Monthly Archives: October 2009

Stories that stick – a meme

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I don’t normally take part in memes over here but if Kate asks me to do one then you’d better believe I’ll do one! Besides, this one’s literary so it’s different! Besides, I could win an advance copy of her new book and I really want to read it, so here goes!

1) You are facing an epic journey. You may choose one companion, one tool and one vehicle from any book or film to accompany you. Or just one of the three. It’s up to you. What do you choose?

It’s probably just begging for trouble but I’d say a time-turner, such as the one that Hermione Granger uses in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. A time-turner can wreak havoc if used incorrectly but if my journey is indeed epic then I want to make sure I have one in case I make a really bad mistake so I can go back and fix it.

2) You can escape to the insides of any book. Where do you go, and why?

This was easy – I apologize for using the same series two answers in a row but I would absolutely put myself into the Harry Potter series. The magic, Hogwarts, the excitement, I’d love to be a part of it all. I never had much interest in the whole concept of wizards really until I read those books and I’m hooked.

3) You can bring one literary character into your current life. Who do you choose, and why?

Severus Snape. *eyebrow wiggle* Okay, I’m kidding. Maybe. Laura Ingalls just because she would be so much fun. Or well, now that I’m a mother maybe she’d be a bit much to handle. If I was still a kid myself though. I always wanted to be friends with her when I read the books as a kid.

4) _________________ is my go-to book. I could read that book fifty-seven times in a row without a break for food or a pee and not be remotely bored. In fact I’ve already done that but it wasn’t fifty-seven times. It was sixty-four.

Ah. My go-to book is The Night Inside. I know vampires are all the rage now thanks to Stephanie Meyer but I’ve had a fascination with vampires for decades now. This particular book is written by a Canadian and it’s not all ooey-gooey vampire stuff like Twilight. I read it so many times I broke the spine and had to buy a new copy.

5) Of all the literary or film characters that made an impression on you as a kid, who was the most enviable?

As a kid it probably would have been Atreyu (did I even spell that right?) in “The Neverending Story”. I watched that movie an embarrassing number of times.

6) Of all the literary or film characters that made an impression on you as a kid, who was the most frightening?

Oh hi there freaky-ass clown in Stephen King’s It. If I hadn’t already been freaked out by clowns that certainly would have sealed it for me, thanks.

7) Every time I read _________________, I see something in it that I haven’t seen before.

Well, I’ve only read it twice actually, but Not Without My Daughter. There’s so much going on in that book as she tries to survive as a hostage to her husband in Iran and makes continuous plans to escape the country and get back home to the U.S. that it’s one of those stories that made me read faster than I should have. In my second run through I found all kinds of little things I missed the first time around.

8 ) It is imperative that _________________ be made into a movie. Now. I am already picketing Hollywood for this—but if they cast _________________ as _________________, I will not be happy. I will, however, be appeased if they cast _________________.

Assuming that they don’t totally fuck it all up, Ender’s Game would be insanely amazing on a big screen. I can’t think of anyone that they could cast since the main character is a kid, so I think the best choice would be to choose someone brand new to the film making world.

I’d also really like to see The Night Inside as a movie (and it would do well since vampires are all the rage). If they cast Jessica Alba as Ardeth I’d have a fit, but wouldn’t mind if it was Katie Holmes just because Katie in a vampire movie would give TOM a fit.

9) _________________ is a book that should never be made (or should have never been made) into a film.

The Other Boleyn Girl was a fabulous book and a mediocre movie. They should have just left it alone.

10) After all these years, the _________________ scene in the book/movie _________________ still manages to give me the queebs.

Oh man. When the guy in the courtroom near the end of Gerald’s Game squeaked out, “I don’t believe you’re real, you’re just made of moonlight” I think every little hair on the back of my neck stood straight up and it still completely freaks me out.

11) After all these years, the _________________ scene in the book/movie _________________ still manages to give me a thrill.

This may make me lame, but even as an adult, I love the scene in “E.T.” when they go flying on Elliot’s bike. I was five when I first saw that movie and it was so excited that I spent a lot of time riding my own bike, pretending I was flying along with a little bug-eyed alien.

