New Times With The Old Gang

So...

Friday (Dec 21) was Winter Solstice - the longest night (and thus, the shortest day) of the year. We celebrate Solstice because it is the moment when the earth begins to turn back towards the sun, and very incrementally the days will actually begin to get brighter. We celebrate it because we are celebrating the fact that we have just been through the darkest time of the earth and are now ready to slowly begin facing the sun again. Or more specifically, I celebrate Solstice. The rest of my friends are celebrating the fact that our very good friend Tiina is briefly back in town from Halifax. Also something worth celebrating, in my opinion.

So here are some pics from a little get-together that Alan hosted that night for a group of us that used to be quite "The Gang" a few years back...

Below, L to R: Kurt (blurry because he's moving to get out of the pic, I think. And in town from NYC for the Holidays!), Thea (blurry because she's moving and trying to give Tiina bunny ears. That's Karma for ya), Tiina and Alison, and... oh my, I can't remember the name of Thea's friend who is seated in the lower right-hand corner. I am a jerk. Damn. Sorry !Alan, Tiina, Thea (pronounced TAY-yah, BTW) and Alison...

Below: Not the most flattering picture of any of us, but I wanted to include it because it's one of the only pictures that captures (if even only in fragments) some other key members of "The Old Gang"; L to R: half of Rob, Me, Someone's Finger (my guess is Tiina), Alan (aptly enjoying a beverage), Sandi and a wee bit of Jeremy
It's Johnny Hall! Here's a special shout-out to you my friend; Because reading your recent comment on my blog post about my upcoming move to The Junction made me smile BIG. :D
Kurt, Tiina and Thea... Being the usual, krazy kids!
I don't know why Thea always feels compelled to make these funny faces in photos... (Alison looks excited though. Although I think perhaps here she's just feeling crazed about the fact that it's getting late and she still isn't packed and has to be on a plane to fly home to Winnipeg the next morning at some ungodly hour)
So that was Solstice Night. Otherwise known (to pretty much everyone else at the party as "Friday Dec 21st - the night of the party celebrating Tiina being in town!")

Last night, after I finished a surprisingly lovely day at work (I say surprisingly because it was December 23rd and I work in a retail store - but although business was "steady" yesterday it was never chaotic, and no one was christmas-crazy or anything!), I had plans to meet up and spend the evening with Tiina & Thea...

Thea wanted to watch Elf. I'm not sure that Tiina and I really wanted to, but we laughed at ourselves during our pre-get together Sushi dinner about the fact that we can generally be resistant to anything these days (oh, how we've gotten cantankerous in our old age)!

So, we watched Elf...

While we watched Elf, Thea wrapped presents...

She was well prepared with her "Present Wrapping Tape"

And Tiina taught me how to knit!

Lookin' good Thea!

It was just a super-fantastic night. And now it is the morning of December 24th and I am wrapped up in bed with my laptop, listening to CBC radio as I do laundry in preparation to be away for the next few days... I shall be heading to Oakville this afternoon to spend the night with Holly & Paul, then tomorrow we shall drive to Kingston to visit Holly's family and Robin will drive there from Vermont so I will get to see her too!

But before I sign off for "the holidays", here's one final wierd story I want to share with you: I woke up this morning, in my bed which is in the lower, basement part of my apartment and I was FREEZING! Like, really, really cold. This may not sound wierd to most of you, but it was very out of the ordinary for me. I've actually never found it even a little bit "chilly" in my place, so the fact that I was ABSOLUTELY FREEZING was kind of strange. I thought about texting my friend, upstairs neighbour and landlord, Guntar, and asking whether the heat was broken or something. When I finally got up the courage to get out from under my covers and go the upstairs part of my apartment (technically the rear half of the main floor of the house I live in), where my kitchen and bathroom and entrance are, I saw that my door (which I guess I had forgot to lock behind me when I came home last night) had blown open in the middle of the night! No wonder I was freezing! I think I heard on the radio that it's minus 2 degrees out right now! I wonder how long it was open?!?! Crazy huh?

Well anyways, I better go have a shower and pack a few things.

So, This is Triple M, signing off for "The Holidays".

Merry, merry. Or whatever.

Namaste.

Snow Day!

It snowed last night. A lot! And kept snowing. And then it snowed some more. And more! And MORE! So much snow!!!

I came out to Oakville to spend some time with Holly and Paul again this weekend. I'm glad I made it here yesterday before the storm hit. Today was a cozy day full of not doing much - a good chat with Robin on the phone this morning, followed by intermitent computer time and reading, chicken soup and backyard bird-feeder watching for lunch, an afternoon of watching Nanny McPhee on Video On Demand and more lazing about. Lovely...


So, this is me earlier today, cozy, inside, at Holly & Paul's in Oakville:


And here are some outdoor pretty-snow-and-lights pics:





Reflections from inside, looking out:

Snippets and Snapshots of My Life Right Now

So, this is what Toronto looked like today:
Above: The view looking southwards down the street that I currently live on...

I say "currently" because I have decided to move. Alas, not yet to New York (I'm a firm believer in timing, and the timing just isn't right for me right now), but I definitely need to get myself out of this BASEMENT that I am living in! However lovely as it may be. So I gave my two months notice at the beginning of this month and began the constant perusal of Craiglist. I have decided that not only do I want to live above ground, but I also want to live with people again. Enough of this alone stuff! So I randomly answered an ad that I guess most people wouldn't...

