April 30th, 2010

Good/bad

Fred just reminded me of our every-five-years-or-so project, 1000 Things We Like (I guess since we’ve done it twice now, it’s thus far 2000 Things We Like and Counting). If you want in on the action, meet me back here in 2012, but in the meantime, this list reflects that today is a fairly well-balanced day, but I wish it were more 1000 Thingsy:

Good: Kashi Raspberry Chocolate Granola Bars

Bad: Realizing the fridge you’ve been storing your lunch in does not work, and is basically a well-sealed cupboard.

Good: Catsitting, and ensuing cheerfully one-sided conversations about weather, snacks, and people who are jerks.

Bad: Looking down during yoga class and realizing your black pants are covered in white kitty fur.

Good: Nice weather.

Bad: Short attention span.

Good: Gorgeous fountain pen in the mail.

Bad: Attempting to listen to instructions on how to fill fountain pen over the phone, shortly followed by realization that one is soon to be covered in ink and/or very embarrassed at a high-end stationers.

Good: K’s birthday.

Bad: K far away in England, unavailable for celebration/cake/hug. In fact, all of the most ardent supports of 1000 Things are unavailable for hugging or any close-at-hand celebrations.

Good: Literary Salon at the glammy-glam Spoke club on Tuesday night.

Bad: Being too old to go out during the week without being sad the next morning.

Good: The Salmon of Doubt by Douglas Adams

Bad: Adams still dead.

Good: When I get home, cat will be there.

Bad: Now worry constantly when I am out that cat will eat plants and get sick.

Good: Internet for random useless but friendly and entertaining yammer.

Bad: Useless URLs.

Good: Well, it’d be better with a “b”, in my opinion…

RR

January 31st, 2008

The end

977. Y as a vowel
978. Re-occurring characters
979. Aspertame
980. Finishing
981. Consistency of capitalization
982. Marinara sauce for dipping
983. The bread-making process
984. Bread
985. My cube at work
986. Palindromic numbers, prime numbers, perfect squares and cubes
987. My birthday
988. Frozen coffee drinks
989. The day I got my driver’s liscence
990. Contemplating what I’ll do next
991. Focus groups
992. Greek letters
993. Typing really fast
994. Nintendo Wii
995. The New Pornographers
996. Winking
997. Peanut-butter flavoured things
998. Effusive greetings
999. Team efforts
1000. Liking things

January 24th, 2008

Department of Stationery

976. Writing in pencil

I’ve been doing it all morning and it’s delightful–feels so much gentler, less indeliable than pen. Why don’t I always? (because pencil smudges, of course, and isn’t legally binding. Still, for certain projects, it’s the right choice, and lovely.

Clearly, not much is up!

They’ve shown this on both screens
RR

EDIT: Sorry for the misnumbering, Ferd!! I love compressed air and Sacred Chickens too!!

January 23rd, 2008

Back to Good

931. Joshua Ferris
932. Idealism
933. Change
934. Fedoras
935. Elephants
936. My parents
937. the word “zine”
938. Being busy
939. Independence
940. Getting to tell/being told the same story again because we both love it so much
941. Cool Ranch Doritos
942. “Bob Bob Bob” ads
943. Getting into a car that’s been baking in the sun
944. Decorating work cubicles
945. Paperbag mailboxes for Valentine’s Day
946. The Paperbag Princess
947. Backstory
948. High-heeled shoes
949. Post-it Flags
950. Staples Business Depot
951. Page-a-day calandars
952. Whippets
953. Unicyles
954. Sand
955. Scarves
956. The Maritimes
957. Chapstick
958. Dogs in Hallowe’en costumes
959. When animals sneeze
960. The you’ve-got-mail chime
961. Ellen Page

RR

January 14th, 2008

So much to like

869. Celebrities
870. Caution
871. Morse code
872. Generosity
873. *The Collected Works of Billy the Kid*
874. Finishing
875. When you pay via credit card and the cashier makes you sign with an electronic pen, as if it is the future
876. Seedlessness
877. Shredded Wheat with cocoa on top
878. My parents
879. Fedoras
880. Inspector Gadget
881. Invitations
882. People who know techy stuff
883. Tinsel
884. Favours, given and received
885. Phillip Seymour Hoffman
886. Free samples
887. Palidromes
888. Voting
889. The gym
890. *So You Think You Can Dance*
891. Sidewalks
892. Applause
893. When someone’s glad you called
894. When the lights go down at the movies
895. Disco balls
896. Marshmallows on fire
897. Cheese on fire in Greek restaurants
898. Hugging someone wearing a winter coat
899. Holding someone’s hand wearing mittens
900. Running for the bus and getting it

January 11th, 2008

More from Anne-Michelle

Not only does she send me lovely lists, but if it weren’t for Anne-Michelle, I would never have known about numbers 834, 855, 861, and 866 (which I found out when I read the list!) And I’ve received countless glorious 863 from her over the years! Hooray for liking! And I still don’t know about 823–what??

