My best friend's daughter is getting married next summer! Today they drove up north to check out a venue. How do I know this? Communication, baby! I received a picture on facebook taken with her Blackberry. How else?
So if a picture paints a thousand words, can a thousand words condensed into a roughly 7 x 10 inch 'box' be accepted in place of a BOOK? I think not.
I can't tell how many times I've been told that I would just LOVE a 'Kindle', Sony reader, and/or the newest kid on the block, the Barnes and Noble Nook. All sell for between $200 and $400. That buys me a lot of books!
I'm sorry, but I just can't get past the fact that IT'S NOT A BOOK! Yes, I know you can store infinite numbers of books on it, book prices are great, easy to transport, blah blah blah.
I need to turn the pages, admire the front cover, read the inside (and back) flaps, reread a few pages, FOLD over the corners (library copies only - apologies in advance to those that reserve books at The Toronto Public Library and have the same taste as me - and those salsa stains, well......). Don't even get me started on bookmarks and booklights and all the cute (and necessary) enhancements I have discovered over the years and had to have. For those that need to know, the VERY best bookmark is one made by Levengers, called the book bungee. I own MANY of these stretchy little gems and either order them online or visit the store when I'm in Florida and need to surround myself with a little book heaven (even their website calls them 'tools for serious readers'). Post-it makes a great flag highlighter (imagine, you can highlight AND mark your page!)
Last year I discovered the thrill of author readings and signings. Meeting James Frey, Wilbur Smith, Carlos Ruiz Zafon, Joseph Boyden, Wally Lamb.....to name just a few, AND listen to them speak AND HAVE THEM SIGN MY BOOK - PRICELESS. Can't do that with a Kindle, can you?
My hubby swears by his ereader on his Blackberry,and I know many 'converts' that are happy as well, but after a day spent clearing clutter in my bedroom, I was proud to move my A-Z bookends (which encase my 10 copies of A Tree Grows in Brooklyn) to the newly added coffee table and small reading couch. Just can't see a piece of metal having quite the same effect.
24.10.09
23.10.09
Let's start at the very beginning....
Do re mi fa so la tea do! We've all seen the The Sound of Music (one of my hubby's favorites and supposedly his Aunt Shirley's as well) and sang the song. Maria and I had something in common (both of us sported a really bad short haircut at one time - picture NOT to be included here), as well as raise and love another man's children. Climbing mountains was NOT a shared love, as I am fearful of heights (and birds, and ....oh, that's another blogpost).
It's hard to write about the now, without sharing the before, so in a nutshell (don't even get me started), here is the (hopefully, for your sake) condensed version.
I guess with blogging you have to choose your words carefully and not slander anyone or perhaps you can rename them or just flat out pretend. Feel free to read between the lines when I don't supply them.
Who Am I Anyway? (am I my resume? - gotta love A Chorus Line and I do, as well as most musicals (which is so sad considering I am tone deaf and knowing all the words to all the songs, does NOT help!). Anyway.......
You will notice (how could you not?) that I write in what is called a 'freefall' fashion. It works for me - I like that 'stream of consciousness' feel. Apologies in advance for ramblings and veering off whatever provocative topic I am musing about. It happens and will continue to.
Back to me and the other cast of characters in my life!
I'm a Daddy's girl and my Mother's daughter - meaning, my dad is put on a pedestal (deservedly so) and my mom takes me shopping, keeps my secrets, notices and corrects my typos and wishes my hair was more 'controlled' - I love them both dearly and hate this whole 'getting older' business (for me and for them).
I have one older and one younger brother. In my immediate family, we refer to Steven as 'Uncle the Brother' because my younger brother Richard (forever known as Uncle Richie, even to our deceased dog Coltrane) and I started calling Steve 'the brother' and when he became an uncle, well, you do the math. I'm not sure he knows that we refer to him as Uncle the Brother, but now he does, and we say it with love.
I can't change the names and details enough here, so let's sum up in a few sentences, my first marriage (lasting less than 4 years). It was a beautiful wedding, and then it went downhill. Suffice said. While I was still tending my wounds I became reaquainted with a guy I had known from my teens, who had married young and had 3 daughters and then divorced. We became best friends, and then more. Twenty years later, admidst much drama, chaos and laughter, we are still together, and have added our son Sam, to the family clan. My family is my home, my salvation, my sanity, my life.
I mentioned my colon cancer in another post, so I won't bore you with the details (do you really want to hear about blood in the stool? I think not, but hey, if you find it, get it checked out!).