12) If I could corner the author _________________, here’s what I’d say to them one minute or less about their book, _________________:

If I bumped into Anne Rice I’d say, “Look Anne. I really wanted to like your books. Honestly. I tried to read several of your books on numerous occasions and I just couldn’t get into a single one of them. I liked the IDEA of your stories but good lord woman, you can go on for pages about a window frame. While I admire detail, there is indeed a time when you can get too damn wordy.”

13) The coolest non-fiction book I’ve ever read is _________________. Every time I flip through it, it makes me want to _________________.

Technically it’s a memoir – Eat, Pray, Love. Each section made me want to do something different. When she was in Italy all I wanted to do was eat delicious pasta. When she was in India I wanted to pack up and fly to India too so I could find an Ashram and learn to do yoga. Then when she was in Indonesia I wanted a quiet little cottage on the beach. Overall, the whole book made me desperately want to travel.

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Some creativity break-throughs

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Despite the fact that I just wrote this morning about how I’m suffering from a bit of creative block, luckily I have managed to get some writing out there anyway.

Over at Canada Moms Blog I wrote this post explaining about how the lack of volunteers has postponed Hayley’s school from opening its much-needed Breakfast Club – and how I’m pitching in by offering to set my alarm a bit earlier so that I can go help them out to keep feeding the hungry kids in our community.

In some very exciting news, I also have a post up at Digital Photography School which you can read here. In it I explain some tips you can use to take self-portraits that go beyond the often-seen method of holding your camera in front of your face and pressing the shutter. I read DPS religiously so it’s a huge deal to me to have an article posted over there!

I am thrilled to have two things posted to two great blogs all on the same day!

Quiet weekends are pretty good

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I ended up having a fairly peaceful weekend, something that doesn’t happen often what with having two kids and all. George’s sister was in town after not being able to get out this way for awhile and the kids were both so excited. We went over to see George’s parents on Friday because his dad was celebrating his birthday. Although George had to go out I went with the girls and we had cake and tea, and Hayley got her belated birthday gifts from her aunt and uncle.

Happy birthday

The crown that Breanna is wearing is from a craft kit that Hayley got as a gift. And isn’t it a shame that the kids obviously don’t like their uncle at all? I mean really. Can’t you just see how much they can’t stand him? (Yeah right. As you can see, they LOVE him.)

Buddies

Buddies

On Saturday they spent some time just doing the craft crowns and hanging around the apartment, followed by a quick trip to the Dollar Store with George. I had about an hour or so of peace and quiet during which I actually took a shower without having to worry about what anyone else was doing. Let me tell you, that’s a total luxury for me.

I was just about to start preparing supper when the phone rang and George’s sister invited the kids over to eat with them. That was fine with me! After they left I made supper for just the two of us (though Breanna requested that I save some stew for her – good thing I did, that’s what she ended up having for her snack!) and I actually ate an entire plate of food without having to get up to refill someone’s cup, break up an argument, or anything. Another fine luxury, eating a meal in peace.

George went to buy some red wine and to drop something off for a friend and I spent a couple of hours surrounded by practically no noise. There was no TV, no music, no computer games, no sibling bickering, nothing other than the usual neighborhood sounds of cars driving by and the occasional set of footsteps out in the hall.

After the kids came home and went to bed, George and I tried to watch Drag Me to Hell but we only got halfway through it before Breanna started coughing in her sleep so we stopped it there and finished it on Sunday night. (For the record, it’s seriously not worth the 90+ minutes of your life unless you enjoy horror movies that aren’t actually scary, are utterly predictable, and have cheap special effects. Seriously, I said that it looked like they only had a $1000 effects budget and George added that half of that must have been blown on pizza and beer. Really bad in this day and age.)

Sunday was another relaxing day and the kids went out with their aunt and uncle one more time for a couple of hours to wander around the mall and to get ice cream. I love my kids, but I must admit that it’s kind of nice to have occasional pockets of quiet time to myself here and there!

The weekend went by so fast. And unfortunately so far the week is dragging by. I could have sworn it was Wednesday today but it’s only Tuesday. Booooo.

