Haiku for Possession

Just sneaking a quick post at work, because I'm too excited to wait.

HAIKU FOR POSSESSION

Tonight, the last step!
A little home, just for me;
I take possession.

~g~

Chocolate Sickness & More Quotes

ughhhhh, no more chocolate.
I took K to Death By Chocolate at the Palliser as Part 2 of her birthday celebration. By round 2 (after mousse, cheesecake, pudding cake, chocolate covered fruit and white chocolate grand marnier soup) I was regrettably feeling the Chocolate Sickness, but forced a round 3, which has left my stomach and eyes twitching. ... Fairly certain chocolate is now pumping through my veins. It's actually quite wonderful :)

At work today I found a few more quotes (I can only file for so long) that I thought I'd run past you. The longer I file, the more my mind wanders into strange realms, such as a long winded dissertation on "Why Life is like Sushi." Better just to take "surfing breaks" every so often to clear out the craziness.

Anywho, QUOTES:

The dream was always running ahead of me. To catch up, to live for a moment in unison with it, that was the miracle. - Anais Nin

Your vision will become clear only when you look into your heart. Who looks outside, dreams. Who looks inside, awakens. - Carl Jung

A dreamer is one who can only find his way by moonlight, and his punishment is that he sees the dawn before the rest of the world. - Oscar Wilde

If a little dreaming is dangerous, the cure for it is not to dream less but to dream more, to dream all the time. - Marcel Proust

A bird doesn't sing because it has an answer, it sings because it has a song. - Maya Angelou

She was a lovely lady, with a romantic mind and such a sweet mocking mouth. Her romantic mind was like the tiny boxes, one within the other, that come from the puzzling East, however many you discover there is always one more; and her sweet mocking mouth had one kiss on it that Wendy could never get, though there it was, perfectly conspicuous in the right-hand corner. - J.M. Barrie

Thoughts? The J.M. Barrie one I love! It's from Peter Pan, which is the most delightful book I've ever read. Since I read it, I always delighted in the thought of the hidden kiss in the right-hand corner. You really can see it in some people. I wonder if I have a hidden kiss? I certainly have the romantic mind of tiny boxes.

Do let me know, my darlings.
Also, TWODAYSTILLITAKEPOSSESSION! WOOOOOOOO!!!!!
~g~

Up A Lazy River With Me

This picture of Belal has nothing to do with the post... I just thought it was darn cute! heehee!
I'm feeling particularily lazy today, in spite of the four million things I have to do before THE BIG MOVING DAY!!! I am so super excited that I can barely contain myself. Not super excited about packing though... hmmmm... I find myself lounging by a window with a warm breeze saying "just another chapter of my book" and then 3 hours later... oh well :) It just has to be done sometimes.
However, I could use your input on quotes. So I mentioned that I want to paint a quote on my bedroom wall, and that I couldn't pick one? Well I've narrowed it down to a few. Any thoughts? Here they are:

"But when a young lady is to be a heroine, the perverseness of forty surrounding families cannot prevent her. Something must and will happen to throw a hero in her way."
- Jane Austen

"One word frees us of all the weight and pain of life: The word is love."
- Sophocles

"A kiss is a lovely trick designed by nature to stop speech when words become superfluous."
- Ingrid Bergman

"Life is the flower for which love is the honey."
- Victor Hugo

Those are my current favourites... My bedroom theme will be warm, Moroccan, sensual... a cozy den of warm colours, but simple and easy to relax in.
Any thoughts? Any PERFECT quote ideas?

Much love,
~g~

ROAD TRIP!

Last night, in a fit of packing procrastination (I know I move in less than two weeks) I said to my sad friend, R "Let's go on a road trip tomorrow." R agreed that my special brand of Tomfoolery might be an appropriate way to quell his sadness, so tally-ho, off we went this morning to Drumheller. Here is a rather terrible picture of Horseshoe Canyon. I never like any pictures of Horseshoe Canyon, because you can never really see how big it is.... well it's big, believe me!!! The special thing about Horseshoe Canyon is that you're driving along in flat-ass prairie for an hour and a half and then there's this big HOLE suddenly. It's so strange... I daresay it's a place that Wiley Coyote would find appealing.... *poof* *splat*

Next it was off to Drumheller, where we met a gigantic T Rex, who we named Al. We had a special bond with Al, until Al decided that R looked like a good snack....

In my attempts to save R from Al, I fainted.... I guess heroics aren't really my strength....

