Fashion for Dummies

Anyone who knows me is probably wondering why I’m writing about fashion. I go around most days wearing my uniform of jeans and a blouse with running shoes. I don’t really care about what the latest trends are or even dressing beyond what’s practical for the day. Yes, I occasionally enjoy dressing up just for the fun of it, but I’m definitely not a fashionista.

So what inspired this post? A startled reaction upon seeing an older woman wearing a very short skirt (some more prudish people may have even classified it under the “mini” category).

When was the last time you saw a fifty-something-or-older-year-old wearing a skirt that showed at least a hands-length of thigh? For me, it was definitely accompanied by lots of rouge and brilliant blue eyeshadow and pleather. The classic denial of age story. That’s the image that’s always said to me, “Dress your age. You can’t wear that anymore.”

But why not? This woman had the body to pull it off and came across relatively classy when I considered the whole ensemble. If, when I’d looked up to her face, I’d seen a twenty-something, I don’t think I would have thought anything of it (perhaps other than my practical mind yelling, “It’s winter! Cold! Cover up!”)

The moral of the story seems to be to reevaluate our concepts of what is “appropriate” wear. A very minor percentage of people actually look like the runway models we so admire as beautiful, meaning none of us are quite up to snuff if we want to pretend to be them.

I’m tired of getting looks for my outfits. I run around the city all day on dirty buses and trains. When I wear nice clothes, they inevitably end up gross by the time I get home. When I wear anything other than boots or sneakers, I’m either cold and wet and have completely ruined a pair of nice shoes, or I’m in amazing amounts of pain and discomfort from being on my feet for hours on end. Not to mention I’ve likely been late for every appointment because I couldn’t just break into an immediate run upon espying a transit vehicle.

If I dress respectfully and cleanly, I’m happy with my appearance. I don’t feel the need to blend in with the crowd or wear the current colours, materials, and cuts. It’s impossible to keep up with fads – check out the definition of that word – and I have no desire to do so. Stick to the classics, I say. The t-shirt will never go out of style. There will always be jeans. A nice suit and a fancy dress come in handy for those elegant occasions. A little black dress fits many an event and is still considered sexy.

And a woman of any age can apparently pull of a mini skirt.

2012 – The Year of Fulfillment

2012 is supposed to be the year the world comes to an end. Now, I personally don’t believe that December 21st will bring the apocalypse or some spiritual awakening to issue forth a new era, but it is fun to imagine what I would do with my life if these next twelve months were my last.

I’ve had my long term goals figured out for some time now. Even as a child, I knew I wanted kids (2 of them, one boy and a girl, preferably in that order). I’ve established my own music and movement studio so that I can work from home when the time comes. I plan to buy a car in the immediate future (if you need to ask why, see here and here), and I am saving up for a house.

And then I realize those are all unrealistic within the span of a year. It certainly wouldn’t make sense to try for a kid now. With my luck, I’d end up in terrible labour pains as the apocalypse rained down on my head. I wouldn’t be able to waddle fast enough to last even a few more seconds on this planet. Even if I found my dream house and car within the next week, who would spend that kind of money on clearly long-term living and transportation arrangements?

So the question remains: What would I do with what I have today and 350 days?

I guess the easiest answer is quit my job. Don’t get me wrong; I love what I do, but I have way more than enough money to get me through the year and there are many other things I’d like to experience.

Along with that, I’d ditch my apartment (into which I just moved) since I’d really like to travel for most of the time.

MY BUCKET LIST OF PLACES TO GO
-7 Wonders of the Ancient World (I guess just the Pyramids since the rest are mostly gone)
-Great Wall of China
-Taj Mahal
-Forbidden City
-Italy (yes, all of it)
-Paris (baguette and brie, anyone?)
-Santorini
-Athens
-San Francisco (clang clang clang goes the trolley!)
-Seoul
-Tokyo
-Vienna (Mozart. Need I say more?)
-Victoria Falls (it’s my desktop pic)
-Prague
-Shanghai
-Barcelona
-Marseilles (Count of Monte Cristo!)
-Moscow
-Sydney (crazy opera house)
-New Zealand
-Bangkok (massage… ahh…)
-Amsterdam (tulips, my favourite flower)

And I’d arrange the order of those cities by swing dancing events. Done. One year of happiness. I’m assuming in all of this that Boy will accompany me on my journey, since he likes to travel, too.

Last, but not least, I’ll probably have to buy some kind of e-reader, since it’ll be impractical to try to lug all the books I want to read around the world.