I've always loved to read, thanks to my cousin Gloria showering me at an early age (grade 6) with books by authors as diverse and wonderful as Betty Smith, James Michener, Sidney Sheldon, Leon Uris and Harold Robbins. I didn't always understand the stories or how they were 'told', but I always wanted, needed, more. I wrote in journals, kept diaries and made lists of 'top tens'. I never thought I was a writer, but loved to write.
I belong to a few online book groups and participate very actively in my own f2f (that means face to face) group, called the Book Bitches (though just today someone wrote that they would prefer to be called the Book Babes - what's so wrong with being a bitch?). We take our group seriously (some months more than others) and read and discuss openly and honestly and share so much. Shout out to my Bitches/Babes!!!!
What else do you need to know? I guess you can just ask me. I'm pretty open and feel that my life IS more or less an open book. Bottom line, I love to converse - with you, with myself, with whoever is listening. I'm not sure if I have something to say, but I'm going to say it anyway. I'm just not going to sing it!
It's hard to write about the now, without sharing the before, so in a nutshell (don't even get me started), here is the (hopefully, for your sake) condensed version.
I guess with blogging you have to choose your words carefully and not slander anyone or perhaps you can rename them or just flat out pretend. Feel free to read between the lines when I don't supply them.
Who Am I Anyway? (am I my resume? - gotta love A Chorus Line and I do, as well as most musicals (which is so sad considering I am tone deaf and knowing all the words to all the songs, does NOT help!). Anyway.......
You will notice (how could you not?) that I write in what is called a 'freefall' fashion. It works for me - I like that 'stream of consciousness' feel. Apologies in advance for ramblings and veering off whatever provocative topic I am musing about. It happens and will continue to.
Back to me and the other cast of characters in my life!
I'm a Daddy's girl and my Mother's daughter - meaning, my dad is put on a pedestal (deservedly so) and my mom takes me shopping, keeps my secrets, notices and corrects my typos and wishes my hair was more 'controlled' - I love them both dearly and hate this whole 'getting older' business (for me and for them).
I have one older and one younger brother. In my immediate family, we refer to Steven as 'Uncle the Brother' because my younger brother Richard (forever known as Uncle Richie, even to our deceased dog Coltrane) and I started calling Steve 'the brother' and when he became an uncle, well, you do the math. I'm not sure he knows that we refer to him as Uncle the Brother, but now he does, and we say it with love.
I can't change the names and details enough here, so let's sum up in a few sentences, my first marriage (lasting less than 4 years). It was a beautiful wedding, and then it went downhill. Suffice said. While I was still tending my wounds I became reaquainted with a guy I had known from my teens, who had married young and had 3 daughters and then divorced. We became best friends, and then more. Twenty years later, admidst much drama, chaos and laughter, we are still together, and have added our son Sam, to the family clan. My family is my home, my salvation, my sanity, my life.
I mentioned my colon cancer in another post, so I won't bore you with the details (do you really want to hear about blood in the stool? I think not, but hey, if you find it, get it checked out!).
I've always loved to read, thanks to my cousin Gloria showering me at an early age (grade 6) with books by authors as diverse and wonderful as Betty Smith, James Michener, Sidney Sheldon, Leon Uris and Harold Robbins. I didn't always understand the stories or how they were 'told', but I always wanted, needed, more. I wrote in journals, kept diaries and made lists of 'top tens'. I never thought I was a writer, but loved to write.
I belong to a few online book groups and participate very actively in my own f2f (that means face to face) group, called the Book Bitches (though just today someone wrote that they would prefer to be called the Book Babes - what's so wrong with being a bitch?). We take our group seriously (some months more than others) and read and discuss openly and honestly and share so much. Shout out to my Bitches/Babes!!!!
What else do you need to know? I guess you can just ask me. I'm pretty open and feel that my life IS more or less an open book. Bottom line, I love to converse - with you, with myself, with whoever is listening. I'm not sure if I have something to say, but I'm going to say it anyway. I'm just not going to sing it!
In the beginning.....
And so it begins........
Not really sure how to go about this blog type thingie, but I'm going to attempt to contribute, 'in my own way', because I love to write, respond, react, correspond, communicate, you name it. I do tend to do 'this' alot, so expect 'quotes' around things. It's not that I think you don't necessarily 'get it’; it's more that I feel the need to emphasize my point. Get 'it'????? If not, feel free to google something far more interesting (to YOU!).
Speaking of google, they call me the 'google queen' at work (it should come as no surprise to you, dear reader, that I work in written communications at a private golf and country club (if you’ve been following along, you will understand that the emphasize here is placed on communications, NOT the fact that my employer is a GOLF country club, as I don’t ‘do’ sports!), creating, managing and keeping ‘current’, their website, monthly newsletter, posters, menus, etc . Whenever someone questions 'something', I must find the solution, and so boldly and fearlessly and trusting I go, fingers happily ‘googling’ away. The key is knowing exactly ‘what’ to search for. Yes I take great pride in my abilities to 'surf the net', as my talents in general, are far and few between (a list of my talents will surface eventually – I am a great list maker and keeper!)
