Previously on Blogger Naut...

Since I don't have much time for blogging and I don't always have much to write about anyway, I've decided to cut 'n' paste the year end reviews I've written for the last few years for a condensed recap of what's happened in my life of late.
Keeping these reviews also helps me remember what happened in what year. It reminds me I should write names and dates on the back of pictures...

Happy New Year! - Cecilia Takes a Look back at 2005

Feliz Navidad! Happy Holidays! Joyeuses Fêtes! and Happy New Year!!

Greetings folks! Here we are at the cusp of a brand new year… In attempting to write this year's round-up of memorable happenings, I realized I'm starting to have difficulty trying to figure out how to start off these reviews in new and exciting ways… So how about we just get started, shall we?

In last year's update, I mentioned I had started working for a podiatrist (foot doctor). This year I got to see first-hand a lot of the stuff I learned about in school, like what happens to a diabetic foot when it has been neglected for too long, and what toenails look like when they haven't been cut in years. Sound a little grodey? Well, except for the sad human element that brings people to this point, the actual functionings or, in some cases, mis-functionings of the human body are absolutely fascinating. People say to me all the time that they are embarrassed by their feet and that theirs must be the ugliest feet I've ever seen, but I always tell them after what I've seen this year, most feet are close to godly.

On top of the day-to-day care of feet in the clinic, I also still do a little reflexology on the side. This year I was encouraged to join a group of reflexologists who together try to increase public awareness about this alternative therapy by participating in many shows and conferences all over the city. Aside from this being a great networking source and opportunity to learn from experienced reflexologists, I'm secretly hoping continued exposure to this bunch will result in some rubbing off of their incredible energy and ambition on little ol' moi.

This world of feet is still kind of new and a little tentative mostly because being part of the corporate world is still so fresh in my mind and quite honestly something I kind of miss from time to time. No more meetings, staff lunches, and internet access au but, not to mention the camaraderie and, well, of course, office gossip. It's hard to know whether the career gamble you've made will be a winner or a crash-and-burner.

But sometimes a sign of hope comes right when you need it most. A friend had suggested I read The Celestine Prophecy because she thought I might connect with its metaphysical theme. Although a lot of it was a little melo-dramy, I did find myself relating to the theory that there are no such things as coincidences, and that life is full of cosmic events leading us to our destiny. I wasn't sure how this was cosmic thingy was happening in my life, but I thought the premise downright titillating in the realm of What Ifs.

I suppose it was kismet that I read this book when I did. One day an old friend called out of the blue to tell me of an available position – an opportunity to re-join the corporate machine! The proposition was deeply enticing since at the time I was feeling a little frustrated and unappreciated at work, and I was tempted to give it a shot, after all it was a chance to go back to where I had once been so happy – hello big money, hello power suits, hello company Christmas parties … It took me a minute but eventually I remembered why I left that world in the first place and it helped me realize that while my new path may seem daunting now, it sure beats being at the beck and call of someone who could quite easily replace and forget you tomorrow. Knowing this, I passed on applying for the position and found renewed courage and faith in the road ahead.

Being newly-focused on continuing my quest, later in the year I took several classes which some might consider on the eccentric side yet were surprisingly stimulating nevertheless. One class was a hands-on course in chair massage (God, I love it when people touch me!), and another was called "Focusing" which is a kind of self-therapy developed at the University of Chicago. The idea for this process came from the fact that not everyone in psychotherapy gets better and some of those who respond best to counselling are those who are able to get in touch with the parts of their body that manifested what they were feeling emotionally. It's hard to describe, but in a nutshell that pain in your back/neck/stomach/etc is your body speaking to you. And when you listen, it can change your life.

