Will Work For Beer

Last night was fun - got to hang out with my sister in law (the cool one), gossip, rant, drink beer and help her paint her upstairs. You know the old 50s houses where the top floor has low ceilings that are all angles and jutted out and cosy and awesome? Yeah that kind of upstairs. It was like my old bedroom as a kid in the attic in my house, and it's where her daughter CuteStuff wants to hang out and play. Sadly, it has never been fixed up from the previous owners who decorated it like a haunted house for their creepy, pale children who (from what we can tell) were obsessed with airplanes, soda pop and deep shag carpeting. It was just very wierd and not cosy so she's always meant to paint it up a bit as they don't use it as it's just not a welcoming space, particularly now that CuteStuff is needing more spaceto play.

With a bit of patching and deliberate ignorance of things we just couldn't make look nice no matter what we did I painted while she stripped wallpaper. We got 2 of the 3 parts of it painted...she still has some crazy annoying wallpaper planes and borders in the last part to take off from the previous owners that were put on with supersonic strength crazy glue...but the rest of it's looking rather nice. It's amazing what a coat of paint will do. The paint went on well, so she doesn't have too much to do for the second coat. It's so hard for her to get lots done with the kids around- I was glad to help. Her hubs (J's brother) also has the "sucky at painting" gene, so it was up to the women to do it right. And did we? Oh yes. We rock.

This morning, I am exhausted as I didn't get home until about midnight and am so stiff in odd places, but it was fun. CuteStuff "helped" us paint a bit until she got bored and we still managed to not get paint everywhere. Even when giggling set in as we got tired and beery, we managed to keep it together and finish up the 2 rooms and get me home before I turned into a pumpkin.

She paid me for my painting services with beer... This is a sweet deal. It means tonight, during which I have nada to do (woot) I can nap, drink said beer and relax.
I can't wait...

Caffeination 101

Tired?

Me?

Why not at all...

he heh.

I learned layering at bellydance class last night. Which is sort of like patting your head and rubbing your belly at the same time. Doing multiple moves is tricky. It was hard...but I could do a reasonably acceptable version of the combinations I learned by the end of class :) I can shimmy hip circles now, and do snake in the basket hips, chest and head. Of course I am super stiff today, but I'm really enjoying having a bit of muscle built up now - I can do more, and am aching less as time goes on. And (surprise surprise) the more I practice, the better I get.

Go figure.

I decided to do some painting tonight...I'm a little apprehensive, as that will involve moving my torso and arms, which at the moment are quite happy to stay here ,thank you very much. I figure I'll be a bit more mobile by the time I"m done work. Luckily labwork doesn't involve any grand gestures or jiggling torsos.

Ah well...this huge cup of coffee will help me wake up.

And there will be beer when I paint, so, um, we'll see if that helps or just adds to the flying circus :)

Have a good day all :)

whoosh!

Somehow, after lamenting this would be a dull week, I have, without trying much, managed to fill it to the brim, morning and evening with shtuff...
Shtuff like baby showers, painting walls, bellydancing, more bellydancing and Galactica. Oh and work. Too much work.
The baby shower last night went off perfectly: sis-in-law was very happy. The cake was awesome and delicious and I am still, the next day, full.
Yes I judge quality of fun by fullness of being. What of it? :)

Busy busy busy. Wait, what am I doing here?
Gotta go...bye.

An open letter to the women in my tribal class

Ladies - I just want to say this:

You are beautiful.

Do not hide yourself or count yourself as without value.
Do not tell yourself that you do not deserve good things, that having fun is a waste of time, or that laughing out loud and dancing for joy are things that only children should do.
You are not selfish to do things for yourself.
Find what brings you joy and do it.
Do it whenever you can with all your heart.

Geo
_________________________

Last night at my first American Tribal Style class I was quite shocked at the attitude of a lot of the women there (mostly older than me). A lot of them, from what I heard, had signed up for a bit of fun, and to get out of the house a bit-time for themselves. The instructor is very good, and a lot of fun - her joy in the dance is infectious. I'm hooked. The idea of a style of dance meant to do with other people is a great idea.
New moves. More costumes.
I like.