805. Pirate Booty
806. Sneezing
807. The concept of using pigs as currency (claimed to be true in
Vanuatu, on Ideas on the CBC tonight)
808. Home made wrapping paper
809. Clean dishes everywhere
810. Aged white cheddar.
811. Crispness
812. Double Airmiles
813. Remembering to take your vitamins
814. Websites that announce ‘Success!’
815. Big earrings
816. Marlene Dietrich wearing a tuxedo, and other kinds of classy cross dressing
817. Argentinian tango
818. Dancing for no reason
819. The texture of fresh tofu
820. Getting over something
821. Nailing things in/down/up
822. Gingerbread
823. The Liverpool Yellow Lamb Banana
824. Italian grocery stores
825. Saturday Evening Post covers
826. Pictures of Jackie Onassis
827. Stripes, and stars, but not together
828. Red and green onions
829. Really bushy cat tails
830. Seduction via cookies
831. Looking up postal codes
832. Kissing in the Wind (Norweigan kids book)
833. Piglet (fictional and real)
834. The white wild rabbits in Edmonton
835. Cozy
836. Excessive fridge magnets
837. Grand pianos
838. Getting Even by Woody Allen
839. Arthur and George by Julian Barnes
840. Cumin
841. Coriander
842. Culottes
843. Bubbles
844. Red
845. Bandaids
846. The Art of the Fugue by JSBach
847. 32 Short Films about Springfied
848. Flight of the Conchords
849. Someone bringing you a coffee
850. Elton John (I’m sorry, but yes.)
851. Part Time Lover by Stevie Wonder (also sorry, but still yes)
852. Spats
853. Buckwheat pillows
854. Banff
855. Pizza with pear and gorgonzola
856. Rosemary (the spice), still on the plant
857. Albums
858. Unexpected wearing of pyjamas
859. Wheat beer
860. Casablanca (the movie)
861. Eddie Izzard
862. P.G. Wodehouse
863. Postcards
864. The Sting (with Robert Redford and Paul Newman)
865. Records that are supposed to teach you to dance(?!)
866. The fact that Ellen Degeneres and that Portia de Rossi are dating
867. The kind of sunlight that is described with the verb ‘dapple’
868. Rumbling

January 8th, 2008

Liking, CanCon Edition

780. The Great Lakes
781. The Stills
782. Pop
783. *The Edible Woman*
784. *Twitch City*
785. Brian Mulroney’s voice
786. Fries with the skins on the ends, bought from a truck at the fair
787. Squeaky cold snow
788. Tegan & Sara
789. That French TV show with Pamplemousse–Telefrancais, was that it?
790. Bears
791. Avril (sad, but true)
792. Lake perch
793. Sugar pie
794. *The Cinnamon Peeler*
795. Montreal
796. Egalitarian education
797. Cross-border shopping
798. Awkwardness about greeting-hugs
799. Hawksley Workman
800. Canada’s Wonderland
801. Jokes about moose
802. Colm Feore
803. Grade Five, not Fifth Grade
804. Chinooks

January 1st, 2008

Liking in 2008

650. Not having the pay for TTC on New Year’s Eve.
651. Brisk walks
652. Really big olives
653. Hugs
654. Getting it
655. Dark dress shirt with a tie
656. Bulldogs
657. Linguists
658. Teachers
659. New beginnings

And now part II from AMT, this time aided and abetted by Marcin!

