POLL: booze

Jodi and Allison last night.


Happy birthday, Allison! Jodi and Allison and I had a great time at the Frog and Firkin last night. See Allison's Livejournal entry about the evening. And check out Seanan's wonderful Rivendell walk drawing of Allison! (see Seanan's Livejournal for the full birthday greeting)

The Frog seems to becoming one of our regular Urban Tapestry dinner hangouts, replacing The Pickle Barrel since Allison and Jodi moved. Ironic, really ... The Frog is basically a pub, but none of us drink beer.

Which made me curious, hence this next poll:

SURVEY: How often do you drink, if at all? What do you like? What do you definitely NOT like?

I started to drink more often (for me, "more often" is about three alcoholic beverages a week) when my arms were at their worst... I found that the alcohol always deadened the pain much more effectively than anti-inflammatory drugs. These days it's more like a couple times a month at most. I rarely have more than one glass in an evening; if I do, I don't get drunk...I fall asleep :-).

What I don't like:
- beer, especially the dark sludge that Jeff and my friends Andy Beaton and Bill Sutton seem to adore

What I like:
- weak fruit-flavoured wine (blush wine? don't know proper terminology) with ice
- chocolaty/sweet liqueurs, esp a two-coloured liqueur that Rand brought to a Christmas party at Allison's once, can't remember the name
- plum wine
- hot sake
- something fruity and sweet I had at a party at Andy's & Christine's once, can't remember the name

Undecided:
- Scotch: vile taste, but I like the afterburn effect

What about you all?

Interesting links

A cat with an ID microchip implanted under his skin was returned to his owner 10 years after he jumped out a window and vanished. More info: Globe and Mail article.

Media Post has an interesting article about a company hoping to commercialize fan fiction. (free registration required... it was curiosity about this article that finally convinced me to sign up)

Jeff an I have started using Grading The Movies (a site for parents) when we're considering taking nieces to a movie but aren't exactly sure if it's appropriate for their age levels. To you parents out there: How do you decide whether a movie is OK for your child to see or not? Or do you just not worry about it?

October/2003 comments: Read | Post | LJ

15 Things I Love About Allison

Allison & Paul, at Torcon.


Ok, her birthday's not until tomorrow, but Allison & Jodi & I are getting together tonight at the Frog & Firkin to celebrate their joint birthdays. Yesterday I listed 15 things I love about Jodi. Today...

15 things I love about Allison

How adorable Allison always looks when I take a picture of her when she's not expecting it ( See photo at right). >:-)

When I first began attending filk circles in Toronto, I still remember how impressed I was when I first heard Allison sing... I love the smoky quality of her voice. I started always looking around in anticipation at those early Toronto convention filk circles, hoping that the redhead whose singing I enjoyed so much would show up.

Her appreciation of sushi.

Her amazing cross stitch talents. She once tried to teach me (I was so impressed by the pieces hanging up in her living room), but I quickly found that my suspicions during high school Home Ec. were correct... I have zero aptitude for any kind of needlework. I love the cross stitch Urban Tapestry shirts she made for Jodi and me.

Her cool earring collection, some of which she made herself.

Her husband. :-) I've known John since grade school... he's very cool and fun to hang out with as well.

I can count on her being there for me when it counts.

Her songwriting (I forgot to mention this for Jodi, too). My favorite Urban Tapestry songs: Days We Spend Together (co-written with Jodi), Monday (by Allison).

Her willingness to try new experiences, culinary and otherwise. Except for things with blueberries. ("It's just WRONG!") :-D



Allison about to go on a ferris wheel with
Lissa and Phil.


Her passion for reading. Allison was the one who finally convinced me to try reading Lord of the Rings all the way through, and so I blame her for Reading Lord of the Rings: A Final Attempt and my Waiting For Frodo online comic strip.

Her archival abilities, and knack for capturing the essence of an experience. If you haven't already, be sure to visit scrapbook she put together in celebration of Urban Tapestry's 10th anniversary.

Her sensitivity to how other people are feeling.

Her love of teaching. Man, do I ever wish that I had someone like Allison as a teacher every year in grade school. I am constantly impressed by her fantastic teaching ideas, the activities she plans for her students, all the extra work she puts into what must be an incredible learning experience for her students.

Her passion for the media (movies, TV shows, the Oscars). And she's a geeky Star Trek fangirl like me. :-)

Her ability to encourage and inspire people, like in her "Walk To Rivendell" group. Do read her Livejournal entry at the end of her project, especially the comment section.

Like my experience with Jodi's list, I'm feeling as if I'm doing Allison an injustice...this list could go on much longer. Also check out Allison's take on sharing an October birthday with Jodi.

Looking forward to seeing her and Jodi tonight!



Allison at FKO in 2001 with friends.

October/2003 comments: Read | Post | LJ

Happy birthday, Jodi!

I've been thinking a lot about friendships lately. When I was younger, my friendships tended to spring up more due to circumstance rather than conscious effort. I find that as I get older, I'm pickier. Partly because my time is more valuable to me now, and I'm more aware of how I spend it, but mostly because I know more about myself and what I want. I'm drawn to people I admire, who inspire me to strive to improve myself. I'm also more confident of myself that I used to be; I would rather spend time with those who value my company and friendship as much as I value theirs.

I am lucky enough to have music partners who are also my friends. Which brings me to the main topic of today's Blathering, in celebration of Jodi's birthday. :-)

15 things I love about Jodi

Her amazing smile.

