Reading

It took me months to read book one. Although that’s probably not fair to the book… it took me months of it sitting on my night-table, and Dan pestering me to read it, for me to pick it up. It took me many more weeks to get through about the first hundred pages.

It was only following a glut of library books (due to my ill-timed hold expirations), when in over-reaction I pushed all my holds too far back and was left with no books to read, for me to really start reading the book. Finished it within two weeks, I think.

It took me 3 days to finish book two. You’d think I was kidding… but no. And none of those days were on a weekend, I might add. I’d say it was fair to say I was hooked. I’m not sure if it was the long break from reading science fiction, which may have played a part – but I’d like to think that it had more to do with the writing. An interesting concept, well-written, part adventure and part murder-mystery.

So now I’m lingering over the third and final book in the series. Let it be a testament to my self-control that I’ve now had the book for 5 days (two of which did happen to fall on a weekend, this time) and am “only” about 3/4 of the way through. To be honest, I’m trying to stretch it out, because I’ve really grown to like the characters and don’t want to see their story come to an end. [EDIT: I finished it a week. This was written a while ago. The book was still awesome.]

For a book that Dan picked up on a whim at the used book sale (as far as I know), it rates an 11!

As an aside, I also crystallized the reasons for my dislike of ebooks. The biggest one being completely individual and having to do with my reading style. I like to flip back and forth. That’s just how I read. If a conversation or description in one part of a book triggers something in my memory, I like to search back through the book to see what caught my attention, how this new information ties in with what was revealed previously, etc. It drove me mad trying to do that on an ereader (which I had to use for book 2 since I was too impatient to wait for my turn for a paper copy at the library). I fully get the convenience of the device, and would probably use it for trips or if I commuted by public transit, but at home nothing still beats an old-fashioned book.

Oh. I guess I should mention what book it was. The Species Imperative by Julie Czerneda.

And since hubby would say no post is complete without a photo – I saw this most excellent sunrise on Christmas Eve day.

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In the news

I guess it’s to be expected that for every good news, there will usually be bad news.

Ottawa is tops for livability again, wahoo! But I guess we stuck out like a sore thumb at the top of that list – so now we’ll be taxed more to drop us down a few notches! Flying out of Syracuse/Buffalo this Christmas to get to Seattle is looking more and more appealing financially…

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Fun weekend

It was such a fun weekend, I’ve finally been jolted out of my posting break. Maybe we need Josh around more (yes, even Josh came to visit!)

First of all, Friday started it off with a bang as we went out to celebrate Dan’s birthday and the Olympic opening ceremony. We coined the term “full-contact sushi” after a few misplaced and accidental bumps as people were reaching across the table for a piece of sushi. Good fun. The opening ceremony took forever, and I remembered why I almost never watch them – the 2 hours of teams filing through the stadium! We had to leave the pub to get home just as it was getting to the most anticipated moment of the show, since the boys just HAD to have cake at that exact moment. Luckily, we walked in the door just as they were lighting the torch.

On Saturday was Jen’s bachelorette party. What a good time! We started off the evening with a wine tasting led by a sommelier (yes, spellcheck, I mean” sommelier”, not “smelter”; no joke, that is the suggested correction), and accompanied by yummy foods made by everyone present. Karaoke was next, and I’m still debating whether to post the video of Boj’s… inimitable… performance. Jen had a checklist of things to do before we let her get married, and she got through most of them brilliantly – including getting 3 guys’ phone numbers. We tried to see how many more she could get, but for some reason she didn’t want to. Guess she somehow already knows that 1 fiancé and 3 boyfriends is too much to juggle!!

Today was Family Day, wrapping up a much-awaited long weekend. Since federal employees aren’t supposed to have families, Dan did not have today off. My plan was mostly to finish Breaking Dawn, the last of the Twilight books, do a whole bunch of errands, and watch the Olympics. I have to say I’m actually undecided on whether I like this one or the third book better. It was interesting to see some more character development, as well as vampire history explained. Far-fetched? Maybe. Not enough Jacob? Definitely. But a good 2-day read, anyway.

If you know me, you could probably expect me to have had a to-do list and schedule even for a day off. Dan kicked it off track first thing in the morning, when he didn’t leave for work on time. See, I had been counting on being woken up by him at 7, napping for an hour and a bit, and then getting up before 8:30. You know, to have time to be productive. Instead, both of us crawled out of bed by 10, and he eventually headed off to work. I even met up with him for lunch at the Sconewitch downtown, which is a wonderfully eclectic spot for a wholesome and filling lunch. I headed to Bridgehead to finish my book, where I finally threw my schedule out the window when I unexpectedly ran into Hubert, and I spent my coffee chatting instead of reading. Unplanned days can be fun, too! Yay for unplaned-ness!

One thing that frustrated me today was the bus. Or rather, the people on the bus. Seriously, people of Ottawa – you have to let go of the notion that you’re entitled to a 1-meter radius personal space circle on a bus. Go visit Europe, or Japan, or, hell, even New York, to see what a FULL rush-hour bus actually looks like.

