Newly-Kiwi Shout-Out
A friend of mine from the biz (the one that hooked me up with my one true love) has recently relocated to Wellington, NZ for her hubby's work. They are only there for a year, but I know it was a big deal for her to just pick-up and leave; even if it was for just 12 months. Well, she's finally back in the Matrix and has sent word that they are alive and well.
Since she is half way around the world, I thought it would be safe to share with her my blog's address. I never give out this site to those I work with. Too much damning evidence of my rage. (This morning on CBC Radio One there was a news story about how blogging had become a major unforseen corporate privacy issue. They gave the example of a flight attendant who had decided to gossip and bitch about work on her blog by *cleverly* making up a fictional airline so as not to damn herself. BUT, the girl goes and posts a photo of herself in her profile! She has been suspended. I hope the reason for the suspension was stupidity.) But I trust her with my secrets so I thought it might amuse her to check in once in a while.
Gil reminds me of, well, me. She is also a "woman of extremes" with borderline OCD. So she writes me to say she checked out my blog and got really into it and ended up starting at the beginning and read straight through to the (emotionally) bitter end. I thought to myself that would be interesting (to me) to try that: read all my entries in one sitting. So I did. (At work. Procrastinating as usual....)
I haven't written very much over the past year. I apologize to my fans for that. I just go through phases. I'm the kid who's mother did NOT want her to take up any hobbies or sports that would cost any money because she knew I'd never stick with anything for very long. But I did notice something interesting (again, to me). Somewhere along the way I started signing off as mainly Highbrow instead of Lowbrow. I don't know how or why that change took place. But I kind of like it. Cheez! I'm getting soft in my old age! But maybe I've a brighter outlook for my 30s than I did for my 20s. I'm an old soul, so as SW always points out (and she knows because I've known her for 18 years now!), I've always looked forward to living in the next decade, certain it would be better than the current one. I've never had the hang-ups or issues SW had about turning 30. I was kinda excited about it. I guess you can say that I "found myself" earlier than most and have just been waiting for friends to catch up. Well, now they all have and it makes me happy. We may still have a lot of things we aren't satisfied with in life, but I think as a whole we are much more happy with ourselves. I once watched a movie where someone was told to make a wish and the woman wished for happiness but was subsequently told that "happiness was a child's wish." I can't remember the reason that followed, however, I remember myself agreeing with him. Today, I can't think of any reason that would make me agree. Happiness is one of the most important things I think one should always strive towards. What is childish about wanting to be at peace with oneself enough to experience joy?
Thanks Gil for leading me here today. It's wasn't where I was headed, but I'm sure glad I came!
Staying High
brow
Diamonds Are A Girl's Best Friend
My brother does something to me every year around my birthday. He asks me if there is anything I want. My usual response, after a brief moment of thinking about it, is "nope. Can't think of anything."
My problem is that I am all about immediate gratification. If there is something I want, I either a) will buy it for myself, or b) pine for it because it's too expensive for me to buy for myself, let alone ask my brother to treat. So usually, they get me a token gift: a spa treatment, gift certificate, etc. Usually, I open the gift and I'm like, "whatev." Don't get me wrong. I appreciate the thought, but it's nothing to get too excited about either.
My other problem is that I am very picky. All of my friends have told me they dred my birthday, or other gift giving holidays, because I am the hardest person to shop for that they know. I used to deny it, but I've come to terms that this is indeed the case. Furthermore, I'm only getting pickier as I get older! A woman at work gave me a small gift and as she handed it over she said, "I hope you like it. I know how picky you are." As soon as she said that I knew that I was not going to like it. I accepted the present graciously, put it on my desk and went back to work. When she wasn't looking, I surreptitiously unwrapped the package. I was right. I did not like the gift. But, I know, it's the thought that counts. I know and I appreciate that, but I can't change what I think.
So here we are again. Birthday time. While I was in New York, I got a call from my bro asking his usual, "Is there anything you want for your birthday?" Again, I said, "Uh, nope. Nothing I can think of..." But before he gave me his usual retort of, "Well then you get nothing...," (Yes, he's like a male version of me...), in which case I usually say, "Fine, whatever," I jumped in with, "Give me time to think about it." Because, let's face it, this is a milestone of a birthday so I want something special to remember it by. So he said fine. But I forgot to think about it, just like I keep forgetting about doing my taxes (Yikes! I only have 3 more days!), so when my sister-in-law called me yesterday, I promised I would think about it today.
