resolve « the calhoun tribune

Jan 02 2012

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resolve

12 resolutions for 2012

be more like Tami Taylor in every possible way (really, I could stop here but…)
read 55 books — including authors I’ve never read before, more non-fiction, more books written/published by colleagues (i.e., contemporary Canadian books), and all the usual YA brilliance
hang out with my friends’ kids more frequently (’cause these kids are ridiculously charming)
have dance parties once a month with DDPP
follow the 23 1/2 hour plan
write more — on this blog, to my bestie in a far away land, in my nearly-abandoned journal (sorry, bookie), and on my various writing projects (that one means procrastinate less)
spend less than $1,000,000 a week at Starbucks
be more patient and understanding — but not a pushover (see season 1 Elena Gilbert, Queen of Empathy and Badassery, for role model)
eat real food — and by that I mean the old Michael Pollan ‘if your great grandmother wouldn’t recognize it as food it ain’t food’ — and prepare it myself
take a real holiday — no writing, working, promoting, anything-ing (my ideal vacation, because i don’t know how to surf or do yoga)
procrastinate in useful ways (e.g., clean the kitchen rather than fall into the tumblr abyss)
instead of complaining about problems, try to solve them — personally, professionally, politically, across the board.

i love new year’s resolutions.

Tagged new year's resolutions

Dec 27 2011

happy tuesday the 27th to you

Sometimes I am just the worst at blogging. (And by ‘sometimes’ I mean ‘most all the time.’) My poor blog feels very neglected, and for that I am sorry.

things that have happened since last we met:

I finished my Goodreads 2011 Reading Challenge to read 50 books, and as it turns out I read (a) books at work, (b) YA novels, (c) little else. If it was new year’s resolution making time (oh hey it is), I would vow to read a wider variety of books in 2012. Perhaps some for grownups as well as those for YA-loving grownups like me. On my to-read shelf at the moment I have three Canadian-authored recently-released novels, so I think that will count for something if I actually read them. (Yes, I have guilty feelings about working in Cdn publishing but being woefully poorly read when it comes to what is published by Cdn publishers. I watch a lot of TV, okay?)

It is the holiday times, and that means seeing my friends more than usual. Especially the one who doesn’t live here and comes home for the hols. That is just the best. As it turns out, I have a great deal of wonderful friends whom I love and adore a lot. This is not new, per se, but top of mind as I’ve just had an epic brunch (an annual event) and the high-quality friend times are top of mind. Also, the ones with kids tend to have kids who are really nice, charming, clever, well mannered … and I’m only a little bit biased. More procreation, excellent people!

now, what next? I have to make my annual resolutions list, and I think it will include ‘getting my act in gear in various ways so that I can go to this learn-to-surf camp next year’ (which I’ve been dreaming of going to for ages) and in all likelihood ‘stop being such a crap blogger.’ In particular, I feel I have dropped — nay, lost — the ball when it comes to Gossip Girl this season. Where have my posts been? Unwritten.

I’ve had a hankering of late to re-watch season 1 of Gossip Girl. Maybe it’s the thought of how much my dear darling Blair has gone through over the past few years — as we wait for Chuck to rise like the UES phoenix that he is — and, of course, to chart the progression of Blair and Dan’s relationship. Remember the school play in season 2? Flipping classic. Maybe that is how I should spend my remaining holiday days…parked in front of the television. Sounds not bad (and not that unusual).

But before I do that, I have to put together a little announcement for y’all. Hint: it has something to do with a TV show and an upcoming book and a pen name and a devilish anonymous texter . . . and if you have a look at my currently reading list on Goodreads you could probably figure it out.

Tagged Goodreads, Gossip Girl

Jan 05 2008

4 Comments

2008 books, resolve

reading resolution

if you can believe it, i managed to get a specialist degree in English (and complete five high school english courses), work in Cdn publishing, and have only read ONE Margaret Atwood novel. Surfacing.

Seems a little shameful mainly because I spent a few years stomping around saying I hated “the Margarets” (Laurence, being the other). A very uninformed opinion and one based on their mandatory reading status and on having received a copy of The Diviners from my da one New Year’s when I was in high school (my bro and sis each got a Margaret L too, Stone Angel and …can’t remember). I guess I wasn’t interested then and preferred to keep rereading The Great Gatsby.

So, one of my numerous resolutions this new year is to read at least one Atwood, perhaps several if I like ‘er. And that’s where you come in: which one? Where do I start? Any to avoid in these early Atwood days?

