There’s something sort of lonely about sitting in your house - that is usually filled with boisterous housemate and sassy cat - working in your room, listening to Christmas music on your stereo… Ya, I miss my cat and I want to be at Mom’s now. I’ve had my fun this week at work and at play and now I want to hang the decorations on the tree and hang out with the best mother in the world. Oh well, soon enough as I will be driving home for a few days tomorrow afternoon.

In the mean time, I suppose I could recount things that have passed. For instance, I have now see The Two Towers twice. The first time I saw it was on Friday in the company of Al, Carrie, and Tanya. The second time I saw it was tonight with Rick as an early Christmas present to him. It’s good. It’s really good, but it’s also –really- violent. Consider this your spoiler space, you have been forewarned. There aren’t enough Ents in the film. The Ents make up a significant portion of the book and they are pretty well universally liked (unlike Tom Bombadil from the first book). The Ents are humourous and make a nice distraction from the horrible darkness of the story yet, they got the short straw for screen time. They would have been a perfect balance to the often vicious bloodshed. A little less warg growling in our faces would have been nice – they really weren’t the most important part of the story. There were surprising and rather large creative departures from the book, as well, which don’t bother me over much; in fact, I would say that some of them were an improvement to the story. The Elves pretty well disavow the humans in the story, letting them fight it out themselves. In the film, they are given a little more conscience, joining the men at Helm’s Deep – something that really worked. Maybe I just love the Elves too much. Nah, impossible. Anyway, it was excellent, though all told, I do think I enjoyed the first film better than this. I’m by no means suggesting that I don’t like this one, as I surely do, but I like it less. What they lack in mounted nazgul, they make up with hundreds of men on horses, which is always a good thing. Right? Of course.

Last night, Rick took me out to Handel’s Messiah performed at Roy Thompson Hall by the Toronto Symphony and the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir. It was amazing. They’ve certainly improved the acoustics in there since my last visit. Wow, the music just swelled, and we weren’t even sitting in the good seats. Notes rolled over and around the ceiling and washed over us in a most gorgeous way. If there was one piece of music that could influence my spiritual beliefs, the Messiah could almost persuade me that I’m a Christian, it’s that glorious. Prior to that, Rick picked me up at the ROM (yes, I’m working site sales again) and we went for dinner down at Penelope. It’s the only place I know of that offers Retsina – resin wine – and grilled kalamari. I had the roast lamb special, which was awesome. Rick was a bit let down by the shrimp special, but something prevented him from ordering the lamb, too. *laugh* Oh well, I gave him bits of mine so he still got some. Dinner and music – a perfect date ! Thank you, Rick, it was a wonderful evening !!

Oh, and I finished A&C's invites. They're happy. I'm happy. Go me !

Ahhh, the breakfast of champions does not compare to the breakfast of pre-Christmas membership goodies. My day was begun with two slices of very pleasant fruitcake baked by Debbie, followed by melt-in-your-mouth shortbreak cookies baked by Merle, one of the volunteers, and now I'm sucking on a candy cane. There's a chesecake made by Stacey in the fridge, but I won't get any of that since I'm not going to Calvin's Membership/Foundation party tonight. I have plans with Becca for a long overdue coffee followed by a visit to Sandra's to look at swatches and to have a reading with John. Oh my gosh, I'm so full of not-good-for-me food... I think I'm going to settle for soup at lunch. Hobbits would be proud of my eating habits today.

Carrie and Al have okayed the front of the invitation. Tonight I'm going to start on the inside. I realised that I simply don't have the time to work with the Letraset no matter how much I like it, so it came down to digging through the internet to see what I could find. Well, God bless the 'net, for lo ! the Angel of the Fonts came upon me and all about me shone a heavenly light for I had been guided to a vast repository of free downloadable types ! I snagged about twelve different fonts, not all for use with the invitations, loaded them into my computer and the proceded to play. And it was good fun. The best of fun.

