I only speak Greek

Photo by my niece Annie, taken last night.

Above: my cousin Naomi and me. Last night, Naomi and her husband Rick saved the life of our Uncle John. I went with my sister and her family to a Christmas party hosted by Naomi and Rick. It was fun to catch up with everybody, including my Uncle John; he and I have been penpals for a number of years.

Partway through the party, Naomi noticed that something was wrong with Uncle John. It looked to me at first as if he was just laughing very hard, his head down on the table. Naomi (who is a nurse), however, suspected something more serious. Things happened very quickly after that.

They carefully moved Uncle John to the floor and elevated his feet. At some point, my uncle's heart stopped. Naomi, who was sitting by Uncle John's head, had made sure his airway was clear, and Rick (who is a firefighter) began CPR. Meanwhile, my Aunt Barbara (a nurse) had called 911 and was telling the operator about what was happening.

Uncle John's heart had started beating again by the time the paramedics arrived. They gave him oxygen and hooked him up to an IV. One of the first questions was to ask his family if language was going to be an issue; a logical question since they needed to make sure he understood English.

Even as he faded in and out of consciousness, my uncle retained his sense of humor. Overhearing their question and speaking through the oxygen mask, Uncle John said weakly, "I only speak Greek."

Shortly after, they put him on a stretcher and took him outside to the waiting ambulance. It seemed surreal, looking out the window and seeing those flashing red lights; how could this be happening?

And yet in some ways, we were very lucky. This happened at a party with two nurses and a fire fighter. Naomi and Rick worked as a team, doing CPR on Uncle John; they were efficient and calm throughout. Afterward, I couldn't help but wonder what I would have done. Go into hysterics or stand helplessly by, frozen with panic? I hope I never have to find out.

I took one CPR course, but it was many years ago. Now I'm thinking it's time to take a refresher. I also did some searching online for CPR information. Here's one useful link I found;

Learn CPR: Includes info about CPR for adults, children and infants, with video demonstrations. There is also information about how to handle choking events.

Anyway, I would very much appreciate it if you would please think healing vibes at my Uncle John.

Have a safe and happy holiday, everyone.





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My husband, the cell phone

Above: Jeff tries on a niece's Halloween costume last night.

Jeff and I went out trick-or-treating with our nieces last night. The youngest wasn't feeling well but had been given doctor's permission to go to five houses. Out of sisterly loyalty, the oldest only went to five as well. Here's how much candy they each came back with:



This is SO wrong -- kids should come back groaning beneath the weight of all the Halloween goodies in their bags! Apparently my sister agrees...when everyone's healthy, she's taking them both out to get some extra chocolate, yay! Happily, several of my niece's classmates also came by last night near the end of the evening, loaded down with gifts of candy because they knew she was sick.

I helped hand out candy at my sister's place last night. Some of those little Trick-or-Treaters are darned cute, toddling up to the front door with wide eyes, holding out their goody bags. One was dressed up as a Texas Chain Massacre character, complete with a toy chainsaw that came with sound effects. I didn't find that costume quite so cute.

My nieces' pumpkins:



Speaking of pumpkins, check out the pumpkins carved this year by my friends Lissa and Annie, both in the UK.


Thanks to those who offered help re: trying to get a big sound file to Jeff Bohnhoff. I was able to give him the file via iChat, go figure. Jeff also very generously (I know he's crazybusy right now) gave me some helpful suggestions re: adjusting my recording set-up to get a better sound through pre-amp gain adjustments and microphone placement, complete with a waveform graph to better illustrate his points. Yay for audio technonerdboy friends! It's been years since JeffB visited and did a Guest Blathering.

I'm looking forward to seeing him and Maya again next year at Consonance, where they are GoHs along with their son, Alex. Other guests at the convention - Dave Rood (Interfilk guest), Kathy Mar (Toastperson) and Gwen Knighton (International guest). You can find out more about Jeff, Maya and Mystic Fig Studios at their Web site, and hear soundclips from their CDs at CDbaby. Maya and Jeff won the Pegasus Award for Best Performer last year.



Hm...when I checked this morning, the NaNoWriMo site didn't have my comic uploaded yet despite an e-mail from Chris Baty yesterday saying it would go up at midnight. I guess they're still working out technical glitches. I'm curious to see which comic they choose post first; I had a last-minute suggestion, but it might have been too late.

A few days ago, I posted the new "Paul Stanley Kwinn" song that Urban Tapestry performed at OVFF in honour of the Toastmaster. Apparently Paul has been asked about veracity of some of the statements in the song, so he replied in his blog (*chortle*) along with a feeble threat to get back at me.

