Archive for January, 2009
January 25th, 2009 by Rebecca
I should have gone skiing this morning, but I didn’t.
I planned to. I talked to people about the fact I was, and then I woke up this morning… I don’t know. Something just didn’t feel right. My back was a little achy, my shoulder and hip hurt, and my ankle has been bothering me all week [1] It took a while to crawl out of bed, but eventually I did, resolving to at least make an effort to get out. And the more I thought about it, the more it seemed like a good idea – I didn’t go last weekend because there were races, and I can’t go on my day off this week because I’ll be in Toronto at the library conference.
However, the final straw was not being able to get my contact lenses in – being outdoors in this weather while wearing glasses is a guarantee that I’ll have to stop every 30 seconds to defog them. It’s the only time I wear my contact lenses [2]
And then there are the whole other host of reasons I came up with to justify not making the effort to get ready and get out. I have to clean the kitchen after spending yesterday dyeing yarn with Rhiannon. I need to pack for the week, and do the last of the laundry. The sweeping isn’t going to do itself unless I’m the one wielding the broom. Yet, these are all things I could have accomplished this afternoon if I had still gone skiing this morning.
What it boils down to is a whole bunch of excuses for not going. And that’s okay – so I didn’t go today. I’ll go next weekend. I walked to work almost every day last week, and I’m going to be doing a lot of walking this week. So maybe I didn’t eat as well as I could have this week – the times I ate junk this week are outnumbered by the times and amounts I ate something healthy. Next week it might be more challenging to stay away from the junk since I’ll be away from home but I know what to avoid and I know that I can make healthy choices.
However, it’s a decision – both the one not to go and the one to accept that I didn’t go and just move the hell on – that took a long time to accept. It’s not always good to rationalize not doing something you really should do (like exercise), but sometimes it helps to look at the reality of a situation and accept it for what it is.
[1] Stupid years of being a varsity jock and thinking I was indestructible!
[2] I really like my glasses, and while there are a lot of good reasons to have laser surgery to correct my vision, it’s not something I’ve considered for myself.
January 13th, 2009 by Rebecca
Look, there’s no denying it – -14C in Toronto is terribly cold. It’s a damp cold that gets into your joints and makes them ache something fierce, and no matter how many layers you have on, you never seem to be able to get warm. And then there’s the wind – good lord, the wind! All those tall buildings make such a lovely canyon for the wind to go whipping down, picking up snow and ice and freezing you no matter how hard you try to stay warm.
But, then there’s this:
That’s nippy, let me tell you. I was at a friend’s place this evening, and this is what the temperature was when I got home. It takes less than 2 minutes to get from where I park my car to my house, and in that time my nose hair froze, my jeans got stiff and my cheeks went numb. Breathing hurts in that kind of cold. And yes, it’s a dry cold, which my poor chapped hands will attest to [1], which doesn’t change the fact that in that kind of cold, you sometimes don’t realize how terribly cold it is because there’s no wind or damp to seep into your bones. And by the time you do, you’ve frozen off something vital.
[1] I wear mittens any time I got outside, but the air is so dry it doesn’t take much for them to get rough and bleeding. The best defense I’ve got against this is Bag Balm. I kid you not – it’s really the only thing that works on me.
January 5th, 2009 by Rebecca
In the spirit of trying to blog more often, I volunteered to let Dr. Beth interview me. She’s sent five questions for me to answer:
1. You are a librarian, so I assume you’ve read every book ever written. In your opinion, what is the best book ever?
There are literally dozens of books I could recommend here, having read from just about every section of the library. In the end, however, I’d have to go with The True Story of the Three Little Pigs by Jon Scieszka. The illustrations are wonderful, and it teaches the value of not only being nice to your neighbours, but also getting both sides of the story before you rush to judge someone. [1]
2. If you were hosting a 24 movie marathon (a la Dave from Touch You Last), what movies would you show?
To get things started, we’d have to start with something energetic and slightly off-kilter – Tank Girl is just the thing for this. Then we’d move on to some Canadiana, like New Waterford Girl and Wilby Wonderful. We need a kid’s movie now, so let’s watch Finding Nemo. By now, it’s getting to be around suppertime, so I’m going to put on Big Night to enjoy with dinner. Afterward, we’ll need a comedy and an action-adventure to carry us into the midnight hour – Live Free or Die Hard fits the bill in both categories. Now we’re going to need something to usher us into the late evening, something serious and cerebral, but not anything too complicated. I saw Urbania in late 2007, and loved the story on so many levels. We’re starting to feel a little tired now, so let’s go with something lush and colourful like The Fall. Now that we’re into late, late night territory, let’s scare the bejezus out of everyone still awake with either Outpost or 28 Days Later [2]. To cleanse the palate, let’s watch Mystery Men, followed by Coffee and Cigarettes (I’ve always thought the Iggy Pop/Tom Waits episode was the best). To end, I’m going to go with the very fitting Last Night.
