End-of-Year Update
So, with the end of the year fast approaching, it seems appropriate to do a wee update, and hopefully post a little more regularly going forward.
Anyway, the last few months have been largely uneventful, with Don and I both working at Chapters. He, of course, will be continuing in that, while I figure out what the heck I'm going to do next. It was kind of nice to be back there, actually. There were a few things I missed about working there. The discount was nice, for one, and just being surrounded by books, and getting to see what new books are out there. Maybe I should just start visiting regularly again, with my little notebook ready to accept more books t add to my ever-growing list. On the other hand, my list was much more stable when I wasn't in there regularly, so maybe I should beat it down to a certain degree of submission before I go regularly nuts with it again... Nah.
Christmas was good to me, as always. Spent it with my family, which was as peaceful and enjoyable as ever, even with the addition of several extra people this year, with various relatives either visiting or having moved to Ottawa permanently. Gift highlights include my adorable new iPod Shuffle, and some indoor gardening stuff. I'm not really much into gardening, as a rule, but lately I've been itching to grow my own herbs. There's something very satisfying about cooking with stuff you grew yourself - or at least, I imagine there is. Closest I've actually come was using some green onions and stuff from Da's vegetable garden, but that was satisfying enough, so I can only imagine that if I actually grow something myself, it will be even more so. That being the case, we got this spiffy tomato-growing thingie, that allows the tomatoes to grow down, so the tomatoes don't end up sitting on the ground and rotting. This will be awesome because Don loves tomatoes, so this way, we'll always have fresh ones handy. The other great thing about it is that there's space on top to plant other stuff, like a little herb garden. Only problem is that in order to set the thing up, we really need some tomato plants, and they're not exactly in season right now. So that will have to wait for a while. But in the meantime, I also go a Chia herb garden, so I've got a couple of little pots started, with basil, marjoram, parsley, and chives. The basil has already started making visible progress, which is kind of exciting. I'm really looking forward to having fresh herbs I can use.
Aside from that, we've been to a couple of shows and such, starting with the Trans-Siberian Orchestra when they were in town. That show was fantastic, and almost worth the price just for the lighting. Don says he hasn't seen a rig that big since Pink Floyd. The music, of course, was also fantastic, and it was just a really good show. I highly recommend it if you get a chance, and I hope we'll have the opportunity to see them again as well. We were also lucky enough to score passes to the Ottawa premiere of The Golden Compass, which was quite enjoyable. Really pretty, and a really good story. I hope they're able to do the other two books in the series as well. And the other day, we decided to check out Sweeney Todd. I really wasn't sure what to expect from it, considering how much I love the musical and what a demanding score it has, but I was pleasantly surprised. Tim Burton did a really good job of conveying the incredibly dark mood of the thing without adding too much kitch or random backstory (see Charlie & the Chocolate Factory). And while Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter are not especially strong singers - she, in particular, wasn't really up to the demands of Sondheim's music - acting-wise, they were both stellar in those roles. The supporting players too, like Alan Rickman as Judge Turpin, and Sasha Baron Cohen as Pirelli (a particularly genius bit of casting there), were also really good. I was disappointed that they didn't include any of the chorus singing (I thought they could have at least put together a chorus to do The Ballad of Sweeney Todd for the closing credits), but generally, I enjoyed it. All in all, musically, it really doesn't compare to the stage show, but everything else about it was really well done, so I'd consider it a fairly successful rendition of a very difficult piece of work.
And that's about it, really. As I said earlier, I hope to be more communicative in the future, but i you miss me, you know where to find me!
Anyway, the last few months have been largely uneventful, with Don and I both working at Chapters. He, of course, will be continuing in that, while I figure out what the heck I'm going to do next. It was kind of nice to be back there, actually. There were a few things I missed about working there. The discount was nice, for one, and just being surrounded by books, and getting to see what new books are out there. Maybe I should just start visiting regularly again, with my little notebook ready to accept more books t add to my ever-growing list. On the other hand, my list was much more stable when I wasn't in there regularly, so maybe I should beat it down to a certain degree of submission before I go regularly nuts with it again... Nah.
Christmas was good to me, as always. Spent it with my family, which was as peaceful and enjoyable as ever, even with the addition of several extra people this year, with various relatives either visiting or having moved to Ottawa permanently. Gift highlights include my adorable new iPod Shuffle, and some indoor gardening stuff. I'm not really much into gardening, as a rule, but lately I've been itching to grow my own herbs. There's something very satisfying about cooking with stuff you grew yourself - or at least, I imagine there is. Closest I've actually come was using some green onions and stuff from Da's vegetable garden, but that was satisfying enough, so I can only imagine that if I actually grow something myself, it will be even more so. That being the case, we got this spiffy tomato-growing thingie, that allows the tomatoes to grow down, so the tomatoes don't end up sitting on the ground and rotting. This will be awesome because Don loves tomatoes, so this way, we'll always have fresh ones handy. The other great thing about it is that there's space on top to plant other stuff, like a little herb garden. Only problem is that in order to set the thing up, we really need some tomato plants, and they're not exactly in season right now. So that will have to wait for a while. But in the meantime, I also go a Chia herb garden, so I've got a couple of little pots started, with basil, marjoram, parsley, and chives. The basil has already started making visible progress, which is kind of exciting. I'm really looking forward to having fresh herbs I can use.
Aside from that, we've been to a couple of shows and such, starting with the Trans-Siberian Orchestra when they were in town. That show was fantastic, and almost worth the price just for the lighting. Don says he hasn't seen a rig that big since Pink Floyd. The music, of course, was also fantastic, and it was just a really good show. I highly recommend it if you get a chance, and I hope we'll have the opportunity to see them again as well. We were also lucky enough to score passes to the Ottawa premiere of The Golden Compass, which was quite enjoyable. Really pretty, and a really good story. I hope they're able to do the other two books in the series as well. And the other day, we decided to check out Sweeney Todd. I really wasn't sure what to expect from it, considering how much I love the musical and what a demanding score it has, but I was pleasantly surprised. Tim Burton did a really good job of conveying the incredibly dark mood of the thing without adding too much kitch or random backstory (see Charlie & the Chocolate Factory). And while Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter are not especially strong singers - she, in particular, wasn't really up to the demands of Sondheim's music - acting-wise, they were both stellar in those roles. The supporting players too, like Alan Rickman as Judge Turpin, and Sasha Baron Cohen as Pirelli (a particularly genius bit of casting there), were also really good. I was disappointed that they didn't include any of the chorus singing (I thought they could have at least put together a chorus to do The Ballad of Sweeney Todd for the closing credits), but generally, I enjoyed it. All in all, musically, it really doesn't compare to the stage show, but everything else about it was really well done, so I'd consider it a fairly successful rendition of a very difficult piece of work.
And that's about it, really. As I said earlier, I hope to be more communicative in the future, but i you miss me, you know where to find me!