For our summer vacation, Charles and I went back to New York City. Eager to try something new, upon first arriving we headed straight to Broadway and plunked down some big cash for tickets to see Glen Gary Glen Ross, starring Alan Alda and Liev Schreiber, and Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, starring John Lithgow. I've heard it said many times but I finally see why people claim there is nothing like watching a bona fide Broadway show. It was unbelievably thrilling to be sitting in the 4th row, literally spitting distance from Alan Alda, and boy did he sprinkle up a storm. Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, a musical, was even more mesmerizing. I think I beamed in sheer delight the whole time. My face was hurting from all my dumbfounded smiling.

Our NYC adventure continued as we also went to see a taping of The Daily Show, saw a gazillion dinosaur bones at the Museum of Natural History just off Central Park, and walked across the Brooklyn Bridge. But perhaps the most moving sight was going to Ground Zero. We hadn't planned on making it part of the itinerary, but once we had crossed the bridge, it was just across the way so why not go see the place where our current global reality was birthed. New York City is a monstrous beast of a city, and walking through the streets you sometimes actually feel like a mouse in a maze of skyscrapers that tower endlessly overhead. Reaching the block where the Twin Towers once stood, we entered a space of stark silence and emptiness. It was unmistakably the "Empty Sky" Bruce Springsteen sang about in his song. To be surrounded by tall buildings right up until you turn the corner and then suddenly - - - nothing. The mere thought that those gigantic structures could have fallen in such a narrow space simply boggles my mind.

Other things I learned this time in New York: their public transit system is completely air-conditioned (yup, the buses and subways); the Kosher food in Brooklyn is to die for!; and on Broadway some theatres hold a lottery before each performance for leftover seats – if you win you can buy those tickets for roughly $20 bucks.

Over the summer we spent many a weekend in Plattsburgh where Charles' mom has a little place. There's nothing like a trailer trashin' it wheres alls we do is eat 'em fried chickens and swim in them there pool. Yee haw! In September we happened to witness some of the festivities surrounding The Battle of Plattsburgh, which by all accounts was a major turning point in the attempted re-appropriation of the U.S. by the British in the war of 1812. Where it not for the strong gust of wind that never came, leaving the British fleet to flounder in Lake Champlain, the American forces would not have been able to regroup in time to ward off further advancement by the Redcoats and so on September 11th, 1814, 14,000 British soldiers were defeated by 5,000 Yankees. As we were discussing the historical significance of this momentous victory with Elaine, the nice lady at the post office, she could not help but thank her lucky stars things turned out the way they did. Knowing they had come this close to becoming British subjects, and surely later on Canadians, was a fate she quite vocally was thrilled to have avoided. After the sting of the unintended and clearly oblivious affront wore off, I realized we both share a comparable gratitude and could only in turn thank my lucky stars that I am not an American.

For me, 2005 has been a year notably marked by a keen new interest in reading. A major reason for this has been The Daily Show which Charles and I record and watch regularly. I have to admit, I haven't been this interested in current events in many years and it's difficult to say if it's specifically Jon Stewart's show that has sparked my interest -- or the continuing abysmal reality of the George W. Bush administration. In any case, Jon Stewart has had many authors as guests on his show, and I have checked out a number of their books on more than one occasion.

The one I enjoyed the most was Assassination Vacation by Sarah Vowell. It is a wacky, weirdly enthralling exploration of the first three presidential assassinations. Vowell, a woman obsessed with death and U.S. history, goes on a pilgrimage of sorts to the sites and monuments that pay homage to Lincoln, Garfield and McKinley, including the Joseph N. Nathanson Collection of Lincolniana at McGill, the most unique and extensive collection of Abraham Lincoln memorabilia north of the U.S. border. The section on the Lincoln assassination was thoroughly fascinating, and I was also particularly impressed when Vowell pointed out the similarities between McKinley's preemptive war against Cuba and the Philippines and the current war in Iraq. Incidentally, Sarah is the voice of Violet from The Incredibles, so if you have the DVD, you can check out the little bit on her and her fascinating book. For an excerpt of Assassination Vacation, click here: http://www.simonsays.com/content/book.cfm?sid=33&pid=505481&agid=2

On the Hit, Miss and What's This? List…
Things that lived up to the hype: 1) Sidney Crosby – man, what a player! 2) Million Dollar Baby – no one knows how to get beat to a pulp in a movie like Hilary Swank; 3) Seeing the look in Brad Pitt's eyes in a scene with Angelina Jolie in Mr. & Mrs. Smith – that's not acting, folks. It's love. 4) The Amazing Race comes to Montreal for the season finale – God, I love that show!!

