Can You Hear Me Now?

I was finally able to watch the last few minutes of “The Island” last night. The night cook at the Pub left his DVD sitting on the bar last time I was there, and I borrowed it. I don’t even know him, I just left a note in the till that said “Donna has your DVD”. Christine is his boss and she said I could, so it’s okay. Anyway, I’m glad I finally saw that last 5 minutes or so (actually, I watched the whole thing from the beginning again because it’s good), but it left me wondering… so what now?… Thousands of unemployed, homeless, naïve people in white uniforms that look exactly like some rich person are left wandering the country. I guess the ones who are clones of celebrities can go to Las Vegas and get work. Heh.

Oops, I gave away the ending. Oh well, it’s not like you wouldn’t know it ends happily. It’s Hollywood.

Today a client came by to help me sort through the rest of his paperwork from the last few years. I had already posted most of his 2003 and 2004 stuff but was waiting for the rest. 2005 has yet to be touched, but at least him and his wife organized it nicely before bringing it to me. I called him before he left and told him it is in his best interest to stop at Tim Horton’s on the way over. He said “oh, do you need to be bribed?” and took my coffee order. He was taking quite awhile to get here, and when he finally arrived he told me he’d had no cash on him, and that particular Tim Horton’s only takes cash, so he had to go find a bank machine before he went back in to pay and then come over. Geez. I would have just said “screw it”, but I guess he was afraid of what would happen should he show up empty handed haha

Anyway, he sat himself on my office floor and started sorting receipts while I sorted through other things and asked questions. He noticed my Romeo Dallaire book on my desk and asked me about it. Turns out, he knows him, and hosted his visit to Calgary last year, picked him up at the airport and drove him around and stuff. Pretty cool! He asked me if I liked the book, but I haven’t even started reading it yet. “Right now, I am reading the Qur’an” I said, matter of factly. How worldly am I, I ask you?? Considering the difficulty level of that read, I expect to be starting Romeo’s book by late fall if I’m lucky. And considering the length of that book, I will probably finish by sometime in 2008 and by 2010 I may have even read the Bible.

I know, I know, I was raised a Christian and yet I’m reading the Qur’an before I have even read the whole Bible. I guess that’s because I’ve heard about Christianity my whole life and Islam is very new to me, and it piqued my curiosity. Plus, you know, AH is still my Number One Crush until such time someone else turns my head, and I like learning about his culture, it’s different and interesting. It’s not like I’m planning any pilgrimages to the Mecca any time soon, no worries. (I haven’t heard anything further on the going-back-to-his-wife thing. But I’m already doing better at the thought of losing him as a close friend. I will survive).

You know, I was thinking yesterday, about that MOMENT when AH asked me out almost a year ago. The fact that, after having developed a huge crush on this man over the months, he actually asked me out, and how excited I was. That the rest of the day you could not pull me down from the ceiling. The total joy and excitement in my heart I felt that day is something I would give up winning the lottery for if I could experience living in that moment for the rest of my life. This was, of course, before I knew anything about him… all I knew was his name, that he was sweet and kind, that he had this great vibe and was easy to talk to, and was the single most gorgeous man I had ever (and still to this day) laid eyes on. I didn’t know about an ex-wife or a current wife that he is separated from and three kids and 10 million family members and blah blah blah. All I knew is that I liked him and he asked me out and OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG!!!!

I want that day back. I want that day every day of my life. That, or the Polyjesters in my living room 24/7.

Anyway, back to my client. He was sitting on the floor sorting receipts when his cell rang, and it was his son’s babysitter reminding him that his son needed to be picked up… 5 minutes ago. Yikes. Poor guy ran to the door to put on his shoes and apologized for needing to run off like this - “it’s not very often I envy the life of people who work Monday to Friday… I get to play with amazing musicians from all over the world and live a pretty good life… but moments like this, a regular schedule sounds appealing!” I know he wouldn’t trade it for the world though. He’s a Jazzman. That’s in his blood, I tells ya.

