A book, a job, and no darn wedding

Mythspring, a new anthology of speculative fiction based on the legends and lyrics of Canada launched at the Merril collection last week, well attended and highly praised. A good number of books were sold, and six authors were in attendance - including me. Signing books for strangers? Very odd feeling.
And I'm back to the world of a day job, better pay and closer than my last job. So that's less stress.
The stress I saw recently was utterly heartbreaking. Two American brides came to Canada to get married last weekend, but they fell under the "foreign divorce" clause of our largely reasonable marriage laws and had neglected to send in paperwork to Thunder Bay in advance. So had their lawyer, so they were denied their license at the 11th hour and we met to share the cake that it was too late to cancel. The B&B they were at, being run by super heroes, did everything imaginable and beyond to make the best of things and it turned in to quite the party, two very happy women. I was enthralled by the magic woven to make them happy. But not yet brides and that's the part I can't forget. It's said that every challenge is an opportunity and this is true of wedding too. Since the gent who thought I came with a license, I've asked couples point blank if they have it. Since the bride who's license expired before her lavish wedding, I've told couples their license is like a dairy product - it does go bad. And now, for couples from out of Canada who've been divorced I won't rest until I know they've sent their documents in well in advance of their date.

Ten Good Things About Monday

10) Recieving a my first star for ebay feedback.
9) Recieving notice that a book I ordered is on the way. It's a '72 copy of funky Bible translation that I was asked to read from at my uncles funeral. I liked it and found it on Ebay for a penny.
8) Car fixed.
7) Getting a call back about a job I applied to last week, with interview scheduled.
6) Visiting with hospice friends and getting a book for my young cousins from them.
5) Clearing up a massive communication failure with a very good friend.
4) Food in fridge not having gone bad, and so I was able to eat.
3) Port.
2) Excellent interview that may lead to something truly and astoundingly interesting.
1) Finding out I dodged a bit of a bullet a while back. Actually, a bit of a canon. I'm just going to keep going with the flow.

Hope Tues is as groovy.

Tagged!

Seven things to do before I die:
· Art show of paintings inspired by the Bellocq photos of Storyville prostitutes.
· King Lear by actors in Gorilla suits
· Write a book. Whole book.
· Learn to speak a second language.
· Learn to play a musical instrument.
· Save a sea turtle.
· See a wild orca.

Seven things I cannot do:
Swim
Eat large quantities of bread without feeling ill.
Dance.
Sing well.
Tolerate mean people.
Speak another language.
Abide an open ashtray.

Seven things that attract me to my mate:
Eyes.
Lips.
Fabulous heart.
The ease with which we get each other sometimes.
The ease with which we’re able to let go of getting one another when it ain’t gonna happen.
Hands.
Music

Seven books I love – in no particular order:
Secret Life of Bees
On Writing by Stephen King
Drinkology on Wine
No plot? No problem!
Meditations by that emperor guy
Yeats poetry
Me Write Book – It Bigfoot Memoir

Seven things I say:
The answer, if there was a question, is no.
And then when you’re not crazy, you say…
That was out loud, you know.
You don’t intend to piss me off, but you’re succeeding.
Are you going to drink that?
Would you like something to eat/drink?
You guys are SO married! (usually at the end of the ceremony)

Seven movies I’ve loved:
Serenity
Stigmata
A Lion in Winter
Silence of the Lambs
From Hell
Sleepy Hollow
Ginger Snaps

In Memorial - Uncle Randy

I'm not good at staying in touch with people - lousy at it, in fact. There is the slightest possibility as well that I have the habit of distancing myself deliberately from people I really care about to avoid the hurt of loss.
It doesn't work.
I hadn't seen Randy in years. Not since a cousins wedding, which I arrived late to just as the bride was making her entrance onto the great sunbathed lawn of my grandmothers house. Sun on the screen door as it opened to the ramp, sun on her very white dress and beautiful face, sun on the chrome of Uncle Randy's scooter as he wheeled her to the top of the aisle to walk the rest of the way with her father. She is not afraid to be close to people, and tonight I think she'd likely weeping. I am too, although I don't feel I have the right. I feel like some one who's run to catch a train and found the tracks long since cold, a whistle in the distance the only evidence of loss. Randy was the most direct and strong person in my life, and I spent the entirely of my opportunity to experience him on the rim. He had been diagnosed with muscular dystrophy as a child but showed no worldly evidence of self pity, only a contempt for it. I loved him, and I'll miss him. But really, I feel like I kinda already did.

Vitamins

Recently, my husband and I have started taking vitamin supplements more regularly. He's found that an increase of calcium does actually help with his arthritis, and I feel a bit better for having supplemented a very bad regular diet. That might be purely in my head. Yesterday, while getting the last the last of my prescriptions filled on the last of my health plan (yup - got ye olde epipen (sp) freshened up) I was killing time actually reading the whole labels on the comparative mulitvitamin bottles. Both the Bayer and Life brand had much of the same things, and the Life was three dollars less which had me looking. The differed in some ways - one also contained sugar, while the other also contained shellac. These were the only "non-medicinal" ingredients I could pronounce. Why put sugar in something you can't taste? Doesn't the North American diet have enough? Why put shellac at all? Internally, am I actually a boat and it's just something my Dr has been hiding from me? It may be that the Jamieson brand does have shellac in it but is just being quiet about it, but over all I liked their ingredient list better so ended up paying $6 more to get away from the crazy list of colourings the other ones had. Who cares how it's coloured? It's not like it has to go with the drapes.