't there for you in the end. I tried to upload my files and both governments were all "We're, like, SLEEPING now? And you have until MAY 6 moron? So like come back at 7 AM like a real person. F**cking night owls."

I'm gonna go make cookiez. :-) Booyakasha.

Thanks to my dad for putting up with my breathtaking tax updates all night.

Haley did it again

2011-04-29T01:45:00.000-04:00

Sister-in-law visiting yesterday. Said to Haley: "I thought you were supposed to be the mean one!"

Haley: "Meh heh heh hehhhhh."

They never see her favorite game, cause I don't let her get this way around guests. By the way, the number 1 rule of all cat training is: Human hands aren't toys.

If I stop playing too soon, she prowls and meowls and then nips at my arm or my toes, whichever is closer.

Ease out with an ear rub.

Alas poor anties... I squished them with Medieval Days and Ways

2011-04-29T01:00:00.003-04:00

It's the time for all good vegans to run for the hills and ignore my blog... the killing time. It was 20 degrees today so the big fat black ants attempted another home invasion.

I kill them. If I have to renounce the vegan title, I will. I've had one invasion that made a little headway, and I've heard horror stories of people trying to get rid of ant invasions. They are smart and they are tough and they are organized. The spiders, on the other hand, hang out in every corner unmolested; and I have a shy silverfish living in my bathroom.

My dudes live on the outside of my building, and since the first ants are scouts, I've realized that ruthlessly killing the first ones takes care of the problem each year. Well... the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few. I don't mean humans, I mean the many ants who would die if they found food, brought the message back to the nest, and then made a real invasion, and I had to move from book-to-ant combat, to chemical means.

I wish the cats would kill them, then I could keep my hands clean. But she does spot them, which helps. We just killed three in a row.

Medieval Days and Ways, and a kleenex, are on the floor ready in case she spots another--she's periodically checking. I'll have to check Fernando's room tomorrow, cause in the past, when it was our living room, it was the scene of frequent invasions--it's nearer the lawn.

You can poke your head out the window and see the ant highway traveling along the building at times. My goal each year is to send the message: Beyond that window, our brave scouts did not return. Move along, move along.

update: she just took a nap, then found me a 4th - those ants won't know what hit 'em

update: that's a lot of ants. These might not be scouts - scouts might have learned that I feed Minion in this room, and they've come to collect! I'd better move her back to the bathroom. (I feed her here so she won't eat Haley's food, the little thief. Minion sucks up her portion like a hoover, then races over to Haley's. Haley had taken to grabbing her soft food in one clump and running off with it!)

Maudite Petite Cat!!

2011-04-26T17:41:00.001-04:00

I found a vomited up piece of plastic today. Small blue bubble wrap. I've looked around the house and I can't figure out where the hell she got it from!! &#*$*&#@&!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!*!*

Thank god she threw it up.

UPDATE: I think she tore it off something in the forbidden room, which she was in for 30 seconds yesterday. Which is reassuring, cause it just means being extra careful about not letting her in there.

Celebrating Easter in Style

2011-04-26T04:37:00.001-04:00

One of the bloggers I read (one of the Betties I've mentioned) - her mother does something for each holiday that I LOVE.

Context: Stuffed animals were my best friends in childhood, and I have around 50. Right now there's a stuffed minotaur on my printer.

Her mother has a wagon with a little gang of stuffies in it, and she gives them different outfits for each holiday. For Easter (or Ostaran) she knitted them hats and matching purses.

I imagine this gang goes out and gets into trouble each holiday, the designated stuffy driver pulling a wagon full of wasted animals home at 4 AM, someone holding the dolls curls back as she pukes.

As the election day approaches

2011-04-24T03:14:00.002-04:00

The riding where I live has been a Liberal stronghold for a longo time-o. I didn't vote, on purpose, in the last election because I was annoyed to have one called so soon--two years after the previous one.

But at the one before that (2006) I actually did vote Conservative. I did so "in safety". I knew the Liberal, Francis Scarpaleggia would win, but I didn't want to give him my vote (b) on a national level, because of the poopiness that was the Liberal party at that time, and (b) on a local level, because he's one of the only anti-gay-marriage Liberals*. (I kind of like the Conserv gal who was running. This was before Harper's megalomania.) I kind of admire that he goes against the party line and votes by conscience, but his conscience and mine don't agree.

However I'm afraid I'll have to overlook his conscience this time because the Conservatives have put in a superstar this year--some jock rich dude ex Alouettes football CEO [I'm the last girl to be impressed by sports cred], who was appointed to the senate by Harper, and then stepped down to run for MP. When accused of only taking the senate seat to pad his CV, he said, maiz non maiz non...

"In simple terms, the money I was earning in my last profession to where I would be in this profession is what I would call a dramatic, catastrophic pay cut."

A senator salary is around $132 000.

I made a 1/4 of that at my last job.

So.

Vote for a guy... who thinks that living at 4 X my last salary was OH MY GOD THE PAIN THE PAIN!!!

Keeping in mind that this is Quebec where the cost of living is very low. And while he and his wife may still be supporting their third child, their other two kids aren't dependents (I hope since one's a football player and the other is married to a football player.)

And I'm not supposed to see the Conservative party as the party for rich people? I mean, Scarpy might have lots of dough too, but his last job was as a business teacher at the English college with some of the most disadvantaged kids (Dawson.) Just sayin'.

Smith's made his presence known too. He had some kind of over-the-phone town hall. I don't know how popular it was cause I didn't participate, I had a friend over. I also got a "Are you planning to vote Conservative?" phone call this week.

So. A vote for a Scarpy, and then an email letting him know my feelings about gay marriage. That sounds about right.

Note: I'm listening to his interview now. Catastrophic. My GOD. That is so spoiled. Catastrophic is losing your house cause you can't pay your bills. What an asshat.
_______
* His views as expressed in Hansard are interesting, but I still disagree with him.

Minion the Menace

2011-04-23T21:54:00.002-04:00

Months ago the vet gave me a dog chewie thing to see if Minion would like it. She didn't like it that much so I stuck it in the bread cupboard and rarely took it out. But one day she followed her nose, found it, and took it out. (It's a higher cupboard, like over the stove, only it's over a counter.) I put it back. When she was bored, she took it out again.

Today she took it out. Then it occurred to her... didn't she see some nice bread in that same cupboard? Why was she passing the bread up every time she went for the boring dog chew?

We've used this cupboard for years without even our most bread-loving cat (Sherry) finding it. And then today...

Fernando: Menowz! You left my bagels out and Minion's eaten them!
Me: I didn't leave them out! She must have climbed in the cupboard, the little minx!
Fernando: Oh my love!
Me: Hey I didn't do anything!
Fernando: I didn't accuse you, I just expressed dismay at my eaten bagels.

For some reason I didn't think she'd dare this a second time. I thought maybe she'd been especially tempted by the cinnamon raisin bagels. After all, the damn bread's been in there all this time. (Well not the same loaf.)

Then I was sitting here and I hear...

Squeka squeka squeka...

I knew it wasn't the lower cupboard squeaking. I tied them up ever since Minion's chewing-thing-stuck-in-intestines incident.

I looked at Haley, who could see into the kitchen. She was watching something with mild interest.

I went to the kitchen.

The bread cupboard door was mostly closed, but moving slightly.

Squeka squeka squeka...

I opened the cupboard and there was Minion the Menace, settling in comfortable, using her patented bag opening technique on the bread: multiple tooth punctures 1 inch X 2 inch zone.

I tossed her out and duct taped the door. Wrote "child safety locks" on the grocery list.

Me: Our genius child has been in the bread again.
Fernando: Are you feeding her enough?
Me: Menowz!
Fernando: It was a serious question! Maybe she's hungry!
Me: She ate your bagels thirty minutes ago!
Fernando: ...It was a snack.
Me: [to Haley] You couldn't warn me?
Haley: I'm a lot of things Mahmmy, but I'm no stool pidgeon.

(Did I mention she can open a brand new bag of chips in under a minute? If you're eating chips she won't try to steal one out of your hand, she'll try to make an opening at the bottom of the bag.)

This week in French - done reading!

2011-04-23T04:56:00.000-04:00

Un petit pas pour l'homme by Stéphane Dompierre

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Ceci était mon deuxième livre de Dompierre et il est maintenant un de mes auteurs préférés. Style High Fidelity en français, avec le magasin de disques et le mec qui veut pas se transformer enfin en adulte; mais c'est plus drôle, le héros est plus sympa, et ça contient une bonne scène de sexe. J'ai aussi adoré son livre Morlante, que j'ai l'intention de relire. Vraiment mon sens d'humour.

This was my second Dompierre book, and he's one of my faves now. Sort of the French "version" of High Fidelity--the record store, the guy reluctant to grow up--but it's funnier, the hero is more sympathetic, and there's a good sex scene. I also loved his book Morlante, which I plan to re-read. Really my sense of humor.

* Took me this long to read, though, cause I made myself look up EVERY word I had even the slightest doubt about. 99% of the time I could understand everything from context, but I still made myself look (or put a pencil note, to look later, which I did.) There was one paragraph where I had about 7 pencil notes, yet I understood the whole damn paragraph!

View all my reviews

Dear dear

2011-04-22T03:23:00.000-04:00

Inspired by this site, the Betties wrote a bunch of Dear ___ letters recently. Here's a handful of them, but they were all funnee.

Dear trees,
Please stop spooging on me. It’s gross.
Sincerely,
The Car

Dear Mom,
I gave him the milk for free and he bought me anyway. You were totally wrong.
Love,
The Cow

Dear Tiny Parrot,
Seriously?!?! That was half your body weight!
Sincerely,
The Pooped-On Carpet

Dear Cat,
Yes, I love you, too. Now get off my keyboard.
Sincerely,
The Laptop

Dear Butt
I love you, but I need more space. It’s not you, it’s me. I need to breathe. Just a short break, maybe 15 minutes or so.
Love
Couch

Dear Robins–
It’s rained for four days straight– you know what that means!!! Worm buffet on me! All you can eat:).
Sincerely,
The Driveway

Dear Phone.
Stop ringing every time I have to pee. I’ve got needs, too.
Full Bladder

Dear Bed,
You’re really making it hard for me to be successful at my job.
Sincerely,
Alarm Clock

Dear Death,
HA!
SIncerely,
Lyle [the very sick dog who doesn't believe he's going to die]

Dear homework,
No, I will not spend all night doing you. I’m not that kind of girl.
Sincerely,
me

Dear Daughter
Please stop doing the pee pee dance, just as I sit down to dinner,
Love
Your mother

Minion in Motion!

2011-04-21T16:21:00.002-04:00

A friend sent this cause it's how he imagines life around my house. Yes it is!! Minion looks just like this kitty! And that's her favorite toy! Except now she's bigger... and never misses. ;-)

Minion chewing on her Bullwinkle stick

2011-04-21T15:14:00.000-04:00

This is a doggy chew treat.

Naturally she likes these more expensive sticks better than the cheap ones from the dollar store, which she just bats around like toys.

My drug can take the world's troubles on its shoulders

2011-04-20T03:14:00.001-04:00

What happened today...

Some background info.

1. This past winter my husband and I came to a bit of a crisis point in our marriage. No new issues, just a higher need to finally resolve old ones. And before you express sympathy for me, I've been more of the guilty party. :-( I actually made myself a star chart to form some new better marriage habits. (Not stars, though. Stickers of kitties and dogs.) (You won't believe how motivated I am by stickers.) Anyway, we got through the worst of it, and we intend to go to counseling later, so all is well.

But the salient info is that almost every time we fought I ended up crying. And to the point that I felt like I was having a nervous breakdown. And one day in February, outside of a comic book store on a busy street, set off by something truly meaningless, I started crying uncontrollably and couldn't stop. This has never happened to me before. It was intellectually interesting. But it also turned out to be the turning point. A week later, after a speech by my husband, and a day of philosophizing while riding around on the bus, I pulled myself out of my general breakdown. But I do still cry easily.

2. I got a cold in February, which landed in my lungs. Once the cold cleared up, my lungs remained inflamed and I've had a cough ever since. Two weeks ago my GP gave me a pump, and it's pretty much gone now.

3. I've had chronic headaches since I was 20 (I'm 37). For a couple years I've been seeing a specialist. I take a daily medication (Elavil) that's helped a lot, and I have good drugs for getting rid of headaches when they come. In January I started a second daily med to prevent headaches. I reached the full dosage my doc was starting me at in February.

Today's Story

Today I went to see my headache doctor and we talked about the Topamax. I'd read about the side effects when I first went on it, but I don't tend to remember everything. And I'm not a worrier, so I don't look for side effects. When I started getting a lot of pins and needles, I remembered it was a side effect. When I was sick and found myself getting hot too easily, I realized I was sweating less and remembered it was a side effect. One day in February I had a Coke that tasted flat even though it wasn't flat, and hours later I remember it was a side effect (isn't that totally weird?)

But I forgot that one possible side effect is sluggish thinking, for example. Probably because I wouldn't want to remember that. I remembered today when she asked me about it. I told her that when I learn new French words, they seem to stick, so no, I don't think it's been a problem.

Then she asked me, how are my moods? I didn't know what she meant. She asked if I was feeling angry, or aggressive? No. Was I crying more?

... !!

Yeeees. I told her about my marriage problems.

She asked if the crying was uncontrollable.

!!!!

I told I thought I'd been having a nervous breakdown!

She kept asking more questions, I assume until she was comfortable I wasn't going into a depression, before upping my Topamax dose. And she said if the side effects get too bad, then to just cut my dose back again.

Just now I went back to re-read the side effects. I can see why the moods thing didn't stick with me, cause it's very broad. It doesn't say "uncontrollable crying" -- that might be something she's run into in her practice, or in journals etc.

BUT. It does say: upper respiratory tract infections.

So the thing is... I'm now going to blame everything in my life on Topamax. Got a cold? It's the Topamax. Marriage problems? Topamax. Cats fighting? Must be the Topamax. Not in the mood to do any chores? Obviously it's the Topamax.

Feel free to blame your problems on my drug too. My drug is big enough to handle it.

This week in...

2011-04-18T04:25:00.002-04:00

CATS:

When Minion wants to suck my finger she has a very particular meow. A sort of rolling rrrowr?

