News? ha ha ha....surely you jest...

12 November 2002: N's Birthday!

Look, I haven't been updating this site at all coz I'm a lazy lazy chick. And very bad. But if you want, you can read my blog instead.

4 January 2002:

Oh my word. Look at that. It's a new year. I don't know quite what to tell you about my life in 2002 (quick update: new, cool job in Soho, more domestic bliss, Paris for my Birthday, yay!) but here's what I have to say about 2001...

It was a *great* year. It was the year in which I suddenly found myself feeling like the female lead in a musical. (I'm sure you know what I mean-- she goes to the big city and suddenly a whole new world of excitement and love unfolds for her). Though there were some frustrations I really have felt like bursting into song most of the time. Thank god I've been controlling this urge-- you know what my singing voice's like!

It feels kind of crazy to write such a glowing review of the year when all around us the world was going bonkers. But, I think all that madness put things into perspective -- and made me appreciate all the wonderful stuff that happened in 2001 even more.

My best memories of the past year include:

• an endlessly decadent birthday dinner with Steph, Shari and Lorraine
• belting out 'Like a Virgin' with the lovely Lisa in the diviest karaoke bar in Niagara Falls. Oh, and doing a Polka with Brett while we waited to get into the selfsame bar.
• inter-generational Scrabble matches with my mom and grandma and sister
• seven letter words with Mike and Lorraine
• Minivan highways with the big DLT
• Dancing up a storm in Barcelona with Karen
• Wandering around London parks with Vincent, who could identify every variety of flora right down to the latin name
• and every, every moment spent with Neil, even when we were sitting around the flat sulking at each other, coz it's soooo great that we live in the same country (and the same flat) now. Oh, and especially our two opera dates. And driving together through Montreal. And the Rockies. Siiiiiiiiiigh.....

As far as *other* highlights of 2001, let's see. It wasn't that great of a year for my kind of cinema. I'm having a hard time remember three top picks, and normally I have tons. However, I did enjoy, let's see, Together, (aka Tillsammans) a crazy Swedish film about a 70s commune (SOS by Abba is used brilliantly throughout), and Margaret Cho's I'm the One I Want, which made me laugh like crazy but also make me kind of sad too. For a final pick I'm going to randomly choose Patrice Leconte's The Widow of St. Pierre if only because it starred Daniel Auteuil.

Music wise, the gig of the year was, hands down, Bjork at the Coliseum, here in London. She was mad, fabulous, bonkers, and resplendent in her Alexander McQueen dress of feathers and microscopes slides. Her voice came straight from another planet. She made both me and Karen cry. Other memorable gigs include Oh Susannah at the GCTC, Ottawa, Chris and Carla at the Borderline, London, and Renee Fleming at the Royal Albert Hall as part of the Proms.

As far as albums go, my three thumbs (tee hee) will go straight in the air for Stereolab's Sounddust, a splendid return to form for Latetia and the gang, REM's Reveal, the brilliant, transcendant soundtrack of my big move across the ocean, and Oh Susannah's Sleepy Little Sailor, a heartfelt collection of new/old country torchsongs.

So, that's about it. My resolutions for 2002 are to do more yoga (of course), and to not freak out so much about little things I can't do anything about. We'll see how well I do with these two....

Hey, read some old news here...