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Sunday, May 4, 2008
saying no

122/365

Being surrounded with yummy sock yarn is oddly comforting. Isn’t it?

I’ve embarked on a little something called “Project No” for the months of June, July and August. I figure that if I don’t make a concerted effort to say “no” to library-related stuff (which is mostly conference presentations and workshops of late), I’ll keep saying yes and drive myself a little crazy with due dates and deadlines and traveling (which is quickly becoming more annoying than enjoyable). May, however, is going to be crazymaking for just those reasons. I head out to Prince Edward Island in four days, which has all the potential to be a lovely trip, except it’s going to be practically a fly-by. I have around 8 hours on Saturday to explore Charlottetown (got ideas?) before flying home to more tight deadlines, then another fly-by to Chicago for more conference action and maybe a little socializing with library-type friends. Also? I’m teaching my grad course again, starting tomorrow.

Friends, I can’t wait until the effects of “Project No” start to kick in.

Categories: librariana, me | 5 Comments

Thursday, May 1, 2008
celebrity sightings edition

120/365

Sebastian is not spotting celebrities. He’s watching the leaves sway in the wind. It’s a lot more riveting than celebrity-spotting, see.

Claire over at Loobylu started it: take the “six unimportant things about me” meme and add celebrities. Truth is, I’m not much of a celebrity spotter — all the sightings below are the result of other people pointing out the celebrities to me. Seriously.

My sister and I were hanging out downtown, taking in a few used bookstores, when she happened to spot Roger Ebert on the sidewalk in front of us. We walked over, got autographs, and my sister had the presence of mind to ask him how he was enjoying the film festival. He said something like, “it’s always good.” I don’t think I realized who we were talking to until after we walked away.

Walking out of the Buddha Bar in New York, having just had dinner with the mister and some of his work colleagues, we spotted BeyoncĂ© Knowles walking out right in front of us. Or, I should say, one of the mister’s colleagues spotted BeyoncĂ© Knowles. I didn’t fix my eyes on her until we were outside and she stepped into her massive Hummer limo. In fact, it was such a quick glance that I couldn’t tell you what she was wearing.

I almost got run over by Jeannie Becker crossing Yonge Street at King. A few months later, she bumped into me (literally — with her shopping cart) at an overpriced grocery store in our old neighbourhood. I was already mad at her over the Yonge Street incident, so when she didn’t apologize for the shopping cart incident, I was supremely incensed and vowed never to watch Fashion Television again (even the reruns!). If you don’t know who Jeannie Becker is, you’re probably not Canadian, in which case you can just move on to the next sighting because she’s not worth Googling.

Standing in line waiting to get into a movie at the film festival a few years ago, Olympia Dukakis grazed my arm as she tried to get by me on a crowded sidewalk. She graciously stopped, turned around, touched my arm, and apologized. Jeannie Becker could learn a thing or two.

Other uneventful film festival celebrity sightings: George Clooney, Robert Downey Jr., Robin Williams, Jeff Goldblum. George had his tabloid smile on, Robert looked tired, Robin was in a mad rush, Jeff was tall, really tall.

And two more local celebrities to round out the list: Rex Murphy said “hi” to me while crossing Front Street, and Ben Mulroney checked out in front of me at the grocery store. Rex is short and professorial, Brian is tall and really should have washed the make-up off his face (after what I assumed was a taping of eTalk Daily) before exposing himself to the unforgiving fluorescents at the grocery store. Yeouch.

And that’s it, how totally lacking in “wow”. I could tell you about the time the mister chatted with Larry Flynt outside an LA restaurant, or the time he ate dinner a table over from Angelina Jolie, but those aren’t my stories, so I won’t. Instead, I’ll let you regale me with six unimportant things about you involving celebrities! Remember, Claire tagged everyone, and that includes you!

Categories: librariana, me, random | 9 Comments

Saturday, Apr 26, 2008
oh, hi

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Totally inspired by this.

How is everyone? It’s Saturday morning and I’m nursing my first cup of tea and dreaming of crawling right back into bed. Instead, I’m confronted with mounds of laundry (of this magnitude), other related house-cleaning, a piece of exercise equipment that needs to be built, taxes to file, and an article to write. What better time to blog?

Here are some things:

  • Hey, knitters: ever had a yarn emergency while traveling? Or perhaps a stash crisis that required immediate remedying? Non-knitters are likely scoffing at this line of questioning, but the knitters? They know what I’m saying. Well I just learned of KnitMap (via infodoodads, which BTW, is a nice little example of my librarian & knitting worlds colliding). I do hardly any planning before traveling anymore, so I often find myself in a new province/state/town wondering where the nearest yarn shop is for a bit of, you know, browsing. How awesome is it that I can now pop over to KnitMap for the necessary coordinates? I am beside myself, people.
  • You might know Moni for her inspiring knitting tales and other excellent commentary (I particularly enjoy her often scathing political commentary!) on her blog Blatherskite. Well, she went and made my day today! Thank you so much, Moni! I’m looking forward to doling out my own “Blog of Distinction” awards, but not today. I need to spread out the goodness.
  • I’m knitting a pair of socks with this yarn, and boy howdy, it’s a good time. I had forgotten how much I enjoyed working with the Cherry Tree Hill until my sister reminded me that I made her a pair out of it a couple of years ago. I’ve decided that handpainted sock yarn is my favourite type of yarn ever.
  • Our local transit union is on strike. Not much more to say about that.
  • If you read not martha you’ll know that she recently ran a contest (one of many — her blog is full of contest-goodness!) for some reusable shopping bags from Delight.com. Well, guess who won a set? Once again, beside myself. To-day is turning out to be rather brilliant.

