iTalk

(Click image for bigger version.)

Hey, my sweetiepie of a husband brought me home several gifts yesterday for no reason:

-- A Moleskine music notebook. Yay, my first Moleskine! This will come in handy for transcribing tunes on the fly at Irish sessions, as well as songwriting inspirations.

-- An 8.5 x 11.75 inch 70-sheet Cambridge wirebound office pad notebook, wide-ruled. Jeff is as much of a stationery geek as I am, and I had been lusting after his Cambridge notebooks.

-- An iTalk recording thingy for my iPod! Very, very cool. I just plug it into the top of my iPod, and it's an instant recorder. Not studio sound quality, of course, but decent enough that I'll be able to record session tunes as well as Urban Tapestry practicestuff.

Many thanks to our friend Walter, who helped move stuff (yes, though most of our old condo is moved into a storage locker, there are still a few things left...hopefully we will be done today) as well as pretending to be my husband during a househunting expedition yesterday.

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eggplant sandwiches

Toronto at sunrise this morning.

Went to the St. Lawrence Market early this morning because I had a craving for bagels. My friend John has pointed out that St. Urbain's isn't as good as it used to be but I'm still hooked on them anyway. :-)

As usual, I walked by Mustadio's, an Italian sandwich shop on the first floor of the Market. I've always been curious about the place because it always seems to be packed. This time, however, there was actually one free seat available at the counter.

I grabbed it, of course, and sat down even though I had no idea what I was going to order.

"What would you like?" asked a cheerful looking woman in an apron.

"Um," I said. "How about one of those?" I pointed to the plates of my neighbours, all of whom seemed to be having the same thing.

Mustadio's at the Market.

"An eggplant vegetarian," she said, nodding. "Like everything on it? Fried onions? Mushrooms? Peppers? Tomato sauce?"

"Sure!" I said, thinking it an odd thing to have for breakfast but heck, after having sashimi with Jeff at 6 am beside the Tokyo Fish Market in Japan, it wasn't really all that off the beaten track. Besides, I've never been particularly excited about the beaten track.

A few minutes later, she set a GIGANTIC sandwich in front of me. I should have taken a photo but I was too hungry, sorry. Holy toledo, it was good. I could only eat a third of it before I was full, so wrapped the rest up for another meal or two later on.

Bought this hyacinth yesterday because I'm tired of winter.

Dropped by Chris's Cheesemongers to ask about 2-year-old Chevre Noir but they still didn't have it. :-(

Bought cinnamon raisin and sesame seed bagels from St. Urbain's, freshly baked from the oven. Mmmmmm. What is it about the fragrance of baking bread that evokes such positive vibes? Makes me want to try baking bread sometime. Our breadmaker's in a storage locker now, so I'd have to do it from scratch and remember how to figure out yeast and kneading and that whole process. Then again, why bother with the St. Lawrence Market just around the corner?

I asked a similar question a couple of years ago, but I'm curious about whether or not some of you still bake bread. POLL: Do you ever bake bread? How often? Breadmaker or from scratch? What are your favourite types?

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Moving: Stage 2, Tranzac session

Hudson Movers came today and took away the rest of our old apartment to put into storage: the furniture, kitchen, most of our books. It was strange to see the place so empty afterwards; it seemed both bigger and smaller at the same time. We're looking at more houses this weekend.

Attended my third Irish music session at the Tranzac earlier this week (I've already posted about my first and second sessions). This week's "slow session" involved learning a new tune by ear. I'd never done this before, and found it easier than I expected. Whether or not I actually remember the tune weeks from now, however, remains to be seen. I'm hoping to have a microphone hooked up to my iPod soon to record some future sessions as well as my whistle lessons.

Before the move.

The tune we learned was called Dusty Miller, except I was warned that there are many tunes by this name; later on, I was unable to find the same Dusty Miller tune online. And this is one thing I'm discovering about learning tunes: almost every tune has more than one name. No wonder so few players know the names of the tunes they're playing, plus most of them seem to have grown up with the music since childhood.

I suppose I'm a bit off my gourd, leaping into the whole Irish session thing at this stage in my life. But then part of me thinks it's better to leap in now than never. And so far, it's been well worth the effort.

I've been enjoying listening, for example, as well as learning the tunes. And I was ecstatic when a few came up at the session this week AND I WAS ABLE TO PLAY ALONG WITHOUT SHEET MUSIC (!!!): Thrush In The Straw, Maurice Manley (Ballydesmond #2), Ballydesmond, Egans. And later in the evening, someone launched into Dusty Miller, the same tune we had learned in the slow session.

Toronto was bone-chilling cold that evening, everyone with scarves wrapped around their faces, noses and cheeks numb as they hurried along the snowy streets. Inside the Tranzac, however, we were cozy in our circle around the fireplace, coats tossed on a table in the corner.

