Me, me, me

Of work, play and dreams

I seem to be posting a little less frequently lately. Well, there's a good reason for that. I'm crazy busy again. The work contract began with a very short deadline, and once I've got past that, the work will calm down a bit. Unfortunately, my writing contract with another employer has also heated up for the same week, so I'm trying to keep it all together. The work and stress isn't so bad; it's the resulting insomnia that makes things harder to handle. But I can't complain. The jobs are good, fun, flexible, part-time and well-paid. And I seem to have found the most wonderful babysitter on the planet. What more could a non-conformist mom ask for?

I went out and played badminton on Wednesday night. What fun! We've decided we're going to join. It's super-cheap and accessible and totally relaxed, and I think D. and I are going to "share" the membership and go on different nights. We both love badminton. Who doesn't? Too bad we can't play together, but someone's got to be at home in case the smoke detector starts beeping.

I had a great dream with Johnny Depp in it last night. My movie-star dreams are so innocent and fun. We were at a big, raucus dinner party and he poured some beer in my glass and spilled a little on me. When I made a face about it he jumped up, pulled down some curtains and ran around the table to my side in grand style, flourishing the curtain in a Capt. Jack Sparrow-like dramatic performance that made everyone laugh. When he had blotted the front of my shirt with the curtain I thanked him and kissed him on the cheek, and... the baby started crying and I woke up. Ain't it always the way? Until next time, my dream-friend!

Good-looking Dreck

I finally got Love Actually from the library, and could only endure an hour of it. Whew! What a stinker. All those wonderful actors must feel embarrassed about that one. When I find myself saying to the character "No. Please don't start dancing. No no no no!" and the character starts dancing (around no. 10 Downing Street, remember?), then it's time to go away.

Buds, Brownies, Bra

Went into my old office yesterday to do some work on the new contract (I'm working on this contract part-time, much of it at home). Boy, it's fun to see your old buds, but it took me half an hour to get in the second door of the double doors leading into the office 'cause I kept being waylaid by friends! It was great. I loved the people there when I was working there regularly, and I've missed them in my new stay-at-home mom/freelance writer gig. I knew I wasn't leaving forever, though, so I didn't feel too sad about going, and now I feel really -- like REALLY -- good that I'm only back part-time and temporarily. The job itself is fun, too, and right up my alley. And the babysitting arrangement seems to make everyone happy, so all is well so far...

My daughter is going on a sleepover with her Brownie troop tonight, and on a "winter fun" day tomorrow. Lucky duck! Have I mentioned before how happy I am that she's in Brownies? I'm living vicariously through her, as I wasn't allowed to join Brownies, despite my pleading, when I was young. Sigh. I'd like to get my son into Scouts too.

A friend called me up last night and asked if I'd like to play badminton with her one or a couple of evenings a week, in a local school gym. It sounds like fun! I'm gonna check it out. I could use a few laughs and a bit of jumping around. Better get a jogging bra.

Misc. musings

My sister just called from Germany and asked how the election seems to be shaping up. She was more than a little dismayed to learn that Stephen Harper may soon be our Prime Minister. I'm with her. The man looks like a soulless corporate wank straight out of Central Casting. I'm flabbergasted at the awfulness of the Liberals' campaign, though. Their campaign manager should be taken out and flogged in the public square for his dire misreading of the public mood. Like I would tell any naughty child: When you've been caught with your hand in the cookie jar, it's not appropriate to go talking about how bad all the other kids are. If any party shouldn't have whipped out the attack ads, it's them. Know what I mean?

I've started reading a new (for me) author that I'm enjoying very much: Paul Auster. He writes very intricate stories that are at once philosophical explorations, psychological investigations and ripping good yarns. Highly recommended.

The baby had a babysitter yesterday as I had my first day at work on my new contract. The job is going to be fun, but it's a tiny bit scary. If I screw up, I may never get this kind of work again. Unfortunately I'm not beyond screwing up. Please wish me luck, friends!

The beautiful fluffy snow is melting. It's wet and slushy and gross out, and even though it's mild, the damp makes you feel cold.

I love winter, and this winter has been so incredible so far, I'm sad to see this sloppy kind of weather take over. It's just so 2004-2005. I have loved all the snow, the perfect winter temperatures (sub-zero but warmer than -10) and the lovely winter skies. The fact that my kids are total snow nuts makes this winter all the more fun. They play outside more in the winter than in summer, finding more enjoyment in a driveway-ful of snow than in all the flowers and grass and bugs you can shake a stick at. Our driveway now boasts a really fast sled run and a fort, while the backyard has a "village" of streets and huts.

Walking around town with the baby is always a challenge in winter, but I am strong like ox, so I can pull or push her through just about anything in one of our baby-conveyances: stroller, sled or wagon. People who drive cars all the time must be such weaklings. (joke)

It's taken me 37 years to realize that, for all the beauty and colour of summer, I am more of a winter person. Pretty good for someone who has never skied or learned to skate.

