13 June 2008
u.p.
Since last posting I have slept in Montreal, Winnipeg, Calgary, Osoyoos, Oliver, and Cache Creek.
My book was reviewed on a blog and in the Toronto Star.
I met Sean's sister (two down, one to go).
I ate at A&W about fifteen times.
Judah went through a hitting and pinching phase.
Judah learned to say the following: Mama, mo(re), get down, all done, (ba)nana.
Judah began kissing anything in his path.
Judah learned "Judah? Come for cozy pie?" Read: he snuggles into you with a kiss and then continues doing whatever he is doing (calling ghostbusters, reading a very advanced book, etc) from the cozy vantage of your lap.
I lost and gained five pounds.
I got a new job.
My book was reviewed on a blog and in the Toronto Star.
I met Sean's sister (two down, one to go).
I ate at A&W about fifteen times.
Judah went through a hitting and pinching phase.
Judah learned to say the following: Mama, mo(re), get down, all done, (ba)nana.
Judah began kissing anything in his path.
Judah learned "Judah? Come for cozy pie?" Read: he snuggles into you with a kiss and then continues doing whatever he is doing (calling ghostbusters, reading a very advanced book, etc) from the cozy vantage of your lap.
I lost and gained five pounds.
I got a new job.
29 April 2008
updato potato from the brink of total disaster
Well, nothing is totally disastrous, but try telling that to my nerves. My body feels like it is being held together by loosely knotted lengths of razor wire. I am reading tonight at the Railway Club (6:30), then off to Winnipeg for a flurry of Chandra Mayor-assisted activity, then to Calgary, then home, the the Big Official Launch on the 7th (Western Front, 7:30 PM); did I say loosely knotted? I meant knotted as though by a seaman. In hell. Whose job it is to go around holding razor wire in hell-fire until white-hot, then knotting sinners' limbs together with it.
More from a a place, where the bunny plays on the baby angel staircase.*
*Claire Gibson 2007.
More from a a place, where the bunny plays on the baby angel staircase.*
*Claire Gibson 2007.
19 March 2008
In which I provide details about a bunny.
Oh yes, another thing. A good thing!
Some of you may have been present at Judah's first birthday on Saturday, where he received a lot of fancy presents, and everyone discovered the happiness that is grilled halloumi with fried bread and spicy fig spread. Marian provided the focal-point decoration of a huge happy-birthday banner, which was supplemented by a few balloons. At Safeway they offer a "balloon bouquet" with one of those ugly mylar balloons that says Happy Birthday in the ugliest possible way, so I went for the Easter-themed bunny balloon. Ever since the party Judah's been wandering around carrying it around by the string, which he inevitably lets go, letting the bunny mysteriously fall onto the ceiling. This started a new craze, of pointing at things. He also likes to point at the cat sleeping in his cat-house, and the cup he wants to relieve of its contents, and just about anything.
He also lets me hug and snuggle him now, and will lie still if nestled into a fluffy comforter, if only for a minute.
Little eggplant!
Some of you may have been present at Judah's first birthday on Saturday, where he received a lot of fancy presents, and everyone discovered the happiness that is grilled halloumi with fried bread and spicy fig spread. Marian provided the focal-point decoration of a huge happy-birthday banner, which was supplemented by a few balloons. At Safeway they offer a "balloon bouquet" with one of those ugly mylar balloons that says Happy Birthday in the ugliest possible way, so I went for the Easter-themed bunny balloon. Ever since the party Judah's been wandering around carrying it around by the string, which he inevitably lets go, letting the bunny mysteriously fall onto the ceiling. This started a new craze, of pointing at things. He also likes to point at the cat sleeping in his cat-house, and the cup he wants to relieve of its contents, and just about anything.
He also lets me hug and snuggle him now, and will lie still if nestled into a fluffy comforter, if only for a minute.
Little eggplant!
Potatoes, updatoes
Every day something happens and I think, "I should post about that. The Internet would find it amusing." Usually this involves compiling a list of things that surprise me by how irritating they can be. But then I forget about it, and go off and feel sorry for myself because my blog won't update itself.
Oh, I just remembered:
-Packing tape dispensers. Why am I incapable of operating them? I go to the post office and the clerk looks at my packages with a smirk. If ever they have to add some tape to some opening I've somehow missed, they pull out their dispenser (identical to mine), zip it along the opening and deftly cut the tape (leaving it poised perfectly for the next dispensing) while simultaneously smoothing the tape to an invisible edge. WHY, GOD, WHY CAN I NOT BE GOOD AT THIS?
I feel cleansed.
In other news, perhaps you would like to join my fancy Facebook group for information about my book?
In other other news, it has been H2B1 but today, just now, it feels somewhat better, perhaps due to the gallons of sugary coffee I've been drinking.
Glug glug glug glugglugglug.
Oh, I just remembered:
-Packing tape dispensers. Why am I incapable of operating them? I go to the post office and the clerk looks at my packages with a smirk. If ever they have to add some tape to some opening I've somehow missed, they pull out their dispenser (identical to mine), zip it along the opening and deftly cut the tape (leaving it poised perfectly for the next dispensing) while simultaneously smoothing the tape to an invisible edge. WHY, GOD, WHY CAN I NOT BE GOOD AT THIS?
I feel cleansed.
In other news, perhaps you would like to join my fancy Facebook group for information about my book?
In other other news, it has been H2B1 but today, just now, it feels somewhat better, perhaps due to the gallons of sugary coffee I've been drinking.
Glug glug glug glugglugglug.
07 March 2008
the fancy news
25 February 2008
in which I prepare thai curry, and fly on a sea plane.
