Red Green

last night was fun!  I have watched the Red Green show before so I thought I knew what to expect out of Steve, but it was even better.  He did a great stand-up show and, in the words of my illustrious co-worker "yah, I'll admit it, my cheeks hurt a little after!"

I loved his line about men who gain weight after they've been married for a while (and I'm obviously paraphrasing, cause Red was brilliant):

it's a sign of true, devoted love when a man changes his shape during marriage.  he's just making sure that no other woman would ever possibly find him attractive. 

only a real man would show his wife love like that.  and only the staff at Book Keeper can keep up with a guy like Red at a book signing ...

winter gig

so the best way to see what you've really got inside is to do that thing that you most want to do and, perhaps, feel least adequate for.  this is one on the play list for that gig I said I would do in a few months.  it's perfectly haunting, melodic, and just plain beautiful.

kincardine

so I jumped in the truck this morning, early, since I had the day off and neal was heading to kincardine.  I thought the ride was excellent ... all that colour in the trees, all the glorious way up.  I have never been to kincardine before, but I knew that sugarshack tattoos would be open so I decided to see about this tattoo I have in mind.  turned out that the artist who can create what I am envisioning was working today and was available for a consultation.  it also turns out that he is a suomalainen.  that is pretty cool to me.
so we discussed the design, and felt pretty comfortable with each other, believing we were seeing eye to eye on things like colour, line, size, abstract vs realism, old school vs modern, etc. there is a LOT to discuss before letting someone stick you with needles and inject ink into your body. 
he was able to book a whole day for the appointment, in december.  he figures it will take five hours max.  and it will be up to me if I let him finish in one appointment or split it into two. 

neal is getting one done on the same day.  the design has already been completed for his, though.  I will find out what mine will look like once jarkko has finished his drawing, based on all the thoughts/sketches/pictures we have given him. 
guess i'd better get saving ...

happy thanksgiving

and in case you are bored, waiting for your turkey to be toasted, watch this:

the birthday wish

so I don't really know where I am going with this, but I was just thinking
what if, on the eve of every birthday, we all dreamed the same dream?

I don't mean on the eve of every single birthday in the collective universe because, then, we would all just dream one single dream that would affect zero change and ultimately be ignored since, hello, it's universal.
no
what I mean is, what if the night before YOUR birthday, YOU dreamed the same type of dream?
I'm thinking it goes something like this:

you fall asleep, blissfully aware that the next day you are going to be showered with well-wishes, possibly some cool gifties and the go-ahead to tell anyone who asks that you are, indeed, one year older. I'm ok with all of that myself because I am still in my thirties.

but what would happen if, in this universal dream of sorts, we were each presented with a run down of all the things we supposedly claimed made us happy that past year? I haven't decided yet if it should be a complete history, including preceeding years, or if, because we would all be dreaming this annually, it would only need to be the past year's worth.

I wonder if we would be surprised by our choices
I wonder if we would be compelled to choose differently

saturdays are the bomb

I do love Saturdays, but not Saturdays when my head feels heavy, dizzy and yucky.this too shall pass.  listening to brandi carlile helps.

yesterday I drove to Waterloo to have my youngest son begin some educational testing. yes, I believe I know what the deal is, but a certain teacher at high school is putting slight pressure on us to have it written down on paper. this chafes me. it goes against every one of the reasons I homeschooled up to this point, and yet I am learning to grow and change and embrace different ways of thinking. as an educational therapist, I need testing results. change can only truly be measured against what was. for that to 'be', one needs to have something measurable, not something made up or presupposed.  change doesn't have to be an arbitrary guess or some elusive ethereal thing you just 'know' instinctively.  sometimes it's ok to put things down on paper even if you think it's just for posterity's sake ...
and I believe that it will be important for my future, just won't elaborate at this point.

it was a beautiful day for a drive and I got a lot of writing done. more to follow.