Ginger Cookie Recipe

Late to post this week. Have I mentioned December is a little crazy?!?

I’m cheating a little. This post has nothing to do with what I think, except that I think this is the best recipe for ginger cookies I’ve tried yet. It has three types of ginger in it, and everyone I’ve given them to loves them. They’re chewy, so Ginger Snaps isn’t quite the right term (there’s no snap), but that’s the name under which I originally found the recipe. Here it is:

1 1/2 cup unsalted butter
2 cups light brown sugar
1/2 cup molasses
2 eggs
4 1/2 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
4 tsp ground ginger
3-4 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
3 tbsp fresh ginger, grated
1 cup candied ginger, very finely chopped [*]

Preheat oven to 350F. Cream butter and brown sugar until fluffy. Add molasses and eggs and mix well. Combine flour, ground ginger, baking soda, and salt, and add to butter mixture. Blend in fresh and candied ginger. Drop by teaspoonful [I roll them into little balls] onto parchment covered baking sheet, about 2″ apart. Bake about 10 minutes, or until lightly golden. Cool.

Yields about 7 dozen. [The original recipe said 8, but I've never made more than 7.]

[*Warning: This is the most difficult part of the recipe in my opinion. It always takes me about half an hour to chop the candied ginger. It sticks to the knife like burrs stick to my dog. Equally annoying. If anyone has any solutions for this, I'd love to hear them.]

Call, Text, Blog?

Warning: I meant for this to be humorous but I reread it after I finished and it can come across as serious and depressing. Take it how you will.

In the olden days, people used to get together in person. Whether it was to talk about the weather or something more serious, play games or build a relationship, there was face time. Now there’s FaceTime. Not quite the same.

So I can see how people started breaking up via first telephone calls, then texts. Now, I wonder, what’s the next step? Could it be the blog?

SITUATION:
Girl meets Boy. They exchange numbers.

OLDEN DAYS: They’re probably landlines. Boy calls Girl. They make a date and go out.

NOWADAYS: They’re probably cell phones. Boy texts Girl. They start a relationship via their unlimited texting plans.

SITUATION:
Boy and Girl start dating.

OLDEN DAYS: Boy would call on Girl and pick her up for dates. They would plan activities in advance and go on adventurous outings.

NOWADAYS: Boy and Girl are too busy. They work on different schedules. When they call, they get each other’s voicemail. “Dates” are spontaneous get-togethers when their schedules and locations happen to coincide.

SITUATION:
There is a problem in the relationship.

OLDEN DAYS: Boy and Girl sit down together and talk face-to-face about what is bothering them. They find a solution that is mutually agreeable. Relationship continues.

NOWADAYS: Boy and Girl ignore the problem and hope it goes away. Even when one tries to bring it up, their different schedules allow the other to avoid dealing with it for three months. The need for “a” talk starts to turn into the need for “the” talk.

SITUATION:
Things aren’t working out for Boy and Girl.

OLDEN DAYS: Boy and Girl meet. They realize that it wasn’t meant to be. They go off and find other people, but can remain friends.

NOWADAYS: Boy and Girl still don’t talk. What to do? It’s already established that breaking up over the phone, by text, or a post on the other’s Facebook Wall is callous, but there’s no personal communication happening. Girl realizes that Boy reads her blog. Perhaps a quick note there? It’s not taboo since it hasn’t been done enough… yet.

People wonder why approximately half of marriages end in divorce. We are befuddled as to why children are not as well behaved as in the past. If we don’t put the time into creating meaningful relationships with people, how can we expect otherwise?

I think Mark Twain said it best:

Never allow someone to be your priority while allowing yourself to be their option.

Conversely, if you want to keep a relationship healthy, make sure you have your priorities straight and that your partner is high on your list.

The Universe Works in Mysterious Ways

So, this isn’t a post about science fiction, though my title would imply that. That said, it was a crazy set of circumstances. Let’s go back to last Tuesday, when this story started…

I’ve always wanted my own piano. Specifically, a Steinway Baby Grand that would inhabit my living room that doubled as a concert room. On Tuesday, this topic came up twice, once at a choir rehearsal first thing in the morning, and then later with a co-worker at the DCUC church. Both times, I expressed that I’d been looking for a piano and I really wanted one. Both replies instructed me to “put it out there to the universe”, which I did. I said, “I’m putting it out to the universe. I want a piano” and promptly forgot about it.

Enter Wednesday.

I finish a lunch time rehearsal, and as I’m walking to the bus stop to the next one, my phone rings. It’s not a number I recognize, but I’m a few minutes ahead of schedule and can afford to walk a little slower and talk. So I pick up.