Things that made me go "Ugh": 1) Most of the new TV shows and Lost - will someone please tell these people to get on with the story already!! 2) Montreal's new computerized parking meters – a faster and easier way for the city to rip people off; 3) The Canadiens; 4) The sad and pathetic world of Canadian politics and their disgusting waste of tax payer money.

Things that came out of no where: 1) Alien vs Predator – I was quite impressed, but probably because I went in with pretty low expectations; 2) The Exorcism of Emily Rose – if you like court room dramas and spooky stuff, this is a pretty damn decent film; 3) the internet – although this remains quite frankly a keystone of my daily existence, it still manages to deliver unexpected gems of classic entertainment, at least for my sense of humour; 4) The wedding of Charles and Camilla – proof that love can survive and win against the odds.

On the concert scene: Duran Duran (finally!!), Bruce Springsteen in Ottawa, Him (a cool group from Finland), and the love of my life – Bryan Adams! Bryan Adams was quite possibly the ultimate score since I have been waiting to see him literally my whole life. Well, at least since I was 14. Of course, this dream come true would never have happened without Charles' impressive talent for wheeling and dealing on eBay. Our tickets were for the 5th row but we ended up running up to the stage where we were just a few feet away from the man himself. Bryan started the show with "Here I Am" and as he sang the words - here I am, this is me, there's no place in this world I'd rather be, here I am, just me and you, tonight we'll make our dreams come true - I started to bawl my eyes out. I must have cried for the entire first three songs, right up until a behemoth of a woman (who looked like that serial killer chick from the movie Monster) nearly ploughed me over to get closer to Bryan so she could give him a rose – she might have had more luck if she had at least washed her hair and put in her front teeth. But oh, what a night to remember. At the end of the show, Bryan said Montreal had a special place in his heart since this was where he first started to make it big and that we are all very lucky to be Canadians and to remember that right at that moment two Canadians were being held hostage by terrorists in Iraq, hoping to stay alive.

Other memorable events of 2005: several friends took a chance on love and won (hooray!); a couple friends and my brother individually did mucho mucho traveling (i.e. a charity mission to Panama, a road trip from Texas to the southern tip of Central America, Polar Bear watching in Churchill Falls, and a journey to Pakistan to help victims of the earthquake); the comic book convention in Toronto – thanks to Charles' instigation, it was the first time I introduced myself as a fellow illustrator and it seems cute chick artists are quite the rare and alluring birds who gets lots of attention :)

Closer to home, Charles completed his internship and obtained his Masters so he is now officially a card carrying Psychologist and I could not be more proud. He and I spent Christmas at the country house with the whole family where we treated everyone to Charles' absolutely amazing lasagna. During dinner, I saw my adorable little 19th month-old niece Sheyla doing the cutest thing with her 'talking' index finger while grunting "Redrum". Aww, isn't she sweetest?

Looking back, it doesn't feel like a lot has happened to me personally event wise so I don't know where all this blah blah came from... But I am so done with 2005 and raring to welcome in 2006.

Thanks to my friends who were there when I turned to you for support - you'll never know how your love and understanding saved me from those blue days.Thanks to my parents (who celebrated their 35th wedding anniversay this year) - you gave me so much while we were growing up and I really appreciate everything you've done for me.And thanks to Charles for bringing new treasures to our life, encouraging me to try new things, and for making me feel beautiful and loved.