Today at work I asked for my co-worker's help, but every suggestion she had was either "I have it already" or "don't want it" or "I want a tangible memento." Finally she said, "Too bad you don't wear jewelry...." A lightbulb went off! They're not going to buy me diamonds, but a nice piece of silver jewelry would be perfect. True, I would hardly wear it, but that just means it'll last longer and be more special when I actually do. And I totally luff cuffs these days! Especially
big, chunky, antique-y, cuffs. So tonight, I will call them and tell them that's what I want. Unfortunately, if my wish is something my brother thinks is a stupid idea, he tends to say, "No."
Let's hope he give this idea a High
(brow)
5
Chivalry Is Dead
I call myself a closet
romantic. I like to think that underneath this jaded, practical exterior I am really a "soulful or amourous idealist." I always imagined I'd meet a modern day version of the knight in shining armour who was full of gallantry. Despite being an independent woman, I secretly wished for a man who would open doors for me, carry my packages for me, and someone who would offer me the last piece of cake.
Well, I still want the last piece of cake, but I've found I can do without all the other crap! I'm currently working with a guy that is very courteous. If I am carrying a stack of papers, he tries to take the load from me. If we approach the lunch line at the same time, he insists I go first. If we reach the front door to the office at the same time, he immediately takes a step back and lets me walk through and climb the stairs first. We do not have an elevator, but if we did I'm sure he would hold the doors open for me even if I was over 20' away.
While I can appreciate this old fashioned chivalry, it fully annoys me! I am one who is easily irritated, and, as you know, I have a lot of pet peeves. Well, I can chalk up this new one to my ever growing list. I am an independent woman who has done well on her own for the past 30 years, but I thought I secretly wanted a man to rescue me. I even considered making the old Fontella Bass classic my "theme song" (reference to "Ally McBeal").
As it turns out, I don't need no rescuing. If I've got all my papers perfectly stacked, do NOT try and take half of them without asking because you'll probably upset the balance. If we get to the lunch line at the same time, do NOT force me to go before you because I'm uber picky and like to take my time figuring out what I actually want to eat. If we reach the front door at the same time, just go through because I am uncomfortable climbing stairs with someone right behind me at eye/ass level. If there was an elevator and I'm over 5' away, do NOT hold open the door because then I feel like I have to rush and run over when I was in no hurry in the first place.
Being single for this long has made me very particular and set in my ways. I have never had to compromise for anything I have ever wanted and it shows. I once saw a postcard with a
lichtenstein-esque woman who looked startled and the bubble said, "I've turned into the man I'd always dreamed of!" This is exactly what has happened to me without any warning whatsoever! I never had a man to take care of the "manly" things so I adapted and learned to take car of them myself. And because I know myself best, I do those things in exactly the manner I want them done. Now no man can be the "perfect man" because no one could be more perfect for me than me! Although I think it is great that I no longer feel the need to be rescued, this is its own tragedy! I still want a man to call my own, a strong man, a manly man, but one that will not treat me like a "lil' lady."
As it turns out my classic knight, a man who is realistically unattainable, is not the man I should have been pining for all these years. No, the man for me is a whole other breed of realistically unattainable! I need a man who is extremely flexible and is willing to mould his own habits to agree with, but not get in the way of, mine. Grrrreat! Just Grrreat....
Talk about an all time Low
brow
Beautiful! Beautiful!
I went to
NYC for my 30th birthday. Yes, that's right, I'm the BIG Three Oh!
I decided over a year ago that I wanted to go away and do something special for the occasion. At first I thought that Las Vegas would be perfect. I have never been and it seems like the kind of place I could go crazy with my closest girlfriends on my thirtieth. But the more I looked into planning the trip and the more I thought about it, I realized Las Vegas just would not do. First of all, all the inclusive packages are 4 days/3 nights and I can't take vacation days. I'm on contract, so the days I don't work, I don't get paid. Also, everything's on a tight tight tight deadline, and I'm sorry but it's true, I'm the glue that holds it all together and makes sure everything goes right and everyone is doing whatever I tell them to! So even if I wanted to, I couldn't take the time off. Secondly, the packages start at about $750 CAD for a decent hotel. And finally, as I tell everyone, I choose not to do LV because a) I don't like to gamble (I a-likey a sure thing!) and b) I am not interested in prostitution (not that there anything
wrong with that!...Oh, wait, there actually might be....). I know, I know, there's other stuff to do in the newly gentrified Vegas, but I ain't gonna pay hundreds of dollars to go see Celine and Sigfried! Or is it Roy....
