cookies, Flickr, househunting

Today's photos are from the past week. Some from a gaming get-together at Reid & Luisa's during the holidays, for example, where Luisa showed me how to use a cookie press.

I love miniature food, as some of you already know, so these mini-cookies appealed to me a great deal. I've already decided I have to get my own and start experimenting with different types of flavours and colours. Not all my cookies turned out; I made mutant cookies out of the ones that didn't. Ironically, they got eaten first...go figure. :-)



There's something incredibly therapeutic about cookie-making, akin to fingerpainting and sculpture and Wacom artpad doodling. Luisa and I also had an interesting discussion about crafts in general, and I'm realizing that I have a strong preference for instant gratification crafts where you can see results in one sitting rather than having to wait for things to dry so you can paint them, or multi-stage crafts. Luisa has far more patience. :-)




I'm having a lot of fun uploading extra pics to my Flickr page, by the way; feel free to check them out. Be warned that some photos can only be seen by those in my Friends & Family lists, but most are public.

My only complaint about Flickr so far is that uploading is dead slow or near impossible at peak times; I think they've underestimated their popularity. BUT at least they keep users informed, and promise to improve service in the future.

Anyway, click on any Blatherphoto today for more info about the content, or to see a bigger version.



Thanks to Martin GK for pointing me in the direction of this User Friendly cartoon. Yes, I -so- identify. :-) Jeff and I are still working our way through the special features on the extended version of Return of the King, but I've already watched the new version twice.

Forgot to mention, by the way, that my sister's book was reviewed in Maclean's magazine recently. Here's a scan of the page, for those interested; I've added it to Ruth's Web site.



My posts over the next month are likely to be sporadic since Jeff and I have started packing for our move in a couple of weeks. As I've mentioned before, we'll be living in my mom-in-law's condo while we househunt, with most of our stuff in storage. The piano movers came to take away our baby grand yesterday; the apartment already looks so much emptier without it.



Only two days before I leave for GAfilk! Jeff's going to be looking at houses while I'm gone. We were going to visit what looked like a near-perfect house today, but it got sold before we could see it. :-(

Ah well, I just need to learn some patience and trust that our future dream house IS waiting out there; we just need to find it.

January 2005 comments: Read Blatherchat | Post in Blatherchat | Livejournal comments

happy new year!

Out of curiosity, I checked over Predictions for 2004 that some of you made a year ago. Hey, some actually came true! :-)

Anyone care to make a prediction for 2005?

Also, a poll: where were YOU at midnight? At a party? With a friend? Asleep in bed?

I was at Reid and Luisa's place with Jeff, Iain, Michael and Ronnie. Luisa and I hung out in the livingroom chatting for several hours (ok, more than several hours) while the others played board games and computer games.

I so adore Luisa. It was wonderful to get her all to myself for a while. :-)

Thank you again for the feedback and support re: my Too Paranoid? Blathering, the advice about self-defense courses, the sharing of similar experiences.

The incident with the stranger itself was minor, in the grand scheme of things; I was more moved by how many of you took the time to post or e-mail me privately since the incident, both friends and those I haven't yet met in person.

And this is one of the things I love most about online communities: the bringing together of individuals who would likely never be able to all meet in one place in real life. The connections that sometimes occur in cyberspace, however briefly, can have sometimes have a lasting effect; even a one-time post in a stranger's message board in the middle of the night can provide support when it's most needed, for example.

I enjoyed reading Allison's 2004 retrospective, especially the last bit:

"Another year of LiveJournal: helpful and supportive comments, thoughtful prose, goofiness, rants, highs and lows, stories, poems, artwork and songs to make me cry, laugh and admire, a welcome break in the day, my link to friends all over the world."

This was so true for me as well, except it applies to other online communities as well as Livejournal. Yes, the package also includes some politics, infighting, sensitive egos; several of my friends avoid LJ because of this. I also don't delude myself in thinking that online contact can replace face-to-face interaction, but unfortunately geography often gets in the way of the latter. :-(

For me, however, it's definitely been worth it and I feel incredibly lucky to be a part of it all. I'm deeply grateful for the knowledge, support and friendships I've gained through online communities, and will never take them for granted.

Thank you, all. And have a very Happy New Year!

January 2005 comments: Read Blatherchat | Post in Blatherchat | Livejournal comments