Oh MY GOD!!!Awesome!

Woke up this morning to wonderful news!!
Loreena McKennitt...the absolute Canadian goddess of Celtic and world music will be sitting 15 minutes away from where I live....this Saturday! THIS Saturday! And I didn't even know!

She will be at a huge music store to promote her latest album, and I simply WILL be there. There is no way I'm missing the chance...it's bad enough that I missed Tori Amos last time she had a show in Montreal.

Thinking of making an ink drawing just for this occasion...a tree maybe...a Celtic tree...with lyrics to The Mystic's Dream...and hopefully have her sign it....Perhaps even get a picture....
Oh my GOD! I feel like such a desperate fan girl! But this woman is pure talent, an incredible soul, she had travelled the world and created music that will haunt me forever and in so many ways. (And her hair is really very pretty too, ehehehe.)

I do wonder if she is popular enough here, that there will be a big crowd...blocking me....Oh no...

Positive thoughts...all will go well, all will be fine....

***December 11th update----Of course, I did not go. I didn't even make a drawing for her to sign. I'd like to say that something huge got in the way...we *did* have an ice storm...but the simple tragic truth is: I felt just too damn lazy to figure out which buses to take to get there...and I didn't fancy travelling alone. Blah! I'm a lost cause!!)*****

Bravo! Little brother!

Well, my efforts to turn my brother into a decent future-men seem to finally pay off. For a while, I've been scared that he would grow up to be one of those stupid teenagers on buses I've been angrily ranting about it an earlier blog. Or worse, one of those adult men who still think the epitome of beauty is Pamela Anderson.

For some time now, I've been talking to him about how beauty can be found in difference, that every hair, eye and skin color have their own wonderfulness. That a girl can be beautiful in different shapes and heights...but he kept getting crushes on barbie-like blond girls with blue eyes girls at his school...even if they were, let's say it politely, a little disagreeable. To him---even the most beautiful girl, if she had brown hair, was simply on a lower level.

The surprise I got the other day, when he came home from school and started talking about a new girl. This one apparently had dark brown hair...but not only that...wait for it....it was a also short hair! A short, funky cut, and he couldn't stop talking about how cool it was. She also had small brown eyes, and dressed slightly emo. He kept telling us about how funny she was, and that she had a big, beautiful smile, and that she talked softly. Little bro was smitten! She even went out with him...I'm still trying to understand what "going out" means to 12 years olds that don't actually go out...
Well, it couldn't have been very serious dating, because she broke up two days after to the great despair of my poor baby brother.

Well, still....good try!
I realise though, that boys will be boys, because it is still WAY too easy to lure him into seeing a non-action movie, like say..."The Prestige", with the simple promise that he will get to see Scarlett Johansson's...um...sizeable assets in a corset throughout the movie. Well, at least she isn't a tooth-pick woman!

Christmas Madness

So....Is Christmas coming sooner every year or are we just forgetting that it's like that every new year?
Every time I step into a mall, I feel like it's December 24th already, and it's been like that since the day after Halloween. I'm not complaining, mind you. Anything to prettify the gloom that is November. I love to see the huge Christmas trees and Santa's village, and Christmas music is kind of fun. You almost expect snow to be falling prettily when you walk out of there.

But now I'm totally in the mood to decorate my apartment and to buy gifts for everyone. Problem is....I promised myself that this year, I would control myself and not have lights on my balcony before December 1th. I find it rather pathetic, although it's every one's choice, the get all your decos out two months in advances, right when you throw away your pumpkin.

I had also convinced myself to make every gift I give myself....but I plan to do that every year without success. I would so love Christmas to go back to family and love, and home-made gifts from the heart...But ya know....I guess marketing does work....even for me.

So this weekend I don't think I will be able to keep myself from dragging the old Christmas tree from the closet. It would be too hard to resist. It's all I can do not to do it right now...

I will still try to make gifts though...will be very fun...haven't done anything productive or art-related for quite some time now.

In other news, I'm planning to make a small dinner with close family around Christmas time. It's been ages since I invited people to my apartment. And it's so much nicer now then it was at first. Am very excited about this....but really need to plan carefully, or will not happen at all.

BEE!!!!Beeee!!!!

Oh my God! My knees are still shaking and my heart is beating as if I've been running a mile!

I was taking a shower and washing my hair...and what do I see on the bathroom wall when I get out...well the title sells the punch really...but...A BEE!!! Technically, it's a wasp, but terror chases sense away pretty fast.

Now, as a kid, I was immensely terrified of anything that stings or bites. So bees and wasps weren't on my cuddle list. But as I grew up, I gradually started to control myself and not feel the urge to run away screaming when I saw one. (This might have something to do with my needing to set a good, reasonable example to daycare kids, and not make them as traumatized as I am.)

But a bee *inside* the house, this I've never been faced with in all my life. Oh, of course, when I lived with my family, if one flew in by accident, I'd just beg my (12 years old) brother to do something to save us. And even when one got in this summer when the patio door was opened, I managed to choo it out with a book....

But this time...this time it was different...here I am, just out of the shower, in a tiny room, with only a purple towel between me and the angry looking beast on the wall.
I start to mumble to myself while I quickly dry my hair. What should I do? What should I do? I'm so panicked I even consider calling someone to come and help me. But no, this is insane, I'm a grown up. I can take care of this...Ooooh! I can't! I can't!!!
Then my cats come in and try to catch it, the fools! So I need to act quickly, for the sake of them.

I run to the kitchen , and pick a small empty jar, a chair and a magazine and drag all of it to the bathroom, loosing my towel in the process. (I SO wish no-one was walking by the apartment window right then.)
Back in the bathroom....I watch it and wonder if I could off it with some hair spray...or perhaps hit it with a book....But if I miss...it already looks so pissed off....
I can't take that chance, so with shaking hands and legs, I climb on the chair, and I get it in the jar, whimpering and breathing loudly. I put the magazine under it and travel back to the kitchen, almost crawling on the ground to avoid the windows...and I *finally* close the jar.

NOW I can breathe.
This was so traumatic.

So now, I have a wasp in a jar, slowly dying in my freezer and I feel super bad. But I also feel kind of scared, because I have NO idea how that one got in...and I'd like to know if there are more where it came from.

One of the reasons why I appreciate winter....NO damn bugs!!

Hair Progress...

Lets appreciate the small happy facts of life: My hair no longer looks like a Hobbit's!
Look at the shine! Look how much it grew since the beginning of this blog!

For the first time in years, I went to the hairdresser and didn't need to be ashamed of the mop on my head and invent silly excuses when the lady says variations of...."Oh my GOD girl! WHAT have you done to that poor hair!!?"
This time, she complimented me on how soft it was, and so easy to fix. Happiness!!

Photos to prove that the best way to get decent hair is to completely ignore it and leave it be.
The first one to show the shine I thought I would never get, and the second is the actual color. Can hardly believe hair is natural, healthy, non-streaky or freakish half-and-half color.