O and Monkey

When Olivia is really happy she does this wiggle thing- seen here in the video. And what amazes me about babies is how quickly their mood shifts. In the span of 30 seconds they will be giggling with joy, then crying in utter despair and then onto complete wonderment. It's quite something.

Airline travel

I purchased a plane ticket last week on delta.com. It was for a flight to Winnipeg to see my family.
I got to the airport and went to terminal B which serviced both Delta and Northwest airlines.
I tried to check in at the automatic check-in kiosk but no luck. It didn't recognize my e-ticket for some reason. I enlist the help of one of the staff. He looks at itinerary and tries to check me in. No luck for him either.
He tries again. At this point I'm feeling a tad anxious as there is only 40-45 minutes to my flight.

"ooohhh" he says. I see here that your flight is being operated by Continental in Terminal C.
What?!
No time to argue- I just run over to the tram and hop on to get to Terminal C. I run up to the check-in and they direct me to the top floor for internationals as I'm flying to WInnipeg CA. Once I get there they say "oh no- you're passing through Minneapolis so it's domestic -main floor at the other end of the terminal"

I get there and tell them that I now have 30 minutes before my flight and I've got to check in. I'm told I can stand in line. I ONLY HAVE 30 MINUTES I try to explain as politely as I can.
I'm told to wait in line where I wait to miss my flight and get told that I need to be re-routed.
But because it's a Delta flight(?!?!?!) I need to go back to terminal B to make the change.
I drag my now angry butt back to Delta where they tell me they can't help me because it was a Continental flight I'd missed -what did I want them to do about it?!

SERIOUSLY!

So I just firmly told them that I needed to be in Winnipeg tonight and they had to do what they could to make that happen. After a quick chat with the manager (who was actually very nice) I was on my way with a new flight to arrive 3 hours later.

So a mixed bag of some nice people who proved to be helpful and some not so nice people who were so checked out they couldn't check me in.

Keep the Pace

I was out with friends on Saturday night and one friend made the comment that we need to "Keep the Pace". There are going to be ups and downs in life. Sometimes really high up so you're dizzy with happiness and sometimes really low so you feel like you're almost 6 feet under. But you have to keep on keeping on. Just have faith. Tortoise and the hare type of thing. And it will all be okay. Like the stock market.

It felt reeeealy profound after the second bottle of wine (shared!) but now in the cold harsh sober light if feels rather common-sense-y.

But I still thought I'd share because I promised that I would.

Quiet times indeed

For a quiet weekend with very little plans the last two days have been pretty jam packed. I had a great Friday night watching an old movie (see earlier post). Saturday I went to the Museum of Natural History and saw one of the LAMEST Space exhibit I don't know what you even call it thing. Honestly- that museum has such potential- and though I really like it- it falls short.
The afternoon was then filled with running into random friends, seeing other friends in the park and then wine with another friend. Though I live in one of the largest cities in North America I sometimes feel like I live in a small little town where people still do spontaneous drop bys.
I also went to see "500 Days of Summer" - very good. I heart Joseph Gordon-Levitt. Charming little movie about love found and love lost. It's actually 200 days of joy/summer followed by 300 days of pain and heartbreak/deep dark winter.
Today was a bit more relaxed though I did attempt to bike around the island. I started at 70th on the West side- and biked all the way down to the southern tip of the island and then up the East side to 70th again and across the park home. It was a good 2 hours with a couple of stops and dealing with detours and traffic. Next time I'll do the northern half- and then eventually the whole thing.
Finally to round off my weekend plans: my dear dear friends J&E came home today and the core group (we call ourselves that- yes we are nerds) was reunited. We had sushi and made some plans for a trip to the Maritimes in the Fall. It's the best time of year to go since the colours are beautiful and the weather is perfect (yikes- that was a total Grandma comment!). I'm excited to take them there and show them my second home.

Oscar's Choice

I watched the movie "Sophie's Choice" last night, starring Meryl Streep. It's from 1982 (I like watching older movies and seeing current aging stars when they were 'young and fresh'). She received a best actress Oscar for her performance. You know how everyone is always on about how great Meryl Streep is?? This is why.

Her performance was amazing. Her acting ability is brilliant. She was so good I feel cheated by every other performance I've ever seen by another actor in any other movie. ever. In fact I think they should just keep giving her the best actress award every year because she makes all other "best actresses" look like the keanu reeves of best actresses.