I actually just went into my email account and found the copy of the ad that I sent myself before I replied, here it is:

"We are about to buy a house in our beloved neighbourhood of the JUNCTION. We're devoted to this great little community...but we're also devoted to living from just one income while we raise our little boy (13 mos). Sooooo how to buy a house, stay in the junction, and still be an at-home-mama??????

Well, we are wondering if there are any peaceful, cool, open, child-friendly, creative, interesting, community-minded people out there that would like to rent a room (the bedrooms are HUGE) in our new house. Its a great place. You and possibly another would have the run of the upstairs, with a huge bathroom and laundry. We would share the living space (living w. fireplace, dining, kitchen, den, patio, garage, wireless internet, ample street parking). Who knows maybe we could even make a room/board arrangement of sorts and I will cook for us all...for a bit extra.

We are looking for Feb.08. If this interests you - let me know. It could be the start of something really great."

Well, I guess I felt like this really could be the start of something quite great so I wrote an email to this anonymous craigslist post-er... Only to find out that this woman is in fact someone I would consider a "long lost friend", someone that I worked with during the first year that I lived in Toronto (when I was 19!)and have some really great memories with, someone I have often thought about over the past few years... Crazy!

So anyhow, after some excited emails and then some missed emails and a lot of hilarious drama that thankfully worked out in the end, Laura and I ended up meeting for hot chocolate this afternoon. And I met her lovely little 13 month old son, Henry. We spent an amazingly lovely afternoon together and then her husband Louis came home from work and we enjoyed a nice dinner together. And I think this IS the beginning of something really great!


So here is what The Junction looked like last Thursday (not as snowy as it was today), when I took my own little private field-trip out to check out the neighbourhood on my own (before meeting up with Laura this week):







And just for fun, here are some pics that I took last weekend, of the lovely little bookstore where I currently work:


(Above: The View From My Desk)



So, I guess my life's not lookin' too bad these days, hey?

To Dream of Remarkable Things Happening In My Life (Sometime...)

I had a lovely dinner tonight with my friend Mark. He's on this very impressive cooking kick, where he tries out 5(!) new recipes a week. I've been fortunate enough to enjoy the fruits of this new initiative of his twice now - yum!

Other than the delicious food (crispy mint tilapia with veggies in a very flavourful sauce, fyi), I enjoyed some good conversation with this dear friend of mine, who knows me so very well...

We spent some time talking about what I'm doing with my life these days; I expressed that although I know that I am very much doing what I need to be doing for myself these days, it's hard for me to reconcile where I am now with the uber-achieving person that I have been in the past. I'm too tired right now to reiterate all the wise and supportive things that Mark had to say in response to this sentiment, but strangely enough I came home and randomly flipped open a book called "The Language of Letting Go" (that I actually borrowed from Mark over a year ago now!) and happened upon this quote:

"I used to spend so much time reacting and responding to everyone else that my life had no direction. Other people's lives, problems, and wants set the course for my life. Once I realised it was okay for me to think about and identify what I wanted, remarkable things began to take place in my life" - Anonymous

And I shall now take that thought and ponder it as I head to bed...

Goodnite.

Confessions From A Wandering Mind...

Am in Oakville right now. Yes, again. I'm sure I've said this before, but I like it here. And for whatever reason, this is where I want to be most of the time these days. So be it.

On Saturday night Holly and Paul and I went to see a movie: "Lars and The Real Girl." I quite loved it. Ryan Gosling plays this quiet, recluse sort of guy who basically invents a relationship for himself with a life-sized plastic doll, and the small town he lives in sort of rallies around him in support of his delusion, and in a way this doll is given life... Sort of... Explaining this movie doesn't really do it justice, so I basically just recommend going to see it.

I have to admit though, that I have found myself really compelled by this notion of inventing a relationship with an inanimate object... It seems so appealling to have so much control over something like that... It also seems so tempting to not have to live in the real world. Actually, sometimes I feel like I'm not really living in the real world these days. That I am avoiding it. I try to face it, but it's just so bloody tiring!

And you know what I find particularly exhausting/terrifying/overhwelming? Brace yourself now for the irony of this...

The Internet!

Yes, I know that coming from someone who is writing a fully accessible online blog, it is definitely ironic to be often-times paralysed with fear of the internet, but it is this wierdly addictive and powerful window into other people's lives! For instance, this morning I went and browsed through Facebook checking out pictures from the lives of people I went to university with. And then I read the blog of a friend I used to work with who is travelling through Thailand with her sister. And all I could think about was how there was so much life happening around me... And in some ways my own life feels so still right now...

A memory from earlier this morning floated through my mind: As I was recording a dream in my journal from last night, I went to write today's date at the top of the page and almost wrote September 19th. It really does feel in some ways like I've misplaced the last few months and I believe that it should still be September...

I feel as though I am being quite complain-y and lamenting too much here about my current state of being. But that wasn't really my intention... You see, although I do feel somewhat lost and at odds and ends with myself, I also feel quite strong in a way... I feel that it is strong in a way to even be writing the truth about where I am at in my life, especially when that place feels somewhat stuck and "icky". I also think that it takes strength to recognise/believe that some days are better than others...

Well, I really do feel as though all my mind can really do today is wander... And just like it is nice to go out and just take a walk some days, for no reason, I think it is nice to just let your mind take a walk some days... for no reason... I have to go back to work again tomorrow, and I will probably feel better, so for today I am going to continue to try and relax and just let my mind wander...