Like home

So here I am in Canada. My body thinks it's 3:30 p.m. when in fact it's actually 9:30 a.m.. That's actually pretty depressing. It like time has slowed down.

I'm pretty jet lagged and as such am pretty blue. Fatigue does that to me. Kingston seems awfully small and empty and the cats don't like me here. So I miss Zeus a lot. TV hasn't changed much. No celebrities to spot here. I think I'm going to go swimming today, but I'm not sure.

Will post again when my brain comes online.

HRH

Gonna be alright

I'm not feeling too verbose or philisophical, but I have this wonderful feeling inside of me that I'm okay and I will continue to be okay. It's really quite cool.

I'm about to head off on vacation for 12 days, which is going to be really nice. Swimming, hanging out with my parents, taking care of myself and singing a lot I think.

The future is full of possibilties and the knowledge of that is what makes things alright.

That and the scene from Men in Black II where K puts his finger in the small alien world and they all run screaming "All is lost, all is lost!" I don't know why, but I find that really funny. It makes me belly laugh.

Sometimes in moments of turmoil you really discover how much love you have in you, and today I fell like I have so much I might burst at the seams. Sorry for being so mushy, but I really love life. Just wanted to get that out and give the seams some relief.

HRH

Sigh

I'm been a rather absentee blogger. I'm very sorry. I think because of the reverse nature of a blog from a diary, you're more inclined to blog when you're happy and more inclined to write in a diary when you're, well, not happy. I'm just kind of numb, so neither thing is getting much attention.

My cold is better. And, as always, I'm okay.

HRH

Theories

Well so much for that theory.

I think that J.C., the other guy from N'Sync who was in the Mickey Mouse club was in the Moby video "We are all made of stars" playing... a star lounging around doing nothing... And, quake in your bobby socks, Justin Timberlake is reported to be recording his first solo album. Now I'm really happy I'm not the music reviewer. I fully expect to walk into M's office and see him curled up in a ball on the floor hitting himself saying something about "oh the humanity of it all." I think it will be released on BMG.

In other news, I, again, have a cold.

HRH

Interesting

I wonder if M has noticed that for the last three week's he's only posted on Wednesdays. Interesting that both the paper's he's worked for also come out on Wednesdays... Food for thought.

HRH

Just imagine you're a speck of dust

After reading about M's blogger cult and using Andrew's links to see what former Queen's-ite Tara Mansbridge is up to via her blog, I realized that this blogger thing is big. Like really big. Like there are millions of blogs out there and mine is just a drop in a huge pool of blogginess. I get all sulky when I suddenly feel insignificant.

Reading Kari's blog about weddings made me think about the upcoming nuptuals of my University roommate Heather. I'm going back to Canada on Tuesday for her wedding on the 3rd. I have the wedding present (it's very cool, but I'm smart enough not to write what it is, since you never know who's reading), I have a dress to wear, shoes, no purse yet, no date (It makes very little sense for M to come back to Canada in the summer since his whole family is in Prague during the summer months) and, no bitterness. I can say quite happily that I am not ready to be married. I'm very happy for Heather and Mark and the adventure they're starting on. I'm even happy for my two highschool girlfriends who got married the summer I moved to Prague (not to each other, but to guys I've never really met) and I'm happy for my two ex-boyfriends who got married (again, not to each other) last fall. That's great for them. But not me. I like where I am. I know I'll grow into a place where I'll be ready, but not now. Being aware of that makes going to other people's weddings much more enjoyable.

I think Heather's is going to be a big to do wedding as well. It's funny. As a girl you think you have every detail of your wedding sorted out in your head. The funny thing is in recent years, as I've come closer and closer to a time when marriage is more possible, I know less of what I want to do. I think that's part of the understanding I was talking about above. The details are something I'll deal with when I get there. I think you reach a point in your life when you realize that it's the celebration of the relationship that's important, not the roses, caviar and taffeta dresses.

Of course, whenever I do get married, count on it being a class affiar... big or small.

HRH

Keep it fresh

For some reason Wendy's idea of "fresh boys" makes me imagine a really big kleenex box where as soon as you take out a boy a fresh new one pops up. I then thought about how I used to be really picky about the colour of tissue I used (we sometimes had the tissue boxes that had 4 different colours of tissue), so I'd pull out the tissue until I found a colour I liked. I'm sure serveral of the boys I've scorned would suggest that I'm the same way with men. Which would most likely be why I scorned them in the first place.

