Three for Me

My friend Sal posed a question on her blog this week: What will the people in your life think are your 3 most stand-out qualities? So I've been thinking about this. I've had various people make comments over the years, so I think that I have a pretty good idea about how others see me. Now the question is - do I want to be seen that way? Anyhow, here are my 3 most stand-out qualities:

1. I'm strong. Yet soft at the same time.
2. I'm a good mother.
3. I'm an inspiration.

What do you think? I can think of some other qualities that I might possess: I'm different, I'm fair, I try to make a difference in this world, I'm kind and I'm generous.

And on a final note, I've been thinking of my friend C all day and sending positive thoughts and love her way. C is having a brain tumour removed today, and the operation is a major 6-12 hour ordeal. They started operating on her at 9 this morning, and I haven't heard an update.

Head rubs and Cheese

I am in no shape for a night of drinking. Make that 2 nights of drinking. My friend K was visiting this weekend, and we checked into the Hyatt in TO on Friday for an evening of excess. Fabulous dinner, great company, interesting conversations, and booze baby booze. I'm a lightweight to begin with, but I'm also smart. I pace myself. But the road to recovery the next morning is slow. K rubbed my head for about 1/2 hour (she gives the BEST head rubs) which seemed to do the trick.

And then we did the same thing again on Saturday night. K had the chance to meet Sparky and my best male buddy M - we sat around my place for a few drinks and K did up a cheese plate to end all cheese plates. $35 worth of cheese my friend .... and I don't eat cheese. So of course, the 3 of them couldn't manage to finish the enormous bricks of cheese before it was time to leave for our dinner reservation, and I've been trying to pawn the cheese off on anybody who will take it. Anyhow, evening #2 of fabulous dinner, great company, interesting conversations, and booze baby booze. Another head rub in the morning, but the cumulative effect of 2 nights of drinking had me moving slowly and gingerly. I just don't bounce back from these things like I did in my younger days.

Update. And sleep deprivation.

So here's the Sparky update. Miracle upon miracles - Sparky is digging me. And shows it. He calls me and we end up talking for hours on the phone (and I HATE talking on the phone), he plans for the next time that he can see me, he tells me how he feels and what he's thinking, he's interested in getting to know me and it shows .... I didn't think that I would ever find a guy who was willing to take chances like this. To top it off, he's the rare breed of guy who opens doors for me, and helps me to put my coat on, and walks me to my door when he drops me off - I should thank his mother for doing such a great job. No dating others for Sparky - he wants to take the time to get to know me. Well. All's good in dateland my friends. (And I can hear a whole bunch of sighs of relief and "Finally!" from y'all right now.) As dear old Sally-gal said - if you put it out there as to what you deserve and how you should be treated by a guy, then the universe will deliver the goods.

This week has been riddled by end of term hell and major insomnia. Some nights I only get 2 hours of sleep - and when I'm getting up at 4:30am to make my 8am lecture in Toronto - well let's just say that I'm a big mess. The other night I was walking to Union Stn and the number of times that I caught my toe on the sidewalk and stumbled was unbelievable. I just started giggling after the 10th time .... people must have wondered if I was high or drunk, stumbling and giggling. Today I took a vacation day, and I'm heading to TO for a day of shopping and an evening in a nice hotel with my best friend K who is visiting for the weekend. I can't wait.

Plane Stupid

I read an article in the paper today about some Saudi prince who is buying one of those new big ass jumbo jets for his own personal use. He is going to completely refurbish it with a gym, a movie theatre (yes, in a plane), private bedrooms - his own flying palace! At the mere cost of only $325 million. Ya, that's a lot of zeros.

Anybody else just cringing right now at the stupidity of this wealthy excess? I'm thinking $325 million could go a long way towards .... oh maybe curbing poverty. Or disease. Or how about putting that money (or even some of it) towards saving our planet?

What a waste. But I guess I can't expect anything else from a guy who probably made most of his money off of oil. I'm usually not a nasty person, but I hope his luxery liner crashes.

The Queen of Spaz

That's me. The Queen of Spaz. Last Sunday I had a disaster of a bike ride. Within the first 5 minutes, my chain fell off going up the biggest hill in the valley, and then my gears stuck. I was with my friend M and 4 other riders, and I felt like just turning around and going home. I probably should have. Because I sucked for the next 3 hours. It was painful. Note to self - do not go to the gym and lift weights the day before a big ride! I was lagging behind everybody else for almost the entire ride, and the number of times that my legs were burning and screaming was unbelievable. And the final torture - about 5km from home I wiped out. I didn't realize that my group was stopping and so I braked hard but didn't get my shoes out of the clips in time so boom - down I went. Right on top of my left hand. It swelled up like you wouldn't believe, and I've got at least a dozen bruises on my legs (very attractive). The palm of my hand is still a nice gray colour.

This evening I went swimming. I haven't been since before my surgery in February. And I sucked. Big time. Of course Sparky used to be a competitive swimmer and he's all keen on teaching me to swim properly .... I was dumb enough to tell him that I wanted to take lessons. He'll take one look at me flapping around in the water and run.

Long live the Queen.

Just plain gross

Check out this picture from China. Unbelievable, isn't it? The boom in China's economy has been done at the expense of the environment and ultimately at the expense of peoples' health. Can you imagine breathing in this kind of pollution every day? (The man in the picture is sweeping coal dust off the road - coal dust that falls from the sky due to their coal-burning plants for electricity.) Apparently out of the 30 top polluted cities in the world, China is home to 20 of them. The Olympic committee is in a tizzy right now because the air quality in Beijing is horrible and the athletes are going to suffer. Duh. Did they not realize that this was a major problem when they handed the games to China? 20 years from now there will be a huge population of ex-elite athletes who are dying from emphysema and various forms of cancer.

If you ever get a chance, watch the documentary called "Manufactured Landscapes". It's all about the price that has been paid to the landscapes in China all in the name of technology. And I believe that it was a Canadian who filmed it.