Another little while has passed and I haven't gotten around to updating my weblog. I know it's a bad sign when my mother tells me over the phone that she was disappointed that there had been no updates. Sorry !

Anyway, it's a busy time for me. It wasn't supposed to be, but it is, and there's nothing I can do about it except get on with things. I am supposed to be working on Adam's FYI newsletter, but I haven't been able to make the template files work for me, which is a serious problem. I'm supposed to have them done by Sunday, but lord only knows if I'll be able to do it. I guess that's what I'll be doing tomorrow. After a meeting at the Cafe Diplomatico, anyway. Adam's municipal campaign team choose the tastiest places to hold meetings.

On Tuesday, I went to meet with Professor Nagel about getting a reference and that went quite well. Professor Nagel (I get to call him Alex now) was my absolute favourite professor at university. Not only was he well dressed, but he was engaging and encouraged his students to become actively involved in their learning. He pressed us for creative thought, critical thinking, and enjoyment of the subject. Very few professors successfully manage to do one of the above, let alone all three. I also ran into an old school friend, Guita, and she encouraged me to go back to school for a Masters. We'll see about that.

On Wednesday, I went to a job interview. Back in December, Al had told me about a job opening at his work and had asked me for a resume. I forgot about it until Monday when he told me that I had an interview on Wednesday. Not a heck of a lot of time to get prepared, but it was a good interview, regardless. First of all, right off the bat, I asked the interviewer, Don, where he was from. His accent sounded very familiar. "Brooklyn," he answered. "Where in Brooklyn?" I asked. "Sheep's Head Bay," says he. "No kidding !" I exclaim, "I come from Sheep's Head Bay, too !" "No kidding !" he exclaims. Don is a nice guy and the interview went well, but the job is a scary one. High pressure telecommunications sales. The incentives are good, but it's hard work and... well, it's just scary. Anyway, I'll find out if they're offering the job to me either today or Monday. I've spent the better part of yesterday thinking about it.

Well, that is when I wasn't sleeping off my migraines. I woke up with one, which kept me out of work, and when it cleared around 1pm, I decided to do some cleaning of my room. Boy, was that ever some serious work. By supper time, I'd developed a new migraine and spent the majority of my night in bed. Oh well, I got the box in my room delt with, nearly a year after moving in, and my bookshelves are almost completely reorganised, including a display of most of my toys. It's nice to have my old friends out again. When I have a little money, I'm going to buy myself a filing cabinet of some sort, though. I have too many loose papers lying around.

Tonight, I'm taking Rick to the gym. We were supposed to go yesterday, but I couldn't because of my head. I'm going to take it nice and easy, just doing some of the machines, maybe rowing and cycling, or something. I don't know what Rick plans to do. All I know is that afterward, we're going to hace a nice dinner somewhere, or order something in. We'll see. Not quite a date, but it will be fun.

How I spent my weekend, or, Why bother getting dressed? by Maya Hirschman.

I spent all of Saturday in my nightgown. It was wonderful. Okay, perhaps not 'wonderful' in the truest sense, but it sure was enjoyable. Rick seemed a little surprised by my desire to avoid real clothing, but as I explained to both he and my mother, I planned to do nothing, not even get dressed. Also, I spent most of the day in front of the television watching the NDP convention on the CBC. Like I said, my leadership predictions went right out the window, along with those spoken by people much more experienced in such matters. There were a lot of delays in getting the voting closed and ballots counted, which meant a lot of 'fill' from the correspondents.

"And now to Anna-Maria Tremante who is speaking to Nigel Proose, just some guy waiting in line to vote. Anna-Maria?"

"Thanks Bob, I'm here with Nigel Proose who I found snoozing in the voting line-up. Mr. Proose, are you having a good time here at the convention?"

"Well, I was having a pretty good dream until you stuck this microphone in my face, but otherwise, it's been pleasant. Mostly, I've just been waiting here."

"Mr. Proose, do you know what the delay is?"

"I think it's something to do with computers. I don't know. They told me to wait. I'm waiting."

"May I ask you who you're voting for?"

"Oh well sure. That will be Nystrom. Heh, he puts the nice back in 'strom'. Heh, heh."

"Um, yes. Well, Bob, there you have it. Nigel Proose, you can get back to your napping."

However, once the votes were in, it livened up completely ! People were having a good time regardless of the delays, it seemed, waving their banners and calling out chants and cheers devoted to their particular leader-hopeful. Bev Meslo, who really wasn't running but for the opportunity to give her issues some air time, seemed to be having the best time compared to all the other hopefuls. She was dancing and singing and didn't let slack. Ducasse, the little guy from Quebec, was a stand-out, and everyone really likes him. I missed his speech, but apparently, it was the best of the bunch. He's the future of the party, and the NDP's best chance of gaining a seat in Quebec.

Anyway, I'm probably boring you all with this, so, it's time for a change of subject. Sunday, I was supposed to be at a thing for Carrie, a shower, or whatever, but I ended up waking with a splitting headache and after sitting around for 45 minutes to see if the painkiller would do it's job, I decided to go back to bed. I would have called to cancel, but it was a surprise shower and I didn't want to be a wet towel. If anyone was expecting me to be there, they probably assumed I got lost en route, as usual, and ended up in Bobcageon.

I also spent an awful lot of time in the bathtub this weekend. Not because I was so dirty, but because it's a peaceful place where I can relax, be at ease, and generally not be bothered by anyone. I just close my eyes and listen to the radio (sometimes I read). There are few things that I like as much as a scaldingly hot bath with nothing pressing me for time. I'd take baths in the city, except the bathroom is sort of dark and there's this nasty sliding door that blocks what light there is. I'm considering taking it down and putting up an old fashioned curtain. Anyway, it was nice.

So, summing up my weekend: nightgown, sleeping late, bathtub, eating, and watching television.

I wish I were still there. *sigh*

Oh, and another thing: Adam was re-elected. Huzzah !

Well, it's safe to say that no one predicted Jack Layton's decisive and quite incredible first ballot victory. 53.5% on the first ballot. Amazing, surprising and completely terrific ! Go Jack.

More to follow at another point. In the mean time, since people seemed to enjoy the dancing Bush so much, how about a work-out? Or maybe some more dancing?

And one more thing... some mindless fun for home or office.

