7 Quick Takes Friday - Volume 1

I always enjoy reading other bloggers' 7 Quick Takes editions, so I thought I would try doing it myself. At the very least, it might, ya know, get me to update at least once a week.

1. I went to see my sister at the Battle of the Book Clubs last night at the Guild in Charlottetown. It was a lot of fun. There were four different book clubs competing for best book (or something), and they had to creatively present why their book was the best. My sister's group I think had the hardest challenge, because they had to present a "graphic novel". But considering that that was their starting point, they did very well! In between the presentations there were games like Mad Libs, charades, and one called Smart or Funny in which they would pose a question and you got points based on it either being right or being entertaining. The whole show was recorded for Island Morning, a CBC radio show, so that was fun, too.

2. I bought a 56 oz. bag of M&Ms at the dollar store last night. I now feel officially equipped to tackle this thesis. Hopefully my everlasting fame and glory from writing such a groundbreaking, shockingly awesome paper will make up for the fact that 3.5 lbs of M&Ms somehow magically translate into 15 lbs. when applied to the female human body.

3. I have a desk set up in the kitchen now. I think I've mentioned that already, but I'll do it again. It's great to have such a big workspace all to myself, and since it's in the middle of everything, I'm not tempted to leave (too much) random, non-work-related crap on it, so it really is just for writing.

4. My sister and I wanted to go horse riding last weekend, so she drove us up to see the lady with the horses. Except, during the 20 minute drive, it started snowing like crazy, and this lady's driveway was already pretty snowed in. So we stupidly attempted to get up it anyway, which resulted in my sister getting the car stuck just as we were cresting the hill. It was still snowing and I was afraid we were going to get really stuck, so we just stayed for 15 minutes to chat before we left. I managed to get us unstuck but couldn't get up the hill, so I had to reverse about 250 feet, down a hill, not really being able to see where the tracks were, and with drop-offs on both sides, in order to get us home. Scary, but cool that I did it!

5. I'm going back to Montreal on Feb 2 and staying for two weeks. I'm ambivalent about this. I'm looking forward to a social life that involves people my own age, but at the same time, I like being home where it's calm and comfortable and I sleep well. Also, I'm nervous about my presentations, but I'm sure they'll be fine.

6. Snowstorm coming in tonight. It's supposed to warm up to +4 this evening, which means all the snow will start to melt, before it plummets again overnight. This means that the roads are going to be giant sheets of ice tomorrow morning. I hope I can still go to orchestra!

7. I've been singing for a half-hour every day. It feels great, even though the cats hate it, and I can tell that I've improved in my upper register. I just had to let my muscles strengthen for a while. I'm keeping my eye out for performance opportunities, too. It would be so great to be on stage again.

Have a great weekend!