"You, you, you, you and you. You're okay- and great you got a nom but you still suck compared to Meryl Streep's performance in 'Sophie's Choice'. You're just the best of the worst this year which is not good enough. And the award goes to.... Meryl Streep for her performance in 'Sophie's Choice' (gasp!). Next!"

Quiet times

I have been so busy and so social the past few months that I am now faced with a weekend with no plans. But it's supposed to be hot hot out- so I might bike around the island.

Odd to have no plans with most of my friends out of commish...

Music in the Park

Something I quite enjoy doing is going to listen to classical music. I don't do it that often but more frequently than some (eg. more than just Christmas).

Tonight was the annual NY Philharmonic free concert in Central Park. My friends arranged it (and by arranging I mean they told us about it and then went early to stake out seats with wine and cheeses and with balloons to make our territory).


There was a good crowd, which was great. The downside of which is that we were all so happy to be together, and outside enjoying the beautiful weather and having a picnic, is that we didn't stop chatting long enough to actually listen to the music!

I know it was aggravating to some around us- though to be fair nearly everyone in the park was talking. And by everyone I mean about 215,000 people!!!


I really enjoyed myself and it was a perfect way to spend a Tuesday night in the summer. I just wish I'd had maybe a few more minutes of "quiet time" so that I could listen to and appreciate the music while laying on the grass under the setting sun.

But that's just me- and I'm a bit weird/old that way!!

Ebbs and Flows

You know how sometimes you become friends with someone and there is an instant connection? You are best friends that hang out all the time, sort of like you did in grade 4.
You have so much in common.
You have so much fun together.
It's just easy to hang out, and as we get older that is harder and harder to find.
But then.

Well life starts getting in the way. Work interrupts. Schedules get harder to work around. Other commitments/friendships creep in and take over. Other people now require your time and attention.

The friendship that was so overwhelming at its' start suddenly becomes this annoying white background noise that is so indelibly inked into your life that you can't ignore it because you're not aware of it on a conscious level, nor can you get rid of it. It's just a part of you. An unpleasant, undesirable, impossible to remove part of you.

OR

I've never really had that experience. For me, the love remains. Maybe it tapers off or becomes less intense. But it's there in some form of another. In face, most of the friendships I have, I'm the one that refuses to let go. I might not see the person for months, or even years at a time. But once I'm in- I'm in.

Try to get rid of me. Just try.

My first fourth

I recently celebrated my first fourth of July weekend. I don't know what I was expecting but lots of rah rah America kind of stuff. This was kind of hard to do considering the dozen or so people I spent the weekend with were anything but American.


Festivities began on Wednesday when J&E invited us over to theirs for 'spagbol' which is short for a 'spicy delicious fantastic spaghetti dinner'.
I'm posting the table so E can show her mom.


Thursday we went to visit some fellow Canadians Rob and Lindi and Annika (she's brand new!). For a set of new parents they were remarkably laid back and relaxed! In fact the most animated person there was Annika- she was so alert and wonderful. It was immediate love.


Friday was full of adventure when I had people over to mine for a wine and pizza party on my newly and nearly finished deck. People who know me know that I don't relish the idea of hosting (casual drop bys where there are zero expectations -sure but actual parties... nope). But Friday was pretty decent- except when I poisoned all of my friends and they left by 11pm. That part wasn't so great. (Of course I should point out that 11 of the 12 people who came all told me afterwards that they had a great time!!)


Saturday was a bit of a write off - but we went to K&Cs for a bbq where we watched two amazing sites. First the fireworks off of the Hudson.


Secondly our friend JP doing the lemming being chased by a tiger dance. Or maybe it was a springbok (which I've never heard of so I think it's a made up animal anyway) being chased by a lion.

*VIDEO TO COME* (it is not in the best interests of certain parties to have the video out on the www at this point in time!!)

Sunday we watched the AWESOME tennis match (I am now convinced I need to drag out my tennis racket from when I was 12 and start playing again) at Nadine's house- and had a lovely brunch.

Finished the weekend just as it began- with J&E over to mine to sit on our patio with an impromptu dinner party (the kind I can do).



For a fourth weekend it ranks up there.

Come hang out Friday July 10

For anyone that's in the NY neighbourhood July 10- come check out my roommate Neil Nathan as he plays a set at the Highline Ballroom.


I'll be there. Should be fun.

Check out his music at :

http://www.myspace.com/neilnathan