random updates:

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i was sick for 2 weeks in november, so i haven't finished my nano novel. but i am working on it at a slower pace, and it is coming together. in addition to writing i started researching today inuit and gypsy / roma legends and folk tales. if anyone knows of a good source, let me know.

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they can't get me the right type of olives in our food mail order! the first time they wrote that the store was out of olives. this week they sent two cans of pitted black, while i ordered kalamata, copying everything from their flyer. yes, i add 'accept substitutes', because i realised i have a much better chance of them getting me what i want if they are not mad at me. our neighbour never gets his milk right -- they want 1% and they get either skim or homo or 2% most of the time. at least we get the milk right. but i want my kalamata olives!

at least they sent me white wine vinegar this time, not plain white vinegar.

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today in the library i picked up a copy of Margaret Atwood's Cat's Eye, hard cover, as they were giving it away for free. i already have a copy. i love this book. so silly of me to pick up another, but it was FREE.

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when i was sick i finished reading Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood. Oryx is Zenia's twin, if you know what i mean. good book, but not her best.

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i also finished rereading Cancer Ward by Solzhenitsyn, and this is an absolute must for every one to read. there was a handwritten note on the first page: May 1974. someone read it before i was born. someone read it when the soviet union was still a super power. someone read it the year Solzhenitsyn was deported.

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taking both kids out just for a walk at -25C feels somehow heroic. and oddly enjoyable.

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it is almost 2AM and i am absolutely awake. this freaks me out.