Just now she was up in her tower, and as she climbed down she actually gave me an Advanced Warning Rrorwr. All the way down and then across the living room: Stop typing mahmmy I'm coming in for the finger.

Um kitteh, I'm trying to edit a student's paper yes?

No, mahmmy. Mebbe one handed.

In other news, Haley is super happy to have Fernando back. When I go away it's a month of sulk city. Not him! She's been gooshing like a gooshy thing. Cuddles galore. It's disgusting.

In Minion-chews-up-the-planet-news: Did I tell you I thought I'd found the perfect chew toy? A twig stool made by Fernando's foster father. Minion loved gnawing on it, and it won't break into swallowable pieces so I was happy. Then I realized she was actually making headway into destroying it! Est-ce possible?? Oui. Which Fernando wouldn't like, so I had to remove it.

Then I bought those fake bacon treats, which she could down in 1 minute.

This week I got thin doggie chew sticks (meat, not bone) about the same thickness as the twig chair (about the size of a finger.) She had a good long gnaw on it tonight, and it's half destroyed, so I think we may have found something at last. Phew

Haley's opinion of my lists of actions verbs.

"I'm the only action verb you need, lil mama."

More pictures that will tempt Swiss Girl to steal my cat. Let's hope there's no internet on her boat!

OFFLINE FRIENDS:

Went out with rrraquel at last, tonight. We canceled yesterday cause the weather sucked. It's nice to be able to cancel plans with a friend simply because you're both too wimpy to go out in bad weather.

FRENCH:

Started my verb exercise book. Very handy--recovering the basics, that's what I needed. And I'm reading my Châtelaine cover to cover, highlighting words or expressions I don't understand.

VEGAN:

Bought 4 packs of Daiya fake cheese that was at expiry date and so $1. Had nachos twice. Once ordered pizza and smothered in the cheese--this package was starting to mold, though I'd kept in the freezer. Just one spot, the rest was perfect. But I discovered that... three packages worth of Daiya cheese in one week... you can actually get sick of it. And I still have one left to go. Well, if I don't eat it, it was only a buck.

Okies back to what I was doing...

The Great Blog CatchUp (or sucking on lemons)

2011-04-17T03:41:00.000-04:00

It's been a busy week at Casa Kitty. Apparently when you haven't lived with your husband for three weeks, you need to adjust to each other again. So I'm almost totally behind on my blog reading... it's 3:30 AM early Sunday morning... gonna put on some new music and attempt The Great Blog Catchup.

Fernando was just in the room. I just told him he's beautiful. He told me to go suck on a lemon. There's something particularly charming about having a grade three insult aimed at you.

Okay... off I go...

LISTENING TO:

hubby tracking update

2011-04-12T19:13:00.000-04:00

It's 6:50 PM - still no sign of him. His plan landed at 5 PM.

lol

When you're married to Fernando Ferblantier, you don't worry when your husband goes AWOL. You just assume he's either:

(a) wandering the airport shopping

(b) has run into an immigrant who needs help with something and is showing them around Montreal

(c) met someone interesting on the plane and went to have dinner with them and talk for hours

(d) curled up in exhaustion on his bags and went to sleep.

Or all of the above.

Well, I had time to do groceries--they had Daiya cheese with today due date, for $1 per bag! I scooped up all four, put 3 in the freezer, kept one for supper. Nachos! But I'd better find something to eat in the meantime. Though I'm de-hair-greased, leg-shaved, perfumed, and festively dressed, none of it will matter when Fernando makes an appearance if I'm a total bitch.

I also bought flowers. He loves to receive flowers. (Okay Minion, leave some for Daddy, yes?)

Fernando arrived as I was writing this. Minion thought it was a visitor and ran away! And then, as he was coming in, the neighbor's smoke alarm went off so Haley ran and hid too! Some homecoming. We had to get out the Snappytoms so he could bond with his cats.

Tsk. Kids.

hubby tracking

2011-04-12T14:58:00.000-04:00

Fernando is currently over Winnipeg. I still have time to put away the laundry and store up some provisions on the old homestead before he gets in.

He's been helping to care for three little peeples for three weeks--I suspect he's going to expect royal treatment for the rest of his time off (this week).

Haley knows he'll be back, cause she's seen us leave and return from vacations. Minion is confused, but she hasn't given up hope--she's an optimistic little kitty! She still raises her head optimistically when she hears bustling in the hallway. I look forward to seeing her excitement when The Bustle really does turn out to be Her Bustle.

Unfortunately I'll probably have to go help Fernando with his bags, and therefore won't get to witness it from this side of the door. :-( Should have made arrangements with him on the phone yesterday.

"Mahmmy's book says hope is a thing with feathers. ...I like feathers."

The Meowee East: Storms both Physical and Metaphorical (or Pathetic Fallacy by Haley teh Cat)

2011-04-11T07:04:00.001-04:00

This video looks like a skit from The Muppet Show. I kept expecting to see people clinging horizontally to street lamps.

It's an exciting morning here in the Meowee East. It's 9 degrees Celcius (warm) and a thunder and lightning storm just passed through. I've got the balcony door open and wild winds are - a - blowin' through. Minion is acting like a FREAK. I wish you could see the look on Haley's face, but I only have my laptop for taking photos.

At first she was down here enjoying the storm, but then Minion went running up along her back...

so she retreated to Wolverbean Towers.

Watching the rain and wind.

Rain and wind got up in her face so she LEAPED to her window.

"You're a freak and an idiot."

While Minion has to take the high spots from Haley all the time, in reality she only has one high spot she likes; otherwise she prefers the floor. This desk in the livingroom is her cave. Notice how she's hooked up her tunnel so that it leads into her cave.

She naps under the curtains, tucked under the heater.

I suspect she discovered it one day when she fell off the heater, but she admits to nothing.

I've had to lock Minion in my bedroom, cause Haley wanted to come down and check out the wind. The window in my room lets out on a bird-filled tree. I tried telling Minion this, but she was all "No no no I wanna be with you!" [aka terrorize Haley.]

Perched on the Elizabeth Box, as regal as the Virgin Queen herself.

UPDATE ON THE COUSSIN DE POUVOIR (from yesterday)

Since moving it lower, Haley's been *allowed* to sit on it a lot more. But Minion is sensitive to her reputation cause right when I take a picture...

"You look entirely too comfortable on that coussin. OFF!" Takes coussin. Pretends to look like she's going to take a long nap.

Haley indifferent because though she's lost the coussin, she now has the high ground.

Minion soon realizes this is a losing proposition and leaves the coussin.

This week in friendlies: phone edition

2011-04-10T01:26:00.002-04:00

I was supposed to go out with a friend tomorrow, but we had to change our plans. We ended up talking on the phone, though. We shall call her rrraquel.

And earlier today (as I made my breakfast... at 3 PM) my friend Gilby called. We haven't spoken since Christmas, so it was nice to catch up.

I met both friends at my old job--we were all part of the new staff hired on to open up the store when it was new. It was a big format store, and so many great people were hired, we all walked around a little suspicious in the beginning.

- [whisper] Do you find you like a really high % of people here?

- [whisper] Ya, it's really weird.

I had certain groups of friends with whom I'd go out to lunch, and certain groups I'd sit in the back doorway with while they had their smokes, and other groups with whom I'd go drinking next door after work (I drank ginger ale), and other groups with whom I went to Chenoy's and debated Life with 'til 3 AM, and other friends with whom I went to Chenoy's and talked about our own lives with 'til 3 AM.

That never really changed. The average age of people hired decreased, but in all the years I worked there, I not only made a ton of friends myself, but I saw generation after generation make their own gang of friends-for-life. I guess book stores attract interesting, quirky, intelligent, fun people. I'd recommend working at one, except it's a March of the Dinosaurs.

My friends rrraquel and Gilby were practically opposites, but sometimes the three of us would go to the dessert place next door (gone now) and loved being served by Raoul, who gave everyone a Spanish name, forgot our orders, and was very charming. He died a few years ago of throat cancer. :-(

Anyway, two important outcomes of these phone calls. Important to The Arts.

1. Gilby needs us to go ahead with Gilmabelfest 2011 even if he needs to shoulder more of the cost this year. I suggested he come to my city, stay with his folks, we see one show. He expressed disapproval of this plan in his Usual Gilby Fashion that I won't repeat. So I guess I'll be off to see him again in the fall, and to see some great shows. Time to start planning! Gilmabelfest 2011!

2. rrraquel told me Videotron picked up Turner Movie Classics channel at the beginning of April!!! I didn't know!!! There's always been a classics channel but it was poopy. Not the real one! TURNER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! She said it's to compete with Netflicks, which must explain the other great no-commercial movie channels I now have.

TURNER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This weekend is Cat On a Hot Tin Roof, which me loves. And it's playing in French this weekend on Cinépop, which I was going to tape as well.

And on PBS this weekend starts the new Upstairs, Downstairs. It's a sequel, but I've never seen the original so I hope I understand.

This week in veganeats

2011-04-09T19:28:00.000-04:00

I didn't go out anywhere.

The yogurts are done. I got rid of a couple more mac and cheeses. There's still a ton of those soup packets, though.

It's been Lazy Cooking for One week. I mostly had...

* penne with tomato sauce made with tons of mushrooms (Fernando's not a mushroom fan, so I'm taking advantage while he's gone)

* rice and fried mushrooms

* cabbage (I have a bag of chopped cabbage from when I was making dragon bowls)

* strawberries and "whipped cream" (from the uncheese cookbook - menoum!)

* raspberry walnut pancakes (Dolce Vegan) with the rest of the uncream-cream (menoum menoum!)

* chickpea-seaweed sandwiches (Vegan with a Vengeance) (menoum! didn't make enough, had to make a second batch)

* cocoa & soy milk

* homemade granola (Dolce Vegan)

But now I'm running out bread and milk. Haven't been to the grocery store. Locked in my home, alternating between doing the things I need to do, and procrastinating from them.

Speaking of procrastinating... BYE!

This week in cats: mac pics

2011-04-09T18:31:00.003-04:00

The camera is still away with the vacationing husband. (Not really vacationing since he's helping his sister with her three children.) So I can only get pics of the kitties using my laptop. (I don't even have a cell phone.)

Since kitties, like Jedis, value having the high ground I'm trying an experiment. I moved Haley's Coussin de pouvoir to a lower spot, and Minion's Trône des jouets to a higher spot. Minion always kicks Haley off the Coussin, because she has her topcat status to maintain. But she actually prefers to sit in her toybox-snuggy. So if the snuggy-toybox is higher, will she let Haley sit on the Coussin? We shall see. It worked the first time, last night.

...Though as soon as I woke Minion up with my noises, she came out of her box and teased Haley.

- Minion...

- What?

She comes over to my computer: "What? What?"

"Is it finger time? You type too much."

Random Haley Beauteousness

Minion Jungletude

Unusually pensive: "This is the mother's new corner. Not sure I like it. I will now throw this pencil on the floor in disgust."

The usual kitty-yoga

"It's mah move."

With the springy weather I try to leave the window open for the cats (at least until the baby birds are born. The ones the will inevitably practice flying to our balcony.) Sometimes instead of going outside, Minion just leans out and watches the world go by.

Ever since I rearranged the book cases and cleaned up the cabling, the tops of all the shelves have been cleared for Haley. She now has four places to sit. Minion always tries to root her out (even though Minion gets bored up there and soon comes down), so I try to distract Minion with toys, and Haley watches us play.

And that, folks, was the week in cats! These new coworkers of mine are awesome.

This week in French: new words entering head

2011-04-09T01:53:00.000-04:00

I look up so many new words in the book I'm reading, or for the show I watch etc., that I was afraid I wouldn't retain any of them. Except moumoune (which means sort of wimpy, baby-lala), and boulot (a more casual word for job or work.) And joufflu (chubby).

But just now I was reading my new Châtelaine subscription and there were three of my new words on one way. Fredonner = humming. Boucle = which I knew, but in the specific context of playing music in a loop. And tripes=which is "tripe" in English too, but in French when something's coming from "les tripes" or affects you in "les tripes" it's (to quote my Larousse) "in the seat of your emotions, your convictions." The guts, I guess, but less gross.

So the words, they are entering the head. This is giving the encouragement.

rock meeeee amadeus!

2011-04-08T01:57:00.001-04:00

Amadeus has been playing in French lately and I like watching it while I do other things, cause I already know it so well in English.

I just learned that the original performance was with Paul Scofield as Salieri (wow!) and Simon Callow as Mozart (wow!) How great that must have been!

And someone's posted a clip from the Scofield perfomance!

I wonder if this is still available:

(Simon Callow plays the friend who commissions the Magic Flute in the movie.

And then the next production was with Ian McKellan as Salieri (wow!) and Tim Curry as Mozart (wow!)

This is one of those productions I'd love to see two great women actors play, because it invites such great pairings of The Great Shakespearean Actor and Someone Young & Frothy.

And I didn't know there was a Making Of the movie. Oh goodie... more procrastinating. <-- She said in a sad tone. Hapoo.

BRB

2011-04-06T06:58:00.001-04:00

Taking an offline day today. Or two. See you soonz!

Mon dictionnaire est arrivé! (A story in pictures)

2011-04-06T01:51:00.000-04:00

Click on the picture for more details. I got it from Staples/Bureau en Gros, free shipping.

Merci to Le Père and La Belle-mère for helping me buy my leetle early birthday prezzie!

(This time adding "le" to the front of "père" is not even silliness. It's one of my favorite things in old fashioned Québecois that you always hear in the historical TV series. "Hey le père!")

Cette semaine en: Friendship - the Super Banane Edition

2011-04-05T14:51:00.000-04:00

Someone's online pic of Super Pickle

I spent Saturday with my high school friend Super Banana. She only came to my school in the last year, and I instantly liked her, she was had a strong like of the Weird. And we were both big Phantom of the Opera fans. When my other friends were suffering through optional science courses, she and I took the optional drama course together and had a ball. I had two dolls, a pickle with a cape, and a banana with a cape, and that's how she came to be Super Banana, and I Super Pickle.