660. Batman
661. christmas wreathes
662. puppies and lasers on youtube
663. donuts
664. cilantro
665. MASH (the movie, and the tv show)
666. making fun of Adrienne Clarkson
667. santa hats, especially placed on inanimate objects to make them festive
668. the New Pornographers
669. doing favours
670. deciding who gets to be dominant
671. typos in take-out menus (current favourite: “Bean Curd in Ear-Then Pot”)
672. dried cherries
673. fireplaces
674. anchovies
675. feta
676. chopstick holders made out of wicker-basket material
677. boys that smell like good boy-deodorant (which maybe smells of ocean and pine trees?)
678. clementines
679. ray bradbury
680. david suzuki
681. being asked if there is something from the grocery store that you would like in the house when you arrive
682. the Soft Boys
683. shaving langourously
684. spackle
685. dogs running in their sleep
686. the name Esme
687. Winnie the Pooh and the House At Pooh Corner
688. Tom Waits
689. new subway systems to explore
690. it not mattering if you get lost
691. stark tree-lined winter fields
692. traffic jams that clear up as you get to them
693. seeing what ads google thinks my email warrants
694. finding old cryptic notes to myself
695. reading acknowledgements
696. Willard R. Espy
697. Shakespeare and Company bookstore
698. people who can actually wear berets and not look like morons
699. pastel jelly beans at easter
700. my grandmother
701. optimists who aren’t delusional about it
702. pessimists who aren’t mean about it
703. magnifying glasses
704. very small gift tags and envelopes
705. text messages from around the globe
706. the name of Pittsburgh’s public radio station: K*QED*
707. soft ginger cookies
708. mismatched coffee cups
709. the Blue Plate Diner in Edmonton
710. naan bread with lots of spices in it
711. hummus and olive oil brought from israel just for you
712. christmas cooking specials on the food network
713. the dubbing on the Japanese Iron Chef
714. souzaphones (really just the concept plus the name)
715. Williamsburg Bridge by Veda Hille
716. very short pop songs
717. renaissance paintings that include traditional christian images (the virgin, jesus, etc.) plus one surprising or anachronistic element (a pomegranite, the duke of urbino, the holy spirit dressed as a sailor, etc.)
718. toothpicks in cubes of cheese
719. (the memory of) Ben’s in Montreal (alas deceased)
720. oregano
721. cumin
722. smashing spices with mortar and pestle
723. my roommate who actually bought a mortar and pestle
724. all my roommates who have made me coffee
725. a pause in the conversation when you know that everyone in the room is happy
726. peter sellers
727. recoveries and close saves
728. running up the hill
729. the odd spate of exhibitionism
730. not having a television
731. expecting a package in the mail
732. shiny
733. La Vielle Europe deli in Montreal
734. that little green bookstore on Milton in the McGill ghetto…
735. huge sleeping but live cats in the windows of used bookstores
736. olive bars
737. very rubbery spatulas
738. the fact that my grandfather thought that last word was pronouced ‘spa-TSU-lah’
739. making one-night friends
740. walking down the aisles of empty theatres
741. ruby’s dining room table, made from a working Miss Pacman videogame
742. grenadine the bunny
743. contemporary pre-teens girls having crushes on e.g. Peter O’Toole or Ringo Starr, circa 1963
744. Pet Sounds by the Beach Boys
745. Very by the Pet Shop Boys
746. Steve Martin
747. Woody Allen and Diane Keaton in the planetarium in Manhattan (the movie)
749. whoever thought that Diane Keaton should wear very very wide belts in like 20 years’ worth of movies
750. watching Ana eat meatloaf
751. St. Sulpice in Montreal
752. Magoo’s in Toronto
753. the letter y
754. thinking up good facebook statuses
755. the story about Joey and the Box of Rocks
756. toy boxes and wooden trunkchests
757. old phonebooths in long rows in airplanes and train stations in 1970s movies
758. the original Thomas Crown Affair with Steve McQueen and Faye Dunaway
759. flirting with someone you are sleeping with, so you don’t have to, but it’s fun
760. really serious legwarmers
761. becky

December 30th, 2007

Likes from a Post-Christmas Party

618. Digital cameras
619. Men who don’t shave their backs (and women too, I guess)
620. Chocolate fondue with marshmallows
621. Monster trucks
622. Rachel Ray
623. George Eliot
624. George Strait
625. Missy (cat)
626. Horseback riding
627. Rodeo
628. Jack Daniels
629. Iron Bru
630. Cauliflower
631. Red wine
632. Lifelines on palms
633. John Deere tracotrs
634. Ben Still as Starsky
635. Kielbassa
636. Strawberries
637. Thermafores
638. Yoga (esp. Warrior pose)
639. Pictures of babies
640. Washable fabrics
641. Chenille sweaters
642. Varnished toilet seats
643. Pepsi blue
644. Dr. Pepper
645. Dr. Pepper Jellybellies
646. Tigger
647. Beeswax candles
648. Apple pie
649. Scottish spaghetti

December 29th, 2007

Things I Like, as of 2008 (from AMT)

You’d think it impossible for me to like Anne-Michelle any better after ten years, yet this list endears her to me still more, especially #529 and 543. Better still, the email that contained it was entitled “Part 1”!!

