GinBaby’s Neighborhood

As I was heading out for the gym, a letter in the mailbox informs me that I owe the Quebec government another $2,800 in taxes for 2007. Sigh. After what I've paid already (a LOT). So annoying.

I run to the gym, run for 45 minutes straight, feeling better: it's only money. OK, deal with it. I get home, hop in the shower, turn on my computer, make a smoothie, turn on my computer, change my clothes, turn on my computer, wait. Why won't my computer turn on?

Can't find hard drive it says. That doesn't sound good. Run scan: everything seems OK except that it's not reading any hard drive, as if it's never been there. Sigh again.

I run the thing down the hill to a computer shop: bottom line? I can drop $500 to have it fixed (a four year old computer that has other problems) or buy a new one. And I paid $40 for him to tell me that.

Bottom line is it's 11pm now and I am setting up my new computer. Thank GOD I have copies of just about everything in my email account. I did lose about a week's worth of work for one company that will take me two days to reproduce, and another few days of work for another company that will take slightly longer to reproduce. But it could have been much much worse. Most of my music was on my iPod so I could recover it. All my photos are online. So there are a few things here and there (and certain things I'm probably not remembering right now)...but I feel lucky that I didn't lose more.

And I'm not stressing about the fact that last night before I went to bed, I was $4,000 richer than I am today (taxes plus new computer).

Life's a drag. But at least I got a new computer.

Guess my hiking trip to Vermont is out...

What part of your childhood do you miss the most?
Submitted by Maretta.

I miss summers and how they seemed to last forever. We'd play all day, never minding the heat, and then spend the evenings on the porch dancing and catching lightning bugs just to get up and do it again the next day.

I miss Christmas time as a child when the month of December would like to never end so we could just start the celebrating already: the deliciousness of climbing into bed after a packed day of parties and presents and listening to my dad read Twas the Night Before Christmas and then the magic and heart-fluttering excitement of waking up Christmas morning to see that Santa had been there.

The joy of all this is not forever lost, though. I have the privilege of seeing my own children do the same things and it is somehow just as sweet knowing what I know about Santa and how I can affect so much of Sophie and Will's childhood and their sweet happiness...

"Confusion is a word we have invented for an order which is not understood."

Show us the book you're reading right now.
Submitted by Strive2Be.

The Savage Detectives: A Novel

Roberto Bolano

hahaha it's supposed to be a photo, i guess, since it's "Vox Hunt."

But I can't be bothered...

Folks,

I'm very glad the kids have done a terrific job with this classic Jacksons track. If this clip is indicative of the voices on offer this year, then I'm looking forward to the upcoming series.

There's a dearth of good stuff to watch on free-to-air these days. The least programmers can do is entertain us with quality singing.

Ninja

Usually, I don't like authors who kind of ramble on. I love well-thought out structures and simplicity in choice of words. I also suspect the authors who only write about their own lives may not have the real talent of making up good stories out of thin air (I realize every author takes her own life as material, and their lives will always be a part of their works, but you know what I mean).

So I feel a bit irritated to read Henry Miller (although I think Marguerite Duras is a fantastic writer- she did write a lot about her own life, but she manages to filter it down to create a good fiction). He clearly has a lot of talent, he's funny and describes things in very original way. But overall impression I get is that he probably won't end up on my list of favorite writers (funny as Anais Nin, his muse, mentor, lover and sexual obession, will be on it).
For me, Henry Miller is emotional even when writing rationally about his telegraph company job or whatever; Anais Nin is rational even when writing about the most intimate details of her hyperactive sex life. Her diaries see life, her own and in general, in cold, detached observation. And her style suits me better. I'm not saying Miller is a bad writer, I am enjoying reading him, but I keep finding myself wishing he wrote a bit more like his muse.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24043030-601,00.html

Folks,

I'm once more astounded by the logic that, "We should have our own Australian people and not locals from there so that they don't discriminate," he (Kevin Andrews) said. "This would help solve problems."

This proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that the previous government was so out of touch with reality that they had no other option but to be dumped.

As though Australians don't practice bias and discrimination??? WTF???

The immigration portfolio has to work closely to the foreign affairs portfolio, and if the ex-minister had reservations about rorting at the various overseas posts, then surely it must have been a systemic failure between his own bloody department and that of that other idiot, Alexander Downer. Thank fuck they're both gone! To blame local staff is just pathetic and frankly, racist.

Ninja

I post this rather sheepishly because I know it's not extraordinary to grow tomatoes.  I've read they're some of the easiest vegetables to grow.  But, for me the following photo does show a gardening feat (as I tend to kill anything green)...or at least vast improvement from where I was in garden cultivation a couple years ago.

Homegrown tomatoes!

They taste amazing.  Which is definitely worth the little bit of work it takes.  Also, in the age of the salmonella scare the peace of mind knowing these were grown in my backyard helps.

I will definitely be growing more of these babies in subsequent years. Now if only I could move to a new residence with a little more land...

http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=600040

Folks,

How dumb is this guy? On the upside, he's very lucky to have escaped the noose by mere grams of the stuff.

I don't think he's going to be taking Singapore for granted ever again if they're talking about caning him as well.

It continues to astound me how so many people get snared in Singapore's legal system due to drug possession. Their authorities can't be any clearer - you take that chance and you will pay dearly.

Methinks Mr Lloyd will be rethinking his options right this very moment. Personally, I'm deeply disappointed that he's done this. Having covered this part of the world as a journalist for as long as he has, you'd think that he's the first to NOT even think about testing the system.

Ninja

Masa loves reading odd stories about Japanese happenings: there are lots of things that are never translated and certainly never make news outlets outside of Japan.

Several times during the day, he'll pop into where I'm working, and without any preface:

"Forty years old man. Three years ago...he tries to steal a dog. Corgi dog..."

So the guy is arrested and sent to jail for 18 months (?!! seems kind of harsh, but I've long ago given up trying to line up Japan with logical conclusions); finally, after doing his time in the choky, he is released and almost immediately returns to the same apartment and attempts to steal the same dog!

The dog is now "missing." When asked, the guy reported that he was lonely and thought the dog was really really cute. I imagine him pining away for all those 18 months, planning his attack. Obviously, he didn't think it through very carefully...

So now he's back in prison.

A sad, desperate, and wicked world we live in.

Corgi. Or: 36 months up the river