This Freaky-Tie Friday brought to you by Maya's political pics:

Bev Meslo will lose on first ballot and back Lorne Nystrom. Pierre Ducasse will lose and back Joe Comartin. Joe Comartin will be up against the front runners Bill Blaikie and Jack Layton. Nystrom will lose and back Blaikie. Comartin will back Layton. It will be a tight fight for Blaikie and Layton, but because Layton has no Federal political experience and would end up being the third consecutive party leader lacking a seat in the House, Blaikie will end up taking it.

I've never played this game - the game of politics - at least not for real. But, now, because I work for Adam G_______, I can't help hearing this talk around me. Who do I support? Who would I vote for had I managed to join the party in time? I would back Layton, though I'm sort of partial to Comartin, as well. I certainly wouldn't back Meslo - I've never seen so much crap. "For a socialist and feminist New Democratic Party." Huh? The word 'feminist' is NOT a good sell. Too many people, including many women, are bothered by the word. Besides, there's a big fat rose on her webpage and underneath it says, "Yes, it is bread we fight for, but we fight for roses too !" I'm pretty sure that's a quote from somewhere, but it's not attributed. What kind of a mixed message is this? Anyway, that's a rant for another day.

I'm all done with G________'s re-election work. He called me last night to tell me that the buttons look fabulous. I've enjoyed working for him on this, although spending this weekend doing relatively nothing sounds like a great plan. I was all keyed up to go to the gym tonight before we (Rick and I) leave for the Petes, but I left my shorts and shoes at my appartment, so I guess I'll just go home and take a well-deserved nap. Next week, I start with more stuff for Adam, this time for his municipal stuff. He is certainly going to keep me busy. Of course, the busier I am with his stuff, the less of a struggle I have financially, which is definitely a good thing.

Also, I got my application to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in the mail. It has to be postmarked with today's date, so it should be fine, but just in case, I'm going to email my application in as well. On Tuesday, I'm meeting with my old Professor Nagel, and hopefully Mac Johnson, too, in order to talk to him about references. I'll also be going into the university registrar's office in order to pay for my transcripts. God, my marks were terrible. They were worse than I'd thought. I was one heck of an average student. For each fail there is an A, there are more Bs than Ds, and there is a stack of Cs. It doesn't bode well for the museum, but maybe they'll look past that to all the extra-curricular stuff I've done... Heh, ya, right.

So, anyway, it's Freaky-Tie Friday, which happens about every three Fridays or so, as long as it's not too hot and I've got a clean shirt. I've been wearing ties far longer than Avril Lavigne and I wear them with more style and flash. The idea behind FTF is to wear a tie (preferably a nice loud/ugly one) with either a surprisingly coloured shirt, plain shirt (for extra loud ties), and if possible, with matched socks. Today I'm wearing my red button-down that I got last month at Value Village along with a purple-lavender tiny-white-polka-dotted tie. I had hoped they would clash, but they work surprisingly well together. I'm wearing black and red argyle socks, too, so I'm a looker. Admit it, Freaky-Tie Friday is WAY more exciting than casual/denim Fridays.

Slogging. That is what I am doing. I am slogging through great sucking marshland called graphic design for Adam G_______. Now, Adam's a nice guy, and I want him to win, but there are only three things that are keeping me sane through this mess. The first: my respect for Adam. The second: the money. The third: techno. Yes, that's right. It's the body-moving, bass-thumping rhythms of some classic (and somewhat less so) electronic dance music. There will be further entries at a later date when I have either finished Adam's stuff, or finished Adam.

Wow, there's nothing quite like a beautiful winter day. The sky is that shade of blue that can't possibly be real, except that you're looking up and there it is - blue like a technicolor dream. The sun is shining and it's that warm sun because January brings the earth closest to that great ball of flame in the heavens, but it's not warm enough to shield you from the wind. It's a teasing sun. There's snow on the ground and it's bright, luminous in the sunlight and a blue that matches the sky in pockets of shadow. The snow crunches underfoot because it's so cold outside, there's no slush, no muck, just beautiful frozen expanses. Today, Toronto is beautiful.

I feel good today, and not just because it's so great a day. Yesterday, I went to the YMCA (everyone, together now, do the dance !) with Erin, my friend from the ROM. She dragged me around and showed me how to use the machines and whatnot, and I had a blast. After stretching, I we did the stairclimber for about 15 minutes and then walked it out for a while on the track. Then we did about half an hour on various weight machines before finishing up with some abdominal work and more stretching. It was amazing. I figure that we worked out for a bit over an hour, and considering how poor my condition is, that's pretty darn good. We went for a very healthy dinner at a little Japanese Bento place and then we drove home. Needless to say, I'm quite sore today, especially through my upper body. I'm going again tonight !

First of all, please, follow this link, which was given to me by Nick. Don't worry about not being able to read Japanese, it really won't factor into the story at all. Just keep clicking the pictures.

Last night, feeling (thankfully) much better than I had through most of the day and certainly all of the day before, I took Rick for a belated birthday dinner at The Lobster Trap. They're not kidding - it's awesome. We had a lovely waiter, named Cam, who looked awfully familiar. I probably went to elementary school with him, or something. Anyway, we both had steamed pound-and-a-quarter lobsters with salad and were MORE than pleased at how delicious they were. God, lobster is amazing. I hope they don't over-fish them the way they do everything else, but I'm probably wasting a wish. He had a glass of wine and I had a caesar and for dessert, he had a shrimp cocktail and a couple spoonfuls of icecream off my apple-caramel cake plate. Nummy ! The coffee was good and everything was great. Happy 24th birthday Rick, most of a month late !

I went with Rick to pick up a new computer monitor for him this afternoon. He has a dinky 14" creature at home that is barely wide enough to see my own reflection in it. The model he got was not very big, as far as monitors go, and if I can come up with some extra money that won't be funneled into something (ya, right), I'd like to get one for my mother, too, since it's not so large as would take up all her desk space. Rick was a great guy and bought me a swank new video card. He'd intended to get me one for my birthday, but he got me one today, at a pretty darn good price. Had it been more expensive, I would not have allowed him. Anyway, I owe him for the CD cases that he paid for - I forgot to give him money. Then I drove him and his monitor to his house, before swinging back across the city to get home. I had to get ready for An Evening with Adam G_______. That... wasn't so exciting that it deserves a lot of note. Suffice it to say, I met some nice people, some weird people, and some other people. I got asked several times if I'd be attending the NDP convention this coming weekend and now I can safely say, "No !" Hah ! I'll have had enough of campaign fun by then and will sorely need a break.