*******

I’ve been suffering from a complete and total lack of creative inspiration. I had to force myself to sit down and write this just to try to break through it. I’ve also been neglecting my camera. I took a few photos while over at George’s parents’ house but I’ve been going days without taking a single picture, and even when I do they seem to sit on my card for days before I finally dump them to my computer and actually do something with them.

I don’t know what’s going on. I think I need to make myself carry my camera with me even if I don’t feel like taking any pictures, and just try to take a few shots a day until this block goes away.

A propos of nothing in particular, here’s at least one other photo that I took over the past week.

Super hero

Breanna wanted to print out a blue superhero mask that she found online but I need a new ink cartridge so I couldn’t. She was disappointed so I drew one by hand, colored it in, cut it out, and gave it to her. She was thrilled! Other than the fact that it’s not green, she reminds me of Super Why.

It’s so incredibly frustrating to be a creative person by nature and to find myself completely unable to do anything. Let’s hope this passes quickly.

'Tis the season and all that

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In my stereotypical Canadian way, I’d like to tell you about the weather around my parts lately and then complain about them because that’s what we do as Canadians. Although I know that many people consider Canada to be a land of ice and snow, we do usually have a decent Fall even if it’s not long enough for my tastes. I’d personally like Fall to last a very long time because what’s not to like? You get to wear warm sweaters but you don’t freeze to death, everyone starts making things like chili and apple crisp, and the trees explode into a symphony of colors. It’s my favorite season.

Lately though, the temperatures have been hovering more at early Winter levels. It’s been hanging out at the freezing mark early in the morning and only inching its way up a few more degrees during the day. Today Hayley asked me if I could give her a hat to wear because her head has been cold at recess and lunch. Yesterday it snowed (though at least it didn’t stick when it hit the ground) and I may or may not have said something inappropriate to be said around young children.

I know we can’t stop Winter from coming but it’s just too early. We still have to go Trick or Treating next Saturday and I’m thinking that all those jokes about Canadian Halloween costumes being designed to go over a snow suit just might be true this year. I’m feeling ripped off, I want my proper Fall back!

*******

Last week, Hayley stayed home on Thursday and Friday because she wasn’t feeling well and had a low-grade fever. Of course everyone immediately thinks of H1N1 these days when someone has a fever but I don’t think that’s what it was because a) she didn’t have any other symptoms of that particular flu, b) despite being kept home again on Monday to be sure, she was actually fine by then, and c) both my kids have always gotten a low fever with every single illness they’ve ever had. Always.

Still, you can’t send kids to school with fevers so she stayed home and then we kept both the kids home from a birthday party on Saturday. Hayley was especially unhappy about that but she was still under the weather and we didn’t want her to spread it around. We also wanted her to get better so she could go back to school. At least they had some cake sent home for them, so that perked them up!

Meanwhile everyone around me (and I’m including myself too) seems to be sniffling or coughing or both. We’re back to that season of trading off germs from one person to the other, the joys of the school year. Between the frequency with which Hayley brings home colds and whatnot and the media coverage of H1N1 I’ve been thinking hard about the vaccine. I’m about 90% sure that we’ll all go and get it.

Still, whenever I hear points brought up about how fast-tracked this was and whether it’s really safe or not, I do stop and think about it for a minute. I think I’m still more inclined to consider the H1N1 virus to have a higher risk than the vaccine does but I’d be lying if I didn’t admit to some concerns.

The vaccine is starting to arrive in Canada and Newfoundland has actually already done their first round, giving vaccines out to healthcare workers. I’ll be listening to the news to see how things go out there, if there are reports of bad reactions. On the other hand, hearing about the plans to postpone or cancel elective surgeries and the possibilities of turning hotel rooms into makeshift hospitals to be able to deal with the possible influx of H1N1 patients coming in re-kindles my resolve about getting the vaccine.

I’ve never been anti-vaccination. My kids were both immunized against everything except chicken pox. Neither had a stronger reaction than some crankiness and a low fever within the first 12 hours and I feel better for having protected them against diseases that could have killed them in a different era. But this one is different and it’s a little confusing, and it’s stressful to have to make a decision really soon.

