21 May 2008

On second thought

Did I say nothing? I could never say no to a meme, or Emmms for that matter.

The rules: Each player answers the questions about themselves. At the end of the post, the player then tags 5-6 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know they’ve been tagged and asking them to read your blog. Let the person who tagged you know when you’ve posted your answer.

1. What was I doing 10 years ago? Gosh, I’ll be 32 next month! Okay, ten years ago. I’d have been in third year university, feeling awfully inferior about English literature – a feeling that was adequately balanced by my growing arrogance over Film Studies. I was drinking too much, throwing a lot of impromptu gatherings for diverse friends, toying with the (perverse) affections of a much older man and living unhappily ever after with my then-boyfriend in a one-bedroom apartment downtown. Or a rented house, I can't recall which now.

2. What are 5 things on my to-do list for today (not in any particular order):
i. Write an email to work, telling them that I might not be coming in tomorrow

ii. Prepare a list of questions for my new GP

iii. Eat something, anything

iv. Spend some quality time with my good friend, who is visiting from Canada

v. Call my husband, who’s in Edinburgh for work

3) Snacks I enjoy:
Past tense, at the moment, but: green olives, dried mango, corn chips and salsa, strawberry laces, Fruit Pastilles, baked crisps (salt and vinegar), cookie dough ice cream, gourmet jelly beans, Twigglets…I’m beginning to see why the scale seldom tips in my favour.

4) Things I would do if I were a billionaire: Quit my job, so that I could fill out surveys full time. And I’ve always wanted to take up swimming!

5) Places you have lived: A small city in the middle of nowhere/Canada, a small town in the middle of nowhere/British Columbia, and London.

6) Peeps I want to know more about:
Mrs Slocombe, the Lass, this gal, thebeesknees, dominguez and Politiko. Aw, heck. You're all invited.

20 May 2008

I’m in a nothing state of mind


And consequently have nothing much to tell you. Is that okay? I can’t remember the last time I felt compelled to reveal any part of my life to a one-dimensional surface.

Except for that one time, when I prayed to a train window to please please please let me not throw up on this train.

So even though I’ve lost the plot with journaling, I’ve picked it up elsewhere in life, which is infinitely more important to me right now.

Our first year wedding anniversary is this Sunday. I think that means paper, which is fragile, but not nearly as fragile as binary code.

05 May 2008

Some of my best friends are musicians


You know that whole adage about ‘If you don’t have anything nice to say, keep your blooming gob shut, &ct’? Yes, well, I’m still here, trying to think of something nice to say.

But honestly, I get around the internet these days and all I can picture is an infinity of monkeys on an infinity of typewriters, except that instead of one of them producing Shakespeare, virtually all of them are patting themselves on the back for escaping the circus, and for being able to tell the difference between a typewriter and a banana in the first place.

But if a monkey types in a forest and nobody is around to read what it’s written, has the monkey actually written anything? And! Is there even a monkey?

You know? So it’s a dilemma.

Then I was watching a BBC programme about these young kids who are passionate about their oboes or whatever, and it finally dawned on me that even though they will have to calibrate their personalities until they’ve attained the right mixture of awkwardness to parts arrogance, they don’t need someone to witness them alone in their concrete rooms playing the same bridge over and over and over again until they get it right. And do you know why?

(Here’s where the ‘nice’ comes in, I promise.)

Because they are only practicing. It’s what they are practicing for that sets them apart from everyone else on earth who owns an instrument that is gathering dust in a prominent corner of their living room.

One pod person music teacher pointed out that it’s a tough job finding talent, dedication and intelligence in the same place. What he didn’t elaborate on - since musicians sometimes have trouble seeing beyond the glare of their own genius - is that you can apply this formula to any success known to monkeys man humankind – it just makes sense.

So here I am - horribly out of practice and yet determined not to run for the safety of my television set until I’ve spent some quality time with my word processor. It’s not a concrete room, as you can plainly see – not yet. But just wait until I close the door.

It’s going to happen one of these days. I’m telling you. Monkey to monkey.