Firings, Hirings, and Swedish Cinnamon Buns

Today was an interesting day, sprinkled liberally with highs and lows, iced lightly with goodness.

It started off with a quick trip to The Magazine. Knowing that I had free time in the morning, I contacted the e-i-c a few weeks ago to say that I might drop by. She said that she would be glad to see me. When I drove off in the morning, I was excited to be going to see the editorial department.

When I got there, I found out that not only was the e-i-c not there (strange, I had told her in advance that I was going to be there...maybe she forgot...my fault for not emailing a reminder), but few people I knew were there. In fact, the second-in-command editor was "no longer with the magazine". One person from the editorial department was in, and she told me more about this "shocking news". Then another editor showed up, and told me more. The firing was abrupt, surprising, and most probably demeaning. Poor Susan had been escorted out of the building, clutching her Chicago Manual of Style and CanOx dictionary for comfort.

This was the second firing of the week of people who I respect and admire (and consider far more skilled than me...yikes!). I saw Xine (the other poor unfortunate soul) mid-day when we met at school to inspire/frighten the up-and-comers for their portfolio show. We were asked to flaunt and explain ourselves. Somewhat stupidly, the instructor asked us to be candid about the portfolio show. After checking that he did indeed want us to be candid, we spilled the truth: Nobody gets a job from the portfolio show. It's just a love-in for friends and family. We told the newbies that we spent too much time and money on these impractical portfolios, and that we won't be using them for job applications. After dispelling more wisdom (ie we wasted far too much time and money on something that we won't be using again) and shattering the myths (ie it's not about getting jobs), we had duly crushed their spirits and frightened them into silence. The questions ended. The Vignator vacated, and we stood around and talked. At that time, I found out that one of this year's interns had been hired full-time by The Magazine. She assured me that that was completely unrelated to Susan's firing. Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight.

In-between these two events, I managed to slip in a quick visit to IKEA. I bought a cheap pillow, a plastic desk pad, and cinnamon buns. The guy in line in front of me was buying a light bulb; the people in line behind me were buying many unnecessarily big plastic packages of screws. IKEA may be Swedish for common sense, but I don't think that it's Swedish for "green" (although if you mix blue and yellow, you get green...but I digress).

At the end of the day, I had heard both good and bad news, seen people I had missed, missed some people I had wanted to see, and had made another installment in Pillowquest 2008:The Search for the Perfect Pillow.

Chocolate

I thought that I had today's entry all figured out. Then I talked to my parents, and that all changed.

Yes, today is Valentine's Day, the most Hallmark-y, chocolate-y, flowery day of them all (except for Mother's Day, and Easter...never mind). I was going to write about the fateful day a few years ago when I had a chocolate eating contest with a classmate, and I ended up on the floor of a Vietnamese restaurant, writing in pain with a headache and stomach. The inevitable puking helped only a bit. I haven't been for Vietnamese food since.

However, instead, I'll write about the most romantic gesture my dad has attempted in years. He stopped trying because it didn't matter what he did, it wasn't right. So he gave up. But this year, he stuck his neck out, and bought chocolates, which is so symbolic.

There was only one problem. He bought these chocolates while he was doing some errands. He went to a proper store (Purdy's). But he also stopped off somewhere else while he was out.

He came home with chocolates and a new toilet seat.

Now that's love.

Anniversary

It is time for my yearly posting in memory of my sister. This time, in light of the harshly critical emails I've been receiving from one particularly friend (who is incredibly sympathetic for my sister's husband, and who also thinks that I really need to go into counselling), I've decided to do the "healthy" thing and post a photo of my sister and her husband instead of finding one that shows only her. In this way, I can show that I'm supporting him, too.

This one was taken at one of their friend's houses during a renovation party. Roxanne looks happy (and yes, she is slightly mocking Allan, so it's even better). They were quite young when it was taken.

Five years have passed since she died, and my family is still facing health crises. We have no idea what my mother's prognosis is at this point; we do know that my dad's cancer is in remission for now. It's scary. Even one of the dogs died of cancer.

I have nothing else to say except to encourage each and every one of you to do all you can to stay healthy.