What are you doing for H1N1? Getting the shot or riding it out?

The weekend already

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A propos of nothing, these are the two photo poses sent home from the school for us to choose from for our Grade Two photo of Hayley this year.

School photos

I love them both – I’m so glad she really smiled big this year! – but we eventually decided to order a package of the photo on the right.

I woke up feeling a little bit surprised that it was Friday this morning and that the weekend was just around the corner. I guess I was a little thrown off by a couple of things, one being that it had been a four-day weekend so the week started on Tuesday. The other thing is that Hayley came down with some sort of bug and missed school on Thursday and Friday, so the whole week was just a big mess, logistically speaking.

I wasn’t able to send her to school because not only was she feeling under the weather, she also had a fever. I would be mildly concerned about H1N1 but she isn’t exhibiting any of the other common symptoms of the flu – besides, my kids get a fever with every illness. Still, fevers are not tolerated in schools at all right now because of concerns so there was no point. They just would have sent her back home as soon as it came back. Breanna’s been sniffly the past couple of days as well, so it’s just that season again.

The bummer about it is that friends of ours are having a birthday party for their daughter and son on Saturday but it’s looking like we won’t be able to make it. I don’t want to make anyone else sick, I don’t want the kids to be out if they’re feeling icky, and I don’t want them to get worse – especially Hayley since she’s missed two days of school for it. It’s too bad, I was really looking forward to it because it’s always a lot of fun, but hopefully we’ll see them soon. We’ll see how the kids are tomorrow and make a decision then.

On the other hand, it’s also George’s birthday on Saturday (old man!) so if the kids are still too sick to go, we’ll put them to bed and watch a movie together instead. I’m a little bit ticked off because we ordered a mic for George for his birthday (it’s not much of a surprise, he found it and asked me to order it since I have a PayPal account, but hey at least he gets exactly what he wants that way!) on September 30th and it still isn’t here. That’s totally ridiculous. I know it’s shipping from California but come on. It’s not like it was being brought here on foot.

According to the tracking info it only left the U.S. on the 7th, I don’t know why that took so long. And now it’s sitting in Montreal since the 13th but for some strange reason it hasn’t budged any closer to us. I know George is a big boy, it’s not quite the same as ordering something for a kid but still, it sucks to not have your birthday present ON YOUR BIRTHDAY, you know? From now on I’m only shopping from online retailers that use couriers because this postal service from the U.S. to Canada sucks.

(I was interested to learn that the tracking number doesn’t change after crossing the border so I was able to easily find the package on the Canada Post site too. That’s at least helpful. Having it sit there for three days, not so much.)

Les yeux

He looks pretty good for a senior citizen old guy birthday boy, doesn’t he?

Hayley’s school was supposed to have a movie night tonight but it was postponed until another to-be-determined date and she couldn’t have gone anyway, what with missing two days of school and all. To make up for it, I offered to do a movie night at home. I made popcorn and put it in the little popcorn containers that we have (they’re so cute), spread out a blanket on the floor, and put on a movie. Hayley chose some Star Trek for the evening’s entertainment. Clearly the geek apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.

Movie night

It’s not quite the same as hanging out in the school gym with all your friends while only barely paying attention to a movie, but it went over well anyway.

In the meantime, here’s hoping I can keep the germs at bay. I have two meetings next week and no time for being sick! Please pass the Lysol!

Busy long weekend

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O Canada

Being Canadian, this past weekend was a long one. It was Thanksgiving so Hayley had both Friday and Monday off from school. Friday saw me scurrying around like a bit of a crazy person, preparing for company on Saturday. I worked and cleaned and worked and cleaned, and that’s about it for Friday.

George had to play that night, and I intended to get to bed early but I’m not particularly good at doing that if no one is around to shoo me off towards my pillow. Which is why, I suppose, I found myself – at 12:30 am no less – wiping down my kitchen cabinets, washing the kitchen walls, and cleaning the dust off my ceiling fan blades.

