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.

Punch Drunk Love. Everyone who has seen it that I have spoken to says it is incredible. But, come on, Adam Sandler in a serious role? No poo-poo humour? Whatever. And yet, I was intrigued. I am, afterall, a fan of Adam Sandler and his poo-poo humour. I have enjoyed him for years. And I wanted to see Punch Drunk Love. Last night, Rick and I saw it. And it was... incredible. Sandler was marvelous as Barry Egan and yes, though it was a role written especially for him, he really does act. It's funny. It's very funny, but it's surprisingly warm and heartfelt, and from the very opening scene, the movie holds it's viewers enraptured.

It is a movie about what can happen when a man brings an harmonium into his life.

Continuing the filmic theme of this entry, this morning was the ROM staff preview of the new Lord of the Rings exhibit at the planetarium. Though it was being held at an ungodly time, 8:30am to 9:30am, huge numbers of staffers came in, like me, early, just to see this exhibit. I saw the one at Casa Loma last year and this one is better. It's not as long, mostly because at Casa Loma, the exhibit stretched from one part of the castle to the other, in the attic, through the underground tunnel... I liked the atmosphere at Casa Loma better, but frankly, this exhibit was amazing. It's designed by the actual set designers from the films. It's pretty good. And the Deadmarsh is... spooky. I'm definitely going to go back. There was a lot I didn't get to see.

Oh, and I went dressed up. Yep. Was there any question? It's Hallowe'en, after all, and I'm not one to miss an opportunity like that. I'm wearing my black puffy-sleeved shirt, one of my black vests (the one with the coin trimming), my bondage pants, and the 'Sith' robe that Nicole gave me for my birthday. I got a great reaction from some corporate types waiting for the elevator when I stepped out. And inside the exhibit, someone said, "Oh, I think she's from the wrong side of the Shire." Hee hee !

Have a safe and happy Samhain and Hallowe'en.

Some days, coffee just isn't enough. Even highly sweetened coffee. I'm just feeling so burnt out today.

Anyway, let me recap some points from my weekend back in the Petes. The Pink Ribbon Ball, held at the Trentwinds, was quite nice, until the band started. Man. Kountry Klassics. The name says it all, unfortunately. I did enjoy a nice two-step with Mom's friend, Wayne, however. The food was good and the auction was fun. After a while, though, Mom and I began to really feel uncomfortable with the ultra-couply atmosphere.

I helped Mom bring in her fish on Sunday. It was a bit chilly, especially when our hands were submerged in the water, but ultimately, it was an adventure and it all ended up quite successful. As an update to this story, sadly, yesterday, Mom discovered a bit too late that there was a hairline crack in the coy basin in the basement. While she was able to save Papa Coy, Mama Coy ended up asphixiating in the shallow water where the circulation pump could not reach. Sad news, but for four years, Mama Coy lived a very happy, fishy life and grew to be an enormous 16" long.

My hard drive is indeed toasted. I did consider data recovery as I really am loathe to lose my stories and old university essays, not to mention the art and music, too. Data recovery would just be too expensive so I'm just going to let this slip away and consider it a fresh start. The hard drive is, thankfully, still under warranty, so I'll be able to get a replacement from the company.

Yesterday, Scarlette's alternator blew in the parking lot right by the ROM. I spent the greater portion of my morning with a very pleasant tow-truck driver named Eric, and the first half of the afternoon at a friendly CAA garage near my house called Bento's Auto Repair, or some such. So, close to 300 dollars later, Scarlette was running quite smoothly. Couple this with the exhaust leak I had just had fixed and I have one nicely running car. Anyway, so much for being ahead of the Eight Ball this month. I'll be living on credit until next week's paycheque.

Tonight, Rick's taking me to see Punch Drunk Love and we're going to eat some sushi. Whee ! A date. Tomorrow, we're going to Al and Carrie's to help them hand out candy to children. I think I'll have to bring some art stuff over to their house, too, though, because I need to finish matting my artwork for the convention in Rochester. Megan and I are driving there and back on Friday. Exciting !

Today's name of the day at the ROM is Michael. Actually, it's been more like the name of the week. I've entered so many Michael's into the membership database that you would think it would go out of style. The web address of the day is definitely thejaggededgegroup.com, just for the name alone. It would have to be for the name, since there's nothing on the page yet.