So, I am left with a floor covered in receipts once again. I won’t get around to organizing them tonight, I finished some other things I needed to do and then started to get things ready for the possible Arrival of the Kitten tomorrow. My parents are coming by in the morning so we can make room for the litter box by getting rid of some old computer equipment and an air conditioner, then we’re going to the chiropractor, then lunch with my brother, and then to the pet store in search of my kitty. If we don’t find him tomorrow, then next week. I hope I find him tomorrow. I need a new Number One Crush.

I thought I had lucked out, finding a doctor that is taking new patients at a medical clinic very close to me. It is inside a very cool mall with a Vietnamese restaurant, Chinese herbal medicine stores, a big Asian Market, cheap movie theatres, etc. I figured I could make my appointments an all day event!

For my first meet ‘n greet though, it was a morning appointment and I gave myself just over an hour for my return Access ride home. I was dropped off early, at 9:00 a.m. and wandered into the medical clinic. I immediately got a bad feeling… the waiting room was PACKED with at least 30 people and it was a noisy and busy environment. I guess I am used to my quiet doctor’s office because he is the only doctor there, and it’s not also a walk-in clinic! I stood at the reception desk while no one paid any attention to me because they were too busy with ringing phones and gabbing with each other. I finally got a nurse’s attention and said I was a new patient who has an appointment with Dr. V. at 9:30. She said “….Dr. V. is on holidays”. WHAT?! Why did I get an appointment then? She looked on the computer and said they had tried to call me but didn’t have my phone number. That is BS because I distinctly remember giving my name and number when I booked the appointment… that is automatic. She asked if I wanted to see another doctor, but I said I don’t really need to see a doctor, I am looking for a new family doctor, and are there any other ones there accepting new patients? She said “no”. So, by 9:05 I found myself with an hour and a half to waste and the stores didn’t open until 10:00.

I wandered to the food court area, assuming there had to be at least a coffee stand open. To my luck there was, AND they make Seattle’s Best coffee, the BEST coffee around, so I got myself a large cup, settled myself at a table, pulled out my cell phone, and called the only person I knew would be available to chat with that early, AH.

I’ve been talking to AH a lot lately about the Qur’an. I started reading it, and there are a few things that really bother me (especially when it comes to women), so I call AH to discuss it or leave messages in his voice mail such as “so what are they SAYING here?? That women are STUPID and it takes TWO women to do the job of ONE man???!!!??” and then he calms me down and explains what it means in a way that actually makes sense to me (the Qur’an was not meant to be translated, and I think a lot of the messages were lost/misrepresented in translation). Islam is widely misunderstood and although in some ways it has very “old school” attitudes when it comes to women, it does insist on equality for women and gives them many rights. As AH pointed out, before the Qur’an women had no rights. I’m not familiar with any history or other religions enough to know how true that is, but I figure if I keep reading and learning it will all make sense eventually. One thing I have noticed is that this entire book is written to the man reading, with any reference to women usually stated as “your women, your wives” etc. AH says to just keep reading and I will see just how many rights women do have and that it is all fair and will make sense. My best friend from high school just told me she converted to Islam, and she is certainly a strong and independent woman! I have ordered this book that should help me understand it better too. It is the fasted growing religion for a reason, and I just want to learn about it because I have always been quite ignorant on the whole spectrum of religions. Now I want to know and understand them all.

It would help if I had a cast of characters.

Anyway, once the stores opened at 10:00, I went into the Asian market and bought myself a few pieces of sushi!! I am going to try it for the first time in my life. I bought 5 pieces – salmon, spicy salmon, tuna, snapper and crab. This is a pretty gutsy move for someone who is not a seafood fan. However, a lot of people that have similar tastes in other foods as I do really LOVE sushi, so I’ve always wanted to try it. I’ll let you know if I make it through or spit it out.

