TGIF

How about, instead of a true-to-form actual post wherein I explore and express deep personal thoughts (HAHAHA), I offer a mini round-up of tidbits you might find innerestin'. Just some things I've been looking at, or listening to, or have generally lassoed my adhd attention span for longer than ten minutes.

Also, full disclosure, I'm reheating some pizza right now. We basically have until those heavenly leftover slices are edible via oven regeneration, then I quit this bitch so I can stuff my face. Game on!

READING Noggin by John Corey Whaley. There's a whole story about how the author and Josh became buddies, and it's a really good story but kinda long and, mostly, not mine to tell. The long and short of it ends with me borrowing a copy of the dude's first book and thoroughly enjoying the read. Noggin is his latest and is proving equally good.

WATCHING Am I the last person to start Bob's Burgers? (Considering the show is in its fifth season, I'm sure the answer YES MOSTLY LIKELY.) Still trying to figure out my favorite character. Louise -- too obvious? The mom? BOB? Time will tell.

WATCHING PT. TWO A Most Violent Year is out in Montreal. I want to go to there this weekend.

LISTENING Erika (hey girl!) recently turned me onto Invisibilia. Let's be clear: I am not a podcast person (see: abovementioned struggle to maintain long-term attention). I followed Serial borderline-religiously, who didn't, but that was largely the grand sum of my podcasting. But Invisibilia! It's good! The episodes I've followed have been interesting, creepy, a wee bit science-y (so you get to feel smart on top of smug for listening to a podcast to begin with), and ultra NPR-ish as far as human interest stories go. As was suggested to me, start with The Secret History of Thoughts and see where it takes you.

Pizza time, byeee!

Because sometimes you go on sick leave and all your responsibilities are unofficially given to someone new (self-awarded A+ for the run-on sentence)

What’s a lady to do when there’s nothing to do (office edition)?

- Find new and exciting routes to the office washroom.

- Repeatedly ask coworkers if they need help until, eventually, they learn to hate the intake of breath that comes before you speak.

- Refresh manrepeller.com every thirty minutes. Other windows that are perennially open, minimized: Cup of Jo, DESIGN LOVE FEST, AV Club, Cinema Montreal, J. Crew (feed the fantasy), Gap (face the reality).

- Covertly check phone for new e-mails, exciting fb/insta updates, texts from mom, basically anything, but don't get caught.

- Snoop Browse through the communal disc drive for line sheets of seasons past and, maybe, last year’s drunken Christmas party photos.

- Reread the week’s lunch menu, then chew a fresh gum to suppress boredom-induced appetite – lunch is still two hours away.

Face it: We're all about to get Hallowasted

Happy Halloween, you guys! It appears someone has already set the bar for Costume Of The Year, and competition is STEEP.

Look, we all know strange shit is going down tonight. Pretty sure the equation goes something like people + playing dress-up + attention + BOOZE = questionable life choices +/- fun times. Science. So, allow me to impart some wisdom (care of my ever-trusty mom): be safe, have fun, text me when you get home (you can skip that last step, I always do).

Main Squeeze and I are having friends over tonight for some "mild hanging in light costumes" (as described to my buddy Sheila). What we lose in cleaning up after everybody leaves, we gain in getting boozy on home turf. Hurray!

...That was actually a preemptive hurray. I still have to spookify the entire apartment but find myself reluctant to start, as my butt is very nicely wedged between sofa cushions at the moment. (Story of my life.) Maybe a teensy splash of cider will get the ball rolling. Perfect solution!

Have a great night :) :*

Kick ass photo via Huffington Post (you really want to click through, HuffPo gathered a ton of other clever/high-larious costumes)

Time well spent

Today was largely planned around visiting the Musée des Beaux Arts and taking this experiment for a test drive.

Surprised myself (hahaha) by spending $30 (real surprising) on a museum membership. IN MY DEFENSE, it's a kinda groovy deal if you do the math – membership lasts fifteen months and costs the price of two tickets. Plus, it also includes perks. Perks! (Still unclear what they are, actually, as I had myself a quick daydream when everything was being explained.)

