Proof of Hat. Because Dad Said So.

And so, I’m friends with my Dad.  On Facebook and in real life.  After I posted my post yesterday, he posted this on Facebook:

Me, St. James Park, London,1985, age 4 (not 8)

 

It pays to be friends with your Dad, people.  It means a lot.  It means, amongst many other things, that any baby picture of you he decides to share will be of the non-embarrassing sort.  You hope.

I love you, Dad.

You Look Happy, Were You Drunk?

Sarge with his sensitive eyebrows, and me with my eyes closed. I very rarely have my eyes open in photos. It's become one of those inside jokes I'm thankful for!

The American in me wants to have pumpkin pie later on today and cold turkey sandwiches tomorrow.

I am the kind of person who believes thanks aren’t just for Thanksgiving.  But in the spirit of the day, I’m going to share what I am thankful for this year.

My list every year is quite simple.  It doesn’t take much to make me happy, and I’m appreciative of what I have every day of the year.

That being said, these things have made this year extra special to me:

My family:  Thank you for providing me with all the love, support and material you can, any way you can.

My friends:  Thank you for keeping me in cheesecake, laughs, inside jokes and packing boxes.  I owe you a coffee/beer.

Sarge:  Thank you for everything.  Thank you for your love, acceptance, humour and books.  Thank you for putting up with my PMS and letting me sleep diagonally in bed.  Sometimes.  My life before you were in it was a different one that seems a million years ago.  I love you.

The Internet/Facebook:  Thank you for keeping me connected to friends and family and letting me pretend I can be in faraway living rooms sharing laughs and zucchini bread in less than five minutes.

I sent my mother some recent photos of Sarge and me.  First thing she said was, ‘You look happy.  Were you drunk?’  In two of them, yes.  She also said I looked peaceful, and that Sarge has ‘sensitive eyebrows.’

I was reminded of an exchange in one of my favourite films, The Truth About Cats and Dogs:

Abby:  I was mesmerised by his eyebrows, they say so much about a person.

Noelle:  Do they say ‘goat-cheese’ on them?!

Sarge does indeed have sensitive eyebrows, but they definitely don’t say goat-cheese on them.  Trust me on that.

I am peaceful, fundamentally happy.  For that, I am thankful.

Thanks for reading.  And Happy Thanksgiving, wherever you are.

In Your Ear (Mine, Actually)

Before I decided I couldn’t write with music on, it was on all the time.  My last.fm library, when it loads, is one my list of favourite things.  I’d turn it on before I’d do anything else/procrastinate/check my email/apply for jobs/check Facebook/think about writing.

That was my old routine.

My new one is to have coffee and write and then procrastinate/check my email/apply for jobs/check Facebook/think about writing some more.

Today, I logged into Facebook, and I was tagged in a musical note.  The one where you put your music player on ‘Random’ and list the first 25 songs that play.

I thought, I can do that.  So I did:

1.        Laura Izibor – Shine

2.       Randy Newman – I Miss You

3.       The Offspring – Why Don’t You Get A Job?

4.       Al Green – Let’s Stay Together

5.       Eels –  Mr E’s Beautiful Blues

6.       Paul Simon – Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes

7.       R. Kelly – Fiesta

8.       Courtney Pine – Children Hold On

9.       Seal – Crazy

10.   Finger Eleven – Paralyzer

11.   Maroon 5 – Through With You

12.   Billie Holiday -  Night and Day

13.   Silverchair – Leave Me Out

14.   Bill Hicks – A New Flag (Patriotism) – not a song, but so good.

15.   Michael Buble – Home

16.   Johnny Cash – That’s All Over

17.   Perturbazione – Partire Daverro

18.   Sean Paul – We Be Burnin’

19.   Molly Johnson – Another Day

20.   Lonestar – Everything’s Changed

21.   Indigo Girls – World Falls

22.   Death Cab for Cutie – Transatlanticism

23.   Alan Jackson – Gone Country

24.   Camera Obscura – Pen and Notebook

25.   Julie Delpy – Killing Bertha

(Courtesy of my last.fm library)

Funny, some of these aren’t reflective of my favourites.  Some are.  That’s what random means.

What about you?  What are you listening to?

Switch Off to Switch On

Remember when I said I couldn’t write in clutter?  Well, I’ll add to it.  I now believe the people who tell you not to write on a computer connected to the Internet.  Because writing doesn’t happen.  Facebook happens.

I used to say I couldn’t write without music on, either.  Now when music is on, I can’t hear myself.  I get so caught up in the next song, and then the next one, I forget the next word and then they stop altogether.

And so, I’ve started to switch the computer off.  The office is set up with my desk, and Sarge’s desk, our laptops and his printer.  And I write in the living room or kitchen.  In a notebook, a real one with pages and lines.  I’m currently writing in three real notebooks.  I write every day, and my writing day starts when I switch the computer off.  There is now a difference between writing time and typing time.  The longer the computer is off the more there is to type when I switch it back on.

Try it.  The Internet will still be there when you get back.

The 29 List

This is the actual list that this blog isn’t actually about.  I posted it on Facebook, and said this:

I plan to use the last year of my twenties doing this stuff. Like me, this is in no particlar order:

Eat more sushi (and as it happens, dumplings.)

Stop writing on envelopes and phone bills which people end up throwing out, because they don’t know I write on envelopes and phone bills. (Really good stuff, at 2 am.)

Renew the passport, and USE it

Stand in the middle of a Square in Bruges and shout: it’s F—–’ BRUGES!

Have my usual at the first Starbucks in Seattle (Venti white chocolate mocha with whip) And yes, all that sugar does make me a little twitchy. Now you know.  (Might move this to my 33 and a Third list, but more about that later.)

Watch all three Godfather films in a row, with Sarge.  Done, over three days, but done.

Get high on paint fumes again. This time with Sarge, beause it’s no damn fun on my own.

Become better at the whole directions/navigation/map thing, so I don’t feel like a schmuck while showing people around places I’VE ACTUALLY LIVED!

Watch lots more movies, with paprika popcorn.

Read all the books I’ve left unread/people have thrown at me.

Not buy another book for myself until the above item is checked off. Ok, so that part of the list is in order.  (FAILED, but happily.  Still there, as proof of my intentions!)

Finish at least one of the novels waiting to be liberated from my hard-drive.

Start a public blog and call it Spittin’ Nickels, or, …As in Frank, or, Gin & Lemonade.

Have lots of fun, and have it be all Sarge’s fault. Well, nearly.

Get a job that either isn’t, or doesn’t feel like, an actual job.

Eat on a roof at night.

This list was taken from a longer list of things I wanted to do before I was 30, which I wrote when I was 27.  A lot of that stuff is done, or involves (more) travel and other people, and therefore planning that won’t happen in the months left before I am 30.  So, there will be a 33 and a Third List, made of things that deserve a little more time.

Time is good.  I’m not going to be depressed because I haven’t been to Nashville, or been on a game show yet (on the longer list).  These are plans, and I have others.  I’m just going to have fun, and cross off/add things to my list along the way.