When Jodi decides on a particular goal, she pursues it wholeheartedly. when I first met Jodi, for example, she was unhappy with her job. A lot of people in her situation would complain but do nothing else, convinced there was no point. Over several years, I watched Jodi actively began exploring other options, learn what she needed to know, made career changes and became happier along the way.

Her appreciation of chocolate.

Her Web site, The Muse's Muse, the best songwriting resource online. I recently snooped around her site after not having visited for a while, and was blown away by the wealth of resources here.

When she dissolves into a gigglefit. It's infectious. :-)

Her marketing savvy. She's also incredibly organized.

Her voice. I could listen to her sing the phone book and be happy.

I can always count on her being there for me when it counts.

Her intellectual honesty.



Jodi and Rand. Can't recall what convention this was
taken at, but I love this photo.


She always looks fantastic without needing trendy accessories. (She's going to yell at me for saying that, but it's true...she looks better in a simple t-shirt and blue jeans than many women do in a zillion dollar designer suit)

Her passion for reading. Jodi and I share tastes in books, so are frequently lending books to each other.

The healthy relationship she seems to have with her husband. They each have their own independent interests and friends, but also value quality time together, have respect for each other.

Her technonerdgirl savvy.

Her appreciation of sushi.

Her passion for life. Jodi doesn't coast. She throws herself into her projects with enthusiasm, doesn't let fear of failure prevent her from making the attempt.

I realize at this point that I could easily expand this list, but Jodi would probably kill me. :-)

Happy birthday, Jodi!



Urban Tapestry.

October/2003 comments: Read | Post | LJ

provoking avocados

S's birthday card for Ruth last week.


Happy birthday, Alisa!

Contrary to popular belief, when I'm feeling down, I don't immerse myself in chocolate; I shop for fresh produce.

Had a bad arm day yesterday. Tendinitis has gotten a bit worse recently, probably due to the fact that I have been trying to go back to my regular and sometimes overenthusiastic schedule, compounded by the week of doing nothing but lying in bed and on the couch semi-comatose without doing my arm exercises and stretches. I tried to work on my novel, but I gave up when I realized I was spending about 10 minutes agonizing over whether or not to it was worth changing a sentence structure halfway down a page because of the physical pain that would be involved.

So I decided to catch up on my finances instead, going through my box of receipts and sorting them. More pain. Tried to read a book, but I couldn't concentrate because I was fretting too much about not being able to work on my novel. Got an e-mail from an editor asking for changes in an article that would require a pile of e-mails that I knew I wasn't capable of typing yesterday, and ViaVoice (which I'm using right now) would require far more patience than I had in me.

So I shopped for fresh produce.

I find the fresh produce aisle in a grocery store strangely comforting. Poring over the colors and textures, poking avocados to see if they are ripe yet (ViaVoice kept insisting that I wanted to say "provoking avocados" until I manually beat it into submission), watching the cooling mist spray over the fruit and vegetables... it was all therapeutic in a bizarre "Eat Drink Man Woman" sort of way. I picked up the ingredients to help me make Terence Chua's Chinese fried rice recipe for lunch. Hurt to stir while I was cooking, but I was tired of eating leftover curried vegetables with dahl every day (I had made a giant batch the week Jeff was sick and froze the extras).

Because email has been more challenging for me this year, I've started to sometimes call out-of-town friends at the end of the work day or on weekends to keep in touch. The phone calls are sometimes very short because of long distance charges or because the other person isn't free to talk (which is fine, of course... one of the realities of phone conversations), but I began to learn some of the advantages of hearing a friend's voice, being able to interact real-time, even for just a few minutes. It's also interesting to compare the different types of answering machine messages and answering services that people have. And yes, Alisa, I'm starting to find our answering machine phone-tag conversation kind of fun. :-) Played phone tag with Andrea yesterday, talked with Mark Osier (yay! it's been a while), had a great conversation with my sister.

In the evening, Parki and Jeff and I went to see "Lost in Translation", a movie which all of us really enjoyed. I want to see this again very soon. I'm not usually crazy about Bill Murray, but I have to say that he was amazing in this. Loved the Japan footage. And the romance was heartbreakingly wonderful and understated; there were so many places where this movie could have taken the easy route, but it didn't.

And I purposely wrote a long-ish Blathering with ViaVoice to prove to myself that I can still do a lot of writing even if it takes me more time than I expected for my arms to get back to 100%. :-)

September/2003 comments: Read | Post | LJ

moviefest

Lissa, Allison & Phil with purple Oreos from
Lynn Gold, at Torcon.


Not feeling nearly as Jabba-ish today; thanks for the get well wishes, everyone. Thanks especially to Scott Snyder for pointing out that the undead don't sleep, to Julie for pointing out that at least we Canadians have Aero bars, and to Reid for posting those embarrassing watergun party pics of me yet again. You guys slay me. :-D

Hey, and Luisa posted in Blatherchat from Argentina! That's a first for Blatherchat, as far as I can recall.

Rented a whole pile of movies on the weekend. Ferris Bueller's Day Off was as enjoyable as the first time I saw this movie. Saw Strictly Ballroom for the first time and loved it; thanks to those of you who recommended this movie a while ago. In my couch potato weekend I also finished watching the first season of Six Feet Under on DVD (on loan from Parki). I am SO hooked on this series... some really excellent writing and acting here. Also saw the season premiere of Alias, which I haven't really been watching at all except for a random episode because I was curious about the actress that was playing Elektra in the Daredevil movie. Intriguing premise. Any Alias or Six Feet Under fans out there?

Arms a bit sore last week; I've started to use ViaVoice again as a crutch, just to be on the safe side.

Have a good Monday, everyone!

September/2003 comments: Read | Post | LJ