M and I watched "Empire Records" last night and it took me on quite a trip down memory lane. It's been 2 years since I left the store and 7 since I started there... all innocent and unjaded, plaid mini-kilt and all. Part of me misses it sometimes. The early years at least. Back when it was about music for me and when I thought I was so totally lucky to get paid for selling and enjoying music. M has been able to keep the love of it more than I have. I think by the end I was really burned out by it all. Or I got old. Sigh. When I was there I was good. But then the nature of the business changed and a shift from Rock to Pop started. In the early days it was the manistreaming of electronica, and there was so much exciting stuff being done. I'd go out dancing with my friends, and the music would be great the whole night through. Again, it all got pop-y. A year after I started working at the store, this club opened up in Kingston that was like heaven and home for 4 years. During the last year the management realized they'd make more money playing pop music, but before that it was cool. A different place to go and not have to worry about having your vibe broken by crappy tunes (except for when they'd do the set of "Home for a Rest" followed by "Laid"). Maybe that's part of why I don't go out anymore. It's just not worth all the hassle to go somewhere to hear bad music all night.

Those were good and bad days. Everything seems awfully dramatic in retrospect and I have to laugh at myself a little when I think of them. As I was falling asleep last night I was wondering what it would be like to travel back and observe. I wouldn't do anything differently, since that would change the present and I like the present and we all know that changing the past creates quite a connundrum in plot lines (part of why M hates time change plot lines). I guess there are a couple of things I'd do differently with my present knowledge, like take my education a little more seriously, instead of assuming that most of my profs had nothing to teach me and deciding to largely teach myself (sometimes with great success, other times not so much), I'd have eaten a little less poutine, been less shy and a bit more sure of myself and I would laughed at situations that I thought were just SOOOO important when I was knee deep in them. These are the lessons that you learn growing up. No regrets, I just wonder why I was so determined to do things the hard way. Actually, I have one regret. I regret not learning to stop making sacrifices earlier. (Did that make sense?) Those got me into a lot of trouble and had almost no positive impact on my life. What matters now is that I have learned.

Anyway, the movie was fun. And I'm thinking about the good parts of the past, and happily there are lots of them.

HRH

The art of wasting time

How fortunate for me! M brought his computer to work today, so I've been able to spend and afternoon on the internet! Yay. In my office, I'm the most technically inclined and I have the worst computer. Anywho, I was surfing the net and I was able to write down a bunch of quotes that I rather like. I'll share a few:

It is better to be envied than pitied. – Herodotus, The Histories

I'm actually reading this book right now (have been for, what, 4 years now, sigh). Still it's pretty much in line with my feelings on pity. I hate it. Case closed. If people do nice things for me out of pity, I can't think of a bigger insult.

Jealousy is the fun you think they had. –Erica Jong

As many of my friends know, I'm a very jealous person, and this quote pretty much sums up my motivation. That and the feeling I share with The Duke from Moulin Rouge! I just don't like people touching my things! I really don't share well.

I dress for women, and undress for men. –Angie Dickenson

Pretty self explainitory.

A bit of lusting after someone does wonders for the skin. –Elizabeth Hurley

Never thought I'd be quoting her, but there is a lot of truth in it.

Finally, I saw a great bumper sticker online and now I totally want one (of course I need a car first...):
"Who died and left you Darth Vader"

Yep, I sure do need to get a life.

HRH

Further proof of why Kari rocks.

Not be to confused with "Clevland Rocks!" Drew Carrey fans... I got to work today to have this message in my mailbox:

I love that your spelling of misanthrope (which doesn't look right either) looks like mis en scene!

Only a fellow film student could make me feel better about my raging illiteracy.

HRH

Why can't I be paid for this skill?

Lumping me in the fat-couch-potato-slackers all over the world, I just played a bunch of online Star Wars games where my near perfect scores set off alarm bells in my head. Shouldn't I be using the resources of my brain for more important things? Clearly not. The world needs more nerds like me, who think in black and white principles who are eager to do great deeds (at least in their heads) and romanticize every facet of life. Wouldn't the world be more exciting that way?