Actually, I had more fun bowling with Membership yesterday, which I thought was going to be today, but I was wrong. I defected to Team Tres (3), the pseudo Spanish team (Richard, team captain, just came back from Chile) and thus was awarded the prize for most back-stabbing-est player. It's okay, though, for the team I defected to did not do so well because I seriously brought them down. It's been a long time since I bowled and it seems that I now suck. Everyone on our team had pseudo Spanish names and mine was Los Fingers, which amused me to no end. *laugh* Anyway, my feeling was that Membership would do well to get together as a group more often than it does because events like this do so much for the morale.

I miss my cat a lot. I find myself looking in all her usual places only to find no cat there. It's a bit unsettling, but I know she's fine and enjoying life at Mom's. I wish she enjoyed life as much at my place, but what can you do. I don't have three floors to explore and a pair of cats to play with/annoy. I walked into the living room today and expected to find her on her pillow, but she was not there. I really miss her snuggly self in bed, too. On the other hand, there's something nice about sleeping straight through until my alarm, rather than waking up at 5am to feed her. Still, the house seems sort of empty. I guess I'm just used to having the air around my ankles filled with her furriness.

I have returned to Toronto and now am of mixed feelings about it. On the one hand, Philadelphia afforded me a wonderful break from the norm, putting me down in a city which never ceases to enthrall me, and on the other hand, I did something I don't normally do - long for home. Of course, returning home didn't have the full effect as Willi is living happily at Mom's for the most part this month. The bus ride was uneventful, though I opted to take the night bus rather than sleep the night in Philly and return on the day bus.

I spent the afternoon not taking Ben to the Art Museum as I'd intended, but just chilling in the house. He and I went for a nice walk to Rittenhaus(sp?) Park and along Walnut Street. I did some enjoyable window shopping and Ben had the experience of going into an expensive designer boutique for the first time. There were two pairs of boots that made me long for wealth, but ultimately, my money was better spent on snacks for the bus. Megs picked me up from his house sometime near five o'clock that evening and we went to South Street. I'd promised myself that I'd eat another cheesesteak while I was there and she took me to a place that did not disappoint. I think Nick recommended it at one point too: Ishkabibble's. This was an old school divey little place with a couple of counters and maybe seven painted barstools, no tables or chairs at all. I had the best cheesesteak of my entire life and Megs and I split cheese fries, which is the Philly answer to poutine and delicious in its own right. We wandered around South Street, popping into stores to look at the novelties and gifts. I picked up a couple of inexpensive doo-dads and then we went for coffee at the Philadelphia Java Company, or whatever it's called. Nice coffee, clean bathroom (something a little bit in short supply), pleasant staff, and good music made for an enjoyable couple of hours.

I do enjoy the city. I would move there for work. I love Megs and Ben and Ali and it's so damn close to New York. Now that I'm home, though, I'm enjoying a quiet day with a headache, in my night gown, with no intention of unpacking until tomorrow. It's back to the grind, the regular and the every-day. I'm going home on the 23rd when Mom and I will put up the tree and village. I'm really looking forward to that, but in the mean time, I've got things to do here in Toronto. I must do the lettering on A&C's invites (if they'd get the text to me, that would help - hint, hint), and actually start a rough drawing of the commission. I've got roughs worked out and a general layout, but I haven't actually started to commit myself to the job. Hopefully tomorrow I will learn that I shall be returning to work at site sales, preferably without having to do a formal interview. ILM emailed me and sent me a release form so that they can legally look at my portfolio, which is cool, and suggests at the very least, that they might actually look. There's more wrapping to be done and some shopping yet to do, but mostly that's all done now and I'm pleased to have it out of the way. Other than that, what I'm looking forward to are enjoying lunch with Rick tomorrow, the membership bowling party later this week, finally seeing The Two Towers on Friday (Nick's going tonight at midnight), and seeing Handel's Messiah with Rick on Saturday night. It's going to be a busy week.