What got to me though, and made me a bit sad was a lot of the women's initial reaction to a demo DVD of tribal style dancing and some of the pictures the instructor had of past performances and costumes common to the style of dance-one where you are mostly covered up, more of a gypsy sort of dress. Some of the ladies reacted with nervousness and shame...actually physically covering themselves up with their arms about their bodies - physical manifestations of their fear of people watching them. Saying comments like "oh I could never wear that" or "I don't want to dance in front of people - what will they think?"

All I could think of was "Honey? Just try it-just once. If you don't like it, at least you gave it a shot...and as for what people will think? Well, they'll think you are beautiful and amazing and wish they could do what you do. They'll smile because you're having fun."

It's what I thought.
And now I'm learning to do what they do.
And it is an absolute blast!

If you don't want to dance in front of people then don't. Have fun dancing by yourself...or with friends. Enjoy yourself. If you don't enjoy it, try something else.
Life is too short to worry about that sort of thing.

Wierd Movies I Have Seen

Altho it might seem I have lived at the theatre this weekend I haven't. I did sew a bunch of bellydance costumery and decorate *the* most awesome baby shower cake ever made.

Nevertheless, I have seen one of the maddest films of my life last night. I laughed. I cried. It did not change my life, but it did confuse me ever so slightly in a wierd but witty way. It really was a mad film in the truest sense of the word.

Synedoche, New York is a movie about the life of a rather pathetic theatre director who attempts to create a lifesize working replica of a city in New York, with actors for all, to tell all their stories, including hiis own. The characters are odd and funny...but the lines between the real New York and the fake one get more and more confused over time... I enjoyed this film, but found it almost too much at times...mostly because the lead character, Caden was so incredibly inescapably pathetic. Coming from the same guy who wrote Human Nature, Being John Malkovich, Adaptation and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, I suppose I should have expected this...it's his directing debut. And an odd one at that...

Let the Right One In

I've always been fascinated that vampires can only come in where they are invited...

Just got back from the Broadway - this time seeing Låt den rätte komma in(Let the Right One In)...a swedish film based on the novel Let the Right One in.

Subtitles.
Vampires.
A subtle interesting story about a boy who has a vampire move into his apartment...
Interesting stuff.

Go see it.

Hooray for Bollywood

Our local artsy, old restored theatre, the Broadway, shows a lot of art films, documentaries and films that don't make it to our few other theatres in town, as well as live music and theatre.
They have just begun a new thing I am so very excited about - Bollywood Sunday. Once a month the local Indian Community Cultural Association and the theatre are going to be bringing in and showing new Bollywood films. They're even having chai and samosas at the snack counter, just for fun.
I love Bollywood films...I can't help it. I grew up watching and loving old musicals like Court Jester and the like, and Bollywood has all the cheesy music, usually paired with a cheesy love story and some great dance numbers and beautiful scenery and costumes. I work with a lot of grad students and coworkers from India, so I get to see the odd film...and seeing one on the big screen is going to be so much fun. They are films that just entertain you, make you smile and tap your feet...and leave you feeling happy. My brother and his wife love Bollywood too, so we're making it a monthly date (and J is very happy too as he isn't trapped into going along with me - he really does not like musicals or Bollywood films - everybody wins!)

This past sunday was their first one of the year -Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi. If you've never seen a Bollywood film before - I'd recommend this one - it's subtitled, and the music and dance numbers are fantastic...really top notch. The story is pretty standard - romance and humour...but it is beautiful, and really has a lot of elements of Indian culture that don't carry over to Canada that often... It had an interesting thought about love - that in loving someone, you see your God in them - the divine part of them that loves you...interesting thought.

And with that...I am off on my friday off to do something useful...:)
Have a nice weekend!

Book Art

I'm a sucker for a good book cover.

I've always been annoyed at some of the fantasy novel book covers...or ones that are all shiny, or have scary yucky things on them. I don't want to touch them as I read them. Makes me feel odd. Sometimes I get lucky...Spin is a fantastic novel (won a Hugo) we picked just because it looked interesting. Sure I've picked some duds up at the library that looked cool, and read some amazing books with terribly tacky covers, but usually you can tell at least a little bit about the author or the contents from the cover.
My point is this: I am greatly annoyed when a cover has absolutely nothing to do with the book. I'm not talking that it's just some scenery, or of random people, or skulls or lame unicorns or what have you...I'm talking completely and totally irrelevant or unrelated art.

