first crush

Hey, my sister Ruth has been shortlisted for the Amelia Francis Howard Gibbons award! (award for children's illustrators, chosen by the Canadian Librarians' Assocation), for Two So Small (written by Hazel Hutchins). I have such a cool sister.









My only memorable childhood crush was in Grade 8, a boy named Norm Brown. Norm was the class clown, but a charming one. He was a big Beatles fan, the teachers all loved him, he was cute as a button and knew it. All the little girls in the class harboured secret crushes on him, including me.


Norm gave me my first kiss. Don't get excited...on that Valentine's Day, he kissed -every- girl on the cheek. But I still remember that kiss, or perhaps I imagine that I remember it. Soft yet determined, slightly damp.


My next brush with romance didn't come until near the end of high school. I wasn't really interested in the opposite sex in those years. They all seemed to be obsessed with dances and football and necking in the shadowy corners of the courtyard at lunchtime. Or perhaps that's what I convinced myself, since none of them were particularly interested in me. :-)


Anyway, it was the last day, and I was cleaning out my locker before going home to celebrate the beginning of the summer vacation. A boy named Mark asked if I wanted to go for a walk. Mark was a quiet sort. I don't remember much about him except that he occasionally fell asleep during the morning announcements. He and I sometimes exchanged a few words during class, but never anything approaching a personal level. He had come up beside me, and seemed nervous but somewhat eager when he pseudo-casually asked me if I'd be interested in going for a walk. I was flabbergasted and tongue-tied with panic. I remember mumbling some excuse about needing to get home to do something, and left Mark standing in the hallway.


I deeply regret my act of monumental tactlessness now, of course. And can't help wondering what would have happened if I had said yes.


I sometimes wonder what became of Mark and of Norm Brown. It's strange what small events leave such a lasting childhood memory, isn't it? I'm sure neither of them remembers me at all, but I can't help but be curious. Did Norm grow up to be a comedian, for example? Truck driver? Technonerdboy? Gigolo? Teacher? Is he still cute as a button?


Part of me is afraid to find out, and would almost prefer to leave Norm on his pedestal.


Norm? Are you out there?









Today's Blatherpic:

My eighth grade public school photo (Earnscliffe Public School, just in case anyone like Norm or Mark is doing a search on that name :-)). Norm Brown is highlighted in blue, I'm highlighted in red. Small world phenomenon: See the guy in the row above Norm, with the glasses? Allison's husband John hangs out with this guy's younger brother.


Today's Link:

Lileks (especially his Gallery of Regrettable Food).


Today's Poll Question:

You're driving a car at 2 a.m. in a deserted neighbourhood and come to a red light at an intersection. You look both ways; no other cars are in sight. Would you ignore the red light and drive through?

soker

Another filk baby! From a Blatherchat posting by John O'Halloran: "More Filk Expansion! Received this morning: Aminda Rose Capp was born at 3:28 am at O'Connor Hospital in San Jose, California. The vital stats are healthy (a perfect 10) 7Lbs 5oz, 19.5 inches. Daughter of Fred Capp and Robin Baylor cadreamer@earthlink.net." Many congrats, Fred and Robin!


Went to my sister's last night for dinner. I showed her how to use a news board I set up on her site through Greymatter (I set one up on my mom-in-law's site as well - I am a Greymatter Junkie, thanks to my friend Josh). While we were at the computer, Sara watches intently and then asks if she can post something online. I show her Blatherchat, and am thrilled when she says she'd like to add a posting. Sara typed the whole thing herself:

"i have a speshell dolly named well dolly my favret sport is soker fysgfiewyhfiusyrfhdufhsliurshfigs eirhfeifheiuhrueihrduhturheu sara {name removed for privacy reasons}."

Yay, my niece's first Blatherchat posting! I am going to save it so I can embarrass her with it when she's older. I am such a thoughtful aunt.


After dinner, Sara asked if I could play soccer with her in the backyard. Eek, I thought. I only had open-toed Birkenstocks. But how could I say no? And wow, she's actually pretty good. I was huffing and puffing, trying not to trip over my sandals, while Sara darted around me, laughing. It reminded me of how I felt as an awkward teenager, feeling all gangly (what a great word, that) and uncoordinated.


Were any of you jock-types back in high school? I know Rand was (Ookla The Mok's album is now officially available, by the way...see Rand's Ookla Says column). I was pretty much an anti-jock...I was in the school band and the Library Club (we put away returned books for the librarians, woohoo!). I hated Phys.Ed., except for the class study topics, like Health and Sex Ed., which we all pretended to find dull but secretly found fascinating.


Even as grown-up, I still tend to see myself as an uncoordinated couch potato type (or "mouse potato", a term Jeff came up with which I quite like), even though I work out at the gym 3-5 times a week and survived -and actually enjoyed- a gruelling canoe trip on the Nahanni River. It's sometimes pretty tough to break out of the box you help other people build for you in childhood.


Today's Blatherpic:

Parki and Jeff at the cottage, years ago.