I was informed by most of my dining companions last night that I am an idealist. It was said in this "oh, isn't that sweet. She hasn't given in yet... but it will come." God I hope not. I know I'm young and pretty simplistic, but I have to think that if I were to give up on my ideals and settle then I'm letting one of the best parts of me die. So friends, be advised, should the day come that I've settled or compromised, something serious and potentially grave has happened. People have said to me that life just tires you into giving in. I don't want to become like that. One of those people who only seem to have half the lights on upstairs. Not because they're dumb, but because they don't want to see what they've given up on any more. Besides, giving up on your ideals is kind of like killing yourself slowly. I want to be an idealist to the end. I've seen some crap come down, maybe not as much as some people, but I've seen the darker nature of people and still I refuse to let it jade me. Sure I'm a misenthrope (I know, you should be able to spell a word before you apply it to yourself, my bad), but the few people I do like, I like because they are ideal to me.

And now I'm going to continue to dance to my new CD.

HRH

Again funny because it's true

From The Onion

Horrible Band Obviously Not Listening To Its Influences
SAN DIEGOÑ Puddle Of Mudd, a dreary nŸ-metal rock band that cites Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, and Metallica as influences, is obviously not listening to those influences. "Zep, Sabbath, Metallica, Maiden, AerosmithÑgrowing up, that's what we listened to, and that's what shaped our sound," said lead singer Wes Scantlin, whose mopey, monotone vocals in no way bear the stamp of Robert Plant, Steven Tyler, or his other idols. Scantlin, who made the comments during an interview Monday with Spin reporter Charles Aaron, failed to say which part of Puddle Of Mudd's atrocious new ballad "Drift & Die" resembles "When The Levee Breaks" or "Sweet Emotion."

Sometimes there's new music and it's good. Sometimes there are new bands playing really crap versions of music you've heard before and sometimes there are bands that should be abused and then killed with the very instruments they play. That last sentence is why M is the music critic and I'm not. First against the wall when the revolution comes... that Chad guy from Nickleback (though I have to confess that I like that song from Spiderman). So wrapped up in his own post-grunge navel gazing that he actually gave an interview to MTV about how is new single is also inspired by the same dysfunctional relationship that spawned the collective-stupidity-of-the-world-affirming song "You Remind Me." Even worse, he names the girl who he had said dysfunctional relationship with. Dude, I would sue. Further more, who the &%#$ even cares. Silence him, please. He goes on in the interview to talk about how people should really go out and get the really early Nickleback CD, where you can really hear that "Seattle sound." Apparently the early songs were more genuine rip-offs of a genre dead and gone.

Of course I write this listening to the Sophie Ellis-Bextor CD. The hypocrite pants fit really nice...

HRH

Done and done

So I'm basking in the "I just filed my story." glow and everything is good. Of course I have to file another one in about 3 hours, but this is irrelevant to me now. Presently I'm happy.

I'm very sad to hear about Kari's post-Mogwai-removal pain. I'd normally reccommend upping your medication to something intense like morphine, but having seen my sister on it after an operation, I can safely say that no pain is worth that much dool/vomit. I've decided that Kari has a hero complex. Not a bad thing to have by any means, but it is proof that only a woman who is looking for a man of superior skill and intellect could get a crush on her hand surgeon. Either that or the drugs really are working.

HRH

Sync

It's amazing. Just after I blog about my disappointment over the new plans for the WTC site, the Ayn Rand Institute sends me an op-ed written by an architect expressing many of the same opinions I have. You can read this op-ed here.

So again, I will wish Kari luck with Mogwai. I was sure that she told me it was happening on the 17th, but I've been known to remember things strangely.

HRH

Blog words

Words that contain with word blog -
Blogathon - which is apparently coming up, though I have no idea how it works
Blogclog - something that happens to my blog when it doens't generate pages properly or when there are too many people using blogger
Blogtastic - okay, I made that one up.

Also in resonse to M's WTC blog today. All I can say is that it made me exclaim outloud "I love Matt." To which my boss replied "Well, yeah... you are dating him." The first 6 proposals for the new WTC were unveiled today (or yesterday, I'm having time zone issues), each containing a memorial park. Waste of wonderful Manhattan space is one thing, but most of these designs were totally uninspired and lacked any drive towards innovation or progress. It's rather disappointing, as I would hope that something as great as the WTC would be replaced by something awe inspiring and great.

I was somewhat disgusted by some of the comments from this NY Times article, where people were complaining that the new designs, uninspired as they are, seemed to only have economic value at steak... Duh. Do any of these people think that the people who died in that buliding, who worked there to make money would approve of wasting such valuable commercial space? No, they'd be the first people fighting it. Let these people be remembered by great deeds and prosperity.

