Magnetic Poetry

The last year or so I've been wanting a set of magnetic poetry.

Now, this is weird for a number of reasons:
1) I'm actually not a huge poetry fan (except for the haiku! Love haiku!). A random piece or two here and there from some famous, old, dead poet (like keats or cummings), fine. But in general, no.
2) I never really understood the allure before. During university, people would have it all over their fridges and I was just kinda like, uh, ya, this is nothing but a distraction as I try to get another beer.
3) I am no longer 21. Unfortunately, starting to move so far away from 21 that, when I see 21 year-olds at the bar, I dismiss them as little punks.

So, why do I suddenly want this? Is it because I now have my own fridge? (Already well covered by other magnets, by the way). Am I entering a phase of my life where I branch into a new expression of my creativity? Am I just years behind in my development? I have no idea. All I know is I've wanted a set for months, and the desire is not going away anytime soon.

So, my question is, if I have a real grownup job, and a real grownup house with real grownup bills and real grownup furniture and matching dishes, if I'm going to be entering a new decade within the next year, am I too old for magnetic poetry? Have I missed my chance?

The power of rationalization

Okay, so my general New Year's resolution was to get my life under control. Under that general umbrella were several themes. One was to get my finances in better shape/under control. Which meant, first of all, no more frivolous shoe purchases. No unnecessary but adorably cute sandals and other shoes could only be purchased as old ones were worn out and thrown out.

Good plan! Well done!

At some point after this decision, I happened upon these.

Another theme was to lose weight. And while that seems really cliche and obvious, it was actually to re-lose the weight I had gained when my life was essentially spiralling out of control in 2005. I'm planning on working on losing more, but the first goal is to get back to where I was. So I joined Weight Watchers. (Ya, I know, but the self-discipline method wasn't working so now I'm paying every week to lose and then gain and lose then gain - really, it's quite fun. Hey! Look! You gained .8 lbs this week cuz you sat down and ate an entire individual size pizza and way too much Chinese food! And you got to pay $16 to know that! Woohoo!). So I decided that, as a reward, when I hit 25 lbs I could buy myself a pair of frivolous and fun sandals. My incentive. My treat. My reward.

So, the last little while, I've been visiting these. One day my bookmark changed from the purple and orange slide to the blue and white slide (which, while still cute, doesn't fill me with joy like the purple and orange). And I thought that meant they were out of purple and orange. Over time the heartbreak grew. I couldn't find the shoes anywhere else online or in the real world. And I thought they were lost forever.

Tonight, in my boredom, or maybe in one determined last ditch effort, I decided to search through Zappo's entire Nine West collection to see if maybe they were still there. Joy of joys, I found them!!! Alleluia!

Except I've only lost 12 lbs.

I started bargaining with myself. Since they were obviously on the verge of extinction, could I purchase the shoes *now* if I promised not to wear them until I hit the 25 lb mark? Was that being too easy on myself? Was it just being practical?

I called the friend who I consider to be my Weight Watcher's mentor. (She's sorta like my AA sponsor. I call her in times of emergency. "OMG A! I ate a huge piece of cheesecake last night and they don't even list the points value of cheesecake in the book! That's not a good thing right?!") (She's also the evil soul who completely unleashed the uncontrollable shoe addiction I was so carefully keeping simmering below the surface, but that's beside the issue. :p)

I explained my dilemma. She was extremely supportive. She said that, in her experience, one really should be reward for the first 10 lbs. Because even the first 10 can be hard, especially just even in terms of getting your head into the whole game. So, she said, she thought I deserved a reward for the first 10 lbs and then another at 25. So I could get the shoes (and even wear them right! away!). She's a great friend.

So I've ordered the shoes. And am celebrating my 10 lbs. Who knows, maybe by the time they get here, I'll have hit 15 lbs lost! Over Easter weekend. Right. :p But my feet will look so cute! :)

Not quite how it was supposed to work

So I'm trying to lose weight. (Like half the world). And I'm following a program. So I bought the Cheerio snack mix because it's supposed to be a not-too-bad snack to satisfy those occasional cravings for something snacky and salty and it should fit fairly easily into my program.

Sign there's something wrong in my weight loss approach: I just ate the entire bag in one sitting.

Sign there's something right in my weight loss approach: I have put down my foot and decided I am NOT eating dinner! My stomach is satisfied (with snack mix, yes, but nonetheless... :p) and so I will not continue to eat! Good job!

Ya, and I wonder why this isn't *quite* working. :p Though, given how 2 hours ago I wanted to give up completely and eat 10 chicken wings and a tub of ice cream, I'm doing well, really. :p By someone's standards at least. :p

National Papercut Day?

Did I miss a memo? Was today National Papercut Day? I've never had so many near-miss papercut experiences in a single day, in my life.

First I was trying to take binder dividers out of their plastic wrap. Narrowly avoided that one (or it was so small, I couldn't feel it) Later, I was flipping through a different binder and sliced the first knuckle of my left index finger on yet another divider page. 3/4" long. Later, it was shuffling through a stack of papers - managed to escape that time. And finally, at home, opening my mail, almost sliced my fingertip open on the gas bill. As if the size of the bill wasn't enough pain.



Tomorrow I'm wearing rubber gloves all day!

Absence makes the heart grow fonder?

I've always been a Detroit Red Wings fan, sort of by default. Born into it, kinda like being Catholic. When I hit my late teens and started making my own hockey decisions, I was still a Wings fan, but I ranked them a slight second place in my heart, giving top billing to the Avalanche. I was young. I was seduced by their speed, their winning record and their much prettier uniforms. While my heart was floating above Colorado, my physical location kept me anchored in the hold of the Wings.

Then I moved. Right into Maple Leaf heartland (a situation which could be its own post of issues, really. This and the lack of sushi were my two "cons" on my list of pros and cons for moving). And as I live through the months of this hockey season, I've realized something. I'm not a Colorado fan. I'm a Wings fan.

See, I don't actually *watch* hockey on a regular basis. I'll watch a bunch during playoffs, but during regular season, I don't follow hockey all that closely. (And now that my options are pretty much just Leafs after Leafs after Leafs, well... I really don't watch at all) I never realized how much I followed the Wings through osmosis. Radio and TV updates. Newspaper articles. Never really searching out the information and yet, always absorbing it nonetheless.

And now that I'm not surrounded by the constant Wings updates, now that I have to seek it out or be left in the dark (the latter happening more often than the first), I realize that Colorado was completely an infatuation. But the Wings... the Wings are for real. And for life.

Sometimes the one that you're looking for really is the one right in front of you.

Swan Parade

Today was the annual Swan Parade. The swans that live in and around the river are brought out from their winter haven and parade down the road to their favourite sidewalk entrance to the river. (Okay, admittedly, they are sort of herded by humans. Strange as it might seem to you, their natural instinct is *not* to head towards the river, turn right, walk down the road 300m, turn left at the sidewalk and walk down to the river. )

I missed the event last year so it was a must see for me this weekend (despite fears I would see the swan who, last year, didn't really like me and sort of had something to say anytime I tried to walk by him on the path last year).

So, the parade consists of the county's bagpipe band* (because when you think of swans, you immediately think of bagpipes?) and this herd (flock? posse?) of swans waddling down the road, tripping over each other and trying to figure out a faster way to get to the water despite the hordes of people.

The most curious thing about the swan parade? It was led by a lone large white duck.