Happy New Year everyone!

In the New Year, may your right hand always be stretched out in friendship, but never in want. —Irish Toast

alternative

Decided to put up this little tree instead. Isn't it cute? Found it in a thrift store (where else?), figured it looked lonely, so took it home. Put in eight small candles, and voilà!

Merry Christmas everyone!

Too lazy to put up my little fake tree, but these are the ornaments I would have used. As you can tell some of them are quite old, and the three in the middle (real bells!) are my favourite. Remember the Christmas tree in The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Season 1? Well, my tree would have looked a little bit like that (but picture it being ¼ the size), and that makes sense as most of these ornaments come from about the same time period. Call me nostalgic, but they just don't make them like that anymore, do they?

Merry Christmas Charlie Brown!

(for nicrojamah, wherever you are)

Splurged this week and bought myself A Charlie Brown Christmas DVD. Along with Dr. Seuss' How The Grinch Stole Christmas! (the original cartoon) they're my favourite Christmas shows, but if forced to pick only one, that would be the show I couldn't bear to miss. Christmas just wouldn't be Christmas without Charlie Brown!

The little tree in my cat's 2006 holiday photo? I picked it up at a thrift store a number of years ago. It looked almost new, but homemade, and of course I couldn't resist. A friend of mine sewed on the ribbons to make it look even more festive.

what use indeed

Snort.

I clipped and saved this cartoon about twenty years ago right after graduating with (you guessed it) a sociology degree, and it's been on my fridge (well, a number of different fridges) ever since. I thought it was the funniest thing ever, and while I hoped it wasn't an accurate predictor, like all good humour it contained at least a kernel of truth. But although some would argue (myself included) that I haven't put my degree to good enough use, I don't have any regrets about obtaining it.

I was also lucky enough to be able to go to school when tuition fees weren't so ridiculously high, and when grant programs were still in effect. I'd say that my university years helped shape who I am, and reinforced my natural tendency to question just about everything. Was my degree useful in helping me build a career? Um, no, but I'm sure that I'm mostly to blame for that. I still believe that education is always useful, even if it doesn't always translate into anything tangible. And the cartoon? Well, it'll be on my fridge forever, because if nothing else, it makes me laugh every time.

reflection

"The whole moon and the entire sky are reflected in one dewdrop on the grass." —DOGEN

my 142nd post

Why the hoopla about this particular number? Well, why not!

And am I going to be springing the list that I hinted at in my 100th post? Hmmm, not really, but sort of. What you're getting instead is a column I wrote years earlier about some of the things that I don't understand, and while this won't give you as much insight as a 100-things-about-me list probably would, it was easier to write. Snort. Here goes:

42 THINGS I HAVE YET TO UNDERSTAND
(and no, that doesn't mean that there are only forty-two)

* the difference between plants and weeds

* why my right arm is longer than my left

* why 15 degrees Celsius feels warm in spring, yet cool in fall

* people who like dogs better than cats

* people who don't even like cats (what is THAT about?)

* why time seems to go faster as you get older

* why the rest of the world doesn’t share most (never mind all) of my opinions

* the appeal of coloured nail polish

* those funny geometric shapes when you rub your eyes really hard

* why there is both long-term memory and short-term memory, but no such thing as medium-term memory

* anyone who refuses to even CONSIDER playing Scrabble

* why cute babies rarely stay that way as they get older

* how I still manage to get wet even when using an umbrella

* why I love a good tomato, and like tomato soup, but hate tomato juice

* why birds have to sing so early

* how five siblings can be so different

* why my hair grows faster on the left-hand side

* why paper cuts hurt so much

* how when you live with others even your laundry cycles start to coincide

* why after all these years I can never remember whether the clock goes forward or backward when daylight savings time begins, and ends

* the five-day workweek

* why dishes never stay done no matter how often you do them

* why thunder and lightning makes me nervous

* why some people are still hung up on whom you love, rather than being happy that you love

* why I LIKE the taste of Buckley's Mixture cough syrup

* why it's no longer acceptable to do only one thing at a time

* why even atheists use God's name when swearing

* why dentist appointments always seem to arrive so soon

* that silly rule about when to wear white

* why I still use credit cards when I'd balk at paying that much interest at any other time

* why certain people get elected in the first place

* why they still haven't solved the problem of newsprint ink rubbing off

* why they don't understand at Lenscrafters that if I could actually SEE how the frames look while trying them on, I probably wouldn't even need to be there

* how I always (and I mean ALWAYS) pick the wrong checkout line

* why movies at the theatre stop playing the exact weekend I'm planning to go see them

* football (both the desire to watch, and play)

* the fear of snakes when there aren't that many around (at least, not where I live)

* why the phone has to ring the very SECOND I get settled on the toilet

* how otherwise intelligent people can't set their VCR properly (yes, I’m one of the few people left who doesn’t have a DVD player yet) [update: I do now!]

* why people don't try to avoid heartburn in the first place

* how TV shows that I wouldn't even consider watching at any other time of the day suddenly seem quite acceptable—interesting even—any time after midnight

* time itself

discovery

"The only real voyage of discovery, the only Fountain of Youth, consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes, in seeing the universe with the eyes of another, of a hundred others, in seeing the hundred universes that each of them sees. And this we can do with a Renoir or a Debussy; with such as they we fly indeed from star to star." —MARCEL PROUST

catching up with Mary

Borrowed The Mary Tyler Moore Show complete first season DVD from the library this week, and am indeed catching up. I can't believe I never saw any episodes of the first season! Mind you, we had just immigrated to Canada the year it began (1970), and I was still a little kid. I guess I didn't start watching the show until the latter seasons, so it's nice to be able watch all the episodes in order.

I've always loved the opening sequence of the show—great song, and who could ever forget Mary throwing her hat up in the air? In fact, I believe they made a statue of her character doing that in downtown Minneapolis. And apparently when the woman in the background staring at Mary died, her obituary even mentioned her being part of the scene!

I also loved her apartment, the lower built-in bookcase especially, and the exterior shots of the house she lived in. Ah, what a wonderful show. And what memorable characters. I can hardly wait to watch the other seasons.

Must go, Mary's calling!

**********************************

The lyrics to the theme song "Love Is All Around" (written and performed by Sonny Curtis), was changed after the first season:

(Season 1, 1970)

How will you make it on your own?
This world is awfully big, and girl, this time you're all alone.
But it's time you started living.
It's time you let someone else do some giving.
Love is all around, no need to waste it.
You can have the town, why don't you take it?
You might just make it after all.
You might just make it after all.

(Seasons 2-7, 1971-1977)

Who can turn the world on with her smile?
Who can take a nothing day, and suddenly make it all seem worthwhile?
Well it's you, girl, and you should know it.
With each glance and every little movement you show it.
Love is all around, no need to waste it.
You can have the town, why don't you take it?
You're gonna make it after all.
You're gonna make it after all.

**********************************

Saturday, December 9th, close to midnight: just finished watching the final episode. Am I happy? You bet.

Chinese proverb

"Your teacher can open the door, but you must enter by yourself."

can anyone believe

it's December already?

Boy, Blogger really does want us to switch to beta!