HRH

So much information

I took some time yesterday to peruse the Jedi Council questions on the Star Wars site. And I have to say it's really cool. All those little nagging questions you have about the movies are pretty much answered here. From plot points and art direction to special effects and production. It's all so very cool. There was one Q&A with producer Rick McCallum about what you should do to of you want to become a producer. People who've known me for awhile know that I studied film in University with the aspiration of producing sci-fi action movies. This dream fizzled when I became more immersed in the film studies program, partly because of my own lack of confidence and partly because if there was one building on campus I'd love to see leveled it would be film house. Why did I hate it so much? The dogmatic marxist approach to film making and this snotty pretention that "real" filmmakers only make art films. When we'd all talk about the kinds of movies we were interested in, facutly and students would roll there eyes at me when I said I wanted to make films that were exciting to watch, well written and that had a great number of explosions. This ambiton was apparently very declassŽ and not part of the program. Of course my classmates weren't excatly aspiring to become Jean Luc Goddard either. "Well it's kind of like Swingers..." would be how about 75% of their pitches would start. The other 25% would start with "It's about a women finding her place in a phallocentric, mysoginist society." Yay, I'm already in line for that one... Flim school really quashed my yen for flimmaking. Instead of learning about the challenges of mixing live action with digital effects or mixing 5.1 sound, I was subjected to watching flims about a Spanish village that has turned to communism and how they're going to deal with the issues of sharing their one cow. No wonder I hate film so much. I really should have gone to UCLA like Kari, at least it would be in a city where people make more than commericals.

Anyway, I digress. Rick McCallum's answer to this question actually lit the film spark in my head again...

Q: I'm just graduating high school. What should I do if I want to become a movie producer?

A: Make movies.

Go out and buy an Apple iMac. Get Final Cut Pro and a video camera. Get every friend who's ever written... or learn how to write. Try to make your own movies to learn how bad you really are. The more you learn about how bad you are, the more you'll be able to help a director. And just get your friends and start your own little company and start making movies.

Don't fall in to the trap of working on a film, because that's not going to help you become a better producer. Making films makes you a better producer.

I worked on a couple of sets (even got paid) when I was in school and it's true, I learned very little about producing. I learned a lot about the way a set works, like how to shimmy up an electrical wire support pole to steal eletricity and how not to touch the gels, but I was doing so much lifting and the like that I didn't really get to see the stuff I need to see. Maybe I could get a job as an actual producer's assistant (not a production assitant, since that's, again, more with the lifting and less with the learning) and see how it works. The problem is that I have no capital. Science fiction movies require captial, like obscene amounts of capital... Of course I'm pretty good at generating captial and since nerds have all the money, and I'm pretty good with nerds, there may be hope for this plan. I have many creative friends and I'm a damn good organizer. I'm going to get a digital video camera and just start shooting stuff. I think M would enjoy it to. He's a great theatre director, maybe he see how he'd be in a different medium.

In other news, today is the day that Mogwai leaves us forever... best of luck Kari. Get better and bring back that Buffy Board game. You totally know that I'm going to hunt one of these down when I'm in the New World.

HRH

Toys!

M's mother arrived from Canada yesterday. She's a very very cool lady who I've really become attached to. Which is a good thing, yes? Anyway, she always brings us the neatest things, so today I'm happy because I have new toys. The coolest of which is the light up mirror, that operates on a controlled spring, so when I press the button on the front, the mirror cover opens kind of like a convertable roof. The cover then moves behind the mirror to act as a stand. All of this from pressing a single button. I truly am easily amused.

On the topic of toys and youth, I was thinking about what I miss most about summer in Canada and I realized it was running through sprinkers. I haven't done it in about 12 years, of course. I remember walking home from shcool in June and I'd always do my best to get caught in as many as I could. That all stopped when I started wearing make-up. I also remember my slip-n-slide. I really sucked at that. I was basically afraid to hurt myself by flinging myself on the ground, so I never really had much momentum. I also sucked at controlling the direction of my body so invariably I would get off course and end up on the grass. I was, however, very good at swimming, building forts, swinging and dismantling phones (my parents were not so happy about this skill).

HRH

Back on the chain gang...

Really no one quotes The Pretenders enough. Indeed I am back frm Budapest. I brought my laptop with me in the hope that I might be able to connect and do some remote blogging, but alas my hotel wasn't really equipped that way. It was a nice hotel. "Faded elegance" was a descripton that a friend of SuperWendy gave me and it was pretty much correct. I think my favourite part was when the molding above the balcony fell during the really cool thunderstorms. That and the really militant pool elevator lady who actually made time run faster than it runs, by stating that it was in fact 6:30 and I couldn't go down to the pool. I found this puzzling as when I returned to my room after trying to break into the pool area (I really wanted to swim) that my clock read 6:30. Isn't it great how time is so subjective.