So Happy New Year to you all! Wishing you all the best this life has to offer and more...,
Cecilia

2004 - A time to remember

Season's Greetings and Happy New Year!

Alas, 'tis that time once again to reach out and send many heartfelt wishes to my dearest friends and family. For me, the holiday season is always an opportunity to look back over the past year and see how life's challenges, successes and failures, have shaped my on-going existential adventures.

2004 started off with blissful funemployment. My most strenuous daily activities mainly consisted of driving Charles to and from school, and finding new locations to manage my favorite duty: sending e-mail jokes. Following last year’s epiphany to switch careers, I enrolled in 2 courses – Reflexology and an intensive in foot care. Reflexology is an alternative medicine in which pressure is applied to certain parts of the feet in order to promote relaxation and healing elsewhere in the body. The best thing about taking that course was studying with my Mom. It was wonderful to not only see her take the plunge in exploring new interests, but also finding productive things to do during her retirement. Learning a new vocation together was truly an unforgettable experience.

The weekend course was more of a challenge because it was given completely in French. We were a small group, just 8 of us in the class, and to my surprise none spoke any English except me. The teacher was well organized and very encouraging – probably one of the top five teachers I have ever had. Although, I managed to do very well it’s almost too bad I was not in a more conducive atmosphere. One time the girl sitting next to me asked what some of the terminology was in English, which I imagine was for my benefit. The teacher plainly replied she didn’t know and didn’t care; having worked in foot care for the better part of 19 years, she had the luxury of choosing her clientele, which means nothing but French feet for her. It’s hard to know how to joke with someone you really like, but is so openly anti-Anglo. The course was nonetheless extremely rewarding not only because I learned a new skill, but because it was secretly empowering to see this handful of women, each at a different phase in their lives, take a gamble on changing careers while having other responsibilities like children and day jobs. It makes you believe that sometimes it’s true – anything is possible.

For our summer vacation, Charles and I decided to go to Maine. After last year’s Cape Cod triumph, it’s easy to see how anything might pale by comparison but we were up for a new adventure. We were not, however, prepared for cold rainy weather. 2004, by all accounts, was wet worldwide and the weather in Maine was no exception. Our week of camping in Bass Harbor started off with a million hour drive on a 20 miles per hour speed limit road through Vermont and New Hampshire (interstate 2). We managed to set up our tent by the light of the car’s headlights and woke up in a puddle of torrential rain. Thius was the beginning of our vacation which was highlighted overall by a daylong trip to the local laundromat to dry everything we own (sleeping bags included), the picturesque seashore of Mount Desert Island, watching the fog literally roll in (unbelievable!!), gueetar playin’ n’ singin’ tunes by a toasty campfire, going to see Stephen King’s house in Bangor, and the best lobster dinner known to mankind. Nearby Bar Harbor is very nice but crawling with mostly pubescent gangs of giggly girls who call each other on their cell phones ever 2 minutes. Thanks, but I’ll pick rainbow-colored Provincetown over this scenario any day.

In a quest to discover more exciting venues, we drove around quite a bit. One particular day, our exploration of Maine led us to Augusta, the state capital. Well, things weren’t turning out very well since Sunday in those parts is *gasp* the sabbath, ergo nothing is open. Not even the public library. Following a kind stranger’s suggestion we took a half-minute drive east and discovered a little jewel on the Kennebec River named Hallowell. Hallowell is the smallest city in the United States, with just over 2000 people. Charles and I enjoyed an unforgettable day of antiquing and conversing with eccentric Americans, the most memorable of which is a man named Tim Plummer.

