lyric collab

Today's Blathering is a collab for On Display. Our assignment: to write an entry using song lyrics. I chose my lyrics from filk songs.

The misty rays of morning filter into the room at dawn. I woke up this morning and tried to fight the feeling that my brain is all congealed. I had dreams. I rubbed my eyes. Didn't recognize myself in the mirror. There's something sticky in my hair, I have no gorgeous butt, but I've got to keep my dignity. I know it sounds crazy. What was I drinking? I don't know what to think.

I'm standing in the hall. Didn't know where I should go. Boredom is a crime; there must be something I could do. The minutes tick away another day...maybe I'll listen, just for a moment. I might go play the radio. I have an idea! I wanna get bitten by a radioactive arachnid. Naw...I need a little more to make me happy.

I had a hollow place inside, I need caffeine! I want my pasta, peas and carrots...I called their names and they sang to me. Oh, go on -- make my day and call me crazy!

I've got an itch to go do something different. I should stop being so polite. I should break free, go on a spree. I want a ride in your VW bug (and no, I don't know what's holding up my dress). I'd call a crisis line, but the last time they put me on hold. I hung up wondering, is it me, or a bad day?. The reason's plain to see.

Anyway, I bought me a computer; it crashes all the time. It's great for scraping stir-fry crud out of my wok. Will it change the way I feel? I can't quite explain. I could write better stuff in my sleep.

Your tension may be mounting as you hear this same old dreck but HEY, I'm trying to tell you something about my life. I know I need more time.

But y'know, all I really need is someone who can tune guitars.

(These lyrics were taken from songs by Bob Kanefsky, Nancy Louise Freeman, Dave Weingart, Erica Neely, Bill Sutton, Rand Bellavia & Adam English, Annie Walker, Terence Chua, Merav Hoffman, Kathy Mar, Martin Gordon-Kerr, Duane Elms, Leslie Fish, Gary Ehrlich, Tom Smith, Joel Polowin, Zander Nyrond, Rachel Silverman, Batya Levin, Steve Macdonald, Andrea Dale, Chris Conway, Rob Wynne, Sherman Dorn, Gary McGath, Scott Snyder, Steve Brinich, Mary Bertke, Judith Hayman, Phoenix, Joe Kesselman, Talis Kimberley, Brenda Sutton, Gwen Knighton).

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Today's Blatherpics:

I took this at BuskerFest on the weekend. More details later in the week.

andy

In my WordGoddess collab posted earlier this month, I said that I was going to post the answer to the food question in a separate Blathering. Well, here it is. Thanks again to Sasha for the question.

Using food ingredients/dishes or terminology, describe your personality and character.

Appetizer: Shrimp cocktail. I have a secret weakness for shrimp cocktail; I have been known to hoover down an entire plate if left unsupervised. I get sick afterwards, of course, but it's worth it.

Main course: A stirfry. The exact ingredients change each time, depending on my mood and what's in season, but overall it would always some kind of stirfry. Not something you'd serve at a fancy restaurant, but is filling just the same. I used to use pretty bland seasoning when I first started making this dish, but have gotten more experimental with spices over the years. ;-)

Dessert: A plain glazed Krispy Kreme doughnut with a glass of milk, and a small dish of chocolate truffles. I know I haven't actually tried a Krispy Kreme yet so my imagined KK dessert is fashioned more from over-inflated expectations and stubborn optimism, but I figure that's pretty appropriate here anyway. Thanks to Joey Shoji, by the way, for pointing out this great Krispy Kreme cartoon. :-)





Cathy and I had dinner at Masquerade in BCE place last night, then went to the Hummingbird Center to see the Erik Bruhn ballet competition. Erik Bruhn was a well-known dancer and teacher at The National Ballet of Canada, and also served as Artistic Director from 1983 until he died in 1986. In his will, Bruhn left part of estate for a prize for one male and one female dancer between the ages of 18-23.

This year, the competitors were from American Ballet Theatre, The National Ballet of Canada, The Royal Danish Ballet, San Francisco Ballet and Stuttgart Ballet. The competition reminds me of the figure skating competition in the Olympics, with the costumes, music, and tension of possible mistakes.

One thing I really like about the competition is that the audience is much more enthusiastic in their response, much more emotionally involved. They gasp when dancers almost fall, cheer wildly after a particularly well-executed technical move. We all pick out favourites and root for them.

