skinrolling

Hey, so my dad-in-law is taking the whole family to Las Vegas next weekend (weekend after FKO). I've never been. I'm not much into gambling, but am curious to see what all the fuss is about. My mom-in-law is treating the womenfolk to pampering at the spa in the hotel we're staying at...she faxed me a list of spa services to choose from (!). Wow, some of these services sound pretty exotic...Bali Spice Scrub, Volcanic Earth Ritual, Balinese Foot Wash. I'm a *big* sucker for massages, so angsted for a while over the massage section before settling on something called a "JAMU Massage". The description reads as follows: "A meditative massage combining Hindu, Chinese and European techniques for a rhythmic, relaxing and energizing experience. Unique massage strokes include acupressure, skinrolling, wringing and percussion, with your choice of exotic oils: island fruits, island spice, or island flowers." Mmmmm. But what on earth is "skinrolling"?! I must find out.

I'm not hugely experienced at getting professional massages, but I've learned a few pointers (which are extremely borne from personal taste and therefore may not apply to everyone) for maximizing the massage experience:

If you don't like pain, say so.
I remember getting pummelled a long while ago...it felt like the masseuse was doing her best to inflict as many bruises on my body as she possibly could, a sort of endurance test. I felt like pummelling HER at times during the massage, in fact. It would have been far better for me to admit my low pain threshold and ask that she have mercy.

Ask for a woman masseuse.
I can't relax if there's a good-looking guy doing the massage...I'm way too self-conscious about flabby bits, trying to remember when I last shaved my legs, and so on. On the other hand, some people like the "pummelling" sort of massage, and in general men tend to use more pressure than women. Now that I think of it, I realize that my favourite massage person at my health club is a guy, so just ignore this entire paragraph. Derek is different, though (stop rolling your eyes, Jeff)...he only talks at the beginning (to say hello and ask if there's anything in particular I need working on) and at the end, so most of the time I'm not really aware of the person behind the hands. Sounds heartless, but it's true...and as it should be, really.

One thing I'm really not into is getting impromptu massages from strangers or people I don't know very well. Y'know, you're sitting in a filk circle and stretch to get some kinks out of your neck, and suddenly there's a pair of hands digging their thumbs into your shoulders from behind belonging to someone you don't know. I know a lot of people are fine with this, but I lean towards the "ask first" methodology.

Anyway, I'll stop going on about this or my Dad (whom I know reads my Blatherings) will think that the filk conventions I attend are nothing but hedonistic weekend-long orgies. :-)

Today's Blatherpic:

With Annie at Fune.

birthdays and oscars

New "Another Quarternote Heard From"
column from Bill Sutton is available
online: Carrying A Big Schtick.

Fune My family celebrated my birthday yesterday since I won't be around on my actual birthday this week. We went to Fune. Sara and Annie ordered their favourite sushi: tako (octopus), ebi (shrimp), and ikura (salmon roe), with noodles on the side. They both know how to use chopsticks.

After dinner, I visited the ladies' room. During the few minutes I was gone, the restaurant host and waitresses brought a cake out for me, sparklers and candles lit, about to launch into a rendition of "Happy Birthday". When they discovered I wasn't there, they had to sneak into a side entrance with the cake to avoid running into me coming back from the ladies' room. I discovered all this later, of course, but did wonder why my family looked so strange as I resumed my place at the table.

"Don't go away again, Auntie Debbie!" Sara told me.

My presents: hand-decorated framed artwork from both Sara and Annie, a cardboard rocketship made by Sara, a cardboard castle made by Annie, a pair of cool earrings chosen by Annie (I'll wear them to FKO), and a 2-DVD Toy Story set (from my Dad).

After dinner, Jeff and I went to Andy's and Christine's to watch the Oscars. Much fun, but I was too tired to stay until the end; I've been waking up around 5:30 or 6 am on a regular basis these days. In contrast, Jeff is staying up later working and playing Quake, then sleeping in. We're both trying to adjust our hours so we can spend more quality time together. :-)

Morning/Night people

I was delighted to discover that my friend Parki was a morning person recently. I found out when I sent out a question about Perl to several of my technonerdboy guy friends early one morning (my subject header: "Perl guru needed!), and Parki was the first to respond. A few hours later, Bryan posted, "What kind of Perl guru is awake before 9:30 a.m.?!" Parki's response: "I am not a Perl guru. I am a free man. Cheers, #5."

When I discussed the issue with Parki later on, I found him remarkably leery of being labelled a "morning person". He claims to not be truly awake right away, that he needs his coffee, and so on bla-di-blabla. Jeff is also this way...even if he does happen to wake up early, he's Mr. Grumpypants until he's had a chance to adjust to the shock of being conscious again. Jeff's sister was the one who came up with the name "Mr. Grumpypants" for Jeff, by the way, when we used to share a house.

Anyway, what is it with this prejudice against morning people?! I really want to know!! I say we morning people need to stand up and be proud of who we are and what we stand for!!!

(rousing patriotic orchestral music swells here)

That's all for today.

Update 11:03 a.m.: I lied, that's not all for today. In response to my paragraph about him (see above), Parki e-mailed the following response:

"I take umbrage at the 'bla-di-blabla' above, which you cavalierly toss into your diatribe as this as if the first coffee of the day is not important or is some frivolous 'drink'.

You should have more respect for the coffee.