...And a reminder

Ahem! Erm, I would never dream of telling people how to vote, but let me just throw this little reminder at y'all:

The so-called Conservative party is mostly made up of REFORM PARTY members. Remember the Reform party, the party that made you laugh and cry and wring your hands? Well, Reform=Conservative. Think about it.

Just a little note...

My baby knows how to say "I love you." We have lift-off.

Movies

We got to watch a few films over the holidays, a couple of which I had really wanted to see -- or see again.

King Kong -- Cheers to friends who offer to take your kids and let you go to a movie! Jeers to 3-hours-plus-long movies that would have been better with an hour lopped off! No, really, I loved this film, and I am forever indebted to Peter Jackson, so as far as I'm concerned he can spend as long as he wants on the BOAT, GETTING TO THE FREAKIN' ACTION. What I loved about his version of this strange and beautiful story was the focus on the island, and the existence of the giant gorilla as a lonely warrior. As in the original film, the NYC episode, while climactic, was not the whole purpose of the thing. I liked the character development, I liked Naomi Watts, I liked Jack Black, I liked Adrian Brody (especially in the split-second with his shirt off. Woot!). Unfortunately, the last line of the film "'Twas beauty killed the beast", was wrong to me. Kindness, not beauty, proved to be both his making and his undoing.

But so many scenes could have been cut out, or at least shortened. I'm not even talking about the boat. I'm talking about the dinosaur stampede, the buggy crevasse, the t-rex fight, etc. Many, many scenes.

The Island -- A frustrating film to watch, because the potential for a great, thoughtful sci-fi film is there, and the actors are giving it all they've got, and they're good actors. The big mistake in this film was letting Michael Bay direct it. He turned a good sci-fi idea into an opportunity for non-stop action and chase sequences. It didn't have to be that way. I have a feeling that even the 12-year-old boys for whom he makes his films could have enjoyed 20% fewer action scenes and a little more plot development. I mean, cloning is a serious issue, and it was barely explored in this good-looking but ultimately tiresome film.

The Two Towers & Return of the King

My appreciation of the Two Towers film continues to grow with each viewing. What had seemed to me an interim film is made up of so many incredible and beautiful scenes and set-pieces, and Theoden is, for me, up there with Gandalf as the most fully-realized character in the whole trilogy. The fact that Theoden is a very human king grounds this chapter of the story and makes the potential for tragedy and the victory at Helm's Deep more real and satisfying. I still don't like Eowyn and think she was mis-cast, and I still find the Elf soldiers more comical than anything else. But that opening scene (for my money the best opening scene in any movie) is worth any amount of teary-eyed, pining looks and gay-looking warriors.

The Return of the King makes me happy. It's fun to watch and the sense of dread returns to me with each viewing. Frodo's courage and Smeagol's treachery are still real to me, and the sense of a world that might end sets me up every time for the wonderful feeling of a new era beginning.

A couple of my favourite things

Up late last night doing a bit of writing that had to be turned around quickly. At the end of it, once I'd sent it off to team leader, I felt tired but thought, Y'know, I like this. I like writing so much it doesn't feel like work. That's a great thing. If only I could make even half a living doing it.

I got to do quite a lot of another thing I like doing, earlier in the day. I spent a couple of hours outside with my kids, sliding down our driveway and occasionally lying down in the snow and looking up at the sky through the tree branches. The trees that seem so bare and dead are really not, when you really look at them for a long time. Some of them have little buds all over them, and of course they all have a contingent of sparrows and squirrels running around minding their birdy and squirelly business. And the trees just feel alive, somehow, as flaky as that sounds.

The end of the holiday

My mother has unknowingly saved my two older children's lives today by taking them out to a movie and AWAY FROM THEIR INSANE MOTHER. By 9:00 this morning my 3 kids had said the word "Mommy!" 396 times. Why is it so impossible for them to do, think, eat, drink, and especially FIND anything without my input? Why can't we just live side-by-side one another? Lately I've had the distinct feeling that I am actually living their lives for them, but not all of their lives, just all the mildly unpleasant parts, like deciding things, and thinking, and listening, and looking for shit. All the fun stuff they get to do and enjoy on their own, but I have to do all my shit and the shit of four other people. It's no wonder I'm always tired. (Yes, I did say four people. D. is included in that little rant. But he doesn't read my blog so I'm-a get away with that.)

Calgon, take me away!!!!

Misc.

I'm still in semi-comatose holiday mode, but just in case you were on the edge of your seats wondering how the New Year's Eve party turned out, here's a summary:

It was f-in' fun. Just what I wanted to do on NYE -- have a small, intimate food-and-drink-and-games-filled evening. We were having so much fun we almost forgot to do the happy new year thing at midnight.

I think I'm supposed to start my new job next week, but I still haven't heard a thing about that. Unfortunately, that's the way things work at that place. Kind of makes the child-care arrangements difficult, but whatever. I'm so chill, I'm crystallizing.