Then on the way back into downtown Drumheller (or so I thought), my questionable driving skills got us completely, utterly, hopelessly lost. LUCKILY, we found a very cool abandoned old farm house. Abandoned farm houses are a dime a dozen out here, but very few are this cool and creepy AND have wide open gates. R is much braver than me, so he got out of the car and I followed. I almost had a heart attack from a silly pigeon, BUT we weren't even attacked by rattle snakes, so HOORAH! This is the roof of the farm house...

This is the manky side of the farm house....
And this is the even MANKIER inside of the farm house....yum.... rotting things.... but it made for pretty pictures :)

It was a very good day, and I think after 14 years of knowing me, R has finally come to see my childish, bratty side (phew, glad THAT'S out in the open now.... lol!) I'm not sure if he had fun, but *I* sure did.

xoxo,
~g~

The Strange Days Have Come

This is a sketch from my sketchbook which I am using to illustrate the "Strange Days" theme of my post... It was a strange day when I drew this, and only I will ever know what made it so strange... but I digress...

Strange days indeed. Being back at the old job has been really weird. It honestly feels like I never left, and that the deplorable job was some sort of nightmare. It's not as though I love the old/present job, but the people are so great (most of them) and it's really like I'm home. It's all come back to me and it's just... WEIRD... I love the smiling faces, people coming to my desk and stopping to talk for ten minutes, phone calls to say "welcome back", people begging me to join the social committee again (heehee)... it is so, so good and so very different from the deplorable job. And the mortgage papers will be signed tomorrow and I take possession September 1st and THAT's exciting too! But the days do get stranger...

Tonight I was looking through a bunch of quotes that I like, because I really want to stencil an inspiring quote on my bedroom wall to wake up to every morning. I can't narrow it down to one, but most of the ones I like have to do with love, so I thought maybe a FEW quotes.... anyway, while reading quotes I got a strange message from a friend out of nowhere... a friend who has been behaving oddly lately... and it turns out that he and the love of his life broke up. It's one of those things where you feel it coming, but it's still shocking to hear. So I asked him "what now?" and he said he didn't know. So I've been thinking about that this evening. For the past three years I've been dealing with my own "I don't know" in the grand life change, fresh out of what I thought was a "forever" thing... and I've been watching my friends build their lives with "forever" people, and it has left me dumbfounded that I somehow went awry on that path. Honestly, DUMBFOUNDED. For three years, people. And I know that my dear friend, I want to just wrap him in quilts to shelter him from the pain. I know my friends wanted to do that for me too. And I feel like only now, three years later, am I digging myself out of the dumbfoundedness. I want to do something but there's nothing I can do, is there? I guess not. There was nothing anyone could do for me except be patient with me and love me, and only the truest of hearts could do that.

So I know you're wondering "how does this all go together?" so here it is:
The days are strange because I'm waking up to certain realities, and seeing that I have quite a few things to be proud of, and quite a few things to look forward to. The days are strange because it hurts to see someone you've cared about for 14 years hurt from losing a "forever"love. The days are strange because it's just impossible to look back and see the waves you've made sometimes, and the days are strange because we don't say or hear this stuff enough: "you've impacted me" or "now I understand who you are/how you feel/why you did what you did." So I'll leave you with one of the quotes I'm contemplating:

"There is no remedy for love but to love more."
- Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862)

Keep making waves, darlings. You've impacted me.
~g~

Am I A Bad Mommy?

As I mentioned, I'm dog and cat sitting for my parents while they gallivant around San Francisco going to protest marches and Telegraph Hill and watching the nephew dance while awaiting public transit.
I'm discovering, though, that I'm not a very good mommy. I may have, in fact, given Belal two breakfasts this morning. Then this evening I was bustling around feeding the kitties, giving Belal his medicine, etc and I figured I'd accomplished everything, so I sat on the couch with my laptop. Belal walked up to the couch, made firm eye contact with me and stared me down. "What, sweet pea?" I said.
*death stare*
"What do you need, baby?"
*death stare*
"Are you okay?"
*stare, stare, stare*
"...Belal?"
*staaaaaare*
"okay, don't freak out," I think. "Belal, what's wrong???"
I stare at him.
He stares back, as if to say "you're forgetting some vital part of my maintenance", as if he's willing me to read his mind.
I try.
I fail.
I fed him, walked him, gave him fresh water, medicine with a chaser of cheese.... what what WHAT?
Still he stares me down. STARES me down with a persistent, expectant glare in his big brown eyes. I lean my face in close to his, and he doesn't even try to lick my nose... he.... just.... stares. At which point the panic hits and I start to sob.... Oh god, is he breathing normally? did I do everything right? my mum is gonna kill me!!! Should I call my brother??? OH MY GOD!!! *sob* "BEEEELAL! WHAT'S WRONGGGGG?" after a minute that SEEMS like 4 hours, he finally jumps up onto the couch with me and lets me dry my tears on his golden coat. I really can't take the pressure. I'm 100% certain that I did everything I was supposed to do with him, and I'm sure he's just wondering what I've done with mum and dad. He's probably aware that I'm a nervous wreck in this big old house on my own, taking care of HIM, my mother's pride and joy, and is possibly using fear tactics to get me to give him large cubes of cheese and let him sleep on the bed with me. ... well, he's winning. I'm DONE, Belal, do you hear me??? You've won!!!! Love, ~g~

