etc.

Good news: I’ve finished course prep. Which, for you, means no more whining about being in front of my computer for too many hours, or whining about stressing when I’m not in front of my computer. And for me it means unexpected free time. Remember when I used to knit? Yeah, I’ve been doing some of that again.

The past couple of evenings have felt decidedly Fall-ish, so I pulled out Lady Eleanor, which has been languishing for months, and started to work on her again. I took most of this afternoon off to finish her and, I have to ask, does anyone else find fringing and knotting as intensely tedious as I do? I knew there was a reason I’ve never fringed anything else before. I spent three hours working on that fringe and if it wasn’t for the new single by The Killers on repeat on my iPod, I might have been tempted to stab myself in the eye with my crochet hook. I fear the final product testifies to the tedium all too well, but whatever. She’s done. I would have modeled her myself if it wasn’t for the heat in here to-day (where’s that Fall weather?), so the chair will have to do for now.

I think I’ll cast on Backyard Leaves next. Or Midwest Moonlight (both also from Scarf Style). I realized yesterday that most of my scarves are starting to look nubbly and past their prime, so I’m aiming for a scarf-collection revamp in time for the cooler weather.

And to-morrow? A day in the city with my mum & sister, with pedicures and afternoon tea on the schedule. Hip hip!

Pardon the self-referentiality, would you, but I wanted to point the library-types amongst you to this, a CFP for an online course I’m helping to plan. If you have something to say about social software, I urge you to put in a proposal. It’s going to be fabulous! You’ll kick yourself if you don’t! (And if you’re a library-type who would rather participate than contribute, that’s fine too! The Participant Application is being worked on and will be out in October.)

That’s all. Back soon with another book review (I took the entire weekend off, you see).

So, when I closed my computer at 7pm on Friday evening, I had every intention of opening it back up again on Saturday morning to take advantage of the momentum I’d built on getting the course together, but as Saturday morning rolled in, the pain in my wrists and the fluffy weariness in my brain dictated otherwise. A break is in order, I thought to myself. So I grabbed this book of my night table, where it has kept me company for half an hour every night, and set to finishing it. And it’s just the sort of book that is better when read in a single flourish, I wasn’t at all doing it justice with the brief snatches of attention I was giving it.

Tally Youngblood is a 15-year old girl who lives in a bizarre, dystopic world where from birth to age 16, citizens are bred to believe they are ugly. On their 16th birthdays, the “uglies” all undergo an operation that transforms them into The Accepted Standard of Beauty, making them “pretties” and moving them across the river to New Pretty Town, where everyday is a party and everyone is always happy and the fountains flow with honey (OK, I made that last part up). So, anyway, Tally is a little rebel who pulls highly-illegal midnight trips to New Pretty Town to mock the New Pretties (while she secretly can’t wait to be one) and snatch glimpses of her recently-prettied best friend Peris, when, during one of these truant escapades, she meets and befriends Shay, her equal in truancy, who shares none of Tally’s fascination with prettydom, and who eventually runs away to escape the operation. As a result of a series of rather unfortunate events, Tally follows Shay and ends up in The Smoke, a postapocalyptic junk heap, home to a colony of runaway uglies, where she meets a boy and learns the truth about her government, her city, pretties, and most importantly, the operation. It’s a fabulous book, really quite mature for a YA novel, that left me eager for my turn to come up on the library holds list for the sequel (I’m #89 on the list, it will be a couple of weeks). If you haven’t already figured it out, I commend this book to you. Highly.

I might not have A Plan but I have settled into A Routine:

8.30 ish: wake up, shower, don loungy attire, think about course materials
9.00: turn on music, brew pot of tea
9.05-9.45: read email/Bloglines while drinking tea/eating banana & thinking about course materials
9.45-1.30: settle into office, work on course materials
1:30-2.00: munch on lunch while working on course materials
3.30: brew tea, work on course materials while brewing/drinking tea
3.30-7: work on course materials
7.00-bedtime: eat supper, talk to the mister, while thinking about the course materials that will be worked on to-morrow

I am thinking, now, of a certain scene in The Shining and I’m almost positive, friends, that you know what scene that is. Hint: there are no axes involved.

But speaking of movies, here’s what we’ve consumed lately:

• Pretty Persuasion ***
• Miami Vice ****
• Missing ***
• Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room ****
• Inside Man **
• Eight Below ***1/2
• Beowulf & Grendel **1/2

And now, I am off to wait impatiently for the mister to come home (while thinking about.. oh, you get the idea) with steamy & fragrant take-out from the best roti shop in this fine city.

Wishing you days more interesting and varied than mine.

To-day is the first of 14 days off and I am tempted to draw up A Plan. You might remember that the last time I had A Plan, I was gravely unsuccessful in pulling it off, so this time I will resist temptation and use my time as the need warrants. I may or may not wake up early everyday and work out. I may or may not spend every day pulling together course materials. I may or may not work in some afternoon craft time. I may or may not read for pleasure. I may or I may not. Let’s leave it at that, shall we?

In much more interesting news: my sister and her mister have started a blog! A food and wine blog, to be sure, which is already filled with delectable recipes, tales of travel, and words of wine! You would do well to pay them a visit. Early & often!

A birthday celebration weekend. In case you are wondering, the reason I am only mentioning it now is because up here in Ontario, we were weekend-ing yesterday too (by the way Canadians, that link is the best outline of Canadian national holidays I’ve found yet, God Bless The Hive Mind), and it was lovely, indeed. There were a couple of brunches, lavender-scented things, a new hand-mixer (with a whisk! and dough mixers! and a spatula! Best darn hand-mixer I ever did see!), a new PDA (with wifi! and blueetooth! and an enormous colour screen! Best darn PDA I ever did see!), lots of eating with people I love, and a nap in the afternoon sun. Hip hip!

To-morrow is my birthday – one-score, ten, and one year. Perhaps I’ll show you a picture of my new best friend.

Later: thank you all for your wishes, comments & emails, I am so very very lucky! And, hey, the mister took me on a date! Dinner pictures (and the new gadget in action) here.