Abstract Random

Hey, I made it through the last couple of very busy and stressful weeks without even coming close to tears or nervous breakdown. Yay! Granted, last week I depended heavily on Nyquil to sleep, vanilla lattes to wake up, and chocolate to get me through the days but a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do.

Like everyone else, I've been enjoying the sneak preview of spring we're getting. We used the opportunity to fire up the barbecue and have a couple of our favourite summer meals: beer can chicken and shallot-rosemary-garlic marinated flank steak. Deeelicious. We also made corn muffins and a chinese sponge cake. Deeelicious.

I go into every winter with a sense of dread, knowing I have a tough several months ahead. But it's wonderful to come out the other side feeling none the worse for wear and maybe even a little wiser. I've got plenty to look forward to in the coming weeks and months, starting with a week off work with Arun in two week's time. Can't wait!

My trip to Toronto was pretty eventful. All the work stuff went really well. We hosted a lecture by a best selling author and I was assigned the role of stage manager/talent babysitter. I got a walkie talkie and headset and felt like one of the girls on The Hills. Except way smarter. Okay, and older. The event was a success, everything went smoothly and everyone was happy.

I was especially happy with my hotel room. I had booked a suite at the Pantages (they were having a winter sale) and when I arrived at noon on Thursday the guy at the front desk told me my room wouldn't be ready until 3. I told him I had some work I needed to do right away (which was true) so he spent a couple of minutes typing furiously on his keyboard and then told me he was upgrading me to an executive suite, which was ready now. Sweet! The room was huge, almost 800 square feet, with a kitchen, large living room, and a separate bedroom. It was probably larger than our old apartment, and certainly a lot nicer.

I didn't have much time to shop but I did take a quick trip to Queen Street and picked up a couple of tops (one black, one black and white striped) and a cool black and red feathered hair clip.

I spent all of Friday morning working from my hotel room and went to meet the coworker I was traveling with at the Royal York (where she was staying) for lunch before heading to the island airport for our 2:30 flight. Unlike big airports, you can check in at the island just half an hour before your flight so we left at 1:30, figuring that would be plenty of time.

I was wrong.

So we get to the ferry terminal around 1:50 and, of course, we had just missed the ferry. Then the power at the terminal went out so we couldn't check in for our flight from there. Then, because the power was out at the ferry terminal, they kept the ferry over on the island side until the power came back on, which wasn't till 2:10. Once we were over, we made a mad dash to the check in counter but it was 2:15, they couldn't let us on the plane.

But luckily there was room on the 3:30 flight so we got seats on that instead. Great, we'll just hang out in the lounge for an hour and help ourselves to cookies and tea. Except that the lounge was a zoo and we snagged, I think, the last two empty seats in there. Because of the bad weather, lots of flights were delayed or cancelled. At one point, when announcing the already super delayed flight to Newark was delayed some more, the woman doing the announcing said, "Basically, Newark isn't the best place to be flying into today."

Our flight wound up being delayed as well. We didn't board until 3:45 and then sat on the runway for an hour.

At the baggage claim* in Ottawa, two guys in Porter uniforms came over and asked everyone who was on my flight to go stand together because they had an announcement to make. That can never be good. And it wasn't. None of our bags made it onto the plane. They were concerned about weight due to the weather and had to decide between bags or people. So the bags got bumped. We had to fill out a form and they'd deliver the bags to us once they arrived. The guys said we'd probably get them later that night but, of course, that didn't happen. I was finally reunited with my bag mid-afternoon Saturday.

It was all enough to make me feel glad I don't have to travel very often.

*Yes, I check my bag. I could never fit all my liquids/creams/gels into a sandwich bag for carry on. (I'm high maintenance, I know.)

Work's been zapping all my energy and brain cells, leaving little left for anything else. Consequently, I did a lot of sleeping this weekend. But we also managed to get out for some meals and nice visits with friends: dinner and Shutter Island on Saturday; dim sum on Sunday.

This week is going to be seriously hectic, I'm scrambling to put the finishing touches on a major project for next Monday and, as if that wasn't enough, I'll be in Toronto for a work event Thursday and Friday. The timing sucks and ensures that I'll be working this weekend but at least I'll get to stay in a fancy hotel, do a bit of shopping, and, best of all, spend some time with Tor. We will both be highly stressed but I'm sure we'll manage to make the best of it.

Next week is guaranteed to be nightmarish as well but after that things should return to normal, more or less, so I'm just keeping my head down and ploughing through, knowing that I'll make it out the other side okay.