“Hello, I got this number from the DCUC. Do you know anyone who would want a piano?”

What’s your response to that question at that point? Mine was “Uhhhhh, yeees? Could you give me a little more information?”

Long story short, there’s a woman who is moving and she’s getting rid of her piano. So it’s free, if I’m willing to pay for the moving costs. The catch? It has to be moved before 4:30 p.m. That day. Why she didn’t try to sell/move it ahead of time is beyond me, but I now needed to find a place to move it if I wanted this piano.

I’m trying to figure out where to put the piano as I was still going to work. I’ve already called my roommate to be (ideal move, since I wouldn’t have to move the piano again in January), but she’s not home until after work and the movers don’t do evening deliveries. I’ve left a message with my mom to see if there’s any way there’s someone at their place who could let them in to store the piano.

By this time, my bus has gotten me to the DCUC. (This is after the really nice bus driver randomly gave me a transfer so I could write down all the numbers I needed to call, like the person getting rid of the piano, the moving company, the agent…) And the solution presents itself when co-workers suggest: why don’t I store the piano there until my move in January?

The movers rearrange their schedule to move the piano before 3:00, when I was planning on leaving the church for my next student. The lady selling the piano arranges to be there for the movers. Meanwhile, I’m in a rehearsal.

It all works out. Then I realize I’m not sure how I’m supposed to pay the movers. Was I supposed to pay them then? Is it cash only? They’re standing right there and I definitely don’t carry that much cash on me on a daily basis. Luckily, they also take cheques and I happen to have my chequebook on me (strange in itself… not something I normally carry around with me).

So I now own a piano. It’s pretty. And short, which is great for doing Dalcroze since I can see over it easily.

I was really excited about my piano. Still am. I didn’t get a chance to check out my piano when it was delivered because other people were using the room and I didn’t want to disturb them any more than necessary. Imagine my surprise when I also found a bench full of music books!

Naturally, I had to sit down and play. Even though it was the end of a really long week and it was 11 p.m. and I was afraid an alarm would go off if I didn’t get out immediately.

I took a video. Please excuse the intonation (the piano hasn’t been tuned since it was moved), my horrible posture (I couldn’t see the music properly and I was exhausted), the wrong notes (I’m sightreading this song, which happened to be the top of the pile of sheet music in the bench), and the weird angle (the only place I could find to put my phone was the adjacent piano):

Thank you, Universe. I really love my Christmas gift!

Summer Camp Video #2

Ahh, it’s December! Yes, I’m a little late realizing that, seeing as it’s already the 10th. However, December generally creeps up on me and then flies by in a whirlwind of rehearsals, concerts, parties, and other engagements. I’ve been so busy that most days are at least 12 hours long. But I’m going to keep up with my posting. I’m enjoying it a lot.

I finally finished the second video for summer camp, so that’s going to be my post for the day. I haven’t processed everything else that’s happened so far. Soon… For now:

As mentioned before, the kids wrote the script, painted all the sets, came up with their own costumes, and rehearsed all week to put on this culminating performance for parents and friends (and the Montessori school kids, who gave them flowers!)

Making Money

So, I’ve got to be one of the worst entrepreneurs – I know nothing about running a business, I have no capital to support what I do, and worst of all, I hate asking for money.

While I know there are other traits to being a good businessperson, I’m pretty sure being interested in making money is an important one.

I run a lot of different programmes and events – for example, children’s Music Master classes, a summer music theatre camp, Jump Session (a monthly swing dance), and Gangbusters (a practice and travel swing group) – and my general goal is not to lose money.

Because, of course, while I don’t really get the concept of money, I do grasp that one must have money in today’s society in order to survive.

I’ve tried to figure out how to go non-profit, but so far, it looks like a difficult process that includes incorporation, needing more staff, and piles of paperwork.

I would happily do all the things I’m doing now for free, since I love my job. Unfortunately, as has already been pointed out, I need money to achieve my goals. Goals like having shelter and food. You know, the little things in life.

So, I’ve decided that one of the following must happen:

1) Alcina wins the lottery jackpot
2) Alcina comes into an inheritance that doesn’t involve anyone dying
3) The TTC starts paying me $2.50 (the “low” price of a token) every time a bus or train or streetcar is late
4) A random sponsor continually sends me money so that I can offer free programming while still making ends meet

Actually, I think #3 would be the most amusing for me. (I’m imagining some employee of the TTC whose sole job it is to have a car so that they can drive to me and pay me a toonie and a couple of quarters wherever I happen to be stuck. Yes, it would make more sense for them to just give me a ride, but then I wouldn’t be a gazillionaire fast enough). Let’s make that one happen.

