snatch

Reid and Luisa came downtown to visit last night. We had dinner at Babur, an Indian restaurant on Queen Street. I love Indian food, especially Naan. We ordered a bunch of dishes, rice, Naan, and then shared everything. Everyone's favourite was the mango chicken. After dinner, we strolled down to Milestones for dessert. I had peppermint tea and a white chocolate caramel brownie thingy. Yummmmmmm....

After dessert, we went next door to the Paramount and saw "Snatch". Wow, really good movie. I'm not usually great with violent movies (and this movie had a lot of violence!), but Snatch managed to pull it off with great style and humour.

It was a good evening, very relaxing and fun. We've known Reid and Luisa for ages. (Pause as Debbie does some idle calculating.) Yikes. It's been twenty years since we all met. TWENTY YEARS. When I was a kid, I remember twenty years being an impossibly huge amount of time. Then again, time was slower back then.

Anyway, there's a certain comfort in knowing someone that long. The awkward polite stage is over with, as is the need for smalltalk (did I tell you how much I -hate- meaningless smalltalk?) and second-guessing. There is also a huge benefit to the fact that all four of us are equally good friends and have similar interests.

Last night reminded me a bit of our old days in university, probably because it wasn't particularly planned out in detail. We only decided on the restaurant after we started walking, and going somewhere else for dessert and then the movie were decisions made during the course of the evening, one flowing naturally into the other. We don't always have the luxury of doing this, of course, but I'm realizing that I haven't been doing enough. I've always tended to try to stuff too many tasks and events into each day, and inevitably feel disappointed by the end at the number of things I haven't checked off on my to do list.



Jeff and I have both been living in a constant "interrupt state" in recent years. It's reached the point where I'm unable to read a book for more than an hour at a time without getting restless and thinking about some worrying task that needs attention. We talked about this last night, and Reid asked whether we thought this state was more of a result of today's society, or more of our chosen lifestyle. I'm sure both are factors, but I suspect the latter is more of the culprit. I hate being like this; I used to love being able to spend the occasional entire day just reading, only getting up for bathroom breaks and to eat.

Which is one of the reasons that Jeff and I are both taking a sabbatical for the next few months, after we each tie up some loose ends. For me, this is finishing reorganizing my office and catching up on my finances. My taxes for last year are going to be hellish (I was a sole entrepreneur, director of a corporation, and an employee, all within one calendar year, plus I sold my business and worked in the U.S. for six months). We'll be spending a lot of time at the cottage, going on canoe trips and hiking trips, spending more time with each other. Maybe it's a mid-life thing, maybe it's because we're both making major work changes right now...but we've both agreed that it's time to slow our lives down somewhat. I'm burned out from my experience with the corporate world, and am mightily looking forward to getting back to my own writing fulltime this fall.

The trickiest part, as I've mentioned before, is resisting the urge to take on new deadline-oriented projects before the fall. You all have permission to yell at me if you notice me forgetting this. And no, my comic and The Dandelion Report and my harp resource site don't count...they're just Fun Hobbies, after all. ;-)

Today's Blatherpics:

Reid and Luisa last night, at Milestone's.

Brian and Jeff.