Growing up in Peterborough in the 70s and 80s was not a hotspot of unusual cuisine, neither with my mom and dad’s palate nor with restaurants. Very much a meat and potatoes world, which I am not knocking by the way. Just that I didn’t really have much exposure to anything “different”.
During university, I had Chinese food and LOVED it. I can remember going to Spadina in Toronto and picking almost any restaurant for great food at cheap prices. Later in Ottawa, I was willing to try just about anything. I suspect the most exotic thing I’ve eaten is likely fish eyeball soup while in the Philippines (at a Chinese restaurant doing the whole Peking Duck option).
But somewhere around 1994, a friend introduced me to Lone Star on Baseline. I wasn’t expecting anything special, and the description and appearance of their fajitas was pretty straightforward. Flour tortillas i.e., a bun, some strips of steak aka beef, and some grilled onions and bell peppers or toppings. It seemed like the same ingredients from a burger, honestly.
Until I had one. The flavour and texture is one of my favorite meals. My mother made awesome roasts of pork. Amazing pork tenderloin. My favorite pie (pumpkin) and cookies, sure. But nothing that was like the simple fajitas. I remember thinking it was supposedly Mexican food when I first tried it (no, I didn’t know any better, it was advertised as Tex-Mex hybrid), but it is so not, obviously.
It is not particularly ethnic, or different, or well, anything special. But the fajitas at Lone Star are the best I’ve ever had. We don’t over-indulge too often, keeping it as a bit of a treat, but a friend once pointed out that I seemed to always suggest Lone Star for outings or birthday dinners, if only to garner a ride somewhere I couldn’t get to easily on my own without a car.
But apples don’t always fall far from their trees, nor has Jacob. On Saturday night, we gave him the option for a “special” symbolic dinner to mark the occasion of his first month of being back at school being complete. With a ton of changes for him. New school. New grade. Newly back in person. New city bus to take. New to wearing masks all day. Newly not wearing his AFOs (not all positive). New to being in a portable. It is a LOT of change. And he’s done pretty dang well, all things considered.
I want him to take pride in that adjustment. It was big and he handled it well. I, myself, fear the same level of adjustment if/when we have to return to work. But this wasn’t about me, this was about him.
And when I gave him the choice of “where” for dinner? He wanted fajitas from Lone Star. I love the fact that he likes it too, not that he wants to go there with us, or willing to go, but that he likes it enough to choose it all on his own.
Heck, we’ve even cracked the ordering code with them to get our order “right” for us. We don’t like the queso, don’t eat the rice or beans, and so I ask them for extra shells and chips & salsa. Which they willingly provide. More of what we love, less of what we don’t.
It seems odd to think of as a haircut as a source of joy. I’m not talking wanting a different look, or someone getting their hair done for a wedding, or anything fancy.
Our story for haircuts during the pandemic looks a lot like many people’s story. Early on, we ordered a home clipper set, Andrea found some videos, and we decided to cut Jacob’s hair. She did a good try for both Jacob and I, not bad for the first time, if a little stressful with her constantly saying, “Oh crap” or “Ugh” as she worked away on my head.
The next round, I did Jacob’s while Andrea supervised. Then Andrea did mine, with less swearing by her.
Another round came, and I did my own for the most part and then Andrea fixed it up, and I did Jacob’s. Similarly for the last round. I think there have been four rounds in total, might have been five, hard to remember.
Overall? They turned out fine. Jacob’s were eminently viable, as were mine, and nobody pointed at us in public when we went outside, so we’ll take that as being as good as an endorsement.
But some time ago, I started thinking about a “pandemic” dashboard indicating how I’m doing at re-opening my life, our lives within our bubble of 3. When I asked Jacob what he wanted, a couple of things popped up. He wanted to eat in a restaurant again, which we’ve done. He wanted to go play mini-golf, although I’m not sure they were really closed that much, but he felt that was something that represented being “open” again.
And he wanted to get a real haircut. Back in June, we were just about to pull the trigger on it, and we chickened out. Partly for timing, partly for safety, we just did another round at home.
