The cheating gene

At least two cousins are getting married this year. And one getting a divorce. Sadly, it won't be the first one in the family. On that, I would like to reconfirm my belief in karma.

Here's the story. My cousin will be divorcing her husband because he cheated on her. Apparently he had been fooling around with this other woman and one day he suggested that she... move in with them. Sinting kan?

This evening, while I was mindlessly mashing ginger and garlic in the kitchen to cook my tofu, my mind flew to her and her family, specifically her mother, my aunt.

My aunt, at the time no doubt a feisty young woman, was a Chinese language teacher. She gave private lessons to rich people's kids in their homes. What followed was a classic soap opera storyline. She fell in love with one of her students' father, who also fell in love with her. He divorced his wife and married my aunt. The ex-wife allegedly committed suicide and one of the man's children became mentally unstable. Crazy, isn't it? My aunt, a homewrecker.

And now, a similar storyline seems to befall her own daughter. I wonder if she and her husband are now saying to themselves, "Gee, this looks familiar."

More time for myself

I recently approached my department head at work and asked, "Can I work just four days a week?" Thanks to the economic slowdown (yes, there's always something to thank for!), she said yes. So starting the second week of February, I have been a persona non grata in the office on Wednesdays. Of course, that means forgoing four or three days' worth of wages each month, but I can't help to think that it's a sweet deal. Work for two days, break, work for another two days, then break again. I originally intended this arrangement so I can have more time to practice writing and basically launch myself into a freelance writer. Credits to Malcolm Gladwell and his concept of the 10,000 hour rule.

But last Wednesday afternoon, as I was walking on Sherbrooke Street without a very defined destination, I realized how else those free Wednesdays benefit me. They keep me sane and unjaded from the debilitating routine of having a full-time job, living in a comfortable home and being in a steady relationship.

Those three things, I have realized, make me feel like I'm being nursed in a mental hospital, if I may use that rather dramatic illustration. You live in an environment where your needs are attended to and where you are kept safe from harm, but slowly and unknowingly, you start to lose yourself in your own comfort zone. You forget what else is out there and you've become too lazy to get up and find out.

I'm not saying I don't want my job. I'm not saying my home is a shit hole. I'm not saying I don't love my boyfriend. In fact, it's the total opposite. They could be my downfall because they make me comfortable.

Isn't it funny, absurd even, that I'm saying all this? When a lot of people out there are homeless, starving and heartbroken. Maybe it's just me, maybe it's human nature. We just can't help but fuck things up for ourselves.

I think I had a good weekend

Finally, I did it. I sent my very first query letter, proposing an article idea to the arts & life editor of the Montreal Gazette. I worked on that letter for the whole weekend. It was not unlike writing a cover letter to apply for a job. It is a job afterall.

They say that most query letters go unanswered and the key is just to keep trying, trying and trying. So I will!

Of course, I didn't spend the whole weekend tweaking that letter. On Saturday I went to this ceramic studio cafe with Perrine and we spent no less than four hours there. I think I've found a new favourite hang out place in this city. It is a combined cafe and place where you can paint ceramics. If it sounds boring, wait til you see the collection of ceramic objects to choose from. There were more than just mugs, plates and bowls. The massive variety takes up the entire second floor of the cafe. I chose to paint a teapot for my recently acquired habit of drinking green tea. In keeping with the theme, I painted green turtles on it. It won't be until the coming Saturday when I can see take home the result, though. My teapot is currently being 'baked' in the oven along with Perrine's blue salamander mug.

I spent a quiet Sunday staying at home until around 4pm when my mood started to deteriorate and I just had to get out of the house. That's my body's normal reaction when kept inside for too long and too long means more than half a day. Also, the bad mood could have something to do with my failed cooking attempt at lunch. The menu I had in mind was chicken with carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, mushrooms with creamy mushrooms sauce on couscous. This is how the events unfolded: first I burned the mushroom sauce, then I burned the couscous and in the frantic scene that followed, I forgot that I had carrots frying madly behind me. I turned around and voila, the carrots had turned black too. It was probably my worst culinary failure. What kind of idiot burns sauce? In the end I made do with some 'saved' carrots, chicken and cauliflower (the broccoli turned out to have kinda yellowed in the fridge...), flavoured with Lee Kum Kee's black pepper sauce. By this stage, I was no longer hungry and just wanted to bury my head in the pillow and cry!

Later on we went out for a walk at Parc Lafontaine and I was glad we did because there were lots and lots and lots of doggies to look at! There was a baby Rottweiler who chose to follow me into the icy surface of the park and the poor thing, not knowing what lay ahead, jumped in and slipped! I think that scene brightened my mood instantly.