Fall - A New Year

I know New Years Eve is typically the time for resolutions.  It is the mark of a new year and all.  But I feel like September is actually more of a fresh start in a lot of ways than January.

In January, we've just come off some time off for Christmas and New Years.  It's generally pretty crazy through December with parties to go to, shopping to do, people to see.  For a lot of companies, it's year end that comes with a push to get last sales in (particularly if you're behind at the end of Q3).  It doesn't really feel to me like it's the start of something new, it's more the end of craziness.  Winter sports  continue on through to spring, the weather isn't changing all that much.  Maybe more snow, but December is pretty cold here.

As fall arrives, it's a real shift.  I don't have kids, but the start of school impacts my commute and changes traffic patterns.  At work, fewer people are on vacation so you aren't perpetually waiting for someone to return to make a decision.  It is the end of summer hours for a lot of companies so Fridays go back to a full day of normal.  Winter sports start up, new routines exist.  As the weather shifts to cooler nights, you can just feel the change happening all around you.

With my birthday being September 2nd, it's also a time I find myself a bit reflective I suppose.  It's another year gone by and I find myself thinking of what's happened in that year and what I thought might happen in that year.  That second half?  I really should not follow that line of thought, better to look forward. 

I've caught myself crying driving to work a few times in the past two weeks.  It feels out of the blue, like I don't know why I am crying, some song lyric just turns into tears.  And there is misplaced anger.  For example, there is construction on the highway entrance I generally use on Tuesdays and Wednesdays and last week it was closed leaving people to find another route.  I was ready to extend a middle finger to someone turning around who was ignoring my right of way.  I mean, it was stupid, but that stuff usually makes me shake my head, not yelling at them from my car and feeling such... hostility.  I spend too much time driving to be upset by bad drivers.  I suspect something is rattling around in my head and heart and coming out in weird places.

In our house, bowling starts tonight.  I am looking forward to it.  It will be nice to see people, bowling is a very social activity.  I am not very good (really and truly) so I am certainly not there to only throw strikes.  Hopefully my friend from aquatics can join our league, last I heard she was still firming up her kids schedule but it was looking promising.  Mr. Lina is getting a last round of golf in tonight, curling starts up for him soon.

This fall will be primarily about Mr. Lina and his movies. 

• Las Vegas - Polly Grind Festival - Canadian Thanksgiving - Oct 5-7 - might go depending on flights and the timing of it airing
• Atlanta Horror Film Festival - Sept 28-30, I don't think we're going.
• Montreal - Saturday afternoon, we're all set and ready!
• Boston - Killer Film Fest - November 1-3 - quite likely we'll go
• New Orleans Film Festival - airing Saturday October 13 - we won't go
• Other Venice Film Festival - Oct 11-14 - won't go
• Brantford Film Festival - Nov 1-3 - same dates as Boston
• September 22nd - day of filming for the next movie, I'm going to be helping out with food etc.

We were pretty excited to go to New Orleans, but they are airing it on the Saturday and it conflicts with the OCFF conference we've already paid for.  We found that out at about the same time as they got the acceptance to Boston so now we're switching gears to go there.  Neither of us have been to Boston so it's a good reason to visit a new place.  Google says it's a 9 hour and 20 min drive so we'll probably just tack on a day at either end and drive down.  Hmm, driving means no weight restrictions... 

House concerts are also starting up.  We'll be hosting David Ross Macdonald (drummer for The Waifs) again on September 26th.  We hosted David in May 2011.  He played oh, two days after arriving from Australia and he was a trooper through jet lag.  He is such a lovely person so it will be nice to have him stay the night again.  Well, and perform.  I suppose the first time we hosted him, it was the music I was keen to share because it is what I knew.  Now, I can't wait to hear him live again, see who comes for the repeat viewing, but it's going to be like seeing a good friend for the night. 

Again, I have not been sewing.  Part of what is holding me back is clutter.  With the birthday party and a friend of David's will be staying with us next week, my house is cleaner than it's been in a long while - at the expense of my sewing room.  Things have just been put there as a place to put it.  I really should find the push to clean it out (again).  The blanket for my niece needs the last two rows of shell stitch put on but it's going to be "thinking crocheting" to get that started, not the mindless repetition that is good while watching television.  It is another "should" at the moment.  In the summer, I'm not overly keen on being in my sewing room because it's just too hot.  It's not fun.  I want to see the return of fall as a return to the sewing room.  I'm not sure when I'll get to it with the trip to Montreal looming and a guest all next week, but the pull is returning.  The need for clothing will be an added push.

Yesterday was our first step up on the Couch to 5k program.  It wasn't so bad.  My legs don't hurt.  I wasn't having problems breathing.  Week two changes from 60 seconds of running/90 seconds of walking 6 times to 90 seconds of running/two minutes of walking 4 times.  We ended up covering about the same distance in about the same time.  I think the repetitions were harder than just pushing on the extra 30 seconds.  And on the big plus side in my books, one night last week after running, Mr. Lina said to me that he was feeling really relaxed.  I am not so worried about the specific weight lost as I am about his blood pressure coming down.  Hearing him say he's feeling more relaxed already has to be good for his blood pressure.

Speaking of weight, I mentioned he has a contest going on at work.  Week one is over and the leader at the moment lost 9lbs in a week.  Mr. Lina is not the leader because he's in this for the long haul.  Apparently one of his coworkers flat out didn't eat lunch yesterday and the guy in second ate carrots.  Men are crazy.  Meanwhile Mr. Lina went to work with a sandwich, nectarine, and Greek yogurt.  The sandwich wasn't as light as it could be, but it was better than the restaurant food he was generally eating for lunch.  Success by one metric does not always mean real success in the big picture.

I'll leave you with a little bit of David Ross Macdonald.  15 days until I hear it live in my basement...