But this time? He wanted a real haircut. Truth be told, I don’t really care about it for myself. I’d be perfectly fine just continuing to do the same thing for me. Both of us have really simple cuts, so nothing terrible can happen.
Yet the difference is obvious. His crown is right, no extra hairs left on the back of his neck that I have to touch up later. The bangs that hang over the front of his head look “right”. Way better than anything Andrea or I ever accomplished.
We had made an appointment for first thing this morning, went in at 9:00 a.m., did his and mine, and made our escape. Easy peasy lemon squeezy, done in about 45 minutes.
And it did give me joy to see him “back to normal” so to speak. Sure, there’s no place to sit and wait. Sure, we had to have appointments. Sure, we had to wear masks. But it was all good.
So I’ll add it to the #MoreJoy column for the month.
So Thursday was the last day of my blogging about a month of “nudging” myself to make more organized decisions that improve my life. A good portion of them were about workouts or my website, or making my life a bit easier for something simple (like paying someone to assemble the BowFlex). I will still do a summary of them at some point.
But I liked the premise of focusing on one thing for a month. Something that might nudge me in other areas. Except instead of three things in a day, I only want to do one. Something significant or insignificant, doesn’t matter, it just had to improve my life. And I’m embarrassed to say, my source of inspiration is cheesy.
I watch the TV show New Amsterdam about the caring medical director whose motto with his staff is, “How can I help?”. It is not great art, it is not amazing writing, sometimes it’s not even great acting. But it’s message is usually positive if simplistic, and I watch it. The first EP of the new year is about Max, the main character, trying to find ways to improve his life and his temporary new motto is “more joy”. He wants more joy in his life. And because it is TV, that translates to finding a new love, blah blah blah.
But I’ve been struggling to find a term for something I wanted to write about. It’s not gratitude for something in my life. It’s not counting my blessings. It’s not about a decision that improves my life. It is, in fact, just wanting a bit more joy in my life. Some of them are going to seem really really silly as something that gives me joy. Maybe a simple app, for instance. But I didn’t know what to call the series until I watched the EP. More joy. I like the idea.
I, too, want to find more joy in my life. To take pleasure in simple things without judging myself for enjoying them.
Tonight, Andrea and I watched a pre-recorded “livestream” from September of the NAC Orchestra performing. We used to go in person for the Pops series, and that’s pretty much still shot, but they had sent out a promo newsletter and they showed an upcoming show. As it turned out, Andrea was out of town for the nigth of the show or we would have watched it live, but the ticket allowed us unlimited rewind watching too. Which allowed us to timeshift it to tonight while Jacob was doing an epic quest in Minecraft with his friends. There were five pieces played by the Orchestra, and it seemed like a double bonus event.
But before I talk about the pieces, let me say that everything that should have conspired against enjoyment was present. First, it’s a recording, basically, not the live show. Secondly, we are watching it at home, not a big sound stage. Third, we’re watching it on an internet feed. And fourth, we were doing it through a simple laptop. Should have been poor sound, right? Wrong. It was crystal clear. Like if a pin had dropped on the stage, we could have told you which side it came from. The recording was incredible, the sound amazing.
So, first on the playbill for the night was Beethoven’s Fifth (in C minor, Op. 67, for those who know about these things). Probably the most accessible classical symphony, and one of the most well-known for its beginning movement. The second and third movements are not as well-known, but there are segments that are sublime. I saw it way back in the 90s for the first time, and a number of years ago live in concert with the NAC, and tonight was the third time. Each time, I am reminded of the reviews at the time it first debuted by Beethoven. Some contemporaries were so affected by the piece they thought it was almost dangerous and such music so moving that it should never be performed. Each time I hear it, I hear a different part and get lost. It truly is one of the things that I think everyone should experience once in their life, even if just the first movement.
After that, the night moved to a violin focus which is the “double bonus” since Andrea and I also like violins. The NAC’s artist-in-residence, James Ehnes, was performing and started with the second piece of the night, Camille Saint-Saëns’ “Introduction and Rondo capriccioso in A Minor for Violin and Orchestra, Op. 28”. There was an interview with Ehnes beforehand, and he kept referring to the “virtuosity” of the piece. While normally I would think of that as “great skill”, he was referring more to the range of the piece. If there is a note on the violin, the piece required it. It was astounding. I don’t think I’ve heard such range ever before.
