Happy New Year

so many movies

I have been gorging on movies this holiday. Here are my haiku reviews for a few of them

The Savages Synopsis:

we'll all die some day
in the meantime, life is hard
but worth the effort

The Savages Review

comedies about
dementia are rare but
this one is damn good


The Golden Compass Review

in a parallel
universe movies don't have
truncated plot lines

The Golden Compass Synopsis

a girl, a witch, an
armoured bear, a bad woman
and Sam Elliott


The Kite Runner Synopsis

Afghani boy's life
betrayal, loss, then a chance
to be good again

The Kite Runner Review

real people walk from
page to screen in this finely
spun redemption tale

Juno Synopsis

Juno is sixteen
not yet ready to parent
can she know who is?

Juno Review

frank and funny as
boysenberry-flavoured junk
this film rocked my heart


So far so good. One more week to go. Lots more movies to see.

question: seen anything good lately?

mompoet - glug glug glug... ahhhh

This time next year there may be a new hole in Mars

Astronomers funded by NASA have spotted an asteroid headed for Mars. The possible collision is predicted for January 30, 2008. Here's an article.

question: do you think it will hit Mars?

mompoet - wondering what it would feel like to know something is going to knock you in the face one year from today (maybe)

one I like from the viral videos list

Pop culture/current events blog Yes but No but Yes is doing lists all this week. Check out their list of top 10 viral videos for 2007. You can vote for your favourite if you like. I like this one a lot.



question: which is your favourite?

mompoet - music/video jambalaya is fun

spam I am

We have a yahoo account for Vancouver Poetry House. Mostly I use it to send group emails with announcements of events. I do this by emailing the announcement to our own yahoo address, with blind copies to recipients.

Yesterday I sent out an announcement, but didn't see the message come back to yahoo. I began to wonder if it was actually sent, and if so, if anyone received it.

I found it this morning, in the SPAM folder.

If yahoo can't figure out that the sender is not spamming herself, what can it figure out? Or maybe it was commenting on my pattern of use - probably more likely.

question: do you spam?

mompoet - spam I am (I guess)

Like my Dad, I don't tire of a gag easily (Part 3)

Okay - this is all, I promise, but this one has some artistry/trickery/surprise endings. Then that's enough Human Tetris. I promise. (for the best effect, scroll down and start with part 1 and work upwards)

I still get my sense of humour from my Dad (part 2)

More human tetris? I thought. But I still thought it was funny when I watched it (more shrieking).

I get my sense of humour from my Dad - part 1

My father pointed me to the YouTube post. I shouted with laughter when I viewed it.

This Christmas - some good

Good about Christmas this year:

• Everyone has a nice long break from school and work. Andy, the kids and I are all home for many days.
• Not too much stress leading up to Christmas - not a lot of shopping or cleaning or decorating - just enough of each thing.
• A WHITE CHRISTMAS! Just enough snow to be beautiful but walking and driving was unimpeded.
• Beautiful Christmas supper at Andy's Mom's house. She's such a good host and cook. We all helped with the serving and cleanup. She was surprised and delighted to go into her kitchen after and see everything washed and put away.
  
• Lots of dark chocolate.
• Lots of good movies.
• Christmas Eve Service at our church was inspiring. A new arrangement of O Holy Night by our friend and sympony viola-player Steve. He and Shelley played (viola and organ) while Carlan sang - a new sound to a Christmas tradition at our church.
• The kids love the Wii. So does Andy. I love reading while they play with the Wii.
• Cozy, warm, peaceful, yummy, safe, happy, together.

Not as good about Christmas this year:

• My mom expected to be home from the hospital in time for Christmas but is not. She had hip replacement surgery on the 21st and should have been turfed out on Christmas Eve, but the surgery was more complicated than planned, so she's still in. Christmas without her at home was just not as bright. She will be fine. Recovery will be longer, but she'll have all of her mobility once she's healed. She is also tough, stubborn, determined and energetic. If anything, we'll have to tell her to slow down and accept our help. Still, we wish it was different.

