A moment of reverence

in honour of the High Holy Day of Caaaandy: Hallowe'en.

Hope Bears everywhere are having a good day.

I did it!

Apparently the person I should be cooking dinner* for is Todd Dominey, who created the template for my blog. I emailed him recently wondering if he had any additional headers for use with his template (the headers are gifs) and he emailed me back with the part of Blogger help that had extra gifs for use. Said page had the additional links that I needed to figure out how to make new links. Why I couldn't find what I needed before is probably more about my laziness and distractibility and less about how Blogger has their help organized. But, anyway...I have added several of my devoted readers (and a few people who I don't actually know)to my Friends list. If you would prefer that your blog not be listed, or if I forgot one of you, please let me know.




*Of course, all of the rest of you are invited, too. Let's discuss travel plans and make a date!

Excuses

I have not done anything interesting with my blog template. This is not because I don't want to cook Annika, Angela, Vicki or The Bears dinner. It is because that without someone to actually hold my hand and walk me through the process, it is obvious that I will have to read a whole bunch of confusing words and then USE MY BRAIN. Since my brain is currently completely occupied with marking student assignments, doing my own assignments for my course and watching Prison Break, I will have to wait until a more convenient time. (Okay, Prison Break doesn't actually use my brain, but it does use valuable time when my brain could be working.)

And now for an aside that is not parenthetical...

I often give books that I have read in the past and were not particularly smitten with (read: hated) a second chance. (Oops, that was, indeed parenthetical. Plus I used an ellipse, which is entirely predictable of me. So, sorry.) I have re-read The Great Gatsby and attempted valiantly to re-read The Sun Also Rises (Amanda, you are absolutely right about that particular "masterpiece"!). I hated them both--both times.

But A Confederacy of Dunces is book I read and didn't hate. But, honestly, I didn't get all the fuss about it either. I am wondering--should I give it another try? Will I rhapsodize about it after giving it another chance or is it just another Gatsby waiting to make me wonder what people see in it?

I just realized my last paragraph had no parentheses or ellipses in it. It appears I am not predictable after all.

I am officially jealous

Podgy, although a brand-new blogger, has figured out how to add stuff like links to her blog. I, a seasoned blogger of over one year, haven't got a clue. If you would like to tutor me in the intricacies of adding links to other blogs, books and movies, I will make you dinner.

Too much trick, not enough treat

My teaching partner called the other day to invite Grant and I to her house on October 29. I adore this woman and it is the first big party she is having in her brand new home with her brand new husband. So I had to say "yes".

Allison, you may find yourself asking, why do you say "had"?

It's a Halloween party.

Unlike others of my acquaintance (waves to Annika and Will), I have never mastered the art of dressing up for Halloween. This from a woman who lived in San Francisco, quite arguably the Halloween capital of the world. I was also a Theatre Arts major in university, which seemed to make the world think that dressing up was my raison d'etre. The difference is, when I acted there was a costume designer taking care of that particular detail. I loved those costumes. But when I had to figure it out on my own? Every October 31st, I would feebly attempt to find some sort of costume that made me feel....well, not lame. I cannot remember a single time I succeeded.

For years I relied on a Groucho Marx nose and my wedding veil to create "Bride of Groucho". It was perfect, required absolutely no makeup and was easy to remove when I felt like being me again. Sadly, the nose fell apart and the veil shredded. *sigh*

This year, not only am I dreading the prospect of actually having to come up with a costume, I am married to a man who quite possibly hates the idea of dressing up for Halloween with even more of a passion than I do. Luckily, he is fairly easy. Put him in a hockey sweater, black out a couple of teeth and hand him a hockey stick and we are done. But my Halloween disaster looms.

I want to be clever. And I need it to be simple. Help.

A slip of the hand

I made a new curry recipe tonight. As I was adding, in my usual fashion, the 1/4 tsp of cayenne required for the recipe (which would be shaking the container over the food until it looked right), my hand slipped. Or maybe I just forgot how big the holes were in this particular container. Your choice.