I spent all of yesterday, up until leaving to pick up Rick, working on Adam's stuff. It looks keen, but naturally there were problems. Tomorrow, I start the other stuff - the stuff due for Wednesday. How did I get into this? Oh ya, I said to Adam about six months ago, "Well, if you need any help..." Who actually comes back to the people that offer? People die and we offer our help to the bereaved, but do they ever take us to task? Not usually. Well, trust Adam to remember, and trust me to say, "Sure !" I will be able to say NO at some point. Currently, I need the money.

Tomorrow, I also start at the gym with Erin. Scarey !!! I need this badly, though. Holy crap, am I ever out of shape. Also, tomorrow, I'm going to draft my letter to the Met Museum for their internship programme. I have to get it out by Tuesday or Wednesday at the latest in order for it to have a postmark by the 24th. I have to call the Art Dept. to see if my favourite professors are in this week in order to mooch a couple of reference letters, too. I've yet to hit them up, so they should be ammenable. I'm also going to get Ania, the director of Membership to write me one, which she has already agreed to do. Afterall, ILM isn't exactly beating down the door to get a hold of me.

I am sick. Again. I wish I weren't, but I am. There you go. Anyway, I thought of something worth mentioning. The logo belonging to Lava Life (the internet dating thing) looks an awful lot like the double L in Allan chocolate. Coincidence? Easter is coming. When you find an Allan chocolate bunny for sale, you have a look and see if this was merely the product of a mildly feverish brain.

Willi is dead bored here. She spends a lot of time sleeping - on me, on my bed, on my pillow, on the couch. We tried having a wee game with her bouncy mouse, but she just didn't have the heart for it. I tried to spice her up a little with the catnip fish that Sandra made, but Willi didn't care. My poor cat is moping. Dare I say it? I believe that she misses Chester. She was never at a loss for things to do while at Mom's, that is for sure. I fully understand. I'd rather be at Mom's house, too. Unfortunately for my cat, she probably can't rationalise the whole thing, whereas I'm persuading myself that I have to be here. I do. Right?

So, anyway, I've decided that I am going to apply for the museum admin/curatorial programme at Fleming College. I'm also, as soon as I'm done with this round of Adam G________ stuff, going to send out my applications for internship positions at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, as well as a couple of others. Tuesday will be the next chance I get to go to UofT in order to request my transcripts and to speak in person to my old art professors. In the mean time, I'll just keep on keeping on. This Saturday night I am attending 'An Evening with Adam G________' and will be borrowing Nick's camera for the event. I guess it means I won't be staying for the masquerade at Pandemonium, assuming I feel up to it. Whatever. Right now, I just don't care.

It's been a while, hasn't it? You might ascertain that I'm losing interest in my weblog, but you would be wrong. I've simply got too much going on, and when I do get time to myself (like this past week, for instance), which is time I usually devote to my non-paying work and fun, I ended up crashing. I went to Mom's and slept easily half the time I was there. God, it was wonderful.

Now I'm back and there will be no rest for the wicked, as they say. I've got to get down and dirty with Adam G_________'s stuff, plus I've got storyboards to get done by the end of this weekend (hopefully). I'm going to -try- to get to Pandemonium, if for no other reason than to enter a couple dioramas into their miniature contest, plus I'm starting at the gym with Erin on Sunday. I think that maybe I'm crazy.

Spending time at Mom's was great. Moreso even than usual. Willi is completely at home there now, playing and sleeping in intervals, Chester her willing partner in crime. It's beautiful at Mom's and the floor isn't tile, automatically gaining points for being warmer than freezing. Also, there's my mom, who is definitely one of, if not, THE coolest people I know. More and more, lately, I think about moving home. This might be a possibility if I end up applying to Sir Sanford Fleming for their Museum admin/curator programme. That would, of course, require more funding, if OSAP will allow it, considering I'm currently heading for default (even though it's their fault).

Now my day is done, which is good, since the last half hour has seen little more than me fighting with Betsey (my ROM computer) who believes that what I'm asking her to do, something I ask her to do on a regular basis, is something she absolutely cannot do.

I am alone. Totally alone. All I hear is the water cooler and the occasional muted yell of a child coming to me from three floors below and through two pairs of doors. The membership department is eerie, yet serene when there is no one else in it. I'm supposed to be working site sales, and indeed, I am, or was and will be again soon, but because today is so quiet in the museum, I decided to come upstairs and get a little work done to ease my burden tomorrow. There is a large stack of e-sales for me to process, so I'm getting some of the preliminary work done. Anyway, it's strangely peaceful.

Last night, Rick and I were supposed to go see Chicago at the Varsity, but we dawdled and ended up missing it by only a few places in line. It was sold out. We deliberated, but I did want to see a movie very much, and the idea of going home with a rented flick did not blow my skirt up. We found ourselves a Now Magazine and checked to see what else was playing in the area and, as it turned out, The Gangs of New York was playing at the nearby Cumberland 4. We shopped for some books at Chapters, and I ended up with a book on Maya 4 that will help me relearn what I've forgotten. It wasn't the book I wanted to buy, but it was an exercise in intelligent spending.

Now, onto the movie. Well. I knew it was going to be violent. I had no idea just how violent it was. It was brutal, and brutally honest. The images in the minds of people when they think of old New York usually stops around the turn of the century 20th Century as film became a new and powerful medium. This takes us further back to a rather disturbing time in New York's history. It was a good film, I think, and while I can't say that I enjoyed it, I did like it. It was pretty honest, though how true the specifics are, I don't know. Daniel Day Lewis, someone that seemed to have fallen off the map for a few years, gave a knockout performance as Bill the Butcher, and somewhat frighteningly, he reminded me of my father. The other surprise was Cameron Diaz, an actress not known for taking on challenging or interesting roles. My goodness, the girl can actually act. Of course, Leo DiCaprio was as he usually is, which is nothing particularly exciting, but steadfast and not actually bad. It was good. Gruesome, but good. I would recommend it, regardless of the violence, simply because of its honesty.

Tonight, I did something I hadn't expected to be doing, not only because I'd called out of work feeling sick today, but strange as a whole. I went to Derek's for some anime, but that wasn't it, though at one point I was fairly certain I wasn't going to his place. No, in fact, I've just come back from his place and I've since done that which I did not expect.