Consolation:

• We're not even halfway through our days off. Lots more time for treats and togetherness, to welcome Mom home, to see more movies, eat more chocolate, play some board games, do the giant crossword puzzle in Christmas Eve's Vancouver Sun (I promise not to peek at the answers if you promise not to tell me the answers), read to Alex, not shop.

question: what are the highlights and valleys of your Christmas this year?

mompoet - doing great in the balance

santa baby

Pearl linked this wonderful YouTube vid of Eartha Kitt's Santa Baby, performed in sign language.



question: how are you doing, post-Christmas?

mompoet - at home, enjoying friends' blogs

I AM CAT

Fiona made a portrait of her mum out of cookie. She and her friends sat at the dining room table yesterday, and painted with potatoes and poster paint, then made cookies and frosted them. They were at it all afternoon, very happy and contented and peaceful (and silly). I like my portrait very much. She has no explanation for "I AM CAT." It just is.

question: what are you?

mompoet - Merry Christmas to all of my blog friends

another little project

Kirsi's husband Allan is a landscaper. Every December he brings a big bundle of greens to their carport. Kirsi generously shares these with me. Some years I go crazy and staple-gun cedar all over the front of my house, then ask Andy to light it up. This year I just made my usual monster-shaggy cedar wreath for the front door. I think it is very huggable, like a big grizzly bear who likes you very much. It smells good (even I can smell it) and stays green for weeks. I re-use the same wreath form, bow and bauble every year. It's kind of a tradition.

question: do you craft anything for Christmas?

mompoet - west coast happy

Little projects

While I have some time, I'm chipping away at a few things that need doing. Yesterday it was my car trunk.

These are the before, after and re-loaded photos:

1) before (speaks for itself)
2) after (see note below)
3) loaded (with towels and mugs brought to me by a friend at the gym - these will go to our church's downtown east side mission where they need an endless supply of towels and mugs)

Note re: After

So what is okay to carry around in your trunk? It struck me that if I did not have a car I would have only that shoulder bag in which to carry the essentials. But because I have a car, I have an extra large metal purse and I can port some things around with me all the time. Here's what I keep in the car, even when it is cleaned out:

• a first aid kit
• boots, a coat, an extra t shirt
• umbrella
• motor oil, small took kit, ice scrapers
  
• flash light
• blanket
• plastic table cloth (good ground cover for a picnic or otherwise)
• a couple of plastic grocery bags
• reusable cloth grocery bags
• shoulder bag with work papers - I have weaned myself off actually carrying this every day in and out of the office, but keep it in my car in case I need any of the contents (I don't usually need any of it)

question: what do you keep in your car/shoulder bag/other means of hauling stuff around?

mompoet - encumbered but happily so

A festive coffee table centre

I like stuff like this at Christmas.

question: what's your Christmas decorating preference: traditional? eclectic? natural? red? silver? blue?

mompoet - red, definitely - and eclectic I think

A beautiful blog

Do you read "The Daily Coyote?" If not, please check it out.

question: what creatures reside in your habitat?

mompoet - liking the furry things very much

a cooked book and a new job - all one story, I promise

Recently, I have become aware of a change of mood and memory. I have been more stressed, more forgetful, and less able to find the deliciousness of every day. I attribute this to busy times, lots of responsibility, hectic pace etc. But I also worry: Am I losing my capacity to multi-task? Is my grip on the spirit of fun and adventure slipping? Will I forget something crucially important and endanger someone? let someone down in a big way? screw up in a way that I will regret? Will I begin collecting regrets? I don't want those!

An illustration: when the phone rings, I usually think - HEY! The phone! that might be someone interesting. I'll go get it... Lately I've been saying - HEY. The phone. Who is imposing on my limited resources by phoning me now? That's not good.

