Every week there are always a few odds n’ ends that I’d like to mention in my blog, but I never want to dedicate a full post to them. (I don’t know why I impose these kinds of silly rules on myself, but I do.) So I figure I’ll take a cue from David Letterman, and each week I’m going to start doing a top ten list that highlights some of the completely random things from my week. I don’t plan to write them in any particular order… just how I think of them.

1. I haven’t been on a bike since I was probably about 14 years old. I’d like to buy a bike someday -- one of those groovy low-rider types, with the long banana seat and a cute little basket in front, and maybe even some streamers from the handlebars, or wait, scratch that… no streamers… but definitely the banana seat and basket. Of course, I suppose if I had $400 in pocket change to spare, I could think of other things I’d rather spend it on… because of this, I don’t own a bike, and because I don’t own a bike, I didn’t think I’d be able to fully participate in Bike to Work Week.

However, my friendly co-worker who organized the event kindly gave me his wife’s bike to use, so I took it out for a practice run the other night. You know that saying, “It’s just like riding a bike”… well, I don’t know how true that is. I surprised myself with how wobbly I was for the first 30 seconds or so. It was quite comical actually. I finally got the gist of things and rode up and down the street like a kid proudly declaring, “Look Ma! No training wheels!” But when it came time to stop, well, this presented a bit of a challenge. I’m one of those vertically impaired folks, and found myself about two inches too short for this taller woman’s bike – in other words, I can’t touch the ground when I’m sitting on the seat. As a result I have to hop off the seat to reach the ground. And even though my colleague insists this is his wife’s bike, the top bar goes straight across like a man's bike does… and being two inches too short for the bike… well, shall we say stopping isn’t that comfortable.

So in honor of Bike to Work Week, yesterday I walked to work.

2. Yesterday it was announced to half the staff what Manager’s new job will be. I just have one question – when is someone going to tell US?! We’ve been working around him for the last couple weeks, as we plan a cohesive marketing theme for the year ahead. We’re hoping that they’ll get rid of him soon so we can start implementing our ideas. On a related note, DMC has decided that she’ll just work from home after she moves away, so we won’t be losing her after all. Her only condition was that she didn’t want to work for Manager, and VP promised that he shouldn’t be our Manager anymore come Monday… hopefully someone will soon pull him into the loop, because Manager has meetings with us booked for both Monday and Tuesday. Hmm…

3. The UPS online tracker thing said that my wedding dress just cleared Canada customs the other day, so I suppose it should be arriving sometime next week. Right now I’m really focusing on getting our paper work done. J finally sent away for his certified copy of birth registration today, and I think I’m going to apply for our notice of search marriage this weekend as well. Once that arrives, we can send it off to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs so they can authorize it, and then send it to the Austrian Embassy for them to super-legalize it. Goodness… all this paperwork certainly takes away the romantic notion of running away to get married, doesn’t it?

Speaking of wedding stuff, earlier this week J decided that he’d like to find a hall to hold the reception in instead of holding it out at GF’s orchard. I understand that he'd like us to do our own thing instead of having to rely on someone else… that makes perfect sense… however, GF does have a gorgeous location and the apples will be ripe at the end of Sept, which will make a nice backdrop. Besides that, if we wanted to book a hall, we should’ve agreed on this sooner, because I think we’re going to have a harder time now finding something available for that specific weekend. Of course, another option is renting a vacation home on the beach for a day. That might be nice… Anyhow, we’ll have to see what our budget allows...

4. We had another conference call with a producer this week and J n’ I proposed ways we could change up the script to make it more clear and take place more in the present (eliminating some of the confusing flashback sequences). As I’ve mentioned before, while I look forward to rewriting, J absolutely dreads it. But I’m a writer and I enjoy writing, so fair enough. I guess I can't expect him to feel the same. Because J just wants to make the movie now, while he admits that there’s still plenty of work to be done, this has been a hard week for him. All it takes is a little kernel of doubt before his thoughts start to snowball. He worries that with all the people out there reading our script that someone will take our concept, rewrite it and get it made faster. He worries that our investor will take back his $1M (even though I know that he absolutely won’t.) He worries that we’ll never escape the 9 – 5 and that he’ll never achieve his filmmaking goals. And I swear to gawd, it absolutely kills him to think that he could spend the rest of his life as “just” an artist when more than anything else, he wants to direct.

We had another huge chat about it last night, and I found myself blue in the face trying to tell him that this movie WILL get made, and to just keep plugging forward and *believe*. While we do the leg work, he has to trust the universe to do the driving. He can’t plan out what he can’t control…. So he has to just keep his eye on the final goal and let the pieces fall together as they may. I mean, really, the absolute worst case scenario is that we make the movie for a million dollars instead of $7.2 as budgeted. J is so tremendously talented that there is no doubt in my mind that he could do a kick ass job with 1M... He did his short film with just $2,000 and it was fantastic. It just means we’d have to get creative.

Anyhow, sometimes I find his constant worries very draining. Well, at least today I woke up feeling drained after last night's pep talk. I think we both need a vacation… him especially. On a more positive note, he contacted a bunch of companies today and asked that they hold tight on reading the script until we have time to really put our best foot forward and give them our new draft. They’ve all been very accommodating, which is great.

5. My friend L n’ I signed up for an 8 week running clinic a while ago, and our first run was on Wednesday. Considering we were faced with gusts of chilly wind that left grit in our teeth and dirt in our hair, I think we did alright. We ran together last summer when we trained for the 10 K. However, this time we’re starting *much* earlier and are going to learn how to run “right” – shoulders loose, hands unclenched, heel to toe… We’re supposed to meet again next Wednesday, but since that’s my birthday, I think I may have to pass. Next week’s class is only going to be about well-fitting shoes anyway, and I got that speech when I bought my runners last summer, so I think I can afford to miss it. As for the running part of the clinic, well, I’m going to have to make it up on my own time, so I’m not huffing n’ puffing behind everyone the following week.