I had my first Krispy Kreme doughnut today. It was... kind of tasty, but really sweet, and it had this weird texture and I didn't need to chew. I'm sorry, but... shouldn't you have to chew a doughnut? You'd think. Calvin, at work, says you should have them nuked, because 'they're just like angel wings'. I'll take his word for it. Anyway, I had said doughnut at a membership/foundation coffee mixer, or something, this morning. Of course, the point was to mingle together, but membership talked to membership and foundation talked to foundation. It's like foundation views membership as it's poor relation, or something. That said, I think it fair to point out that the coffee was quite delicious.

My commute in to the city from the Petes this morning was quite extraordinary. The sun was coming up and had cast a rosey glow over all of the clouds in the very blue sky. The light itself had that special fragility of autumn sunlight, that clear brightness that can only barely chase away the frost. And there was frost. There was a delicate silver coating over all the umber and chocolate shades of grass along the highway; with the coloured leaves above it was even more beautiful. Add to that how quickly the drive passed and how smoothly the traffic moved and I could almost persuade myself that I should move back to Peterborough and commute in to work.

Almost.

...

And, this just in: Bad news.

Your computer and Maxtor's own diagnostic tools are unable to detect
your hard drive. The clunking noise means the power is working, computer
knows that something is attached, but is unable to follow-through with
the detection process.

I tried switching ide cables, power cables, and primary/secondary
positions on the motherboard. (As well as using another computer.) The
problem is definitely the hard drive itself, which will need to be sent
to a professional recovery center if you are to recover any data.

There's http://www.cdrdatarecovery.com/ in toronto that advertises an
"under $500" special.. They might not be a bad option, since they don't
charge you if they can't get any data. Or try a big US company like
http://www.drivesavers.com/.

What a recovery center can do is replace the drive components in a
cleanroom or move the disk platters to a new drive altogether, that sort
of thing. It isn't cheap, but you have to decide how much of your
time/money your data is worth to you.

This terrible, terrible news comes straight from Derek who was doing an autopsy on Natasha. And just this time last week I was trilling joyfully about her. I should have backed up her files... I kept meaning to, but just never got around to it. I've been so busy. And now I want to cry. I guess Mom and I will discuss the options tonight.

In a pleasant moment of complete distraction, I decided to look up spider pictures on the 'net. Yep, it was definitely distracting, speaking as an arachnaphobe. I found this very nifty site that has some great information on it and especially enjoyed its unidentified spiders page. Then there was this other page about the spiders of the Dolomites, which wasn't terribly interesting, but it does sport some nice photos. My favourite is the top photograph of this page because it makes me smile. I mean, look at it's adorable face ! It's got its happy mask on. The whole reason I decided to waste time like this was because of the spider that was in my dream last night. I wanted to see if it was a real species. I'm still not sure, but I did see one spider that looked similar, at least in shape.

I had a wonderful car moment last night when I was driving home from work. I was sitting in traffic on Davenport listening to Disc Drive on CBC2, when I glance out my window at the car exactly beside me. There, stopped in traffic heading the other way, was an almost identical Subaru - a slightly later model Loyale, I think. Even the colour was almost the same. The woman behind the wheel, in her later middle age with a similar style as my mother, was looking at Scarlette with a big smile on her face. I grinned and gave her the thumbs-up, which she answered with her own. Hurray for old-school Subaru owners !

So, it turns out that the only person to remark on my entry about apostrophes and Old English was Tanya, who got quite professorish at me as she gave me a lecture about Old English vs. Middle English. Usually, such emails come from Nick, so this was a bit of a surprise. Of course, I'm opting to completely disregard her opinion, because... well, because I can. Hah ! Anyway, at least the entry sparked some controversy, though not at all about apostrophes or semi-colons. Actually, Tanya's email was quite interesting and did spark some return discussion from me. She's right, but I think I'm also right, at least to a degree, and maybe we'll have to leave it at that. The thing with history, especially the history of language, is that since no one was THERE to record it, we cannot ever know for sure. Maybe, to better qualify terms like Old English, we should make a broader scale that reflects demographic changes and whatnot.

