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QotD: Rockin' around the Christmas Tree --- or Chanukah Bush?

rogue
8 hours ago
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The holidays are in full effect, so tell us: What's your favorite holiday song? Bonus points if you share it with us!

Adam Sandler original Chanukah (Hanukkah) Song

The Christmas Song - Nat King Cole (HQ Audio)

Same story, different country.

mcco12
12 hours ago
1 comment

This story shocked me.

Amy Goodman, a champion of democracy rights, detained at Canadian border by Canadian officials.

Seriously scary stuff. Makes me cringe and make me embarrassed that BC is in such a huff about the stupid Olympics. I can understand their fears about security but if what she says is true, they are getting more than a little paranoid out there in the West.

Incidentally, I read her blog and watch her show just about every day and while I certainly don't agree with everything she says, the world needs people like her in it.

Ve haf vays of making you talk - ey

A true Quebecker.

mcco12
Yesterday
2 comments

So we finalized all of M's paperwork: now's he got his healthcare card on its way (thanks, Quebec), a Social Insurance Number, etc etc. We expected to stand in lines all day today but it actually went pretty fast and painlessly.

After the Regie d'assurance maladie we went over to Service Canada to get his new SIN and the only hitch there was the guy was somewhat of an ASS.HOLE. Why do people like that have to ruin a perfectly nice day? Grrr. He sort of snarked at us (because of something his colleague had told us earlier) and I snarked right back. Actually, I got a bit angry. It was dumb, I should have just let it roll off me, but I hated his entire attitude. My feeling was that he was homophobic and he was just being rude and of course I could totally have been wrong but he made a big production of asking who I was ("Are you his translator?" Masa says, "Uh, I can speak English...") and he didn't look pleased. Then again, I could be wrong and it could have been my imagination. But sometimes, one just gets a feeling. He didn't say anything but of course he wouldn't say anything because he'd be in trouble if he did but....anyway. His snarking was on the surface unrelated but my sense was that he was just taking his uncomfortable feeling out on us.

Honestly, I forget that we are "unusual" in that sense 99% of the time. And 99 times out of 100 in Montreal, no one gives a shit anyway. But once in a while, I am reminded that we are not the standard couple and it always seems to be a stark reminder.

Whatever. He tried to smooth things over kind of after I yelled back at him...Masa always keeps his calm. When I started to get upset, he just put his hand on my arm and didn't say a word, just tried to cool me off.

I rarely lose my temper anymore. So it's good to know I've still got it when I need it once in a while. But definitely glad I had Masa there to prevent me from really losing it and throwing something at the jerk.

Next step is getting him a driver's license. I don't know why but I find it hilarious to think that Masa will have a Quebec driver's license. I guess that means he's really becoming a Quebecker...

Maybe he just hates his job.

Experimental Spanish novels, winter soups, Ian McEwan, cheese souffles, and Julia...

mcco12
Yesterday
2 comments

*Cooking a lot the last few weeks. I guess it's my way of getting ready for winter: I've made chicken tortellini soup twice, chicken fettucini soup, chilli, cream of cauliflower soup, popovers twice, meatloaf, plus I've baked cake twice and cookies several times. Oh, and I'm making real oatmeal every morning with omelettes. It's kind of getting a bit out of hand, all this cooking.

*Talk about getting old (comment from yesterday)! Last night I stayed up past 3.30 watching Julia Child videos on youtube. Why? I don't know, I guess it's all the cooking I've been doing. I much prefer the older episodes from the 60s and 70s to the more modern ones from the 80s and 90s when she stands around while other people cook. You can watch some on pbs.org, too. I want to make a cheese souffle because it looks like fun to make it. But I've never made one before. Come to think of it, I've never really eaten one before. Do people eat souffles anymore?

*Cold and rainy/snowy all afternoon, so I got into bed and watched "Atonement." Meh. It was OK. Beautifully filmed, but a little odd and the director is rather in love with his own vision, I think. Long directorial asides that are visually pleasing but also distracting. I don't know, I guess I have mixed feelings about it. I like Ian McEwan a lot (Black Dogs is one of my most favorite novellas ever), but it's a hard book to translate to the screen since so much of it is internal. I also felt that the war scenes were very....like they were under glass, museum pieces. They lacked depth and rawness, though, again, visually, they were beautiful. Makes me want to read the book again since I haven't read it since probably 2002.

*I agreed to take this Spanish novel (in translation) under my belt for a book review and what a mistake that was. It's all experimental, no sentence breaks, just rambling associative form, nearly impossible to read and enjoy (for me). AND I have to be able to write a coherent book review for it and sound halfway intelligent. Blech. It's going to weigh on me for the next month! Why do I agree to do these things?

It's 1st December...

Elellanyar Rilmavilyawa
2 days ago

...and it's World AIDS Day 2009.

For all my Canadian friends, especially Santa

Maggie
3 days ago
1 comment

An excerpt from Awful library books

Canada - Young Giant of the North

Canada
Young Giant of the North
Leitch
1964
I was so excited to learn about our neighbor to the north. This was definitely written for an American audience. Toward the end was a nice historical timeline comparing Canada and the US. Too bad it didn’t get past the early 1960’s. I also loved a whole chapter dedicated to these mysterious Canadians. For those of you unfamiliar with our friends in Canada, here are some pictures of typical Canadians. Did you know that Santa is actually from Canada?

Real Canadians?

Is that Bobavey?