She was my Token Francophone Friend. (Not by choice, there's just a hella lotta Anglophones out my way.) Her family is actually Belgian, but Banana did live in France for a few years, and her parents have been living there the last several years. Her father passed away a few months, so her mother's there now, cleaning up all the paperwork. :-( I've always liked Banana's family, they're really warm and outgoing, easy to talk to. I saw her brother several years ago, and he was as fun as ever to talk to (flighty, but charming and handsome guy), and this time her little sister was there with her little girl. Banana and her niece are madly in love with each other.

I also got to practice my French a lot! Banana and I didn't speak French the whole time, but I tried to speak French more often than I usually do; and whereas she usually defaults to English much more for my sake, she mostly stayed in French mode. Yays! It was great.

We ate at Yuan, one of those nice places that serves analog vegetarian meats, Asian style. We shared a tofu dish, and a "chicken" dish. Almost everything there is vegan. I liked their green tea better than any I've ever had, it was less sharp. And they had a vegan dessert! A rice based molded thing, it was yummy.

We also went to X20 cause Banana needed new Doc Martens. She was getting regular ones, but there were also all the fun boots and shoes to look at...

These were my faves. They look plain, but in life the glossy gray looks woo-woo! I don't remember if they were patented leather or fake, though. But there were a lot of cloth boots that a vegan could buy.

Disney thinks you are an idiot

2011-04-05T00:11:00.002-04:00

You're a Hyena!

You have quite a sense of humor, though many others find it derisive
rather than appealing. You are perceived as being a coward, but actually have moments
of great bravery and have even stood up to those much larger than yourself. You like
hanging out in groups and are always making a lot of noise. Disney thinks you are an
idiot.

Take the Animal Quiz
at the Blue Pyramid.

Cats in Istanbul

2011-04-03T03:15:00.000-04:00

My friend Swiss Girl loves to travel and has a fun blog about her trips. She always takes pictures of the cats she meets along the way. She just got back from Istanbul so click on the pic if you've always wanted to know...

what Turkish kitties look like!

I'm so tired...

2011-04-02T03:08:00.002-04:00

I posted my day on the wrong blog.

This Month in Food

2011-04-01T04:41:00.000-04:00

I've been a lazy vegan all winter because my husband's lactose intolerance got worse, and since I'm unemployed, there's no excuse not to eat the trail of milk products he's leaving behind him. (That is to say, can't afford not to eat it. Not to mention I do not throw out good food... once the animal's been killed or milked, that would be pointless and even more disrespectful.) And that made me lazy when I went to an Indian restaurant, cause I was like, I've been eating yogurt anyway, so I was all: lazylazylazy.

It's sad when one's laziness is stronger than one's compassion. But it's also sad when one's compassion is stronger for others' than it is for oneself. I'm on a journey to get back to my better self, here, one day at a time. Eez been a rough winter.

Though it was kind of good because I tried a little spinach paneer which I've secretly longed for since accidentally buying it years ago, and... didn't like it! I never really regret unveganizing, because it generally just keeps those foods demystified for me. I got pretty tired of those cheese packets two months ago, and last month I learned that goat cheese wasn't the fantasy I'd remembered it being.

But I'm still cooking from my vegan books and updating short reviews on my VeganEats page.

In other food politics news, I did have to give up my fight to resist palm oil. I won't buy it in processed foods (most store goodies), but I'm just not ready to give up margarine yet. Again, it was a good experiment. I kept that last tub of margarine going a long time and found some great recipes, like Dreena Burton's scone recipe with oil. Burton's always my first resource for less processed ingredients baking. But--once again the Emotionally Long Hard Winter--I finally broke down in a flurry of baking powder biscuits and shortbread. I've been eating toast with margarine, like, every second day.

And finally - I have a recipe. My one and only I Invented It recipe. I've always said I can't cook, meaning I can't improve and make something taste good, and always agreed with people that "I can make desserts only because they should NOT be improvised upon." But I recently realized I've been lying. Baking/desserting is the one area where I understand the properties well enough that I'm comfortable experimenting and substituting.

In this case, I was making Ani Phyo's "Lavender Chocolate Bars" but with none of the ingredients on hand. lol. So much so, that I think I can legit call it mine. ;-)

Mabel's Pecan Truffletude

Commentary in parentheses to see insight into My Brain When Baking (or not, as it was raw.) I've learned that baking is the only area of cooking where I'm comfortable experimenting.

1/2 cup liquid coconut oil (all I had left - original called for 1 cup)

3 TB honey (I use honey now, because I've become convinced now that if we don't support honeybee combers, there will be no foods, cause the wild ones are dying. But I buy local. But it's just a personal choice. The original recipe is for agave.)

3 TB maple syrup (cause it didn't taste sweet enough, but I was using a regular spoon, not a measuring spoon)

[at this point her recipe has lavender, and it all gets mixed up]

3/4 cups cocoa powder (I'm not a raw foodist, so this is run of the mill cocoa - she called for cacao)

1/4 cup natural peanut butter (and about a TB or so of the oil, to make up for the lack of coconut oil) (original recipe calls for almond butter)

1 cup pecans (it was the only kind of nut I had in large quantity) (original recipe = almonds, and they get mixed in to keep their shape, not ground up like my lazy recipe)

1 cup dates (I don't like raisins, and all of Phyo's recipes seem to use raisins)

I put it all in the food processor and grinded the hell out of it. Formed into little balls, then pushed flat into cookie shapes, onto a cookie sheet, that was covered with a reused parchment paper. (Original recipe is poured into a pan and broken into pieces like a chocolate bar.)

Put in freezer til hard. But this recipe, even with less oil, is the vegan equivalent of French high patisserie. Because as I squished it into balls it was almost DRIPPING. It was SO DISGUSTING. Maybe it was because of the maple syrup too which is watery. Can you imagine with 1 cup of oil??

End result = rich and chocolatey like truffles. I'd even serve to non-vegans except as they melt they get more oily. Maybe if you left in balls, dusted with chocolate, in little paper cups. I might make again and try less oil. Except coconut oil gets rock hard when cold, so it's a big part of what's holding the cookie together, methinks.

Raw food is weird.

The Week in Cats: Haley Continues to Conquer the World

2011-03-31T03:16:00.001-04:00

Friend Maewitch came over this week, and then Friend Midnightstreet. Minion, it turns out, flees from new visitors. Well we never have anyone over (usually our place is too crazy messy.) She'll come out after half an hour. Or in the case of the Videotron man, after I go get her.

Haley, though, was so happy to have guests--female guests. Tortoiseshell and calico cats--cats with an orange/black/white coloring--are almost always female. So Haley is a staunch feminist, one of the man-hating kind. She belongs to one of these ancient goddess-worshiping religions. So having girls over was great for Haley, it was like Sex and the City, let's break out the cocktails, let's talk about sex, let's wear high heels and designer clothes. (Haley can fight like Wolverine but you may have noticed her gorgeous coloring. She's wicked beautiful.) Midnightstreet maybe talked a bit too much about babies for her liking, but she was a chick so it was all good.

As for Maewitch, she is not only a feminist (non-man-hating) but also of a wiccan flavoring, so Haley instantly recognized in her an "âme soeur" (as it would be more accurately said in French.) She was rubbing against her legs in under a minute. Mae also looks like a model, sometimes glams up in super heels and purses, and runs an online store for indulgent and decadent (but natural and usually vegan) perfumes and soapies...

Haley was in for the whole package. The perfect combination of feminism, goddess worship, hippy-tude (Haley's from Vancouver), and glamor. Not since she met me has she taken so naturally to someone. Now I don't even know what she saw in me--I've always suspected she was just trying to seduce me into helping her escape a dog-ridden house (my mother's) and now I suspect her of trying to get Mae to take her away to what has recently become a pet-free home. Mae kept offering her "sisterhood fistbumps."

"I should be on the masthead of Mae's site."

"I am pretty and you know you want to indulge me."

While she did manage to wrap Mae around her manipulative paw, I could never let another person take Haley except under extreme circs because (a) Fernando and I have seen her in Wolverbean mode (we've both been clawed through our jeans and up to our shoulders) and suspect few people would have the patience for that (maybe Mae would, but her boyfriend would enter into a fight to the death and either one's death would be tragic).

(My money's on Haley.)

And (b) I lobes my Haley. :-)

But if Fernando and I die in tragic accidentaltude...

Minion goes to Swiss Girl.

Haley goes to Mae. (I'll leave instructions on preventing Wolverbean episodes in my will.)

Just to show how manipulative she is, both Mae and Midnight made the same comment when they left my home, on their respective visits: (in sweet voice, scratching Haley on the head) "I thought you were supposed to be the crazy one."

They didn't see the wicked wink Haley gave me behind their backs.

Here's the cartoon I drew about the visit for my husband, who's away. (Click to see bigger.)

(I drew a star of David lol. Clearly there's some Kabbalah thrown in here.)

Polska

2011-03-30T17:43:00.001-04:00

Fave bit from book I'm reading. Our hero is talking to his musician friend, who wants to write some songs for his new singer girlfriend.

"You're not gonna make her sing your polka version of Highway to Hell?"
"It's not a 'polka' version it's a 'ska' version, thank-you."
"Mmmm. Yes. Of course. Can we agree on 'polska?'"

This Week in French

2011-03-30T16:20:00.001-04:00

Instead of writing 50 postings this week about all my French Excitement, I decided to just save it all up in one ignorable posting.

* At the library, remembered they have an ongoing book sale, and there's always some French books. I was sorely tempted by a poetry book about the astral-plane life of cats.

* Continued watching the series Toute la vérité. I hope the CBC shows it one day with English subtitles, like they did Fortier, cause it's SO GOOD. The best show I'm watching right now. Thanks Swiss Girl! It's about Quebec Crown prosecutors.

One day I watched 7 episodes in a row, and my French really improved--in the sense that I started thinking in French. So that encouraged me to keep listening to French radio, and keep watching lots of TV. (TV as homework! Woo!)

I believe this is supposed to be very good:

And I started watching this, but... not sure yet, though it has all my favorite actors in it. (Well I love most Quebec actors. It's like the British film industry, full of all these amazing actors who pop up over and over, and you just love them every time.)

* Got some grammar and spelling books to start playing with--wee toys!

* Thanks to an amazon reviewer, finally found an online course.

* I mostly listen to Radio Canada now. Fave program this week: "Une enfance pour la vie" which included an interview with one of the Passe Partout stars. She had a farm for troubled children, and talked about helping a kid who'd tried to kill himself four times.

* Recently a Videotron technician came to fix my cable. We spoke French the whole time, so yay! I'm preparing for my headache doctor in April, because I've always suspected she wants me to try speaking in French. She has the eye of a French teacher. A nice one, though. Like... she just wants me to TRY.

* The French book I'm reading is great. Dompierre's one of my new fave authors and I SO regret giving away the pirate book!! This book--Un petit pas pour l'homme--would fit in the Nick Hornby genre, High Fidelity-esque, they really should translate it. But funnier, and the character is more likable. And the pirate book wasn't Hornby-ish at all, and definitely funnier. ("He's going to kill us with apples!")

But I don't like to stop and look up words, so I'm just marking them with a pencil for later. When I watch TV I write the words down on paper. Except "Toute la vérité" is so good I don't even want to stop between episodes and look up words. As an early birthday present I'm buying myself an electronic dictionary, which my lovely parental units are chipping in for as well. :-)

Expanding my vocabulary is one my main goals, cause not being able to fully express myself is the main thing that frustrates me when I speak French.

* The only thing missing is the chance to speak French, so I talk French to the cats. "Behn, apporte-moi donc ton stick--je veux dire, ton bâton, que je joue au mur avec toi Diablotine!" And I'm trying to think to myself in French, and then think out loud to myself in French. "Okay là, là, c'est 5 cinq heures du matin, alors fermer l'ordinateur, faut que tu fasses dodo maintenant, hein?"

* In other news... I need to share with you how useless my French dictionary widget is. (And there are no others, I looked.)

Here are my widgets, the French dictionary is upper right:

Here is the word "mèche" when I take the widget and make it full screen:

I'm supposed to read 2.5 screens worth of information every time I need to learn a new word?

This Week in Cats: faux fire alarms

2011-03-26T00:26:00.000-04:00

We get so many fake alarms in this building, most people don't come out for them. I always take them seriously, cause the building is shaped like a U so it could be on the other side and I wouldn't know. Anyway, it's my responsibility for my kitties that I take seriously.

I keep a cat carrier by the front door, and another one at the other end of the apartment, by the window that's closest to the ground. But all of our windows are just low enough that I would risk jumping out of them if I had to. I'd break something, but probably live.

I also take the alarms as a chance to practice my kitty corralling skills--this time sans Fernando. I was pretty good, I had them boxed in I think under a minute. Haley is key because she got spooked by one of the alarms once, hid under the bed, and then I shoved the bed aside and grabbed her anyway. So now anytime she hears a fire alarm she's really spooked and heads for the hills. And cats are SO good at hiding. So the second I saw her trotting past me I grabbed her and caged her.

Funny how the plastic cage lock, which I can't seem to close 99% of the time, I managed to shut with no trouble on the first try. Wonderful what adrenaline will do for your muscles, motor skills, and brain puzzle thinking skills.

Minion was in the kitchen and she had a "Should I keep moseying or take flight?" look on her face. As I walked towards her, she'd take a step or two back. So I just kept talking nicely, as I had to Haley. Scooped her up, and she got the big cage. Got my wallet, my boots, my jacket, and we were off into the night (in my jammies.)

When we returned I gave them Snappy Toms and all returned to normal.

Public Service Announcement - One Second Plumber

2011-03-21T18:22:00.000-04:00

A few weeks ago my kitchen sink was clogged, and I couldn't unclog it with the usual goopy chemicals. I had to get the apartment handy-dude to come. Which is always a hassle for reasons I won't bore you with. I noticed he cleared it using some sort of pump that went "GALOOP!" and a second later the clog was gone.

This week our bathroom sink's slow-drain became near clogged. Harumph. Two bottles of goop, to no avail. (Are the cats pouring litter down our drains or something?) I even tried plungering, but didn't work. So I went to the little hardware store down the hill and there it was--the pumpy thing. It's called One Second Plumber.

The starter kit was $24 (probably cheaper at big hardware stores) but it's good for 24 uses. You have to read the instructions, cause if you don't properly plug any air holes to your sink, you'll end up with slug all over you (yes there are horror stories on the internet.) I plugged the sink's overflow hole with a cloth and held onto it. I filled in some water into the sink--because apparently how it works is it uses a mixture of gases, that interact with water, to make the water GALOOP through the pipes and push out the blockage. (It's not compressed air, as many think.)