I'm still in Philadelphia and still having a good time. The weather hasn't been wonderful, though it's warmer than in Toronto. There's been a good deal of rain, and nasty Atlantic winds that are chilling and damp, but today it's lovely and sunny. I have been walking all around Centre City and on bits and pieces of South Street. Ben took Ali, her friend Tom, and myself out for all you can eat Japanese/Chinese buffet. Oh, sushi. How tasty you are. Anyway, digression aside, it's been a very busy, fun-filled trip so far. This is the longest I've ever spent in this city, too, which adds to the pleasure.

I hung my art on Friday afternoon, which was fun, if confusing. The art show was not as smoothly run as others I've attended, but it was also by far the largest art show. It had a huge number of varied and interesting artists, and to be quite honest, I was probably in the middle range of the talent pool. Donato Giancola, was the artist guest of honour and he was not only one of the MOST talented and skilled and artistically educated artists working in the field today, but also very gentlemanly, humourous, and a very good speaker. He took the time to sign everything people handed at him and never came across arrogant or impatient. Happy to answer questions and to talk to everyone, he was possibly the best guest I've seen at any convention ever. Other well known fantasy artists were present, either in person or represented by their work, such as Ruth Thompson and Ian Miller (quite a fine ink artist).

I got asked yesterday if I were dressed as Moaning Myrtle from Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. Pigtails, glasses... they're not the first to see it. Heck, I see the resemblence myself, and I do a fair impersonation, or so Ali says. That said, I was just being me. I told one woman, "Actually, I had the schtick before Myrtle did. You can call me Moaning Maya." She didn't get it, but nevermind. Maybe I have a hallowe'en costume for next year. It should be easy enough to do. We had a lot of fun at the convention yesterday. Ali and I spent most of the day there, going to dinner with Ben and his mother as a break. Ben came for a couple hours in the afternoon, but Ali upgraded her day pass to a weekend pass in order to come back today. The masquerade was pretty weak, but everything else was great, especially Donato's talk and slide show. This morning, we met Tom, her friend, and went back nice and early for a panel on the original Grimm fairy tales and how they've changed over the years. Following that, I made sure to attend a panel of artists discussing the influence of classical art on the science fiction and fantasy genres. That was a high point for me.

Unfortunately, for those who want to know, I took a bath at the art show. I sold no originals, no matted prints, and indeed, not even a print. It is incredibly disappointing and very disheartening to come with high hopes and what you want to think are good works that people would want to buy. I take some consolation in the fact that very few people did well, though that fucking feather-painter did very well. I gues I'd better start painting on bird parts, rock slabs, and velvet. Seriously, though, even Donato, who I would have thought would do decently, did not manage to get even a single bid on any of his original art. Granted, his prints moved well, but still, it has to be depressing for him. It was certainly disappointing for me. I'm going to do Pandemonium in Toronto, and that's going to be it. I simply cannot afford to do this anymore. Part of me also feels that I just can't hold a candle to the people already in the industry. It's not a nice feeling, and mostly, it makes me want to strive harder, but it's hard to strive harder with so little time to work and no money to attend classes or buy supplies with which to experiment. Oh well, I learned things, and I did enjoy it, and it was nice to exhibit in the same room as Donato, too, so in other ways, this was good. I had just so hoped not to have to drag my work back across the border.

I did a bad thing today, too. I used money that I hardly have in order to buy Brom's latest book, "Offerings". It was cheap, it came with signature, and frankly, I've been looking for it for ages. Hopefully, no one actually bought it for me for Christmas. I also bought a couple of prints at VERY low cost and they'll make excellent gifts this season. I know who will get them, too. I talked for a long time with the guy from whom I ordered the Dark Elve print (I gave that to Rick for our anniversary last year) and the pair of Froud faerie prints (Tracy's birthday this year). He actually remembered me and that I'd ordered from Canada. "You don't come across a name like Maya too often. Lots of Sarahs and Jennifers, but not a lot of Maya's." He remembered that I'd emailed him about how timely his shipping had been, too. *laugh* Good company, that Chimera Publishing. The prints I bought, he even went so far as to scratch out the price and write 'sample' on them so that customs couldn't charge me duty or anything. Hurray.