Here's a good story for a Monday

I like hearing about this sort of thing. It reminds me that there are still good people out there. Story link

Wrong Number Miracle

Mom was going to miss mortgage payment if she sent daughter money

By ERIC S. PAGE

Updated 11:08 AM PST, Mon, Nov 30, 2009

Virginia Saenz could hear the desperation in the voice of the telephone message. It was 5 a.m. on the day before Thanksgiving, and the caller, Lucy Crutchfield, was trying to tell her daughter that she'd send money for groceries -- but she'd have to miss a mortgage payment to do it.

But Crutchfield dialed the wrong number. Instead of getting her daughter, she got Saenz, a real estate agent from the San Diego suburb of Tierrasanta.

"I know right now we are all struggling," Saenz said. "Lisa on the phone, she sounded so desperate for her daughter, it broke my heart."

Saenz did the only thing she could think of -- she called Crutchfield back and said not to worry. Crutchfield would pay the mortgage, and Saenz would handle the groceries.

"She said, 'You have the wrong number ... don't worry any more,' " Crutchfield recalled.

For Crutchfield, it was a holiday miracle. Her house is already in foreclosure. Her mother recently passed away, and Crutchfield is now trying to pay off her house. She had a money order prepared to make a mortgage payment on that house -- but was going to cash it in when her daughter called asking for money.

"I thought I was going to lose that house, too," Crutchfield said.

Saenz told Crutchfield to keep her money and promised to take care of her daughter. The real estate agent then called Crutchfield's daughter.

"I asked her what she would like, what her kids like, and then I felt really bad because she said she only wanted eggs and milk," Saenz said. "When somebody only asks you for eggs and milk, they are in a really bad situation."

So Saenz went grocery shopping on Thanksgiving morning with her 14-year-old son in tow to tell her what kids liked to eat. They bought food for a Thanksgiving dinner and enough groceries to get Crutchfield's daughter through the end of the month -- her next payday.

She said the act of giving made "the day special for me."

"I helped somebody," Saenz said Friday. "I think it's what anybody would have done."

Got the Monday blues?

Maggie
3 days ago
7 comments

Here's a little surprise from "surprised kitty"

You're welcome.

This.

mcco12
3 days ago
3 comments

You know how life gets to feeling stale some days. Blech. Lately just in a funk or something. I tend to get a bit mellowish when winter starts but it's not really depressed. First off, I don't really have much to get depressed about. I guess it's more a twofold sensation: 1) I work so hard and for what? This place we're living in? Not regretting it by any means and we do love it, but it's an adjustment being an owner. It's only been four months (feels like four years already) so of course it's more expensive in the beginning but it's getting old, all the things we need and all the money we are spending. Whatever. 2) I am having to readjust my own view of who I am in some ways. Since I was 20, I have always been a traveler and that was how I defined myself. Living all over and moving so much became part of my operating procedure and since we feel rooted to some extent here, I am having to consider what it means to not be a traveler. I know that we will travel more in the near future, but I don't really see myself moving anywhere, really. No more 2 year adventures in Africa or joining the Peace Corps or living in Vietnam. My life is too present here, I have too many responsibilities for that now.

And that sucks.

There is a way, I guess, but it takes a different kind of approach. And I guess I can deal with that. Or maybe I'm wrong and something will crop up and surprise me. Maybe we'll head back to Japan for a while (my sister's there now). Or maybe not. Maybe somewhere else. But we'll definitely come back and this is definitely going to be our "base" for a long time.

I'm not complaining. I have a lot to be happy and thankful for. But it's a new way of thinking about my future, living here permanently. Or at least for a long long time. I used to love the big question mark of the future but it's not a question mark in the same way. Now it feels as if I am already planning for the future and living this mentality that I mainly despise: planning ahead, being practical, stifling all the adventures I still want to have. For what? Security--which is an illusion anyway. I guess teaching my way across Asia opened my eyes to certain realities: that I don't want to be a 50 year old with nothing, living paycheck to paycheck. That's fine when you're 25, but when I'm 50, I can't live like that (shit, I haven't been able to live that like since 30 perhaps). Not that I want to be rich, God no. I just want to feel like I have something to show for all the years I have spent working hard.

Then at other times, I remind myself that it's all just stuff: all the furniture we are buying and all the things we are spending money on: it's just STUFF and if I put the iron too close to the curtain some afternoon, it could all be gone in a flash. So it's not worth getting attached to any of it. The place we love but it's just as much because it's an investment in the future as it is a place to live. We were just as happy in our small one bedroom apartment with 1/2 the stuff we have now. But owning this place is like having money in the bank and as much as I hate the practical side of that sentence, it's something to consider.

Still. I hate thinking about bills, retirement accounts, credit scores. When 10 years ago I just lived my life with no debt, spending whatever I made, and enjoying my life. I hate being grown up. Why can't I just toss caution into the wind and return to the carefree life I once had when if I wanted to quit my job or move to another country or take three weeks off at the drop of a hat, I could?

I just have to remind myself that this is all part of some greater plan: a few more years of working hard, socking money into this place and we could rent it out for a year, travel the world, make money by doing nothing, literally. We're not there yet but all this practical living is just part of the plan. I hope I don't lose sight of that!

The obedient bunny -- c'est moi

Decked Out

Steve Betz
3 days ago
6 comments

We turned what might have been a lazy Sunday into a very industrious one, getting The Aerie all decked out for Christmastime. We had the Christmas music playing from the office while we decked the halls and trimmed the trees (our big Christmas tree and our little Monterey pine out back). Speaking of trees, we even added some Christmas cheer to the palm trees outside of our home.

Palms

Cheerful

Penny again wasn’t quite so sure about what this was all about, but she enjoyed snuffing the different decorations. Certainly, all the breakable ones are out of snout and tail range. We hope.