BTW, I should mention that I’ve always hated running… and I mean *really* hated it. I was one of those kids who always got the green participation ribbon on sports days. I’m an artist, not an athlete. When you think about it, it’s funny how I can absolutely love walking so much, but loathe it’s running cousin. But since L n’ I are not racing competitively, I find that I can actually enjoy getting out and going for a run. Besides, there is some consolation in knowing that other people in the class are always going to be worse. And hey, all those honking horns from high school boys are really great for moral! Ha.

6. I’m getting my hair coloured on Saturday morning… it’s something I’ve been putting off for too long, and when I tell you the reason why, you’re going to think that I’m absolutely ridiculous. Y’see, the last time I got my hair done, my hair dresser was telling me how a few of the girls went to see this psychic lady called C. C does tea leaf readings, angel cards, object readings, n’ stuff like that. They say that all her predictions were uncanny, and her fee is super reasonable (I recall it was $40 for two hours, or however long she needed to take, she was never in a rush – but she was talking about bumping her fee up a bit.)

Anyhow, my hair dresser encouraged me to go just for kicks so we would have some fun stuff to chat about the next time I got my hair done. For this reason alone, I’ve been holding off on making a hair appointment until I first made an appointment with C… but the fact is, I still haven’t. And now, what’s really ridiculous is the reason I haven’t gone to see C is probably twice as lame as the reason I’ve held off visiting my hair dresser… C’s business card only has a phone number – no email address. I hate calling people…. Which is weird because I have no problem calling my hair dresser to make an appointment with her, but I don’t want to call some stranger and ask if I can come to her home for a reading. Anyhow, I guess my hair dresser n’ I will have to talk about the weather tomorrow, because I have nothing exciting to share. I guess I should’ve made an appointment with C.

7. Next Thursday my good friend from college, M, is flying into town for a week. I haven’t seen her in a couple years, and the last time I did, we really only had a half a day alone together. M wanted to try something fun n’ different when she comes out, so we’re going to kick it Sideways-style and I’m booking a wine tour, which M is super stoked about. I don’t know if we’ll get a choice of which wineries we get to visit... according to the website, it sounds like we might, but I guess I’ll find out when I call. (Yes, I have to actually call the tour company – blegh!) Anyhoo, the wine tour includes all your wine samples, a gourmet lunch and a full tour of one of the wineries. If we are able to choose which of the wineries we get to tour, I’m going to request Summerhill Pyramid Winery. While I’ve only been to a handful of local wineries, I really think that one is by far the most interesting. But either way, I know we’ll have a great time no matter where we go. I can’t wait! Now I just have to get off my butt and organize that darn spare bedroom so poor M has somewhere to sleep!

8. Now I know I mentioned that next Wednesday is my b-day, but also worth noting is that it is my foster child’s birthday too. Abdul-Rahim will be 7 years old on May 14th. I sent him a card a few weeks ago, so hopefully it’ll arrive on time. Now, first off all, I have to say that finding an appropriate card to send to a little boy in Africa is easier said than done. There are not many children’s cards that don’t mention presents and cake and ice cream and parties. It was actually kind of tough to find something generic. We’re also not allowed to send gifts, but I stapled a sheet of stickers to the back of his card anyway – I figured it would be considered acceptable. I wanted to give the lil' sweetheart *something*. When J saw that I stapled the stickers to the card, it almost brought tears to his eyes. Abdul-Rahim’s favourite game is playing with tin cans and J imagined little Abdul-Rahim decorating his tins with the stickers. Great… now I’m getting misty-eyed just thinking about it. I suppose we shouldn't feel too sad for him as it's all relative -- he probably has more fun and a better imagination with his old tin cans than most North American kids do with their video games.

9. Tomorrow evening J has to do a presentation at the local Art Gallery called the Designer 6 Pack, where they have ten artists each speaking about their craft for 6 minutes. J really isn’t a fan of public speaking, mainly because he has the *slightest-slightest* stutter. It’s hardly noticeable at all, but boy, it drives him mad! He went to see a speech therapist about it a couple years ago, but there’s nothing they can do. Again, it’s very subtle, and it comes and goes -- but when it does come, he’s forced to slow down his speech and choose his words carefully to avoid those certain triggers. I can understand that it’s incredibly frustrating for him, and I feel bad that he beats himself up over it so much, (he constantly worries that people will think the odd stutter or two makes him look nervous or amateurish) but to be honest, I think it’s kind of sweet and it makes me love him that much more.

Anyhow, like I was saying, J was asked to participate in this event, and since it’s such a select few who have been asked, he figured that he shouldn’t turn down the opportunity. Some of the artists are actually architects, interior designers, or landscapers… so J felt that he was kind of an odd fit, as an illustrator/animator/aspiring filmmaker. He is also the first one to present – but at least he’ll be able to just get it over and done with. It sounds like the event will be a real schmooze-fest, and I sometimes feel out of my element at these things -- quietly tagging alongside J, or wandering around on my own, staring at the art or reading any ol’ pamphlet I can get my hands on as I give him space to do his networking. I even feel awkward about him mentioning my name in his presentation when he speaks about the script we wrote together. I’m very much a behind the scenes kind of gal… or at least at these sorts of things. Sit me down at a pub with a group of strangers, and I’m a different woman.

10. Whoo Hoo! It’s Friday!! Need I say more? Have a great weekend! As for me, you now know what I’ll be doing -- getting my hair done while making small talk about the weather, cleaning my spare bedroom, and pretending I’m invisible.