The Award for Evil Phuckwhit of the Year Goes to...

This guy.

I'm a surfin' girl today - just sitting around at work waiting for film to be delivered. I can't believe I came in at all, after the awful week I've had, and considering that I was on the phone with our designer at ten o'clock last night. So here I sit, in jeans even, surfing, blogging, waiting...

And talk about surfing... it occurs to me that my brother in law and his wife might've been at sea during this crappy weather. Earlier this month, they left their land-lubbing family and took off for a year on their sailboat. I've made a few phone calls, but nobody's certain where they'd be right now. I'm hoping, and fairly certain, that they dry-docked and are holed up in a Motel 6 somewhere having sex. In fact, let's all do that. Let's make a national policy: during ice storms, power outages, tropical storms... get thee hence to the nearest seedy motel, order a pizza and get down to business!

Henry's Quotes of the Day
The best thing one can do when it's raining is to let it rain.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

How vain it is to sit down to write when you have not stood up to live.
Henry David Thoreau

The Friday Five

1. Who is your favourite singer? Why?
If I had to pick one, I would say Sara MacLaughlin, because her voice is exquisite, she is ethical and kind based on what I've read, and she writes her own lyrics, which impresses me.

2. What one singer can you not stand? Why?
I cannot stand certain types of music, like rap for example, but I can't identify a particular singer to dislike. Unless he or she is a rapper.

3. If your favorite singer wasn't in the music business, do you think you would still like him/her as a person?
I've read her cookbook, and I'm certain that I'd like her very much.

4. Have you been to any concerts? If yes, who put on the best show?
Yes, I've attended concerts. The best show I ever saw was too long ago to remember. Sara MacLaughlin's concerts are wonderful. Simple Minds put on quite a show, as did Styx, in their Mr. Roboto tour in, yikes, 1985 I think. Know what, though? Mamma Mia was the best I've seen recently.

5. What are your thoughts on downloading free music online vs. purchasing albums?
I think I'll go download some now! I've supported the music industry quite well over the years. First,we bought a bunch of records. Then, we had to buy a bunch of cassette tapes, along with Walkmans and boom boxes to play them on. Then, oh my, you have to replace everything with CDs. What next? I say enough!

I work beside a courthouse, on a lovely wide avenue that is also home to many hospitals and insurance companies. Today, a bomb threat in the courthouse has closed the street, and many of the neighbouring buildings are not letting employees in. Mine, however, is. That's fine with me; I have a pant load of work to do, so I crossed under two POLICE LINE DO NOT CROSS tapes, and am now sitting at my computer, looking out my window into the courthouse window. The court rooms are so close to my desk that I often see lawyers doing tai-chi in the corridors, looking very Darth Vader-esque in their robes.

To clarify, I only crossed under the police tapes to avoid circling around a long block and entering my building through the back door, where all the smokers hang out. As I ducked under the tape, some guy flashed an ID card that looked suspiciously like a Bally's Total Fitness membership, and hollered at people to stay back, to stay safe, this is for your protection, stay back.... Geeze Louise. I cannot abide "wannabes".

My One Celestial Bone
In two days, my SNAFUed, stressful, state of being will end, and my working life will return to normal. If, and if I make my deadline and get this &^%$*@ document to the printer by Thursday night, peace will be restored to my world. To keep me believing in the higher good, Ryan won Canadian Idol last night. It was like God tossing me a bone, a "hang in there, Crabby - you've been right all along".

The Stranger in my Journal
I found my journal from 1991, likely the last year I bothered to keep one. In it, I found some unfamiliar handwriting:

Jamie's Dream

Down by the barracks
underneath the lamp
There stands Lilli
The girl who falls in love,
falls in love
falls in love.

10¢ a dance
That's what they pay me.
Step on my toes
and crush my dress -
All for
falling in love again.

Never wanted to
What am I to do
But fall in love?

=Jamie, February 1991

It seems pretty Leonard Cohen-ish to me; however, that was the year I hung out with Irving Layton in the faculty club, so it couldn't be. Whoever Jaime is/was, thanks for the poem, but what were you doing in my journal? I swear I kept it in my underpants drawer.

Marrying the Prez, but Coming Home to Better
Today, the prez of my company apologized for being the source of all my stress. "Ah," I sighed (in my head). "Accountability from the top. How refreshing." Well, it was like slipping a ring on my finger; I respect him so much for saying that, I'll never leave now!

Then, when I finally arrived home, dehydrated and gut-rotted from too much coffee and anxiety, Mr. Crabby had a steak dinner, with roses and wine, ready and waiting. For the eighth year in a row, I'd forgotten the anniversary of our first date. Mr. Crabby, dearheart, my love, my buddy, thank you! It was just the thing.

Hospital Row

Hospital Row gleams this crisp morning
And good signs with good words
Like care, visitor, excellence, and wing
Make me smile.

Hospital Row, home to sadness.
I see it in the bald child's face,
see it in his wheelchair.
I see it in the haggard woman, hooked to tubes,
inhaling her last moments of life.

And beside her, the hospital Burger King,
laughing at it all.