Randomness

This past week has been a complete and utter mess. I am in the middle of judging for an awards show and while all the packages of entries have been sent, I have to get the judges to submit their marks so that I can release the top ten winners in each of the 20 or so categories. That's a lot of work to begin with, but add to it an AGM (Annual General Meeting) for a very high maintenance group of women and it has been absolute mayhem. Plus, earlier this week one of my judges passed away and needed to be replaced. I can't even begin to describe how difficult that was, not only dealing with the passing of a literary icon but trying to find someone worthy of his position on the judging team. I managed to pull it all off this week, right down to voting cards for the meeting Monday morning. Unbelievable. So last night, after this horrendous week, I decided it was time to karaoke.

Okay, really it was the boy's idea as he needed to meet up with one of his friends and knew she'd be there however I wasn't going to go simply because of the stressful week I'd had. The boy and I met up with my brother and his friend P who were sitting on a patio and after a few pints, I decided that I would go to karaoke but wouldn't sing. I really thought that, honest. We met up with our friends and next thing I knew I was being called up to sing. So I did, and I rocked, for once. Maybe it was because on the way the boy told me that I normally choose the wrong songs. this time I chose different songs and it actually didn't sound too bad. Unless I'm deluding myself, which also might be the case. 

In the middle of all this, Jerry O'Connell walked in and sat down at our table. No joke. He showed me pictures of the babies and Rebecca, and we had an awesome chat about kids and marriage. He was there because the host of the karaoke is a friend of his and Jerry was in town and thought he'd come check it out so he could tell everyone back in LA what the host does what he's in Toronto. Needless to say, there were many pictures being emailed back to LA last night!

Today when I woke up and remembered that I sat and drank 50 with Jerry O'Connell it reminded me that sometime you have to go out when you don't feel like it because you never know what might happen. Last night was great because of all the great songs people sang and the environment was awesome. I will remember that the next time I think I'm too tired to go have fun.

Mom to the rescue

Yesterday was my brother's 40th birthday party. I met my parents at the subway station and we went together. As a family. Yikes. It was good to see my sister-in-law and my nieces and to hang out with the rest of my family. I don't get to see them very often, which is my fault, so it was nice to get a chance to catchup and see what everyone is doing. My mom and I sat together for the entire thing, and I helped her curb her jealousy at the sight of my step-father helping his ex-wife figure out how to work her camera. My mom tends to hold a grudge, much like a few people I know, and she knows how to say the right thing at the right time to enforce that. 

I ended up going back to my parents house for dinner and the boy met me there. We had a great time, except for me attempting to 'help' my mom with dinner. She was making one of my favourites: pork tenderloin in a maple glaze sauce. In order to make this dish, you sear the tenderloin in a stainless steel frying pan and transfer it to the oven to cook. When the pan comes out of the oven 20 minutes later, the meat is transfered to a plate and tinfoil tented over it to keep it warm. The sauce is made in the same pan and simmered until reduced. I was in charge of the sauce and as my mom took the pan out of the oven, she reminded me over and over that it was hot and that I needed a glove to handle it.

I was offended that she thought she needed to remind me. I had done this a bajillion times and didn't think I needed the reminder. I think you know the rest. Aloe on my fingertips for the rest of the night, followed by vitamin e spray that instantly took away the sting. I stood there for a few minutes after I had touched the handle; it was such a natural gesture I didn't think about how hot it was. I didn't want to tell my mom what I'd done because I knew she'd make fun of me.

She made fun of me alright, but not before she made sure I wasn't too badly burned. It was bad, but not hospital bad. This morning my fingertips are crispy and gross. It will take couple of days to heal completely but maybe this means I'm off dish-duty until then. Not so bad after all.    

Just Answer me. Now.

One of the most infuriating things that I have to deal with at work is the lack of response. I realize that people are busy, expecially now that many companies are downsizing and those who are left have to pick up the slack but come on. Answer your emails. Return phone calls. Be mindful of other people's time and efforts.