When I got home, I called my current doctor’s office to tell Sandy I’m not having any luck finding a new doctor yet. She told me about a doctor that is starting a new practice in June and asking for patients to be referred to him. I also made an appointment to see my doctor on the 19th, but Sandy said “bring a book, be prepared to wait… It is crazy here”. She has to copy every single file in the office for us, because the originals need to legally stay with him for seven years. I guess unless we find a doctor before he closes and sign a release? I don’t know. All I know is she said she needs to charge us about $25 for her time. Mine could even be more because I know how thick it is!!! My doctor has never charged us for anything… letters, notes, lengthy forms he fills out… and I know that many others do. So I don’t mind being charged for this. I called the new doctor’s office, and it turns out they have a female doctor at that practice and I can get in to see her even earlier. So May 15th it is. I hope I like her and I hope it all works out!!!

I am going to end up marrying a Muslim Access cab driver. I am quite sure of this, as they seem to be the only men I meet and they ALL LOVE ME.

My mind has been spinning for the past 24 hours, so you’ll have to bear with me during this long entry. If you want. You don’t have to. But I hope you do.

Fascinating evening I had last night. I went to see Lieutenant General Romeo Dallaire speak up at the University. He is a highly decorated war hero who served in Rwanda in 1993 as a UN Force Commander (apparently Nick Nolte’s character in Hotel Rwanda was loosely based on him). He has written a best-selling book, which is also a documentary, and in 2007 is being made into a feature film - “Shake Hands with the Devil: The Failure of Humanity in Rwanda“. I bought the book when I arrived, hoping to meet him at the book signing afterwards, and it’s almost 600 friggin’ pages. Perhaps I will wait for the movie…

Anyway, I also had interesting Access drivers last night so I’ll talk about that first before I get into the Romeo stuff. The driver that took me to the university was a driver I have had a couple times before. He loveslovesloves me, especially my one dimple, and does not hesitate to tell me how beautiful, pretty, sweet etc. I am. He asked how I have been (I haven’t seen him for probably 6 months) and I said I was quite stressed these days with work. He said “pretty girls like you should never be stressed”. Heh. He asked if anyone was yet the proud keeper of my dimple, and I said no, I’m still single, and he siiiiiiighhhhed. Then he started talking about attraction and the “vibe” and what he likes in a woman, and I got a little uncomfortable (the feeling is far from mutual), so I tried to change the subject to talk about who I was going to see. Somehow religion came into it and upon learning he was Muslim (as 90% of the drivers are, it seems), I mentioned that I have a friend who is Muslim (AH) and have been learning bits and pieces about Islam and the culture, and how interesting it is (even if I don’t agree with it all and am not an organized-religion kind of person). He asked me, “has he given you a copy of the Qur’an?”. Hmmm. No, that had never even crossed my mind!

On the way home, I was driven by another Muslim. There was also a young developmentally disabled girl in the back seat he was driving home, and she was very restless and noisy. He told me he had been quoting from the Qur’an to her earlier and it seemed to calm her down, as he pointed to a book. I said “is that the Qur’an?” and he said yes, so I asked to look at it, but he said it is in Arabic. “Do you want to see an English one?” I said “sure, if you’ve got one” and he said “of course, I will give you one when I get you home”. I said “Give? As in GIVE? To keep?” and he said of course. I told him it was funny that I was getting one from him tonight, because I had mentioned to my driver earlier that I have a Muslim friend and he had asked if he has given me a copy of the Qur’an, and now here I am getting one. He said “oh, you have a Muslim friend? Does he pray? Because if he prays, he is an honest man and you can trust him”. I said as far as I know, he told me he attends prayer “when he has time” (which I bet isn’t very often, he’s not the most practicing of Muslims. Obviously, I have certainly been privy to some non-Muslim behaviour coming from him!) He shook his head in a “tsk, tsk” fashion and said “if he only prays when he has time, then he is only honest when he has time”. And I laughed my ass off, because, I tell you, that is probably the most perfect description of AH I have ever heard.

True to his word, when he dropped me off he gave me a copy of an English translated Qur’an and he made sure to put his name and phone number in the front of it as well. So now my reading list is really filling up, as is my list of Access drivers that like me. Not that I actually keep one, but if I did, it would be quite long. If only they all looked like AH!