Proto English - pre 300CE
Early English - 300-1066CE
Old English - 1066-1350CE
Middle English - 1350-1700CE
Modern English - 1700 onward
American Spelling - ongoing problem

And then anyone who deviates from said scale, can be drawn and quartered, or beheaded, or flayed, or hanged, or shot, depending on the time period they're referring to. Is that a bit over the top? Perhaps. Okay, well, I still think my list should stand. Tanya, your thoughts? ;)

Natasha's hard drive has blown. This is very bad. Very, very bad; no idea if it's recoverable. I almost went into appoplectic shock today when discussing what this could mean with my computer savvy boss. Strangely, when it happened, I was completely calm. I just shut it down and it restarted with this weird message: Boot Failure Insert Boot Disk and Press Enter. Or something to that effect. I just turned her off and then expected all to be well the following day. Sadly, this was not to be. I've now called Techknight and hopefully he'll be able to work a miracle. There are at least seven years worth of documents saved in her brain and several of them I desperately do not wish to lose. :(

Today, at work, I'm running a list. I'm checking it twice. I'm finding out who's been naughty or nice. And I can assure you that I'm ready for a stiff drink. This is hell. Calvin and I have both been working on this list of ROM volunteers trying to match them to memberships (a prerequisite to volunteering), only we seem not to be able to standardise our search techniques. I've been through this list of hundreds twice already, Calvin at least that many times, maybe more, and guess what we'll be doing together this afternoon? Yep. All over again. Feel my joy.

I'm off to Peterborough tonight, with Willi, in order to have my car worked on tomorrow. I'll take the Greyhound back to Toronto (leaving Willi with Mom) tomorrow morning in order to get to work on time. Yay? No. Anyway, on Friday night, I'll head back out to the Petes for the weekend. I will be attending the Pink Ribbon Ball in support of breast cancer research. So, I guess I will have to haunt the corn maze next year. Anyway, this will be more back and forth to Peterborough in a week than I've done since I moved out of residence at the end of my second year.

I was rear-ended again today. Yes, again. It's becoming something of a running joke only I do not find it terribly humourous, especially when the driver at fault tries to bully me. Anyway, 20 minutes late for work, but otherwise completely fine and Scarlette unscathed; it's all good.

I watched a lot of TV last night, which is quite bizarre for me, but I got a costume design done for the fan film and spent time bonding with Willi (who has finally forgiven me for 'abandoning' her when I went to the cottage) and also Nick. One shouldn't bond too closely with Nick, though, because he's liable to do something that he won't regret... but you might. He found a link to a woman reading The Canterbury Tales in the Old English. Gosh, it sounded beautiful and the language sort of permiated my skull and became perfectly understandable. I've remarked on it before, but Old English sounds a lot like Dutch.

Well, Wilson is no longer with the ROM, choosing instead, the tricky road to employment in Hong Kong. Tony Tran is up here now, and while he's a nice and funny guy, things just won't be the same without Wilson leaning around the divider saying, "Maya you so mean ! You so mean, Maya. I call you DJ Meanie because you so mean. Why you so mean to me?" What a nut. I wish him well. Apparently the job market in Hong Kong is very difficult, so he'll need all the good wishes he can get. Anyway, having Tony coming upstairs (he, like me, began with site-sales) will likely mean I'll lose some of my hours since the whole reason I've been working full-time has been because we've been short-staffed. Maybe I'll get some extra work from New Media. I hope.

To change the topic completely, a few weeks back, Rick sent me a link to the Apostrophe Protecion Society. I think he did it as something of a joke, knowing that I have a real beef with how badly abused language has become. Apostrophes, semi-colons, colons, when used incorrectly, as well as double negatives, make me crazy. Anyway, I emailed the chairman of the Society and he emailed me in response. Here is my letter to him:

...I am driven to distraction by improper apostrophe placement as well as other
common grammatical horrors. I can't help it, I was raised by well degreed
mother who also happened to teach English to functionally illiterate college
students.

Have you considered creating a sibling society about the proper use of
semi-colons? I believe that is another horribly abused punctuation mark...

His response:

...What a very encouraging email to receive. Thanks. As you say, it will be
a fight, but there seem to be plenty of people who still have respect for
grammar. I don't think I can start protecting the semi-colon, but if you
like to start an appropriate society, let me know. I will certainly join.
Best wishes - John

Isn't that neat? Now watch, everyone will start emailing me when I make grammatical errors in my weblog. I guess that's the price I have to pay. Anyway, I'd love to start a Semi-colon Protection Society. Anyone know how one does such a thing?