Anyway, I think it's time to go now. I can't take the cigarette smoke in Ben's room. We're just going to chill out for a bit tonight, maybe have a game of D&D, draw, whatever. Tomorrow I'm going to go to the museum in the morning and then I'm going to do something with Megs again. It's my last day, so I'm going to make sure to enjoy it, broke or not. The next time I log will probably be from Toronto.

Greetings from Philadelphia ! Yes, after much ado, I am here, sitting at my friend, Ben's, computer. It was a bit of an effort, but all is well and I'm alive and full of coffee and pop tarts.

I got to the station yesterday for the 7:15am bus and the bus driver informed me that his bus didn't go where I needed to go. I begged to differ. Despite the fact that he would theoretically go to Syracuse, and my ticket had me going to Syracuse, he insisted that I would have to change buses at Buffalo, but nevermind because the roads were still closed.

ME: Ya, okay so the roads are closed now, but surely they'll open by the time we reach Buffalo, right?
BUS: I don't know. They're closed right now.
ME: Yes, but aren't they working on getting them open? Buffalo is over two hours away. Don't you get road information?
BUS: What, do I look like a weather man to you? (Nasty smile and big shrug)
ME: (Really tired of this crap...) Well, you look like a busdriver, but you sound kind of like a jerk.

Anyway, I decided I didn't want to be on a bus driven by this ass so I opted to sit around for the 8:30am. That driver was very nice, and yes, the roads did open. From Niagara Falls pretty much to a couple hours out of New York City, there was quite a bit of snow on the ground. Things were very pretty. I got hassled for the first time ever when I went through Customs. The officer confiscated my clemintine oranges, even though I offered to eat them right there on the spot. I won't go into it, but he was an officious dork. Two passengers on the bus were detained and had their luggage entirely searched while a video crew filmed the whole procedure. I didn't think they'd let the Middle Eastern man get back on, but eventually they did. So, not having had to leave anyone behind, we continued on. I slept almost the entire way, which made the trip completely bearable. I slept from Toronto to Niagara, then from Buffalo to Rochester, then from Rochester to Syracuse. I did a bit of drawing window-gazing from Syracuse to Utica and then from the rest stop after Utica, I slept through until almost NYC. I met a travel mate at the Port Authority and we talked almost the entire way to Philly. We had much in common, from being tall, to having cats, to having a parent that suffered a stroke. She was pretty neat. She also was an artist specialising in illustration.

Megs picked me up at the station. I got to hang with the homeless/crazies and cab drivers outside the station, which was kind of fun. The homeless guys tried to hustle cabs for arrivals, and intermittently asked for change. A guy tried to hawk me an ugly gold chain, but he found no luck with me. No sir. A couple of cops came out of the station and shooed some of the loiterers away. The cops were quite humourously dressed, though, both wearing their police sweaters over their flakjackets, badges pinned on their chests, and both were wearing sports-team toques with the team logos at the back of their heads. I came to the conclusion that people in Philadelphia talk to themselves even more than Torontonians do, and that's saying something. It must be in the water. Megs picked me up, with a large hot chocolate waiting for me in the car, and then we went to the South St Diner for some food. When she dropped me at Ben's I was still wide awake, thanks to all the sleeping I did on the bus, so I went with him for a short walk to get some take-out. We met Ali, his roommate, outside the house and then walked over together. Needless to say, I did not buy food, being plenty full, but the walk was nice. I'd done an awful lot of sitting all day.

Ali and Ben have a cat named Nicodemus who is quite a sexy creature. He's a sleek grey with white feet and a coal-black nose and very yellow eyes. He's a bit of a handful, but very sweet, and currently he's sleeping on my knee. Ben's out with Ali and in about twenty minutes, I'm going to walk over to the convention centre to hang my art. God, I hope it sells. I hope, I hope, I hope. We'll see, I guess. Tonight, Megan is taking me to Panang, an Asian fusion restaurant and at some point, I'm going to take a bunch of photographs. Philly is such an amazing looking city. It's really nice. If I could get a job, I'd move here in a heartbeat. Anyway, I should go fix my hair and make myself presentable. I've got a lot to do.