Here is my response, my dear BunnyBoy:



Hee hee. And so the gauntlet is thrown...

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Happy birthday, Ruth!

Happy birthday to my super-talented sister, Ruth!

My sister has illustrated over 40 books for children. Here is her most recent, The Couch Was A Castle, the fifth that she has written AND illustrated:



Check out the "A Ruth Ohi Picture Book" logo...is that cool or what?

A sample spread from the book (click image for a bigger version):



Here's one of the roughs from the book (click image for a bigger version):



You can find out more about this book here.

You can order it from Amazon here.




Ruth was interviewed by the Toronto Star a couple years ago.
(Click on image for bigger version)


My sister did the illustration on the Toronto Public Library children's membership card:



She's been featured on TVO's "Imprint" show:



...and This Is Daniel Cook:



She puts a ton of energy into her talks at schools:



...and public events like Word on the Street:



You can see all my sister's books on Amazon. You can find out more at RuthOhi.com, which I plan to revamp once I know more CSS! Here are 20 Things I Love About My Sister.

What still amazes me: that she manages to juggle a very active motherhood schedule (my nieces both have a ton of before AND afterschool activities) plus her own career. She works harder than anyone I know.

Check out this sample page from her calendar:



AND she still finds time to work out, cook dinner, have quality time with her family, talk with me when I need a listening ear. I feel incredibly lazy compared to her; she's always been an inspiration to me.

I have the coolest sister in the world.




Above: Ruth and Jim, many years ago.

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Happy birthday, Dad!

Happy birthday to my father, who turns 75 today! Feel free to post birthday greetings for my Dad in Livejournal.

20 Things I Love About My Dad

He loves learning new things, seeks out new experiences.

He's one of the most active retired people I know.

When Ruth, Jim and I were kids, he encouraged our love of books and literature. We couldn't afford to buy that many books, but we went to the library every week. I recall these visits as a special treat, something I got excited about. Each of us came home loaded down a pile of books to read.

He also used to rent a film projector during the year, and would borrow movies from our local library. The neighbourhood kids would come over for movie nights; I remember feeling so proud.

His child-like enthusiasm.

His love of music. He's fun to play music with:



How well he gets along with young people; he has an ability to connect with kids that many adults lack. His students were lucky.

He's a great cook. I call him for advice sometimes, especially for Japanese cooking.

He took us on family camping trips across the continent every summer when we were kids so we could see different parts of Canada and the U.S. I only found out years later that he and Mom had to take out a loan to be able to afford this...he paid it back when he started teaching again in the fall.

He was one of the first Japanese public school teachers in Toronto (if not the first).

He's brave.

His love for his grandchildren: reading to them, playing with them, teaching them things.



He maintains a positive sense of life despite family tragedies. He's lost a wife, a son and daughter-in-law, both parents, a sister and a brother.

His patience.

I gave him a rosewood flute for Christmas some years ago, and he's put a ton of energy into learning how to play it. Now he plays a keyless flute better than I do!

He's not afraid of being emotional.

He's there when I need him.

His piano-playing. He's encouraged my love of music, putting money into my piano lessons throughout my childhood, encouraging me.



His delight in cool techno-toys.

His love of travel and learning about different cultures.

His love of teaching. Even though he's retired now, he goes to Japan every year to volunteer his services to a Japanese school.

His sense of humour.

He's a fantastic photographer. I definitely inherited my love of photography from my Dad! Here's a photo I took of him waaaaay back with my very first camera, at the first house we owned:




Happy birthday, Dad! You're an inspiration to me. -- Love Debbie



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Happy birthday, Jeff!

It's Jeff's birthday today! Happy birthday, sweetie. :-)

Here are some pics of Jeff, both old and new...

Jeff at a watergun party hosted by Reid & Luisa (about to squirt me with his watergun, in fact):



Jeff, Scott M. and Parki in our old neighbourhood:



Giving one of our nieces a skiing lesson a year ago:



Chopping a hole in the ice during a winter cottage visit so we can have water for drinking and cooking:



And bathing, of course:



In his brand-new basement workroom (I love the fact that he's a technonerdboy who also knows how to wield power tools (AND a canoe paddle!)):



With Reid, Ray, Iain, and Bob, at the Apple store opening at Yorkdale in Toronto.



Photo of Jeff and me on top of Sunblood mountain during a day-long hike on our Nahanni River canoe trip:



A VERY old photo, up at the cottage. Check out my 70s glasses:



Even older photo, taken on New Year's Day when we lived out in the country and used to have weekend-long sleepover parties:

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