Canadian girl out and aboot

I heard this story earlier this week and it totally blew my mind. Vancouver media person KK (who knows me somehow) has an autistic son who lives far away with his mother. The son is eight years old, and was never able to speak or communicate with anyone.

This week the son, J, started to type. His first message was to his sister. He typed a short message to tell her to "pick up her jacket."

Then, with the help of his mother, he sent KK an email saying, "Hi, dad, how was your day?"

Life can be strange and beautiful sometimes.

One of the kids in my writing group asked me a very interesting question today. We were talking about passions and how your passions often become a part of your fiction. Many of the kids in the group are interested in history and like to set their stories in historical times.

One of the girls said that she is very passionate about the environment, and said that the problem with being passionate about that is that it's very hard to write about the environment without being preachy.

My answer was to recommend a couple books that have strong stories that deal with the environment. But now, as I'm thinking about it, I think that the real truth is to create a compelling story with that setting, theme or plot. Right now I'm watching "Blood Diamond" which deals with the diamond trade. Because of the interesting characters and storylines, it doesn't really feel preachy.

One of my favourite books "My Year of Meats" deals with the American meat industry. Yet the characters, action and themes are so compelling that the issues or messages contained in the story become only one of the components.

Writers like Langston Hughes, Lawrence Hill or Joseph Boyden write about racial issues in such a way that the story is built around the issues, and the issues don't overcapsulate the story.


It's an interesting question and one that I'll be thinking about before next month's meeting. Any other thoughts or suggestions?

I am very surprised that I do not have dreams about food security. Right now I'm doing my final assignment for my food security course. I'm writing about malting barley and increasing malt quality. I'm reading "End of Food" by Paul Roberts and thinking about going to see "The Sustainable Table" at my coffee shop tonight.

I think I am going to need a break from food security in the next little while. I could talk about it for hours. This is part of how I know that I'm making the right decision for myself at this point.

I flew back from Edmonton yesterday. While I was standing at the baggage carousel, I noticed a child's treadmill going around the track. This "toy" is to teach children how to exercise. It comes with a heart rate monitor, and stops when the kid stops walking.

This strikes me as sad. Shouldn't kids be doing recreational activities or playing outside?

****
My luggage didn't arrive, by the way. If I go pick it up when it comes in, I'll get a $100 travel voucher from Westjet. If I have it delivered to me, I get nothing. Guess which one I'm going to pick.

My chef cousin is marrying her chef boyfriend and they're moving to Spain together.

Perhaps creativity and a love for adventure run in the genes...

Now, I roll my eyes a lot, but recent trips to the convenience store near my office have me rolling them far back into my head. I've long been keeping track of the recent onslaught of green tea related beverages and energy drinks.

The whole whack of green tea beverages is related to the fact that people now think green tea is good for you because it contains anti-oxidants. I'm convinced that anti-oxidants are like feng shui in that people believe in them, but only about 45 people can tell you the principles and what they actually do.

And green tea probably is good for you, but not when it's loaded up with all the crud that these manufacturers are putting in these bottled drinks.

Anyway, soft drink manufacturers are losing sales because people have reduced their consumption of pop in recent years since they have figured out that drinking pop is the nutritional equivalent of watching "Full House." As a result, the manufacturers are now marketing all these sugared green tea "energy" beverages to try to recapture a market.

Some of the energy beverages really get to me. I recently saw an ad for a new kind of Pepsi Max, a new soft drink that features Pepsi, Ginseng and Green Tea, designed to give you energy. What? The whole thing is so ridiculous to me. Is our world so depraved that we have to rely on drinks for energy? What ever happened to sleep, exercise and eating properly?

Oh, yeah. Right.

I should also add that if you get the urge to go to Mac's for a slushy, do not drink the citrus mint flavour. I only tried a small sip of it, but it tastes like a dental fluoride treatment. I don't think it's going to fly.

