Getting into the Season, finally.

But I sure ain't doing this to my cats:


more animals

What on earth are people thinking?

Do anything like that to my female cat and you'd be pulling back a bleeding stump!

Anyhoo...back to the Season of Lights, of Carols, of Turkey, of Friends and of Family. No matter what it was, and what it has become, I'm realizing that to survive it, I need to embrace what it is for me.

And my hubby put up Christmas lights on the outside of the house yesterday, while I was at work. Sweet!

Enjoy the days you get off, the slower-than-normal time if you're at work, and resist the third helping of turkey. Remember, you'll be eating those leftovers for days!

Lori

We meet again...

The Nag and I both have a certain je ne sais quoi for Paris...I know this because that's where we met. Or more specifically, on a train to Chartres from Paris.

Funny that we both have pictures trolled from our flickr sites for the Schmap guide to Paris. (Here's her post.) Mine is of le Père Lachaise cemetery:


I have blogged about this cemetery in the past...the best ever virtual tour is of this enormous city of the dead -- check it out!

Next time we go to Paris, Nag, we should travel together. Maybe even leave our men behind!

:-)

Lori

The All-New Definition of "Friend"

In the paper the other day (proof positive that not only has Facebook has become mainstream, but that I'm seriously behind the times!):


Even my cats have friends on FB! It's a weird, no stress kinda way of keeping in touch, at a distance, with people. Some you want, others you're not quite sure: "Why is this person asking to be my friend on FB? S/he and I wrote each other off years ago!"

Is it new-found maturity (on whose part?), or just I've-gotta-have-more-friends-on-my-profile syndrome?

Ah well. I'll keep going, mostly because I enjoy the long-distance Scrabble games I've got going!

Lori

Wow! I'm floored.

Periodically over the last 12 years, I would do a bit of a phone book, Internet search for a friend I'd lost touch with. A great friend -- a drinking & travel partner, a confidante, a dance partner, a fellow adventurer, ready to go at a moment's notice ...everything you need in a friend, really.

Two weeks ago, when 'Samson' got in touch with me, I went all nostalgic. Actually forced a girlfriend to look at pictures of my two years in the Big Smoke...albums which were also full of this other friend as well. I've been thinking of him again.

So I looked online again.

And I found him tonight. Or else, he found me.

I'm feeling really pumped. Memories of our trip to Niagara Falls. Our flirtations (with the same guys sometimes!), our rather momentous bouts of 20-something drinking, our first-time karaoke...

The internet is a scary thing. (Or is it Facebook?)

Lori

Irony

I'm a catalyst for the unexpected.

Yesterday, a very close friend I haven't spoken to in maybe 4 years contacts me (finally!), and it's like no time has passed at all. I'm sure we could still drink beer until the wee hours of the morning, dancing or playing euchre.

Today, a very close friend I haven't spoken to in maybe 2 months contacts me, and in no uncertain terms, breaks off the friendship because I've been uncommunicative. (Uh, hello? I've been busy?)

So no more drinking beer until the wee hours of the morning with that one.

The absurd is not always amusing.

Anyway, call that person you've been meaning to call. Today. Just in case.

For me.

Lori

Samson Returns

Interesting how one reference in a day to Samson can quickly become a trend. Recently, I started posting again on my Flikr account, and today I uploaded a picture of Samson getting his eye gouged out (previously seen on my blog here):
Then, this evening out of the blue, the phone rings...it's my best buddy in the world calling from the Big Smog.

Folks, this is a guy I haven't heard from in years (before you all give me shit, yes, I did try to contact him...left messages with his mother even!) -- and from the sound of it, he's still the same sweetie I've known for mumble-mumble years. Prodigious, Samson-like strength of a liver, long Samson-like hair still un-shorn after all these years -- I can just picture the long, curly head banger hair, as always confusing the guys in bars.

Yes, I teased him about being 40-something with 20-something hair, but who knows what change would come over him if he cut his signature locks?

For me, it's the jeans & t-shirts I've worn since high school. Oh, the t-shirts have gotten nicer, and I sometimes wear dress(ier) pants, but it's time for me to change...this free spirit has landed the job with the Feds. I see suits in my future. What else will change?

Are we not all hanging on to something from our 20s that we just can't let go of?

And if you are stopping by, my Luddite Samson, let's not let another few years go by, okay?

A week hiatus...

It's been a busy week.

What else would a bunch of women do on a full moon? Dance nekkid in the yard?

First of all, I aged. Gracefully. Thank you to those who left me messages of goodwill, those who thought them, and those who ignored it and just had a good Friday night. My gaggle of local female friends are now eager to start meeting every month to, well, drink wine and laugh. I'd say it was a successful party.


I then went off to the Lower Mainland for some errands and friends. This time, my normal feelings of great, undefined potential while driving across the Port Mann bridge did not well up. Instead, I was hit with a feeling of dread -- of traffic, of expectation...of hangover. Ah well.

Oh, I had a good time, but I felt pressed for time, unplanned, and totally unimpressed with the traffic.

Anyway, I'm back. And I won't be traveling the Hope-Princeton Hwy at night again anytime soon. Gads.