Apparently, Elfwood does not believe that what I do with lead miniatures is original art. Okaaaay. I'm not sure what makes them different than people having inked a work but having had someone else paint it, or vise versa. Sometimes, Elfwood's rules piss me right off. I guess my portfolio page is going to have to get a serious face-lift soon, then.

Anyway, congratulations, Rick, on your buck-and-a-half raise ! *smooches*

If Elvis is flipping burgers in the south, Ernie Coombs is alive and playing pool in Peterborough.

Another long hiatus, but another valid reason. I was in the Petes with Rick, and frankly, I was too busy to even manage to check my email, let alone write in my weblog.

We had a nice time in the Petes, despite some setbacks. I had a tetnus shot that made me feel kind of less than stellar, and all our corn maze haunting intentions were foiled when Henry (since childhood, I've given this name to my vision of the weather god) decided that the skies should open and spill forth their liquid contents. Oh well. I might manage some haunting next weekend, but we'll have to see.

There was much enjoyable socialising. On Saturday, Rick and I met up with the gang (Al, Carrie, Richie, and Bill, and many others, who do not picture in the later part of this account) at a Warhammer tourney and following that, upon discovering that nothing worth mentioning was playing at the cinema, there were drinks and food at Riley's. Rick and I played some highly humourous games of pool with Richie and Bill. Richie narrowly missed Rick's boy-bits with the cue ball, and nailed me with the chalk. I swear, it was like a war zone with balls flying everywhere except where we wanted them to go. And yes, Ernie Coombs is alive and playing pool in Peterborough. The resemblance was uncanny.

Mom had Ray over for dinner on Friday night, and though the vaccination had me feeling low, it was a good time. We ate some of the game meat that we came back with from the cottage, the venison sausages. Following that, we watched Deliverance, which oddly enough, I'd never seen. Wow. They just don't make films like that anymore. Mostly, I forgot that I was watching a movie at all, the whole thing moved so naturally. Interestingly enough, they showed it on television the following night, and we managed to tune in to the interviews following it. Ronnie Cox, the actor that played Drew, said that in the year following the film's release, 31 men died on the Chattooga river (where the film was shot) trying to re-enact the story.

Sunday was the fundraising champaigne brunch in support of the Peterborough Symphony Orchestra hosted at th'Electric City Gardens. It was amazing. The champaigne, provided by the incredibly cheap Collio Estates (they donated four bottles of not very good, ultra-affordable 'champagne'), was the only thing that was not. It was fizzy white wine that was a long way from being delicious or classy. Anyway, the food was marvelous, naturally, and there was a flutist and keyboard accompaniment who played quite pleasantly. All in all, it was a success, I think, and everyone was impressed. Good job to my mom for organising the whole thing, and to Rick (he cut off the holly from the ornaments - they were Christmas tree decorations, originally), and also to me, for sitting at the computer for a couple of hours putting together the menu cards. Yay !

Okay, I'm back ! I hope everyone had a lovely Thanksgiving, or, for those of you who aren't Canadian, but think we're just another state, a happy Columbus Day.

My cottage was spectacular. Yes, it's always wonderful there, but it was extra spiffy this time, because it was so perfect. I had no pressures attached to the making of art for the expo, just time with myself, Mom, Melody (the cat we brought because she needs daily medication) and all the things I chose to spend time doing. I think it wouldn't be fair to chronicle the events as I so often do, rather I think this time I'll just high light some stand-out moments (hours). There was at least one such event each day - it was that kind of a holiday.

We arrived on Thursday, after dark, to find the house exactly as it was left. This was a wonderful thing. For the last four summers, excluding this past summer, we've rented our cottage to friends of the family. In years prior to that, often the camp was used by friends in the Montreal area on the weekends. This time, no one had been using the camp since Mom closed it up at the end of August. All the pots and pans, glasses and forks were exactly as they had been left. The bedrooms were as they had been, things stored where they were supposed to be; a rare and exquisite pleasure, simple as it is.

The first fire that we lit was a wonderful thing, too. Oh, the smell of wood smoke filling the woods and tinging the air in the cabin is one of my favourite things. I love the sound of birch when it pops and the flare of heat when I open the stove doors. It's an airtight stove, so it heats well and effeciently. The piece itself probably ways six hundred pounds and is cast iron. The house may rot back to the earth and that stove will remain. There's a lovely familiar squeak as you turn the handles to open the doors, too, sort of a chirp that signifies warmth, love, and probably my mother cursing as a log rolls off of where it should be pinning her poker beneath it. Unfortunately, Melody became the second cat we've owned to jump on it. It is a good thing her feet are tufty with fur, because she didn't burn them badly. The second cat and in both instances, neither cat could boast a remarkable mind.