I shoveled. This is not to say that living in a Canadian city, I expect not to have to lift and chuck the white stuff. No, this is simply not what I expected to do ... as a tenant. My landlord, bless his rent-nagging heart, does do a very good job of keeping the sidewalk and paths around my place nice and clear. Unfortunately, between he and my anal neighbours (the ones that don't like cats), and ESPECIALLY the dreaded snow plow, Scarlette had been fairly snowed in. Now, she's an old fashioned four-wheel-drive and I know she can handle snow. That said, even a four-wheel-drive will have trouble when the snow is higher than the tires. On the street side, where the plow had passed, she was surrounded by a bank near 45cm deep (um, about a foot and a half). That's a lot of half frozen snow to move.

I was going to just leave it, but then I thought that if the sky decided to keep doing what it was doing, ie., snowing, there was no way I'd want to be stuck in an emergency with even more bank and drift boxing Scarlette in. So, ever since driving into a ditch a couple of winters ago, there's been a snow shovel in my trunk, but I've never had the occasion to use it. I could have used it that night in the ditch, but it was only that event which taught me the importance of trunk shovels. This is a short shovel, a short handle with a small scoop, but the perfect size for digging into the banks built up between cars. And digging I did ! Let me say this: I am WAY out of shape.

My intention was not to dig her out completely, as that would take probably over an hour, and as it stands, I worked for twenty minutes, sweating for at least ten of those. I dug out three out of four wheels (one was blessedly clear - I guess the plow driver got careless) and then proceded to dig out the front half of the car on the driver's side. I also cleared out about half of the substantial bank between mine and the car in front, tossing that onto the cat-hating neighbour's lawn and out into the street. Finally, when I thought my sides were going to burst, I just stomped in the snow and broke it up with the shovel so that Scarlette's tires could gain purchase. The final test was to try to escape. I shoveled off the car and then, entering by the passenger's side (yes, of course the driver's side key hole was frozen), I turned her on. Throwing her into "Lo" range four-wheel-drive, in other words, the more powerful range in which you have to use the low gears, I put her in reverse and hit the gas.

God bless my car. Scarlette leapt to life. It's a surprise to feel the difference between two- and four-wheel-drive, and many SUVs and such are in all-wheel mode all the time so you never feel the 'rush'. I threw her in first and we roared out of the snowbank into the street. Then, just to see if I could find a clearer parking spot, because I'm a selfish girl like that, I cruised around a little. I passed a Cadillac higher up on Greenlaw that was stuck in less snow than remained in my old spot and briefly considered offering my shovel. Passing them by, I ended up putting Scarlette back into the spot I'd pulled her from and did a strategicallly better parking job that left me more room for error at the front. I again considered helping the Cadillac as its tires spun, but feeling the effects of an asthma attack and my pants covered in snow, I opted to come in here and write about my little adventure instead.

I really do love the winter.

It's been quite a bit of time since I last logged an entry. I'll make no appologies as I simply had better things to be doing. Since my last entry, Christmas and New Years have come and gone and I enjoyed them both very much. Mostly, the time between these significant dates was spent working site-sales at the ROM, and the days immediately surrounding those dates were spent in Peterborough visiting my mother and as it happens, my cat. I haven't had a lot of time to relax. Christmas Eve saw Mom and I driving back and forth, to and from, Toronto where we'd spent several hours visiting with Julie and Jerzy. There was a lovely white Christmas through out southern Ontario for the 25th and Mom and I enjoyed visiting with friends that night. Boxing Day was hardly a time to relax and visit friends as it was once meant, rather, I spent most of the day bent over Tracy's commission. It came out wonderfully, by the way, with only a couple minor suggestions each from Mom and Ray.

There was a delicious dinner at Rick's parents' in Stoney Creek on the 28th, which was partially a belated Christmas dinner for me, and also a day-late birthday dinner for Rick. That was a great deal of fun, though I recall that I was incredibly tired for it. At some point, I met author Margaret Atwood when she came into the ROM and I was pleased that she was very gracious. Sure, she can't read her own work and she's a bit overdone, but the contribution she's made to international literature is enormous. I hosted a small do for New Year's Eve on... yep, the 31st, to which Al and Carrie, Kerri and Mark, Rick, and Richie all came. That was nice. It was a pot luck dinner and it was so well timed that we hardly stopped eating from around 7pm until nearly midnight ! It was nice hosting an adult soiree. I felt very grown up. Of course, that was a short-lived sensation and then spent the 1st dressed in my nightgown and housecoat for the entire day.

Here are my Top Five of gifts that I received (just for the heck of it):
5 - Chanel No5
4 - Lion and Mouse mechanical toy
3 - "The Nabes" (a book)
2 - a very gorgeous watch by Fossil
and finally, being the best present of all...
1 - Beast feet slippers ! (big tiger paws)

Even better was the fact that I put presents under Rick's tree that he didn't notice until I told him about them and then didn't get to open them until the 26th. Gina and Nicole loved the jewellery that I sent them and I am the most happy about how much Mom adores the necklace that I gave her. She deserved it, too, for all the support. Eventually I'll pay her back for all the money she's given me over the last couple of years, too.

To everyone else, I hope that 2003 is a year of health, happiness, and, God willing... Peace.

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 !!

I always hope for new and interesting things to do when I'm working at the ROM and today I got my wish. Today, for most of the day, I've been emptying the blue envelopes and sorting their contents. Sure, it doesn't sound like much, but it is. I have to run through all the items within, checking the $ totals with the membership forms, sort out the problems when they arrise (I've had some trouble doing that) and get everything to where it has to go. In other words, I spend a lot of time with a furrowed brow and a not insignificant amount of time running around.

At lunch with Cheryl, today, there was a white Neon parking against the curb. We were talking and could hear this sort of computer generated voice, it was quite weird. Suddenly, Cheryl said, "Is that coming from the car?" We stopped beside the Neon and lo ! this is what we heard: "Attention, please, this car is backing up." At that, we both burst into peals of laughter, which probably caused the driver some embarrassment. Silly gadgets.

Rick's coming over tonight and I'm going to cook. I haven't actually cooked anything in a while. Maybe I'll just cop out and buy a ready-made meal. I'm pretty tired. I've got a lot going on and it's only going to get worse. Ya, I think I'll pick up some chicken legs from Dominion and some salad and maybe some ice cream. Nothing fancy, just tasty. Tomorrow I have to go to the bank in order to empty my line of credit. I need all the money I can get in order to get to Philly. This whole venture is going to cost around 600 bucks. I'm definitely not going to make that much back, but if I can sell a couple of originals, plus a few prints, then I can make back some of it, maybe half. It's too late to back out now, I've submitted my convention money.