In response to my last post, Pauline asked: "That is exciting that you're planning on getting another cat. Will you get a male or female or is it whoever strikes your fancy when you meet the litter?"

That is an excellent question, Pauline. Since cornish rex's don't have much hair, their bits are rather prominent. In fact, we used to make Alotta Fagina jokes about Starla.

When we started talking about getting a new cat we had a conversation about whether we wanted a male or female. I hadn't given it much thought but then Arun reminded me of the issue and I think the words "Oh, yeah. I don't want to have to look at cat balls all the time" actually came out of my mouth.

Around that same time I came across this photo on a breeder's website:

I don't think I could live with those things.

So, the answer to Pauline's question is: we will definitely be getting a female.

A list of disconnected news for you today. I'm up to my eyeballs in work these days. I've got a ridiculously long to do list that seems to be getting longer by the hour. The next few weeks are going to be bruuutal.

In happier news, Arun got his cast of yesterday. His hand is still far from healed but the surgeon was happy with how it was progressing and decided it could come off. He has to be careful with it and keep his pinky and ring fingers taped together. He's also got some exercises he needs to do a few times a day but I think life will be a lot easier for him now.

We had a wonderful dinner with Craig and Jessica at Fraser Cafe the other day. I had a super tasty tomato and goat cheese salad to start and had sea scallops with lentils, parsnip puree and seasonal vegetables as my main and it was delicious. I highly recommend checking it out.

I'm feeling ready to start thinking about getting a kitten. We seriously considered getting a dog but I don't think I'm ready for that much structure/responsibility so a cat it will be. I've been researching breeders (we're going to get another cornish rex because they're much easier on our allergies) and have been in touch with a couple of them who seem quite reputable. They're both having litters in March so if all goes according to plan we'll have a new furry family member in July.

The Cube Gallery is holding an art auction to raise money for Haitian earthquake survivors next Tuesday (Feb. 9). Ottawa Centre MP Paul Dewar is collecting donations from local artists for the auction. I'll be donating a print of one of my favourite photos. If you'd like to donate a piece get in touch with Paul Dewar's office (613.219.7250, Dewarp1@parl.gc.ca). All donations must be confirmed by February 5th and only one work per person will be accepted.

Here's all the info for the event. Be there or be square.

Haitian Disaster Art Fundraiser
7 Hamilton Ave. North
6 pm viewing - 8 pm auction
February 9, 2010

In light of the disaster that has befallen the people of Haiti, Cube Gallery and AfrikArt Konnection, in collaboration with Paul Dewar are calling Canadian artists to rally together to assist in the efforts underway to make the lives of Haitian survivors better.

Artwork viewing: begins at 6:00 pm
Fundraising Auction: 8:00 pm

There will be a reception, music, light foods and entertainment at Cube Gallery on Hamilton Ave. The event is hosted by Oni the Haitian Sensation.

Arun fell while skiing Friday night and broke a bone in his left hand and hurt his foot, thereby dashing his hopes of competing in the Vancouver Olympics and landing us in the emergency room. We got to the hospital at about 10:40 on Friday night and spent the whole night waiting and waiting and waiting and waiting some more.

The ER was pretty much my definition of hell. It was cold, dirty, uncomfortable and full of sick people, weirdos and cops. There were two televisions on either side of the waiting room on two different channels, both with the volume way up. One was on A&E, which was playing a marathon some obnoxious cop drama so there was plenty of shouting and shooting. The other one was on CTV Newsnet, which was replaying the same loop every half hour.

By 6 in the morning I couldn't take it anymore. I was seriously about to lose it. Arun, being the best and most understanding husband ever, encouraged me to go home and get some rest since I'd have to go out and get groceries etc. Saturday day. I felt terrible for leaving but it really was for the best. Arun got seen soon after I left, got x-rays and a cast and got home shortly after 9.

I realize his break wasn't an emergency/life or death situation but I find it ridiculous that he was in emergency for 10 hours. We learned after the fact that the hospital only has one doctor in emergency after midnight. WTF?!

Needless to say, the rest of the weekend was extremely quiet. We caught up on some sleep and watched season 4 of Dexter. While Arun was skiing on Friday I had gone to see A Single Man, it was heartbreaking but visually stunning and well worth seeing.

Arun's still pretty sore. We'll have a better idea of how his hand is healing in a couple of weeks. In the meantime, send your bone-healing positive thoughts his way.