Anyway, back to Romeo Dallaire. When I arrived at the theatre the line up was a mile long, up the stairs and through the student food court (so I was told… I didn’t actually go up the stairs to look). The lecture was sold out and the theatre accommodates over 1,000 people so you can imagine. And here I was expecting a couple hundred or something! Anyway, I went right to the front of the line and asked if I could sit at one of the spare chairs at the ticket-taking table by the door. No one argues with you when you have a cane and trouble walking, so I was seated right by the doors when they opened and snagged myself an awesome seat inside. Hee. Read the rest of this entry »

2004 Year in Review:

Things I did:

• Made some new wonderful friends that I absolutely adore and appreciate;
• Had a lot of fun at various BillyNotes related gatherings throughout the year;
• Presented my first public speaking gig, to a bunch of high school kids to tell ‘my life story’ and discuss how life often throws us a lot of curve balls and we choose how we react to them;
• Developed a new mentoring type relationship with Eric and got back in touch with John;
• Met Shawna from Winnipeg in person and she came and stayed with me in June, and we had tons of fun;
• Developed a major crush on a client and got over it. Heh
• Started up this journal blog thingy and got totally addicted to writing in it;
• Saw a LOT of live music throughout the year and met a lot of great musicians;
• Including Lindy!!!!!!! Several times!! xoxoxoxoxoxo
• Went to my first house concert (I’m not counting living in a house with, or visiting musician friends, who play in their living rooms regularly! lol);
• The second half of my year was a lot more fun than I ever imagined it could be with the help of Jason and the Polyjesters. Love you guys!!!
• Went to Toronto and had a blast visiting old friends, making new ones and taking in the live music;
• Visited with a lot of people from out of town! Lots of visitors this year;
• Met a few men like every other year, was flirted with, got my hopes up, analyzed their actions and words, etc. and then…
• I GOT IT.
• Bought a plane ticket to Montreal (Emmaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!);
• Gave… time, money, food and toys to a variety of charities and causes… most recently to assist the victims of tsunamis… we have to. You can NOT just sit back and not do something. Every dollar helps (Donate every time you shop at Wal-Mart, that is easy enough to do at the till);
• Went to a lot of lunches, dinners and parties… A LOT.

Things I didn’t do and wish I had:

• Lose weight;
• Listen to my gut all the time;
• Make enough money to buy a holiday home in Russell, New Zealand;
• Find the love of my life;
• Write a book;
• Meet Oprah Winfrey and become her best friend;
• Swim with dolphins;
• Make it onto People Magazine’s ‘50 Most Beautiful People’ list;
• Pay off my credit cards.

So there’s always next year!!

The past few days have been very full and tiring!! I am glad they are over and after getting a few more things done over this evening and tomorrow, I can RELAX and bring in the new year feeling rested and happy!!

Tuesday night we celebrated my brother’s 40th birthday. FORTY!! My mother has a 40 year old!! My mom, Bob and Darren all came over and we ordered Chinese food. There was a “Happy Birthday” banner on the wall that you would see as soon as you walked in, but of course Darren came in the patio doors so he didn’t see it. Mom made him go to the other door and pretend he was just arriving again. We also hung balloons up all over the place that kept falling down because I have that invisible scotch tape that won’t peel paint off walls. It also doesn’t stick very well! And I wasn’t about to wreck my hair rubbing ballons in it to get the static. Nosireee! We gave Darren a gift bag filled with DVDs, an inspirational calendar and magnet, Clodhoppers and other little stuff. Mom gave him a Safeway gift card too. After dinner we had cake and ice cream… mom bought the ice cream a few hours earlier and put it in my freezer, and when we went to get it, it had melted considerably!! Another couple hours and it would have been soup. (A damn good mocha almond soup, but soup, nonetheless). I noticed that everything in my freezer was softening (yet the ice that covers the inside walls wasn’t melting. Hee!) I put a call in to the answering service for my building’s maintenance to send someone over to check it out in the morning. Read the rest of this entry »