3. What is your guiltiest pleasure?
Paperback romance novels are always something I feel silly about reading in public, but they’re like chocolate truffles – empty calories, no nutritional value, and yet they taste oh so good and before you know it you’ve eaten the whole box. I don’t read them exclusively, and I read them for a specific purpose: like a dish of sorbet between courses of a meal, romance novels sometimes help with the transition between books of different genres. Or if I have reader’s block, I’ll grab a couple from the paperback rack and race through them so it feels like at least I’ve read something to help me get over it.
4. What was the best present you got for Christmas this year? The worst?
The best present I got was the copy of The Joy of Cooking, which I’ve only been asking for it for the past six years or so for my birthday and/or Christmas. It’s more than just a cookbook – it’s a little like an encyclopedia of cooking and food preparation. The worst? Someone gave me a cold, so I’m not to happy with that.
5. What is the craziest thing you’ve ever done?
I’m not all that crazy a person in my public life, so some of the stuff I’ve done doesn’t seem all that crazy. One instance of crazy I can think of was the time I drove to Grand Island, NY to go roller skating with a group of friends from fencing. I think the flat-out craziest thing I’ve ever done is the time I got my hair cut when I was ten. I’d never cut my hair until that point, and it was really long – like, past my butt long. It was difficult to take care of, and washing it was a two-person job, usually in the laundry tub, so I decided to get the whole thing cut off. I didn’t tell anyone at school I was doing it, and showed up the next morning with hair that was cropped close to my head – it took a while for people to notice because they thought I was a new kid and didn’t recognize me without my hair. [3]
Are you interested in being interviewed? Email me and I’ll try to send you five scintillating questions within 24 hours for you to answer on your blog/Facebook/MySpace page.
[1] Note to Beth: your niece will love this one some day. I’m just sayin’…
[2] Say what you will about the Japanese horror oeuvre, but zombie movies scare the living crap out of me.
[3] I thought I had pictures of it when it was short, but apparently I don’t. Or just can’t find any right now.
January 4th, 2009 by Rebecca
Last night, as I was drifting off to sleep, I thought of another resolution to add to the list. It’s one that’s so simple and obvious that I almost always miss it, and I can’t be alone in this.
11. Whenever someone compliments me or says something nice about me, thank them instead of putting myself down. I can’t count the number of times someone’s thanked me for doing something or complimented me for something I was wearing (sweaters, jewelry, shoes, etc.), and my response is to brush it off or put myself down. “Oh, it was nothing,” “You’re too kind,” and “No, I’m not really that smart/clever/pretty” are my most used comebacks, and my favourite saying when I’ve made an error is “It’s a good thing I’m pretty because I sure ain’t smart!”
It’s a terrible reflex, and most of the time I don’t even think about what I’m saying when I’m in the middle of saying it. Why do I feel the need to put myself down? Do I not think I’m worthy of the praise or the compliment, even if I really am? For a long time, I had really crappy self-esteem, and it’s only been in the past few years that I seem to have outgrown it, except for times when I hear me putting me down. I’m sure there’s some deeper psychological meaning behind this, but it has to stop if I truly want to start believing people when they say nice things to and about me.
The other day, I was showing someone the mittens I made for myself over the holidays. They’re long, colourful and have an interesting cable in them. The pattern they are from is originally for hand warmers with a thumb you add afterward; I turned them into mittens with a gusset thumb [1]. The women I was showing ooh’d and ahh’d over them, and then said, “You’re so clever!” and I immediately responded “Not really.” And then I thought about it.
a) Not everyone can knit.
b) Not everyone can knit from a pattern.
c) Not everyone can knit cables from a pattern.
d) Not everyone can knit cables from a pattern and make modifications to said pattern on the fly without needing to write everything down.
