Claudia Kishi, style icon

This is my favourite blog of all time (alright, that might be a stretch, but still). I loved the Babysitter's Club. A lot. I would sit down in the Save-On-Foods while my mum shopped and devour the books. And I wanted to be Claudia Kishi. I still kind of do. I need way more high ponytails in my life.

The 25 Things Meme making its way around Facebook.

I posted this on Facebook this morning, but then I decided it was a built in blog post, too. I am not tagging anyone, but if you do this, tell me, because I want to know everything about everything and everyone, at all times.

1. I like food more than pretty much everything else.

2. Except maybe the sky and the ocean.

3. I love reading, and if I could spend a large chunk of life curled up in a comfy chair reading a book and sipping coffee/tea, I would be very glad.

4. I have no tattoos. Every time I think I'm maybe planning on getting one, I don't. Because I am a bit of a perfectionist. And so far none of them have been perfect or I haven't been convinced they would maintain their perfection over time. I like tattoos a lot, though.

5. I love movies. I have a degree in film studies. I would like to get a PhD in film studies just so I could call myself the movie doctor. But I am by no means a film snob. Yes, I like great arty subtitled masterpieces about the capitalist implications of cheezewhiz. But I also love "stupid" movies (but only smart ones). Coming to mind right now: Demolition Man. And - Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead.

6. At the beginning of this year, when I was meeting eight thousand new people a day, my way of making friends was to ask what their favourite thing ever is. Mine (for the purposes of this experiment) was Dim Sum. This isn't really true, but it is up there. (Aside: 8000 is a number that comes out of my mouth with some regularity when I am being hyperbolic about something I think of as a large number. I am not sure why.)

7. I make a little woop sound (like water dripping from a faucet) every time I almost run into someone, or I try to go through a door at the same time someone else is coming out, and things like this. I end up making this sound fairly frequently.

8. Sometimes when I smile at people (especially strangers) in passing, I think that the smile isn't much of a smile at all, but a grim little line that my lips make. It's a smile inside!

9. I think I would be good on TV.

10. My ideal job would be to host a travel food show.

11. I have been fantasizing about Vancouver food since last night. Right now I want: a hotdog from Japadog, fried canneloni with soy sauce at Szechuan Chonqing... And that's pretty much it for this exact moment. If pressed, I'm sure I could find more.

12. The only magazine I read regularly is O Magazine. Yes. The Oprah magazine.

13. I love living at King's. I feel like part of a community in a way that I never have before. I am surrounded by smart, fun, lovely people, and there is always someone to talk to. I always though I loved being alone (and I still do), but I also love being with people.

14. I watch The Bachelor. It is one of the worst things about me. But at least I watch it with another person, and that means it's fun. And not sad. (Maybe a little.)

15. I really love clothes and makeup. But I also am very editorial in my sense of self, and I don't like having a lot of stuff. So I buy the things that are perfect and I LOVE, and as soon as I don't love it anymore, it is out the door. So there.

16. I have notes for at least two novels going. Anyone want to have a writing club with me? We don't need to read aloud. Just meet regularly to force ourselves to write.

17. My hair is the longest it has been in at least eight years, possibly fourteen. Most of my teen/adult life saw my hair in a variation of pixie cut super short awesomeness. The other day I put on a hat that just left a little bit of my bangs visible, and I started to miss it a bit. This would disappoint my mother greatly.

18. I love seafood. A lot.

19. I LOVE SPICY THINGS. Holy cow, they make life so much better.

20. I have started knitting. I like making hats the best. They are surprisingly easy.

21. I love really big bowls. And chopsticks.

22. The place I would most like to go in the world is Japan. With my dad. And cameras.

23. I loved passing notes when I was a kid.

24. Were I to adhere to any religion it would probably be Buddhism. I keep intending to meditate. Anyone want to have a meditation group?

25. I love New York. If I had lots of money I would probably spend lots of time there. Eating. And watching amazing Broadway musicals. And plays. And I would spend copious amounts of time in the Metropolitan Museum. I am currently taking a Young Adult Resources class, and am going to read "From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler", which is about two kids who run away and live in the Met for a few days, based on the very strong recommendation of a classmate. I would like to live in the Met. Or pretty much any museum. I love the big rooms and light and everything. (I am feeling hemmed in by the fact that this is my last factoid, and that I want to keep going so everyone knows everything possible they could know about me except for the things I maybe don't want them to know, but maybe even those things. But yes. New York. It was amazing. Is.)