In his store of antique toy soldiers and train sets, Tim had a map of North America and promptly stuck a pin in Montreal after we answered his anti-Bush survey. We left the store with a copy of his book of anecdotes of Hallowell and its people. It’s full of stories that make you laugh out loud, like the time Tim put up a “Summer Madness Sale, Everything 50% More” sign… He tells: A lady came in and asked about a table marked $150 what would the sale be now? Without batting an eye I said $225. She looked a little taken aback. I told her to go read the sign again. On the back counter I had a sign that read, “Prizes Given for the Most Stupid Remark of the Month”. A lady looked at the sign, and then asked, What is the prize? I looked back at her in amazement and said, I don’t know yet, but you win. […] Directly across from my shop in the open space there was a federal HUD sign saying something like, working for you, JOBS FOR YOUR COMMUNITY… Over the word JOBS on the sign in the same color script and size I painted the word BLOW (and replaced it in its original position). It stayed there for the rest of the summer. Now that’s our kind of guy! Thanks Tim. You made our day.

Two big things happened in 2004. After I finished my studies, I started working for a podiatrist downtown. It’s been hugely rewarding thus far not only because of the work (you won’t believe some of the feet I have seen!!), but also because of the people I work with. It is a joy to come into work each day because of them. AND – my sister had a baby! Yes, I am an Aunt and I just love little Sheyla so much, I cannot even begin to tell you how beautiful and special she is. The whole family has embraced this little soul who captures our hearts effortlessly. We’re in for big trouble, that’s for sure.

In the world of Charles, production plans for his movie are constantly in stop-and-go mode, not unusual and pretty much expected after years of inching towards the big screen. In January, he was featured on the cover of the Arts & Life section of the Montreal Gazette and is now listed on the IMDB website. In the meantime, he is in the final stretch of his Masters degree and works as a guidance counselor at Lindsay Place High School in Pointe-Claire. Although this particular internship may not have been his first choice, he has truly embraced working with the kids and he has obviously made an impact in the kids’ lives and their attitudes towards counseling. In a field where 98% of counselors are female, seems like having a guy on the team is really what the doctor ordered. Young men need someone they can turn to and feel like they are understood. Charles is that guy for them. And the girls like him too. He’s really something.

Other 2004 highlights: Seeing Sting & Annie Lennox, Nightwish, and Sarah McLachlin in concert; watching American Idol winner Fantasia sing Summertime; the Daily Show with Jon Stewart. 2004 was also the year my first high school friend got married, I took my first yoga class, and my cat died. She was my best friend in the years when I felt no one understood me and I will treasure her memory always.

So here we are, 2005 at last! I have a feeling it is going to be a good one so please take care of yourselves – broken bodies and hearts are already on the mend. Jubilation and peace are just ahead.

2003's Round-up

Season's Greetings! – Last year I was inspired by a friend to write a little blurb on how my year had gone. It was surprisingly therapeutic for me, and it in turn inspired others to do the same. And so, here now is a not-so-little blurb on 2003 in the life of Cecilia.

I started 2003 with anticipation that my maternity-leave contract as an admin assistant would finally yield a permanent job at E&Y after almost 4 years of temping; but it was not to be. The last 9 months of the contract were so completely horrible (largely due to the unexpected discovery that my boss was a Class-A arsehole) that it became bluntly clear that a career as support staff was not for me.

Leaving E&Y in September was very sad because it meant leaving behind all the great friends I had come to know and enjoy working with. I was given a truly fantabulous send-off by my E&Y posse, which included a generous gift certificate to a Spa (sweet!!), and rockin' 5 à 7 that is now ranked #2 on my list of Greatest Drinking Nights of all time.

While in search of my calling, I took some courses in HR and Public Relations earlier on in the year that didn't do much to inspire me. Then in August, it finally happened - I had an epiphany. I spent a weekend with my good friend Shaz and her associate, Wendy, and through talking with them, I started to see a place for myself in their world… the realm of podiatry. From that weekend, I came up with my Master Plan (in a nutshell: a combo of qualified foot care and Reflexology) that will hopefully be the catalyst to leaving the corporate world behind and begin a career where I will eventually become my own boss, make my own schedule, and help people. And no, I don't have a foot fetish. For the first time in almost 10 years, I feel excited about the future.

