Airline Tickets Booked!

Yeah! I guess that means I am actually going, eh? I fly June 28th to Barcelona. I counted. 90 days. Oh baby, I got lots to do.... but what a wonderful feeling to have a date to circle on the calendar....

Obsolute technology lives on

This is a really interesting piece: Are We Losing Our Memory? or The Museum of Obsolete Technology.

Busses that make you look twice

I'd like to have one of these make me smile each time it went by... even cooler to ride on. Check out the other cool pics of painted busses, lots of suprises.

October in Berlin!

I have a lovely apartment to myself in Berlin for the month of October. As its the off season, I have been able to negotiate an affordable rate, and I get to do some of it as a barter. I've asked if there is any interest in some of the doodles I will surely do on the road, which I could frame and leave behind.... I look forward to the response on that! Oh, and I was telling someone at work about my plans yesterday, and they said, "Germany, during Oktoberfest?!"... LOL... more of a coincidence than by plan, but that's pretty cool.

Reflections on Juggling

I was looking for an image of jugglers tonight - I've been thinking I am juggling a lot of balls of late - and I stumbed across this sculpture. They are from an artist called STEFFI GREENBAUM and I found them here.

Reflections...

• I am awed by howe energized I am by planning this trip and changing my life
• Today I remembered that I am not cut out to be a corporate girl, 9-5 is not my thing
• Giving stuff away feels good
• I am heartened by how positively gleeful and appreciative the regular homeless guy by IGA is when I buy him chocolate
• I am plotting Berlin and Athens, which first... ?
• How convenient that I had a travel book on my shelf, called Seasons of Rome, and that it starts in the fall on September 4th... I will be arriving on September 4rd, so it was soooo coool to learn about what is on the minds of locals at that time of year
• My purple hair needs some refreshing...

That's it for now...

Cheap travel in Europe

I'd heard Ryanair was cheap, but, wow:

• Paris to Barcelona: .79 Euros + fees = 23.91 Euros
• Paris to Rome: 4.79 Euros + fees = 27.91 Euros

That's $39-46 CAD. I will intentionally take the train sometimes, but this blows me away and will definitely be used from time to time... I can handle being treated like cattle for such short trips. (note to self: bring change to pee)

Pondering Foreign Flings

Now here's good inspiration for my travels ahead, 7 Reasons to Have a Foreign Fling. Yes!! what a great way to learn the language... ;-)

Cheap, dreamy spot in Algarve, Portugal - maybe?

No specific plans yet, but am thinking I really should go stay at this place at some point. For $50 Euros/night a full studio apartment, with a hammock on the balcony, swimming pools, gee, there's your value.... And, yes, if you read this, and steal away my spot, you will be forgiven...

Rome in September!

Well, I have found my spot for September, sharing an apartment with an Italian woman who has also lived in Chicago. I get my own bedroom with a king sized bed, couch, desk, private bathroom and balcony. It is located in 'an upscale and elegant neighborhood of Rome', the Financial District, or EUR. She tells me it is a safe area, where locals (and international professionals as well) live, work and have fun.

So... I am set for July (Barcelona), August (Paris) and September (Rome), so I am good through the busy season. Fall will unfold, and I'm already thinking about where to go that's warm in the winter...

I will see the Tour de France first hand!!!

I can't believe my luck! The Tour de France is going through Barcelona this year, and it is when I am there!!!! This is so totally awesome. I am a serious couch-potato fan. Stage 6 ends in Barcelona on July 9th, and Stage 7 leaves Barcelona leaves on July 10th. Soooooooooo cool! I was looking up the schedule and route map to see if I could travel to one of the stages, but they are bringing it to me!! I'll just have to take the subway and then walk somewhere.... I wonder if I'll see Bobke around town? and I wonder if he will have hair again?