I've always admired the grace and physical beauty of ballet. I think that almost all little girls dream about becoming a ballerina at some point in their lives. I used to do part-time work as a pianist for a ballet school in Toronto; it was fun watching the youngsters in their pink tights and ballet slippers, struggling to get through their pliés without falling over. During the lesson, I'd practice the steps on my own as I sat waiting at the piano, my legs hidden from sight.

And since Sara's adventure at the ballet, I've had a special fondness for the National Ballet of Canada.





I was delighted to see the Blatherchat postings about my weird food combo Blathering. I was told that my horseradish/steak and wasabi/shoyu combos weren't so weird after all.

Fascinating to see the other unusual things that other people eat, too. Here are just a few:

Christo: Toast and margarine with Marmite/Yeast Extract on one half, marmalade on the other. He always starts on the marmite half.

Amanda Snyder: Ketchup Pizza -- "one flour tortilla, smear with ketchup, top with grated cheddar cheese, fold and eat cold." Also puts salt on her watermelon, blue cheese dressing with her fries, goat cheese and apricot jam on toast. And like me, she enjoys pineapple on her pizza (yay!).

Allison: "My mother's apple pie and a slice of really good aged cheddar. Yum. Desserts do not get better."

Dave Weingart: Likes wasabi peas (yum, I like these, too).

Jim Poltrone: Peanut butter and vanilla ice cream, French onion dip on baked potatoes, Gatorade and vodka.

Luisa: White spaghetti and ketchup - "You fry up some onions and garlic and perhaps anchovies in a good amount of olive oil, add it to cooked spaghetti and throw on as much parmesean cheese as you have in your house. Really yummy. My brother hated it, so he would put ketchup on it. And slowly, everyone in the family started to add ketchup."

Scott Snyder: Puts salt and pepper on his cantaloupe, sugar on tomato slices. Also "Peanut Butter and X sandwiches, for very broad values of X. Some of the things my dad and I have tried (in various combinations, but all including Peanut Butter) are: Onions, potato chips, sweet pickle relish, banana slices, apple slices, anchovies, honey, coconut, cheese (cheddar, swiss, jack, jarlsberg), and other things that I'm sure I'm just forgetting. I especially like the Peanut Butter and Cheddar Cheese on Toast - then heat the sandwich JUST long enough for the PB to get soft and the cheese to JUST start to melt. YUM!!!!"

Joey Shoji: "My grandmother used to cook pieces of chicken with the fermented soybean paste called miso and we would eat it with hot rice. It would keep refrigerated fairly well so she'd make a big batch at a time. My mom still prepares it in small batches from time to time and I still love it. Another item to learn to make."

Martin GK: "I did get accused of going through university entirely on sandwiches made of white plastic (cheap) bread, red leicester cheese and blue cheese dressing. It's an unwarranted slur - it was only the last eight terms..."

Dave Henry: He eats his sandwich in a circular pattern around the edges, "so that after each complete revolution I am left with exact copy of the original sandwich, albeit a somewhat smaller version. This drives my wife nuts. The other 'sandwich' obsession involves Smarties, those little flavored sugar disk candies. I don't know when or why I started doing it, but I always eat Smarties as sanwiches, taking two of one color and placing a third of a different color between them. My favorite Smarties sandwich is cherry on banana. Conveniently, the number of Smarties in a roll is a multiple of three and it is very rare that I encounter a package that does not lend itself to being eaten entirely as a series of sandwiches."

This is making me way too hungry.

I think I'm going to snoop through the fridge for unusual things to throw together and stuff in my face...

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Today's Blatherpics:

are all of my friend Andy (who writes as "aiabx" or "Lord Hellpus" in Blatherchat sometimes), over a span of about 20 years. The photo at the top, for example, was taken back in '82 or '83 on the University of Toronto campus.

Krispy Kreme fantasy

Today's entry is a WordGoddess collab. My assigned collab partner was Sasha of I'd Rather Eat Glass, who made up the following questions for me to answer (and here are Sasha's answers to my questions):

1. If you weren't performing in a filk musical group, what kind of music would you be performing?

I wouldn't be performing on a regular basis by myself, since I'm not interested in doing a solo act. I'm part of Urban Tapestry more for the fun and friendship value than the need to perform. However, I could probably see myself doing the occasional harp gig for a lark, or collaborating with other musicians.

2. What kind of music do you listen to?

WAY too hard a question to answer, since my tastes vary widely. Currently on my frequent listening roster (usually when running): Hawksley Workman, soundtrack to Mamma Mia, Celtic harp instrumental music, Aimee Mann, Erasure, Ron Hawkins, Italian progressive rock, Ookla The Mok, Kate Rusby, Cara Dillon, instrumental German progressive rock.