My friend Tricia of bitsandbobbins.com wrote this great post a few weeks ago about why people dress the way they do, and how she developed her personal style. Tricia and I have been internet friends for about seven years now, even though we've never met in person. One of the great things about the Internet is that I've managed to find a close community of women, many of whom have been with me through many stages of my life. It's sort of like having a cheerleading squad that follows me wherever I go.

Anyway, this post is about wardrobe and clothing and some of the ideas that Tricia brought up in the original post.

Now I'll talk about why I dress the way I do, and what I am drawn to.

For the past 7 or 8 years, my clothing has been dominated by function and low income. I have needed durable, functional clothing that can be used a lot. Since 1999, I've lived in eight different places- 2 big cities, one small town, Ulaan Baatar, Mongolia, a mid-size city, and Jakarta. I have moved a lot, and have a very pared down wardrobe. I don't keep a lot with me every time I move. I have a few clothes that I can't bear to part with- namely a gorgeous lavender cheong sam, a woolen vest that I bought in Chile over 14 years ago but haven't worn in 10, and a few other things.

I hate shopping because it makes me feel inadequate. I used to stress over how much everything cost, and the amount of money I had. I'm getting better now.

Moving to various different climates really affected my wardrobe. I couldn't wear cords in Vancouver (too hot) and found that some of my jackets and shoes were completely useless in a temperate rainforest. At one point, all my summer skirts were down to my ankles, because they'd all been acquired so I could be comfortable and appropriate living and working in Indonesia, which is a traditional Muslim nation.

My clothing is rather uninspiring due to my current job and physical location. When it's cold, I just want to be as warm as possible. I don't like wearing skirts or dresses in winter, because I want to stay warm.

My job sometimes requires me to drive out to a farm or go into a pottery studio on the same day. As a result, I'll wear a t-shirt and jeans most days, along with Doc Marten boots. I started wearing Doc boots when I lived in Vancouver because they were good for walking and rain. They're also good for climbing into cow pens and walking around farms, which I do some days at my job.

People dress conservatively up here. T-shirt and jeans are normal for most people, unless they're in a professional occupation where they would wear dress clothes. Casual is the name of the day. Since my job is to try and make people comfortable, I can't afford to stand out too much. I want to look and be comfortable, just in case I have to lie down in a field to take a picture, but I still have to look presentable in case I walk into an office.

That said, this year I am trying to wear more colour, and am adding shirts with buttons and shirts other than t-shirts to my wardrobe. On days when I stay in town, I'll wear skirts to the office. I just bought a pair of casual black shoes to wear, so I've got some new shoes as well. I have some nice girly sandals, and I might slip those on a few times this year too.

****
Body issues- I am bottom heavy and have large legs and a large ass. I'm a bit of a mesomorph and can gain muscle pretty easily. I dress to minimize my bottom. No skinny jeans for me. I used to accentuate my waist, but my waist isn't as small as it used to be now that I am in my 30s. I've always felt good about my bust and collarbone and I love v-neck shirts as a result. I like that area of my body. I tend to wear looser bottoms and tighter tops, with heavier shoes for walking. I don't like high heels; I like something good and solid on my feet.

****
What I'm drawn to- I wear a lot of earth tones, and I love red more than any other colour. I am a bit scared by colour- I go into a store and I have no idea what colours look good with my skin tone. I know that I look fantastic in white, and pastels because of my olive skin. I also love chocolate browns and probably wear too much black. I'm going to try to wear more colour this summer.

I do love wearing t-shirts with slogans and weird sayings and will probably never fully conquer that love. Sorry, Stacey and Clinton.

What I'm drawn to and love- I love fashion inspired by old movies- Faye Dunaway in Bonnie and Clyde, Julie Christie's sweaters in Dr. Zhivago, 40s style dresses, Ali McGraw's clothes in "Love Story" almost anything that looks classically tailored. I love plaid, especially short plaid skirts. I love trench coats, and tall boots, and mary janes. I love to wear v-neck anything. I like my pants low-cut and I hate pants with pleats. I love cardigans, and sweaters with hoods and tweed, and anything that looks like it should be worn by a sexy librarian.

