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Playing with Matches

This morning I went to an event that Random House put on for this book called Playing with Matches. It was written by Amy Cameron who was once on staff at Macleans magazine.

The story goes that a friend of hers had a terrible, terrible date one night. There was some guy she was interested in at work, and they'd been flirting back and forth for a while, and then the guy asked her out. She was thrilled and went through all of the things girls go through before they go out on dates getting ready, etc. He picks her up and the date is just terrible. Amy is later relating the story to a male friend of hers, and he tells her she should write a book about these things.

So she did. I haven't read it yet, since I just got it this morning, but it sounds like it's going to be quite funny.

Apparently the event this morning was the first she's done as far as promoting the book goes. And she claims to have had a great time, and says that we were all very nice and fabulous. (Well of course we were, we're booksellers, we're not going to be terrible to her)

What amazed me most is that she signed her contract with Random House in February of last year and her deadline was May 1!!! That's not a very long time to write a book. Not very long at all.

Anyway, here's a picture from the event. Tara took one of me with Amy, but I discovered later that Tara can't take pictures, it's all fuzzy. So her penance for this is that she has to see herself on here :)

Amy Cameron & Tara -- January 25, 2005.

Becky Thatcher

A couple of weeks ago Mike suggested to me that I should write about my favourite childhood toy. At the time I decided that I was a spoiled little brat as a child, and that I couldn't pick a favourite. And I'm still not entirely sure I can pick only one. However, there is one that comes to mind.

When I was very young, probably about three years old, my grandmother made me a doll. There used to be a picture of me around somewhere with it on the day that I got it. I believe that it was a Christmas gift. The picture is of a very young and tiny me lying ontop of this very large doll. It was probably two times taller than I was. I was giving it a very big hug.

I named her Rebecca Thatcher, but always called her Becky Thatcher. I don't recall being familiar with Tom Sawyer that young, but obviously someone was. As I already said, she was bigger than I was, and was made like a rag doll. She greatly resembled Raggedy Ann, except that she was slightly better dressed. And she had yellowish hair, to match mine I'd guess.

I don't remember playing with her a whole lot. I didn't drag her around like I did with some of my other dolls. I wouldn't have been able to, because she was so big. I do remember sitting her in a chair and playing teacher. She was my student.

I think the reason she comes to mind is because she's sitting in my fathers dining room at the moment waiting for me to bring her home. The chair she's sitting in is one my great-grandfather made. Between the two items, they're probably two of the most sentimental things I own.

I don't have a whole lot more to say about her than that. This just reminds me that I need to find a corner to put her in when I finally bring her home.

COLD

Yeah, so not only is it snowy as all get out, it's also awfully cold. -20 Celsius. So as I was digging myself out, I was slowly freezing myself as well.

Why do I have to spend winter in Canada??

Blizzard

It's snowing like crazy outside. Thank goodness I've got the day off and I can do nothing but sit inside and watch mindless TV, or mindless movies. Or, if that doesn't do it for me, I suppose I could always take a nap.

Wouldn't you want to stay inside if it looked like this out there?

Oops

Ok, you'd think that I'd learn.

I have now locked my keys in my car for a second time. Different car, different keys, infinitely better circumstances.

This time I noticed immediately, and I was at work. Thankfully I had my work keys in my hand, which is actually why I ended up locking the car keys in the car. I was having difficulty finding the store keys, so I put the car keys down to look, and...left them in the car.

Thankfully my grandfather was home, has a key to my house and was able to come in, get the spare keys and bring them to me at work.

Crisis averted.

Technology expert?

I got the phone call. I've been expecting it actually, so I'm not surprised that it finally arrived.

And no, for those of you that know I applied for a job at our head office, it's not that call.

My grandfather called me today. For Christmas this year he received a scanner which will scan his 35mm slides from when they lived in Africa, and a CD burner, so that he can burn them to CD to be viewed. Of course, he doesn't know how to use them, so he'll need a lesson. No big deal, I'll go figure out how it works and show him how. There are a few things that need to be installed before it'll work though, from what I understand. My mom and step-father installed some stuff while they were there at Christmas, but not all.