Soooo... a funny thing happened to me on the way to Philadelphia.

All the highways in upper New York state were closed due to an ice storm. Well, fancy that. It might have been nice if this information was posted on the information boards, if someone had been told to come out and tell everyone... but no. It was the bus driver. "All the highways in New York are closed due to an ice storm. So, if you're going to Buffalo, that's where this bus stops. If you're going to Rochester, New York City, or Philadelphia, you should come back in the morning and take the 8:30am." Just like that. There were a lot of very displeased would-be bus-riders, except for the five people going to Buffalo. Anyway, I checked the schedule on greyhound.ca and found that there is a bus scheduled to leave at 7:15am. I'm shooting for that one, since it's probably going to be less crowded.

Goodnight.

My gosh, I am very tired. I feel like I never went to bed last night, rather than simply getting to bed later than usual. I had a very hard time getting up this morning, but in the end, I dragged myself out and made it in on time. I'm mostly packed, except for a few last things which will need rounding up.

Chris will be picking me up around 8:30pm and taking me to Megan's house. We'll chill and watch The West Wing and then sometime after 10pm, he'll drive me to the bus terminal. My bus is at 11:15 tonight and I'll arrive in Philly tomorrow around 2:20pm. I really hope I can get some sleep on the bus. Really. I need it.

I have to pick up my paintings at the framing place (I have no idea what it's called, I just know that it's quite affordable). I have enough in my account to do that, and then I will be all set. I'll pack them up carefully, putting one into my baggage and the other larger ones into my portfolio that I cleaned out especially for this event. I'm nervous, or excited, I'm not sure which, but mostly I'm just tired. I really don't want to have problems at customs... I want it to go nice and smoothly. I don't want to have problems about my bringing art across the border. I just want to sleep... sleeeep.... sleeeeeep...

Here I am, sitting with Natasha, not getting what needs to be done dealt with. Fair enough, I've spoken to several people on the phone, including my friend Adam G_______ and discussing what work he wants me to do for him), and my friend Chris, who will be kind enough to drive me to the bus terminal tomorrow night. Yep, that's right, tomorrow night I'm boarding a bus and sitting in it for fifteen hours in order to go to Philadelphia. One of these times, I -will- get to Philly without a maxium of discomfort and with a visit that actually lasts more than a few days. Ya, the day I'm rich.

Which could happen if ILM loves me. Sorry, I'm laughing. If ILM replies to me, I'll be happy. Yes, I do mean Industrial Light and Magic. I sent out my portfolio and resume to them today because they are currently offering a storyboard/concept art position that I actually qualify for. Anyway, I got all nervous about submitting it, and I paid through the nose (over 18 bucks, which considering my current financial status seemed like an awful lot) to get it sent out. The woman in the postal outlet kept trying to get me to take the pages out of the folder so that they could fit in the cheaper envelope, despite my explanation that "it has to go in the folder - it's a portfolio... for a job... No, it has to stay in the folder, really". Anyway, it was a good portfolio. Maybe ILM will take notice. Ray, Mom, and about three people at work today all gave it their approval. I bought a special portfolio thing to take into interviews, too, which I will eventually fill with copious amounts of art. I also bought a new sketchbook for the trip and a new fine-tipped ink pen since someone pushed the tip of my old one up inside the nib.

I'm really tired. I was going to go into the fun things I did this weekend, but I just don't have the energy. Perhaps tomorrow, on a break at work. Now is the time for packing things. Packing. I should make a list.

Six pairs underwear.
Five pairs socks.
Two bras.
Three tee-shirts, two long-sleeved shirts.
One button-down.
One loud tie.
One pair jeans.
One pair loud plaid pants.
Nightgown.
Blanket and towel? Possibly.
One pair each of boots and sneakers.
Toiletries.
Medication.
Snuffles.
Camera, film.
Sketchbook, pencil case.
Prints, artist bio, cards.
Art, carefully wrapped.
CD player, musical selection.
Sisters' presents.
Sandwiches, etc.