I watched an older French film with Nick last night called, Mon Oncle. It was delightful and full of subtle sight gags. It's a Jacques Tati film and it was all that Nick said it would be. It's hard to explain, but it was nice.

It was a perfect day and it makes me sad that I had to spend most of it indoors. The sun was shining, the air was sharp and cold, the leaves were rustling down the streets... I love this kind of a day. Maybe this winter won't suck like last year. All the talk about El Nino giving us another hot winter seems to have stopped since this has been most of a month and a half of slightly cooler than usual temperatures. I hope it continues. Call me sentimental, but I do love a white Christmas.

I meant to do stuff today, but it seems I've gotten side-tracked with other things, namely working in Photoshop. I haven't even bothered to shower... heck, I'm still in my nightgown. It's already dark out, my day is half over. Yeesh. It's okay, actually, I'm committing my Christmas card ideas to file and arranging them for printing, tweaking the colours and giving them captions. It's not all a loss.

I've been chatting with the fellow who seems to be the power behind Cool Collecting and it looks like I'll be reviewing Philcon for the site, and possibly Pandemonium when it happens. I might offer up some sci-fi/fan art for the site, too, as he seems to be keen on that idea. Hey, good for me. Now, if only this stuff paid the bills, you know? Oh well, maybe in time. Anyway, Photoshop 7 is just dandy. It's a lot like 6, but has some new handy features and it seems a little better laid out. I'm having fun.

My downstairs neighbour, who lives in the basement, is the landlord's brother. I've never met him, but we put our rent cheque under his door everymonth. Anyway, I'm pretty sure it's him that smokes, and the smells waft up through the vents. He smokes cigarettes, which smell vile, and he partakes of good old marijuana. I never used to be bothered by that smell, it's sort of pleasant, but it's less pleasant when I'm not participating in it. Something I almost never do, anymore. He does it pretty commonly, though, and it's quickly lost it's charm. I can smell it right now, in fact. The fumes were part of the reason why Nick covered his vent with duct tape. I'm thinking about putting a note in his door that says something to the effect of, "Hi, could you crack a window when you smoke up? I don't enjoy it coming through my vents. Thanks from the second floor." It's not very rude, it's not angry, it's just a reminder that there are other people sharing this house and the smoke. I might just do that.

I feel kind of Christmassy today. I'm listening to Handel's Messiah right now. Tanya will be performing it with the choir she's in, and I would love to hear her sing it; however; it conflicts with plans that I already have. Hopefully, Rick and I will be able to go see it performed by the TSO and the Mendelsohn Choir later in December. Few things raise the hair on my neck as much as, "The trumpet shall sound..." I remember once seeing The Messiah performed (as we did every year) at St. George United in north Toronto and feeling very sleepy. I could hardly keep my eyes open, and not because I didn't enjoy it, but I knowing that I couldn't fight it, I whispered to my mother, "Wake me up at the trumpet part." I didn't need to be woken up, I opened my eyes just seconds before it happened. I must have slept through the Hallelujah chorus and everything. I missed most of the second half, I guess, but for the trumpet, I awoke. I think it's sort of symbolic.

WAHOO !!!! Natasha is alive... ALIIIIIVE ! My computer lives ! *cackles insanely*

I've not a lot to report, other than I've put my cheque in an envelope for Philcon in mid December, and have a link to an article about Astronomicon featuring ... me. There's some weird bolding going on around most of my quote, which missed the last paragraph of it, but whatever. I'm mentioned along with a couple of other nifty artists and that makes me feel pretty good. (Aparently this will be fixed soon enough...)

Oh, and I've taken a quizz. Here is the result:


What Was Your PastLife?

"Good morning, good morning ! It's great to stay up late... Good morning, good morning, to you !" Before it was the Viagra commercial, it was a number from Singing in the Rain. It's stuck in my head, and I lamented this fact to Bonnie, a coworker, and she reminded me that it originally came from the movie (not the Viagra commercial) and it's that super number where they dance on the couch. Riiiiight. That doesn't really help get it out of my head, and rather than just the Viagra guy dancing down the street, I now how Gene Kelly dancing on a couch, too. I don't want to associate Gene with Viagra. That's just plain wrong.

Thursday night was the big high-rollin' gala for the opening of Elite Elegance, the new couture exhibit at the ROM. This gorgeous affair was for the big spending members and their friends. Yours Truly volunteered and it was a completely enjoyable experience. I would say that 90% of the people in attendence were extremely polite, incredibly well mannered, and often very nice. The other 10% were nasty, rude, arrogant sons of baguettes - the sort of people who give all rich people a bad name. I had a great time, enjoying the social aspect, the free drinks (yes, on the house, kids), the incredible food (even if the ROM folk had to eat it in Druxy's), the fashion show, music, exhibit, and, of course, dressing up. I could give more details, but it would take too long. Let's just say that I would be happy to work another such event, any time.

On Friday, I smuggled Sandra into the Elite Elegance members' preview despite her not being a member and she enjoyed it thoroughly. Tanya and Chris picked us up from the ROM and we all drove to Sandra's house where Carrie eventually turned up. We discussed the dresses and the possible style variations, etc., and Tanya was nearly in tears at the thought that she could personalise the outfit. "You mean I get to choose?" she gasped with joy. Yes, Tanya, there really is a Santa Claus.

Saturday was the wine tasting at Carrie's parents' house in Lindsay, to which I brought Rick. There were no fireworks between Tanya and Ryan, or Colleen, and the food was delicious. Oh, and the wine was tasty, too. Rick and I went the wrong way and headed a third of the way back to Toronto, finally realising our mistake at the town of Oakwood. One day, I'll make it to Carrie's without getting lost. One day. Rick and I were the last to leave, chatting with Carrie and her family a bit at the end. Al and Carrie both seemed to be happy with what I've got done on their invitation, Al running off to show his parents in the middle of me asking Carrie for suggestions. I'm pretty pleased with it, myself.

Sunday, Rick and I hung out at Mom's enjoying home cooking and the music of Peterborough's new Youth Orchestra. The orchestra was put together by Michael, the PSO's musical director and conductor, only in September and amazingly, they were very good. They played the work of some rather interesting composers, including Bartok, Grieg, and Borodin. This was not your average junior high spring concert. No, this was good stuff. I also managed to get a number of Christmas cards done, which will hopefully be marketed at the Soup and maybe a couple of other places in Toronto.