Also, my cousin sent them a DVD player. Which is great. They need one. However, they're a bit afraid of it. When they bought their current TV it came with a VCR the guy at the store assured them would be extremely easy to use. The thing is, it has that VCR plus on it. And do the TV guides even list those numbers anymore? And when a VCR has that, does it program the regular way? I have no idea. All I know, is that when they want to tape something, they call me and ask me to do it. :)

So, the DVD player worries them. They were quite content not to have one ever, but then Flora was looking for To Kill a Mockingbird, and the only way to buy it was on DVD, so she's got that and no way to watch it. And then my cousin called and asked if they had a player, and they said no. And he sent them one for Christmas (smart boy!), so they'll just have to learn. And, as I keep telling them, DVD players are incredibly easy.

I just hope I remember how to hook the damn thing up...mine goes through an RF modulator because I have an old TV, theirs should be easy because they've got a new TV.... Should be.

I don't feel well

I'm not sure what's wrong with me. I think it must have something to do with the fact that it's winter, and if it's not snowing, raining, or generally being overcast and nasty outside, then it's too cold to go out there.

And it's making me very tired. And I don't like being so tired, I'd just really like to have some energy to do things. So it's not that I feel sick, it's just that I feel tired all the time.

I wonder if this has anything to do with the fact that I very rarely eat vegetables. Hm...maybe I should buy some and see what happens. Ok, I'll have to eat them too. Having them go bad in the fridge won't help anything. :)

The funniest thing...

This is the funniest thing I've read this week.

Jennifer Weiner who wrote Good in Bed, In Her Shoes and Little Earthquakes has a weblog. And in her weblog last week she wrote about her very young daughter. There's nothing quite like the things kids say...

The Top 12 of 2004

So I was chatting tonight (as I am wont to do) and, Mike mentioned that he and bosch were going to do this thing where they wrote about 24 things they learned in 2004, and would I like to play. I agreed, but was fairly convinced that I couldn't come up with 24 things I'd learned last year. At least not 24 things that I'd learned that were worth writing about. So Mike told me to do 12, because that's only one for every month. I figured I could handle 12.

Now, I'm not so sure. But I'm going to try. Here they are in no particular order at all.

1. This year, more than ever I learned to pick my battles. It seems like something I should've known for a long time, but I didn't really. I think that in this past year I've calmed down a lot, and now I only fly off the handle when things are really bad. :) Also, when I know something is going to ruffle feathers somewhere, I tend to weigh the benefit of doing something about it before just opening my mouth and speaking.

2. Living alone is expensive. I don't think you can ever know this until you actually do it. So, since I've been at home my entire life (save a couple of years when I was at university...which my parents paid for anyway) how was I to know this? I didn't realize how all the little things add up to eat up my entire paycheque, leaving me nothing left.

3. Living alone can be lonely. But, only if you let it I think. I'm still working on this part.

4. More expensive and bigger is not always better. I'm talking about my car. I really enjoy my new one a lot more than the old one. There's less room inside, but it costs me less, uses less gas, and is slightly cuter than the last one. So, hooray for that.

5. Reality is what you can see. End of story. I have this, lets call it a habit, of dreaming up things. Like I see a situation and I'll imagine all kinds of outcomes. This is bad, and I must stop doing it, because I only become disappointed when the results are not what I've imagined them to be.

6. Weight loss is not always noticeable. At least not to the person who is losing the weight. I went shopping a couple of days after Christmas and when I tried on clothes I was alarmed. Somehow I've gone down from a size 20 to a 14. It's not so much that I didn't notice it happening, it's more that I looked in the mirror and saw the same me that was always there. I do not look like that anymore.

7. Going to weddings alone is a terrible thing. I'm not even sure I particularly want to get married, so it's not that I sit there miserable about how it won't happen to me. It's just that at weddings everyone is paired off, it'd just be nice to have someone to talk to. (Three weddings this year, which isn't a ton, but more than I've ever gone to before)

8. Being single can be good. This really is just a silly one. At the last wedding I went to, I travelled with some friends and their parents. At the B&B we stayed in overnight the single room was the most adorable room ever. It had a gorgeous antique bed, which had a beautiful canopy over it. I just felt very girly and like a princess. If I'd had to share the bed, I'd never have been able to sleep in the princess room.

9. Location, location, location. The actual location you work in can be very, very different from where you came from even though you're doing the same job.

10. Friends are the best family you can have. Because when your family moves away, your friends are still around you on a daily basis.

11. It's much too easy to lose touch with people who don't live nearby.

12. Patience. It's such a good thing to have, and as much as I try, I cannot seem to acquire it.
    

This is the most addictive thing...

This is quite honestly the most addictive thing I've seen online in ages. You must go look.

Snow Days