The Book Bully

BIG THINGS HAPPENING ON MY BLOG. Firstly, I've finally found a new title and url! About this, I am excited! Both are based from the song "Pure Imagination" from the 1971 film Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory . I've always loved the lines: If you want to view paradise, simply look around and view it Anything you want to, do it. Want to change the world? There's nothing to it.  It reminds us that the world we're living in is  paradise if we let it, and it makes the world seem limitless, empowering us to be creative and think big. What do you think? Also, I've decided I'm going to try and post more pictures. I'm pretty terrible at taking pictures and uploading them. I promise to try and be better. To try and start this trend, here's a picture of the best stew I have ever eaten. I found it at a cafe in Whistler. It was a cold, foggy day, and what tastes better than a chunky, hot stew on a yucky day? Nothing, is right. In other news:

Everyone likes their friends - in theory at least. Everyone thinks that their friends are loyal and fun and smart and interesting. Why else would they spend time with them? I have the best friends, though. I often wonder how it is that I've managed to meet and befriend some of the smartest, funniest, most kind, thoughtful, interesting, clever, and loyal people on the planet. I marvel at the fact that, somehow, we've managed to find enough to talk about after six months, a year, ten years, a lifetime, and we still like each other; that I still laugh obnoxiously at their jokes; that they sometimes laugh at mine; that we've had fights over boys and clothes and secrets told and jobs stolen and inconsiderate comments, but we've made up and patched up. So to my friends, pals, confidants, should've-been-sisters/brothers: Thanks for the hours spent drinking coffee/tea/hot chocolate together. Thanks for words of encouragement. Thanks for the honest criticism. Thanks for

Every New Year, summer, and September I go through what I like to call the "Get Skinny" plan. I attach whatever year to the end of it (I think I first began with "Get Skinny 2008!") and then begin my regimen diet, exercise, and bragging about how I'm going to "get skinny" by the end of whatever arbitrary date I set. But, needless to say, it never works. Get Skinny 2009! was as close as I've ever come to whatever body image I imagine for myself. That was the year I joined Weight Watchers and walked for at least 45 minutes every day. It was a great plan, and I lost weight and gained confidence, and felt really healthy and accomplished and good. I've since fallen off the wagon, gained back most of what I lost, and rarely even make an effort to eat well. Maybe it's because its summer, or maybe my friends have suddenly become more interested in being active than I remember them ever being before, or maybe I'm just more aware of how uncoo

Since I've been home, I've been listening to a lot of CBC Radio One. I listen to it almost exclusively when driving, because a) my clock radio has terrible reception in the basement and I can't listen to it in the apartment, and b) I find the monotone voices and melodramatic conversation that requires a careful ear makes me a much calmer driver. While it may be hard to believe (insert heavy sarcasm), I must admit that I occasionally  have a bit of an anger problem, which most frequently rears its head while driving. Thanks to "Crosstalk," I'm much less apt to fume and wish tickets to befall a fellow motorist who cuts me off or nearly kills me by trying to "make" a green arrow when it's been red for several long seconds. Thanks, CBC Radio One, for making me a better person. I have to think of a new title for my blog, since I am no longer living in a Big City. I like the "Notes from a ..." preface, but I'm having a hard time thinkin