Another illustration: I spent some time last weekend in my kitchen. It's a way that I calm myself when I am feeling overwhelmed. I was baking biscotti from a recipe in one of my favourite cookbooks, in my small kitchen. I was making a BIG batch of biscotti - quadruple proportions, so I had my biggest bowl on the counter, plus a cutting board covered with chopped up apricots. I set the cookbook on the stove. That's safe, I'm not using the stove top, just the oven. A few minutes later I was still measuring and mixing when I decided a cup of tea would be nice. I put the kettle on the back burner and continued to mix the biscotti batter. A moment later - WHOOOSH! There was my cookbook - ON FIRE! I put it out before there was a major disaster. I had turned on the wrong burner. I had to cut off the badly burned back cover and part of the last page of the book, but otherwise it was okay. I'm grateful I didn't run downstairs for some raisins, get distracted and light the house on fire.

So these are signs that an adjustment is needed. Something has to change, but what? Things are good for me, maybe a little more volume than is needed, but when I tally up my home, job, family, friends, community, I find nothing that I'd even consider eliminating or drastically changing.

Then out of the blue there's a shuffle at work. Two days before I leave on a 3-week Christmas break, my boss phones me and asks me if I want to do a different job (same organization, lateral move) for one year, to fill in for someone else who is doing likewise. With barely a thought I said, "YES!" Of course then I talked to my family about it and slept on it, and called back in the morning and said, "STILL YES!" So starting in January I'll be working at the community centre instead of "out and about" in the community, and I'll be supervising seniors programming and some kids stuff too. I'm excited to be doing something different after 10 years in the same job, which I love, and will return to in January 2009. The new job is closer to my home - I think I can even take transit a few days a week, and my employer provides subsidized bus passes, so I'm sure I'll do it. I could even walk to work when the weather is good and I have an hour and a quarter to spare. The gym where I work out is in this centre (bikes and office in the same building - YIKES!) and the people there are wonderful. Of course I will miss the Mary Annes at my current office, but we'll see each other at meetings and lunches, and they say I can visit any time.

My friend Michele says I was born with a built-in horseshoe. By this she means whenever I need something it seems to drop into my lap. I accept these blessings gratefully. Here I am, needing a change, and a low-risk, moderately high-challenge opportunity has been provided. Thank you God. Thank you job. Thank you friends and family.

Now I just have to clean out my desk at the old office, find out who they are getting to replace me, and get one of those transit passes. If it all works out I will be answering the phone with a lift in my voice, and not barbequeing any more cookbooks any time soon. However, if you give me a nice Canadian Tire Catalogue or one of those gazillion paper phone books we get every year, I will gladly toast it up for you. Yum.

question: did you ever know you needed something, but not exactly what, then it came to you out of the blue?

mompoet - boing

What Crappy Christmas Gift are You? (I am Ugly Underwear.)

You Are Ugly Underwear!

Comfortable and soft, more people like you than let on. But it's very difficult for you to show yourself in public.

What Crappy Christmas Gift Are You?

Thanks Daisy, that was fun.

when I was little, my Dad held me in his arms under the night sky, and told me that the moon was mine

I also remember that he taught me to make the letter "C" on the frost inside a window pane, and he built a giant snowman for me, and once made me stay inside when it was too cold to play.

Today he sent me this link. He's still giving me the moon.

question: did you ever think you owned the moon?

mompoet - thanks Dad

My adventure in the neighbourhood

Yesterday I took the dog for a walk around lunchtime. We walked our usual route, partway up the hill into the neighbourhood above our home, then back down. The local bus stops along the route, and it did this yesterday as we were walking by. A man got off the bus, followed by what looked like a teenage girl. The man hopped back on the bus as the girl started down the street. Then the man got back off the bus and shouted at her, "HEY! Where are you going? That way!" The bus left. The girl turned and walked back to the bus stop, then continued down the street with the man, walking away from me and the dog.