So besides flitting back and forth from one fascinating subject to the next, I tend to ramble on passionately when I feel, uh, passionate about something, and then lose interest just as easily. You’ll have to try keep up with me as I segue way (my new favorite word) from one topic to the next. It makes perfect sense to me, but not always to others. For examples, after mentioning my new favorite word, segue way, I immediately googled it to try and get the spelling correct, only to be directed to website after website about segways, those funky cool vehicles that you can ride around in upright on two wheels.
I think I’ll try and write daily (or every other day) and pick a topic of interest or a highlight about my life and expand upon it. I’ve already been forwarned by my son Sam (who is my almost constant background ‘noise’ – exposing me to new and old music (currently listening to Wilco, Death Cab for Cutie, and John Frusciante, whom I despise, but find myself humming) NOT to embarrass or ridicule him. You will have to be the judge of that.
Today I am musing over the past 24 hours (I usually muse over the past 20 years, but that’s another blog, for another day). I will spare you the details, but I had a colonoscopy yesterday. It wasn’t my first, in fact it was my 10th. Nine years ago while I was busy obsessing about losing 10 (20) lbs, my on-going battle with hair, and turning 40, I somehow wound up being diagnosed with colon cancer! Fortunately it was in the earliest of stages and I required a colon resection and the only follow up treatment being yearly colonoscopies (though I am now only going to have them every two or three years). I also became a volunteer for Colon Cancer Canada and take great pride in being able to 'give back' what I can, which is usually my time, and my voice(people GET your asses checked out!). I am quite the expert on ‘prepping for a colonoscopy’, and being the avid and voracious reader that I am, as well as the owner of an iPhone loaded with music (‘borrowed’ mainly from the library of Sam), I am prepared. The uncomfortable part has always been in the ‘drink’ needed to be consumed (drinking clear fluids for 24 hours is manageable for me, as long as I sneak in a small snack when I’m beyond starving of 6 Triscuits, which tides me over nicely and seems to be undetected in the ‘scope’ procedure), as guzzling too many ounces of ‘pleasant orange tasting oil’ twice or more, is repellent to me. This year the prep was new. One dulcolax tablet two nights before, followed by 5 oz of water added to a Pico Salex sachet (isn’t a sachet a sweet smelling packet of flowers/herbs?) once at noon, and again at 6pm. Worked like a charm, aided I’m sure, by the McDonalds meal of 2 filet 'O fish and large fries, that I had consumed (and then quickly expelled) earlier that day.
The prep itself was more than fine, and easy too, but once we arrived at the hospital, I was told they were short staffed with nurses, which caused a little anxiety on my end (no pun intended). My regular doctor wasn't going to perform the colonoscopy (I knew that) but I was again, a little anxious, when the 'lady doctor' (picture a female Doogie Howser - and by the way, I am a huge Neil Patrick Harris fan, and love How I Met Your Mother, but I digress.....) said to me, "Hmmm....according to your chart, the latter half of your colon is all twisted and I'll need to tred carefully." TWISTED???? I NEVER KNEW THIS. Of course I went into 'good girl' mode and just smiled weakly and put all my faith and trust into her. Mistake! I told her I really need to be 'put out' and she scowled and said, "Well, we give you something to relax you, but certainly not put you out - let me know if you need more medicine". I was then asked to turn on my side and felt something enter my rectum. I said, "Ummm...I feel that", and was ignored. Then she continues pushing as well as leaning over and pushing on my stomach. I said, "that really hurts" and she says, "Oh, ok, I'll up your medicine". This continued for the next 15 minutes or so. I silently cried and just prayed that all was well. I was so happy to come home. Fell asleep at home for 2 hours (mental exhaustion, I'm sure) and then woke up and ate something (toasted flat pumpernickel bagel smeared with chopped whitefish salad from BagelWorld). I'm living and have no polyps. Could be worse.
As Scarlett O'Hara said, 'Tomorrow is another day!", and frankly, I'm happy to have one and I DO give a damn!
Not really sure how to go about this blog type thingie, but I'm going to attempt to contribute, 'in my own way', because I love to write, respond, react, correspond, communicate, you name it. I do tend to do 'this' alot, so expect 'quotes' around things. It's not that I think you don't necessarily 'get it’; it's more that I feel the need to emphasize my point. Get 'it'????? If not, feel free to google something far more interesting (to YOU!).