Case in Point: this cover for The Man in the High Castle by Philip K. Dick

I have to ask: What the flying frack does this have to do with *ANYTHING* remotely involved in the novel? Anyone? A book set in an alternate world, where WW2 was won by Germany and things are dominated by Chinese culture...naturally makes me think of a lame looking shiny torso floating in geometry. How about you? I know the first thing that comes to mind when I think about the I Ching is "ooh...torso!"
I've been told that often Dick's covers do not match his stories at all. The covers in the Wikipedia article iare at least related to the novel in some way. The one I read (above) does not resemble anything at all to do with the story.

Boo to this I say...I will have none of it, sir.

If I saw this book in a store I would make a point of *not* reading it, simply based on the utter lameness of the cover. It came highly recommended and I enjoyed the discussion of the book afterwards. But the cover?

It's silly.
Fiction and science fiction get enough razzing as it is without this sort of thing going on...

Snow snow snow snow SNOW!

It's snowing like crazy here...hasn't really stopped for a day or so - I wandered through knee high drifts to the bus this morning.

It was kind of fun actually. I had my ski pants on so I could just tromp about all I liked and enjoy the snow...it's very pretty.

I'm itching to make a snowman...so it needs to warm up a bit to make it all sticky and fun.

Not enough for our wheels to freeze solid again like last year...just enough to make it snowball fight time.

I have officially moved forward from the "oh crap it's winter again" to the "wohoo! look at all the snow!" phase of winter.

S'nice.

But you ARE special - we thought of you 23rd!

I had a few simple New Year's resolutions this year:
-listen to my body and try to give it what it needs, and not push it too far
-eat as little processed food as possible
-exercise a minimum of 3 times a week
-Stand up for myself more and make sure that I give myself the respect and consideration I give others.

The last one will be a challenge.
Being a bit passive aggressive, I tend to put others first. I don't always know what I like, just more what I don't like, so unless I dislike something, I'll usually go happily along with the flow. The problem comes when I bump up against others who either indirectly or directly know they can bully me into doing something and try to do so. I used to just give in and then hold grudges or get frustrated at myself for being a wimp, and occasionally blow up when it went too far. I am not sure how conscious others are when they do this. What I do know is that I have to be stronger...when people do push too far or hurt my feelings I have to let them know, even if they don't like it. It's a scary concept for me, but it's something I need to start doing more. And I can't expect them to read my mind...

This has, oddly enough, come up in life already...last night in fact. Thanks to my Mum-in-law, who is notorious for doing this.
Needless to say I'm a bit annoyed at the moment and have to vent.
If you aren't in to it, go have a coffee. I understand. :)

My sister in law just had a beautiful baby last month, and now that Christmas is over, should have a baby shower thrown for her. My other sis-in-law and I have been told we will be putting it on (yup, not asked-told)...a bit annoying to be told what to do at 35, but it should be fun, so we ignored that, and put things in perspective to do the right thing...and we'll do it the way the sis-in-law would want it to be.
Last night tho, I got more annoyed, as it got even more complicated. I received a call from the sis-in-law asking me if a date a few weeks from now would work as the date. "Absolutely not" I replied, as I have bellydance class that night and also and don't even have the car as J has to work that evening, so getting to the loaction out of town would be tricky -I would not even have a way to get there. I suggested many other dates as options. I then received a call back (again not from the mum-in-law) saying that "oh actually, turns out the mom in law has already called 22 other people about it being that night", and she wanted me to "just" cancel my class and find a ride out of town and plan the party...
At first I grumbled and then acquiesced, and sis-in-law and I talked about this and figured out a way to make it work - we're kind of used to this sort of thing happening to us, and figured we'd make the best of it. After all it's a baby shower - this is a big deal for them. We will rock the party.