Technology

Before you get all worried, no, I’m not going to rant about how technology is ruining our world and blah blah blah. This is entirely about my relationship with technology.

I was born before the technologically-savvy generation. Despite having built a computer from scratch with my dad when my age was still in the single digits, I have horrible luck with electronic gadgets. They like to break on me and I have no clue what to do about it.

I also don’t understand the desire to be on a computer 24/7. I watch my sister and my students interact with their friends online and on their phones and I just don’t get it. I’m an old fuddy duddy who likes to actually get together with people in person and talk with our mouths, not our thumbs.

The fact that a 2-year old has a better grasp of how to use my phone than I do goes to show how inept I am.

I liked the days before Windows, when “cd” wasn’t capitalized and didn’t stand for compact disc. I remember floppy drives and actual floppy disks. They were big and black and bendy (but not too much – that’s how you broke them).

So why did I just purchase an iMac? How did I get sucked into converting to one from my old school, I like PCs, has an actual Delete button (as opposed to Backspace) laptop? Mostly because it’s shiny. Black and silver Shishiri (yes, she has a name) was taken home from the Apple Store in her sleek white box because she’s purdy.

To be fair, it also was justified from a work point of view. I needed to stop borrowing MacBooks to edit videos. I couldn’t for the life of me get Windows Movie Maker to function properly, and my new computer comes with iMovie. Now I’ll finally get the videos from summer camp done! (Yes, I realize it’s almost December – have I mentioned yet how much I suck with computers?)

Here’s the video from the first week of camp:

The kids wrote the script, painted the sets, and put together a good show. And I finally get to show everyone!

The REAL Lyrics

More than usual, in the past few days, my brain has been coming up with well-known poem and song snippets (albeit slightly altered) that fit my circumstances. Here are a few of the more interesting ones:

Sitting in the middle of the living room, trying to do work in the midst of renovations: Construction, construction everywhere, and not a place to think.

Making dinner: Oh, the soup is getting ho-ot, As it sits there in the po-ot, I’ve turned up the heating coil, Let it boil, let it boil, let it boil!

Cleaning up after the meal: Oh, I can’t eat without dirtying dishes, I can’t eat without dirtying dishes, I can’t eat without dirtying dishes – that, nobody can deny!

Getting dressed in the morning: Clothing, I just need to find some clothing, for my legs, my neck, I must sing, let’s just say, I need it all.

On the TTC: All the train’s a cage, and all the men and women merely later.

I mean, my brain normally works as if I live in a musical, but I’m wondering if my drugged up state has produced extra funny tidbits, or if I’m still delirious. (If you’re wondering why I’m on drugs, see here.)

P.S. Bonus marks if you got all of my references!

Death by ??

My body and doctors get along as well as my dog and the postman. Not that my appendages have gone chasing MDs down the street. They just don’t quite see medicine eye to eye.

I’m a generally healthy person (with the exception of my uterus trying to kill me once a month – you may think that’s an exaggeration until I’m curled up in the fetal position crying on your bathroom floor, or in this month’s case, on an air mattress in Rochester), so luckily my body and doctors don’t have to meet that often. That said, whenever I am sick, my body generally ends up cackling while the doctors have confused looks on their faces (the doctors long ago gave up on trying to figure out why my uterus decides it wants to kill me once a month).

Doctors have this massive book full of all the possible medical diagnoses. It’s a glorious stack of information the size of at least four regular textbooks. Problem? People like me come along. My body has decided that it’s no fun to be diagnosable. Why have one simple disease that everyone else can have, too? The common cold? I’m too good for that. Anyone can have that. I’d like to have the rare-as-a-platypus-billed-duck cold, please.

So, after spending pretty much all day in the ER today, I came out with a ?? diagnosis and a prescription for crazy strong antibiotics. I have 4 of the 5 symptoms of strep throat, so that’s what the antibiotics are for, just in case (I didn’t actually get diagnosed with strep throat, mind you). I might have the flu on top of that, since I have a fever alternating with chills, a massive headache, muscle aches and pains, itchy and painful ears, and congestion in my lungs. The gastro problems they decided to ascribe to Aunt Flo.

None of this explains the full-body rash… but we just left that one.

The best part of all this: I have a pretty yellow plastic bracelet! It has all of my medical and contact info on it, just in case I forget who I am!