When I'm doing any creative writing, I can't listen to any music with lyrics.

3. If you're sitting in the theatre watching a movie that you've been dying to see and someone in the row in front of you answers their cell phone and begins to carry on a loud conversation, what do you do?

Tap them on the shoulder, ask them to be quiet.

What I'd secretly like to do: Rip the cellphone out of their hands, jump on it until it breaks into little pieces. And maybe jump on their heads, too. But that would probably disturb the other theatre patrons.





4. What's up with you and that doll?

On our ice-out visit to the cottage, Jeff and I stopped by a McDonald's for a nutritious lunch. I bought the Happy Meal and got the lamest Happy Meal Toy I've ever seen. I christened her Cora.

Apparently the Cora dolls cost McDonald's MORE than their usual Happy Meal Toys, I found out later, and are part of a "classic" Madame Alexander doll line. According to the promotional page, my doll is "destined to become a sought-after collectible".

:-D

5. Using food ingredients/dishes or terminology, describe your personality and character.

Oh, what a wonderful question! I want to spend some time thinking on this, so I am going to postpone my answer for its own separate Blathering in the near future.

6. What is your least favourite part of keeping an online journal. Why?

Dealing with reader mail from people who think that my Blatherings is a community public project.

I guess it depends on the attitude of the person e-mailing me. If it's a friend warning me that writing about xxx is likely going to get me in trouble because they're worried about me, that's one thing. But if it's someone telling me that I shouldn't be writing about keeping clean because it will offend people who can't afford to keep clean, or saying that I shouldn't be posting my opinions because they might influence people too much, then that's another.

(And yes, these have all happened.)

7. Money is no object when it comes to my (complete the sentence).

My sanity and loved ones.





8. Which is your favourite subject for photo taking? Objects or people? And why?

People. They're much more difficult to photograph, mainly because (in the case of my friends and family) they tend to run and hide, or put on goofy faces when they see my camera. But that just makes it more of a challenge. :-)

9. What one thing in your life are you most grateful for?

That I never did hook up with Norm Brown, my childhood crush. Because I'm sure he couldn't have lived up to my now astonishingly over-inflated fantasies and I would have lived my life in eternal disappointment and soul-wrenching angst.

10. The end is near! What do you regret -not- doing in your life thus far?

Trying a Krispy Kreme doughnut. I've heard way too much about Krispy Kreme doughnut stores, and am dying of anticipation. In fact, when I finally do get to try a Krispy Kreme doughnut, there is no possible way that reality could ever live up to my now astonishingly over-inflated fantasies about Krispy Kreme products.

11. If the sky weren't blue, what colour would you like it to be?

Heck, I don't know. Plaid. Transparent.

12. Though you've said you write whatever you feel like writing in your journal, are there any subjects you will not, under any circumstances, write about?

Anything I'd like to keep private.

I always assume that anyone I write about will eventually read what I wrote about them.





Today's Blatherpics:

	Would -you- buy web design services from these people?!
	Cora in a somewhat painful-looking pose at the cottage.
	Me mugging for the camera. Photo by my 5-year-old niece, Annie.
	Luisa's and Reid's son, Ronnie.

asian eyes

Today's entry is part of an On Display collaboration project. Our assignment: to write about a body part.

Most of my childhood was spent in the suburbs of Toronto, where I was the only Asian in all my classes through elementary and high school. None of my childhood friends were Asian.

Because I was constantly surrounded by a sea of mostly Caucasian faces (there was very little ethnic diversity out in the suburbs back then), I think that I subconsciously figured I blended in with everyone else, that I wasn't really that different.

I didn't want to be different.





From time to time, however, I'd be reminded that I was different, whether I liked it or not. I'd be glancing over a class photo, for example, and be struck by how much my own features stood out from the others. I'd catch a glimpse of myself in the girls' locker room mirror, my jet black hair amidst all the blondes and browns and reds.

Sometimes I'd be reminded through comments from other children, sometimes innocent, sometimes not-so-innocent. I remember when a friend pooh-poohed my high marks in school, saying that it wasn't fair, that it was a fact that all Japanese people were smarter. A compliment (that I was smarter) and an insult (that I didn't have to work for my marks) at the same time.





I've been called Jap, Japanee, Chink, Slanty-Eyes, Geisha-Girl, but always by other little kids. Though obviously meant as an insult, neither the name-caller nor I fully understood the implications and history behind the terms.