And our pipes, whistles, flutes, banjos, accordians and fiddles filled the room with music.

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cheap liposuction

Today's Blathering is a collab entry for Wordgoddess. This month's challenge: to write a letter to a company.

===============

Friday, January 21st, 2005

Dear Acme Bulk E-mail Co.,

I believe I was mistakenly placed on your mailing list. I'm sure it was an innocent error, made in simple ignorance rather than a misguided (and, I must say, rather moronic) conviction that I can be tricked into opening an e-mail message with a misleading subject header, and then somehow surprised into buying something I didn't want.

To be clear:

- I am not interested in liposuction, particularly CHEAP liposuction.

- I don't need new toner, thank you.

- If I want quality meds, I'll ask my doctor for a prescription.

- I do not want a bigger penis.

- I have no interest in becoming an ordained minister. Okay, well maybe I considered it in a brief moment of ennui, but I've moved on.

- If I've won a lottery, just send me the cash.

- Go ahead and suspend my eBay account, see if I care.

- I said, I don't need new toner.

- I don't want my own casino.

- Even if I needed Valium, why would I want to buy it from someone who can't even spell it correctly?

- I don't want to Boost my Male Muscles, thank you.

- I don't want to look at your profile.

- Why would I want to say good-bye to my stomach?

- I said, I DON'T NEED NEW TONER!!!

- I don't want to send my bank account numbers to a total stranger in Nigeria, prince or no.

- I'm glad you like my site but I still have no interest in seeing you naked.

Sincerely,

Debbie Ridpath Ohi

============================

Wednesday, January 26th, 2005

Dear Acme Bulk E-mail Co.,

Sending me those unsolicited e-mail messages was one thing, but breaking into my apartment last night and vandalizing my inkjet printer and office supply cabinet is another.

The wallet inadvertently left behind by one of your incompetent toadies is undoubtedly being closely examined by the police. Reverend Igor Glotz should also expect a visit soon from my friends Hector and Gomez, who owe their intimidating physique and charming personalities to one of your e-mail offers last year (in particular, the Male Muscle Booster and Cheaper Unlimited Meds).

Sincerely,

Debbie Ridpath Ohi

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first iTunes purchase

Jodi and me. Photo by Rand.

Today's photos were taken by my friend Rand at a Marcon a while back. Got them from him yesterday along with a truly horrifying one that Jodi and I took with Rand's camera when he wasn't looking. And no, it won't be posted. RIGHT, RAND?!? :-)

Thanks so much to Luisa, who came over after work to help us do purging and packing at our old condo. She had a brief conversation with Edna and was unfazed by the latter's rude assessment of her fashion sense.

I recently made my First Purchase at the iTunes Canada music store! On Rand's recommendation, I bought K.D. Lang's "Hymns of the 49th Parallel"; I listened to samples from each track, loved each of them and realized that I might as well buy the whole album. $9.99 Canadian, including taxes. No shipping fee, of course. Wow...I think I'll be buying more albums this way. We're also looking into how to get Urban Tapestry songs onto iTunes.

I also was overcome by a nostalgic hankering for some oldies in my workout music mix, and also bought "Stray Cat Strut" (Stray Cats) and "Girls Just Want To Have Fun" (Cyndi Lauper) for 99 cents each. In case you're curious, here's my current iPod workout music playlist:

Stray Cat Strut (Stray Cats)
Girls Just Want To Have Fun (Lauper)
Alien Jellyfish (Chris Conway)
Barbie Girl (Aqua)
Lollipop (Chordettes)
Jealous of your Cigarette (Hawksley Workman)
Hockey Monkey (Ookla the Mok)

Jodi, Joe, Andrea and me. Photo by Rand.

Buffalo, CA (Ookla the Mok)
One Week (Barenaked Ladies)
Closer To Fine (Indigo Girls)
A Hard Day's Night (Beatles)
Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (ABBA)
Striptease (Hawksley Workman)
She Loves You (Beatles)
Super Trouper (ABBA)
What About Everything (Carbon Leaf)
Out Tonight (Rent soundtrack)
Super Powers (Ookla the Mok)
Born To Hum (Erin McKeown)
Life Less Ordinary (Carbon Leaf)
Dancing Queen (ABBA)
Raise the Roof (Carbon Leaf)
Hey Julie (Fountains of Wayne)
The Rest of My Life (Sloan)

Me. I usually hate photos of me but actually don't mind this one. Photo by Rand.

I shuffle-mix this list for variety, and will likely change it each week. I find this is also a great list for private dancing. In the evenings, I like turning off all the lights in my mom-in-law's living room, which has a spectacular 180 degree view of the city and the frozen lake. Then I happily bop around in the dim light from the skyscrapers...sounds a bit silly, I know, but it's wonderful for de-stressing, and just plain FUN.

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