A Work In Progress

Dreams can come true!!

2009

Two days ago, a very inspirational man texted me this:

"make sure u let yourself dream today."

I'm taking his advice to heart.

Oh, Look Who's Back

... with a template blog. Sorry. I just couldn't resist.

1. What did you do in 2008 that you’d never done before?
*Ate a raw oyster 
* (unmentionable)<
* Stayed overnight in a hospital
* Paraglided off a mountain!!
* Put out a candle with my fingers (haha)

2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
No and no. I was going to keep a jot note journal again in 2008 but things kind of fizzled out in May! No resolution this year, harumph. No wait! I'm going to cook more.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
Lila! Crys!

4. Did anyone close to you die?
....

5. What countries did you visit?
Well... only the US. But I saw a lot of cities this year: Vancouver, Calgary, Montreal, Halifax, Chicago, New York (best road trips ever) and Los Angeles! 

6. What would you like to have in 2009 that you lacked in 2008?
Motivation! 

7. What dates from 2008 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
* April 22, the day I went to work and thought I had a major panic attack, but it was the beginnings of The Gitis.
* The day we picked up and drove to NYC.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Coming out of something shitty with a smile on my face!


9. What was your biggest failure?
A robotic run of unmotivation at work!

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
Who, me? 

11. What was the best thing you bought?
50mm f1.8 lens... and Elton John tix for mom's birthday :)

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?
Mom, Dad, Hannah (for being my Gitis saviors); Mikey the cat (for being a genius).

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
...nobody's? In my life, anyway. Except for Jacob the cat.

14. Where did most of your money go?
Rent, plane tickets, restaurants, cabs (what a waste!!).

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
* Don't make me sad. I got so stoked for my Camaro adventure with Dad (driving from Vegas to Toronto), but found myself quarantined in the hospital three days beforehand!
* But also: Pemberton, road trips, Los Angeles and some photo shoots I got to do! (Jay-Z and Janet in one year?! Wtf)

16. What song will always remind you of 2008?
American Boy by Estelle!
Cobrastyle by Robyn!

17. Compared to this time last year, are you: a) happier or sadder? b) thinner or fatter? c) richer or poorer?
Same. Slightly thinner. Same.

18. What do you wish you’d done more of?
More walking to work, more work! 

19. What do you wish you’d done less of?
Wasting time that could be spent accomplishing things (like work).

20. How did you spend Christmas?
Eating, oh my god.

21. Did you fall in love in 2008?
I fell in love with cheese... so yes.

22. What was your favorite TV program?
30 Rock. Dexter. Curb Your Enthusiasm. Gavin & Stacey. Extras. (All watched in marathon DVD sessions). On TV: Survivor, Rock of Love, SNL.

24. What was the best book you read?
I wish I read more! Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist (seriously, I didn't read many books, so sad)

25. What was your greatest musical discovery?
Robyn! 

26. What did you want and get?
Hannah's old apartment. Score!

27. What did you want and not get?
A job in NYC! Recessions blow.

28. What was your favorite film of this year?
Let The Right One In. But there's a lot of movies I still have to see that I know will be good...

29. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
28 - didn't do anything on the day but had a couple dinners out.

30. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
I don't think anything?

31. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2008?
The only change from 2007 was.. less hoodie, more cardi.

32. What kept you sane?
Solo dance parties in my apartment, marathon lazyassness @ Hannah's. 

33. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
Next.

34. What political issue stirred you the most?
Haha. Palin, obviously. Prop 8. Re-election nonsense here. 

35. Who did you miss?
Everyone in NS. Katie. Hannah, when she moved.

36. Who was the best new person you met?
CHRISSEH!!!! Fave new person of 2008.

37. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2008.
Listen to your body. Keep smiling.

38. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year.
"Live through this and you won't look back"

Twitter: A New Obsession

When I first heard about Twitter, I thought it was lame. I was all, "why do I want ANOTHER place to write one-liners about what I'm doing or feeling or loving, when Facebook does it just as well?" Good question, me. Fast-forward a year-and-a-half (or more?) later, and here I am: obsessed.

