r.i.p. flounder

Last night, while we were having dinner at my sister's place, Flounder Bluey (pet fish) died. Just before dinner, Flounder began swimming in odd jerky motions on his side for no apparent reason. Flounder had already lived far past his expected lifespan, so we knew the end was inevitable. Ruth and Kaarel had a hastily whispered conference about what to do...flush Flounder down the toilet after death so that the children (especially Sara, who was very fond of Flounder) wouldn't have to view his corpse? Tell Sara before or after dinner? Tonight or tomorrow?

We adults tried to keep our eyes off the fish tank (which was on top of the piano within view of the dinner table). Moving the fish tank out of the room would draw attention to it, so we left it where it was, hoping Flounder would mercifully pass out of this world before Sara noticed his final gyrations.

Fortunately, Flounder cooperated. After dinner, Kaarel gently broke the news to Sara, who was very distraught. Annie was just fascinated. Ruth tells me they buried Flounder today. After the brief ceremony, they had hot chocolate and everyone was allowed to say the word "fish" again.

Apparently Sara accidentally cut a worm in half while digging, but didn't notice.

Amanda started today!

sara's xmas concert

Jeff and I took this morning off to attend Sara's school Christmas concert. As each class did their presentation, crowds of parents jostled each other near the front of the stage, each wielding a camcorder or camera. It's a wonder the children weren't blinded by all the flashbulbs going off throughout. :-)

Annie wasn't happy having to wait through all the younger classes to get to Sara's kindergarten class. "Where's SARA?" she'd ask in a loud voice each time the curtain rose to reveal a new set of small faces.

Finally it was Sara's class on stage (and yes, I was one of the jostling relatives with cameras). And as I watched my five-year-old niece wave her arms and recite her lines (quite well, I must say with total objectivity ;-)), I couldn't help but feel a pang of pride and love and fear all at the same time. She looked so small, up there on stage. I thought of Christmases past and all the Christmases she would experience in the future, and desperately wished I could protect her from any hardship, any heartbreak that lay in her path.

But of course I can't, and shouldn't. It's a good thing I never had kids...I'm sure I'd be one of those over-protective and smothering mothers who eventually drive their offspring into many years of psychotherapy.

andy barrie cbc interview

So I was interviewed by Andy Barrie this morning for CBC radio's " Metro Morning" (99.1 FM) show. I was incredibly nervous and I'm sure I sounded like a blathering idiot, but Andy reassured me it went okay. My segment is *tentatively* scheduled to air tomorrow morning at 7:15 a.m.

Busybusy. Jeff's finally moved into his part of the office, though, so now we get to really test if we start driving each other crazy. Seems to be working out pretty well so far, though we're having a bit of difficulty with our "no work talk once we cross Spadina Avenue on the way home" rule. :-)

My employee, Amanda, is great! Much more organized than I am. She brought a chocolate merry-go-round as a gift...one of the horses is now decapitated (I couldn't help myself); I'm hoping she doesn't notice.

re: the sad passing of my 5-year-old niece's first pet...

My friend Andrew writes: "Sorry to hear about Flounder Bluey. Are they going to get a new one? I remember when I was young, we had a pet hamster for a while (we even had the requisite Habitrail?) but eventually the poor thing keeled over (planned obsolescence i suppose). We buried it in the backyard as well, and for some reason, i still remember having a nightmare afterwards about being chased by the skeleton of a giant hamster."

hockey game

Since my interview on Metro Morning yesterday, I've been getting calls and emails from friends and strangers saying they heard the show. :-) For the record, I am Debbie Ridpath Ohi, not Debbie Ridpath (though I don't get offended if people forget)...to tell you the truth, I didn't notice Andy saying my name during the recording so didn't correct him...I think I was too busy being terrified of the microphone. :-)

Saw TOY STORY 2 last week. Wow, loved this movie. Liked it even more than the first movie, which I also really liked. I think my favourite scene was the one with the Barbies. So, a poll (and please don't give away the plot, just in case some people haven't seen it)...who was your favourite character in the movie? Post your answer in blatherchat.

Went to a hockey game at the Air Canada Center. The tickets were a gift from one of our business associates. I've only been to one pro hockey game before in my entire life, so was curious to see what seats in the "gold" area were like (the price on the ticket was over $130!!! do people really pay that much for hockey tickets? am I going to be lynched by hockey fans now??). It was sort of fun, but I don't think I'd make a habit of going to hockey games. The Leafs lost. :(

Allison and Jodi and I are getting together at my place tonight for a mini Christmas party. It seems like ages since we've seen each other; we've had to cancel a number of practices in a row because of busy schedules lately.

my schedule

Fun xmas get-together with Allison and Jodi yesterday. Went to Swiss Chalet for Festive Specials (they come with Toblerone bars, you know), then back to my place for a gift exchange and Sheridan's Coffee Layered Liqueur (yummmmmmmm).

Woke up with a cold, though. :( Think I'll opt to stay home from the office today (I can still get some work done on my laptop).

I've added a new online journal to the left navigation bar... Scott's Scribbles, the creation of my pal Scott Murray. Scott gave us a tour of the 911 centre (he's a programmer there) a couple nights ago...very, very cool. I felt incredibly out-of-place and not-wanting-to-get-in-the-way as I watched the 911 operators at their stations, taking calls. Everything was much calmer than I expected...I supposed I had anticipated a sort of "ER" sort of atmosphere, with people running around and yelling. When I hesitated about leaving my laptop at Scott's desk during the tour, Scott and Jeff laughed at me (Jeff had been there before). An hour later, I realized why; the place is pretty heavily secured against strangers wandering around. :-)

After a month working at the new office, I finally seem to have settled on a somewhat regular schedule. This is:

• 7 am: Get up. Make some toast or cereal with milk, set up my laptop in my home office (which is actually more a music room now; I have my keyboard and recording stuff out again).
• 7:15 am: Browse news sites and update the main page of Inkspot with industry news. Sometimes deal with more urgent biz-related email.
• 8:15 am: Go to health club. I confess I quit the new one and rejoined my old club...I found I'm much more likely to do my workout first thing in the morning (or almost first thing) rather than in the middle of the workday, and my old one is a 5 minute walk away from home.
• 10:00: Arrive at office. Dive into work.
• 2:30 pm: Realize I've forgotten to eat lunch and am starving. Scrounge in the office fridge to see what's available. Not much. Go out and buy some fast food, resolving to start making my own lunches Real Soon Now (much healthier and cheaper!).
• 3:00 pm: Amanda arrives. Sometimes she brings food (today she brought cookies from Kensington market, yum). Stuff my face.
• 6:00 pm. Leave. Ok, so maybe departure time has been unpredicatable lately. Sometimes I leave earlier, sometimes (if Jeff's around) I work pretty late. We're trying to get better at leaving at a normal hour.

Ah, who am I kidding. This schedule is likely to change again very soon, I'm sure; who knows if I'll ever get into a regular routine? Supposedly regular routines are better for alleviating stress, though (yes, I've been reading stress books).