I took a walk every day that we were up there. On the Saturday, I went and picked apples from the trees that stand in what were once the fields of the McEvoy farm. Monge owns it now, and has for years, but I remember when the fields were still fields, albeit overgrown. Once, crossing the stream that runs through them, my father and I fell in. Apparently my fears of crossing over a fallen tree were completely well-founded, and we both sogged our way home. I still remember how my sneakers squelched. Anyway, now the fields are choked with evergreens planted when Monge took the fields, their purpose, I suppose, eventually to be harvested for timber. Thick though they grow, they have not crushed the indomitable spirit of the old apple trees, nor, it seems, have they infiltrated the deeper areas of field. I picked a basket's worth of apples for Thanksgiving dinner. Mom makes the BEST spiced crabapples. Ever. This time, I was smart enough to greet the trees warmly and not climb about in them, as apple trees, at least in the mythology, are very... difficult. Last summer, I learned the hard way when my pants were torn quite vulgarly through the inner thighs and my knee was twisted painfully as I fell out of one tree. The trees, this time, seemed quite happy to share their burden with me, and they ended up quite delicious.

Thanksgiving dinner was great ! Mom bought a roaster, rather than toiling all day over the wood-burner in the kitchen. It was a marvelous adventure and a complete success ! Elizabeth came in from Montreal (never play cards with her, she's a shark, something we forget everytime) and Jean and Michael came up the hill to join us in our feast. We moved the dinning room table out of the 'dining room' and into the living room, near the big stove, in order to accomodate the larger number of people. The turkey was perfect, the apples were perfect, the stuffing and potatoes were perfect, the pie was perfect, and the company was better than that ! It was a memorable Thanksgiving, to be sure.

We took a drive up the Rouge River (Riviere Rouge, as the signage says) in order to see the fall colours and, as they were coming into their peak, we were not disappointed. I climbed about on the massive rocks of the river, as I often do, only this time I was bundled in a long sleeved shirt, a flannel lumber shirt, and my leather jacket. It was cold ! It had actually bottomed out at zero degrees the previous night. Anyway, Mom and I collected a pair of pebbles to take to Leo's grave and then we took the very scenic route to the cemetary. We laid the pebbles on the gravestone and then wandered in the rest of the cemetary reading some of the other names. McEvoy, McArthur, Lalonde, Poirier, MacAndrews... if anyone thinks Quebec was founded soley by French people, they just need to visit the rural cemetaries of western Quebec and the Eastern Townships; laine pur, my arse. Following our visit to Leo, we went home to enjoy leftovers. Yum !

Anyway, so now I'm back in Toronto, for the night, before gathering up my cat and boyfriend to head back to the Petes for fun over the weekend. Rick hasn't been out to the Petes in a long time, so it should be nice. We'll be haunting a corn maze the Saturday night, and enjoying a champagne brunch in support of the Peterborough Symphony Orchestra. Keen !

And finally, in other news, I finished my work on the ROM site and why am I not surprised to see that it hasn't been added to their webpage, yet? Maybe I'll drop into the IT department tomorrow when I'm in to pick up my paycheque and see Brett about it. Oh well, the work was done and now it's out of my hands.

This is going to be my last post for a little while as I'm heading to the Petes tonight and tomorrow, Mom and I will be heading to the cottage. I'm pretty excited about going; autumn is a good time up there. I can already smell the wood smoke and hear the rustle of drying leaves. The colours probably won't be terribly vibrant as they are practically nonexistant here in the city. It's just been such a lousy fall for colour. At least it's gotten cooler, though they're calling for temperatures in the low 20s later this week. Yeesh.

There's a union party at the Bedford Academy this evening, so I'm going for a bit. We'll be celebrating our new union executives and the achievement of two decent contracts. Rick will meet me here at the museum and we'll walk over. There will be finger foods and one free drink, which I'll let Rick have, and then, after I congratulate Ceceil on being re-elected as the president, I'm going to head home to pack. Derek is coming over, too, in order to pick up keys and to see how to feed Willi while Nick and I are absent. I think Willi'll be in good hands with him. He's a good egg.