With my newfangled pass in-hand, upstairs I went to check out the ahhhrtwork. Escalator doors parted to reveal a veritable MOB of elderly people waiting their turn to enter the exhibit, too. A kindly museum-worker informed me a tour bus had just dropped all these folks off for an excursion. 

Hell no, you guys. I struggle with big crowds. All that jostling and neck-craning and ducking around dozens of other moving bodies... not my jam. OK, I think, I’ll just zip out, take a walk, buy myself time.

Except, as I'm rounding the last corner on my way back, what do I see? A school bus parked out front of the museum, unloading high schooler after high schooler after high schooler.

It's possible the universe was conspiring against me.

I walked back down to Place des Arts, thirty friggen dollar museum ticket in my bag, and took a bus home. Let's try again tomorrow.

Bright side alert! I ate sweet potato tacos for lunch, so the day wasn't really all doom & gloom. Success! :D

Pencil shaving artwork c/o Marta Altés

Sneeze Sniffle Cough Repeat

On account of my new cold -- how can a nose be stuffy and runny, at once? -- there's a solid chance I'll be couch-bound all day. Well, at least all morning. Which blows, really, because I wanted to go out & carpe the diem & maybe even try a new yoga class. But it's also a wee bit awesome, because it's fully and properly AUTUMN out there and I'm really not interested in freezing my bits off, roaming the mean (daytime) streets of mtl.

Until further notice, you can find me in our TV room, watching whatever the heck is on Josh's USB key because it's already all loaded up and (breaking news) I'm feeling kinda reluctant to move my body. But it's not so bad, you guys. We have Louie Season 3 on-deck. Maybe I've already seen all these episodes, but it'll hurt a lot less to re-watch them than to embark on the three-part minidrama of (1) getting up, (2) selecting a DVD, (3) putting it in the machine. You understand.

Update: Watching Zodiac (thanks to the recent movie-going one-two punch of Gone Girl + Nightcrawler). Questioning if this is *the* film to experience solo. I mean, the creepy neighbor/squatter three doors down appears to have moved and all, but the him-lurking-in-our-backyard scenario lives on in my brain. (I'm only 40 percent serious.) (Maybe 45.)

OMG it's the lake scene.

Photo via here (click through for some more pretty nifty artwork)

Don't tell me it's raining again (it's raining again)

I don't know what the hell is going on, but the weather's been borderline apocalyptic this week. There are these brief, promising, ultimately fleeting moments of beautiful sunshine... bookended by darkness, and rain, and sometimes hail. Hail! Let me go right ahead and blame myself for this. I just watched Magnolia for the first time and thought "cool but there's no fucking way raining frogs are real."  My bad. Now, I believe. 

In a fit of cabin fever, I forced myself out the door to get some lunch. (Couldn't risk making my own lunch again.) (Making my own lunch = peanut butter on a spoon, repeat until full.) This act had the dual effect of (a) sneaking in some exercise (30 minutes of walking, ya buddy), and (b) adding another $21 to my upcoming credit card bill.

Like the income-less clown that I am, I spent that (much) money on SALAD & LEMONADE from Aux Vivres. Aux fucking Vivres, everyone's favorite vegetarian resto + fart factory + chapati machine crime scene. (That last comment is pretty insensitive, sorry.) At least I stopped myself from the additional/unnecessary coffee pit stop, so sue me already. (Visa is probably working on it as I type.)

What else. What else...

Current update: It's super sunny and super rainy right now! Is this real life? Also, aren't you glad I'm here, giving a minute-to-minute weather forecast for the downtown Montreal area? Don't mention it.

Oh yeah! Sheila, Tata and I went to see Sin City 2 last night. The movie selection basically stemmed from logistical necessity (central theatre *plus* the only convenient screening time *slash* I am both mentally and physically incapable of watching horror movies, so all those were ruled out stat). And it was passably good! The 3D was useful (rare!), and Joseph Gordon-Levitt had a substantial chunk of screen time. Much fun indeed. 

Current-er update: It stopped raining. It's still sunny. But for how long? Suspense is such a killer.

Photo c/o Berndnaut Smilde