After that, James moved on to Lili Boulanger’s “Nocturne for Violin and Orchestra, arranged by Sarah Slean”. An interview beforehand also described how it was a challenge to arrange since the original was meant for violin and piano, not the instruments of an orchestra. It was interesting to hear her approach to arrangement, but while the piece was interesting and technically impressive, I didn’t feel as much for that one. At one point, it DID feel like I was strolling along an Italian river listening to someone play.
The fourth piece of the night was Jessie Montgomery’s “Strum”, which combines a range of elements of the violin and strings, with some parts of the orchestra strumming while others are using their bow, for an interesting sound. But I expected a bit more from it. Good, certainly, but it didn’t blow me away.
Finally, they ended with Pablo de Sarasate’s “Zigeunerweisen (Gypsy Airs) for Violin and Orchestra, Op 20”. While it didn’t have the “virtuosity” of the first piece, it definitely brought the air of the nomadic life of the Roma, or at least as the music is often portrayed in movies or TV.
Like I said, “More joy”. It was highly enjoyable, and as Andrea said, we didn’t even have to worry about parking. And you know what? It was only $15 too. Normally our tickets and parking set me back close to $150-$200 for a night.
If I can spend $15 for that much joy, sign me up anytime.
(While not the NAC show, I’m including some links below if you want to hear/see versions of the above.)
Note this is definitely not the version we saw, as this is for piano, and we saw a new arrangement for full orchestra.
Today is the last day of my nudging blogging and I’m only going to talk about one thing today, instead of the usual three. Because it was surprisingly all-encompassing for my day.
As today is the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation and I’m a federal public servant, we were off work. A time for quiet reflection perhaps, a bit of reading on the issues.
And in my case, to focus a bit selfishly on me. I’ve been working on body transformation in the last two weeks, or more accurately, setting myself up physically or organizationally for a long-term body transformation project. It has generally been going well over the last 2+ weeks since I had the BowFlex assembled, I would say.
But today was about something bigger. I’m at the end of the month, and I’ve been planning on a monthly check-in to see how I’m doing, where I’m going. Yet I struggled with a bunch of issues today, and it may sound nigh on to impossible, but the organizing of my “monthly update” took me most of the day. Which is impressive since I had already started it LAST night before I went to bed.
I’ve written the full blog about it, but it was a full day of work to get it done. Emotionally, physically, intellectually. I’m happy with it, but it was way more work than I expected. It’s HERE if you want to read about it.
I’ll do a summary of the month of nudging a bit later, and I start my new theme tomorrow.
29.1 was some simple liaison work for, well, work. Connecting people as sort of a networking thing. Maybe it works out, maybe it doesn’t. But seems promising so far. Not part of my day job so to speak, just a bit of extra simple networking.
29.2 was attempting something new for lunch. I’m not very creative with lunchtime options, and since J went back to school, I’ve felt very uninspired, often even skipping lunch entirely or eating late. Today, I tried a Supperworks frozen meal — freshly prepared, frozen, and nukable. It was a turkey meal, with some turkey, bit of stuffing, peas and corn, and then the surprise. It had mashed potatoes but with sweet potatoes, not regular. I may not fully hate sweet potatoes, but I’m not a fan. Blech. Except, not blech. It had some sort of maple crumble mixed in with it, and with kernels of corn mixed in, it was awesome. Forget the rest of the meal, I’d take that as a side all on its own.
28.3 was a full workout. I’ve been feeling a bit down, extra headachy over the last week (most likely allergies), and I’ve not been hitting the workout as much as I wanted. Certainly no EXTRA ones, that’s for sure. Well, today I tweaked the stretching routine fully with the new exercises, tested them all, tweaked the set again and then printed the new poster. After that, it was time for my full body workout, minus two leg exercises that I’ve replaced with extra stretching for now. Anyway, the workout went really well, and some of the exercises were too light for me. I’ll need to up the weight in October, but for now, I’ll focus on increasing reps and sets.