Then, I hung up and talked with J and fumed...as the woman does this often. Later, I called the Mum-in-law back and asked her to reschedule if she could and mentioned that if she had merely asked *before* calling 23 other people it would be simple to change...to try and let her know that my feelings were hurt...but in the light of day, I've decided that for my sister-in-law, I'll just suck it up and jump thru all the hoops and make the party happen (and miss a bellydance lesson and work out a ride in and back...grrrr). I will, however, have a long chat with the mum-in-law this morning to make sure she understands why I am so annoyed, that she she does this to us a lot, and that perhaps we'd be more apt to visit or be involved in family events if we felt like it mattered that we were there. If it was something for her, I likely wouldn't show up and send a gift with regrets, but the sis-in-law had nothing to do with it really, and these things that only happen once are things new mom's remember and I'm not going to be turned into the "bad selfish person who couldn't put her life aside for just one evening and made everyone else change things for her". Even tho (dammit) I've actually done nothing at all wrong.

Yup I am still mad...but nothing can be done about it now except ask for a little more respect and consideration next time.

Maybe I'll move up the ladder to the top 10 next time.
Oh to dream...

ADDENDUM:

Whattaya know? Being honest and open with people does work. My mum-in-law was very good about it and said she had made a few calls and if it was OK they'd move the date back 1 day. No guilt. An apology and no problems...huh. Good. A positive thing.... I'll have to stick with this stand up for me thing...:)

Bored

According to Wikipedia:

Boredom is an emotional state experienced during periods lacking activity or when individuals are uninterested in the activities surrounding them.
The first record of the word boredom is in the novel Bleak House by Charles Dickens, written in 1852, in which it appears six times, although the expression to be a bore had been used in the sense of "to be tiresome or dull" since 1768.
...There is an inherent anxiety in boredom; people will expend considerable effort to prevent or remedy it, yet in many circumstances, it is accepted as suffering to be endured.

I'm in doing some work on the side for someone...a 7 hour experiment that takes 2 hours to set up...with stints of intense technical detail and skill divided by hour long incubation periods with nothing to do. J had to work all day so I figured I would too...why? Well not only does it make me feel loved and adored by my research peers, but it pays $$.

...this will help pay for some art.

that's right...I now own a piece of actual art - a painting to be specific. My friend's wife has a gallery showing right now, and one of her pieces really stuck out and J and I liked it a great deal. It's very organic and abstract, without being shiny or drippy (if you know what I mean), with a lot of detail...we both liked it a great deal. It wasn't too pricey, and we just felt it was the right thing to do at the time, so we asked her if it was for sale...and it was at something we could afford, so we've committed to taking it home. Neat. I like knowing I have something beautiful made my someone who is beautiful. Lauren is a kind, caring person who does art therapy to help the elderly, handicapped and emotionally injured come to terms with lives and find joy and creativity in them again. And she a good artist. Many good thoughts went into the work she does...that can only benefit us in having it in our home.

It's weird getting art. That's what adults do. People who have matching furniture, drink wine and never forget to wear pants. I've never happened to have the money around when I've found a piece of art I've liked before so it's never come up. It's like a commitment...but repainting the living room made me realise that I'm not bound to it forever...the living room looks nice now...and when I don't like it we'll change it. The new walls could do with something other than the odd framed poster...and if we ever get tired of it, then I'll see if someone else wants it. It is a nice piece.
My parents hate abstract art, so I know they'll just squint and roll their eyes and try and figure out if I've gone psychedelic on them...they're realists. When something isn't obviously a thing, and is open to interpretation, they get uncomfortable. Personally I enjoy the emotion that a piece of art instills in me, and I enjoy examining a picture and discovering details and things hidden in it that only I can see. Once we have it home (the show ends at the end of the month) I'll take a shot of it...it's all greens and reds with some golds, and will look brilliant on our green wall in the living room. I love having things to look at that make me happy. This makes me happy. I'm looking forward to sitting with coffee and staring at it for hours.

But not now...nope. I'm at work...Saturdays at work are very boring.
Buh Orah Ringa.
But, at least the whole pot of coffee I made in the lunch room is all for me.
Bwaha.
Let the caffeination and data entry begin!!