Feb 03 2007

2 Comments

coffee, food, resolve

Zoomtar Goes to Science

Good morning and hello.

I have a hot cup of coffee and a cold cup of watery juice. my Sensidyne test. the kitchen, rest assured, has finally been tidied up. i had left it in disarray (but not shambles) since thursday eve when i made some pretty good spaghetti sauce. i would give it a B+.

Robert Rodriguez says (and i paraphrase) that not knowing how to cook is like not knowing how to frak; you should have your favourite dishes, practice making them, perfect them; have a menu of things you are good at and known for and make ‘em for your guests.

My (existing) menu:
Cheese melt
Cupcakes
That lemony spinach/feta/pea salad
I can also make tacos/fajitas with confidence (but not with any flair, this is from-the-package seasoning) and the aforementioned spaghetti sauce.

Pretty pedestrian, all.
The plan: I’ll think up the dishes that I love to eat and wish I knew how to make and start practicing them.

Jan 23 2007

3 Comments

resolve, theatre

half life

the half life i half remember from high school: “The time required to convert one half of a reactant to product. The term is commonly applied to radioactive decay, where the reactant is the parent isotope and the product is a daughter isotope.“

the half life (by john mighton) i just saw with Maya, the CanStage production at the Bluma Appel theatre = fantastic. i am always nervous seeing a play. when they are bad, they are very very bad. but when they are good . . .

it was so full of ideas. M and I both had the urge to read the play, pen in hand to underline passages. i can’t really describe why it was so good: it was honest and earnest, well acted and well staged, funny and sad, intelligent and emotional.

it runs til feb. 3rd so see it if ya can.

AND the goodness of the play made it totally worth it to miss the winter premiere of heroes, which Adam says was only OK. except for the part where the body of Eden was found *in a lake near Sudbury* hahaha. that is so exotic. oh writers of Heroes.

AND this evening also qualifies as new year’s resolution fulfillment (see maya). check.

AND good night. xo.

Jan 13 2007

1 Comment

2007 books, adventure, resolve

chop. chop. chop.

status report on new year’s resolutions.

tea drinking: check. vitamin taking: check. lunch bringing: 3 of 5 days. water drinking: up.

new music: yes, check. nadine took me to the emily haines show last saturday and i lurved it. then i bought knives don’t have your back and have listened to it all week long and am in fact listening to it right this second (while i sip water and wait for my rooibos tea to brew).

exercise: hold on to your caps, jacks. i went to a pilates class with adrienne last night. for the first time in my whole f’n life. and i am in so much achy-ache-ville-party-hurt-pain today. but it was fun and not too creepy at all. i shall go back there next thurs.

saw mum twice this week (twas her bday). there’s her cake from the mandarin. she did not eat it. i wrote and mailed a thanksya card to my g’ma. i wore gold eyeshadow (which is actually more bronze than gold) and will again.

Failures: have not got tattoo yet. have not had a dance party. or read the paper. no travel, no crafts.

The conclusion to Love’s Paper Trail will be posted (hopefully) on Sunday, just so Corey R. can sleep at night knowing what happened between Charlotte and Kurt. Tash, S’rain, Oluh, and I wrote it over cocktails at Ted’s on Wednesday. So get ready for some stellar screenplayin. OR (i just had a good idea) we could turn it into a choose your own adventure. I give ya a couple options. You choose. We write it up and go that way. Anyone game?

my 2007 books so far consist entirely of ecw titles (#3 = to be continued…volume 3) and i should very much get back to reading our book club book, the historian. that’s what i’ll do right now.

Jan 06 2007

3 Comments

resolve

nyr 2007

healthy diet, exercise, make lunch, save money.

hang out with mum. write more letters. call friends and family.

swim and dance and write more. watch less TV. smoke less.

travel. get craftier. don’t be mean and judgmental. read the paper, watch the news. tidy up more. clean your junk out of mum’s basement. stop the apocalypse.

don’t get lazy. take that multi-vitamin. drink that rooibis tea.

listen to new music instead of the same old stuff over and over. wear gold eyeshadow again. write thank you cards to mums and grandmums. see toeknee more than when he was on a different continent. hang out with the 2010ers.

see maya b. once a month. don’t make plans and break them. gussy up the apartment.

play more jokes by post on s’rain. less caffeine. avoid celebrity culture as much as possible (with of course the major exception of all things Brit-Brit). work hard at work and get uber organized.

have more dance parties.

get flaming c tattoo.

the calhoun tribune

a.k.a. the online home of @crissycalhoun, author of companion guides to The Vampire Diaries and Gossip Girl

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