2003 was also the year I realized a dream - at long last, I went to Cape Cod. Charles put me in charge of planning our trip to Cape Cod (accommodations and activities), telling me this was going to be the ultimate girlfriend vacation where I could do anything and everything I wanted. Plans were also to include my second comic book convention, this one at Madison Square Garden in late June, where I got to see Star Trek's Uhura and Dirk Benedict of A-Team fame!) Our first stop was an overnight stay at his mom's place in Plattsburgh where we indulged in a midnight skinny dip in the pool before setting off for the Big Apple. The highlight of New York City was a magical, long-awaited traipse through Central Park, where we even took a 2-hour nap next to The Pond.

Cape Cod was everything I had imagined and hoped it would be. Since my friend Adrian Piggot from summer camp told me about her vacation to the Cape back when I was 14, I longed to go there. With some travel books and very helpful hints from several co-workers in hand, I decided on a campsite in North Truro, and a schedule that included loads of swimming and tanning, and pinch of whale watching in nearby Provincetown.

Our first visit to Provincetown (which may be considered to be the East Coast's San Francisco - i.e. g a y) we came across a young man playing guitar on a curb who gave Charles some advice on how to obtain a free license to perform in the streets. So the next day we were off to the police station where we successfully acquired said license. Charles, with guitar in hand, searched for an ideal place for us to play/sing --err, you want me to sing?? I wasn't too keen on the singing in public angle so we ended up perched on a beached boat by the pier, performing for a toddler and his dad who knew all the words to Tiny Dancer!

This vacation was indeed spectacular in every sense.
True to Charles' word, I got to do everything I wanted. He even surprised me with a Claddagh ring, putting the "ultimate" in ultimate girlfriend vacation. Of course Charles' favorite story to tell is how on our last day we had planned to get up at the crack of dawn to pack up and zoom homeward bound. My plan included a mini-stop to a lighthouse on the Atlantic coast so we could watch the sunrise… but since getting up early isn't my forté, by the time we got up (which was pretty damn dawn-crackish) the sun was already up and so my mini detour was cancelled.
With a pout and a whine that, according to Charles expressed "we never get to do what I want to do", I protested, claiming I didn't get up this early to not go see the sun rise. I realized I was being a tad unreasonable when Charles pointed to the sky and said "Cecilia, the sun is up". Barring this minor cloud on our supreme adventure, we truly had an unforgettable time.

Other 2003 highlights included going to see Bruce Springsteen at the Bell Centre in April; learning that Charles' script was finally accepted and will be made into a film sometime next year; and being asked to return to E&Y in October to work for a big-cheese partner when his AA broke her leg (ohmigosh - he asked for me by name!). Working for him was a joy. It helped resolve my feelings of inadequacy as an admin, as well as disperse any doubts about my new path.

Friendships have once again been the shining light of the year. Those who have moved away or passed on are never forgotten; they are treasured in my heart always. They help me appreciate the ones who are still here, the ones who enrich my life ever so subtly every day.

All in all it was a year of many pivotal ups and downs. Here's hoping 2004 is just as rewarding.

My most sincere best wishes to you and yours. Happy Holidays!
Cecilia

The one that started it all

2002 – Cecilia’s year in review

OK, so I have never done this before. By “this” I mean a general e-mail/letter that goes out to all my friends at the end of the year so you know what I’ve been up to. I thought it might be nice to give it a try, maybe rekindle contact with those I haven’t heard from in a while (you know who you are)… not that I have that much to report but anyway, here goes... BTW, I am secretly hoping this will inspire you to give it a go yourself and let me know how you are doing, especially if we have lost touch. If I speak to or see you on a regular basis, especially you Stef, it’s definitely time we go for a beer.

