Bonus: Time (II)

‘Life is all about timing... the unreachable becomes reachable, the unavailable becomes available, the unattainable... attainable. Have the patience, wait it out. It's all about timing.’ - Stacey Charter

‘Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma - which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of other's opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.’ - Steve Jobs

‘If you get up one more time than you fall you will make it through.’ - Chinese Proverb

December 27: Joke

1. Winning another battle in the paper war at home!

2. ‘Stalin's ghost appears to Putin in a dream, and Putin asks for help running the country. Stalin says, ‘Round up and shoot all the democrats, and then paint the inside of the Kremlin blue.’ ‘Why blue?’ Putin asks. ‘Ha!’ says Stalin. ‘I knew you wouldn't ask me about the first part.’’

3. A real estate professional took the time - over an hour - to patiently listen, and to answer my questions. [I'm so glad he's not a lawyer.]

Bonus: Time (I)

‘We all have our time machines. Some take us back, they're called memories. Some take us forward, they're called dreams.’ - Jeremy Irons

‘Don't say you don't have enough time. You have exactly the same number of hours per day that were given to Helen Keller, Pasteur, Michaelangelo, Mother Teresa, Leonardo da Vinci, Thomas Jefferson, and Albert Einstein.’ - H. Jackson Brown

‘There is a time for departure even when there's no certain place to go.’ - Tennessee Williams

December 25: Dinner

1. Holiday downtime, at last, to start reflecting on the year.
2. Christmas dinner with friends whose families are far away.
3. Beautiful gift of letterpress typography, patterns and haiku.

‘The only reason for time is so that everything doesn't happen at once.’ - Albert Einstein

December 23: Tuesdays

1. Precious sleep: ‘There are twelve hours in the day, and above fifty in the night.’ - Marie de Rabutin-Chantal

2. Silver Tuesdays: All I wanted was a pair of low-rise, boot-cut jeans. Easy? Not so! After a painful hunt, it ended where it all started (thank you, Jean Machine).

3. Happy convert: $150 (plus tax) buys a 1hr facial in a fancy hotel; $50 buys that same facial - for 1.5hrs - in that same aesthetician's home.

‘If you can't sleep, then get up and do something instead of lying there worrying. It's the worry that gets you, not the lack of sleep.’ - Dale Carnegie

December 3: Doughnut

1. Honouring: attending one very inspiring awards luncheon.
2. Spacing: attending a release party for Toronto's coolest mag.
3. Attending: to the maple-glazed doughnut Kevin bought me.

‘Today is the tomorrow I was terrified of yesterday.’

November 28: Poppins

1. Generosity: the guy on the subway shared his newspaper.
2. Patience: the girl at the salon let me have my Mary Poppins of Pockets moment as I took forever to empty out my coat.
3. Highlight: the girl doing my hair gave me a positively brilliant idea. She is a creative, gorgeous super-babe of the universe.

‘He is a statue wrapped in a painting in a frame made of muscles.’

November 24: Linner

1. Incredible feedback from my U of T professor and classmates.
2. Linner (lunch + dinner) with my brother and his friend David.
3. Terrific Humber performance of A Midsummer Night's Dream.

‘Things growing are not ripe until their season.’

Bonus: Keywords

Inspired by Greta's post, some keyword searches people have recently used to land on my blog:

1. ‘legal advice on opening smoothie bars in Spain’
2. ‘365 reasons to be thankful for a lover’ (sounds like a whole other blog)
3. ‘hot chat with sex starving nuns’

Umm, yeah... thanks for visiting!

Bonus: Want

‘When you choose what you want most in life, you must not begrudge the price.’ The Good Wine, Doris McCarthy, MacFarlane, Walter & Ross, 1991

November 17: Baking

1. My professor doesn't mind that my paper is late.
2. My friend doesn't mind dinner with my nephews.
3. My nephews don't mind the pungent smell of my Converse All Stars. They take turns smelling them. ‘My turn!’ ‘No, my turn!’ Matthew says, ‘Auntie, they smell like something for baking.’

Bonus: Twins

‘Oh, you must have your hands full!’
‘You sure must have your hands full!’
‘Wow, you must have your hands full!’

November 15: Totally!

1. Overheard.

‘I love your cane!’
‘Thanks! $23 at Shoppers Drug Mart.’
‘It is so pretty!’
‘I know. It was my lucky day!’

2. Said.

‘I'm joining a gym tomorrow!’
‘Me too!’
‘When?’
‘I don't know – but I will!’
‘How exciting!’
‘I know!’
‘Totally!’

3. Read.

‘Both optimists and pessimists contribute to our society. The optimist invents the airplane and the pessimist the parachute.’ British novelist G.B. Stearn

Bonus: John F. Kennedy

‘We must never forget that art is not a form of propaganda; it is a form of truth.’

‘The Chinese use two brush strokes to write the word crisis. One brush stroke stands for danger; the other for opportunity. In a crisis, be aware of the danger - but recognize the opportunity.’

‘Once you say you're going to settle for second, that's what happens to you in life.’

Bonus: Mottos (2)

Canada's motto is A Mari usque ad Mare (From Sea to Sea). The Toronto Star asked readers for suggestions. Among them:

‘Polite neighbour of world power’
‘Politics divides us, hockey unites us’
‘Canada – Atlantic, Arctic, Pacific – Terrific!’

Bonus: Mottos (1)

Britain is seeking a new national motto. Three from a list in today’s Toronto Star:

‘Chicken tikka masala, chips and rice’
‘No, please, after you, honestly’
‘Five quid a beer? Blimey!’

Bonus: Remembrance Day

‘What difference does it make to the dead, the orphans, and the homeless, whether the mad destruction is wrought under the name of totalitarianism or the holy name of liberty and democracy?’ Gandhi

‘Only the dead have seen the end of war.’ Plato

‘One is left with the horrible feeling now that war settles nothing; that to win a war is as disastrous as to lose one.’ Agatha Christie

Three Things: Typos

1. ‘companies listed on the Toronto Sock Exchange’
2. ‘terms and conditions as being in the pubic interest’
3. ‘acknowledgment regarding nun-exclusive relationship’

Bonus: Value

‘THE POWER OF ONE, THE VALUE OF MANY’

More on this later . . . I will leave you with that while I attempt to find a moment in which to blog.

(I have been attending lots of parties this week - it is hard work!)

Speaking of, I'd like to encourage everyone out there, as we move into party season, to ditch the black wardrobe. I propose white instead, or anything vintage and shiny.

Bonus: ESL

Teaching English is the best! Direct from overseas, here are some of my favourite lines from recent kids' writings:

1. ‘Ants are so little and are firmly united with patriotic spirit.’
2. ‘In praise of David… A teacher who is the rebirth of Goliath.’
3. ‘The French people don’t use English. They have their self-respect.’

AND: ‘Nowadays I have a habit of picking my nose.’