I've really not got excited about Christmas at all. I've made the majority of my presents this year, and other than a few brief visits to the mall downtown I haven't taken part in any holiday shopping. I don't really mind, I find shopping this time of year to be overwhelming... but considering that I'm leaving for Christmas vacation in less than a week, I am really not filled with the holiday spirit. I haven't really had much excuse to get in the mood. No staff holiday parties to attend... I left my old job in October, I only worked with my current position for a couple months, and the new job I'm starting on Monday doesn't have a Christmas party but some sort of winter ball in February. That's kind of exciting though... hopefully it will be a real party and not some sorry boring affair. That's still a couple months off though - I'm trying to focus on the present and get excited about presents. I've been listening to holiday music all day, a lot of which I simply could not tolerate because it was absolutely horrible. Tomorrow I'll be making chocolates at Wade's... perhaps that will be the cure to my scrooginess.
one of those nights where I can't sleep. Perhaps I shouldn't have taken a nap this afternoon, but I was tired and my bed was so inviting.
The weather has been depressing me lately, but I made the realization this evening that the shortest day of the year is fast approaching. Although it might be getting colder, and the snow won't disappear any time soon... the days will begin to get ever the tiniest bit longer.
I'm working on an idea for a photography project over the next couple of months. I have rounded up a group of models who I am planning to shoot - and hopefully, if I can get in touch with the guy who handles the rental of a local venue... I'm going to organize a sort of independent art show/leap year party. I'm hoping that we can pull something together. The concept for the show is a bit of a gag, but it will be fun nonetheless. No more details at the moment. Who knows, in the next couple of weeks the whole thing might fall apart. But I hope not.
I'm sure that if/when my mother reads this post I'm going to get an earful about this photo from my most recent photoshoot. Don't worry mama... it's in black and white so it's tasteful and artistic. My reputation is still intact.
I'm in my last week of my current job, and I'll start fresh with another one on Monday. Understandably it's a period of change. My course is also wrapping up, although I still have to finish both of my papers (which I have made a good start on but I'm in the middle of the road funk). That kind of mixture of exciting new change and inability to progress describes my life at the moment. I don't think I would be bothered by any of this if I were sleeping properly, but my insomnia seems to have returned. Thankfully, I am able to properly function on little sleep, but it is still exhausting.
As a bit of distraction this weekend I had a comedic photoshoot with a friend. The whole concept was sort of built on the initial idea of the classic Seinfeld image of George Costanza posing on a couch in white briefs and black socks. I don't quite recall how the idea came to be, but I do know that it did involve martinis and Martinis. We started out with the Costanza pose (with the intent that the photo will be hung over the couch where the photo was taken)... and then moved about the apartment and the apartment complex (including the sauna, dry tub (inoperable hottub with about two inches of some aqueous chemical mixture in the bottom), laundry facility, lobby and elevator. It was ridiculously amusing, particularly when we interacted with the other apartment dwellers and the postal lady. My favourite moment of the day came when we were shooting in front of the Christams tree in the lobby and the postal lady came down off the elevator to find us recreating Christmas morning (who doesn't open presents in a straw cowboy hat and silk robe with a dragon embroidered on the back?). She sort of stopped and paused for a moment so as not to disrupt the art in progress. I couldn't stop laughing all day... and I was laughing again while taking the photo.
"Don't worry," she said, "I've got a niece like you..."
"like what?" I challenged. "Go ahead, say it... Crazy."
As she headed out the door she turned back and replied something to the effect of, "nah, she's a grobowski. you might know her... Tracy Grobowski." With that she went on her merry way and more ridiculousness and hilarity ensued, including the recreation of some of the finer moments from Arrested Development (nevernude Tobias crying in the shower).
I have no idea what these pictures are going to be used for. They hardly exemplify my best technical work (I broke my lighting umbrella on my way up to the apartment)... I was too amused to really focus on composition... so some of the photos were not as carefully crafted as I would like. Good diversion though... I haven't laughed that much during a photoshoot in a long time.
I've posted this photo before on my blog, but I like it so much that I figured it deserves another post.
I went swimming last night... something which seems odd for me to do, since I spent much of my youth refusing to get out of bed for early morning swim practices. But I'm getting long in the tooth and my job promotes a sedentary lifestyle. My walk to work is only going to get shorter in the two weeks (three blocks instead of a ten minute walk)... so there was a greater pressure that I do something active with my life.
My return to the pool was not enitrely glorious. My cardiovascular ability has greatly diminished over the years and I was only able to manage about ten or so laps before I headed to the hot tub. Very weak performance, but I'm just impressed by the fact that I went to swimming at all. Aryn was much more dedicated... and completed his set number of laps.
In an effort to make swimming a habit, I'm attempting to organize a swim team of sorts... and make myself accountable to a group of people who will go swimming with me. I've even come up with a few names for the team, my favourite of course being the West Side Story inspired "Pool Sharks and the Jetskis". I find that associating anything with a musical makes my life a little bit better. Boy oh crazy boy... I can't wait until someone starts yelling "Chino!" in the middle of the pool.
We made a new friend last night... a skipper who sweats profusely. He gave us some tips on how to skip with minimum effort but maximum results. We're going to work it into our routine. It'll be like dance practice all over again.
but I'm going...
tonight.
If there is anyone wanting to contribute to my Christmas/Birthday/General Gift fund... please consider giving the gift of Cintiq12WX.
I've been told that it's going to be the coldest winter in fifteen years. When I look out the window and see the flurry of snowflakes swirling every which direction... and I think how my legs were chapped and raw this weekend despite multiple layers... I believe it.
I've been knitting up a storm for the past month. I challenged myself to make the majority of my Christmas gifts and I have finished the majority of my projects. I'll admit that I'm a bit knit-out at the moment. Yesterday I finished the toque pictured above... one of the more complicated patterns that I have ever attempted, my second cabling project. Although I had to modify the pattern on the crown (I couldn't figure out the decreasing properly plus the toque was getting too long), I'm really impressed with my handiwork. I came across this pattern a few years ago, but I wasn't confident enough in my knitting ability to tackle it. I don't know what has changed recently, maybe it was the drive to make all these Christmas presents and not wanting to knit the same thing over and over. I'm a bit at a loss for what to attempt next though. I think I might try to do some sort of fair isle pattern, after Christmas of course.
I wish I had brought my camera to work today. The view of snowy downtown from my window is pretty cool. Although I doubt I could convince the people on my floor to turn off the fluorescents for awhile. I don't know how I'd deal with the reflection on the windows.