I walked down the stairway toward my home, thinking, "There's something not right." The feeling was strong enough that I turned around, went back up the stairs and went to look for them. I thought, "If it turns out that girl has been abducted, I don't want to know that I saw something and ignored it." Very quickly I spotted the man, a couple hundred meters up a sides street. He stood beside a driveway. A moment later the girl came out of the driveway and they both walked down the hill toward me. I allowed the dog to sniff a patch of grass, while I stood and watched. As they passed by me I saw that the girl was actually a young woman. Her clothing and slight build made her look younger, but her face was old - probably older than her real age. Both the man and the woman had that tired, hard, partly closed-up look that people do when life is not easy for them. They were wearing jeans and nice coats, and the woman had leather gloves and dress boots, but something about them looked sad.

I followed them along the main road, just a hundred meters or so behind. The man was talking to the woman in an imposing tone. She wasn't talking. Every couple of houses he would say something, and she would approach a front door of a house and knock while he stood on the sidewalk a few houses down. They went to about 4 front doors in this manner. I stood far enough back that I wasn't sure if anyone answered the door at any of the houses. They could see me clearly. About this time I called the police. I felt concerned to know that the young woman was safe. I felt concerned that maybe they were thinking about breaking into a house. I also wanted to know if they needed help. We have a temporary shelter program now in our community. Maybe they needed a place to stay, and not everyone knows yet that there's an option in our neighbourhood. Part of me wanted to go up and ask them if they needed help. The other part said, "wait."

The police operator kept me talking on the phone as I followed the two people. I gave descriptions and explained what I had seen. She said a police car was on the way. After a few houses, the woman stopped knocking on doors and the man and woman walked along the sidewalk. They turned a corner and kept going. I kept following. Then I saw what I thought was the police, so the operator said I could hang up. It turned out to be a bylaw officer. I walked over to his truck, and asked if he could radio the police to let them know where we all were. He said okay, and I kept following the people. It was pouring rain, and I think the dog thought I was crazy. She was wet as a seal and we were way off our usual route, but oh well. She's a good dog, and she's big and black, so she was helping me feel safe.

Now the bylaw officer was following me, following the people. I think he wanted to make sure I was safe and that everything was under control.

Finally the police arrived. I saw an officer get out of the car and go over and talk with the man and the woman. I turned around and walked home quickly. I didn't want to be standing around after the police left. First I went over and thanked the bylaw officer for his help.

About 10 minutes later, my phone rang. It was the police officer. He told me that the man and woman said they were going door to door looking for work cleaning gutters. He told me that they weren't dressed for cleaning gutters and had no tools. He asked me if I could tell him which houses they visited, because he was going to go knock on the doors and ask owners what happened. I did my best to describe which ones. I asked the officer if the man and woman needed a place to stay or any help. He said no. He knows these people. They have a place to stay. By this time I was home. I went into my nice warm house with a Christmas tree and everything we possibly need in the world. I dried off the dog (she was soaked!) and made some lunch and sat down to calm myself.

Later I told Andy and the kids about it. Fiona said, "really? you followed them?" I told her yes I did. I told her that I didn't expect her to follow someone when she was out walking the dog. We talked about why I felt safe (the phone, our dog, daylight, lots of neighbours around). I also told her I thought that I looked more imposing that she would, if she was following a suspicious-acting adult. "Yeah, she said - OH, LOOK! A middle aged woman with an old dog and a cell phone - RUN!"

question: do you know this feeling?

mompoet - still a bit jazzed and sad and curious

Yi Yi

I began my Christmas vacation by watching a dvd after the kids left for school this morning. Yi Yi is the story of a Taiwanese family going through most of the major events of life. It's honest and understated and very beautiful. I stopped counting the aha!/just right! moments and enjoyed it from start to finish. It's almost 3 hours long and very very lovely.

It was made in 2000 but it's still at the Rogers in North Burnaby - or will be tomorrow when I return it. Good stuff.

question: watched anything good lately?

mompoet - still enjoying my 2007 New Year's resolution (watch more foreign films)