I held it down to the drain, in some water. Pushed it down for a second. There was a faint GALOOP noise. I lifted it up. Bubble bubble. And then swiiiish! The water disappeared and my sink has been working like new.

The One Second Plumber is my new best friend. And I recommend it to all my little friends out there too. Your life will take on new meaning. Buy it as your next housewarming gift.

Actual vegan restaurant eat-ahj

2011-03-20T05:45:00.000-04:00

Fernando and I went to Aux Vivres restaurant for the first time last night, for supper. We'd never been--it's all vegan, which means I don't care if the food is mediocre, I'm gonna eat a lot! A starter, a dessert, everything!

The actual seating is really minimal so there was a line to get in, and a line pretty much the whole time we were there; but we only waited about 15 minutes I think.

Fernando had borscht, and I ordered us a starter plate of dips--more so I'd know what's good for any future trips. The vegepaté was fine, good tapenade, hummus is always good. The tofu dip was just okay, and there was something carrot-based-fishy-tasting that neither of us liked. I suspect it might be what they use for their bagel and lox.

Fernando then had the mumbai plate, which tasted good.

I ordered a dragon bowl--and they had three other types of bowls. It was so good. Next time I wouldn't have a starter, so I could finish it all. It's inspired me to try making a dragon bowl at home again. I tried one from Jae Steele, but it didn't turn out very well--I think it's helped having it made by someone else first so I know what the goal is.

(pic off their site)

We ordered dessert to go: chocolate banana pie, faux cheesecake, and truffles.

The truffles weren't sweet enough. The chocolate banana pie was good, but I'm not a huge banana person anyway. However the cheesecake... holy cow. Each layer was perfect, my DAYS. In my pre-vegan days I never met a cheesecake I liked as much as I loved this little spot of sugary goodness.

(pic from their site - it looked like this, but paler)

As they say in French: menoum menoum!

Wonder Woman's costume revealed

2011-03-20T02:08:00.000-04:00

Here's the new costume. I like the pants and boots. But it's hard to add metal to something without it looking like plastic, which makes it look like a Halloween costume. Probably should have gone with bronze colored material instead, like the piping on her boots. Interesting that they moved away from the Americanness of the costume.

I also think that, in real life, her boobies would constantly pop out of that costume while chasing baddies. Usually her bustier goes up a little farther than that. Wonder Woman must now go through a lot of double-sided tape.

I also hope these high heels are like those new really expensive boots with lots of cushioning, and good grips. Cause running around in heels is really hard. When I'm in running shoes, I can by-pass a woman in heels any day. But it's possible that amazonian women have exceptionally high arches and this is a healthy shoe for them.

Balcony Amour

2011-03-18T15:11:00.000-04:00

My little Wolverbean. Now that it's above zero, any chance I give her to sit on the balcony, she takes. Usually she prefers to sit out at night, but she'll take the day if that's all she gets. But the wind is still chilly so I can't leave the door open longer than 30 minutes cause indoors where there's no sun, I get too cold.

Minion doesn't really get it. She wanders in and out, but she doesn't really understand why her buddy wants to sit out there so long.

I'm back watching the Thornbirds, though I missed the beginning cause I had a headache night last night (it's menstruation week) and slept past 2 PM. But I woke up in time to see Dane's death, like I wanted. I'm waiting for the big scene where Meggy tells Ralph: He was your child! No no noooooooo!!!!

Sillines before I go to bed

2011-03-18T04:12:00.000-04:00

Was out walking with Swiss Girl and passed a duplex with a for sale sign. It made me laugh cause it was so pretentious with its little columns out front. And how fun it would be to say: "You'll find my house no problem, it's the one with the columns, next to the castle!"

So I had to find it online. Looks like usually they rent it out--only $3000+ per month, let's go!--but I guess it's sold? And here are pics of the interior as well, cause you can have it furnished as well.

Found a book to read

2011-03-18T00:09:00.000-04:00

I finally came across the perfect French book for my mood--I'd forgotten I'd bought it on my last day of work. It's called Un petit pas pour l'homme (One Small Step For Man.)

A couple years ago I read Morlante, a book about a psychopath pirate who just wants to be left alone to write novels. It was so funny, it's the only book I wish I hadn't given away because with my practicing-French-mode I might have actually re-read it.

This is another Dompierre book, about a guy who dumps his girlfriend, and then realizes his new single life isn't as glamorous as he anticipated. The line I like best in the description is: "At 20, there was nothing cooler than being the manager of a record shop. At 30, it's another thing."

I only read the first chapter on the bus, but it was très funny, dans le style Nick Hornby, who I enjoy.

By the way, when I write titles here in French, I get mixed up about what to capitalize. I'd always remembered the rule as being: You only capitalize the first word, unless the first word is a word like an article or whatever (the, and, a) in which case you also capitalize the next word.

But a lot of the time when I see titles written on the internet they still only capitalize the first word no matter what it is. But you can't trust what you see written here and there, because frankly people just don't know their own grammar. I remember in grade 9 I was saying something apologetic about my French, to my French teacher, and she said (in mild disgust--she was Very Proper) that it was better than many of my fellow Francophone students. (I didn't have the worst grades, and French wasn't my worst subject.)

Anyway, I looked up the rule just now, and it's worse than I thought:

If the title is a definite article followed by a noun = article lower case, noun upper case (unless I guess it's the beginning of a sentence.) The Cat by Shakespeare.

Noun followed by adjective = only the noun is capitalized. The Cat fat by Shakespeare. <--okay imagine this is all in French where adjectives often come after nouns.

So far we're okay, it follows the rule I was taught. Here's what's new to me:

An adjective followed by a noun, well now they're both capitalized! The Fat Cat by Shakespeare.

Two nouns tied together by "or" = both capitalized. The Cat or the Mat by Shakespeare.

And apparently all other cases, only the first word is capitalized: Un, on, et... So the rule I learned only applies in the case of "the", so I must have remembered it wrong. And if it's in the middle of a sentence, you wouldn't capitalize the. So the Fat Cat by Shakespeare is written like that. But the Cat fat by Shakespeare like that, and the Cat or the Mat by Shakespeare is like that. But One cat who went to market by Shakespeare is written like that.

Pour les titres d’œuvres, voici quelques règles¹ :
- Le titre est un article défini suivi d’un nom : l'article s'écrit avec une minuscule, le nom avec une majuscule. Avez-vous lu la Chute de Camus ?
- Le titre est un nom suivi d'un adjectif : seul le nom prend la majuscule. Non, mais je vais lire la Machine infernale.
- Le titre est constitué par deux noms coordonnés par ou : les deux noms prennent la majuscule. Jorge Semprun a publié l’Écriture ou la Vie en 1994.
- Le titre se compose d'un adjectif suivi d'un nom : tous deux prennent la majuscule. René Barjavel a publié le Grand Secret en 1973.
- Dans les autres cas, seul le premier mot prend la majuscule. On remet toujours à plus tard la lecture d’À la recherche du temps perdu.

This week I'm going to get my hands on some grammar books and start reviewing all this. :-)

Hiding dying birds in French

2011-03-17T15:23:00.000-04:00

My step-mother is French-Canadian, from a small town a couple hours outside of Montreal. She left home before she was 20. I don't remember the exact order of her travels, but some of her early English adventures included traveling around the United States, and there are yellowy pictures of her in little 70s bikinis in Las Vegas or wherever.

Anyway, the Step-mommy had this little office in our new house, and one of my distinct memories is of sitting in there and her telling me about how she learned English. She used to read Agatha Christie books in French and in English, and another book she read to learn English was The Thornbirds. Or: The Birds Hide to Die.

That's what the French translation means. Les Oiseaux se cachent pour mourir. I always remembered because my stepmother thought it was such a stupid translation. (And it's not even accurate. It's really: The birds throw themselves upon a thorn and sing the sweetest song they've ever sung to die.)

I guess if it was an accurate translation of the actual term for a thornbird, it would be excusable, but apparently they're called "les synallaxes." (That's the French, not the Latin.)

So I was excited to come across The Hiding Birds today on TV in French! It's a fine family tradition to practice another language using The Thornbirds. I was even in time to watch Meggy and Ralph getting it on on the beach. Now she's telling off Luke in front of his macho friends. "...que je ne to revois pas jamais!"

McCullough is great. Like the other 80s writers Thornbirds was a multigenerational family saga full of trashy ups and downs, but she gets the psychology of the characters just right. The relationships between the mothers and daughters are really interesting, as well as the whole ambition theme.

My magical talking cat

2011-03-16T03:49:00.000-04:00

This CVing is killing me. I'm procrastinating like I'm a student all over again! I must be having a psychological block. It's traumatic. I caught up on a few blogs yesterday, but not the Betties (69 unread posts!)

I just wrote ONE LINE. And felt I could reward myself by coming here to tell you that Minion has become so talkative! She wasn't very talkative when she first arrived here, but she's learned this is how one must communicate with the hu-mahns.

I looked at her just now and it was all "Squemreeemoewmeow!"

The other day Fernando woke up and came out and she ran to him and spoke for a good 30 seconds. I don't know if she was saying goodmorning or telling him everything she did since he went to bed.

And when I push her off somewhere she's not supposed to be it's never without a loooong protest.

When I picked her up from the vet recently I was wondering with the vet tech whether it was warm enough (considering that she was recovering from being ill) to take her on the bus home and save some money and suddenly she said: "Meowrowreeeeowrowrowmeowmeowrow!" I looked down at the cage in surprise and said: "Fine, I'll spring for the 20 bucks, geez!" And she replied with another indignant meow, and then was pretty quiet.

Apparently she chirruped EVERY time someone went past her cage too. The tech knew every time someone walked past cause she heard: "Brrrip?"

It's pretty amusing.

But amusing won't get the CV written.

whattoread

2011-03-14T04:53:00.000-04:00

Sorry, I may have given a mistaken impression in my last posting when I said things were "peaceful." I didn't mean to imply that the cats were acting peaceful... just normal. Which is peaceful to me. In reality Minion is bugging the crap out of Haley. Meaning, life is back to normal. Re a reader comment, I'm not so sure Minion has really come face to face with the fact of her mortality. From the way she flings herself from to and from the furniture, I'm not convinced.

Just finished reading a novel, time to pick another. Better get back to a French book. Got to decide if I want something light or literary or what. I don't have as much Light in French. Harder to find, at least stuff that's inexpensive. May have to depend on the library, come to think of it. Even though I live in such an Anglophone community, my library carries a ton of French books--almost as much as the English, except there just isn't as much available in French as in English. I'm not sure if that's because there are more Francophones around here than I realize, or has something to do with government funding.

Anyway, decide tomorrow. Must go to bed. Here I am going to bed at a good hour (4 AM) but stupid daylight savings makes it seem like a naughty time (5 AM). I should be working for a jazz club, or for a rock star or something.

movies and les films and la télé

2011-03-13T03:55:00.001-04:00

So after the horror of Le Nèg, the next day I watched a sort of romantic comedy called Les Crabes dans la tête (Soft Shell Man in English, but it's a French-Quebec movie). It was great. Yesterday I watched a translated Breakfast Club while picking out pictures for my collage. I was never a John Hughes fan because I didn't identify with any of his characters, but the scene where they're all sitting around admitting why they're really there was even better than I remembered. It's too bad their careers all got Hughes-stink on them and they ended up as silly extras in other people's comedies.

Today I watched another episode of Toute la vérité (exshellent) and started up Fortier again since it's something I can watch while doing other stuff (yet it's still SO GOOD!) Then Fernando and I watched Snow Walker and Nanny McPhee (in English.)

My current French problem: My dictionary widget is too good. Each definition has the kind of information you get in big fat heavy dictionaries that you only need at the university level. Not what you need when you're looking for a quickie 5-word definition. I'm trying to find another one...

Ho hum, that's about it. Life's been good this week since the cat came back. Peaceful and unremarkable. I'm back to my old self-adoodle.

My new favorite French phrase: "Hansel. Il est tellement tendance."

2011-03-11T03:01:00.000-05:00

I have a very old fashioned cable setup, so if I'm taping something on digital cable, I can't watch something else. (This is how you live on a low income with no debt, my friends. No PVR in this household yet. Just sayin'.)

So if I'm taping something I don't want to watch yet, I put on a DVD. My new thing is to find which of my DVDs have French dubbing!

Tonight was Zoolander. Next I'm starting Angels in America.

Richard Dawkins Cites His Other Writings

2011-03-10T22:17:00.000-05:00

Maewitch sent me this site: betterbooktitles. I found that the funniest ones were the ones for books I hadn't even read, because they were just true for a great number of books.

And then there's this book which bang on expresses the joy I felt at the end of this book (and it's a spoiler so you've been warned. The book is The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao.)

I don't think "Cicatrisé pour la vie" is a French expression, but what's the equivalent?? (sob sob sob)

2011-03-10T22:02:00.000-05:00

"In the middle of the night, in the Quebec countryside, all hell breaks loose as a black teenager is caught smashing a racially denigrating lawn ornament. Together the neighbours attend to justice against the vandal. Thorough the night there is mounting racism, fueled by alcohol, and violence. Le Nèg' opens the morning after when the police investigators arrive at the scene to take depositions."

I'm totally traumatized. For some reason my vague impression had always been that this movie was about racism in a small town, but a satirical/nonviolent approach to the topic. It's not. It's brutal. Excellent movie, but holy mother of an oh my God. Horrifying.

At one point there was a word I didn't understand, but that I was pretty sure I understood based on context. I paused the movie to check in the dictionary, and the whole time I was praying: "Please don't let it mean what I think it means, please don't let it mean what I think it means..." It did and now I feel scarred for life.

maxin' and relxin' with a bucket of soapy water

2011-03-10T19:18:00.000-05:00

I went to my bedroom to take a nap, and ended up pulling out the dryer and washer (they're in my closet) to clean behind them instead. My idea of downtime seems to have taken a strange turn.

Diablotine

2011-03-10T02:08:00.000-05:00

It looks like she's back to her old self, but actually these were taken before she got sick. She's just been resting today and catching up on all the finger sucking she missed.