I have to go to the bank today to get a money order in US funds for Philcon. I have to mail it out this week in order to get the advanced price. I don't actually want to attend the whole show, but it's the only way I can get my art in. If I don't sell well at the show, I'm afraid I'm going to end up in even worse financial shape. On a related note, I've been commissioned to do a fantasy work for Christmas. I said I could, and it's for a friend, but honestly, when am I supposed to get it done? I need the money, though. Granted, I'm probably more expensive than she thinks, and she might not be able to afford me, in which case, I won't worry about it. I'll know by tonight.

Add to that, the fact that I'm probably going to get extra work back out at the front entrance of the museum doing what I used to do, and that's not a whole lot of time. Yes, that's right, it looks very much like Richard's going to get me some hours doing site sales over the holidays. I plan to take a holiday following New Years in order to get a break. There's another convention mid-January, here in Toronto, which I plan to attend, so it will give me time to recover. I'll be selling (and competing with) my dioramas again. Anyway, I have a month to get just about everything done. I'm planning to have the invitations done by this weekend. I have to have prints made this week, three pieces framed next week, and through out this time, I'm going to be working on the commission. Plus, I'll be in Philly for six days and working my ass off. Holy crap.

I've got a big fat ROM sticker on my forehead right now. Clearly, my fellow membership colleagues are completely comfortable with me, as not one of them has commented on it. I will remove it from my face before I go volunteer at the Material Ball tonight.

I'm helping to usher people to where they need to be. It's a big do for the swanky members - the ones who donate lots of money - in honour of the opening for Elite Elegance, a couture exhibit celebrating the high fashion of the 1950s. I'm only volunteering for two reasons: 1) for the fashion show and, 2) in order to dress in evening wear. I'm such a gussy-slut. I'll do plenty in order to get gussied up. The food and dancing are fair reasons, as well.

It's too bad that I woke up at 5:30am with a migraine, but happily, though I came to work two hours late, I feel a good deal better now. I blame the chocolate that I've been eating, the Rockets candy at work, the weather, and probably the lemon gin and tonic I had last night, which was light on the gin, heavy on the lemon. Anyway, I'm alright now, though there's a sort of weightiness over my eyes that I probably won't shake until tomorrow morning.

On Monday night, I went to Ryan's to play some Mordheim with him. I made a bad decision, opting to go as the attacker in a break-through match, forgetting that though my Sisters of Sigmar are stronger than his Skaven, I was one character short. Of all the characters, it was the heaviest hitter, the Matriarch, so in the end I had to surrender. Colleen came home toward the end of our game and flounced about, griping about someone at the opera company, but eventually, having enjoyed a chocolate that I gave her, she settled down and relaxed. She is soooo highly strung, my God. I do get some great enjoyment out of the fact that they've got this fancy, expensive apartment in a trendy part of town, with air conditioning, etc., and yet, they are being harrassed by their crazy downstairs neighbour. I can smile and nod knowingly, having experienced that myself when I lived on Manning ("I tell you ! No boys ! No boys ! I call my son, he come ! No boys ! Oh, oh, oh.") Not only that, but they've been getting a free ride on their hydro for the last few months and just got hit with a $500 bill. Heh. So, I guess it's not all that it's cracked up to be.

Rick and I had a lovely time on Tuesday night. We had a date ! You stop having dates after a while, you just start going out to the restaurants you like, and stuff, but I got a little gussied up and transformed the event into a date. We ate at our favourite Indian restaurant, Red Rose, by Honest Ed's, and then walked along Bloor to Spadina (I stopped in at Midoco and bought... Letraset ! Of all things...). We went back to his place, etc., etc.. When I came back home following work the next day, Willi didn't even appear to have noticed me. My cat is fickle.

Tomorrow Tanya (and maybe her boyfriend Chris) is coming into the city in order to get fitted at Sandra's. Inevitably, the fitting will turn into a social call, but that's half the fun. Tanya's spending the night and then we're all heading into Lindsay (near the Petes) on Saturday to attend the wine-tasting and dinner at Carrie's parents' place. That should be super fun. Rick and I will be going, Ryan and Colleen, and Tanya (hopefully with Chris), Richie, Bill, Sherrie and various significant others and family. Rick and I will spend the night at my mother's house, and she's invited us to come along to the Peterborough Children's Orchestra primiere concert. The tickets are cheap, so what the hey?

Such a long time since my last update, partially due to my ongoing lack of computer, and partially because even though I ended up staying at Mom's until this past Thursday, I had the flu.

Thursday night, I went to the Royal with Juliane, which was great fun - like old times. I wish I'd felt better for it, but there's nothing to be done. At least I was able to go at all. Juliane is looking extremely healthy, and quite happy. We talked about old times and new times and generally had a good evening together. She's working on finishing her undergraduate degree at Mac, and she plans to take a year off between that and her teaching certification in order to ride full time again.

Happily, the dressage kurs that were ridden, mostly did not suck, and two were even performed so well that I could chance to call them very good. The Gambler's Choice competition was very odd. The riders get to choose their course as every fence is weighted with a value and there are neither ground lines nor directional flags. The point is to rack up as many points in just over a minute's time as possible. It was keen.

It really showed off the mature riders compared to the younger ones, and the horses' agility really came into question. I noted that the riders were mostly using their smaller, athletic horses over their more typical mounts. The jumps were not as difficult as a normal stadium course, but the competitors had to make some really fancy roll-backs to get over the fences they'd decided on.

Friday was... HARRY POTTER and the Chamber of Secrets ! Rick met up with me at Al and Carrie's where we had delivery Chinese food. It was tasty (oh, that greasy chicken) and we watched last year's Potterific flick just to get us pumped. I think I enjoyed this one as much as the first, and possibly even moreso, though it will probably take another viewing to know for sure. I might also re-read the book as I couldn't remember what bits had been cut out.

Saturday, Rick and I went back to the Royal, but this time without tickets for the horseshow. After the adventure of finding a parking space we went in and found food. Rick was very tolerant of my desire to pet every creature's nose, pull on their lips, scratch their necks, and blow in their nostrils... He thinks I'm weird, but the animals love me for it. More beernuts were eaten than absolutely necessary, and altogether, it was very much fun. I griped about the little hunty girls 'working' (I use that term VERY loosely) their ponies in the warm-up ring and looked longingly at the horse-for-sale ads pegged up everywhere. I indulged myself in a new dressage whip - it was very cheap ! Finally, after several hours of manure and animal sounds we decided it was time to go. When we came out, everything was dusted with snow.