I discovered that staying in a hotel room by myself actually makes me crazy. With nothing to watch on TV but CNN and BBC I became increasingly depressed. The video channel was showing the Love Parade from Berlin, which really isn't entertaining to watch at all. I pretty much went insane on Saturday night. All logic and reason went right out the window. I don't think I've been in a state like that before. I'm pretty good with being alone too. I think I understand why business travellers are such unhappy people. A big part of my meltdown was that I hadn't eaten or really slept well. It was too hot to sleep and the World Bank didn't arrange a dinner for that night and we were left on our own to feed ourselves. I made it halfway across the bridge into Buda (or Pest, I'm really not sure) and was so scared I had to turn back. The city was just so overwhelmingly big to me and so totally strange. I had a chocolote bar for dinner. Anyone who knows me knows that if I'm getting hysterical it means that I'm hungry and sleepy. It's been this way since I was a baby. It's taken me until today to get all of this upset out of my system. And I'm feeling much better now.

Travelling first class was pretty kick ass though. The private sleeper car on the way there was neat, except for the nine thousand times they woke me up to check my passport. The trip back was during the day and on an Euro City train, which meant it was pretty sweet. Air Conditioning and everything. The passport checks were a little less irritating, save the Czech boarder guard doing the usual performance of looking at my visa, turning it around, flipping the pages, staring at it some more, hmming and haing and when passing it back to me. One of the people I was sharing the compartment said to me "What did you do?" My response "I was just born Canadian..."

It's nice to be a home, if only for two weeks. In about 15 days I go to my other home in Canada for 12 days. It's going to be nice to be home, even though I really hate the travelling part. I love seeing new things and places, but I really hate the actual travel part of travelling. I love having a home and having a routine. There's something very comforting about it.

Kari has gone to LA to have Mogwai removed. Hopefully she'll be smart and not blog for awhile after the surgery. Of course we'll all know if she's breaking the rules. She sent me an sms this at four o'clock this morning, telling me that I was totally welcome to use her cable TV while she's away. If I'm lucky, I'll have a chance to do "Come on Baby" Tae Bo.

HRH

Clairification

The one thing I can drink and usually drink with glee is Champange or Sekt. Infer what you will about that. I'm am so totally doomed to become a diva...

HRH

The sleep of reason...

So last night I got drunk. (wow am I ever glad I sent my blog URL to my mom yesterday). Not drooling English football hooligan drunk, but inebriated enough to have a headache when I woke up this morning. M and I had dinner with a Prague friend who's taking off to Moscow on Saturday. We went out for drinks after and I had several ciders at an Irish pub no less. We had a good night in all fact. We met a really nice guy from New York who writes for the Wall Street Journal who complimented us on TPP when he overhead us talking about it. He was really cool. He's writing a book about baseball and "the shot heard round the world" which apparnently has a different meaning to 85% of American men than its traditional meaning of the beginning of the American Revolution. Who knew. It's all about the '51 NY Giants and their amazing run to the championship, and how they may or may not have legitmately earned it. I just did a google search for his name and found piles of stuff. Very interesting and cool.

Back to the sleeping thing. Among the many things I hate about drinking is the fact that I never really sleep if I've been drinking. It's not restful at all. It's more like passing out than resting and it happens when I drink the smallest amounts of alcohol. I also hate the taste of alcohol and really only enjoy drinks that totally mask the existence of it. Then there's the headaches that I get from wine. There are rare moments when I feel like having a glass of wine, but those are rare. There's a lot of pressure to drink, everywhere. Sometimes I give in becuase it's easier, and when I've stuck to my guns and been stubborn about it, people have backed off. It's really hard to get people to understand that I don't generally enjoy drinking, especially in this country. It's like an insult to your host to not drink. Of course, what I don't get is since when are the wishes of the host more important than those of the guest? Baffling. It's something that's always confused me. Why do hosts and guests alike play into this silly game of doing things that neither party wants to do. The host wants the guest to have a good time and feel comfortable, yet in an effort to please the host, the guest does things they do not enjoy or that makes them feel uncomfortable. Honestly people. This is ridiculous.

HRH

This makes me nervous...

From an email with Kari concerning the hotel and spa I'll soon be visiting:
It is famous. The massage that I had was hilarious.You are naked in a room, on, as I recall, a metal table where they basically dump a bucket of water on you and massage your exposed body with a bar of soap. I distinctly remember saying, this is n-o-t relaxing!