How I Live Now

I posted about this over on my Young Adult reading blog, but How I Live Now was so stupefyingly amazing that I felt the need to post here too. It's about a 15 year old girl who goes to live with her aunt and cousins in the English countryside just before a war breaks out. The time is contemporary/near future, and while at first the family exists in an idyllic state unaffected by the war, they ultimately descend into the sort of madness that is horrible but still sort of normal because it is life and they are still living. It was published in North America as a young adult book, but it is so much more than that. The style is distinct and hypnotic; I was entranced. I absolutely loved it, and as soon as I finished I nearly flipped to the front of the book to start again. Gorgeous, human, lovely, honest, funny, sarcastic, affecting, dark, brilliant.

5/5 stars.

Scary.

Apparently I turn 27 and immediately start wanting kids. In this case I was talking about how wonderful the book Little Men is, and was struck by the desire to have a roomful of kids in bed to read it aloud to. I want to be Jo Bhaer! I want to run a tiny school for boys (and girl)! Full of hijinks! With my kindly professor husband! Oh no!

Champagne Birthday

It is my birthday, for a few more minutes. Thank you to everyone who made the day special, that being everyone, everywhere, ever. But especially my friends and family.

I had a good day - despite the minor meltdown when my blood sugar was too low. It made me think of this book, which was one of my favourites as a kid:

I definitely had a LOT of birthday. More than enough to last me another year. Or at least until my half birthday.

Here is my present to myself: Angela. I love you. I will take you out to a movie in the near future, just us.

I am really happy to have so many great people in my life. Including me. And you.

Starting Out in the Evening

I've started to think that all stories are about loneliness and connection. Or maybe just the stories I love. Starting Out in the Evening is a beautiful film about the nuances of connection, about age, about love. I loved the structure; this is a film about brilliant people, people who shape words into art, but as the story deepens words become less important, or rather, the emotions are much less easily expressed and words sometimes fall away. This is why I love cinema - the perfection of moments in which there is no dialogue, and sometimes only the smallest action, but what appears on screen is so human and real and evocative.

Plus I want all of Lauren Ambrose's wardrobe for this film. I am such a grad student.

5/5 stars.

Something I said

Apparently I've decided that saying "high five" without any corresponding action is an appropriate way to express my enthusiasm. It could just be that I was outside in the cold, with hands in my pockets, not wanting to expose them to the elements. But I still kind of think it's awesome. I'm not sure my friend (who sort of half raised her hand in response) agreed.

Things I'm thinking about.

Snow. Annie Hall. Chicken noodle soup. New York. Ampersands. Walt Whitman. The Academy Awards. Writing. A nap. Laundry.

Chopsticks

I have never been much of a collector. I tried a few times, as a kid, to come up with something to collect. For a while I thought frogs. But nothing stuck. I am, by nature, an editor, not a hoarder. I tend to let go of as much as I pick up.

But now, I have organically happened upon the perfect collection.

Chopsticks.

My first three pairs: I love them all. I love them because they each have different personalities. Yep, I sound like a crazy collector already. At least I have chosen something small and cheap.

2009

I just wanted to post in 2009 as soon as possible. Which is actually sooner than it says, because I am actually in Pacific time but it says I am posting in Atlantic time. Which I will be back to very soon.

It feels like a ghost-town, Halifax. Like it doesn't actually exist. The same will be true for Vancouver, once I am gone.

I don't know if it's Vancouver or working at the Library again, or just having a chunk of time where my brain isn't coiling around homework, but I've been thinking about writing. And stories. Fragments are working their way around me, hopefully compiling. The image that comes to mind is one of those toys where the iron filaments are attracted to the magnet pen. Not that I actually know how those things work (wait, now I do. I googled it.).

This book is on my list of miracle cures for turning ideas and words and phrases into stories. I know, I know - just write. Okay.

Happy New Year.