The snow continued all night and long into the following day, and last night, the official word was an accumulation of between 18 and 22cm throughout Toronto. I took a short walk yesterday afternoon, to get some air and enjoy the beauty of the snow. There are few things in life that I enjoy as much as a tromp through clean white snow. I had to peel off my coat and pants, hat and mitts, to let them dry over the banister. I had a cup of hot chocolate and some soup and set to work on A&C's invitations. I think I'm going to do the final piece on heavy watercolour paper, but for now, I'm roughing out colours and designs on tracing and computer paper. I experienced honest boredom last night for the first time in years. I'd worked on the invites, and did some costume work for the movie, finished reading Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, and then absolutely was at a loss. Nick saved the day by producing the movie, Donnie Darko, which was so bloody cool ! Cool and it unexpectedly made me cry at the end. It was a shame that it didn't do well in theatres, but it's definitely worth the rent.

Tonight, I'm hammering (hopefully) Ryan in a game of Mordheim. We'll see how that goes.

Yesterday was the perfect day to play with horses, at least it was as far as I'm concerned. I called my friend Jenn in the Petes and joined her and her sweet new boyfriend, Jeremy, out at her barn where they were busy cleaning it. I played with her horses and got all muddy and dirty (horses just love chewing my leather jacket) with her in-your-face mother-son team of Lucy and Neo. Both horses were doing creative things with burrs in their manes and tails. Most charming. We talked a long time, not getting much cleaning done while I was there.

Some time later, Jenn's father came into the barn to see if we'd go help him feed the calves. Jenn's family opperates a big dairy farm and they've got a lot of calves to look after. The three of us trooped over and were handed buckets of fresh milk to give the babies and then water to the older ones who were being weaned (milk in the morning, water at night). If you ever thought calves were demure, think again, they bunted the buckets, slurped loudly, slopped the milk... it was super fun. If you stuck out your fingers, they'd try to nurse from them, which felt pretty neat. All in all, when I returned home, I stank of horse and cow manure, had milk slobber all over my pants, horse slobber all over my jacket, my hair had been chewed, my hands were sticky, and the cuffs of my jeans were mucky brown. It was great !

I'm not feeling so hot today. Sitting at work, early in the day, I kept feeling my face heat up, and Bonnie noticed that I was flushed. A potential mild fever seemed the culprit when I discovered that the ROM had not started over compensating with warm air (it's usually freezing in here), rather, it was me, feeling very warm. Now I'm sitting here freezing, with my jacket on, and hacking my lungs out. All this does not bode well for me, especially since I just shook off my unrelentingly irksome cold. Oh well, I'm off to the Petes once more tonight, just for the night, so as to provide moral support for my Mom who's a bit nervous about going into the sleep clinic tomorrow.

Tonight, after work, I'm running off to the Royal to pick up tickets for Thursday's horse show. Juliane and I will be going and I'm quite excited. I haven't seen her in a few years and attending the Royal with her is one of life's more delicious experiences. I'm not sure of what we like more, the horses or making fun of the horsey snobs. I hope there are still some decent seats left. I would seriously hate to have a pillar in my face. After the Royal on Thursday, I'm going to go back to Hamilton with Juli and spend the night in order to have a bit of a visit and to help her hang some art at a conferrence/exhibition thing at MacMaster. It should be fun, so I'm really hoping that today's poopiness doesn't amount to anything serious.

I'm having a super weekend at Mom's ! Huzzah ! I spent most of today helping her in the garden, which was something I had promised to do with her. It's very warm this weekend, compared to the chilly weather of the past two weeks, so this was perfect. As it's supposed to rain tomorrow, it's good that we got out today. We took down the birdhouses, and cleaned and put away the garden furniture, and tidied things, spending aroud three hours just enjoying the out-of-doors. Melody (one of the cats), was in and out all day, while Chester (the one that was adopted out of the cold several years ago) generally avoided setting foot over the threshold . He's turned into a lazy wimp. Willi watched us through the den windows, hissing intermittantly at Melody through the glass. It was a lot of fun and made the hot chocolate taste extra delicious when we sat down to enjoy it after we were done. For this, I ended up missing D&D, which had been rescheduled from last week. Ryan had told me he'd try to run it on Sunday, in order for me to attend, but I guess that plan never really materialised, so in this case, my mother won out. And it was well worth it.

Last night, Mom and I saw the Lipizzaners at the Memorial Centre or whatever it's called - the hockey arena here in the Petes - and it was GREAT ! We saw them a number of years ago, I must have been in my early teens, and now, knowing so much more about dressage than I did then (and my mother, too), this performance was so much better. Additionally, the arena was a much smaller venue than at Exhibition Place creating a much more intimate setting that provided everyone attending with excellent views and a proximity to the horses that are normally reserved only for the wealthy sitting in their boxes. Yes, sure the riders aren't the -real- Spanish school riders, but they're trained dressage riders and their leaders certainly know what they're doing. What was super nifty was that six out of the eight riders were women. Keen ! Through the whole event, the one thought that kept coming back into my head was, "Man, would I ever love to ride on this tour..." Boy, would I. It was a wonderful event and I am most pleased to have gotten to see it. Thanks, Mom !

So, in the real world, we're surrounded by Republicans, but in the world of Television, Bartlett has just been re-elected as President. Oh God, do I ever wish that The West Wing was real life and that Bartlett really was President... Hell, even Martin Sheen - from what I understand, he's a very involved, left-wing activist actor. You know, there have been few TV shows that I've ever wanted to be -IN- (ST:TNG, The Aventures of Black Beauty, You Can't Do that On Television, and The Muppet Show, are all that come to mind), but I'd LOVE to be a part of Th'Wing.

The old volunteers are at it again, though so far they haven't mentioned the Second World War or the Bismark. No, today it's politics. I think they're all Liberals, but it's hard to tell from the way their opinions change from moment to moment. One of them was gushing about the wonderful transit system they have in San Diego, which was sort of interesting to me since I do enjoy riding transit just about everywhere I go. I don't know why, but it's sort of fun. Anyway, since San Diego doesn't get weather, having it all out-of-doors probably wouldn't fly so well here.

Here's something keen: I've been asked to submit some art (of the variety shown at Astronomicon) and some thoughts on conventions, etc., for The Collector, which I believe is a magazine. Now that is totally keen. KEEN ! My first time hanging art at a con' and I sparked interest. Go me ! Maybe it's going to be worthwhile afterall. Gosh, I hope so. Thankfully, I do have some of it kicking around on some CDs since Natasha is still quite thoroughly disfunctional.

