Monday
November 11, 2002

Small Change

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Here are a few of my favorite online haunts:

REALTOR.ca
[This is the site I visit to fantasize about living in Toronto again, which is almost every single day during the winter]

Jonathan Cainer's Zodiac Forecasts
[This is where I visit in the morning, when I need a positive spin on things past, present and future.]

Living Local
[This is where I go to see what Canadians are up to, sometimes I even buy things from the businesses listed there.]

Environment Canada Weather
[This is the site I visit every morning, and before every road trip during the winter]

Today is Remembrance Day in Canada, where we honor those who suffered for our way of life. My grandfather fought in the First World War. The stories he told were those we could understand; stories of meningitis, the flu epidemic, marching, and the surreal crash of an airplane where the pilot walked away with a smile.

Without populating our nights with bad dreams, he gave us to know a hushed respect, for that beyond the border of our small lives. Thinking of you Grandpa, yes I am.

The decks are cleared!

For months, I have been avoiding the corner of my office, the corner where the paid bills and bank statements are piled high. I HATE keeping accounts. It causes my blood pressure to rise to unacceptable levels. Yet it must be done, it must.

I have tried the assistance of programs, like QuickBooks, but that has only served to elevate the stress levels involved. I have attempted to simplify my financial record keeping; it is not where my talents lie. The result is avoidance, unadulterated avoidance.

The pile in the corner haunted my days. I considered burying the stuff in a closet where I could not see it. However, the likelihood of losing important bits of paper would be very high indeed. If I hide something from myself, I do a very good job at it. If I decide upon a course of denial, whatever I have determined to ignore ceases to exist in my world. Clearly, it would be unwise to consign the household finances to oblivion.

Attila, impressed by the intensity of my distress, succumbed to my pleas for intervention. He sat patiently beside me as we plodded through the foot-high pile of bills and statements. It took hours. At last, the pile was no more. Filed away properly, those bits of paper ceased to terrorize, taking on their rightful position as mere records of the past.

Now, income tax season is coming up...

I purchased a .Mac membership to obtain the Virex software license that comes with the package. Purchasing Virex from the company is a nightmare, and they seem entirely unreceptive to suggestions. So, looking at the options available, I decided to purchase a .Mac account, through which Virex and the monthly updates are easily accessed.

The .Mac account offers members free prints from digital files. Hoping to take advantage of this offer, I have been perusing my archived digital files in search of candidates.

That is when I came across a photo of myself from years ago. My hair was short then, short and wild. The cut allowed my natural curl to walk all over my head. It appeared somewhat as if I had put my finger in a light socket. It suited me perfectly.

The next day I was on a quest. The stylist, who had cut my hair, all those years ago, is younger than I am. I suspected that: 1) he was still alive, and 2) that he was still working.

I began my search at the salon where he had been working when he styled my hair. He was no longer there. They clearly wanted me to book an appointment with them. The offer was a thinly veiled demand. I persevered and eventually she let slip where Michael is presently employed. I thanked them and hung up, parting company forever. It must be a small and highly competitive business, this cutting of hair.

My next call snagged an appointment with Michael himself, and the same day I trundled off to the salon for a shampoo and a cut.

It is a treat to have Michael working on my head. The shampoo before the cut is the highlight of the visit. It is actually much like a cranial massage. That and pleasant chatter make it a therapeutic experience.

As my long tresses fell to the floor, the style that I remembered slowly emerged. He captured it perfectly; a style he originally chose for me based on my looks and lifestyle.

When Attila walked in the door that night, he stared at me and then grinned.

"Got your hair cut", he observed.

"Yep". I said.

"Nice", he stated.

"Thanks", I replied.

I think Attila likes it that the comfortable routines in our life are punctuated with small, unexpected yet pleasant surprises.



Top of Page
RECIPES :: Cast

Worldly Distractions

Looking down at the cat's head.
Ears



By the Easy Chair
Kit's Law
by Donna Morrissey



On the Screen
The Rector's Wife
1993
(a plot is a bit obvioius and understated for my taste)



Weather
18:01 EST
Temp: 8`C
Humidity: 87%
Wind: N 11 km/h
Barometric:101.3 kPa

Sunrise 7:11 AM EST
Sunset 5:04 PM EST







 

Page by Page: A Woman's Journal
Photography
Poetry
by Maggie Turner

Canadian Maggie Turner writes and publishes poetry, photography, and a personal journal online. Her work reflects the current way of life in Canada, embracing Canada's past, present, and future in a unique portrayal of everyday life. Maggie's voice is one of the many that actively depict the rich diversity of Canadian culture.

Photography: "a term which comes from the Greek words photos (light) and graphos (drawing). A photograph is made with a camera by exposing film to light in order to create a negative. The negative is then used in the darkroom to print a photograph (positive) onto light-sensitive paper.
Source: University of Arizona Glossary

Poetry: "a form of speech or writing that harmonizes the music of its language with its subject. To read a great poem is to bring out the perfect marriage of its sound and thought in a silent or voiced performance. At least from the time of Aristotle's Poetics, drama was conceived of as a species of poetry."
Source: Creative Studios

Journal: " "Though a journal may be many things - a treasury, a storehouse, a jewelry box, a laboratory, a drafting board, a collector's cabinet, a snapshot album, a history, a travelogue..., a letter to oneself - it has some definable characteristics. It is a record, an entry-book, kept regularly, though not necessarily daily.... Some (entries) will be nearly illegible, written in the dark in the middle of the night.... Not only is it a record for oneself, but of oneself. Every memorable journal, any successful journal, is honest. Nothing sham, phony, false...." (Dorothy Lambert from Ken Macrorie's book, Writing to be Read )
A journal is a way to keep track of your thoughts about what you read... as well as what you did on any given day."
Source: Journal Writing

A Blog is an online journal created by server side software, often hosted by a commercial interest.

"The term "weblog" was coined by Jorn Barger[4] on 17 December 1997. The short form, "blog," was coined by Peter Merholz, who jokingly broke the word weblog into the phrase we blog in the sidebar of his blog Peterme.com in April or May 1999.[5][6][7] Shortly thereafter, Evan Williams at Pyra Labs used "blog" as both a noun and verb ("to blog," meaning "to edit one's weblog or to post to one's weblog") and devised the term "blogger" in connection with Pyra Labs' Blogger product, leading to the popularization of the terms."
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_blogging


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