Random reflections

Random thoughts from a week like no other:

• I walk past my bookshelf tonight and find this title staring out at me: Barcelona, by Robert Hughes. I just LOVE how my bookshelf does that. Probably picked it up a few years ago second hand and never read it. Sweet!!
• Why is pizza delivered cold a bad thing, and cold pizza in the morning is one of the most wonderful things in the world?
• They jacked up one of the cranes at the construction site across the street - damn, I missed it! I wanted to watch so I could see how they did it.
• I wonder if the crane operators like moving porta-potties around just for fun, or if there is some logical reason for relocating them every day this week.
• I giggled loudly once as the guy attaching the chain around a porta-pottie took a moment to check there was no one inside, just before they lifted it up. good lord, i hope they never forget.
• 7 days ago Europe was a vague idea, and today I have 2 months accomodation booked in 2 of the most fabulous cities in the world (Barcelona and Paris)
• I was exhausted at the start of the week, and energized at the end
• I love the sun, and can't believe it will really snow tomorrow
• I loved hearing the honking of Canada Geese and they flew by my apartment tonight
• I love google, I refound my fav cleaning lady, I need a rescue! help arrives tomorrow... I shall work on my laptop while the cleaning demons whirl around me

Paris in August!!!

Wow, wow, wow! I just got this wonderful Paris apartment for the month of August. And I'm delighted with the rate I was able to get. A friend recently told me that August in Paris is very special, as with the heat the locals clear out, there are less tourists, and the turn the banks of the Seine into a 24 hour beach that is very cool.

I can hardly believe how well this is coming together. OK, June - here, there, who knows. July - Barcelona, August - Paris, September and beyond, who knows....

Walking distance to Coliseum... ***swoon***

OK, this is a long shot, but I am swooning for this FABULOUS PLACE in Rome. I've made an offer for a 3 month stay in the off season and am waiting to hear just how negotiable the rate really is.... If not, it is fun to dream and just put stuff out to the universe...

Noted added later: eventually heard back from the guy, it's not available, but am happy as I've landed another Rome spot I am very happy with!

Barcelona in July

How exciting! I have just fired off an email to book a great place in Barcelona for the month of July. It's a room in an apartment shared with a woman who does this regularly. There is a roof-top deck! And it sounds awesome. Will cost me about the same as a month's rent here. I'm excited to hear back that I got it, and to get the deposit paid. Sweet!!

Update: got it!! Just have to wire the deposit. And the cat's name is Mickey...

Cheap sleeps Paris?

I was scoping out cheap places to stay in Paris, and found an ad for what seemed to be an affordable and modest little studio, sounded interesting until I read this: "There is a 'bombsite' (i.e. 'hole-in-the-ground' style) toilet down the hall. This is a turn-off for many people." Um, yeah, right....

It's interesting exploring options.... maybe rent an apartment, or a sublet, or an apartment share / spare room arrangement, housesitting possibilities... what am I missing?

Sleep and other things

***The cartoon above is cut off in this view - click it to see they guy who answered **

Reflections today:

• A couple nights of not going to bed until 3 or 4 am are catching up with me, sleep please!
• This weekend I was listening to the stereo that I traded on Craigslist for a suitcase
• I realized I really am going to do this Europe thing
• Today my car for a 1 hr errand was a Toyota Matrix (cost under $5 from CAN), I like driving this one, other than the fact it looks stationwagony
• Fixed up my bank account about an hour before my rent would have bounced
• Amused that I got a big cheque in the mail that I forgot I was getting, sweet
• Almost at the end of my portable sketchbook, and just remembered I bought a couple neat cheap ones from the Met in NYC - nice red cover
• Oh, yeah, NYC, wasn't that a month ago... I should unpack sometime soon...

