Day Twenty-One - Iron-y

My mother keeps an exceptionally and perhaps a bit obsessively clean and tidy house. She always has. She would have made a wonderful housewife, except that she also worked [outside the home] full-time [and then some]. My dad was also quite neat and tidy - for the most part. So I don't know what happened with me because I can be a little bit of a Miss Piggy...perhaps this is further proof that I'm adopted. More likely, I am just spoiled.

I have fond memories of spending time with my mum watching made-for-tv movies or some news magazine show while she ironed and I...probably did nothing aside from watching TV. Very comforting [other memories include drinking coffee, sitting on the kitchen counter, yapping and watching my mum do the dishes every night - I'm so awesome]. So tonight, trying to recreate that scene I finally opened up the ironing board from its packaging and I ironed. The ironing board has been around for...well...over a year in its store packaging. I do [on rare occasions] iron - but usually just on the counter or on a towel on the floor. My mum ironed weekly and she ironed *everything*. Towels, faceclothes, underpants - everything! She always wanted me in ironed clothes because she thought people would think less of me [and of her] if I was a bit wrinkly.

I've been shamefully wrinkly for a long time, for the most part. I ironed a faux silk miniskirt and two of Joseph's dress shirts and it was...quite awful. I think maybe I was supposed to learn these skills in some horrific home economics class, but instead I was asked to leave that course and took welding instead. Ironing made me feel very 1950s housewife and not in a good, fun way [like when I cook]. A definite test of my patience.

Now where is my valium?

Day Twenty - Scent of a Headache

I'm big on self-medication. I dislike prescription drugs [well, except for my migraine meds which I am in love with and they make me crazy high]. I am...neutral and skeptical on natural remedies, naturopaths, accupuncture - stuff like that. However, I suffer from terrible headaches. Really very...not good. I get a big migraine episode about 2-3 times per month and regular headaches maybe twice a week.

For the regular headaches - which I had today - I take a variety of extra-strength, over-the-counter type pills - to varying degrees of success. My ET for the day was going to be meditation, but I knew I wouldn't be able to do this with the headache, but in the process of my research I stumbled across something more fitting to today. So, this evening I experimented with aromatherapy. I bought the aromatherapy oil @ Whole Foods [if it's cheap you are doing it wrong] and used it three different ways [this seems to be a theme].

1. Heated in my oil heater thing - this did seem to relieve my headache and it smelled very nice. Made me want to eat chocolate mint something. Mmmmm - Pep. However, sometimes when I get home my headache goes away anyway as I'm no longer stressed out and under fluorescent lighting. 2. Mixed in with lotion for a back massage. The smell was again, quite lovely and it made my back/shoulders really tingly and felt really nice. 3. Put on cotton balls and rubbed on back/stomach/temples. Not overly successful, but the tingly-ness and smell were not offensive.

Day Nineteen - They Come From a Land Down Under

No, not Australia, but from New Zealand [at least I think they are from New Zealand and Wikipedia does confirm this and I always trust in Wikipedia] - my ET for the day. Something lowkey after yesterday's adventures and because of my mighty migraine.

Kiwifruit were on sale @ the grocery store and in my migraine haze I realized that I had never bought/prepared my own. While I enjoy kiwi, I usually do so @ work where they come on platters with other fresh, sliced fruit. So tonight I prepared and ate kiwifruit at home. I used three different methods of preparation: 1) peeling with a knife - a good strategy, but I got juice everywhere and cut a lot of the fruit away as I was scared of cutting myself; 2) cutting the fruit in half and scooping out - I think this would be the preferred method [and kiwi are sometimes apparently sold with special spoons to do just this], but the kiwi was too hard in the middle [damn Price Chopper and their crappy fruit - completely expected - if I die of scurvy I blame them]; 3) eating with the "fur" on - not good. At all.

Hopefully the rest of the kiwi will ripen up!

Day Eighteen - Out of the Park

This thing is one of the "big ones" that I really wanted to do this year. I'm reluctant to burn them so early into the year, but I really couldn't wait. I actually did a number of ETs today, but I'm just going to count the most notable.

I've loved baseball since I was a wee one and I even had a brief Little League career, but I am way, way out of practice these days. Today I brushed up on my awesome baseball skills @ Playdium where I visited the batting cages. Yes, I did become stroppy when things didn't go my way and yes, actually connecting with the ball [they were strange, yellow plastic balls that were hard as rocks] caused infinite pain and yes, I was quite terrible. However, I did start to get back into the swing of things [ha - dyou see what I did there - swing...get it, baseball? I slay me.], but my return to baseball greatness was severely hampered by my hand pain.

Other ETs of note today include using Mississauga Transit [the glamour], going to Playdium, playing videogames for four hours straight [actually, that's not really any different from a regular Saturday]...playing shooting games. It's worth the drive to Mississauga!

Day Seventeen - Sing...Sing a Song

I cannot sing. At all. Even as a child I had a horrendous voice. Despite other evidence of musicality, I cannot "hear" music and imitate it. However, music does make me happy and changes my mood [for the better]. Sometimes I get the uncontrollable urge to rock out with my nonpod and really just burst into song. Right there on the street.