I've handed over my work on the ICC page to Brett, the ROM's amazingly patient and pleasant webmaster. We made a couple more changes to it today, sitting in his office. All in all, it's not been a terribly arduous project, and I've enjoyed it quite a bit. I learned new things, and offered good suggestions, some of which were implemented, and I think it's ben a really good experience. I hope to be doing more of such work for the ROM in the future. Go me !

Anyway, back to work I go. I have plenty of stuff here that needs doing before I take off. I hope everyone has a happy Thanksgiving long-weekend. See you when I get back !

After a discussion with my mother about names I do and do not like, I have to add a few to my list of liked names: Maya (Mom got offended that I hadn't put it on, and yes, I LOVE my name), Ira, Ruth, Judas, Rachel, Matthew, James (not Jim), Solomon, and Avrum. Heavy on the Judeo-Christian names, eh? I'll also add Sebastian (and its variants), Una, Wim, and Joan. Now, as a disclaimer: If you don't see your name, I might not have thought of it, or while I might like it, it might not have quite made the list. The list is by no means complete, nor is it meant to offend. At the very least, these lists have stimulated a good amount of conversation.

I did not find Velkyn's character sheet. I suspect it is truly lost. Despite my promise not to play if I could not find it, I did end up going to Al and Carrie's afterall. I brought my wax beans and added them to the D&D dinner, and then was informed that I was to be playing afterall, because they weren't done. Okay then. I hadn't brought even my temporary sheet. Nuts. Good thing I carry dice in my purse. Shut up, you knew I was a geek.

Unfortunately, I felt the beginnings of a headache on my way over, and by the time I was eating, I knew it was a migraine. Not wanting to poop out, I took some tylenol, bringing the pain to a more tolerable, though still clinging, level, and went on with the game. My fun level was a lot lower than usual because of the pain, and when I returned to my home I washed my face and went to bed.

This morning, I felt much better; sensitive in the eyes, but altogether functional. It's a wonderful autumn day, cool, crisp, windy, with bright sunshine and a real smell of October in the air. I am wearing my velvet blazer for the first time since last winter and though smelling a bit musty, it's nice to be clothed in the old favourites again. Tonight, I'll get my work done with the ICC thing and tomorrow I'll be able to take it to the ROM's webmaster for preliminary hosting. I can't get it to look good in netscape, despite using the existing template, but IT can do something about that.

Now I'm pretty much counting down the days until I'll be at my cottage. Mom and I will be there for Thanksgiving. We haven't done that in a long time. We're going up on Thursday and we're coming back on the Tuesday, so it will be a nice long weekend. I love the cottage in the fall. I love the cottage all the time, really, but in the fall it's just so autumnally wonderful. Except for the extremely cold seat in the outhouse, anyway. :O

Willi will stay in Toronto. This will be a bit stressful for her, I know, because she's so attached to me, and with Nick doing family things for part of it, it will be even worse. Derek will be looking after things while I'm gone, so I know she'll be okay. Mom will be bringing Melody, though, leaving Chester at her house, because Melody is old and gets daily medication that we don't trust others to give. We'd just bring them all if we could, but it's hunting season and we don't really want them to be shot. It will be pretty difficult to keep them in, so it's best if we do not bring them at all. I suggested we could get them little jackets in hunter orange, but Mom did not share my enthusiasm. *laugh* Oh well.

See which Greek Goddess you are.

That was NOT the same picture that was on the website. I dunno what goddess that is, but that is not Athena. Athena had a helmet and, you know, looks kind of war-like. Anyway, on with the log.

I had a wonderful time in Guelph visiting with Tracy. The drive out was horrible what with rush hour traffic and an accident, too. It turned a drive that I can easily do in under an hour and fifteen minutes into closer to two hours. Crappy. On a positive note, the weather held off until I arrived at her place. A wicked storm blew up, soaking her bed (before it occured to us to close her bedroom window), but we were safe and sound enjoying Trey Parker's movie, Orgazmo, which I'd never seen. Man, was it crazy ! Think of it: good Mormon boy of the latter-day saints doing his mission work in LA and getting drafted into a porn flick. Don't worry, he has a stunt cock stand in for the penetration scenes. It was crude, but also very clever and totally satisfying, which has nothing to do with the porn. Really. ;)