At 1 am I realized I was insane and headed to bed, except I heard a sudden knocking sound. The cat spends most of her time behind the washing machine so at first I thought she was scratching herself and banging her leg against the metal. Then I heard it again and looked out the peephole only to find two people I’ve never seen before banging on the door down the hall from us. One was a tiny little woman and the other was a very tall and burly man, the latter of which POUNDED loudly several times.

In all honestly, I’m sure it was the woman’s family, and maybe her phone wasn’t working and no one had heard from her in awhile so they had come to check on her. Still, I had no idea how they had gotten into the building since you need to be buzzed in, and they were freaking me out. It’s a sad state of the world today that while my first reaction was to want to open the door to inquire if they needed help or a phone or whatever, my second and more logical, safe reaction was to keep the door firmly locked. There are semi-regular home invasions in the Montreal area and while they are usually in houses as opposed to apartment buildings, I was taking no chances – especially with two kids in bed.

Eventually they left but I was pretty rattled (particularly since the woman came right up to my door and cocked her head as though she was listening for someone inside) so I didn’t really sleep until George got home. Whew.

On Saturday we had Hayley’s birthday party. We had wanted to have it the weekend of her birthday but it wasn’t in our post-holiday budget so we waited until now to throw her party; she didn’t mind. Since it fell on Thanksgiving weekend, one of our friends offered to roast a turkey and stuffing. It was delicious and a big hit. We also had George’s roast pork, my potato-onion casserole, rice, and mixed vegetables along with all the usual things (crackers, cheese, etc). There was definitely enough food! Another friend made a ridiculously amazing pumpkin cheesecake complete with Oreo cookie crust, caramel, chocolate ganache, and pecans. Gah!

Hayley was in heaven because most of her gifts were Barbie-related. She’s finally become super interested in playing with them which is kind of nice since I usually had no idea what to tell people when they would ask what she wanted as gifts. She got a Barbie dog grooming center, a beach cruiser, and a kitchen set, all for Barbies. Ecstatic! She also loved her cake. She wanted a beach cake since she had so much fun at the beaches in Halifax and that was pretty easy to do. I even decorated the “beach” part with some of the (boiled and washed) shells that we had picked up and a hand-drawn starfish. I also put a little Orca figurine in the “ocean” part of the cake. She was really happy!

Beach cake

On Sunday we went to George’s parents’ house to have Thanksgiving dinner. It was just the four of us, his parents, and a family friend so it was quiet but very nice. And really it’s never actually QUIET with kids, right? We ate a lot of good food, had some good laughs, and earlier in the afternoon I slipped out and took some pictures of the woods to capture the slowly changing leaves. I’m worried that we won’t have a particularly colorful Fall since the wind has been blowing the leaves off before they get super bright, but I’m still hoping.

Fallen

It was nice to walk in the woods alone with nothing but my camera for company!

Monday was pretty quiet and one of Hayley’s friends came over to play Barbies, but everyone was tired so it wasn’t as exuberant as it might have been otherwise. I was really happy once 10 pm came around and I was able to put my feet up and watch some prime time television (oh okay, it was “CSI: Miami”) and then go to bed.

This morning was rough since I was tired, had a wicked sore throat, and it was also freezing cold and raining out. Still, it was good to get back to routine again. It’s a short week so it won’t be too bad and it will be the weekend again before we know it.

I hope all my fellow Canadians had an equally wonderful Thanksgiving weekend! You can see all the birthday party photos over here and all the Thanksgiving photos are over here.

Why Roman Polanski can rot in jail for all I care

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I wasn’t going to bother writing about this since other people have done it so well already, but honestly it’s been on my mind a lot and I can only rant about the same things here at home so many times before George reaches a point where I might find him on Priceline, looking for a flight to take him far away from my flapping mouth.

(I kid. Mostly.)

The main reason I need to say something though is because I’m still continually shocked at how many people keep defending Roman Polanski, saying that he shouldn’t be extradited to the U.S. after being arrested, saying he should be given a pardon for his crime over three decades ago. I can’t believe how many people think that what he did to a 13-year-old girl is okay now that it’s so many years after the fact.