Speaking of google, they call me the 'google queen' at work (it should come as no surprise to you, dear reader, that I work in written communications at a private golf and country club (if you’ve been following along, you will understand that the emphasize here is placed on communications, NOT the fact that my employer is a GOLF country club, as I don’t ‘do’ sports!), creating, managing and keeping ‘current’, their website, monthly newsletter, posters, menus, etc . Whenever someone questions 'something', I must find the solution, and so boldly and fearlessly and trusting I go, fingers happily ‘googling’ away. The key is knowing exactly ‘what’ to search for. Yes I take great pride in my abilities to 'surf the net', as my talents in general, are far and few between (a list of my talents will surface eventually – I am a great list maker and keeper!)
So besides flitting back and forth from one fascinating subject to the next, I tend to ramble on passionately when I feel, uh, passionate about something, and then lose interest just as easily. You’ll have to try keep up with me as I segue way (my new favorite word) from one topic to the next. It makes perfect sense to me, but not always to others. For examples, after mentioning my new favorite word, segue way, I immediately googled it to try and get the spelling correct, only to be directed to website after website about segways, those funky cool vehicles that you can ride around in upright on two wheels.
I think I’ll try and write daily (or every other day) and pick a topic of interest or a highlight about my life and expand upon it. I’ve already been forwarned by my son Sam (who is my almost constant background ‘noise’ – exposing me to new and old music (currently listening to Wilco, Death Cab for Cutie, and John Frusciante, whom I despise, but find myself humming) NOT to embarrass or ridicule him. You will have to be the judge of that.
Today I am musing over the past 24 hours (I usually muse over the past 20 years, but that’s another blog, for another day). I will spare you the details, but I had a colonoscopy yesterday. It wasn’t my first, in fact it was my 10th. Nine years ago while I was busy obsessing about losing 10 (20) lbs, my on-going battle with hair, and turning 40, I somehow wound up being diagnosed with colon cancer! Fortunately it was in the earliest of stages and I required a colon resection and the only follow up treatment being yearly colonoscopies (though I am now only going to have them every two or three years). I also became a volunteer for Colon Cancer Canada and take great pride in being able to 'give back' what I can, which is usually my time, and my voice(people GET your asses checked out!). I am quite the expert on ‘prepping for a colonoscopy’, and being the avid and voracious reader that I am, as well as the owner of an iPhone loaded with music (‘borrowed’ mainly from the library of Sam), I am prepared. The uncomfortable part has always been in the ‘drink’ needed to be consumed (drinking clear fluids for 24 hours is manageable for me, as long as I sneak in a small snack when I’m beyond starving of 6 Triscuits, which tides me over nicely and seems to be undetected in the ‘scope’ procedure), as guzzling too many ounces of ‘pleasant orange tasting oil’ twice or more, is repellent to me. This year the prep was new. One dulcolax tablet two nights before, followed by 5 oz of water added to a Pico Salex sachet (isn’t a sachet a sweet smelling packet of flowers/herbs?) once at noon, and again at 6pm. Worked like a charm, aided I’m sure, by the McDonalds meal of 2 filet 'O fish and large fries, that I had consumed (and then quickly expelled) earlier that day.
The prep itself was more than fine, and easy too, but once we arrived at the hospital, I was told they were short staffed with nurses, which caused a little anxiety on my end (no pun intended). My regular doctor wasn't going to perform the colonoscopy (I knew that) but I was again, a little anxious, when the 'lady doctor' (picture a female Doogie Howser - and by the way, I am a huge Neil Patrick Harris fan, and love How I Met Your Mother, but I digress.....) said to me, "Hmmm....according to your chart, the latter half of your colon is all twisted and I'll need to tred carefully." TWISTED???? I NEVER KNEW THIS. Of course I went into 'good girl' mode and just smiled weakly and put all my faith and trust into her. Mistake! I told her I really need to be 'put out' and she scowled and said, "Well, we give you something to relax you, but certainly not put you out - let me know if you need more medicine". I was then asked to turn on my side and felt something enter my rectum. I said, "Ummm...I feel that", and was ignored. Then she continues pushing as well as leaning over and pushing on my stomach. I said, "that really hurts" and she says, "Oh, ok, I'll up your medicine". This continued for the next 15 minutes or so. I silently cried and just prayed that all was well. I was so happy to come home. Fell asleep at home for 2 hours (mental exhaustion, I'm sure) and then woke up and ate something (toasted flat pumpernickel bagel smeared with chopped whitefish salad from BagelWorld). I'm living and have no polyps. Could be worse.
As Scarlett O'Hara said, 'Tomorrow is another day!", and frankly, I'm happy to have one and I DO give a damn!
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