In the clear

2011-03-09T13:08:00.000-05:00

After a fitful sleep where I kept telling myself: "The phone hasn't rung because Minion has not vomited and they're still observing her..." the vet finally called.

Minion pooped out the object. A little plug of some kind--vet's not sure what it is, she'll show me. She says Minion's eating and grooming and seems happy. I can pick her up at 3PM. The Vaseline did it's job. Thank you Vaseline.

I tell you one thing... that kid's not getting a Christmas tree next December.

My guess is it's something chewy, like the plug that goes on the end of something, though I don't know what. I'll probably be walking through the house at some point and go: Aha! A plugless object!

Le Sigh.

Haley's still sleeping. She had one big playful runaround last night, but other than that I think she's just in deep meditation, marshaling all her forces for the return of Diablotine ( <--the French name Maewitch picked out for Evil.)

As the French would say.... phiouf.

Haley

2011-03-09T01:51:00.000-05:00

Haley's just been eating and sleeping all evening. I keep thinking there's something wrong with her. Except... this might just be... what a cat looks like when she isn't being chased by a demon all evening long.

I think this is why I got her a minion in the first place. She looks bored. But what I take for boredom is probably Blissful Solitary Peace and Oneness With the Universe.

I keep worrying she's sick. Except every time I open the fridge she raises her head hopefully, so I don't think she's sick, I think I'm just paranoid.

Run around! Growl! Hiss! Look alive! ...Stop looking like you planted that rubber band and offed your fellow cat!!!

Wicked child.

Life is just one damn PART TROIS

2011-03-09T00:56:00.000-05:00

Thanks for the well wishes for Minion.

Unfortunately Fernando had to bring her back to the vet this afternoon. He brought her to our vet since it would be less expensive, and anyway we like her a lot. When she felt Minion's guts she thought she felt a tender part, so still thinks there might be something in there. They force fed her a gob of Vaseline -- ugh!!

She called us at 8:30 PM and said she hadn't vomited, and ate a little bit and didn't throw that up. The vet seemed optimistic-ish. Also she was staying in her cage without rubbing her face raw on it like last time, so they're keeping her overnight. I guess the hope is that if she did eat something she'll poop it out tonight.

I think she also said she might not be eating because she associates it with vomiting and with the whole Generally Unpleasant Experience she's been having. The vet at the DMV had actually said she might vomit a couple more times, that that was normal.

But if she keeps vomiting then tomorrow is surgery day.

So I don't know what's going on, I'm confused, but the vet is optimistic. It's all a bit of a muddle to me now.

Life is just one damn PART DEUX

2011-03-08T06:55:00.001-05:00

F--- off I'm isolating!

Isolating is interesting. I like my new cave!

The Coussin de pouvoir is safely mine for one day more...

Fernando felt someone should stay up and watch Minion when we got home. He called in sick so he can stay home and watch her, since I had my last career workshop to attend this morning. So I stayed up all night (we got home from the vet around 1 AM) so he could get some sleep before his watch begins. He worked at 7AM, and he does a physically heavy job so he needs to keep hearty and healthy. Whereas I sit on the couch and eat bonbons all day (as he likes to say). And I wasn't sure I could have slept much anyway cause I was feeling so wired earlier at the vet.

Of course now I've been feeling knackered since about 4 AM. It's just hit 7. Also, my daily headache pills knock me out and I finally took those an hour ago, so I am sitting here writing about my cats as a way of staying awake. Anything more passive (TV, reading) and I'll be a goner.

My friend Swiss Girl scolded me for pulling another all-nighter. Hapoo. I really did want to stop doing them, especially since I usually get a bad headache from them. But when the babies get sick... you do what you have to do, right? But if I wasn't doing all-nighters for non-kitty-emergencies then THIS sort of night would be much less common. I am fool.

Oh, there she is, on the move again. Excuse me I must go spy on my cat.

She was having a drinky-poo.

Life is just one damn thing after another

2011-03-08T04:30:00.001-05:00

So now one of the cats is sick. Minion vomited up an elastic band last night (well, 5 AM Monday morning to be exact, before I went to bed). Lately she's discovered elastics and is OBSESSED with them and as much as we've tried to hide them from her, the little evilness found one. She's also eaten ear plugs too.

By the time I woke up at 2:30 PM she wasn't eating anymore and had vomited several times. I gave her some malt and she vomited up a hairball and seemed to feel better cause she rampaged around, harrassed Haley, and played her jumping game. But she still would only eat the teeniest little bite I gave her, and as the day went on was napping more and more, and then threw up again at 6 PM and 11 PM.

So off to the motherloving emergency vet clinic, the scene of my last spending spree which my husband hasn't stopped publicly making fun of me for since.

The vet doesn't think there's anything seriously wrong. She palpitated her guts, and Minion she didn't feel anything hard in her bowels; and she took x-rays and her stomach seemed to be empty etc. She thinks she might have an irritated stomach because of the elastic and then hairball, and then the vomiting just kept irritating it more, and on it went. She gave her a shot to temporarily stop the vomiting so we could then give her a pill to soothe her tummy.

Now we just watch to see if she gets better. If not, it's back to the doc in 24-48 hours. Right now she's sleeping. I left the cage for her to hang out in. (Message to K: Yes, NOW she's "isolating.") But a minute after taking this picture Haley went by, trailing a cat toy and miauling, and Minion POPPED! out of the cage and excitedly watched her. So... she's not totally out of it.

Minion in cage. Haley inspecting.

Minion watching as Haley circles past with cat toy.

Haley's been having a great day. Minion occasionally stole her best spot (the Cushion of Power), but otherwise Haley was able to play without being attacked, and no one tried to take her food, and she got cuddles, and a chip, and basically got to be One and Only Remaining Cat again.

I warned Haley that if she's the one who left that elastic out for Minion to eat, and she really DOES become One and Only Remaining Cat again... there is going to be hell to pay. She may not be able to outplay Minion, but I do not underestimate her ability to outwit and outlast. All I can hope to do is outthreaten.

It's hard living with a pintsized sociopath. [For those who don't know, Haley confessed here to having offed our last two cats.]

At least Fernando understood a little better what happened to make me spend all that money last time. I was able to explain it better. Tonight's vet did this:
- She told us what she thought was most likely
-- best case: upset tummy, needs pills
--worst case: something obstructing, needs surgery
- She told us the first tests needed to make some judgments
- We did those first tests
- She made an informed opinion, which was to go on the Best Case Scenario, but ask us to return in 24 hours if Minion didn't improve
- Checked if we were comfortable with that, and mentioned that if Minion didn't improve it might be because it was something else entirely, something serious that she could not rule out (kidneys, pancreas, etc.)
- We said ok to first level of treatment, end of story for now

When she went away, I realized that the last vet was just Super Uber Unbelievable Cautious Woman. She never even made a diagnosis, not even after subjecting Haley to every test on the planet. I'm the one who guessed in the end that it was a urinary tract infection. She was too cautious to want to make a diagnosis.
- She told me every single thing it might be (which was understandable because Haley's symptoms were vague) - she was a bit... alarmist
- She wanted to start with first simple tests, I said yes
- First tests brought optimistic results, and AT THIS point most vets probably would have made an educated guess that it was a urinary tract infection, sent me off with antibiotics, and told me to come back if she didn't seem to improve
- But this vet refused to rule out kidney disease, pancreatitis, liver failure, cancer, ebola, the Bubonic Plague, and seemed very alarmed and felt it was quite necessary that Haley stay the night for observation and be seen by the internist and have an ultrasound, not just of her bladder but of ALL her internal organs
- poor Haley had her entire abdomen shaved... it's still growing back
- they would have kept her even longer except that as she started to feel better her natural charms reasserted themselves and they no longer felt equal to the task of emprisoning her

Now that I've been through the experience of An Alarmist Vet, I think I would be able to recognize one again. But man. They can do a number on you. Especially when you just put another of your cats down 6 months earlier.

Anyway. Here's hoping Minion just has an upset tummy.

snowstorm?

2011-03-07T17:00:00.001-05:00

What time did this snowstorm start? I went to bed late, at 5 AM. I do not remember seeing a snowstorm starting at that time. It must have been snowing and I was so out of it I didn't notice.

When I woke up at 2:30 PM there was no snow falling. But apparently, in between, I missed a major snowstorm. School closings, traffic issues, I see the tractor working away out in the parking lot. Missed it all. Man, I was tired.

Look at this cute pic from the weather site, captioned: "A night's snowfall dashes someone's plans."

Hapoo... or as they say in French: 'apoo

2011-03-07T05:03:00.000-05:00

Excuse all these posts about improving my French. I had a very emotional week. Other than events like cats dying, which is a very specific type of Emotional Poopiness, it's been at least 15 years since I've gone through something like this. Longer. So just as when Sherry was sick and dying, I obsessively comparison shopped for purse organizers on etsy, now I'm anchoring myself to the stability of Language Learning. You can just skip it all and then pat me patronizingly on the head. I'll understand.

I'm building myself a little repertoire of online tools. When I want to compose something in French I've got two sites that correct both grammar and spelling, with explanations of why. They catch different things which is why I've taken to using both. They also contradict a bit, which is why, you know, don't let robots take over the world.

[As I write Minion is going apesh*t all over the apartment. She had a long nap after supper so now she's filled to the brim with beans. I think Haley's hiding in her cupboard box until it's all over. Fernando left his coat on the treadmill to dry, and Minion's sitting up top on it, doing a real number on it.]

[Oh there's Haley! Wow, she was nearby after all. Brave cat.]

[Now Minion's cake-facing her attentively.]

So anyway. I've got a good French dictionary widget, which I've just discovered has a verb conjugation function! But my Fr-Eng widget SUCKS and I can't find another.

And now I'm tired and I don't know why I'm still up and writing this.

Movies in translation

2011-03-07T01:10:00.000-05:00

I'm pretty happy with this new French channel I subscribed to. It's amazing how many movies look "good" when you're picking them for language practice, and not just for entertainment.

They have a couple movies I've always wanted to watch but haven't yet... (This one's about a small town where the statue of a "little Negro," like you see on the cover, goes missing from someone's lawn.)

They have a couple of my top faves, which should be funny to watch in translation. Especially musicals? (That's a weird translation. Why not Sept femmes pour sept frères? The Seven Brides of Red Beard??)

Amadeus is a must-see because the first time I saw it was in the theatres, in dubbed French, with my French-speaking cousins, when I first moved to Quebec and only spoke English. I did not understand a thing. I didn't even know the movie was about Mozart, going in. Since then I've seen it a zillion times.

And there's fun movies I've seen in English but it's been awhile so I'll enjoy seeing again in French:

And they have a bunch of fun old movies, mostly 1950s-70s. Though nothing will persuade me to watch Deliverance again. I don't care what "squeel like a pig" is in French.

Today was Fernando's day off. We didn't watch French TV, but for a few hours we spoke French. I said one thing to him in French and he said (in French): If you want to get better in French we should be speaking it all the time! I said (in French) that'll get very tiring. But he refused to give up, even though his French is worse than mine.

He went to English schools and he's dyslexic so he doesn't really remember rules well; but he grew up in Quebec, and his work place is much more bilingual. More importantly he's not embarrassed to speak in French no matter how broken it is--he just confidently barrels ahead. That's what I was complimenting him about.

Then he tried to tell me I had to write all my 365 letters to him in French! He gets a little carried away mon mari. I said, when I have the energy, chérie. ;-)

Blog-a-readin' and what to watch

2011-03-05T21:26:00.001-05:00

Watching stuff in French as "homework" is fun. It feels like slacking off. But the dishwasher's running and my TV's old and not very loud, so I'm taking an internet break. Going to read blogs. If you're a fellow blogger and you notice I only show up on your blog once a week, it's cause I tend to catch up on everything about once a week--sort of like reading the Sunday paper. I have a feed reader, and I dive in and immerse myself for a few hours.

I just watched the Jamie Kennedy movie where he wakes up in a coma and reforms his old breakdance crew with his oldy friends. It's one of those movies that no one will watch with you, not even on TV. My moment had finally come--husband off playing D&D, movie on TV in French, perfect excuse for me to finally see it. I can understand translated movies, and commercials, the easiest. People don't speak as rapidly as in more natural French-Canadian movies, I guess.

And then there's the French-French movies where everyone's speaking fast, using words I don't know, and speaking like they have marbles in their mouths. A friend recommended a series called Les Rois maudits for me, which they had at the library. But the dvd didn't have French sub-titles, and my TV didn't have French sub-titling for it either, so it was hopeless, I just couldn't follow. I'll try again another time. (My friend who recommended it is not only francophone, but she's Belgian--she laughs in the face of European accents! She can smoke them under the table!)

Speaking of Jamie Kennedy, I had never recognized him in Romeo and Juliet, did you??

Today I switched some of my cable channels and picked out one that plays movies in French. I also found some free programs I can watch, on video-on-demand:

Fortier - I've seen most of it in subtitled English, but I can either rewatch it all, or find the parts I missed. Fantastic ensemble series about a psychologist who helps a Montreal police crew with their investigations. She's awkward, doesn't drive, takes her dog everywhere, and has loads of baggage. And naturally there's a great ensemble crew--the two grizzled street cops, the computer nerd, the cheerful forensic geek, the too-sauvé lawyer, and their boss who has a crush on our Fortier. It's full of top Quebec actors, mostly serious well-written psychological drama, but with enough humor to keep it human; and the show actually finished after I think 5 seasons, so it has closure. Super recommended.

Toute la vérité - A law show my friend Swiss Girl recommended. She started watching it because she knew where they were filming. If you knew her... you'd know that says everything about her. But anyway.

Lance & compte - Translates as "He shoots he scores." This was a huge hockey drama series in the '80s and I'm sure I'm the only Quebec inhabitant who never watched it. They have all the seasons!

Nos étés - The last time I wanted to brush up on my French I started this series and I love it. It's about various women of a Quebec family as they visit their summer house, through the generations. They only had two seasons posted years ago. Earlier this year I started season 3 but I don't remember where I was up to. Will go back and pick it up again!

The types of intelligence: IQ & Berzerker

2011-03-05T12:51:00.001-05:00

Minion is definitely the smartest cat I've ~~owned~~ been ruled by* in awhile, at least in terms of memory. If I spill a niblet under the dishwasher, she'll sit there for awhile trying to fish it out; and she'll be there a day or two later to retrieve it when I move the dishwasher.

