The Epiphany

I've always hated "favourite" questions. What's your favourite colour? book? movie? day of the week? As if I could ever pick just one of anything. There are so many wonderful things in the world that picking just one always seemed impossible.

The most difficult "favourite" question to me was favourite song. If music is the soundtrack of your life, mirroring all the emotions of life, how are you ever supposed to pick just.one.song. forever and ever amen?! My "favourite songs of all time list" would be about 50 songs long while there was the short list of "favourite songs du jour" and also the "omg I forgot that song existed but it's TOTALLY one of my favourites!!!" list.

But on Feb. 26th, 2009 I had an epiphany. If pressed to answer the question, there *is* one song I could select as my favourite. A song I have loved since I first heard it years ago. A song that I have consistently loved and wanted to hear. A song I've often forgotten about whenever trying to generate a list of favourite songs, but a song I always come back to. A song that appeals to various parts of me, various moods. A song that always makes me feel good. AND! A song that comes in its normal version (which is mellow if you need mellow, or peppy if you need peppy - the perfect chameleon of a song) AND a dance version for those times you just need to let it go.

I'm listening to it now. And the remnants of the crappy day are drifting away. And as soon as I finish this blog post, I will restart it and dance to

Like a Prayer
by Madonna

When different is the same

My sister: Want to get Mom some flowers for her birthday?

Me: Sure. Something springy.

Sister: When I think of flowers for Mom, I always think coral. That's what I got last time.

Me: No, get something different this time. Maybe something pink and yellow.

Pause.

Pause.

Me: Which is pretty much the same as coral I guess.

*laughter on both sides*

So much for the "new and exciting" brainstorming. :p

My Oscars haiku

Relevance is gone
But dresses still so pretty
Oscar night again.

The reality of a resolution

I didn't really specifically make a New Year's resolution this year. I had a sort of whisper of a concept I was working with, and over the last 6 weeks it's sort of taken more shape and form. So it started with reducing/eliminating negativity and pursuing joy. It sort of evolved, or maybe, got more specific and became an attempt to become less judgemental and more open. So, while I am still philosophically opposed to red and green Goldfish crackers, and while it's important to maintain passion about the things you believe in, there's no sense in wasting energy on negativity. So being open to others being okay with Goldfish crackers.

I was given an opportunity to put this resolution into practice about a week ago. I had been hearing a dance song on the radio that I thought was really catchy and I was singing along with... "all eyes on me in the centre of the ring just like a circus". And then I learned it's Britney. And I almost started down the "Britney?! Not Britney! I can't like a Britney song!" and then stopped myself. And accepted the fact I like a Britney song. And I'm saying it out loud. I like a Britney song. And I'm not going to apologize for it.

So there.


(Of course, I also just saw a description for a Jamie Oliver Escape show and it says "Jamie Oliver is impressed with the food at a Sicilian street market" and rolled my eyes. Jamie Oliver has nothing on traditional Italian cooking. He's "impressed"?! No kidding. Then I realize I still have a ways to go on the resolution thing. And that he probably had nothing to do with the writing of the description. ;) )

Here's to shunning the jaded judgements and just being!

Who moved my cheese?

I'm watching the first episode of The Amazing Race 14 and I have to say, this cheese challenge is the most hilarious challenge ever on The Amazing Race. Whoever came up with this one is brilliant. Runaway cheese! And the old man inching down on his butt holding the cheese. But the best was when Luke lost his rhythm, started losing control running down the hill and then fell. Mostly, though, I love the huge cowbells.

I'm a toureller. Or a travist.

I like this article. And I like people who understand that seeing new places and having new experiences is an innately personal matter and the only thing that is important about how people travel is that, when they're spending their precious time and hard-earned money fulfilling dreams or just finding a way to add adventure or relax, the only thing that matters with respect to how they do it, is that they're doing it in a way that they enjoy. I am so over the pretentiousness associated with travel. Do what you love. And don't expect others to love the things you do.

http://travel.sympatico.msn.ca/RobinEsrock/Articles/are_you_a_traveller_or_tourist

This is why I can't stop watching Giada DeLaurentiis

I'm watching "Giada at Home" right now. She and her aunt are cooking a rice dish that her grandmother used to make. Her aunt was talking about how the grandmother always worked on perfecting cooking rice but never gave her the recipes so on the night she (the grandmother) was dying, the only thing the aunt could think to do was cook rice for the family who was all there. So she started trying to deconstruct/reverse engineer the recipe. Now they're cooking it on Giada's show. So they're discussing the recipe and some of the choices (why hot sauce and not red pepper flakes) and trying to figure it out. And it is such a feeling of home and a depiction of the truth of so many families - so much love and joy in the food but no recipes. So next generations try to watch and learn and recreate.

That feeling of home is why I continue to watch Giada despite the overexpressive hand gestures.

It's so hard to say goodbye

I've been watching Young & the Restless off and on since I was 12. While the writing seems to have gotten worse, the last couple of months I've been catching moments here and there since it's on in those few moments between the time I arrive home from work and need to leave for school. So I've been getting back into the storylines. And yet, obviously not enough. Because it was only a couple of days ago that I learned that Don Diamant, who plays Brad, was leaving the show. WTF?!?! Not Brad! In the Victor/Jack/Brad triangle, Brad has always been my favourite. He's the best looking, the least egotistical. He would be the one I would go for if I was one of the crazy ladies on the show. Not these constant obsessions with Victor or Jack. And so it is with great sadness I've been watching the last couple of days. Y&R won't be the same.

The underlying current

I don't really have time to go into the whole existential examination since I'm supposed to be working on a case study, but the last several months I've been wondering if I should make a change. However, rather than just allow myself the time to peacefully come to my decision, I have this undercurrent of angst that is starting to permeate all aspects of my life. Instead of just focussing on daily life, enjoying its pleasures and slowly moving forward on/completing some other objectives, I worry that I will wake up and 5 years will be gone having focussed on the day's agenda. In short, rather than making decisions based on my heart and head, or even when I think I've made a decision based on my heart and head, I have become focussed solely on whether I will regret the decision (whatever it is) 5 years from now. Which is leaving me with this undercurrent of anxiety. I need to get past this and just let myself be.

But first, I need to let myself be doing my case study.