Today, I decided to do just that. I sang out loud and on the street on my way to/from work. Wearing headphones is awesome because you truly have no idea how terrible you are - in fact you sound pretty fantastic. In reality my off-key caterwauling freaked out a cat. Anyway - here is a list of the songs I sang along to:

Hole - Kelly Clarkson
How I Feel - Kelly Clarkson
How Soon Is Now? - The Smiths
Judas - Kelly Clarkson
Landslide - Fleetwood Mac
My Sweet Prince - Placebo
Never Again - Kelly Clarkson
Never Is A Promise - Fiona Apple

First off - the inclusion of Kelly's latest album was a bit of a disaster. I totally can't do that pop/rock screamy stuff that she does here. Also, I don't know the words very well. I also cannot do The Smiths very well...it's all wordy and moody or something. Same with Placebo - the voices have too much character and the songs are all noisey - which I love, but doesn't translate well into awful solo singing. The most fun songs were Landslide and the Fiona Apple one - I would love to be able to sing like Stevie or Fiona...but I felt no shame in belting them out.

So - the lesson learned here is that sometimes it is best to just dance around that fine line between *really* wanting to sing out loud and keeping my fool mouth shut. It was really a scary thing to actually do.

Day Sixteen - Hair Today, Goon Tomorrow

Although we are only sixteen days in I am noticing that many of my ETs seem to be social in nature. I feel the need to clarify that I generally am not very social. My life is usually pretty much home-work-home. Also, I'm quite shy/socially awkward/not quite introverted, but definitely...odd. So, social things really are a big deal to me.

One of the good things about work in the last few months is that I am friends with people @ work. And outside of work. That is a bit unusual for me. Through my coworker/friend Sue I have met someone who owns her own salon. Tonight I attended a mixer @ a hair salon. I like the word mixer. Other things I like include sushi, cheese, fiery olives and tiny hors d'oeuvres so small that I could have fit like five @ once in my big mouth [but I didn't as I am a classy lassy]. The salon is very chic and there were many, many beautiful and highly dressed and styled people there, but I tried to not be too intimidated and I did not run away. This is progress.

Day Fifteen - Googly

I love googly eyes. You take a pair of googly eyes [or sometimes just one if you are going for a cyclops kinda look] and stick them on anything and you have some high-lariousness right there. I found out by way of her brilliant hospitality book that Ms. Amy Sedaris is also a fan of googly eyes. She's very crafty.

So today, inspired by her book I put on my Strangers with Candy DVD and I made googly-eyed peanuts. I made sixteen in total and cracked myself up quite consistently while creating them. I still have to find a way to present them in a suitably amusing fashion.

And the best news is that I still have a bag of googly eyes left so I can make plenty of things googly whenever I'm feeling blue.

Day Fourteen - The Sixteen Pleasures

I like to read books. More specifically I like to read classic novels and current non-fiction. I majored in World Literature and therefore I have had a number of people tell me to read a number of books. And, as I say - I have done so. Usually with minimal complaints. However, I have never had someone recommend a book to me and bring me the book, because they thought of me. Until now.

Last week a coworker of mine, Catherine, brought me a well-worn copy of The Sixteen Pleasures, and told me that she thought I would enjoy reading it. Completely without prompting or previous discussion of the book. So today I started to read my first loaned book. Catherine read this book when she was 29 and thought I might identify with the protagonist.

In spite of [or perhaps because of] some initial hackiness in the very beginning, I am enjoying the book. It is a very identifiable book [though not as much as Anna Karenina - but what is?], which is exhilaratng and frustrating. I'm of course delighted that someone thought of me in any capacity and angered over me not being the enigma I imagine myself to be.

Day Thirteen - Teacher, Mother, Secret Lover

I unapologetically love television. I really do. I would choose it above most other things [and yes, even people]. Therefore, the Writers Guild of America is quite troubling to me. My favourite shows were the first to be affected by the strike - all of my favourite late night fellows had to sign off for a bit. And yknow what - it's perfectly fine. I would think so much less of them if they were to continue while the writers are on strike - although it might provide moments of unintentional hilarity.

So, today [in addition to working a 12 hour+ day] I wrote letters supporting the WGA to network executives. I'm not sure that this will have any real meaning, but I felt like I had to do something. If I lived in New York or LA I would totally go join the picket lines for a day. Because - TV is good.

If you would like to do the same, please visit this website: http://www.wgaeast.org/ and click on TV and Movie Fans. There are phone numbers listed as well if you are a phone person - but I am more inclined to use good, old fashioned snail mail.

Day Twelve - Cleaning House

I like keeping things. Inanimate objects strike my fancy and I have a hard time parting with them. When we moved in August I purged a lot of stuff, but the objects in official storage containers were left unscathed. Today - they were scathed.

I cleaned out my storage boxes and reconstructed the kitchen table. I now have one entirely empty storage box...so...I'm quite excited to go get myself some more possessions to put in the box. I have never cleaned them out - it was surprisingly non-nostalgic for the most part. I enjoyed rediscovering some of my favourite artist's works...and I might even put up some art [something that's never happened]!

The table was shockingly easy to put back together. I didn't even need any tools, which was quite disappointing [not even an allan key!]. Just my hands [and yes Jewel they are not yours, they are my own]. This table was my childhood kitchen table [with super tacky bright orange vinyl 70s chairs] - so I naturally assumed it would be more complex. Of course, when I was younger the table also seemed impossibly big. Like, if the spaghetti was @ the opposite end...yeah - you weren't getting that spaghetti. Maybe one day we will have dinner @ the table...