Just the Facts

OK, I get it, you like the pictures and the anecdotes, but not the philosophical ruminations. That's fine, but unfortunately I don't have much to relate about what's been going on outside my head this week, as it's mostly been work, work, work, and plenty of it. We're trying to win a new huge account at the agency, and keep up with the work from the old ones while the folks in charge fly around to various meetings and two of the designers take their vacations. Highly hectic and disorganized.

We didn't end up watching the fifth Marx Brothers movie, Duck Soup, as we've seen it many times and just weren't in the mood after revealing the funniest scene on the blog. I guess it just seemed like "one snoop-a too much," so we took the box set back and got something else instead. That's a common occurrence these days that, when you think about it, ... Oh no, I'm not going down that unpopular alley. Nice try, but you're not gonna get me that easily.

Maybe I should tell you about what's been going on with Ali instead. She's been taking some pictures of the semi-spring around town and planning out a photo shoot which she'll be doing herself for the government. She recently had a tooth pulled by the crappy student dentists that she goes to, even though we have dental coverage through my work. Last year they did a full root canal to save that same tooth, but I guess it didn't work because one morning over brunch it started just crumbling apart. So now there's a big space at the back of Ali's jaw. That's not necessarily a problem, but the dentistry students said the upper tooth in that spot might start growing down to fill the space. They can put in a porcelain implant, but it costs $3,000 and is considered cosmetic, i.e. not covered by my insurance. There is a much cheaper option, but it involves a Chiclet and a rubber band. So it looks like extra long molar is the way we're going to go.

One thing Alison and I did together, just yesterday, was play some tennis with our friend Meg. The weather here has been on and off springlike so we have to take advantage of it when we can. But things are starting to look pretty green and there are tweeting birds and all that sort of thing. The tennis was lots of fun, even though we all stunk at it. I took on the two goils. There were a lot of balls hit into other people's courts and it was kind of exhausting, plus I got a huge blister on my right foot. It was worth it though. We'll go again and maybe get Johanna involved once she gets some sneakers, or "runners," as they say in Ontario.

And speaking of tennis, it's one of the motifs in this fantastic movie we watched over at Krista's last night with speaking-of-Johanna. It's called The Squid and the Whale. You've probably heard of it; I think it got quite a bit of hype for an indie film. It's a great story about a small dysfunctional literary family in Brooklyn in the eighties, full of my favourite kind of characters — profoundly flawed. The title is a heavy-handed metaphor, but otherwise the film is subtle and naturalistic, full of humour and pathos and warmth. Like a less fantastic The Royal Tenenbaums. In fact, Wes Anderson was one of the producers. Solid acting, too. Check it out, yo.

That's it from me. I'm off to a practice of the ball that is soft now. Maybe some people will actually show up this week. The season starts next Sunday. Hooray for recreational baseball!

- Andrew