50 Ways To Avoid Having A Productive Holiday

Oh Vacation, how I love you. It's been a busy week, and I have managed to do basically nothing productive. I'm also dog-sitting while my parents are away, so I made an apple pie from the apples from their tree, and took pictures of the apples, and avoided doing things. Yes, it's been a busy time of avoiding. Perhaps tonight I will be productive. But perhaps not....
Not much news... the condo thing is progressing, just waiting on the paperwork now. I have some stuff picked out from Ikea. Is this the most boring post ever? Well yes, I think it is!
mmmm apples! Yummy! Delicious way to avoid things. E-heeheeheee!
~g~

Folk Fest 2006!!!

Alright, the post I've been promising for a week is finally here!

The Calgary Folk Fest this year was a-maz-ing, and the most successful ever, ALL due (I'm sure) to my Uncle Les who is the General Manager! Yippee. I was there for almost the entire weekend and I saw and heard so many incredible musicians. I will highlight my favourites below and include links to their sites (if they have them). I encourage you to look around and take a listen, since many of the artists have free MP3s or sound clips on their sites. Check it out :) and enjoy!

- Kris Demeanor and His Crack Band - Very funny local boy, uber-talented and very enjoyable.

- Kathleen Edwards - Simple but haunting. Can't help but FEEL her songs. Looooove "Summerlong"

- Niyaz - They don't have a website, but my GOD their music sent shivers through my body and I rushed the CD tent to buy their album. They are described as "An acoustic-electronic fusion of traditional Persian, Indian and Turkish music." SO amazing.

- Stew - Very funny :) Described as "Afrobaroque"...

- Ndidi Onukwulu - She was incredible! Sultry blues voice was un-freaking-believable. BUY THIS CD!

I saw some other amazing groups at the festival who are the more popular ones, but who I still thought were amazing, such as Macy Gray, Matthew Good (in love with him), Kris Kristofferson and Jeff Healy. Check them out if you don't know their work.

For more stuff like this, check out the Folk Festival website and consider a weekend pass for next year.

Much love,
~g~

My Brain Is On Spin Cycle

So lately my fondest dream has been to purchase a pensieve, as my brain is really very full... Sadly, I don't think JK Rowling has created a working prototype yet! So my blog will be my pensieve, and I'll put all of my thoughts on display, you lucky readers you!

- I keep meaning to post about the folk festival, which I will do soon, I swear, because there's a lot of music I want to share with y'all.
- I got approved for my mortgage! EEEEEEEE!!!!
- How will I fit all of my possessions into such a very little space?
- My last day at this evil job is Friday, and in light of this, I have written a poem. Please note the "Oil Company" allusions. But don't analyze, it only took me five minutes to write :P

Ode To Leaving A Deplorable Job
By Me

Be still, oh impatient demons
of blackened wells!
Retreat into your darkest shadows,
Drill further still to the murky depths,
And count thy coins with
Oily fingertips.

For I am no more your driven slave,
And shall not bow
to your rapturous greed and lust again!
Ere long, the dark angels of wealth will flee,
Screaming through the twilight of
Your dying soliloquy.

I shall be far from your den of iniquity,
Practicing my alchemy
Of briny oceans into power and light!
Your spell of burnt and broken earth revealed,
And yee shall be left to your memories
In your eternal darkness.

- So THERE, CNR!!! NYAAAAAH!
- Sometimes boys are dumb... Well, frequently. But that doesn't mean I should be rude to them. So if you're a boy and you're reading this and I've recently been rude to you, I'm sorry... I'll try to control myself in the future.
- Should I get an entertainment centre or should I go with some crazy bookshelf Ikea montage?
- Where should I buy a new bed? (advice would be helpful on this one!)

Alright, that's it for now because my lunch break is over *sigh*
Folk Fest stuff is coming soon, I swear!
~g~