Today she was crouched at the edge of the dishwasher in desperation, and when I moved it to hook it up to the sink she was still crouched by it. I moved it around some more and finally one of her toys popped out. I don't know when it got under there, but it wasn't in the last few hours.

A couple days ago I was pulling all the stray items out from under the couch that had gotten stuck there, and as soon as she saw me doing that she rushed to my side and crouched down, almost vibrating as she watched something under the couch. I realized she had her eye on one of her favorite toys and was waiting for me to fish it out for her. Who knows how long it's been there. Every time I hit one of the toys out she'd excitedly check which one it was, realize it wasn't the little gold sparkle ball, and go back to her intense watching.

When I finally retrieved the gold sparkle ball (which is very light) she was so excited she immediately batted it right back under the couch.

lol

I had to find a broom and get it out again.

Mind you, Haley has her own kind of intelligence--she has the intelligence of a survivor. She has the instincts of a lone wolf, a fighter, a killer, taking-care-of-#-1. She has Wolverine Intelligence. Ready to go into a Berzerker Rage whenever necessary. (I've mentioned before that she refuses to let me cut her toenails. She let me do it once, when we first met, to fool me into thinking she was a docile, sweet cat. But once she got into our home and realized what she was up against, that was it.) Snickety snick!

If Minion and Haley were on a super hero team together, they'd bicker endlessly, but be great together in a fight.

* Thanks to Nancy for reminding me that "owned" was the inappropriate mot de choix here. :-) I usually try to be more careful. After all, my kitties don't mean the same to me as the couch I'm sitting on, or this computer I'm writing on. My mother likes to instead say Being Their People.

I take the reminder seriously, because it's the ownership attitude towards animals that leads to treating them cruelly. Which is a great poopiness.

As the magnet on our fridge says: "Our cats aren't our whole lives, but they make our lives whole."

Organization and Kittization and Illustration at Casa di Mabel

2011-03-05T03:14:00.000-05:00

Productive day today. Did some paperworky things, library run, and organizing the livingroom. We don't just watch TV in here--we do paperwork, and work on our hobbies, so it's always filled with all kinds of Life. Teeming with life!! Now is the time to get to all that organizing type stuff.

Like my jewelry. I had it squished onto one messy shelf, but I moved this unit to my livingroom. So I finally dug out the wall organizer my mother bought me a dog's age ago, but that I could never find when I needed it/and always found when I didn't.

Ahh menowz. That's better! My organizational heart glows every time I walk past.

Now I need to figure out what to do with my scarves when the winter ones move into the front hall cupboard.

KITTIES

Then there are forces in my apartment that are beyond my control, like kittatudes.

Fernando always complains that I don't sit next to him on the couch. Of course, everyone knows that sitting in the middle of the couch is poopy cause you don't have a side table for your drink! But I'm nothing if not resourceful.

I found a good sippy cup.

And I use the side of the couch as my side table. [Note the blanket my husband gave me for Christmas. You see why he's worth sitting in the middle of the couch for.]

[File folder, clipboard, basket with gum and glasses etc, kleenex, headphones, magazines, stack of books, letters from grandmothers, folder for book ideas, camera, etc.]

My "side table" was made bigger one day because Fernando took the back cushion off for some reason, and Haley stole it. She almost never comes off it. It's the perfect size for a cat, and for some reason Minion lets her have it.

Strategically placed on sideboard dividing kitchen from livingroom. The Haley sees all the action. Excellent view of eating activities at the kitchen table.

An artistic rendering in one of the daily letters to Fernando. (Can't remember if I mentioned it here, but Fernando has challenged me to write him 365 letters this year.) I don't draw very well, but I like illustrating my letters, and he likes them.

More illustrations:

Feeding time.

Treebeard from Lord of the Rings.

Still in for a Videotron, still out for a Bell

2011-03-05T01:27:00.000-05:00

Alright, Opération Franophonize La Mabel begins. I'm taping a French movie called L'Esquive. Hopefully my TV's subtitling will work, because it's Parisian French. It is! Phew, cause it's a bunch of fast-talking Arab-French banlieue youth! I would be totally lost. "Ils nous prennent pour des baltringues." What is that? Hmm I see.

A customer who was learning French gave me a good tip once--to never look up words in French-English dictionaries, but in French dictionaries. He was right, if only because most of the words I need to look up don't tend be in pocket F-E dictionaries anyway.

My cable provider must have known I wanted to practice French and was on a budget, because they're building a library of Quebecois cinema, and the movies are only $1.99:

ÉLÉPHANT
LA MÉMOIRE DU CINÉMA QUÉBÉCOIS

Quebec's film heritage is now secured! As part of the "Éléphant: mémoire du cinéma québécois" project, Quebecor is investing half a million dollars per year to digitize 800 Quebec feature-length movies and make them accessible. To help you enjoy them, this treasure trove is available through Videotron's Video on demand service.

Speaking of Videotron. Today salesmen from Bell, the other major Canadian competitor for internet/phone/TV services came knocking at the door. I tried warning them right away, politely, that I have NO interest in switching to Bell. Now... here is what I hate about hard selling techniques, cause here are some of the things they tried.

When I said I had bad experience with Bell and would not switch, they actually said I wouldn't be switching, and then launched into their spiel. At the end of which I said... Me: "But I would be with BELL." Them: "Yes." Me: "I have no interest in switching TO BELL."
How they somehow justified that I wasn't "switching" was in saying that I'd keep the same phone number and package of services, I wouldn't even notice the switchover. Yes, but, that's still SWITCHING. You are LYING to me.
They presented "keeping the same phone number" as though this was a service. Of course I would! That's the norm!
They tried to pressure me by saying all my neighbors had switched over. Which of course there's no way I can know.
They tried to get me to tell them what I spend on my bill. "Your bundle if it's like your neighbors must cost about $120 right?" ...silence... "You will receive the same service for only $60!" I did NOT bother asking how this was possible, for how long, what's the small print, etc. If this is the real deal, then there's enough competition that Videotron will be forced to match them. In all likelihood there's a catch somewhere anyway. Because Bell is always full of catches catches catches which is why I refuse to do business with them.
I kept telling them over and over that I would NOT do business with Bell, and they kept trying to tell me, yes in the past people had trouble with their service, but now we have these bla bla whatever cables with x x x whatever company so service is yada yada improved which is why we're here annoying you. I think what I didn't make clear to them is that I never had any service issues with Bell, cause I never had them for internet or cable TV. I just mean I cannot STAND their customer service, their billing practices, their practices once you cut ties with them, their general underhandedness and pressure tactics, such as I was presently experiencing.

But I didn't hold it against these guys. I've been in sales and I know that these are the kinds of people who make sales. I could see how their wee lies, their little ways of saying things just the right way, their stories about the neighbors, etc. were hitting all the right notes. I suspect they were pretty successful. They were pushy, they wouldn't take no for an answer, they never let me close the conversation (I had to close the door on them, so they put me in the position of having to be the rude one) etc. You can tell a staff member that you don't expect them to hard sell, but the reality is that a staff member who uses techniques like this will outperform their co-workers.

So I didn't take it personally, they were doing their job, and well. And but it made me dislike Bell all the more, cause they (the managers) are the ones who created whatever incentives that inspired this bit of tomfoolery.

The Story of Me: In French (Aka: Monn cray-onn ess lARge)

2011-03-01T02:57:00.001-05:00

Since I'm looking for new work, and I live in Quebec, I've decided to do some work on my French. I did my entire high school in French, but I live in an Anglophone part of town, and worked in a store in this part of town, so I haven't been working in a Francophone environment. I haven't lost my French, by any means, but being immersed in it makes a big difference. Like the old bicycle, it comes back to you, but I want to feel more confident.

I'm just trying to decide how to go about it. I'm considering an advanced French course, because a school environment, with homework, and a bit of daily/weekly immersion tends to work well. But there are a lot of language schools here and I don't know which are the best.

I don't want to buy language on CD courses, cause they're European French and I'll learn weird expressions, and useless phrases like "Garçon! Amener les cuisses de grenouilles!"

-- Oh wait! The Université de Montréal has evening courses in the late spring, super cheap for residents. Ooh. Maybe I can start with my Home Plan and then enroll in this. It's only two nights per week. Hm hmm! --

so excitin'!

2011-03-01T01:59:00.000-05:00

My library website shuts down for maintenance every night at 11 PM or so. Of course, it's always after 11 PM that I'm wondering if they have a book so I can decide whether to buy it or not. But I've found a site that shows you whether a book is owned by your local library. Yippy!

www.worldcat.org

I need to be connected to the library at all times, baby.

Linkspamming fool

2011-02-28T01:38:00.001-05:00

So I mentioned earlier that one of the ways you're supposed to get your blog or website to rank higher in Google is to have other websites link to it. Which helped me finally understand comment spam. I suspect it's link spam, basically. Once I got enough of the robot generated spam I put word verification on my site, but I gather you can hire companies to work on your linking/ranking for you.

So here's the thing. If you're going to, as a human, go and post some link spam that's relevant to the post, in the hopes that it doesn't get deleted... at least fake your opinion?

I posted an article about how the last thing overweight people need is to be told "you just need discipline."

So what did the linkspammer post?

Swish click. That's the sound of my mouse heading for the trashcan icon and clicking it.

Time for kitty pictures!!!

2011-02-26T20:38:00.000-05:00

Fernando took these pics as I was packing up the Christmas tree, also known as Minion's Favorite Cat Toy.

"Betrayal!"

"J'accuse!"

She decides to stage a sit-in.

"Shh hush. I love you Christmas tree."

nom nom nom

"I love you so."

At this point she appeared to have handcuffed herself to the tree.

________

THEME: Who Says There's No Sleep For the Wickeds?

(all you need is a comfy nap spot)

________

Trying to sneak up on Haley

Loo loo just sleeping here...

...raaaaw just streeetchiiiing...

...loo loo just -- F*CK OFF! --

_____

THEME: There's No Schnoogle Like a Daddy Schnoogle

__________

Saturday afternoon...

...even winter sunshine brings out latent dreams of the Serengeti.

I thought Minion's most intense Cake Face was reserved for when she sees Haley. But having only got her last August, I'd never seen her "the return of the first birds after winter" face. Woah là. It's going to be a struggle to keep the baby birds that like to practice flying to our balcony safe this spring.

Return to cheapskatatude

2011-02-26T20:20:00.000-05:00

Until I again have a regular income we have gone into Supa Careful Monies Mode. It's not too difficult. When I was in school I worked part-time, and Fernando's position was a little less than full-time, so we've always tried to live at a lower standard of living. We don't own a home or a car and schooling in Quebec for residents is unbelievable inexpensive, and I had a bit of monies from my grandfather, and my parents sometimes sent nice gifties--so we've never gone into "good debt." And we pay off the credit card every month, so we have no other type of debt either. But I want to keep it that way!

In January I finally knuckled down and hauled out the half-finished budget I'd worked on earlier in the year, and with Gail Vaz-Oxlade's tools I finished it up. Fernando wanted to go on her jar system, and he chose out spice jars for it. Aren't they cute? Don't bother robbing us, you'll be very very disappointed at our weekly spending monies. And half the jars have fake money because I mostly spend online. So I made up little "Mabel dollars." Whenever I buy something online I withdraw Mabel dollars from my jar so that I'm conscious of SPENDING. It's worked so well that I've become a cheapskate. I like seeing my little fake dollars accumulate.

I also made little I.O.U. dollars cause I know the little Fernando sometimes likes to ahem borrow ahead of himself. And me too sometimes, for gift items.

Anyway. One way Fernando has helped cut money is to let me make lunches for him, and to come home for supper instead of eating at work. (He has a very physical job, so he was often so tired he preferred to stay there and relax and eat.) Which means I get to use all my bento boxes and rume bags! Weeee!

Fernando likes 1 jelly bean.

I purposely didn't tidy my bento drawer for you. Here it is in its messy glory. monotone lunch slow and healthy time.

lunch bags

Shakespeare bottle

The other thing I did this year was Family Calendar on the Cheap! I like calendars that come with stickers and stuff, but I used to work somewhere with a staff discount. No more! So this year I bought a dollar store calendar...

attached it to the pocket from last year's calendar, where I can keep handy notes and stuff...

gathered up all the unused stickers from my last three calendars...

And voila! I have a fancy calendar again.

This is why some people put the "approved followers only" setting on their Twitter accounts

2011-02-26T19:43:00.001-05:00

In other news... Minion just fell off the heater in her sleep... again... . Luckily I have really long, very thick curtains. Too long, cause I was too lazy to trim the ends, so they drag on the ground. Instead hitting the hardwood floor, she sort of rolls through the curtains and gets deposited in a startling but gentle thump.

Book review: I Do Not Come to You by Chance - Nwaubani

2011-02-26T18:48:00.000-05:00

I wanted to knock a book off my backburner file, so I returned to this one. Here's the longer review I sent to The Betties Blog About Books. Or, for your viewing pleasure, you can just skip to the end and watch the video of the Nigerian scammers performing the Monty Python skit about the dead parrot. Just because it's funny.

I Do Not Come to You By Chance - by Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani
It's hard to find English language fiction about sub-Saharan Africa, by authors who were born and still live there, so this book is a good find for this reason alone. The book takes place in Nwaubani's home town and the areas where she's lived.

I Do Not Come to You by Chance (I love the title) is about Kingsley, a young man from educated but poor parents, who can't find a job even with his university degree. As the family falls deeper into poverty, he finally ends up working "419" scams--those famous Nigerian emails we've all received--and naturally the book's tension hinges on both his moral dilemma of being a scammer, and the inherent danger of the activity.

While the author isn't very good at descriptive writing--I didn't get that "Ooh I want to see Nigeria!" feeling--she's great at everyday detail. I learned a lot about daily life (public transportation, placing a long distance call, education, dating, village vs city life, names, money, etc.) I think if you were Nigerian you wouldn't be bored/feel like she was writing for foreigners, but as a foreigner I was able to learn a ton about life in Nigeria. Super super interesting. And of course I learned about 419s. Nwaubani's done her research, and I never found the topic tiresome. The variety of scams being run is simultaneously fascinating, sad, creative, and funny. And I had to love the gangsters with their names like Cash Daddy and Protocol Officer and World Bank.