I am coordinating a judging panel of both English and French speaking people in a series of judging efforts that span four provinces in three weeks. It all happens at once and it all has to be completed by a specific time. I have no doubt that this will go smoothly; I am just wishing that those people who are still undecided about their participation would make up their minds and then tell me so I can replace them. It is getting a little too late in the day for me to have to redo the entire judging panel but if that's what has to happen, so be it. Although I may have to be committed if that occurs.

In other news, my poor bff is being put through the wringer at work. I think she's looking for a new job right now. There's only so much a person can take before they snap, and she is very close to snapping. People are changing her documents and locking them so she can't change them back, deleting things she needs from the shared drive and generally making her life miserable. Just like high school. Poor thing. I was hoping that games tonight would cheer her up but I don't think she's going.

Right now things are pretty bleak. Although I love my job, I'm having doubts about it and I have been told that there are 'things coming up' that I might be interested in. Having said that, I guess it's time to dust off the resume and get cracking. Things don't just happen for people: you have to make them happen for yourself and I certainly won't get another job just by willing it to happen.

It Didn't Suck. At All.

A few weeks ago my mother called to ask if I would want to go and see 'Dirty Dancing' with her and some colleagues from work. I hesitated, because I hated the movie, but agreed to go. I thought it would be a great way to spend a bit of time with her outside of family things (meaning without my step-father around). Last night was the big night and I have to admit, it didn't suck.

It wasn't the best thing I'd ever seen onstage, but it was entertaining. The girl playing the lead role was fantastic, which was unfortunate for everyone else in the cast as she really stood out and the rest were just filler. I thought that she was perfectly suited to the role and played it really well. What was astonishing was the amount of older ladies in the audience, hooting and hollering each time the lead male came on stage. It was almost as if they thought they were in a male strip club, with the loud requests for the men to take off their clothes ringing through the theatre every five minutes.

The main thing I want in a movie or a play or a musical is that I don't want to perceive the passage of time. If I have no idea how long I've been sitting there watching something, then I deem it good. If I look at my watch, or find my thoughts drifting away, then I'm not being entertained and I feel like I've wasted my money. Last night fell in the 'good' category because I really enjoyed watching the characters play their parts. I have no idea how it's different from the movie or which parts have been changed or edited out and I really don't care. I remember hating the movie and this was a pleasant surprise. I wouldn't go see it again, but it was good to see once with my very opinionated mother who needed to tell me which songs in the musical she still had on vinyl.

The whole thing from start to finish was really good, although I really enjoyed the scene where Baby's father rips up the cheque he was going to give to the 'nice' guy going to med school who had knocked up the main dancing girl which caused the huge kerfuffle between Baby and her father. That guy was a douche. My mom said so.

Very Good Readin'

I have been on a bit of a reading tear lately, having finished four books in a week. Some might argue that comics aren't books, but when you have to read words and decipher pictures to get the entirety of what the writer and artist are trying to make you see/feel, I would strongly disagree and even go so far as to offer that comics are perhaps more difficult to read than regular books. In regular books, the writer tells you what to see/hear/feel without letting you take what you want from the story. Comics are the complete opposite; the written story is directly influenced by the choice of artist who chooses panel placement/size to better reflect the emotions that they are trying to evoke in the reader. Working together, pictures and words tell a more complete story in that the reader is given the choice of what they will take away from it.

Two stories stand out the most in what I've read: 'The Graveyard Book' by Neil Gaiman and 'Joker' written by Brian Azzarello and drawn by a slew of talented artists. I am so impressed with the calibre of story-telling in both of these books that I've loaned them out with strict instructions to read them. Sometimes people accept books and don't read them and that bothers me. If I've gone to the trouble of bringing you a book that I think you would enjoy why wouldn't you either read it or tell me to take it back? That's clearly another post though.

Gaiman's book centres on a baby boy whose family is brutally slaughtered. The baby, having escaped death by wandering into a cemetary, is taken in by the inhabitants of the cemetary and raised as their son. He learns things from each citizen of the graveyard and eventually the full story of who he is and why he must be killed is revealed. A great read that you wish would never end, but sadly it does and I cried. For real.