Link of the Day:

How To Get Even With Your Bank


Today's Poll Question:

Do you like to sing in the shower?

greymatter

So I've been having lots of fun implementing Greymatter. I'm still tweaking here and there, so thanks for your patience during this transition period. For those thinking about using Greymatter, you should be warned that you should be comfortable with HTML and enough familiarity with Perl scripts to make minor changes. I had to make some changes to get rid of automatic text justification, for example.


My friend Reid is also playing around with Greymatter, and has already posted a patch to the Greymatter support forums to fix one of the date formatting problems. One of my only real complaints about Greymatter is that there is no way to completely delete entries after you've posted them without making modifications to the files on the server (i.e. no elegant way of deleting entries from the administrator control panel). I screwed up one of the counter variables while manually deleting my test entries and had to do a lot of script tweaking before things would work properly again.


But it's worth it. Greymatter does automatic archiving for me as well providing and adjusting links to entries before and after. I can adjust all headers and footers by modifying a template, instead of having to manually update them on each file. And because so many elements of the template are separate variables, it's easy to customise a layout. PLUS I can add a Blathering from anywhere with Web access. Also, I have the option of including a "add comments" and vote feature to any entries.


Greymatter is free, by the way, through the generosity of its programmer, Noah Grey. Noah has a really wonderful weblog from which he decided to take an indefinite hiatus starting last month. His personal Web pages are fascinating...this guy is super-talented. He can program, write well, is a great photographer, has a good design sense, and has an online comic strip. Instead of charging a fee for his Greymatter program, Noah offers people the option of making a donation through his Amazon book wish list (I've bought him something from this list).


Today's Blatherpic:

"Ted", Bryan Fullerton's childhood toy


Today's Poll:

Do you like pineapple on your pizza? Choose "Yes" or "No" below, thanks.

oasis

I am in the midst of converting to Greymatter this weekend, so everything may not work correctly yet. Thanks for your patience.


So I have the first version of my mom-in-law's Web site online, and would deeply appreciate it if some of you could go have a look and let me know if you notice any glaring problems. I'm especially interested in hearing from those with older browsers. Does anyone out there know of a site which helps identify browser incompatibility, or (ideally) simulate different types and versions of browsers?




Anyway, the Oasis restaurant URL is:



http://www.yum-yum.ca



Thanks for your help!


Today's Blatherpic:


My mom-in-law Ginny preparing a meal on an overturned canoe during our Nahanni River Canoe Trip.

childhood books

Went to the Pickle Barrel with Allison and Jodi last night. We're all hooked on the same smoothie: Marathon Mambo. Amazing what an effect a name can have on one's desire for a food item. I'm really noticing this as I work on the Web site for my mom-in-law's restaurant. Just formatting the catering menu makes my mouth water: "grilled skewers of scallops & jumbo tiger shrimps with Persian rice pilaf & spicy lime dip", "proscuitto, sundried tomato & asiago stuffed breast of chicken with wild rice pancake", "walnut daquoise with milk chocolate buttercream icing"...I have no idea what a "daquoise" is, but I -know- I want one! :-)


I'm having fun playing around with cascading style sheets right now.


Current topic over in Blatherchat are kids' books. For the record, my favourites are/were (in no particular order):

• The Great Gilly Hopkins by Katherine Paterson
• A Wrinkle In Time by Madeleine L'Engle
• Half Magic series by Edward Eager
• Dark Is Rising series by Susan Cooper
• The Blue Sword and The Hero And The Crown by Robin McKinley
• Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling
• A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett
• Harriet The Spy by Louise Fitzhugh
• Sarah, Plain and Tall by Patricia MacLachlan
• Bridge To Terebithia by Katherine Paterson
• Tuck Everlasting
• Little House In The Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder
• Hatchet by Gary Paulsen
• My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George
• Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O'Dell
• Ramona The Pest by Beverly Cleary
• Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl
• Stuart Little by E.B. White
• Charlotte's Web by E.B. White
• Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
• Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis
• The Little Prince by Antoine De Saint-Exupery
• The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster
• Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
• Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury
• Any other of Ray Bradbury's earlier books

Eeek, maybe I'd better stop there. I could easily do a full Blather on any of the above books.


I still read kids' books. I'm write kids' books. I pity those who think that kids' books are just for kids, or sneer at adults who read them for pleasure. It always sets up warning bells in my head when I find out someone doesn't really have any favourite childhood books, or can only vaguely recall some classics like "Wind In The Willows" and "Alice In Wonderland". Doesn't mean that there's anything wrong with the person, of course, just that it's a sure sign that they aren't a kindred spirit.


Why do I enjoy kids' books so much? Because I find they often have better stories and a more benevolent outlook on life than some adult books. Because they're more likely to have happy endings, or at least an element of hope at the end. There's enough angst and depression in real life, and I'm a naive optimist. Well...maybe not as naive as before I sold Inkspot, but still a stubborn optimist. :-)




Today's Blatherpic:

Self-portrait by Sara.