Anyway, dinner was especially spicy tonight!

Previously on allison_wonderland...

I needed $25,000.

Well, sad to say, I have not suddenly acquired those particular funds, however I have booked those tents for December 29-January 6. The husband and I plan to celebrate an early 5 year anniversary among the ocean breezes and Mayan ruins. Like Survivor, only with hot water.

Envy me.

Or, alternatively, join me!

Summer has left the building

We had a lengthy Indian summer here in Ontario. I suppose technically it doesn't count as an actual Indian summer, as I was alway taught that you only got one after it had turned cold. It never got cold.

As a matter of fact, the last few weeks of school have been especially difficult, because it was so hot and humid. Kids, teachers, and various support personnel were all feeling the heat. We were restless and grouchy and kept waiting for school to be out so we could go play!

But just in time for Thanksgiving (Please note Canadian content for your viewing pleasure), the weather got that proper crisp chill to the air. I happily pulled out my ribbed turtleneck sweater, leather jacket and boots. The candles were lit for those early evenings and the blanket throws were snuggled into. Finally, this weekend, the boat was closed up for the season, the northerly fall colours properly exclaimed over and I purchased my last basket of field tomatoes for the year.

Fall has always been my favourite time of year. I grew up in the SF Bay Area, so fall was never really about changing colours. It was about feeling that "ting" in the air, smelling the first wood fire of the season, feeling the late afternoon sun warming your shoulders and watching for a harvest moon. Here, in Canada, I get all that and colours too!

Summer, you were wonderful. Thank you for the time we shared together. But Autumn has shown up to claim her dance.

Odd woman out

This review contains a major spoiler for Serenity. I cannot figure out how to use spoiler tags so if you haven't seen the movie, avoid paragraph 5.

Apparently I am one of the few people who didn't think Serenity was the best movie ever. I keep reading rapturous reviews of it from nearly everybody and yet, my reaction (and Grant's) was "good, not great". It feels strange to be on the outside.

I can't really write this review effectively without going to see the movie again, which will not happen until the DVD becomes available. Oh yes, I will buy the DVD and I don't doubt that I will enjoy it. I may even enjoy it more the second time around, but I won't be going out to the theatre to see it.

Why didn't I love love love Serenity? Mainly because I don't think Joss Whedon is all that good at telling his stories in a limited amount of time. He is a master at the extended arc, developing characters and plotlines with depth and nuance. This skill doesn't translate to a two-hour movie. At least, not for me.

I wanted to see this story play out over a season's worth of television. Yeah, sour grapes, but that's just how I feel. I felt cheated by the shorthand of this movie. The characters that I know and love, with the exception of River, Mal and possibly Simon, were just sidenotes to this story. And I think it hurt it.

MAJOR SPOILER AHEAD





For example: How can Wash's death be anything but a clever shock for the non-Firefly fan? How can they possibly understand the depth of Zoe's loss and her willingness to die in the defense against the Reavers because she simply doesn't care if she dies? Movie-goers hardly knew them.

END SPOILER









There's lots to like about this movie. The dialogue is witty and wise. Nathan Fillion is brilliant. Summer Glau rocks my world and the plot is a good one. I just think we needed more from Joss than he gave us.

This is not a well-written review, I know. Sorry.

Too much to do, too little time

I just finished rewriting my stepson's resume for his application to the fire department and rewriting my husband's bio for his work website. I still have some marking to do that I suspect will once again be undone. My neck hurts and I am tired. I want to write about Serenity, but haven't a clue how to say what I want to say. And my new Diana Galbadon Outlander novel has arrived, which makes me giddy with delight, but it is HUGE, which makes the prospect of reading in the bathtub a bit daunting.

In other news, this last weekend was unbelievably beautiful. We went out in the boat on Saturday and spent a perfect night out. On the way back to the marina, everything was wreathed in a blue haze of early fall. My soul was happy.