Reflections today

Random reflections today:

• I am very glad I took a day off to regroup
• holy shit, I don't have a job (soon), gasp
• yeah, I get to recreate myself
• I feel ok
• I am ready for, and optimistic, about what comes next
• I am blown away by all the kind words that have come my way in the last 24 hours
• 3pm and I am still in my pjs - bliss!
• there isn't much vodka left from last night
• good thing I slept in
• I really should have a nap
• everywhere I look I see: doodles and travel books
• my apartment looks like it has been vandalized
• as I had a smoke on my deck today, I picked up a newspaper section to read, from May 2007!
• I'm amused that my wireless access is slow today, it's a sign, I really should be doodling instead

All amusing, but I have had another reflection. This job was where I went to get some stability in the final year or so of my sister's life, to have structure and an outlet to grieve her death, and a safe place to refind myself, a different self, as the years passed. She would want this for me now, the courage to walk away and see what life has next, including travelling the world. This time in my life is about moving on from illness, death and grief to life. Hell, I didn't even break down sobbing as I wrote that, there's a change ;-)

Making a dream come true

I have long wanted to get back to Europe, I have seen so little, but the past 3 years it just hasn't happened... But my world changed today. I will be jobless in 2 months, so my thought is to give up my apartment, head to Europe with my laptop, and do contract work remotely while I travel. I figure there are no jobs in my field at the moment, and I can always come back if I find something, so why not uproot myself? I am a little in shock that a dream is coming to fruition, but it all seems to make sense with turning 50. Interesting times ahead

Awesome backstage pics of life as a model

These are awesome pics from backstage at NYC Fashion Week - not normally a topic of interest to me, but the full series of pics is quite remarkable. Pics are by Kevin Tachman; you can bet I'll be checking out more of his stuff.

There are Alps in Antarctica? Apparently so...

Quite a story today:
OSLO (Reuters) – Jagged mountains the size of the Alps have been found entombed in Antarctica's ice, giving new clues about the vast ice sheet that will raise world sea levels if even a fraction of it melts, scientists said on Tuesday.

A pic a day for 10 years

I am following the most interesting story. Jeff Harris is a guy who has posted a picture of himself every day for the past 10 years.

I liked last month's pics, and got hooked. So I went back to the beginning at January 1999 when he started it.

At first it was disappointing that there were no captions, but I've decided that this is part of what makes it so interesting. You have to guess. So far I am up to January 2001. I've seen him change his hair, change cities, and all sorts of things. It's a cool new pasttime, looking at a couple of months a day.

He's also a photographer, so some of the pics are amazing (and some amusingly lousy too).

I hope he carries on now that his 10 years are up.

Global girl

In the last 48 hours, my thinking has totally changed. New ideas about how to travel this globe. Lots of possibilities to ponder.

To prosecute or help?

A sad story here not that long ago, about a panhandler who assaulted a senior at a church who often gave him money. What did the church do? They helped him instead of prosecuting him. Here's what happened.

Moments from my Deepak Chopra evening

It was a good event... but I am compelled to note strange moments...

• I arrive at the theatre in time to get a vodka before they start and... guess, what.. no bar!!! LOL.
• I'm on the aisle, guy 3 seats in - with the most enormous glasses since Elton John - saying, "do you think i should pee before it starts? will there be an intermission?" (he doesn't)
• Lots of white women people wearing white flowing robes and white turbans
• Endless promotions and marketing in the opening remarks, along with "all they flyers in the lobby are for the betterment of the world and our spiritual journeys" or something like that. Sets me up for a 'what crap' thought. my comfort is I like Deepak
• Deepak delivers with a joke about all the commercials - with his wonderful voice
• I sit back and doodle throughout
• Deepak: 60% of our bodies share the same DNA as a banana
• Intermission, out for a smoke break, how unspiritual, then chat with a woman with an accent who says she has some of her most spiritual moments when smoking
• I'm standing outside in short sleeves thinking how nice it is for Feb - and see a crowd of drunk teenagers wearing toques - one with a reb pom pom
• back to show, more doodles, more enlightenment
• Afterwards, someone has a limo pick them up - isn't that out of sync with being really spiritual? treasure mother earth and all that
• I go to a great spot for a crepe or 2, and a glass of wine or 3, doodle and flirt with the bartender - 15 younger than me and probably gay, but fun anyways, then me tipsy enough to cancel my own Interac transaction
• Walking home 3 girls with no coats, fancy very short dresses, high heels - are they going to meet the boys with toques?

