preposterous transitions

Update....puppies, movies, Toronto & red carpets

Wow I never post here these days. Maybe I should start again. Not that I have time, really, but it`s a medium for updating that`s not all about work!

Just got back from Toronto last night after being there for an entire week. Had a good time but always so happy to be home. The trees are bursting with color and the park is so beautiful and lush right now.

But the work never ends and today it was work, reading (for work), finishing a report, etc. Luckily, I have six weeks off towards the end of June. No plan, really, but I am sure looking forward to having some time off.

We got a puppy. He`s super cute, just over two months old, a terrier mix. God, potty training is murder. We are trying with training sheets first but he just can`t get it. He sometimes goes there but then sometimes doesn`t. I can`t get how his mind works: I mean either get it or don`t but this half potty trained thing is perplexing. When he`s outside, he always manages to go. I wonder how long it takes...

Haven`t seen a movie in a theater in so long. When I look back at this blog, I see how much of my entries have to do with movies. Wonder how long before I can get back into it. The problem is that my movie friends had a baby last year so movies are tough for them and no one else I know is really that into movies...

All right. Not very interesting update. All my life is is work these days. Went to the Luminato Party in Toronto Friday which was fun and super swank. But so glad I only have to go events like that once in a great while. Some super famous people milling about and there was even a red carpet I had to cross and get photographed on. That was weird!

 

Randoms.

The first Saturday in many weeks (months, probably) that I don't have work to do. Unfortunately, our friend is moving on Wednesday so we have to go help her move.  But at least I won't have to spend all day in front of this computer...

More snow. Sigh. It just doesn't stop this year.

Watching "In Treatment" (season 2) slowly, a disc a week. It's very compelling. I really like Mia though Masa hates her and refuses to watch her sessions. April is a bit whiney though I liked her early on. The last few episodes I've really been interested in Oliver and his parents. Man, that poor kid. I hate his parents at times, then I feel terrible for them. 

Doing some really fun stuff at work. Loving my job though I'm crazy busy.

Loving this Youtube song I heard mentioned on Slate's Culture Gabfest:

 

Snippets: work, leaving friends, train to Toronto

Trying hard not to blog only about work but then a week goes by and I've not blogged at all. Sad, actually. So much of my thinking revolves around the job and I really hate that! What's that adage about "what you think, you are" and it creeps me out that at least at this point in my life, I AM my job.

I like it. I'm enjoying it. For now, it's only  a minor thing that this bothers me. But. I can see how at some point this is going to annoy me or cause me grief. 

I was in Ottawa all day Monday for work and got a call from one of our closest friends who informed me that she got a great job offer. But in Tokyo. So strange to feel happy and sad about the same news. She needs a job and she's been looking for one for a while. She has felt depressed and sad about her career for months. This job is exactly what she wants. So in that sense we are happy. But she is one of our closest friends and we see her probably more than just about anyone else (and looking through Flickr, I am struck by how many photos have her in them!). Mainly we are just going to miss her so much and it's really depressing.

Still. I am trying to have the attitude that change is good. And change is a part of relationships; in fact, change IS relationships and this is a normal part of life. We meet people, they come and go, we may drift apart, we meet new people, etc. This obvious cycle has just really been brought close to home this week.

Off to Toronto today for two days. Meetings, etc. I decided to take the train because it gives me five hours of time to work where I won't get interrupted by phone calls, people passing by, questions, etc. And in addition to the job, I have a small project for a UK publisher I've been working on (and on which I am seriously behind schedule) and a book review that is late. 

Reading a new biography of Montreal writer John Glassco that is fascinating. He moved on the periphery of the Paris 1920 circle so came into contact with Gertrude Stein, Hemingway, but mainly it's his relationship with Robert McAltman and Kay Boyle that I find interesting because Kay Boyle is a very interesting writer for me. I went through a phase in my 20s where I read everything I could by her (and she wrote a lot) but her reputation has really been diminished the last several years and most of her books now are out of print. Glassco wrote one book, really, though it caused quite a stir when it was published in 1970. Then it quickly fell out of print until NYRB re-issued it in 2007. No Canadian publisher has published it at all since 1970. Want to get my hands on it...

Winter, music, movies

Woke up to an icy wonderland this morning. So pretty! I wish I could stay inside all weekend and didn`t have to leave. But I do. Ah, well.

Stayed home last night--it was COLD. Watched "Un Prophete," an excellent movie about the trials and tribulations of a North African French kid as he tries to survive in prison. It's violent and shocking in some ways but so well acted: almost like that kind of cinema verite filmed by non-actors. But, nope, they are all professional actors...I had heard about this movie late last year but never managed to see it. So glad I did! It's really excellent and sure doesn't feel like it's over two hours.

 

And this amazing song I've been listening to all week. Her voice is fantastic.

 

So that's it. Nothing to report. Working like mad lately which will continue for another week at least. Then an entire week of at Christmas. A paid week!? Impossible to imagine!