Big surprise- I love anything that has an Asian influence. Mandarin collars, cheong sams, gathered buttons etc.

People who know me in real life know that I love cleavage and probably check out boobs more than the average straight woman.

I love flirty little sundresses and just bought a pair of big sunglasses with rhinestones on them because they are hilarious. I've been trying to dress in a more feminine style when I get dressed up. I love pearl necklaces and black dresses with gloves. I like sexy when it's done with class, not trash.

Loneliness is something I think about quite frequently. I've been quite familiar with it for a while now as I've been living alone in the frozen north for over a year. I'm quite aware that I don't need as much social interaction as other people, but I still require some. I have a tendency to live in my head, so anything that can get me out of that is good for me!

Aaron/Prosad and I were talking on the phone about loneliness and he said that he thinks it is one of the greatest problems in the Western world. He said he talks to all kinds of people, many of whom are very successful, who admit to being very, very lonely.

Loneliness also has little to do with the number of people surrounding you. It has more to do about whether or not you connect to the people who are around you. You can be in a relationship and still feel insanely lonely. People have said that they are lonely even when they are in families and relationships, which again might correlate back to the idea that it's really about the connections we have, rather than the sheer number of people we have around us.

I wonder if people in lesser developed countries, where there are more kinships ties, would admit to having the same problems with loneliness. In the Philippines and Indonesia, people were rarely alone and were always surrounded by family and friends. I think this may have some health benefits, actually.

My own personal take on loneliness? It's impermanent. It is a feeling that comes, that can pass, and that can change with positive action. It's an affliction that can be cured. It's serious and can be debilitating, but it's not always permanent.

Since I started working on a story about high school grad, I started asking all my newsroom friends what they did for their high school graduations. I'm really surprised by the range of activities and acceptance/non acceptance of underage drinking.

The high school grade in GP lasts two days. One is a cap and gown day, the next is the formal day, which is followed by the Safe grad. At safe grad, the grads are taken to an undisclosed location. Before attending this activity, they are allowed to provide coolers of booze, which they give over to the parent chaperones. They also have to have parental consent to attend safe grad, and these signed parental forms are given to the RCMP. Safe grad may be only attended by people between the ages of 16-20, and even the 20-year-olds have to have signed forms. The kids are then allowed to drink, and are monitored by the parents.

****
My grad was a one day affair. Cap and gown in the morning, formal march and dinner and then dry grad. We went out to a farm where we played games, had a bonfire, roasted marshmellows, and had hay rides. There was no drinking.

****
So what about you? What did you do for your high school grad? Is it a big affair in the United States?

I am now declaring Halloween my favourite holiday for several reasons-

1. One of the things that I don't like about the big holidays, like Christmas, is that you're supposed to be happy and gather together with your family and that puts a lot of pressure on people whose family relationships are not good. It's also a pan-Christian holiday and if you're not Christian, than you're SOL. Christmas was also a stressful time for my mom, because being a social worker at Christmasttime blows. You have to deal with people who can't celebrate it, have screwed up relationships with their families, and who can't afford to buy, buy, buy. I don't appreciate holidays where people are supposed to be happy when they just CAN't be, and that cause unnecessary financial strain.


2. You don't necessarily have to be boozy. This is what I don't like about St. Patrick's day, or New Year's. There is such stupid pressure to go out and drink and get loaded, which I have never been that interested in.

3. If you feel like staying in, no one thinks you're a loser. Plus you can still hand out candy.

4. You can celebrate Halloween alone or with others- not like Valentine's day, where you are SOL if you're single.

5. You can talk about death and ghosts, which in my opinion, we don't spend enough time talking about in Western culture.

6. Costumes

7. Candy

Yep, I'm voting for Halloween.