2002 started off in a big way. My dad, who was working on contract in Africa until last week, invited me and my brother to fly down with him and my mom to visit some of the sights of South Africa. I was only there for 2 weeks, but OH-my-God, it was truly a trip of a life time. We mostly stayed at my dad’s place in Jo’burg (Johannesburg) and the many many lovely shopping malls of the surrounding area, but we also managed to magically whisk ourselves away to Pretoria, Pilanesburg, Sun City, and to Victoria Falls. Some of the highlights of the trip – I won some money at the Sun City Casino (4 or 6 hundred Rand which equals roughly 40 bucks, I think), seeing many animals in dah wild (even elephants and baboons walking on the side of the road), holding a lion cub (pee-u), white water rafting at Victoria Falls (the highlight of this highlight was not drowning when I fell out of the raft and actually making it out of the 300 foot gorge for our ride home), seeing African performers dance and sing in a traditional African style, and of course the many many lovely shopping malls and African arts and crafts. OK, so it was hard coming back to the winter and work, and I didn’t even have an amazing tan to show off (Africa is too hot for any kind of tanning, BELIEVE me).

The rest of the year was mild in comparison. I went to Philadelphia in May for a comic book convention ( yes, because of Charles) where I met, among many many comic book artists and writers I never heard of before in my life, Lou Ferrigno a.k.a. the Incredible Hulk, and Kevin Smith, famed writer and director of such flicks as Dogma, Clerks, and the classic Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back. Truth be told, I had a great time even though me feet were pulsating puddles of raw flesh by the end of the day. I hope we go again in 2003!

Wow, this e-mail is getting pretty long… ok, what else happened… my sister and Jorge got re-married when my dad was in town, this time with a lovely church ceremony with a small group of guests. And my brother got accepted into Photography at Dawson, I was so happy and proud! Some of the work he has done this year has really impressed me. Ah, to be young again…

In the “work” department a lot of things happened. I became really good friends with a couple of peeps at work, some of whom eventually warmed up to my daily onslaught of shenanigans… like getting the window washers to deliver a message to someone on the 24th floor, and sending/receiving edible treats in internal mail (doughnuts), or the now famous SuperJuice for Super Gals a.k.a. V8 --complete with personalized instructions. Sadly, many a friend has left the firm for greener pastures. One even took off for Boston to study his PhD at MIT in Philosophy. I didn’t even know MIT had a philosophy department. As for me, well, after a couple years of working as a temp at Ernst & Young and getting involved in as many committees as possible (can you say lunch meeting?), I scored a year contract replacing an admin assistant who is on maternity leave until September 2003 and so far I love this job. I don’t see how I will be able to do any replacing after this. It’s time to be an executive, I say.

I took a couple of classes throughout the year, but nothing to write home about. My new plan is to take yoga or at least concentrate on going to the gym regularly, which I know I have said a million times but now that I have Charles who goads me on every day, how can I possibly say no after all the complaining about having to buy a new wardrobe because nothing fits. *Sigh* Charles, as always, has been a rock and an inspiration throughout it all and I thank my lucky stars everyday that he is in my life. Plus he tortures me with tickle-a-thons and is constantly trying to stick his finger in my belly button, which I profess I can’t stand, but secretly relish… still, me think he knows.

Indeed the saddest day of the year was learning that my good friend Mitchell passed away suddenly and totally unexpectedly in May. Ironically, the loss itself has been the seed for new friendships (it’s how I met Maureen and became reacquainted with some old friends, Dee and Peter) as well as a reminder that any day things might suddenly change and I might not get to say the things I wanted say… Corny, I know, but if there is one thing you could always count on Mitchell for, it was his dedication and affinity for cultivating and maintaining friendships around the world and, in the end, there is nothing corny about that. And so it is with Mitchell in mind that I say to you here and now that if you have received this e-mail from me, it is because I truly value your friendship and all that we have experienced together… I just wanted you to know that.

Keep in touch.

Wishing you luck and love in 2003… in whatever form makes you the happiest.

C