So the buzzy hypomania of the first two weeks of Effexor have worn off, damnit. I should admit to you now that I have been getting up nearer to 7:30 rather than 7. HAPPY, SEAN? The truth is out. Here is what happened this weekend.
SATURDAY
7:30 AM Wake up at Sean's.
8:00 AM Receive frantic message from mother, in which it really, really important that I call her back.
8:15 AM Locate mother in emergency at VGH.
8:30 AM Assess that everything's okay, she's just in the psych ward!
9:00 AM Drive out to Langley and wonder why my dad's house is covered in a thin film of nicotine, cat piss and dirt.
12:30 AM Board ferry for Salt Spring.
2:00 PM Arrive at the new family home, which is 4000 square feet, laid out exactly like the house that burned down two summers ago, and has an elevator.
3:00 PM Begin pleasant visit with relatives.
4:00 PM Talk to mother who assures me that everything is fine, she'll be returning to detox as the hallucinations have stopped.
9:00 PM TO BED!
1:00 AM Wake Judah repeatedly with constant bed rustling, which, we discover the next morning, is due to the plastic cover they have thoughtfully left on the mattress.
SUNDAY
7:00 AM WAKE.
3:30 PM Depart Salt Spring on seaplane. Unclench jaw.
4:00 PM Arrive Vancouver, avoiding watery death (hooray).
6:00 PM Make Thai curry and watch The Darjeeling Express with Seany (hooray).
10:00 PM TO BED.
Notes:
-My developmentally delayed aunt, whom I love dearly, is nearly 80 now. She has always had conversational loops she wanders through. Now, however, the loops are so small that she just ends up repeating herself over and over again until they turn on the Christmas CD that soothes her into silence. Here is the loop she was in this weekend:
"He [Judah] says, 'No Mommy!' He's going to get big and then beat you up! ...You can never tell."
Intermittently, she would insist that he was hungry, and wanted bananas and grapes.
-I sent off the final changes to the book on Friday, and we're off to the printers this week!
-Thank you Effexor for all your neurological support!
SATURDAY
7:30 AM Wake up at Sean's.
8:00 AM Receive frantic message from mother, in which it really, really important that I call her back.
8:15 AM Locate mother in emergency at VGH.
8:30 AM Assess that everything's okay, she's just in the psych ward!
9:00 AM Drive out to Langley and wonder why my dad's house is covered in a thin film of nicotine, cat piss and dirt.
12:30 AM Board ferry for Salt Spring.
2:00 PM Arrive at the new family home, which is 4000 square feet, laid out exactly like the house that burned down two summers ago, and has an elevator.
3:00 PM Begin pleasant visit with relatives.
4:00 PM Talk to mother who assures me that everything is fine, she'll be returning to detox as the hallucinations have stopped.
9:00 PM TO BED!
1:00 AM Wake Judah repeatedly with constant bed rustling, which, we discover the next morning, is due to the plastic cover they have thoughtfully left on the mattress.
SUNDAY
7:00 AM WAKE.
3:30 PM Depart Salt Spring on seaplane. Unclench jaw.
4:00 PM Arrive Vancouver, avoiding watery death (hooray).
6:00 PM Make Thai curry and watch The Darjeeling Express with Seany (hooray).
10:00 PM TO BED.
Notes:
-My developmentally delayed aunt, whom I love dearly, is nearly 80 now. She has always had conversational loops she wanders through. Now, however, the loops are so small that she just ends up repeating herself over and over again until they turn on the Christmas CD that soothes her into silence. Here is the loop she was in this weekend:
"He [Judah] says, 'No Mommy!' He's going to get big and then beat you up! ...You can never tell."
Intermittently, she would insist that he was hungry, and wanted bananas and grapes.
-I sent off the final changes to the book on Friday, and we're off to the printers this week!
-Thank you Effexor for all your neurological support!
20 February 2008
The secret to happiness
Dear INTERNET
I have discovered the secret to happiness. Or, rather, the secret to not hiding in a darkened room wrapped in an increasingly sweaty duvet sobbing to myself while my dog hides under my bed like a terrorized child. What is this secret, you ask? Antidepressants. YES. Laundry piling up? Why, just take it down into the laundry room and put it in the machine! Magically, it gets cleaned, and you too can wear the clean clothes of the mentally well! Carpet covered in shedding dog hair? Why, just whip out that vacuum and clean it all up, lickity-split! Dog looking like she's going to hang her little doggy self due to your constant neglect? Just strap on some sneakers and take that puppy for a walk! And, of course, the hardest thing ever - trouble getting up in the morning? Wake up weeping and fantasizing about throwing yourself off the city's prettiest bridges? Never mind all that! Just wake up refreshed and happy at 7:00 AM EVERY DAY.
EVERY DAY.
I have discovered the secret to happiness. Or, rather, the secret to not hiding in a darkened room wrapped in an increasingly sweaty duvet sobbing to myself while my dog hides under my bed like a terrorized child. What is this secret, you ask? Antidepressants. YES. Laundry piling up? Why, just take it down into the laundry room and put it in the machine! Magically, it gets cleaned, and you too can wear the clean clothes of the mentally well! Carpet covered in shedding dog hair? Why, just whip out that vacuum and clean it all up, lickity-split! Dog looking like she's going to hang her little doggy self due to your constant neglect? Just strap on some sneakers and take that puppy for a walk! And, of course, the hardest thing ever - trouble getting up in the morning? Wake up weeping and fantasizing about throwing yourself off the city's prettiest bridges? Never mind all that! Just wake up refreshed and happy at 7:00 AM EVERY DAY.
EVERY DAY.