Azzarello's take on Joker was absolutely devastating. We all know that Joker is crazy but this story explores just how crazy crazy can get. He drags everyone else along with him for the ride and it's terrifying and exhilarating and hysterically funny and sad all at the same time. Plus, Harley is clad in red and black PVC right from her first appearance and that's always a pleasure to see.

I love books, and have too many of them to prove it. I enjoy finding new things to read and I love passing them along. When I find stories that move me, I am inspired to try and create that feeling in my own writing. A good story is worth all the pain and suffering that it sometimes takes in order to write it. Reading these two stories and understanding how long it has taken to get them out of the writer's head and into my hands is also very comforting. Sometimes it's easy to lose track of the amount of time and energy it actually takes to write a good story, and it reminds me that I am on track with my own work. The old adage is true: you can't rush perfection.

Here's Why

Whenever I hear that yet another comic book that I love is being made into a movie, I cringe. Some comics just cannot survive the transition from print to screen and it's very upsetting when producers and Hollywood writers try to force it. Like Daredevil. Like the first Hulk. Other comics translate perfectly simply because of the nature of the book: Batman, Spider-man, X-Men, and so on. One of the best comic-to-movie adaptations I've ever seen is Hellboy because in my humble opinion, they got everything right. From the lead character played flawlessly by Ron Perlman to the perfect rendition of Abe's costume, as far as I'm concerned that movie hit the comic dead on. Knowing how hit-or-miss the whole comic movie phenomenon is and how fickle the fans are, I wasn't expecting much from Watchmen. Not much at all. So why then did I find myself in a movie theatre at midnight watching it when I should have been home in bed? Because I am a nerd and I had to see it for myself.

Mere hours later and I'm thinking of how I'm going to fit another couple of viewings into my already jam-packed weekend. That's how incredible I thought is was. Despite the absence of the giant squid (read the comic and you'll totally understand), the whole epic was great. The boy went with me and said it was the first time he'd seen a movie where he knew exactly what was going to happen and who was going to speak and what they were going to say for the duration of the almost 3 hour long movie. Not once during the film did I catch myself wondering what time it was, or thinking that something could have been done better. Not once was I upset that I was going to be ruined for work the next day because of this movie. My red-rimmed eyes and unkempt hair are badges of honor for having gone to midnight show on a school night.

On a completely different note, I may have to change my favourite hero. It's always been a toss-up between Batman and Hawkman with a bit of Namor thrown in for Marvel/DC diversity, but now I think it may be Rorschach/Walter Kovacs. There's so much that I could say to back-up my sudden shift in hero-worship, but I won't ruin the movie . Yet.

So, I'm exhausted and satisfied with the movie. Now I just have to get through the next eight hours so I can go home and nap.

Let the Games Begin

Yesterday was fantastic. A bunch of us gathered over at the Gaymesmaster's house to play an extended version of the game we played on my birthday. In this version, there is a map of an entire land with paths and towns and dungeons that we, as the adventuring heroes, have to explore and loot as needed.

Last night we didn't get very far. In this version, the dungeons have three sections to it (connected by a sparkly portal...oooh), and after seven hours we only managed to get through the first two parts of the first dungeon. We're thinking that we'll probably get through the rest of the dungeon during our next session. Or maybe not...

I like playing boardgames. Sitting around a table with my friends, plotting to destroy the evil Overlord; that's good times. Even better on a lazy Sunday when the alternative might have been to clean the apartment. The trick is to get started early, and by starting at 2pm, we managed to still have part of the day to run around and do whatever needed to be done before going to the game. Plus, next time we play we will know what we're doing so hopefully we can finally buy the damn boat.

There are three types of roads in the game: normal, river and secret. Normal you take whenever; you don't need anything special to travel on it. River paths require a boat which requires money which requires killing monsters in dungeons and on paths. Ditto for secret paths, except we need a map which I think is twice as much as the boat. What's interesting about this is that when you buy the boat somehow it magically comes with you. Not sure how that works but I'm sure wizards are involved. After finishing the dungeon, we'll go back to town and buy the boat and then continue on. Unless someone has a better idea?