Huh, I seem to be missing the first five months of my weblog archive. Oh well.

On Sunday, Rick and I went to Burlington to join the rest of his family in celebrating his grandparents' (on his father's side) 50th wedding anniversary. Wowzers, were there ever a lot of people there that I'd never met before. Aunts and uncles and cousins and then some; all too many of them saying things like, "I've heard so much about you, Maya..." If there's one thing I have to say about Rick's family, they are an amazing cross-section of society engaging in all sorts of varied and interesting lives. I especially enjoyed his Uncle Michael and his Finnish wife (Karda? something like that) who live in Orleans.

Brunch was had at The Waterworks in Burlington and it was quite splendid. If you wanted an omlette, they made one right there in the open and brought it. If you wanted waffles, they were making them right behind the omlette guy. It was a grand buffet with poached salmon and various seafood, eggs benedict and many varieties of bread, salads, and marvelous desserts. I particularly enjoyed the creme caramel. Following the brunch, we all headed to an Aunt's house, I forget which aunt it was. There was a small, overly excited dog, and lots of champagne. It was very nice and all sorts of people cried during Dick's (Rick's grandfather) speech. It was very nice. We ended up staying until after 4pm when I decided it would be good to hit the road. It was a really nice day.

I'm back to three days a week at the ROM, which sucks, but since Tony and Aman are now working one day each, it was bound to happen. Unfortunately, it means that I'm back to the old job search. I hate looking for work, and I'm a job snob, which makes it even more difficult. I won't wait tables, I won't tend bar, and I am not a secretary. Yup, I'm a job snob, alright. Mom and I didn't spend all that money on my education in order for me to work crappy jobs. New Media hasn't come out with new job opportunities, though, so I'm kind of screwed. I've actually considered speaking to Richard about going back down to site sales on weekends... but I'm not at that point just yet. If only Revelations were paying me for all my storyboarding, but it's not.

Willi's been incredibly snuggly this week and I'm not sure why. She's never been big on the lap-sitting or even the companionable sitting-beside-you kind of thing, but for over a week now, she's been exactly that. She's settled into a routine (for now) that mostly lets me sleep through the night and mostly, she's there beside/on me, or under the covers. I certainly don't mind; it's cozy. I spend more time with her now that I have no computer, too, which may have something to do with it, though with her, who knows.

Well, that's about all I've got to say today. The Republicans have taken over, which leads me to believe that the democrats are just so disheartened they didn't see the point in voting. It's disheartening and just a little scarey.

The world is full of people who have never, since childhood, met an open doorway with an open mind.
-- E.B. White

I was in Rochester on Friday. How nifty is that? Okay, not very, I'll grant you, as people have been driving to Rochester since the invention of the automobile and even long before that in horse and buggy. I don't care. It was nifty. Strangely, it was pretty nifty to be in Buffalo, too.

Megan and I left Toronto around 11am, which was about an hour later than we'd intended. The roads were good, the day was beautiful, there was music on the radio and plenty to talk about. I had downloaded fully detailed directions from Mapquest to take me from Toronto to the Albright Knox and from there to the Four Points Sheraton in Rochester. Clearly, Mapquest is what you need in order to navigate the roads of Buffalo. We didn't get lost at all, not even once ! We listened to The Edge 102.1 all the way to Buffalo where the signal died, and found Q 107 was still coming in nice and strong.

We changed some currency just before the border (phew, good thing we remembered), and then crossed over at the Queenston-Lewiston bridge. I will NEVER take the Peace bridge again if I can avoid it. There were no line-ups to get through and the customs people were 100% nicer - in BOTH directions. There was a Modigliani show at the Albright Knox, which wasn't bad, but since it was called, "Modigliani and the artists of Montparnasse", there really ought to have been a greater emphasis on his contemporary artists. They did have a very good selection of Modigliani works, but there were perhaps two works, at most, of the other artists (Picasso, Brancussi, De Chirico, etc.). Another point that would have strengthened the exhibit would have been hanging the African and Oceanic art that inspired these artists. It would have been incredible to see the sort of mask that influenced one facial type of Modigliani or Picasso, or the fertility sculptures that were the influence behind some Modi's caryatid designs. Anyway, we didn't really have a lot of time to check out the rest of the museum, but I do plan to go back. On the recommendation of Leonard, the security guard, we went and had a quite decent lunch at the Towne Restaurant, a Greek-American diner near downtown Buffalo. We discovered that there ARE nice parts of Buffalo and LOTS of interesting stores. Remind me to go antiquing there when I have money, some day.

When we left the museum, the ground and trees were dusted with snow, and this fragile coating continued all the way to Rochester. Hello November ! It was gorgeous ! We passed a sign on the road for a town called, Churchville, and we decided that it was a secret residential compound of, as of yet, undiscovered Muslims. We did a lot of laughing through out the entire trip, which was nice. Once we were at the hotel, we found the art room and the auction director and I set about getting my stuff up. I picked a panel between two crappy artists (one doing that shite tv character montage art that makes me queasy) in order to stand out. We had a lot of fun hanging my work and then strolling through the rest of the art show discussing the generally cheesy art. Ruth Thompson was hanging work there, though, and that was cool. She's a pretty keen old-school fantasy artist who's done work for Dragon and Dungeon magazines and for Magic: the Gathering cards. Man, she was a kick-ass lady. I liked her a lot.

So, after catching some coffee and free food in the Con Suite, we hit the road again. There was significant heavy weather mid-way between Rochester and Buffalo, which was sort of startling since the snow had stopped everywhere else. We literally rounded a bend in the highway and hit 5-8cm thicknesses of half-frozen snow and slush. Suddenly there were cars all over the place but not on the road and emergency vehicles everywhere. The white sedan that had passed us at a ridiculous speed was being hoisted up onto a flatbed as we drove past. It was insane. I was most thankful to have a recently tuned car that happened to have a full range of 4-wheel drive. Other than that, nothing else eventful happened. Just more laughing and talking and singing to the songs on the radio. We did have one humourous moment at a Sunoco station when I suddenly realised that I had no idea how much a gallon of gas was. "Megan, do you know how much a gallon is?" Her response, "No idea. Is gas cheaper or more expensive in here than it is in Toronto?" My answer: "How should I know? I don't know what a gallon is in litres !"

More to come when next I'm at a computer.

Having a fried hard drive sucks donkey balls.

...

Well, it does.