I've always found it baffling how the lack of or addition of a fold in the eyelid (or a difference in skin colour, hair colour, or whatever) can change so much how some people can perceive you. ("Ah, she's Japanese. That must mean she's good at math, is inscrutable and takes a lot of photographs!")

Er.

Okay, so maybe the part about the photographs is true. :-)

As a child, I had always wanted to fit in. As I grew older, I learned the value of being different. I'm not talking about just physical differences, but all other aspects as well.





It freaks me out to hear about some Asians would actually have plastic surgery to look more Western. Okay, perhaps these people don't explicitly say they want to look more Western. As this page about blepharoplasty seems to indicate, they want to look "less tired" and "more youthful" (implying, of course, that all Asians look tired and old!).

I like my eyes. They may not see all that well without glasses, may have wrinkles (sorry, that should be "laugh lines") starting around the corners, may not be the "look into my gaze and drown yourself in unbridled passion" eyes on the faces of gorgeous magazine cover models. But they're all me. :-)

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Today's Blatherpics:

	I took this and the other photos on this page during my run along Harbourfront late yesterday afternoon.
	The roof of an outdoor metal gazebo-like structure in the Toronto Music Garden. I didn't even know there WAS a Toronto Music Garden until yesterday afternoon! Each section of the garden has a musical name, like "Prelude" or "Gavotte".
	Yay, was glad to see that these flowers survived the recent snow. :-)
	I took this photo from the Toronto Music Garden, looking toward the CN tower. The building in the photo is a condo complex.
	My eye. :-)

sara and annie

Today's entry was written as this month's assignment for On Display: "Describe someone you love." I've chosen to write about my nieces Sara (7 years old) and Annie (5 years old).

Sara was the first of our nieces, the first baby I've gotten to know, the first diaper I've changed. I remember being terrified the first time I held her; she seemed so fragile, like a porcelain doll that would break if I accidentally dropped her.

Sometimes I'll look at Annie and marvel that I saw her being born. I was my sister's labour room partner, the closest experience I'll likely ever have to being a mother myself. I saw Annie before my sister did. :-) I remember Annie's look of irritation as her head appeared, as if to say, Dammit, I was comfortable...what are you doing? Put me back!

Sara and Annie are half Japanese (from Ruth) and half Estonian (from Kaarel, who is blonde). Sara's hair is a dark brown, Annie's is lighter.





Sara appears outgoing but is somewhat shy and cautious. She is the more emotionally complex of the two. Her desires and fears simmer together with a fear of appearing too vulnerable, and she's learning how to hide her feelings.

Annie, on the other hand, wears her heart on her sleeve. When she's angry, she radiates fury, storm clouds thundering, her voice (surprising bass for such a little girl) carries pretty far. When she's happy, her smile is infectious, pulling you in. She's also the more physically affectionate of the two, more openly cuddly. Annie adores Sara, seeks to emulate her.

Sara is long-limbed, graceful, eager for adventure. Annie is still somewhat toddler-awkward but doesn't want to be left behind. They both squabble like regular siblings but are also fiercely protective of each other.

It scares me sometimes, how much I love both these girls. How do you take it, you parents out there? It verges on physical pain, this feeling I have for Sara and Annie, and I am overwhelmed by a need to keep them safe, to protect them from anything bad in the world. I can't imagine what it would be like as a parent, sending these little ones out the door every day for school, exposing them to everything and everyone out there.

When I look at Sara and Annie, I'm reminded of how Ruth and I were when we were little. That both scares and comforts me, thinking about the things we've both been through, but also knowing how close we are now.





Links/Updates:

Many thanks to Helen ("AntonLerchner" in Blatherchat :-)) for the card and birthday gifts, which arrived in the mail yesterday! More details and photos later this week.

I'll be offline most of the day, working on the short story collab with Michelle. I reallyreally *love* what she's sent me so far. I'm going to try to send her my next bit by tomorrow morning, perhaps even later today.

Going to a potluck at Scott's tonight. I'm making Moroccan Chicken for the first time, wish me luck. :-)

Today's Blatherpics:

	Annie and Sara at their first lemonade stand.
	For Christmas last year, Annie decided to give herself as a gift to her parents. Sara helped her write the sign she taped onto her chest ("To Mom and Dad - Merry Christmas, Love Annie") and presented Annie on Christmas morning.
	Annie and Sara with Jeff and me at Deerhurst Inn earlier this year.