more like space

passed another milestone this week. i have had a couple of people mention that i look as if i've lost some weight. i discounted the first one, because i was wearing clothes that, to my mind, make me appear smaller than i actually am, but a couple of other people have noticed since, so i'm forced to admit that it might be visible.

the other major milestone that i've passed this week is that i've stopped getting hunger pangs the way i was at first. i believe my body is now realising that complaining is not going to make me fill it with larger portions. it's just going to make both of us irritable. (the down side of this is that it will now likely be more difficult for me to take weight off, since my body and my metabolism have adjusted to my new diet.)

this doesn't make me feel better when i'm trying on clothes- a rather terrifying experience- but i at least realise that there is some light at the end of a very narrow tunnel.

one thing i did notice, because…

it's rare that cnn and i agree on anything. last year, like many, i gleefully watched (and watched and watched) anderson cooper crucify senator mary landrieu over the post-katrina disaster in the gulf states, and that's probably the last time that i can recall seeing them do anything worthwhile.

however, apparently i'm not the only person who's irked by the misuse of the word fascism, or at least i'm not the only one who notices.

just occured to me earlier that today marks the tenth anniversary of the day that i moved from halifax. i don't know why the date sticks in my mind (could be because the day following, when i arrived in my new home city of montreal, was possibly the single worst day of my life). i've since moved from montreal to toronto, so the decade has been split into different locales.

i consider myself sort of lucky to have moved around. for one thing, it means that i get to see what's new and interesting in different cities every few years. for another, it makes me realise the things that i really enjoyed about the places i've lived before. there are a lot of things i miss about both montreal and halifax. i'm sure when i find the next place i want to live, that there will be things that i miss about toronto (and, equally, that i'll forget the things about the city that irritate me at the moment, much as i have with the other two cities).

when i left halifax, i felt like i…

i was seriously hoping that i had a few more years left before i had to witness a younger generation getting into the exact same sort of things i was into when i was younger, since that is surely a sign of aging, but apparently, it's too late.

(hands up everyone who remembers hearing the autechre track that was done to get around the law prohibiting music with a series of repetitive beats.)

story link courtesy of me fi.

so the battle with the bulge continues. i'm actually becoming used to the pace, although for some reason my stomach still seems to think it needs far more food than it actually does.

week days, when eating is more of a functional than a festive activity, are fairly easy to cope with. weekends are a challenge, especially living in a city that has as many good restaurants as toronto. i'm not restricting myself to the home, but i am finding that i have to pay careul attention when i go out. last night, i overindulged on injera atthe ethiopian house. injera (the soft, moist, spongy bread that serves as food and cutlery in ethiopian cuisine) makes food fun by forcing you to eat with your fingers. it's hard to exercise restraint in such conditions.

when i first moved to toronto, i was expecting to find it much as i remembered it from years ago- with a dearth of good eating places. apparently, things have changed. there are great places to eat just about every kind of food you&…

a couple of weeks ago, i ended up taking public transit to work, rather than driving. while i live in one of the most transit-impoverished cities in the world, where driving to the corner store is necessary in some areas, this was actually a lovely experience. there is just something pleasing about starting your day reading a book and listening to music, rather than getting annoyed because the guy in front of you has had his left turn signal flashing for the last six blocks. (i enjoy driving from time to time, but at heart, i'm transit girl who doesn't want to worry about finding parking.)

buses are fine, but the thrill of public transit for me has always been in the subway. for some reason, subway systems can entertain me almsot endlessly. the strangeness of going underground in one place and re-emerging in another just doesn't seem to wear off (perhaps i've killed too many brain cells). i've also always gotten a kick out of the different look each station on a m…

if i haven't been writing about writing a lot lately, it's mostly because i've been having the damnedest time trying to finish things. for whatever reason, the last few months have been marked by creative ideas that simply do not seem to pan out when they get out of my head and onto the computer screen. and nothing is worse than thinking that your creative efforts are directed to the increase in volume of mediocre writing in the world.

it's not that i lack ideas (well, sometimes it is, but it's not a long-term disability), but rather i seem to lack complete stories, things that remain as vibrant when written as they seem in thought. and although i find that my best writing happens when i have a clear idea of where stories are going, i've been reverting to my school-era habit of simply writing down anything that comes to mind in the hopes that somehow, some day, i'll be able to connect the dots and turn six disconnected segments into a cohesive whole. weird…

My pirate name is:

Mad Anne Bonney


Every pirate is a little bit crazy. You, though, are more than just a little bit. You can be a little bit unpredictable, but a pirate's life is far from full of certainties, so that fits in pretty well. Arr!
Get your own pirate name from piratequiz.com.
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so a couple of weeks ago, i put myself on a diet. i often say that i'm watching what i eat, but it's been years since i've tried an actual, enforced diet, mostly because i lack willpower. why did i decide to give one a try now? i don't know. i haven't put on any weight in the last few months. i'd like to lose weight, of course, but i'm not nearly as neurotic about my size as i used to be. (ironically, i weigh more now than i did when i was insecure about my size.)

food, weight and our relationships with them are almost obsessive for the cast majority of adult women. statistically, up to 98% of north american women claim to be dieting or watching their weight on a regular basis, making dieting the most common non-essential activity on the continent. by adding myself to that number, at least for the time being, i'm hoping to discover what it is that drives this mania about size.

most women i know are trying, at least sporadically, to lose weight. i don&#…

most awesome photography you'll see today.

(you need quick time.)

this may not be the time to start picking apart people’s grammar. after all, with the threat of imminent disaster looming (more distinctly than it has recently), people are concerned about their families, their homes, the things that are truly important to them. world leaders have to think about more than finding the exact right phrasing for their public addresses, right?

not exactly.

the volume and intricacy of human communication is one of the hallmarks of our species. unlike animals, who identify each other by smell or intuition, or even like our ancestors, who operated by sight, our methods of knowing and understanding each other are increasingly based on our communication. words that are spoken and the body language that accompanies them, take on an exaggerated importance when they come from the mouths of leaders in times of crisis.

so today, i was a little disturbed (although not terribly surprised) when I read the following comment by john reid, british home secretary, that …

You Are 56% Abnormal

You are at high risk for being a psychopath. It is very likely that you have no soul.

You are at high risk for having a borderline personality. It is very likely that you are a chaotic mess.

You are at medium risk for having a narcissistic personality. It is somewhat likely that you are in love with your own reflection.

You are at medium risk for having a social phobia. It is somewhat likely that you feel most comfortable in your mom's basement.

You are at low risk for obsessive compulsive disorder. It is unlikely that you are addicted to hand sanitizer.How Abnormal Are You?

in the spirit of the san francisco made of jello, here we have venice in lego.

i'd just like to point out that someone seems to have detonated a skunk on the street below. i am far from the ground floor and it is nearly overwhelming.

i suppose this means that we can kiss goodbye any chance of having the gospel of the flying spaghetti monster taught in kansas schools. sad news from the state where it all started...