The coffee greases the wheels of life, 'specially when the train of thought is having a hard time leaving the station in the morning.

:-)"

Ha! See how insecure these Morning Coffee people are?

For the record, I do drink coffee occasionally, but only when enough cream and sugar have been added to completely eradicate any remnants of actual coffee taste.





Today's Blatherpics:

With Annie and Sara at Fune.

Oscars night at Andy's and Christine's.

moving bryan

Jeff and I went over to Bryan Fullerton's place yesterday to help him move. We've been through a lot of moves (our own moves, plus helping friends), and I've noticed that there are several different approaches to this type of event. On one end of the spectrum is the type who starts packing months before the actual move, labelling each box with a description of the contents, cross-indexing lists, buys special wrapping for kitchenware, files a change of address form with the Post Office in advance, with the correct date of the move.

At the other end of the spectrum is the person who postpones packing until the day of the move and ends up in a panic, stuffing everything into garbage bags and making a zillion trips in a car because they left the renting of the van too late.



From what I could tell, Bryan was closer to the second, except he did rent a van and was remarkably calm throughout. Hm. Now that I think of it, I don't think I've *ever* seen Bryan stressed out.

Anyway, one of the great things about helping friends move is that it gives you an excuse to snoop through stuff you never get to snoop through in regular circumstances. We all admired Bryan's taste in fluorescent swimming gear (sadly, I did not get any photos), marvelled at how much computer hardware he had squirrelled away all over his apartment (I think there were eight computers and associated peripherals).



Many congrats to Bryan on his new pad! I look forward to snooping through his freezer for icecream in the future.

Five more days until FilKONtario!





Today's Blatherpics:
All from the move today. People helping out included me and Jeff, Bryan's mom, Erin, Jennifer, Patrick, Chris, Heath and Dan.

online comics

So I've been having some fun with my comic strip lately, experimenting a bit with Fractal Painter, figuring out what works and what doesn't. I'll probably finally settle into one style and format eventually, but there are no guarantees. I do this for fun, after all. :-)

Do any of you regularly check out online comics? If so, which ones? Here are the ones I'm reading on a regular basis now:

• Dilbert: I can appreciate this much more, now that I've had my own corporate experience.
  
  
• RealLife Comics: Updated weekly, and author has an online journal on the same page.
  
  

For those interested, you can find a massive list of online comics at Big Panda.

For those interested in starting up a Blog (an online journal format), try checking out BlogSpot, a free hosting service.

Went to the Paramount with Parki and Jeff last night to see "The Dish", a film about the Parkes Observatory's role in the first moon landing. Enjoyed this movie MUCH more than I expected. The cast was excellent.

Today's Blatherpics:

A childhood photo of my friend Parki.

children's own museum

Hey, BoingBoing mentioned my comic strip yesterday (thanks, Cory!).

And check out this Globe Technology article about me and Inkspot.

I took Sara and Annie to the Children's Own Museum yesterday. We had lunch at Le Marche with Jeff first, a restaurant in the BCE place near our apartment (those of you visiting from out of town on FKO weekend might consider going there). It's a marketplace-type of environment, where you go around to different booths and pick what you'd like to eat and drink. Most of the food is cooked right in front of you, and you give a card to the person behind the counter to stamp. At the end of the meal, you take your card to the cash register to pay. It's fun to just wander around and look at the different produce and watch chefs prepare meals. There's even a little sushi booth!



I had a lot of fun, far more than I expected. I had figured that I would be exhausted after an hour, or that Sara and Annie would get bored and want to go home. But there were so many different activities, and the girls were enjoying themselves at each play station so much, that we ended up staying until near closing time.

The toughest part of the trip was learning how to not "hover". I have a tendency to be overprotective, especially when aggressive children were playing nearby, or invaded what I considered to be Sara's and Annie's space. The girls seemed to cope just fine, however. I realized that this was normal and good, and had to exert enormous self-control a couple of times. How do you parents handle this? Good thing I'm not a parent...I think I'd drive my kids crazy by being too smotheringly-protective.



One thing I've learned about spending time with Sara and Annie is how to slow down. Not in terms of activity, but in terms of the task-oriented process I'm used to. I've trained myself to focus on speed and efficiency, to multitask and make every second count. I do still make every second count, but in a different way than before.

Take a short walk to the corner grocery store to pick up some bagels, for example. By myself, I would tend to go straight there, buy the bagels, come back. With young children, however, the trip itself becomes much more of the focus. A walk that would normally take five minutes might stretch into half an hour or more while we explore an anthole near the sidewalk, play a brief game of hide-and-seek around a tree on the way, watch a few sparrows hunt for food in the grass. I find myself seeing the world differently when I'm with children.

Anyway, I consider my first solo outing with Sara and Annie to be a tremendous success. After Ruth took them home, however, I crashed for a few hours and took a long nap. :-) Parki came over in the evening and we watched a few episodes of The Sopranos. Scott Murray and lent us his DVD collection of the first season. Jeff and I are now hooked. :-)





Today's Blatherpics:

Sara and Annie on the Toronto subway system, on the way to the Children's Own Museum.

Annie and me in the "dress-up" area, which was packed with all kinds of hats, dresses, cloaks, shoes, and other costume accessories. You could also get your face painted by a volunteer. This photo was taken by Sara.

At a music play station at the Children's Own Museum.