So I decided to spend the milestone in my absolutely favourite city. New York, New York. We landed at about 7:30 on Friday and left the city at about 1:30 on Sunday. Man! It was a whirlwind of a trip!
After me and 2 of my Toronto friends checked into the hotel we discovered that SW had popped a blood vessel in her eye! So we met up with Dallas and Brooklyn and headed to the nearest
24 hour pharmacy. The pharmacist said it was common and nothing serious to worry about and suggested
Visine to constrict the blood vessels. We headed off for the East Village for dinner at a small, but stylish (v. traditional) Korean restaurant called
Temple. The food was just okay. However, I was burping up green onion and portobello mushrooms for the rest of the night. We had a bottle of some really nice black raspberry wine, but I don't recall its name. Then we headed to
McSorley's where the bouncer didn't believe we were older than 25 but let us in anyway without asking for ID. Inside we discovered that you can only order pale ale or dark ale. We decided no ale was best and left for
d.b.a. Apparently, Brooklyn plays Scrabble there on Sundays. That has nothing to do with the recount of the weekend, but I thought it an interesting fact. d.b.a. has a wide selection of beers from around the world, however, none of us were too wowed by any of the ones we happened to order. We all had just put a hard week's worth of work behind us so we decided to go back to the hotel (
Courtyard Marriott in the Financial District - decent) and go to sleep.
I woke up earlier than the other ladies and decided to shop for shoes at
Century 21 which was only a couple of blocks away. After I finished getting ready and told JS where I was going, she called me a bitch for not waking her up sooner. After waking up the other 2 (Brooklyn went home the night before) with a couple of more loud "bitches" I waited for JS to get ready and we took off. I bought a cute pair of DKNY ballet flats that are more on the casual/sneaker-ish side then on the fancy side. JS didn't see anything see liked so we went back to the hotel. The other 2 had finished getting ready and packed so we checked out and headed for brunch at
Essex. The food is jut so-so but included in the prix fixe is 3 alcoholic beverages. I cannot tell a lie. I only come here for the mimosas! But whereas in the past they used to fill the glasses with champagne and added only a dollop of OJ for colour, they have since evened out the proportions against my favour....We continued on to
Bloomies on 2nd Ave. for pedis. It is a inexpensive nail chain, and I wish we'd had time to go one of the Chelsea locations because as we learned this lesson twice now, the East Village location just doesn't compare. I firmly believe the esthetician I got had a personal vendetta against me and aggrevated my
plantar fasciitis. We did a couple hours of soft-core shopping where Dallas bought a cute neckless and SW bought a shexshy pair of black and gold lame heels. We said bye to Brooklyn once more because I could only secure a table for 4 at Mario Batali's
Babbo. We had a FABULOUS meal, ordering the traditional tasting menu on the recommendation of a co-worker. How right he was! The pappardelle pasta with porcini and Thyme was amazing! I could have had just a bowl full of that! Too bad we ended the perfect meal with the grappa! Ugh! After dinner we checked into, get this, the
Four Seasons!!! I can not tell you how beautiful this hotel is. I could live in the washroom, it was so gorgeous! (And it had a tv to boot!) Dallas works for the company and was able to secure the room and told the property that it was my birthday so they had a cake on the coffee table waiting upon our arrival! It had started to rain hard (damn those April Showers) so we started off with a drink in the famous
Fifty Seven Fifty Seven Restaurant and Bar inside of the hotel. We continued onto a New York tradition -
Siberia - but it was gay night and since we were a group of 5 women, we decided to get our palms read for $10 instead. That was a bunch of bunk and it was crappy weather and I was getting too tired to dance to the beats so we took a cab back to the hotel and stopped off at
Tao, a ridculously large themed restaurant that is a place to see and be seen. There was no where to sit so we left and asked the concierge where else was open and close by. He suggested
Opia or
Au Bar. Since Au Bar had a $45 cover charge, we decided on Opia. After a drink we headed back to the hotel, ordered a pizza and watched Resident Evil on the 32" widescreen LCD television!! (It's always all about tv!) I fell asleep on the couch and we woke up, but not early enough to get a proper sit-down breakfast. So we got a quick sandwich at PAX Whole Foods at 49th and 7th, and then it was back to La Guardia.