509. Sample-size bottles at the drugstore
510. Dangly earrings
511. Red gloves with matching scarves and fetching hats
512. Purses made entirely of zippers
513. People offering advice who don’t care if you take it or not
514. The smell of lily of the valley
515. Cufflinks
516. Arrested Development
517. More coffee when you have already clearly had enough, bordering on too much
518. New year’s eve parties where you know hardly anyone, but they work out
519. Champagne for no reason
520. Very nice pens
521. Silver instead of gold
522. Working fireplaces
523. Long walks in the woods in the snow with the dog
524. Scrabble
525. Scrabulous
526. Cleaning out a drawer entirely
527. Packing gifts to take to the people you will be visiting
528. Red shoes
529. Boots with short skirts and colourful tights, so you look like a superheroine
530. A streak of navy blue in black hair
531. Pretty boxes
532. Sending flowers
533. Receiving flowers
534. Remembering just in time
535. Losing something, looking at the bottom of your bag one last time, and
suddenly finding it there
536. Breakfast in bed
537. Discovering that someone went beyond the call of duty
538. Discovering that someone noticed you going beyond the call of duty
539. Official people being reasonable
540. Clean windows
541. Fog when you don’t need to see
542. Ducks in the pond
543. Excessive wind when you are indoors
544. Standing just inside the balcony at 4am in an August thunderstorm
545. Buying christmas cards in boxing day sales
546. Wandering around IKEA with a person you love helping them buy furniture
547. Putting the very last screw or nail into a piece of DYI IKEA furniture
548. Ribbons
549. Not having to say it
550. Bruises that are almost gone
551. A stack of things you have completed
552. Very good headphones
553. Mash-ups of Tijuana Brass and Public Enemy
554. Beginner’s luck
555. Laughing till your eyes well up, and when you throw your head back the
tears go flying at the person who made you laugh
556. Getting something really clean that was previously really dirty
557. A long drive in the sun in the Berkshire mountains
558. Fairmount Bagels
559. The Canada Day waterfall off the Edmonton High Level Bridge
560. The kids who really know how to figure skate at the West Edmonton Mall
561. Home-made crepes
562. Old record players that come with their own speakers
563. Typewriters
564. Amnesty International
565. Jade jewelry on glamourous old people
566. Grace Kelly
567. The romantic ideal, though not the practical details, of gambling in Monaco
568. Jimmy Stewart movies
569. Very bad infomercials and evangelist television on late late night TV
570. Croquet, actually
571. Getting letters
572. Mix CDs
573. Poirot with David Suget (sp?)
574. Very old friends
575. Creating websites of no consequence
576. Putting up fairy lights
577. Crispy leaves on the ground
578. Naturally curly hair
579. A dash of freckles
580. Fluevogs
581. Dolce de leche ice cream
582. Newberry St in Boston
583. The Internationale
584. Miniature music boxes
585. Zebras
586. Woman who can pull off wearing long scarves
587. Elegance
588. That Gene Kelly look of too-short pants with loafers, preferably with no socks
589. That very strong Dutch black licorice covered in salt
590. Real cranberry juice
591. Ouzo
592. Stationery stores
593. Eccentric diners
594. Local cable access TV, particularly the shows that involve polka or
municipal politics
595. The box store in Hadley, Massachusetts that sells nothing but pet food
and 2-litre bottles of pop
596. Vegan food that does not taste vegan
597. Vegan buffet in New York City
598. The Strand Bookstore in New York City
599. The huge pubs in Liverpool
600. Pastisse (sp?)
601. Bailey’s on ice
602. Blue spruces
603. Making tricky recipes for the first time with someone you like
604. Waking up on special days
605. Curling up in bed with nothing to do but rest
606. Siberian tigers
607. Emperor penguins
608. Montreal’s Biodome
609. The Museum of Anthropology at UBC
610. Subversive wrapping paper
611. Duct tape with sushi on it
612. Tweezers
613. Packing foam
614. Brand new tubes of toothpaste
615. Spooky movies
616. Nina Simone
617. Admitting that you like Beyonce