Maybe not what I want for my first spa experience.
HRH

Blowin' in the Wind

Yep, that's right. I have a fan. Sitting on my desk, pointed directly at my head, almost daring the 30+ degree heat to make me feel uncomfortable. Oh no, not me. I have my Honeywell classic.

Anyway, I was thinking out the fagility of the human body and the fact that all my close friends and loved ones are falling apart. M has some sort of, as yet unnamed, pinched nerve in his right shoulder, Kari has her mystery hand mass, Mogwai, Mike (who's link vanishes if I code it in html, so use the link on the sidebar to view his blog) has become one with his back pain named Herold and Wendy's leg tendons have conspired to give her a balloon like knee, also presently unnamed. Me? I haven't had any Hector like problems in awhile, but as I was walking to Tesco to buy my uberFan I realized that for the first time in years I'm going to have long term health issues to discuss at my upcoming physical in Canada. Those issues being "Why can't I put any weight on my right wrist?" and "Can I please have a new right knee?" I can walk, I can generally carry things and live my life, but I can't run and I can't do push ups. Which is really irritating since I was on a serious exercising kick for awhile there. Why are my joints falling apart at 25? I'm not impressed, to say the least. I loathe being limited. I'm also irritated, because I'm not in shape liked I'd hoped I'd be. Granted, not working out for over a month does nothing to help that. Something I blame myself for, but also my useless wrist for as well. I'm not fat, I'm not even chubby. I'm just not ass-kicking buff... yet.

I purchased my ticket for Budapest this morning and discovered that I am staying in the hotel that houses one of Budapest's best spas. My friend Mona has told me that if I have even a moment of free time, I should go to the massage room (apparently hotel guests have a special elevator for the spa) and have a large hungarian woman beat the hell out of my body. With a description like that, who wouldn't be lining up. A great deal of my stress about the trip has abated. Once I made up my mind to go, it all seemed pretty clear. It was a tough morning though. As I'm want to do when I'm stressed, I changed 4 times before I went to work, and sulked around the house. M gave me a good pep talk and proved again that he's pretty good at handling me. Anyway, I've got my ticket, and I'll be sleeping on a train for the first time (in a sleeper car I mean) and going on my first business trip.

Something rather funny just happened, which, thankfully I was the only one here to appreciate it. I'm alone in the office today, so I'm listening to a series of mixed CD's I made for myself two christmases ago. They're all a mish mash of songs that I just threw on dics, as I was enjoying the hayday of Napster and my father's CD burner. As result, all of the CDs contain songs from the South Park movie. I wasn't paying attention and let the CD I'm listening to play to the end. So for a few, thankfully brief, moments my office was flooded with Terrance and Phillip singing a song about their Uncle. I can move pretty quickly when I need to... Mike and M will appreciate the fact that earlier I was typing and boping to and fro listening to Flatbeat. If only I were a muppet.

HRH

Stubborn

As I said yesterday I'm sick. Any sane person would stay in bed and get better. Did I? On no! I cleaned the house yesterday, like a crazy woman and then came into work today and reorganized everything. Proof that cleaning is a sickness? Regardless, things are clean. I'm waiting until tomorrow morning to make my final decision about Budapest. If i still feel sick in the morning, I'm not going to go. If I don't, then I'll go.

I'm totally torn about this workshop. My instincts are telling me to say home, but logic is telling me to go. We'll see what I do. It's a mingle of all kinds of scary things at the same time. My first business trip, my first time to Hungary, My first time on a train since my stranding of last year, the list goes on. M totally called me on my potential chickening out, and you'd think that having it all out in the open like that would make me feel better. But no. Still feel ansy about it.

Tonight, the supergirls and I are getting together for dinner for what may be the last time this month. I'm off to Budapest for 4 days, then Kari is back to the states to have Mogwai removed (her mass in her hand) and then I'm off to Canada for 2 weeks for some R & R. It's going to be a long time apart. Of course, once I get back we're going to Karlovy Vary for the weekend, to Spaaaa, but it's still going to be awhile. I'm not even going to start talking about the fall when Wendy is leaving and Kari is most likely leaving Prague as well. These facts make me happy that my friends are off to do bigger and better things, but also so very sad. As I've sought out female friends like them for most of my life and now that I have them, events are such that we'll only see each other on very special occasions from here on. At least I can be happy that we've been together for the time we've had. And you never know where we'll all end up. In my perfect world, all living in the same city (with Mike of course and we'll take M as given)...