Here are my doodles from the show.

Postscript added the next day: despite the silliness of my post from last night, it was actually a pretty powerful evening, and I have been thinking about the coincidences that got me there

Happy Follow Friday

Today I learned what #FollowFriday is and, suddenly, a whole new world of what Twitter is all about has opened up to me. 'Tis cool. If you know, then you'll know and wonder why it took me so long to figure out. If you don't know, and you Twitter, then you really must figure it out - but you gotta do it by Twittering.

Google Earth has found Atlantis

OK, now this is cool.

Daily Routine - Day 5 (finale)

TGIF indeed!!! My morning today:

• 6:15 slowly awake
• oh, thank goodness its Saturday
• roll over
• hmmm... something's not right
• oh! it's NOT Saturday
• it's Friday
• GRIN
• it FEELS like Saturday because I have the day off - start of a 4 day long weekend!
• roll over again

That's it.

This has been an interesting adventure, to blog my mornings for a full week, but to be honest, it was more fun and funny the first couple of days... though at some point i might look back at all this and find it amusing... i

I also left me thinking that i could write a fictional blog and have a blast with it... as soon as i thought about that, "Dell" went through my mind... hmm.... a girl named Dell in a big city blogs her daily life?

Odd moments from my day

Enough odd moments today that i've gotta capture them:

• Sign seen at a gas station: NOW HIRING ALL DIESEL CARS WELCOME
• I met with my boss today, and she said nothing about the fact i now have purple hair
• pulled out my chapstik to light my cigarette
• on my way home on skytrain, feeling totally broke, i look in my purse to see if i can find enough loonies and twoonies to buy smokes ... and find $40 US!! bonus!
• Burrard & Georgia, crossing the street, a guy walks by talking on the phone, and the snippet I hear is "did you ejaculate?"

Morning Routine - day 4

Ran into the aforementioned colleague who sparked this whole daily routine thing today, and she said, "you're taking editorial liberties with all that, right?" I assured her, no, this IS my life!! She then said, "please tell me you don't have Red Bull for breakfast?" LOL. Yes i really do!

Ok, my morning today:

• woke up about 5:30, slept well, but fatigued
• ponder the morning, and the knowledge that i do have a red bull in the fridge, but nothing for breakfast
• went outside for a smoke and thought about my day... really hoping to pull off a 4 day long weekend, so there is much to do to pull that off
• figure I might as well stay up and go in early and get at it
• tune to MSNBC for Morning Joe
• take prescriptions, pleased i hadn't forgotten once this week
• look to my right - it's a Panago box - ah yes!! I'd ordered pizza last night and ordered some of those sweet breadsticks that you dip in icing (how evil) - yes!!
• nuke the box, grab my red bull, and slip into my easy chair and pick up my laptop
• put the laptop down when i start dipping the breadsticks in icing
• wait for the "what we learned today" segment on Morning Joe, then turn to CBC Newsworld at 6
• ah, yes, Obama day! it's a camera on Air Force one in DC waiting for Obama to arrive by helicopter to get on and head our way
• log into work email and catch up
• check my calendar and remember i have a 9:00 coffee meeting
• there's Obama boarding Air Force One
• start twittering, and find it very easy to NOT get going, yesterday was a rough day, so figure it's good for me to chill
• decide that it is also a taxi day - on plastic
• manage to pass 2 hours, doing what, i cannot recall, but at some point decided to hang out til Obama lands
• at some point, another smoke
• gave twitter a play by play from a Canadian's perspective
• VERY cool to see the photo op of the first Black American President and the first Female Black Governor General -- and they weren't stiff and all that shit, they were genuinely laughing and smiling - VERY cool
• ok, it's 7:50, I guess I'd better get going
• out for a smoke
• quick shower
• as i dress, i pick my nice yellow t-shirt with the 3/4 length sleeves that I bought in NYC -- the fabric is soft and i want to wear it, it feels like a caress on my skin and somehow comforts me and balances out how vulnerable i felt at the end of yesterday
• 8:10, I've cut that kind of close, i'd better go
• log back into email and send a message or two, and pick up the phone numbers of the person i'm meeting, in case i am late
• doddle and leave about 8:20, oops
• flag a cab and off I go
• doodle
• all well until we end up behind an accident on Kingsway, looks like time to chill
• call my meeting to let them know i'm late
• doodle
• pull up at the office at 9:10

Morning Routine - day 3

Today was a rough day, so I'm hoping I will find my funny bone as I blog my morning, and help me chill.....