Coming up – I still haven’t posted about the Alpaca Farm visit!

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An open letter to you open-letter writers

Dear Dan:

Thanks for forever besmirching my good name in future google searches. Only 14-year-old-girls smile blissfully when reading this book. I am, in fact, smirking at the sappy romanticism and neediness, and grade 7-level writing used throughout the book.

Besides, you should talk, after acquiring an inanimate mistress you treat with even more giddiness than I do the book. You should have heard your voice when you called me from the store… so breathless and excited. At least I didn’t spend half an hour enlightening you on the finer points of the book. Also, yours cost orders of magnitude more than mine (which was free to borrow).

P.S. I’m just kidding about the time you spent talking about the bike. I don’t mind – I’m glad you’re so excited. Just don’t bring Sentiero on our next date.

Dear Charissa:

Thanks for standing up for me. In a way. I guess. I’m sad to think you would break up with me over this – I thought I had you bought with baked goods long ago.

Don’t worry, I’m not even toeing the line to Camp Vampire. If I ever feel the need for something with catlike eyes and clingy and needy to the extreme, I already have two choices right here at home. At least neither of them will send me into hypothermia when they want to cuddle.

Dan’s got the shirtless part down already, and the teenage part comes out more often than may be prudent. Don’t know how I’d feel about him being an actual werewolf, though. Two out of 3 ain’t bad, right?

Love,

Maria

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Recent and future crafts

While on our trip, I also started (and completed) a pair of fingerless gloves, which I had planned on using to keep warm at the office. Except that I forgot that come fall, they crank up the heat – it’s in the summer that you need the gloves. Maybe I’ll bring them home instead. They’re based on this pattern here, with a few modifications. For example, note the contrasting ribbing. The cool reason for this is that I wanted something funky-looking. The uncool reason is that when I made the first glove, I realized that it was too tight of a fit for my right hand, although it fit snugly (but comfortably) on my left. So I decided to make the ribbing a different colour on the second glove to distinguish the two.

For christmas this year, I also have plans to make my own christmas tree skirt, similar to this one. I’d bought the fabric last year at a post-christmas sale, but never got around to making it because, seriously, who cares about christmas in February?? It looks pretty straightforward, I just need to find an afternoon to spend making it. Hopefully tomorrow. But then again, who am I kidding – I’ll probably be too busy making yummies for the group’s christmas party.

One other crafty things that will have to be completed in the next month (more like 3 weeks!) are the christmas cards. It’s mostly Dan’s baby, but I’d like to have a little bit more input this year. We’ll see if I’ll be allowed. Of course, this means that I actually need to complete sorting the photos and pick out the 1% that might get used in the cards. Sigh. [Update - how can you tell this post has been in the "incomplete" pile for a while?] The cards are almost done. Sorting wasn’t as bad as expected since the trip pictures were already sorted, and also we cut down on the number of pictures, so now you’ll actually be able to tell who the people in the photos are!

Also, I need something I can make on knitting Wednesdays. Any suggestions? I suppose it’s technically a stitch and bitch, although the delicious drinks (and fun projects and lovely company) keep the bitching at bay.

A few weeks ago, in one of the back copies of Maclean’s (as in, the ones accumulated from 5 weeks of being away, and the next 5 weeks of catching up on the previous 5 weeks’ worth of magazines), I stumbled on an article about a new “no-knead bread” by Jim Lahey, which apparently requires almost no work. And according to the reviews, both in the magazine and in a quick google search, the results are pretty tasty, too! I can’t wait to try it!

And a final “also” – the one independent coffee shop in Kanata, Kravings in the Centrum, just got closed down. What gives?

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Happiness

Just as I was about to write about the books that I read on our trip, I finally got around to watching a video someone had sent me a looooong time ago. The video is vaguely about making people feel happy, and one of the books I read, “Happiness” by Will Ferguson, is about what happens when a self-help book is published that actually worked – rendering everyone who read it “happy”.

The video is a bit on the long side, but you should definitely watch it if your day needs a pick-me-up. There’s a deeper message, but I don’t want to over-analyze a cute little short film.

I loved the book. It is equal parts of Will Ferguson hilarity, bizarre coincidences, and a description of how I vaguely thought the publishing world worked like, anyway. Highly recommended, although as Dan noted, the ending is a bit of a cop-out. But other than that, great book!

I also read “Great Expectations”, Charles Dickens’ tour de force. It was actually a much easier read than I had expected (I figured I would barely have time to get through this one book, while in fact I ended up stealing the other two books from Dan). The characters are fun, the morals are straightforward, and the ending not unhappy.

The last book I read (not in this order, though) was “A short history of Tractors in Ukrainian”, by Marina Lewycka. I was pleasantly surprised, since I hadn’t been expecting much from something I’d never heard about before, and had plucked from the 50 cent bin at a used book sale. It’s a story about two middle-aged women whose widowed father goes off and marries a woman much younger than her new daughters-in-law. Poignant at times, entertaining throughout.

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