In the beginning I put this book aside for several weeks, because the start is slow. She's carefully trying to establish Kingsley's character, and why and how he would end up in 419s, but I think she could have shortened the front end of the book, and elaborated a bit in some other areas. For example, we don't witness his actual transition into scamming at all--it's a fait accompli when we hit Part II of the book. And towards the end, when we reach the inevitable point of having to choose between his new criminal lifestyle, or returning to the poor and honest path chosen for him by his parents, the choice would have felt more difficult if (a) the author had better maintained his connection with his mother, and (b) if the romance in the latter part of the book had been introduced earlier, and handled differently. The book's first romance is really heartbreaking, and this later romance could have had that potential.

On the plus side, Nwaubani's writing is really entertaining. The last book I read was also by a first time author, and he too was attempting to write a humor book about his nation (Canada); and though he was obsessed with proper English (he admits to this obsession) I found his similes and descriptions unoriginal and long-winded. Nwaubani, on the other hand, uses words in odd ways, and her writing is a bit sloppy; yet her similes and metaphors were creative, and her descriptions were funny. I don't have any quotes 'cause I can't underline on my ereader, but here's a good one someone posted:

"Then came my father’s diagnosis. For a poorly paid civil servant to get caught up in an affliction like diabetes was the very height of ambitious misfortune."

Also, I loved Kings. His character arc was realistic, he was a good kid, and I was rooting for him. I was curious to see how Nwaubani would choose to end the book, and I'm giving the book four stars solely on the basis on the last chapter (epilogue). It was perfect. It is so so SO rare to find that perfect of a last chapter. It was tight, it was funny, it answered all my questions, and it was satisfying.

I will definitely read her next book.

_____

Hidy-cat

2011-02-26T02:24:00.000-05:00

The huge book tote I bought on my last day at my last job (I worked at a large format bookstore, where we sold a lot of gift items.) I'd had my eye on it for awhile cause of the pretty lettering.

Today I discovered a kitty inside of it.

M&Ms and rock star brains

2011-02-24T00:39:00.000-05:00

By the way, I only learned this this year. I must share in case you've never heard it - about why Van Halen started the whole thing of including weird "contract riders" like "no brown M&Ms!!" It was actually for a very good reason, and it's not even a false story. Hard to believe rock stars are capable of such intelligence when on all those drugs. This is from wiki:

They were one of the first bands to use contract riders to specify a "wish list", a practice now used throughout the music industry. Van Halen pioneered this because they had extensive requirements including power availability and stage construction details. The band's demands were not limited to technical issues; their now-infamous rider specified that a bowl of M&M's, with all of the brown M&M's removed, was to be placed in their dressing room. According to David Lee Roth, this was listed in the technical portion of the contract not because the band wanted to make capricious demands of the venue, but rather as a test of whether the venue had actually read and honored the terms of the contract, as it contained other requirements involving legitimate safety concerns.^[51] On earlier tours, inadequate compliance by local organizers to the safety requirements of the rider had placed members of Van Halen's road crew in danger which was occasionally life-threatening. Because of these incidents, the band developed the M&M's demand as a means of checking whether the venue was properly honoring the terms of the contract to their satisfaction. Subsequently, if the bowl was missing, or if there were brown M&M's present, they had reason to suspect that the venue might not have honored legitimate technical and safety concerns within the contract. As a result, the band would be within their rights to inspect the technical side of the performance prior to going on stage, and/or request the venue redo their work properly.^[52]

My beloved boots boots boots!

2011-02-22T15:30:00.000-05:00

I'm trying to work my way to starting my career homework. ...Can't you tell?

This winter I've been taking my rubber boots out when the weather is closer to the 0 mark. Because my winter boots have a few leaks in them. I don't think I've ever owned winter boots that didn't eventually spring a few leaks--I blame the salt. They use salt in Montreal like it's going out of style. When you walk along the sidewalks, you're elevated about three inches off the ground by the stuff. When a big icing hits you don't really complain, but still. It wreaks havoc on the footwear, I never remember to rinse off my boots when I return home.

So when it's closer to 0 Celcius and things get slushy, the boots suck. So I tried out my new rainboots. I am so in love with them that I have to recommend them. If you live in a milder climate, where you get a cold rainy winter, or a bit of snow but not tons, you could wear them all winter long. They're so warm. I don't know why, because they're not fleece lined, but my feet are never cold to about -10 Celcius (14 F). They also have really good grips, I've never slipped in them. They also go in at the ankle, so they don't come off my feet.

They're Kamik, which is a 100 year old Quebec company, which is why I think they're so well made for cold weather. Mine are "Wales" which they don't seem to make anymore, but I would assume/hope their other boots are as good. (The Christina looks like the same boot.) I love them so much, I DO remember to rinse them off when I come home!

I bought mine off Zappos, but paid so much in duties that I wouldn't recommend it to Canadians. You can find a dealer here.

Oh, also, I get compliments all the time. Mine are tartan like this but RED.

And so ends this commercial break.

What's been goin' on with me

2011-02-22T15:08:00.001-05:00

ME
I wrote a wee bit about my religious background on Mabel Talk, if anyone's interested.

FOOD
As I cook things from my vegan cookbooks, I go to the VeganEats tab at the top and update it. It's divided by vegan cookbook. So if you're ever curious about buying this or that cookbook, you can see which ones I end up using the most. But I only started doing this a few months ago.

HEALTH

So I've been on Elavil for a couple years now--it's the daily preventative headache drug I take. It's made a huge difference in terms of keeping the daily headaches at bay. If I'm not stressed out, and I'm not menstruating, I can go for a week or two without headaches.

Then I tried a second drug, Nadol, which didn't seem to make any difference. I was at work at the time, and under a lot of stress. When I went off it, I was no longer at work and very relaxed. And I went through two really bad weeks--the week I was menstruating and the week after. Which leads me to believe the drug might have been helping a bit. But not enough to warrant continuing to take it.

Awhile ago I went onto drug #3, Topomax--I've been increasing the dosage every two weeks. This is the drug that gives me pins and needles in my arms (that's ok), pins and needles in my feet (less ok - actually SUPER ANNOYING LIKE MY FEET ARE IMPLODING!), less sweating (that's really convenient, I can forget to wear anti-perspirant even!) and last week I finally got up to the full dosage. Just in time to get my period.

The first full day of my period, Friday, I fought off super headache all day, with super drugs. Fight fight fight. Dull throb of low grade headache all day, went to bed this way. But since Saturday I've been headache free. Haven't taken one pain killer. I'm almost afraid to say it. It's the loveliest menstruation week I've had in ages.

I even had some stress, and it didn't bring headaches either. Fingers still crossed.

TV
I've been working my way through all the Blackadders lately. I started with 3 and 4, then back to 1 and now I'm on 2. The whole thing is just so brilliant, and exactly what I've been in need of.

BOOKS
Finished one today. Now I've either got to start something new, or pick something off my backburner list. I'd finish Julius Caesar but I keep losing it.

Ali Velshi

I finished the Canada Reads book today: Best Laid Plans by Terry Fallis. It's about a guy, Angus, who is strong-armed intro running as the Liberal MP in a riding that's always been completely Conservative, where he has zero chance of winning. But a last minute scandal throws the Conservative out of the running, and he ends up winning. He has no desire to be re-elected, so he goes about being an MP of Conscience, if you will--making decisions based on what he thinks is best for the country, not best for his riding, or for his political career. The book was originally self-published because Fallis couldn't find a publisher for it, until it won the prestigious Stephen Leacock Humour Award. It's now reached bestseller status for winning the battle of the books on Canada Reads--well defended by CNN reporter Ali Velshi, who argued it was an antidote to political cynicism, and he hopes it will inspire some real Anguses to run in future elections.

Here's the 2-star review I wrote on Goodreads--there are no spoilers.

My short review: I liked the characters, I was interested in the politics, it was a pleasant read, but man it was badly written.

My long review: I don't blame every publisher for famously turning this book down, the writing is AWFUL. 1. there's too much of the author in the book. What are the chances of two English-language-usage-obsessed people meeting each other? Very slim. It would have been charming for the narrator to have this obsession, or the protagonist Angus. But for both to be this way, it just felt like the author was being a sanctimonious pr**k.

2. He's terrible at describing settings and people. In a humor novel long descriptions just invite you to pass over them, unless you're very very brilliant. Otherwise a few well chosen words is funnier. (PG Wodehouse: "She looked like something out of the Book of Revelations.")

3. Our hero Angus had no failings. He had one small plan go awry, but everything else he did went over brilliantly.

4. Not very suspenseful. Really, there was no suspense to the book at all. No tension. No arcing plot. No bad guy, no antagonist, no goal, nothing to strive for, no tension. The book just wandered along until a sudden mild spike in tension in the last chapter. It looks like the sequel has an antagonist, so it might actually be better.

5. The first few chapters of the book could have been cut, they added almost nothing to the book. Just a lot of blaaa blaaa blaaa. I would have given up if I hadn't listened to the Canada Reads debates, and been spurred on by Ali Velshi's excited descriptions of Angus. I spent the whole beginning of the book just waiting waiting waiting for Angus to get elected.

6. The character of Muriel is so prominent in the beginning chapters of the book, and then becomes a ghost once Angus is elected. You could have completely removed her from the book, it would hardly have affected the plot.

7. You could have removed the narrator's romantic interest from the book and it would hardly have affected the plot. I hesitate to call her a romantic interest. She was there, she and the narrator fell in love in about two seconds. There was no romantic tension, it wasn't drawn out at all, there was no fun love story to keep the reader hooked, no fun subplot to jolly me along. It just existed. It needn't have.

8. All the 5 star reviewers on amazon said it was gut bustingly funny, and it won the Stephen Leacock award for humor. I thought the book was amusing at times, when Angus was Doing His Thing. But I never laughed at loud. Fallis didn't know how to build up the right kind of tension, so as to surprise me with the Angus Moments. I never had that edge of the seat 'Oh my God no no no -- he's gonna do it! OH NO!' moment that I get in really outrageous books. I always knew Angus would do the outrageous thing, so it wasn't suspenseful, which made it less funny. Also, the fart jokes and dog poop jokes weren't funny. Pete 1 and Pete2 were amusing, but Fallis never did anything really funny with them. The finale would have been funnier if we witnessed it in first person, rather than hearing it after the fact. The Leacock People and I just don't share the same funnybone.

Fallis looking shocked that he won

The good: Except for having no faults, Angus was a great character. Everyone else was likable. I wanted to see them win.

I was interested in seeing how a Canadian political campaign works, and then how daily government works. So I enjoyed the setting and the insider knowledge.

It was a quick read, and I always returned willingly to the book. I'd be temped to give it three stars just because I didn't find it an onerous read. But in the end... there were so many things technically wrong with it... I just don't think I can. If I hadn't heard it defended on Canada Reads, I don't know if I would have made it past the first few chapters.

You're seeing double

2011-02-18T04:15:00.001-05:00

I accidentally wrote and posted this post here, instead of at Mabel Talk. Instead of deleting it, I just copied and pasted it over at Mabel, and am leaving the original here anyway. But if you read both my blogs, no you're not going crazy.

___

Dug into my ideas folder to find something positive to focus on. Remembered this tumblr site I found recently:

I gather there's also one called "fuck yeah chubby girls" but they let anyone post so it isn't always a safe space. "fat positive" is more careful about what they allow. They also pointed towards a boy page: fuck yeah chubby guys

Coolios non?

Wonder Woman - ugh - for the LOVE

2011-02-17T16:00:00.001-05:00

Ghost Rider.
They made a movie about a chainy ghost on a bike before they made a movie about Wonder Woman.
They made a movie about the Hulk looking like a moldy Stay Puft Marshmallow man before they made a movie about Wonder Woman.
They made a movie about the Green Hornet before they made a movie about Wonder Woman.
They made a movie about a dorky looking guy in purple head tights before they made a movie about Wonder Woman.
How long? How long must we sing this song?

I'm glad to hear David E Kelley is making a Wonder Woman TV show, it's better than nothing and I like the casting, and if it's any good it might help a movie along.

Though I think he should have made a She Hulk series, because she was the lawyer in the gang. In fact, she eventually decided to remain in green form and practiced law this way. That would have been a very funny series and right up Kelley's ally.

Oh Wonder Woman, hero of my childhood. I guess you're just too good for this world. Le sigh.

Jeepers creepers creepy Dr Barry Rabinovitch the lung doctor who wants to see your undies

2011-02-16T22:58:00.000-05:00

A Montreal ling doctor and professor--DR BARRY RABINOVITCH--has been secretly filming some of his patients in states of undress, for purposes of "personal gratification" I learned today on CBC. The man received a $3000 fine and his license has been suspended for four months.

First of all, what kind of pathetic fine is that, for a doctor?

Second, what kind of pathetic suspension? Is it because we're so desperate for doctors here in Quebec? So this guy can make his own personal porno movies of his patients, and receive a slap on the wrist? For heaven's sake. EW!!

And here's me, totally accepting of male doctors because I always treat them with the respect of, you know, being professionals.

Ew ew ew. Freak me out baby, gag me with a smurf.

homeworks is so looooong!!!!

2011-02-16T03:08:00.000-05:00

homework is haaaaaard!!!

2011-02-15T20:16:00.000-05:00

loafers make the best mahmmies

2011-02-15T17:55:00.000-05:00

It's hard to get your career homework done when your cats would rather you remain unemployed, and sit around all day petting them. Today my cats are being especially attentive, and I no sooner pry Minion off my finger, than Haley moves in for a schnoogle (sitting on your chest and licking your ear.)

No use telling them that a one income household won't pay their vet bills, because they aren't very interested in vet bills. I try telling them that we won't be able to afford Snappy Toms treats, but they just think Fernando and I will forego essential foods in that case. Whatever it takes to ensure that The Mahmmy stays home like a good full-time kitty mahmmy.

good teevees

2011-02-15T17:03:00.001-05:00

In WWII London's National Gallery collection was removed to a slate quarry in Manod, Wales for safe keeping. (There was talk of taking the collection to Canada, but Churchill refused to let them leave the island. My first thought was: Imagine if that ship sank!!) Once a month they would bring a picture out to display, to keep up morale.