So yeah, I guess I am pretty clever. When she told someone else about the mittens and told them how clever I was, and the other person also complimented me, instead of saying something to minimize my accomplishment, I said “Thanks! It’s very kind of you to say that!” Yesterday someone complimented the sweater and necklace I was wearing – both are hot pink and not something I thought would suit me but it turns out I look good in. Instead of brushing off the compliment, I responded, “Thanks! It is a great colour on me, isn’t it?”
So this year, I am going to try to be more gracious, especially towards myself.
[1] I tried to find a definition or a picture, but couldn’t find a good one; basically, as you knit the mitten, you make a gradually increasing pocket for where your thumb will go.
January 3rd, 2009 by Rebecca
I’m not a New Year’s Resolution kind of girl. Why make promises and set goals only once a year when you can be doing these things year round? Change is constant, so one should always be looking for ways to change and improve, regardless of the time of year. On the other hand, the new year marks a fresh start, a time to undertake new adventures and deciding how you’re going to fill the next 365 days until it’s time to start again.
With that said, I’ve done some thinking and reflecting on what I want to accomplish or improve in 2009. And I have a list – some are goals, some are strategies, and some are improvements.
1. This will be the year I finally knit a sweater. If you want mittens, I’m your gal. Socks? Don’t mind if I do. Scarves, hats, stranded colourwork – hey! I can do it! Sweaters? Something I’ve never done.
2. Coming up with a strategy to be more organized at work. Staying focused and on task at work is challenging because not only am I easily distracted, I have no way of shutting out the distractions (my office is lacking both doors and walls, and is also where the department printer is located, so people are coming and going all the time.) I start things all the time, only to remember I need to do something else, or call or email someone, so I stop to do those other things and then forget what I was doing in the first place. Or I’ll get home and remember I was supposed to call/email someone but got distracted. Last year, I managed pretty well with daily “To Do” lists [1] but it’s going to require more than that.
3. Be more organized at home. I’m actually not bad at it, and where I’d like to improve is doing it more often. All my bills and other papers are filed, but I tend to do it every four or five months. I should be doing this every month.
4. Start a monthly budget sheet and stick to it. This one I’ve done a few times and always end up abandoning after a few months because it’s “too much work”. However, I have a roof that may need repairs in the spring. I have a 10-year-old car that, while it’s still in decent shape, should be replaced before it’s in bad shape and I’m desperate. So I’m going to need to keep track of pennies and look for ways to put some aside.
5. Be more social. I’m an introvert and I tend to keep to myself most of the time. I need to get out more and interact with other people outside of my job.
6. Update (and keep up-to-date) my Flickr/LibraryThing/Ravelry [2] accounts.
6.5 Get my reading journal back on track!
7. Blog more.
7.5 Decide which widgets I want on the sidebar and keep them updated.
7.5.5 Finish categorizing the posts and adding tags where appropriate.
8. Bike the entire Kate Pace Way this summer. The most I ever managed was almost halfway, and this past summer was going to be The Summer I Finished It. Instead, it ended up being The Summer Of Near Constant Rain And Also Of Going Down East (For The First Time In Ages).
9. Saying “No” more often. Now I know what you’re saying – “Isn’t this the year Jim Carrey is encouraging us to say ‘Yes!’ to everything?” Firstly, if you’re looking to Jim Carrey for personal guidance, then I’m afraid we’re going to have to have a conversation about appropriate role models. Secondly, I said “Yes!” to a lot of things last year and ended up being overextended and stressed out, mostly at work. Unfortunately, I’m going to have to say “No” to a few things and people this year, and back out of others if I want to retain my sanity.
10. Actually make a fuss about my birthday this year. This is the year I turn 33, which was always one of my favourite numbers as a kid. A few years ago, on my sister’s 30th birthday, my brother-in-law threw her a huge party because turning 30 was a big deal. I got depressed and spent the next little while moping about not having anyone to make a fuss for me when I turned 30. Since them, I’ve come to realize that if you want a fuss made about something and there’s no one to do it for you, then you’re going to have to do it yourself. So my dear friends, family and enemies (and those of you who are all three), mark this date on your calendar: March 22. I don’t know what’s happening on that date, but I’ll think of something.
I’m feeling pretty good about this, and I know I need to get this down and strike while the iron is hot and (insert other cliches about making a start.) Here’s to looking back at the end of 2009 and feeling pleased with my accomplishments!
[1] At least until June, when summer rolls around and all bets are off.
[2] Ravelry is a social networking site for knitters.