HRH

Only I could do this

So, it's been a couple of days. A couple of sneeze filled, muscle aching, smoker cough kinds of days (and I don't even smoke). Somehow, the girl who goes all winter without so much as a snifle (save my wonderfully timed New Years Eve cold, thanks to Mike and Dawn for the big comforting box of kleenex, btw), catches some sort of virus at the beginning of July. I know that bacteria speads in warmth, but this is silly. It always happens to me. I don't understand why I'm more inclined to get sick in the summer than I am in the winter? Regardless of the reason, I am and I'm grumpy about it. I hate being sick as it's such a total waste of time. I don't have the energy to clean the house, which seriously needs to be done and M can't do much because his back and arm have consipred against him in a plot of pain. We're both in pretty bad form.

I saw Blade II on friday night. Mostly so I could play "what part of Prague is that." A game you can play whilst watching Amadeus, Bourne Identity (Prague plays the part of Zurich), Hart's War, the upcoming XXX and Shanghai Knights, to name a few. It was amusing at some parts, and I girl that was in M's sketch comedy show is in the first part and dies somewhat gruesomely. I saw one of my favourite trams, and laughed really hard at the use of the Astrological Clock and Kris Kristopherson. Over all, the movie was hideous. I spent most of the time covering my eyes so that I wouldn't have to see the horrific images on the screen, and that was just Wesley Snipes. The first Blade was interesting enough. Heck, it even had a plot. This one should be taken into the sunlight and burned. So very, very bad. I couldn't help but think that I'd rather be watching Star Wars, which coincidentally, Kari and Wendy were thinking too.

I'm generally sharing Mike's feelings that summer movies just aren't what they could be. Spiderman was great, Star Wars was great (at least all the girls I know think so)m but what's next? Lilo and Stich? I'll have to catch that at home. Otherwise I'm just waiting to be scared out of my pants at Signs. I'm very much looking forward to christmas and The Two Towers and the final Star Trek Next Generation movie (can't remember the name right now and I'm too tired to look), but movie wise that's all I'm excited about.

I've realized that I hate watching dramas. Maybe it's residual film school hatred, but generally, I'd rather spend my crowns watching sci-fi movies or musicals. Guess I really have no interest in being entertained by reality.

HRH

Clean Freak

It's started again... the urge to clean and tidy everything in site. I'm hoping I can keep feeling this clean-frenzied so that when I get home I can really do a number on my poor neglected apartment. It's been awhile since I've really cleaned it and I haven't been home so much recently. This doesn't add up to a sweet smelling situation when you have a cat and a ferret. If I didn't have work to do, I'd actually take the holiday tomorrow (Czechs have national holidays on the 5th and 6th of July, kicking the holiday asses of Canada and the US), and clean the house. M and I have set Sunday as our cleaning day, as I have to work on Saturday, but I'd love to get it all done so he and I can just chill the chill. He's a clean freak too, and I know the state of our home is making him a little nutty too. Of course, when I refer to our home as a state, it's pretty clean in comparison to sane people.

I was thinking about the whole Anakin Skywalker thing again, and determined that it is totally the cape. This school girl interest is totally shallow as it occured to me that Anakin is kind dumb. Sure he's powerful with the force and really good with machines, but doesn't that make him a glorfied mechanic? There's nothing wrong with that, of course. But, he refuses to use reason and think rationally ("That's something I cannot do." Of course he's on the road to evil...) which is a big no-no in my books. Also he'd no doubt turn out to be one of those guys who's all charm, intense looks and cute displays of the force at first, but just wait a couple of years. You'll be lucky if he'll take you to the lakes region for the weekend, or watch the kids for awhile. He'll just use the force to clean up the garage and will most likely forget your birthday ("Jedi business."). Really he's no Han Solo, he's a child. Han has sowed his wild oates and while he could never settle down, he's "pretty good in a fight." and should you accept him as he is, could always keep things interesting.

Finally, Anakin could never be M, not even on his best Jedi day.

HRH

So very lost

So I was driving today. Not normally a blog worthy event, but seeing as I was driving in Prague, by myself. And I got lost. Like really lost. But, I found my way back into the city using some memory techniques and following a tour bus. If any vehicle is making its way to the centrum it's a German tour bus, and lo and behold, it led me almost to my front door. Sure, my sense of direction is crap, but there's still something going on in my noggin.