I guess the unique draw of Twitter is that you can choose to follow your friends via text, but I think that just borders on crazy. However, I do love that I can update my page through text if I'm doing something extra cool, such as buying fancy honeycrisp apples or successfully avoiding the Jesus guy at Dundas Square.

Look, I know this post is pretty useless but I'm just pleased that I'm actually writing something. Twitter may sound superfluous, but at least it's the great lazy way for me to (in a way) blog daily (but not really) (but kind of). Czech my latest updates on the right...

The Difference

There are things that make me realize that living in Canada is the better option for me, even though I would like to live in certain US states just for the experience. My citizenship, however, belongs here.

The day after the election I read a youth-oriented open forum discussion, and the 5000+ comments were for the most part full of jubilance. Then some of our southern neighbours started to share Facebook status updates from their contact lists, mostly from young Republicans: "That's it, I'm leaving the country". "You'll see this was the wrong decision!" "We're all going to die!". It was kind of surprising to me, cause it seems like Canadian youth are Liberal almost across the board. I didn't realize the heated support that McCain had from throngs of teenagers and twenty-somethings!

Curious, I logged on to Facebook to check the recent status updates from my friend list; there were at least 50 updates concerning the US election. They were all celebratory - every single one. 

So you know... I think this is the place to be.

From Shadower To Shadowee

Grade nine is the milestone year where us gals get to participate in "Take Your Daughter To Work Day". You bet your hindquarters I participated back in '96 - and for some reason I didn't shadow my own parents. Maybe it was because I had already been in their classrooms countless times before, or they were sick of my face to begin with, or I was sick of their faces to begin with - whatever, it doesn't matter. Instead, I spent a squeamish day at the hospital with Lila, shadowing her Nurse mom and trying to avoid eye contact with the old man who had sores all over his body. All I really remember is that three people died that day (or was it one person on the third floor?), and the most scarring image of all: an old lady gagging on the tube being shoved down her throat for a gastro-something-something. Oh god, the agony! The visual excrutiation!! But you know, seeing the camera explore her stomach was pretty cool, I must say.

Spending a day doing something completely different than anything I had known before was fascinating, even if sometimes jarring. I guess that's the beauty of spending "Take Your Daughter To Work Day" with someone else's mom.

Today I brought my daughter to work - by daughter, I mean someone else's kid, of course. An acquaintance requested that I spend a couple of hours with her little one teenager, because my job is "cool". Basically I told her to sit in front of the computer and read blogs for two hours. No, I got her to sort some photos, resize them and post them (she did my job while I read blogs). Then we did a mini photoshoot on the roof and I took her on the "most important task of the day": a Starbucks run. She refused a free treat. What kind of grade niner is this?!!!!! By no means was her time with me as memorable as my experience, but I hope she left with a smile on her face. :)

How We Do It In The Chi

The 7 Best Things About Chicago Based On My One Weekend There
(in no particular order)

* The Bean (see above). Suddenly, taking pictures of your own reflection is more fun than usual!
* Claudia's Architecture Boat Tour. Seriously. Taking this tour first thing helps give context to the city and increases your appreciation of what's around you. Also, you learn words like "Miesian" and "buttress".
* The accent. Enjoyment levered by having main streets like "Wacker" at our disposal.
* 7-11 at every corner. Forgot to take out $$? NO MATTER, you can do it at the next 7-11, which is only three steps away.
* The L-Train. Above ground, only $2 and easy to understand.
* The river running through the city - lots of cool bridges and aesthetically pleasant.
* The minute possibility of running into three of my favourites: Kanye, Lupe or Common. I'd take Oprah, too.

Driving to Chi-town for the weekend is totally doable and not terribly tiring - we left Friday afternoon, had all of Saturday in the city and headed back by 2:30 on Sunday. Totally up for another trip - as soon as it's warmer!