Let’s just lay out the basic facts, even though we’ve all heard them already. Polanski’s victim was 13 years old and under the impression that she was doing a modeling shoot. He gave a 13-year-old girl champagne and drugs. He came on to her and ignored her requests to be taken home. He kissed her even after she said no. He raped her even after she said no. He then sodomized her after she said no.

Right. And people want him to be granted a pardon? Why?

I keep reading the reasoning behind it. The victim is a grown woman who wants the charges to be dropped. The problem is, it’s not up to the victim to bring about justice. It’s out of her hands now and while I feel for her because she’s tired of being drawn into the media circus and forced to relive it all, it’s a terrible precedent to drop charges just because the victim asks. Because then, in the future, as long as a rapist (or criminal of any sort) has enough money or power or threatening presence to lean on a victim, he will never have to pay for what he did. I do hope that they can keep her out of the court as much as possible and that it will be a closed court for her sake, but it’s not a strong enough reason to just drop this case.

Possibly the most ridiculous reasoning is that he is such a brilliant director. I’m sorry, what? What does someone’s talent have to do with whether or not they should face justice for committing a crime? If it had been a janitor who did this to a 13-year-old girl I seriously doubt that anyone would be saying, “oh hey, come on let’s give him a pardon! Sure, he drugged and raped a young girl but he’s such a good janitor, it’s okay to look the other way!” All the talent in the world does not give a person carte blanche to rape a girl. There’s no movie in the world that is brilliant enough to excuse the director behind it for raping someone.

Then there are other laughable reasons to let him walk free: He’s paid for it in notoriety, he’s paid for it because he was never able to come back to the U.S. not even to get his Oscar (gasp!), he’s 72 years old now and too old to be sent to prison.

Wow.

Paid for it in notoriety? Please. He still managed to film a great deal of movies with talented actors over the past 30 years. He hasn’t been living in a cave with Osama Bin Laden, he’s been living comfortably in France, continuing on with his career. I don’t see how he’s paid his debt to society with notoriety.

He couldn’t come back to the U.S. for an Oscar? Quelle horreur! I’m sure he spent just as many sleepless nights fretting about it as his victim did after she was raped.

As for his age, yes it is true. Being 72 years old is quite old to be shipped off to prison. On the other hand it’s really difficult for me to drum up a whole ton of sympathy based on his age when he never once considered his victim’s young age.

Then, in possibly the most disappointing defense ever, Whoopi Goldberg went and lost all the respect that I had for her – and it was a lot – by saying on The View that “it wasn’t rape rape”. Pardon? Not RAPE RAPE? What does that even mean? One, she was 13 and he was in his 40s. That right there is statutory rape to start with. And then there was the, as I mentioned, repetition of the word “NO” that she kept using throughout the ordeal. I don’t know where Whoopi Goldberg learned about rape, but where I come from No means No and ignoring the No means rape. In fact it means “rape rape”.

On and on it goes, people wringing their hands over how terrible this whole so-called witch hunt is. People complaining that it was sneaky and underhanded for Switzerland to arrest Polanski when he was under the impression that he was attending a film festival (you know, with his poor flailing career that was so undermined by all that notoriety) and how that was just unfair. OH CRY ME A FUCKING RIVER. Because it was all about being fair when a girl who was under the impression that she would be photographed for an issue of Vogue ended up drunk, drugged, and raped.

Poor Polanski. Poor Polanski MY ASS.

I don’t care how old he is now, I don’t care how many years have gone by, how much he paid his victim, how brilliant he is on set, or how much he might claim to have been unaware of the girl’s age at the time (hint: If he needed her mother’s permission to shoot the photos, she was obviously underage as an adult would not need any parental consent for modeling). I don’t care because what he did was a crime. It was a crime and he KNEW it was a crime, he admitted his guilt, and then he ran away so that he couldn’t be sentenced because he was SCARED.

You know, scared, probably kind of like that young girl was.

I don’t know how long we’ll have to wait to find out whether he’ll be shipped back to the U.S. to face his crime but I hope they throw him on a direct flight back and that any leniency he was promised before he bolted three decades ago gets tossed out the window. He raped a 13-year-old girl and there is no excuse for that and I would personally like my kids to live in a world where money, fame, and talent can’t buy your way out of justice.