HRH

Three times, baby

If I was a guy, that might come off sounding rude... But I'm not. The potential illicitness of that header only pops to mind because of my dear and darling male friends, who have spent many years making the most innocent of comments a bad and dirty thing. In fact I've noticed that as I've been spending more time with the supergirls, I can say normal things, using their normal meaning and no one makes says anything that makes me have to give "the look." It's amazing.

Anywho, we saw Attack of the Clones again, and it's amazing how the three of us totally love it. Kari has become smitten with Obi-Wan Kenobi. The whole pure of heart and deed thing I guess. However, she has, chosen to admire a character that is totally emotionally unavailable... Of course she figured this out before we did. Wendy also had a revelation about her life long love for Han Solo and the possibility of having a thing for scoundrels!

Of course you're all on your edge of your seats wondering who I'm jonesing for. Well, besides M, who's always my superhero, I'm liking Anakin Skywalker. Strange, since I was always a Han Solo kind of girl (and I know I really always will be, though M points out that he's a criminal...). Maybe it's the power. "Druish princesses are attracted to money and power, and I have lots of it, and you know it." I personally think it's the cape. I really like the cape. And Hayden Christensen is way taller than Harrison Ford. Always an issue. M was rather disgusted to hear my confession. I believe he said something to the effect of "Anakin Skywalker is a whiny brat." I guess Luke had to get it from somewhere. It's just the cape... I'm sure of it.

In other news, it looks like my beauty section may be happening after all! My editor said he thought it was a great idea, and there's a possibility of being able to review salons, which means monthly treatments. It's good to be a human guinea pig. I doubt the funding for that would come through, but you never know. Regardless, I'll hopefully have a chance to write about beauty, which I know way too much about to be a healthy balanced person. Of course I was never one of those.

HRH

Flip flops

See it's a double entendre. I just bought a really cool pair of sandals (mules, so their not unlike flip-flops, save that there is no thong toe and these are leather) and I my stomach is presently doing them (flip-flops, that is). No, it's not because my sandwhich was too big like yesterday it's because I just suggested a new section for the paper that I freelance for. I proposed it in an email as I think I would have chuffed on my editor had I done it in person, and it gives him time to mull it over before talking to me about it.

Here's some of what I said: It would be a monthly profile or Q&A with a salon or spa owner in the city. It would include some of their services, new treatments for body and hair, their ideas of what the next big trends are in cosmetics and/or hair. I think it could be really interesting and not just limited to women, as many salons in the area offer special packages and procedures for men.

I know I'd look forward to reading that as a consumer. Of course, this is TPP and not InStyle (wouldn't it be cool if it was!) so it may not be of interest to our market and my skills will go unused. Or, even worse, my editor likes it and assigns it to another freelancer! I think I would cry. I know that's not professional, and I wouldn't cry at him, I'd just do it at home and develop an unrelenting hate for whoever is writing the section in lieu of me. Competative much? I just know that it's something I would do with a smile on my face and a song in my heart. I've always found the best work comes from that feeling.

HRH

Absentee

I actually posted yesterday... I swear. Blogger ate it and before I had time to remember what I was going to say or think of something else clever to comment on, I had to depart for an office party at an Italian restaurant. We had one of those upmty-course meals, which, in the middile of, I couldn't help feeling like the fat guy in Monty Python's The Meaning Of Life. I was ready to ask for a bucket. Not becuase it was bad, but because there was just far too much food for me to comprehend. Italians really know how to feed you.

I got up nice and early today and trotted on down to the Foreigner's Police to get my yearly dose of abuse and get my residency visa renewed. This time actually went pretty well. The staff was nice and pretty efficient. In fact, the worst part of it was the other foreigners. Apparently the crowding logic is alive and well all over the world. Of course I don't blame them. It's not an easy place to be relaxed in, however, anyone who was waiting at the office I was waiting at knew that they already has their Visa renewed. All the needed to do was pick it up. Why all the dramatics?

HRH

Tuna sandwiches and other things that make life sweet.

Tuna Sandwiches.
Zeus.
Walking whilst listening to my mini disc player.
Falling asleep with M.
Organizing something.
Knowing what I want to wear and sticking to it.
Having a class cancelled at the last minute (still get paid).
Lots of email from friends in my mailbox.
Everything working out according to plan (It happens sometimes...)
Watching some good Sci-fi. (Ohmigod, the Enterprise finale was so good. I'm freaking out! Well... not at this very moment.)
Coming home to a clean house (It never happens, but I'll never stop hoping)
Having a good hair day.

HRH