So thanks to JS, SW, Dallas and Brooklyn for making my birthday one I definitely will never forget! And thanks to everyone else for your well-wishes and kind thoughts!
Love and Peace,
Highbrow
Procrastin8or
That's what I am.
I heard an interesting interview this morning on CBC Radio One. Morning host, Andy Barrie, was interviewing a psychology professor from York University who specializes in procrastination. He said there were two types of procrastinators: 1) those that are anxious about procrastinating and view it as a problem, but since they receive affirmation for their work they do not break their pattern; or 2) "optimistic" procrastinators, those who do not find anything wrong with their behaviour in the first place and are happy with the affirmation based on that type of performance.
I am of the latter variety. I work great under pressure and find no need to change my procrastinating ways. In fact, before I was "Highbrow," you could have found me in cyberspace as "Procrastinate." The professor went on to say that procrastination is starting to be viewed as a serious pychological problem associated with Obssessive-Compulsive Behaviour.
BINGO! That totally makes sense, since I also exhibit OCB, just ask anyone who knows me well. And, unfortunately, it is only getting worse with age....
He continued the conversation by adding that when a Perfectionist (me again) crosses behavioural paths with a Procrastinator, the reason the Perfectionist puts off the task at hand is due to the fact that s/he believes that the finished product will not meet expectations: theirs, their superior's, their family's, etc.
EXACTLY! That's precisely why I have been putting off cleaning my house!...
If you want to ssscheck out the interview, the sound clip should be posted on their
site by tomorrow.
Working right up to the last minute of a deadline gives me such a High
brow
Grow As A Person
I'm turning 30 in a couple of weeks. Heading to NYC with my chicas for the big event. I had planned on going to Las Vegas because I'd never been and turning 30 seemed like a great reason to go, but working out the logistics I was all, "I don't like to gamble, I don't do prostitutes, I can't afford the good shows, and I can't take time off work and all the package deals are for 3 nights/4 days. So LV was bumped for my fave city. New York, New York. I'm starting to get really excited!
So my new mantra for entering my Carlsberg years is "growing as a person." I am not one of those type of people who are ignorant of their flaws. I am very aware of who I really am, but have not particularly been interested in improving upon my (yes, numerous) flaws. I'm going to work on that this decade. However, I need to take baby steps. My first step is to gossip less. I have a serious problem. I cannot keep a secret. Eventually, I will burst, and not always on purpose, but simply because I won't be thinking before talking and the next thing I know, the cat's out of the bag. (I also need to work on not abusing the comma. I have a serious problem with that as well....)
In any case, I'll let you know how it goes. And I have a couple of other theories in the vein of "ugly-funny vs. pretty-dull" that I would like to share with you. But that's for another time.
Simply,
Highbrow
Foolish Girl
So yesterday, I'm talking to my friend on the phone about nothing in particular and then she says to me, "So are you exposing yourself?" After a quick fly check, I'm all, "Wha?" And she says, "On your blog. I thought I read you refering to yourself by name." After she mentions this I realized that she was totally right! I must have had a brain fart when I titled my last entry. After all the hard work of trying to keep my identity a secret to the world, I tell y'all my name.
So as with "My Left Boob," the transgression has been deleted. But the damage is done. On the other hand, since only 6 people read my blog and you each know who I am, I guess it doesn't really matter if I tell you my name....
So I got a new computer. It's an HP notebook. It is huge actually (a desktop replacement rather than a truely mobile laptop) but I love it. all 17" of it! If you're interested, here are the
specs. And I got an awesome deal on it! A week after I bought it, the price dropped; so I got an extra $150 off. I'm thinking of getting a sleek new digital camera to go with it. T's trying to hook me up with a good deal in Japan.
A couple of weekends ago it was sleeting outside, but I needed to get some sweet microwave popcorn and white cheddar powder for dinner. Since I also needed to walk the dog (digression: whenever I tell this one guy friend that I have to go home and "walk the dog" he gives me this knowing look, like, "oh yeah, 'walk the dog.'" As if it's a euphemism for something di-yar-tay.) I decided to kill two birds with one stone. Because of the weather, I put her rainsuit on for the first time. She looked soooooo cute! But the sad little doggy kept looking at me with this, "everyone at school's going to laugh at me" face. You may think me one of those cruel pet owners who force their dog to wear clothes, but I'll tell you this: when we got home she was as dry as vintage white wine!
Oh No! Low battery power, must switch to AC power for a High
brow
boost