Inspired by this story, children's author Frank Cottrell Boyce wrote a book about this happening a second time--the National Gallery needing to be emptied (because of flooding) and the paintings removed to Manod, but this time the effects of the paintings on the inhabitants of the town.

They made it into a BBC TV movie, which I taped off Masterpiece Classic but only just watched today. It was so good--a keeper. A mix if two genres I like: (a) quirky inhabitants of small town; (b) value of art for everyone, including non-art-scholars.

A jolly way to start my day right. But now I have to go do careerz homeworks. >:-(

HOW to MAKE MONEY ON!!!LINE!!!! YES YOU TOO can DO iT You CAN!!!!

2011-02-15T01:57:00.001-05:00

All the "get rich on the internet" schemes are based on this concept: how to rank high in Google (so that you get more hits on your site, and then more affiliate revenue). Except I had to wade through all kinds of junky blogs and web sites where everyone speaks an "insider" language, to understand what the hoo they were talking about; you can just read it in a nice simplified NY Times article. ;-)

And here's a blogger who's getting out of the linking business. Harder to understand cause he's all lingo-ized.

kitty eats

2011-02-14T02:56:00.000-05:00

SNACKS: i hogs them

the pain chart

2011-02-13T02:18:00.000-05:00

If you've always found the traditional pain chart inadequate, I highly recommend a trip to Hyperbole and a Half where she's made a new and superior pain chart.

She has also relabeled the traditional one:

0: Haha! I'm not wearing any pants!

2: Awesome! Someone just offered me a free hot dog!

4: Huh. I never knew that about giraffes.

6: I'm sorry about your cat, but can we talk about something else now? I'm bored.

8: The ice cream I bought barely has any cookie dough chunks in it. This is not what I expected and I am disappointed.

10:You hurt my feelings and now I'm crying!

pretty accurate

2011-02-12T22:51:00.003-05:00

Good readin'

2011-02-11T12:27:00.000-05:00

The gods are punishing me for my hubris--the cold has moved into my lungs. Last time I had a lung congestion it lasted for MONTHS. I'm dooooomed.

Woke up at 7 AM. Finished the graphic novel I was reading, it was EXcellent. Really good, I highly recommend it. What graphic novels are all about. Though it occurred to me recently that if a graphic novel is a biography, should it really be called a graphic novel? Shouldn't it be a graphic biography? Graphic novel seems like the wrong catchphrase for this genre of literature, but it's too late to change! We should be calling them graphic books! Graphic literature! Aw hell, better go back to comics. Some people think "graphic novel" is just a term used by people too embarrassed to admit that American Splendor and Superman have the same genesis.

This is the review I put up on Goodreads about Fun Home, a COMIC by Alison Bechdel:

Autobiographical graphic novels are my favorite kind, and this one is excellent. Bechdel flashes through her youth, exploring her confused relationship with her father, trying to make some sense of him, and the choices he made, and her feelings about him. One of the strongest elements of the book is that Bechdel takes full advantage of the graphic novel form. For example, she often juxtaposes a book her father is reading with drama going on in the family, and illustrates it all with pictures of the father reading, with an image of the book's actual text, and with the family drama happening, complete with its own dialogue, united by her narration. That's the genius of the form--the way it can unite cinematic images with introspective narration. And beautiful illustrations.

Some images from & quotes about the book:

"For Bechdel, who did five or six successive sketches for each image in the book, scrupulous attention to detail is also part of her general approach to working in the visual medium of comics. For every pose in every panel of the entire book (and there are almost 1,000 panels), Bechdel created a reference shot by posing for her digital camera. In a panel, say, depicting a classroom of children sitting at desks, Bechdel posed for every child in the frame." (Village Voice)

"Just one look at Alison Bechdel’s mother’s face tells you all you need to know about her marriage. Therein lies the true source of the emotional heft graphic novels can carry: the ability to combine poetic, sometimes wrenching, text with a visualization that drives the point home subtly yet definitively." (Graphic Novel Reporter)

"It is a pioneering work, pushing two genres (comics and memoir) in multiple new directions, with panels that combine the detail and technical proficiency of R. Crumb with a seriousness, emotional complexity and innovation completely its own. Then there are the actual words. Generally this is where graphic narratives stumble. Very few cartoonists can also write — or, if they can, they manage only to hit a few familiar notes. But "Fun Home" quietly succeeds in telling a story, not only through well-crafted images but through words that are equally revealing and well chosen." (NYT)

It's Singalong for Egypt Time!

2011-02-11T12:06:00.000-05:00

Yub nub, eee chop yub nub,
Freedom, we got freedom,

toe meet toe pee chee keene, g'noop dock fling oh ah.
and now that we can be free, c'mon and celebrate.

Yah wah, eee chop yah wah,
Power, we got power

toe meet toe pee chee keene, g'noop dock fling oh ah
and now that we can be free, c'mon and celebrate.

Coat ee chah tu yub nub,
Celebrate the freedom

Coat ee chah tu yah wah,
Celebrate the power

Coat ee chah tu glo wah.
Celebrate the glory.

allay loo ta nuv
celebrate the love

Glo wah, eee chop glo wah, ya glo wah pee chu nee foam,
Power, we got power, and now that we can be free,

ah toot dee awe goon daa.
it's time to celebrate.

Coat ee cha tu goo (Yub nub!)
Celebrate the light (Freedom!)

coat ee cha tu doo (Yah wah!)
celebrate the might (Power!)

coat ee cha tu too (ya chaa!)
celebrate the fight (Glory!)

allay loo tu nuv (3 times)
celebrate the love

Glo wah, eee chop glo wah.
Glory, we found glory

Ya glow wah pee chu nee foam,
The power showed us the light

ah toot dee awe goon daa
and now we all live free

allay loo tu nuv.
celebrate the love.

I didn't see anything about elections in those lyrics. Must be why I hate that song. YUB NUB!!

My one claim to fame: the ability to not sleep

2011-02-10T21:30:00.001-05:00

I had so much fun with my career coach lady today, and then the always fun supper with Swiss Girl. I'm all wired up! But I got exactly 0 hours of sleep last night, so if I go make myself lie down in bed I WILL sleep. But it's hard when I know there's still more drama unfolding in Egypt. Ahhh!

When I left home this AM my lungs hurt and I wanted to throw up while trapped on the highway bus! But made it through sans incident. Surprisingly feel not too sick, though I've been awake for... 22ish hours?

Swiss Girl and I were theorizing on why I'm still able to survive on no sleep, even in my 30s. Better able, in fact, than when I was in my 20s. She says I've trained myself. I think it's because most people when they pull all-nighters in college in their 20s, they do it with coffee; but I've never liked coffee, so I just did it with loud music and inherent nighthawkitude. And that's why over time it became an actual skill, as opposed to something age-related. (Well... not to say I'll be able to do it once I'm 47.) It's not stamina, it's... finely tuned athleticism.

;-)

Oh go to bed already.

I'm back... and I'm not very good with math. I've been awake 36 hours. But who's counting?

good news

2011-02-09T19:10:00.002-05:00

turns out i bought a ton of extra cold meds the last time i was sick, so i wouldn't be stuck!

note to self: 1 box of kleenex not enough backup

Still sick... but at least the cats are offering moral support

2011-02-09T17:13:00.001-05:00

Quel night. Between 10 PM and 2 AM I got in 2 hours of sleep, then finally sat up and read my graphic novel for awhile. It felt like I was never ever going to be able to sleep again. It's very weird to feel exhausted, but convinced that you'll never fall asleep.

My added problem was my nose was SO runny. If my nose was too up towards the ceiling (when I was lying down I mean) then The Runny Stuff would run back into my throat and make it killer sore. If I put my nose forward towards the mattress, it would start to dribble out and I'd need to blow my nose. Neither of which is conducive to sleep. I finally put some towels on my pillow and said F**K IT! I'd rather dribble on my pillow and fall asleep in disgusting body fluids than not sleep at all from a sore throat. (This is what sleep depravity does to you.)

I finally slept from about 4 AM til 11. It was fitful, but it was Real Sleep. I still got a little bit of sore throat (I suppose even when unconscious one resists dripping mucous onto one's pillow) so I have a lot of vague memories of feeling the left side of my throat starting to get sore, so I'd roll over and fall back asleep. Then the right side would get sore, so I'd roll over again. Back and forth all night. And I thought to myself: I'm getting a nice even tan. I felt more than my usual pity for rotisserie chickens.

Today I don't feel as absolutely wretched as I did yesterday evening. Tomorrow I have a job seminar thingy in the morning, and a job coaching seminar in the afternoon, and then meeting a friend for dinner. So hopefully tonight I will fall asleep EARLIER than 4 AM. Fingers crossed.

I've been waiting for Fernando to call after work because I've run out of High Quality Tissue! I use cheap stuff, but keep 1 box of expensive stuff for colds, but my one box has run out. And I'm running low on cold medication. But I suspect he's not calling me on purpose. Yesterday he said:

- I might grab a bite at Scores after work.
I said - Call me anyway before you go. I might need something. I might need you to come home and care for me!
He said - You won't need me, you'll take care of yourself.
And I said - Call me just in case!

So I'm afraid he's not calling for fear I'll make him come home. [starts sobbing] I just want the Good Kleenex. [sobs harder] I just want more meds!! [breaks down]

Evil Minion says she'd make a trip to the store for me, if only she had opposable thumbs. What a good girl. Haley has offered to kill Daddy for me when he gets home. She too is a good girl, in her own way.

Now I have to go do my job coach homework.

Oh, good news though--Debbie Travis' book LOST. Ha ha!

My cold gets worse, as does my disdain for Debbie Travis

2011-02-08T15:13:00.000-05:00

Sickness
Great--I finally get past the headaches, and now I have a cold. The cold seemed little at first, but I'm not sleeping! Yesterday I woke up after 5 hours and couldn't fall back asleep. Great, I thought, I'll get a good looong sleep the next night. I was asleep by 2 AM and awake by 6 AM. Wide awake. Had to read a book in bed til 8 AM. Then slept in 1.5-2 hour increments til I finally got up at 1:30 PM. I had a mini dream each time. Like having little movies.

And it's not being sick that's keeping me awake--my only symptom is a stuffy nose and when I lay down it's fine.

In rebellion against Debbie Travis (see my facebook or Mabel Talk) I took out a graphic novel last night, and that's what I've been reading in bed. It's really good. Fun House by Alison Bechdel - she of the Bechdel test (that's why the name caught my eye at the library.)

My Debbie Grudge
I'm listening to Canada Reads, after hearing that Debbie Travis was a tool again today. Oh my days, she's ugggghhhhhhhmeeeehhhhhhhblehhhhh. She's saying The Reason we read is to be carried away, to escape. There is not ONE REASON why we read!!! She's saying it about movies too!!!

I'm just going to sit here and trash Debbie Travis, hope you don't mind.

I dislike the way they're doing Canada Reads. I don't think the participants should be the ones to vote, I think listeners should vote. Or audience members in the studio, if they want to be *sure* people tuned in. But I also almost feel like... each book shouldn't have its own defender, cause it makes the discussion stilted at times. Gomeshi has asked them "Which of these books is written the best?" and they're all saying "My book!" except Sara Quinn, because she's the only one whose book has been voted out. She's being honest and saying Carol Shields. They keep trying to say "My writing is best because it's accessible!" or "Because you get lost in it!"

Come on. You pick up a book by someone like Nadine Gordimer, and it's hard to read, and difficult to get through, and hard to get "lost in" but... oh my days. By the time you're done, it's sitting somewhere deep inside you. The writing happens at a whoooole different level.

I wouldn't choose Gordimer, or maybe Shields or Toni Morrison as a book to get people reading. But if we're talking about best writers, let's be honest.

Out of the books left, the one I'm most interested in reading is Best Laid Plans. Bone Cage sounds interesting, but maybe a little too sad for me.

Debbie:
* skipped pages of the Carol Shields
* Didn't finish Best Laid Plans - didn't think it was worth her time, isn't interested at all in Canadian politics (But then she voted against The Bone Cage.)
* Debbie: "It's very rare that we read books twice." Jian's reply: "Or you could finish this one!"

Awwww Laraque is heartbroken that The Bone Cage was voted off. He's an athlete and he wanted people to read it so they'd have a better understanding of what Olympic athletes go through--so they'd stop focusing so much on medals, and more on the effort and the striving. He's really upset! Well, if you're an Olympics fan, maybe you should read it! I'll give Debbie this, she's saying nice things to Laraque.

Ooh Laraque is officially throwing his support to Best Laid Plans, and judging by Sara Quinn's comments I think she will too. Maybe we can boot out Debbie's book! Which is too bad, because I know someone who loved The Birth House. But... I'm all about the grudge now.

so cold, she's so cold

2011-02-07T15:32:00.002-05:00

I don't talk about my personal life much on my blogs. I feel bad about it sometimes, cause I feel like it makes it hard for people to connect with me online. First, my blogs aren't anonymous from my friends and family--I started this blog as a way to stay in touch with my family when they moved out west, not as a place to vent. And then I don't want to talk about other people's personal stories or issues, without their permission. Cause they know that our other friends might be reading! Or they might not like strangers reading! Or they might not want to see MY take on their situation, here in writing!!

Second, when I was still as my old job, I really couldn't talk about it, tell stories about it. As a manager I signed some sort of contract which I'm sure says something about confidentiality in it. But also, I've always been conscious of that feeling: What if a future employer checked out my blog? I can't write about a past job in any light that makes me look lazy, whiny, trouble-makee, etc. I have a pretty vast range of opinions on work related topics that I'm not comfortable sharing, except in the occasional comment on someone else's blog.

Third, there are other things that I don't feel super private about, but my husband's a much more private person. So I think of him as well. He doesn't usually read my blog, but the principle still has to apply.

Fourth, I do have a pseudonym here, which in theory could protect me from future employers and such. But I've ended up using London Mabel as my login for everything, including my non-personal blogs like Mabel Talk, which I want to use in a professional capacity, and for my website which sort of represents me as a writer. To make this blog more personal I'd have to find a way to disconnect it from my brand, so to speak.

And so that leaves me... the cats. Their personal lives get tossed around like Princess Diana's.

As Rorschach would say... hrm.