Gloryfades.org

Well, I officially broke tfl.org, which sucks cause I’m trying to update the Movies category. Oh well, it gives me time to write.

I wish it wasn’t Sunday. I wish it was Monday and I was on holiday for like five weeks. I’m so tired of this winter. I know I keep saying that but I really need spring to finally grace us with its presence. I’m liable to fly away to somewhere warm and blissfully sunny if it doesn’t soon. I dreamed of Ibiza sunrises each night this week.

Speaking of sunny destinations, I’m nearly done writing up my trip to Central America. I need to post the photos on flickr and everything will be ready for posting. I think I’ll post it in a few installments like the last trip to give everyone a chance to actually read it. If you read it in one setting I think you would go blind. I’ve tried keeping it succinct but that’s just not in the cards. How do you sum up three weeks of travel in like two pages? It’s just impossible. I think I’m doing very well, though. I’m halfway through and it’s about seven pages on Word.

In other news, I’m in a play at the synagogue for Purim. I thought it would be scary and bad but so far it looks good. The songs are appropriately funny enough (they’re just famous Broadway tunes with altered lyrics) and they don’t seem to be too upset with a goy nosing in. Plus, in one of the numbers I get to wear a wedding dress, which should be hilarious and nothing short of spectacular cause I’ll get to freak G out, except now the cat is out of the bag… Oops!

Man, everyone should back up their iTunes library if they haven’t done it yet. Honestly, both G and I lost ours this week (mine intentionally, his not so much) and it’s been chaos. With 23 gigs of music how do you find your favourites?!

I think the winter really is getting to me. This weekend was pretty productive; I felt restless for a majority of it and it ended up paying off - I wiped my hard drive clean and reinstalled Windows. All I can say is, thank God for MDG Computers and their step-by-step instructions. If it weren’t for the idiot-guide they provided (which was totally what I needed) I think it would have gone a lot worse. I went to G’s on Sunday so I couldn’t finish putting all the programs I need back onto it, but I’m excited to finish that up tonight. The best part is finding the next generation programs that my old girl couldn’t handle before because of the trash clogging her up. Microsoft Office 2007, here I come!

The one thing I didn’t do was partition the hard drive. I was worried that I would do something wrong so I’ll leave it until the next time I feel brave enough to wipe out everything on my computer, lol. Now that I’ve done it once, though, I’m fairly confident I can do it again. Baby steps!

I must not be the only one who enjoys clearing out her computer, am I? You have to admit that there’s a real pleasure in restoring your computer to its factory settings, n’est pas?

*Quiet silence*

Okay, so I’m the only nerd on the block … I get it. Whatever!

Further evidence of my nerdiness? At lunch today, I went to the dollar store and bought a candy bowl and some Easter candy for my desk at work. Yes, I’ve become that admin assistant - the one with the food. I must say, it looks pretty snazzy. It’s full of Easter Hershey’s kisses and fake Easter “grass” (the kind you put into an Easter basket). The grass cost me a dollar - I wasn’t going to say no to that kind of value, ok?

On that note, I think it’s time to sign off. There’s mucho to do to get this computer back in working order. Did you know that you can’t even install Itunes if you don’t have Windows XP Service Pack 2?! I’m living in the stone ages! I gotta upgrade!

Today was a day I could have used a statutory holiday. Unfortunately, I work for the federal government so I didn’t get the day off.

Last night I tossed and turned in bed until 3 in the morning. It was the same old stuff that usually plagues me in the middle of the night - worrying about things that are absolutely out of my control! I can honestly say that I haven’t had a night like that in awhile, though. I don’t miss them.

The nice thing about working on the holiday was the roads - they were crystal clear. It took me fifteen minutes to get to work this morning. It usually takes me forty. The same thing happened in the afternoon, it was quite nice. I got back into my audio book as well; I had avoided it for about a week simply because I was booked out. I needed a rest from the written word, but now I’m back into it. By the end of this month I’ll have two of my twelve scratched off, which is right on schedule.

I’m tempted to watch another movie tonight but I think I’ll fall asleep in this chair if I attempt it!

I’ve been watching a lot of movies lately. The weather has been so nasty and unforgiving this month that I’ve retreated into doing as much “warm” things as possible, namely curling up into a ball and watching stuff on the tube. Occasionally, I actually venture out into the world as well, but only if absolutely necessary. Otherwise, I’m wearing PJs and my extra warm socks and picking away at my cross-stitch.

It started off with No Country for Old Men, which I reluctantly agreed to see with my sister. I’m not a huge fan of gory films and I had heard rumours that this one was not for the faint of heart. Well, they were right. It certainly was a blood-fest. However, despite that it was a good film. The last Coen Bros. film I saw was Fargo and I didn’t see it all the way through. In fact, every time it’s on TV - and it’s on often - I can’t seem to watch it the whole way through. Anyway, since I paid to see No Country for Old Men in the theatres I had to sit there and take it all in. Bloody, silent, and intense. Those are the three best adjectives I can ascribe to the film. There’s no doubt that it’s horrifically violent and not in a “cinematic” style either - everything looked like it hurt. A lot.

Having seen one Oscar contender, I decided after that to watch as many of the Best Picture nominees as possible. This weekend I managed to finish off two more - Atonement and Juno. Atonement was sad. I didn’t really feel any emotion for any of the characters until right around the end when the “twist” (was it a twist?) came. I’m not sure if it’s the character or the actress but Kiera Knightley seemed selfish and arrogant. I felt terrible for the younger sister, though, which I believe I was supposed to. All in all, it was a pretty standard weepy sort of film. The score, on the other hand, was fabulous. If I can get my hands on that I will. I love classical music with a twist.