I think that should do it. Chances are, I'll think of a couple other items tomorrow at work.

It's a beautiful day in the neighbourhood... It really is, and I don't need Mr. Rogers to tell me so. It's bright and sunny, cold, but not too cold, and I feel sort of holiday festive. On a day like this, I'm sorry to be cooped up in here. Good thing I have an excuse to go for a little walk later, Rick and I are going for lunch. I still don't know where to go, but I'll ask around. Someplace affordable, but nice, is my preference. Ania will know. She's eaten all over this neighbourhood.

Al and Carrie loved the invitation. I'm quite pleased, and yet, not really surprised. Labours of love transcend art. I did forget to bring over the paper I thought would be good for the RSVPs, but well, I guess it can wait. Anyway, they want the invitations by Christmas, which is good, since my plan of having them done by Monday has been foiled by their priest who still hasn't told them what time their wedding is at. Silly priest. Not having to play with Letraset tonight means that I can start concepting Tracy's commission. I have to get it done.

Okay, I just spoke to Ania and she recommended a couple of sushi places in Yorkville, but I'm not sure I feel like fish. There's an all-you-can-eat Indian buffet called The Host, which everyone seems to really enjoy and it's affordable, she says, so perhaps we'll go there. I've never eaten there. It will be a new and exciting experience. Ania said, and I quote, "Don't wear tight pants when you go there - make sure there's room in the waist." Sounds like my kind of place.

Speaking of eating, it appears that I've put on my winter weight. My problem is that come spring, I don't lose it. *laugh* It seems to have happened quite suddenly, as only a couple of weeks ago, everything was fitting just fine. Nick says my chubbiness is cute. Rick doesn't seem to mind whether I'm thinner or thicker so long as it's me, but I'm of two minds about it. On the one hand, it sort of upsets me that I just seem to gain all the time, and on the other, I sort of think I wear it quite well. I don't know. I'm not going to worry about it just yet, not with Christmas coming, anyway afterall, isn't that what January's for?

Yes ! Finally, a half decent update to my Lothlorien site - and none of the images got rejected !!! And, I've been chosen as a Moderators' Choice and should be featured on the Elfwood main page in a couple of days. *happy dance* Now, if I can just sell art at Philcon, I'll be really happy. Thrilled. Ya.

What box do you get put in?
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Well. I think that says a lot. I took the test another two times, using my second and third choice answers and came out 'geek' both times. Meh, whatever.

Anyway, I was in a union executive meeting all day today and it was exhausting. First, I went to the ROM, thinking it was going to be held there. I found out in Human Resources that, indeed, they had no idea where it was being held. I ran into Jacques, a nice full-timer from Education dept. and he called the OPSEU office to find out. In the mean time, I handed in my resume to Keenan for the site sales job. God, I hope I don't blow that interview... Anyway, Jacques and I took the transit down to the OPSEU office on University Avenue and discovered that we weren't late. Good for us. Anyway, it was a "Steward Strategic Planning" session and it covered a lot of the stuff that I did in the Steward Training last year, but it was a good refresher course. It could have been much worse, but regardless, eight hours of OPSEU talk is a LOT to take in.

I can't work on the invitations tonight as I'd planned as A&C haven't finished the wedding text. Silly priest not giving them a time for their wedding. I'm going to lettraset their names, because it's that super cool gothic manuscript text, but I think I'll do the main body in a nice script on the computer. I love them, but it's not worth it to kill myself over the kerning and placement of each letter. I'm glowing with excitement about the front of the piece, though. The painting turned out amazing, and when I thought the coats of arms would overpower the illuminated border, it turned out that I was wrong. It looks really good, and I don't often say that sort of thing about my work. Anyway, they'll have time to critique it tomorrow night, since I'll be bringing it over when I come for dinner.

That's all for now. I'm freezing and I think I'm going to Megan's again for some more re-run Buffy on Space, followed by ... you guessed it, The West Wing.

