Holiday Greetings

My thirtieth birthday is right around the corner. Like, six days around the corner. The end of my twenties...it feels strange. I'm pretty happy with my place in the world so that makes it easier to face. I feel like I've accomplished a lot so far in my life and I'm excited about where the future is headed. Sure, it's just a number, but it's a milestone too. I remember being a child and daydreaming about what my future would be like. I'm sure I imagined myself to be married with children at this point. Am I disappointed that I'm not living that daydream? No, not at all. My childlike self had no idea what I would really want when I was 30. She couldn't imagine what a 30-year-old me would actually feel like.

How do I feel? Content. I feel like I'm at a good place in my life. I'm happy to be working at a job that interests me, I am enjoying the challenge and excitement of living in a new place, and I'm still head over heels in love. Eli referred to us recently as being "happy as clams" and I think I agree with him.

This week we've been celebrating Hannukah together. Each night we've lit candles, sung prayers in Hebrew, and have exchanged gifts. It's been very meaningful to develop our own traditions that reflect the homes and the cultures that we grew up in.

Tonight we're leaving to go to Canmore until Boxing Day. My father is going to come and spend the holidays with Eli's family. It will be the first time that our parents will meet. I'm a little nervous but think that it will go alright. I am so excited to see the mountains, feel snow crunching beneath my feet and go skiing! Yay! Also, two of our good friends are coming to Canmore from Edmonton to visit with us for a day so there is much to look forward to.

After Canmore we'll head back to Toronto for a day and then hit the road to celebrate my birthday in Montreal. It will be my very first time there so I'm quite excited. Eli and I will be staying at the luxurious Queen Elizabeth Hotel for two nights! We don't often splurge on such decadent things but we decided that it was warranted for a special occasion. Fun fact you might not know about this hotel: it's where John and Yoko had their famous "bed-in" back in 1969.

Happy holidays everyone and best wishes for the new year!

Overdue Update

I used to write a lot at work. Now, however, I have extremely limited internet capabilities during the day so my writing has suffered. My productivity, on the other hand, has skyrocketed. I *hate* to admit this but I am a much better worker when I don't have the internet at my fingertips and you know what? Being more productive makes me feel more alive and accomplished at the end of the day. I know this shouldn't be an epiphany but it is. It's not that I didn't get my work done before -- I did. I always produced good work that was highly regarded but now I'm able to do more.

Still, I miss the internet.

In any event, I've been up to lots lately!

Friday night, Eli told me that he had a plan for the evening and it involved "handfuls of LED lights, the corner of Queen and Spadina, a parkade, and other fun stuff involving dancing". I was intrigued! We went for dinner to the Green Room and then at around 11pm we headed over to the intersection. By the time we got there a crowd was already gathering. It was an event called Radical Illumination which involved a temporary art installation that we were all invited to be a part of. We were all given a handful of LED "throwies" and were told that we were all going to decorate a streetcar!

<---"throwies"

At around 11:11pm, we were told to "attack" the next streetcar with lights and hundreds of people all rushed forward and starting throwing lights on it. The expression of the people on the streetcar was priceless! Some were bewildered, some were entertained, and some were frightened! The driver, having no idea what was going on, just kept driving through and refused to stop. Within seconds, four or five police cars showed up and immediately put a stop to everything. It was obvious that they were didn't know exactly what was going on but they wanted to make sure that everyone knew that they were there watching. They shut down the streetcar line and the whole party kinda fizzled.

Apparently, the plan was to takeover the next streetcar with a mobile party. The mobile party was then going to take everyone to an abandoned parkade and were planning on having a party that "straddles the line between public and private space". We were absolutely freezing and weren't sure if anything was going to happen so we left but I've read that the party at the parkade also got busted and they moved on to a Tim Horton's(?) and the cereal aisle of a grocery store! You have to give them a few points for persistence...they were determined to have a public dance party and they did!

Sure, things didn't really work out exactly as planned but I was so impressed by the energy and exuberance of everyone there. They really wanted to bring smiles to everyone around them and I liked the idea of a glowing, covered streetcar. I saw so many people in the crowd who looked interesting and fun and I think we're going to try to go to more events that this group has. They've put on other events in the city like pillow fights and giant capture the flag games set in the financial district!

Saturday night was the Six Shooter Christmas party which was a really fun time. It was all the people from Eli's office, a bunch of their bands, and a potpourri of people from the Toronto music scene. At one point I was introduced to a guy named Michael (I had no idea who he was) and we chatted for a long time about my job and crime in Ontario. In the course of the conversation I casually asked how he was connected and he said "oh, I'm a music producer. I've done some work with Six Shooter before". Later, Eli informed me that he was Michael Phillip Wojewoda who has produced records for the Barenaked Ladies, Spirit of the West, Jane Sieberry, etc. Ooops. I felt so silly. I've seen his name on many records but I had no idea who he was and chatted his ear off about my job.

The weeks feel like they zoom by. I think my internal clock has been thrown off by the contrast in weather here. It is still quite warm and there is absolutely no snow. Some trees still haven't had all their leaves fall off yet! I didn't realize how acclimatized I have been to Alberta winters. I am excited to be spending a few days in Canmore over the holidays.

Because we don't know as many people here, I've been finding a lot more time to catch up on things that got neglected during our move -- like running! I'm running three times a week now and it feels so good to be doing it regularly again. There's a full gym in the basement of my work so it's easy to fit in a workout during the day. I'm starting to have daydreams about half-marathons in the spring but I don't want to fully commit to anything yet.

That's it for now...thanks for continuing to check back with me : )