I hope your day turns out to be brilliant, too.

Categories: knitting & yarn, me, random | 3 Comments

Friday, Apr 4, 2008
20, the final

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More spring flowers. Can you stand it?

It hasn’t taken me a week to come up with this final 20. I’ve been in the throes of conference prep and my to-do lists have tended to be far more short-term and pedestrian, that’s all. You know, “work on presentation, do laundry, pack an umbrella, water plants”, that sort of thing. And, while I’m still working on that mundane list, what better means of procrastination than to finish up this list?

100 Things to do before I go (81-100)

  1. Live smaller
  2. Learn to crochet
  3. Play with a baby tiger
  4. Get better at returning phone calls
  5. Hand paint my own homespun yarn
  6. Learn to fly
  7. Live a whole year buying only what we need
  8. Write a million dollar cheque to a charity
  9. Go on safari in Africa
  10. Knit shawls for all the women I know & love
  11. Farm
  12. Mardi Gras in New Orleans
  13. Sky dive
  14. Participate in a protest
  15. Make a quilt for every bed in the house (+ a few to spare)
  16. Climb a glacier
  17. Blow glass
  18. Draw more
  19. Build a tree house
  20. Raise a child

Categories: General | 10 Comments

Thursday, Mar 27, 2008
20 more

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Spring is the smell of hyacinths in the kitchen.

100 Things to do before I go (61-80)

  1. Grow a perennial garden
  2. Bathe in the hot springs in Iceland
  3. See the Gee’s Bend quilts
  4. Hold a baby panda
  5. Knit a sweater and a pair of socks for the mister
  6. Build a house
  7. Bungee jump
  8. Get better at writing & giving/sending cards
  9. Reduce our carbon footprint
  10. Sit on a jury
  11. Cook lasagna just like my mum’s
  12. Get fit
  13. Read all the books I own
  14. Sing in the rain
  15. Stay in a water bungalow in Bora Bora
  16. Write and publish a piece of fiction
  17. Learn to surf
  18. Be an extra in a movie I end up loving
  19. Give a keynote
  20. Drop everything, get in the car, and drive somewhere far away with the mister

Full disclosure: this is getting decidedly harder, with each consecutive list. I’ve given myself certain limitations too (more on that soon), so that doesn’t help. Thanks for sharing your links in the last post — keep them coming!

Categories: me | 7 Comments

Tuesday, Mar 25, 2008
20, another

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Feet up, admiring a pair of socks I knitted a couple of years ago, suddenly realizing, hey — they’ve held up pretty well. Which led me straight back to this store to pick up more of the same yarn because I haven’t always been this lucky with hand-knit socks holding up well.

Are you sick of my “things” yet? I’m so tempted to annotate these as I go along, but I’ve decided to save the commentary till the end. Here they are, things 41 through 60.

100 Things to do before I go (41-60)

  1. Learn to speak Japanese
  2. Live in Paris for a year
  3. Experience weightlessness
  4. Ride a Zorb
  5. Spend a night in a library
  6. Go on sabbatical
  7. Drink tea & read the morning paper outside on a regular basis
  8. Make cheese
  9. Walk the Great Wall
  10. Grow a lemon tree
  11. Take classes in art history & programming
  12. Oktoberfest in Germany
  13. Give an acceptance speech
  14. Bike through the south of France
  15. NaNoWriMo
  16. Swim in that bioluminescent bay off Puerto Rico
  17. Pottery lessons
  18. Visit all 50 states
  19. Sew something I can wear (proudly)
  20. Eat an avocado right off the tree

Are you working on a list of your own? Post a link in the comments, K?

Categories: knitting & yarn, me | 10 Comments

Sunday, Mar 23, 2008
20, the next

83/365

Easter lunch with my folks today, my mum made some awesome cupcakes.

I mentioned to a few of you over email that once I got going on this list, it was hard to stop. I joked about the “goal-setting” being done but, in truth, it is a wonderful exercise in making you stop & consider the stuff you want to accomplish outside of the get-though-it-ness of everyday. Here are my next 20.

100 Things to do before I go (21-40):

  1. Swim in the Dead Sea
  2. Go on a humanitarian mission
  3. Visit Japan
  4. See the Aurora Borealis
  5. Knit fair isle
  6. Go up in a hot-air balloon
  7. Karaoke
  8. Show something I’ve made, painted, or photographed in a gallery
  9. Live on a tropical island for a year
  10. Hang glide
  11. Rid our lives of chemicals
  12. Go to the Komodo islands to see the dragons
  13. Spend a week at the Louvre
  14. Contribute to PostSecret
  15. Road trip across Canada
  16. Cook a meal comprised entirely of food we’ve grown/raised/caught ourselves
  17. Build a piece of furniture
  18. Make soap
  19. Save a life
  20. Learn to play the violin

Hope you were all blessed with bountiful chocolate and all-around weekend awesomeness. PS: I changed the tagline on this blog. It was time.

Categories: me | 6 Comments

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