I played with Tracy's parrot, Coral (who bit me today and drew blood, the nasty fellow), quite a bit, as well as her cat, Deedlit (spelling, anyone?). Deedlit's a bit silly, but quite forgiving because she's so darn cute, sort of like Willi. I was less impressed with her when she stepped on my face at seven in the morning, and when she and the other cat, Jasper, were wrestling in the room at various times of the night. Good wrestling, not fighting. One thing that was super neat and not something you see every day, was Tracy and Mel (her housemate) vaccinating Jasper. The cat refuses to let a vet touch him, even on a house call, so Mel was given the syringes already filled with the vaccines and was left to do it herself. She's only a second year student, though, and less comfortable with needles than Tracy, so after three missed attempts, they wrapped Jasper in a towel, Mel held him down, and Tracy gave the injection. A day in the life of a vet student? Today we also took Deedlit outside on her leash and harness. Nifty.

We went to a farmers' market this morning and bought good food, some of which I brought back for my dinner. To digress somewhat, I enjoyed two small emu-meat pies and some late corn on the cob for dinner tonight. I have wax beans for tomorrow. Hurray ! The apple seller was out of spartans, but I picked up some lovely empires for a nice low price and they are delicious. Tracy also brought me along for a tour of the vet college. She is a tour guide and I was more than happy to accompany as it allows me to live somewhat viccariously through her own experiences at the school. I enjoyed the tour very much. I got to see specimens in jars of icky siamese twin pigs and such. Pretty gross stuff. The tour was fun and the college has such a lovely atmosphere, even if parts of it smell rather a bit like preserved cadavers. When the tour was over, Tracy took me into the restricted areas to meet her sheep. She works with a lab sheep. We also walked past the equine isolation stalls and there was one horse passed out in the stall on an IV, which was pretty interesting to see. There was a gorgeous show horse in one stall and he was all excited to see people looking in the observation window and he looked very good. We couldn't figure out why he was in isolation. Then we saw the bloody mucus he left on the plexiglass. Ew. Not a good sign.

Anyway, now I'm back at home, procrastinating before A) putting the edited text into the web page and, B) looking for my long lost character sheet. If I can't find it, I doubt I'll go to D&D tomorrow. I have a lot of stuff I need to be doing, anyway. We'll see.

In case you've sent me email in the last five days and I haven't answered, this would be because Hotmail is meddling with its servers again, or something. Anyway, I know for a fact that at least two messages never came and one was delayed by three days. I also have no idea if the emails I'm sending are going out, though it does appear that for the most part they are. Back to work I go.

Heading to Guelph tonight ! Hurray ! I'm going to visit with Tracy. Initially it was to be for the whole weekend, but her father's birthday is tomorrow night and I have more work to be doing so we're driving back together in the afternoon on Saturday. Willi should be suitably upset by my absense. Little does she know that I'll be gone for most of a week over Thanksgiving. Poor girl. I'll miss her, but on the other hand, I'll enjoy getting a full night's sleep several nights in a row.

Speaking of work, which I really wasn't speaking of, I'm quite pleased. I've been working on the ICC site and had to play within the bounds of the current website template. It's a very boring template, but it's teaching me many things. I used CSS for the first time (cascading style sheets) ever. I used a tutorial first, and then recreated the ones I used in the original site. I was surprised at how easy they are to use, which, I suppose, is the point. Julian's had a look at the page and aside from a couple of typos that will be fixed tomorrow night, he thinks it looks good. Also, he's ammenable to the use of images. So, I'm going to try to get a hold of some on Monday. I was thinking of creating a sort of photo montage that can be a transparent image underneath the text. A good idea, I think, and quite tasteful.

If all goes well, I might actually be able to play D&D on Sunday, but I'm not sure. I'd like to, but first I'd like to find my character sheet. Arg ! Why is it that the important things are the first to disappear? *wink*

At half past four yesterday afternoon, I received the revised Call for Submissions. Finally. I didn't do anything with it last night since Rick was coming over so tonight's the big night. Tonight I get busy !