Juno was fun. It’s a cute little story about a cute little girl and I loved Jason Bateman. If I were Ellen Page I’d have a total crush on him. I wish Michael Cera could have had a bigger part in it but all in all it was a sweet little story. I doubt that it will win Best Picture but that’s just because the Academy is comprised of old men. 90% of the humour will be completely and utterly lost on them. Plus, they tend to pick dramas over comedies.

I also watched Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (and I TOTALLY keep typing the Demon Barbar of Fleet Street. Could you imagine a giant talking elephant with a razer in his hand, killing people in Victorian England?) this afternoon. Don’t get me wrong, I love me a good musical but this one wasn’t my favourite. I guess I’m just spoiled because I grew up on Phantom of the Opera. My visions of London were always snowy and encased in an opulent but decaying theatre, not grimy and soot-faced. Violent and remorseless, it didn’t really solve any problems. “Mr. T” remains unhappy until the bitter end even when everyone is dead! Not even the faddish lure of Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter made me care for any of the characters (except Sasha Baron Cohen who was awesome as Todd’s Italian rival). Overall, kind of a disappointment. I bet it would be more interested on the stage.

So all that’s left in Best Picture is Michael Clayton, which I have, and There Will Be Blood, which I think I might have to go to the theatre to see. Great, another gory film. I’ve always enjoyed watching Daniel Day-Lewis act but I’m not sure if I can stomach more blood. Unfortunately, Michael Clayton looks really boring. I read the imdb description and wasn’t too impressed. I’m definitely not a courtroom drama fan, they just seem so silly and have the potential of getting really convoluted. We’ll see, though. There are plenty of other films to watch as well!

Oh, Lordy is it ever cold out! I left early this afternoon to try and beat the snow but it still hit me and I still spent an hour and a half trying to crawl home. Thank goodness I had a book on tape to keep me company. That’s right, I said tape. My car’s ancient. I have a tape deck. It works like a charm, though. The book in question is Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison, book #5 on my To-Be-Read Challenge 08 list.

My plans for tonight, coffee with my sister, were derailed by this snowstorm that is currently beating against my study’s window so I think I’ll spend the night being cozy instead. I have my knitting right beside me (a modest scarf as it’s my first attempt at knitting) and a DVD full of Battlestar Galactica episodes I’ve never seen. Seems like a perfect night for catching up.

Given that I’ve made this website a genuine weblog again, over the weekend I revamped the image of my collective. No longer an extension of my weblog, it’s now a full fledged website of its own (to the extent it can be, that is). I’ve named it Zealous since most of the good names have been taken already and I think it looks pretty spiffy.

Hmm, I wonder what the chances are of getting a snow day tomorrow?

Yay, a brand new layout for a brand new year! Sort of. It’s only been a month, though! Anyway, I liked this photo so I thought I would use it for my next layout. Drew Barrymore looks like a Greek goddess in that pose, don’t you think?

Truthfully, I don’t have that much to say at the moment. I’m still typing up my account of our trip through Central America so that’s coming. Also, I need to upload those photos to Flickr at some point. Hmm, it seems I have a lot more to do than I thought! Sadly, the weekend is coming to a close. I’ve had a very relaxing weekend; my whole department moved up two floors this week and, suffice it to say, I was glad once that was over and done with. Afterwards, G and I went out with friends for some Winterlicious fun.

Winterlicious is a semiannual Toronto event - about a hundred restaurants across the city participate by serving a prix fixe menu for lunch and dinner. It’s a way for celebrated Toronto chefs to reach more people as well as a way for people who enjoy luxurious food but can’t afford it on a regular basis to sample some of Toronto’s finest food. I absolutely love Winterlicious (and it’s warmer, sunnier counterpart, Summerlicious) and try to go at least once each time it comes around. This time we went to Brassaii. I had the seared salmon which was just delicious.

Other than that, this weekend has been quiet. I had coffee last night with a friend from Chapters and generally spent the day relaxing. Today, likewise, I haven’t been doing all too much. I did change the layout here, though!

I expect G will be arriving soon since he said he’d come by after a long day of playing Magic at a friend’s house. Yes, I’m dating a twelve year old boy. No judgment!

In 2007 I took up the To-Be-Read Challenge but ended miserably. I completed two out of the twelve that I set myself to read. How embarrassing! Part of the reason was that I actually forgot about the challenge until October. That’s right, I actually forgot about it entirely until G. mentioned it. However, I still managed to read a whopping 30 books in total last year, which is still quite a few considering I spent the first part of the year in school.

This year, I’ve decided to go with a theme with the books I’ve chosen. I’ve been interested in The Great American Novel ever since I read John Steinbeck’s East of Eden. So, in honor of that great book, I have picked 12 novels that have been written by American authors in the past two centuries:

1. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
2. Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut
3. The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner
4. Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
5. Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
6. The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway
7. Animal Farm by George Orwell
8. The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand
9. Beloved by Toni Morrison
10. The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
11. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
12. Fear of Flying by Erica Jong

I’ve tried to put an equal mix of male and female writers but it’s hard to be even. It looks like a pretty good list, though. Some of these have been on my master list for years and years.

Alternates include what I didn’t read last year, that is:

1. The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco
2. One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez
3. Absurdistan by Gary Shteyngart
4. The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz by Mordecai Richler
5. In Cold Blood by Truman Capote
6. Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand
7. A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers
8. I’m Not The New Me by Wendy McClure
9. The True Account by Howard Frank Mosher
10. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

You know, I’ve been trying to read The Name of the Rose for about two months but someone keeps requesting it from the library and I have to keep taking it back. Maybe I should just buy it?