This morning, really began with last night, and so would not be complete without including it:

• must have fallen asleep watching the news, as I woke up at 1:30am in my easy chair before the tv
• slighty disoriented, so not ready to drop into bed, so pick up my laptop and start twittering and surfing
• 2:30am now starting to feel sleepy, just a few more minutes before I go to be... then come across the Facebook ToU story and gotta know more, and the more I know, the madder I get and .....
• 4:45 am, ok, enough is enough, time to get some sleep
• laugh as I set my alarm, as it's usually set to go off at 5:15... I settle on 8:00 am, and fall into a dead sleep
• 8:20, the snooze cycle finally wakes me up, sigh, i roll over and get some SAD light time as I think about my day
• my first meeting is at 10:00, so if I leave by 9, all's well
• get up, take prescriptions
• sit down to check work email, slay any dragons, and see what's up
• contemplate giving myself a break and taking a taxi instead
• 8:40, I see an email that indicates that my 10:00 meeting might be rescheduled
• shower, and dress
• no food, no redbull...
• 8:55, still no rescheduled meeting, i need to leave, yet, i figure the meeting will be rescheduled, so I figure it's worth not rushing, and I can always take a cab if need be
• 9:00, still nothing
• 9:10, yeah! meeting rescheduled to another day!
• decide that this is still a cab day
• about 9:20 I leave
• waiting for the elevator, I hear someone's keys as they lock their door, so I hold the elevator for them, "nice young man" gets on, surprised and grateful that I waited so he could get on, yes, he's cute, but he's half my age! but still a positive ride down
• wave at the building managers as i walk out the door, a sure sign that i'm leaving late
• stop at IGA to get cash and fuel
• the bank machine spits out my $80, but tells me my balance is shockingly low - what? less than $40 left? it's still 2 days to payday
• I pick up a cinnamon raisin bagel, a couple redbull (1 for tomorrow) and yogurt
• I unfold the bills in my pocket, pull out a $20, then fold it before I give it to the cashier, lol, that's backwards, you're supposed to unfold it before you give it to her, i guess i am more sleep deprived than i thought, the cashier and i laugh as I stuff my fuel in my bag
• grab a plastic spoon... and a handful of napkins for the tp thing
• head down Burrard to the Sutton Place to get a cab, if one doesn't come along sooner
• a few steps later, a cab is coming my way, i flag him down, but he seems clueless and keeps driving by, sheesh... oh well, I see cabs at the hotel, 1/4 of a block away
• i hear a honk, turn, and there's my cabbie afterall
• I get him in, give him the coordinates, and lay my head back
• he turns up the radio, but i ask him nicely to turn it off
• breakfast in the backseat of my cab
• then start doodling.... not great shocks in this cab, so bumpy for doodles, but we are making good time, so it's cool
• start thinking about the cash situation, and figure i have a better chance of getting to friday if i use plastic for the cab
• as we get close to work, i put away my sketchbook and dig out my security pass and put it in my pocket
• as we pull up the building, something feels odd.... i check my pocket, no security pass, but i had put my vpn token in my pocket instead - doh. i do the switch
• arrive at the office at 9:50

The story really can't stop there, as i have more demonstrations that i'm not so bright... such as a splitting headache that i dig out some aleve for. there was something else, but i can't remember it now.

not as interesting or funny as other days, but this is my life. I manage to have this kind of sleep-screwed-up morning every couple of weeks....