We watched West Wing last night, and, as usual, it was good. We watched part of that horrible Amazing Race show, and as they introduced the people, I knew I didn't care. Though, I kind of hope the strict Baptist and his gay son win. We flipped to that 50 Years of the CBC thing hosted by Rick Mercer. It was kind of funny. Last night was CBC television during the 70s. Tonight it will be the 80s. If I watch anything, though, it will likely be the CSI show. Going back to Rick Mercer for a moment, I have to wonder, why is he the CBC's golden boy lately? Yes, his Talking to Americans was funny, but I'm not sure I understand the love affair. Oh well.

Willi broke my spider plant. Again. It seems her widening hips make it hard for her to judge where to land and how to turn about on the window sill. Looks like I'll have to bite the bullet and go buy some potting soil and a new pot on Sunday. It's a good thing spider plants are nearly impossible to kill. It just goes right on sprouting babies and flowers. Rick was a good guy and cleaned up the mess that Willi had made. I couldn't deal with it this morning, not if I wanted to be on time, anyway. Big smoochy thanks to Rick for taking care of the plant.

What does one do with an incredibly irritating, adorable cat? She drives me so insane at night that I dream of declawing her. I absolutely hate declawing cats, because it mutilates their paws. I do understand that there is a new way to do it that leaves the joints intact, and I might even consider it because she can get agressive, be horribly destructive, and drives me out of my mind when she picks the bottom of my door to wake me up at night. I don't know. I love her to pieces, but she really is a pain in the ass. Oh well, who needs to sleep anyway, right?

I think I'm going insane. I keep hearing things that aren't there. I could have sworn I heard a subway door chime, but since I work on the fourth floor of the museum, it seems rather unlikely, even if the ROM is above a station. It's a creepy feeling this sensation of dwindling sanity. They say that if you think you're nuts, you probably aren't. I'm counting on that.

Last night, I went over to Megan's house. It's in a bit of turmoil since she and Chris broke up and he was finishing up moving his stuff, and her other roommate, Chantal, gave notice, too. Megan's looked better. She's put on weight and is even paler than she usually is, but it was great to see her. We've missed each other very much, neither making much effort to hold up the friendship as each of us fought our seperate private battles. We watched Buffy, which rocked, and then a new show called Haunted, which didn't entirely suck and we'll watch again, and topped it off with Angel. If I'm not working to deadline next Tuesday, we're going to do it again.

Speaking of deadlines, at least the Imaging Centre got back to me. I'll deal with that tomorrow. I've grabbed the ROM book, Worlds to Explore, which sort of takes the reader through a vague tour of the different galleries. I've already marked four images I wouldn't mind using. Of course, having the final copy to work with would be nice. I think it's time for a phone call. On top of that Dawn wants costume designs. I'm going to explode. Scream. Flail about madly. Something dramatic to appropriately show how pulled I feel. If I could just get that copy ! Gar ! *mildly freaking out*

In fairness, I shall endeavour to create a list of names that I like. This is not a list of potential baby names, I don't particularly dream of having babies, but I do have very strong preferences for certain names.

Adelaide, Stephen, David, Jude, Claire (hi mom !), Anne, Phalar, Thomas, Jack, Ben, Kieran, Megan (and with an H, but not spelled Meagan), Ian, Catherine, Emma, Aaron, Isaac, Ellen, Justin, Chavah, Olivia, Robert, Jeffrey (and with a G), Julie, Evan, Gregory, Nigel, Johanna, Nathaniel (Nathan), Jasmine, Laurel, Lucifer (shush, it means 'bringer of light'), Michael, Vivian (for either male or female),Claudia, Uriel, and Eshe.

I can hear the membership peeps discussing future 'incentives' to draw in more members and ensure that members renew. It's sort of interesting how they discuss it. It's very consumer-driven and quite mercantile. We the public don't often think about how much planning goes into the annoying direct mailings that come, or even the scripts that are used, and the trouble-shooting and scenarios that must be considered. They're also discussing hospital visits and injuries, but I guess it can't be all work, all the time, eh?

I took a walk at lunch today; headed over to the Manulife Centre to buy some stuff at the Pharma Plus there. I couldn't help but marvel at today. The previous warm weather record was set in 1988 at 27C, but today it hit 28C (go, Toronto?!) and did actually make 34C with the humidex, but because there's a gentle breeze, and the sun's not so high in the sky, it doesn't feel as bad as it could. I had a very nice walk in the sun, and for now, I've decided that I will enjoy this strange Indian Summer. The long-range prediction, as bespoken by the Weather Network, will remain a bit warm, but cooling right down next week. I wonder if they will be right.