voodoo

january has been a really full month. i've had a lot of meetings to  go to (mostly next stuff), and often times i have more than one commitment an evening - on occassion i've had 3 places to be. but i've gotten through. i'm hopeful that february will be better. later this evening i'm going to marilyn's retirement dinner at minos. i'd originally invited brendan along and thought it would be fun since we didn't have a work christmas party this year and he'd get an opportunity to get to know my colleagues better. but since so many people are coming to the dinner, they're having a set menu and it's going to cost $37!! i'm sure it will be good, but not as good as free work dinners :S needless to say, brendan isn't coming anymore. sometimes when i feel like i have another long evening ahead of me, i get the pleasant reminder that i get to take tomorrow off in lieu of traveling all day saturday. then a long evening of small talk and speeches seems easy and enjoyable.

looking over the things to do in berlin, i got the distinct feeling that i do not have enough time to explore that city. it's unfortunate that i'll be there when it's winter. when i spent a week in montreal with work, i did almost all the top sites, but that was in may.

the power just cutout for a second and i lost half of my entry.

it seems in today's culture, people feel comfortable to complain a lot. long gone are the days when people suffered in silence when presenting a facade that everything is hunky-dory. and while i appreciate that people are being more real, i think openly complaining without balancing out experiences with positivity, leads to a really toxic, unfair environment. at least it does for me. i find that i start emphasizing the negative in greater proportions when surrounded by negative people. i know there's always good to be found when we're ready to see it, so i don't like hearing people complain without speaking to the positive as well. the other evening, david and sue were telling us what a delight it is waking with your firstborn in the night - that it's hard, but also very special. i wish more people spoke that way, because i suspect that d+s are right. maybe they can say that with 20-20 hindsight, considering their firstborn is nearly 40. but i think that's the benefit of having older friends who can help keep perspective on the big picture and remind us that some experiences are fleeting and need to be savored.

hm! maybe it's a good thing that i lost half of my original entry, because that came out much clearer the second time i wrote it.

i am in love,
and it's starting to show.