And now for something completely different. Let's talk about me. Warning, this is going to be a vapid, self-centred post. But it makes good material with which to tease me.

Have you recently come into money and decided you wanted to buy me something for Christmas? Do you have very little money, but many other relatively poor friends with whom you could pool your resources? Here are some gift ideas:

In blue. Large will probably fit in that clingy way I like. Clingy. Geek. All girl.

Clock. Enough said.

Something about old cars and weird bumper stickers attracts me...

Whoa, enough WWDN. Such a geek am I.

Okay, other things:

It's not Waterhouse, it's Brom. Oh yeah.

You know that film I'm working on? Hey, how about this? I can't actually afford to subsidise the film, but maybe you can by buying this for me !

My gosh, this entire selfish list makes me out to be some sort of... I dunno... a geek, or something. Who'd of thought it.

Anyway, I'm sorry for this incredibly selfish post. I'll try to talk about something other than my wants in the next one. Really. You can look forward to my rant (no doubt) about an all-day union executive meeting that I'll be having from 9-5 tomorrow. Can you feel my excitement? I think I'll get paid for it, but eight hours? We have eight hours worth of discussion topics? Huh. Oh, and by the way... I am kicking some invitation-ass, or rather, this here invitation kicks ass. All ass. I'm thrilled with it. I hope Al and Carrie will be, too.

There are some days when everything goes right, and other days when it seems like everything goes haywire. Today is not unlike the latter and, for that matter, yesterday bore some relation to it as well. Right now, 'doing the blue envelopes (of death)', I'm not having fun. All too frequently someone who should have done one thing, has done something inappropriate, and if they didn't muddle up, the technology failed and either way, I'm left to sort through the muck. Yesterday it was the Christmas lights (and indeed it was the lights on Saturday as well) that were shelling out grief in thick, juicy slabs. Mom and I cursed together at the frustrating mass of lights that would go on, then go off, then half of the string would stop working, and then everything would stop working and then suddenly half of them would work again and then a cord wouldn't fit into an outlet and then the extension cord wouldn't reach and then the extension cord would reach but have no where to plug.

Sometimes, life is just an exercise in futility.

I've been seeing a number of movies on video of late and this weekend was no exception. Ray was over for dinner on Saturday night and we rented a couple of movies, one recommended by his friend, the other purely on the basis of its cover synopsis. The first film was Pandeamonium starring Linus Roache as Samuel Coleridge and John Hannah as William Wordsworth, Samantha Morton as Sara Coleridge and Emily Woof as Dorothy Wordsworth. It was an interesting and gripping film following the intwined lives of Woodsworth, his sister, Coleridge and his wife as they attempt to make their names and change the world. It juxtaposed modern life with their stories, and plunging the audience into their turbulent lives and minds. It was amazing. I can see how many people wouldn't enjoy it, but as a lover of Coleridge, I drank in his poetry which is neatly wound into the screenplay. The second film was called My First Mister and follows a 17 year old goth girl as she struggles with issues of life, love, and friendship, as her depressing life is lit up by the presence of Randall, a 49 year old clothing store owner. It was surprisingly deep, going places where we did not expect and bringing tears to our eyes. The cast is terrific and the two leads, especially J (short for Jennifer), are very believable. Incredibly funny, this isn't really a comedy so much as a comic drama. I think I'm going to put it into my Top Ten of films. I loved it.

In other news, I now have Christmas cards for sale at Eyeball Soup (go me !) and hopefully they'll sell. Everyone should go buy some. Ya. I found a VERY reasonably priced print place in the Petes, which isn't exactly the easiest to access, in that I'm usually in Toronto, but if I can plan ahead, it's worth it. The staff is nice and the quality is great. Who could ask for anything more? I'll be printing A&C's invitations there, for sure. Speaking of which, I'm halfway through painting the invite, which will leave the text to be layed down. I intend to have them all done and printed in one week from today. I'm really pleased with how they look so far, the colour is great and my hand hasn't been too shakey, which is a very good thing.

Oh, and Happy Hanukkah !!