goldfish

workworkwork

Hello to Lissa and Phil, who are likely on top of a mountain at this very moment! Lissa, I had no idea you liked Goldfish. Do you mean those little orange fish-shaped crackers? Jeff loves those.

Joe: Sorry I have to miss Philcon...it would have been nice to see Laurell Hamilton. Maybe I should try interviewing her for Inklings. :)

Music: Ravel Piano Music, Vol I (Louis Lortie)

torturecize

Site of the Day: itulip.com (courtesy David Brake)

Also, do check out Cave of Magic! (courtesy Doug Gardner)

Ok, I confess I never did go back to those Torturecize classes. I missed two in a row because of work and then my trip, and am now too chicken to try to catch up (Mary Danielle said they were cumulative). Sticking to the rowing machine and stationery bike for now, occasionally trying classes. Sometimes I purposely opt for times when I know the gym will be crowded, mainly when I'm feeling unmotivated and know I'll try harder if there's lots of people around.

Jeff and I were going to go to the cottage this weekend, but I have to opt out because of work, sadly.

embarrassing rituals

I mentioned private dancing before, but I must confess now that this has become somewhat of a ritual for me now, especially when things are particularly stressful or overwhelming. I highly recommend private dancing! But don't tell anyone about it (like I'm doing now) lest you be mocked. I'm used to being mocked, so it doesn't bother me as much.

DEBBIE'S SECRET STRESS REDUCTION EXERCISE:

• Close door to office.
• Play "ONE WEEK" from the Barenaked Ladies CD, STUNT.
• Turn up volume.
• Dance! Lots of flinging arms and jumping about and gyrating, don't worry about the technique...it's the unrestrained expended energy that counts.
• Go back to work with a clearer mind and renewed purpose.

Photo today: With my Dominican Republic beaded hair!

re: blatherchat: hey, very cool that Scott & Amanda (visiting in UK) and Lissa & Phil (visiting in U.S.) have been able to blatherchat recently! And as Allison says, it's highly ironic that both sets of blatherchatters are visiting each other's countries. :-)

food karma

Reports of my demise are sadly exaggerated. And no, I was not kidnapped by Mr. Jelly Belly. (I have such silly (and wonderful) friends. :) I just received a new Jelly Belly Taste Club newsletter issue in the mail yesterday, in fact! I am now determined that UT be profiled in an upcoming issue as avid Jelly Belly fans!!

Yes, I've been a bit work-stressed lately. Thanks for the smiles in blatherchat; I've needed them. :) Cancelled a planned winter cottage trip last weekend cuz I had to work; doing the same this weekend.

WOW, AM I EVER LOOKING FORWARD TO FILKONTARIO!!!!

Jeff's been very sick with the flu recently (he's feeling better now). And of course I was torn between immense sympathy for the poor guy and a secret horror of catching the same bug. I made chicken soup from scratch for him. Problem is...I wasn't exactly SURE how to make chicken soup from scratch - I only know that it's part of the whole cold-pampering ritual, and I wanted to do something (he was in pretty bad shape on Sunday night). So I resorted to logic...what would be in chicken soup? Chicken, I assume. And soup is mostly water, isn't it? (This is how a non-cook thinks.) So I tossed some boneless chicken (still partially frozen because I didn't think of the chicken soup idea until fairly late in the day and I've never been able to successfully microwave-defrost a piece of frozen chicken because it always gets a bit cooked on the edges while staying frozen in the middle and wow, is this ever a long parenthetical interruption, apologies for that) into a pot of water, and let it boil for a couple hours (I'm sure proper chefs out there (yeah, that means you, Joel!!! :)) are horrified. I'm sure there were all kinds of other things I should have been tossing in. It ended up tasting all right (ok, I did throw in a few extra things at the end), but not the same as my Mom's homemade chicken soup.

It's amazing how food or the smell of cooking food can bring back such powerful memories, isn't it? Or maybe I'm weird that way. Homemade chicken soup fragrance (yes, even MY homemade chicken soup) made me think of my Mom. She used to make the BEST chicken soup in the entire world. So as I stirred my soup, fragrant steam curling up from the broth, I remembered my Mom. Wondered how she made her version (moms never seem to use cookbooks or write down their recipes until you force them, do they?), wondered who taught her how to make chicken soup (I have to assume that chicken soup isn't a staple in Japan the way it is in North America).

Most of all I wished she was still around, so I could ask her all these questions in person.

And then I got to thinking...what would MY food smell be, if I was going to have one? What culinary fragrance would I want people to remember me by? The answer, of course, is blindingly obvious...chocolate. :-) If I had my choice, my fragrance essence would be the scent of really good milk chocolate, just after you've unwrapped it and broken off a piece and are in that brief pre-rapturous contemplation phase. A phase which, um, is REALLY brief in my case...I'd much rather be eating than looking at chocolate, wouldn't you?. ;-)

WOW, AM I EVER LOOKING FORWARD TO FILKONTARIO!!!! (did I say that already?)

p.s. Jeff did like the soup.

silly

Saw an ad for some tv talk show recently (can't remember which one) obviously looking for participants. A warm female voice asked the question, "ARE YOU A PARENT WHO HAS ACCIDENTALLY DISFIGURED YOUR CHILD FOR LIFE? IF SO, PLEASE WRITE TO: (name of show and address here)"

Good lord, what is the world coming to?

Wonderfully productive UT practice last night. Worked some more on our arrangement workshop. Also had fun working on our donation to Interfilk this year...a "LIVE FROM ALLISON'S LIVING ROOM" tape of our songs which aren't on any of our albums (some will definitely NEVER appear on any future album :)). We're going to get as many as we can on the tape, and also include all the lyrics/chords to these songs. We'll be throwing in some other goodies as well. :)