We're only three weeks into January and I can already cross a New Year's resolution off my list - be an unseen extra in an orange juice commercial. Tropicana, maker of highly addictive orange juice, decided to shoot an ad up here and needed townspeople to stand around looking at a large inflated balloon. They had also asked the Inuvik Drum Dancers to perform and I believe some of the dancers may figure prominently in the finished commercial. It was below -40 that day and after an hour and a half of standing around I had to question how much more free orange juice (I had accumulated 6 bottles) was worth the strange absence of feeling in my toes. The shooting wasn't completely finished but I decided to go home. I had heard that toes were important for balance and learned just how true that was as I stumbled back to my apartment.
Here it is:
Best book:
It's a toss up between The Magicians by Lev Grossman and The Wind-Up Bird Chronicles by Haruki Murakami. Depending on the day I'd give a different answer but tonight - since I'm listening to Delerium and feeling reflective - I'll give it to Murakami. I think I have a soft spot for the book since both its main character and I were unemployed. Unlike Toru Okada I wasn't offered a job while sitting on a park bench, though I did hope I might be while I was.
Best Movie:
District 9, The Hangover, Zombieland and The Watchmen. Apparently I have trouble being decisive (this is almost every movie I saw in the theatre in 2009)
Best cd I heard:
Ghostkeeper's 'And the Children of the Great Northern Muskeg.' I came across the band while making a cd for Capital M. I don't think it would be for everyone but I would recommend listening to 'Lady of the Sky.'
Best video game:
Uncharted 2 (Naughty Dog) for the PS3. I think that if action movies were this well made there would be a lot more people going to action movies. This is the only game I own that I went through the trouble of obtaining a platinum trophy (maybe I shouldn't admit that) and I still look forward to going through it again.
Honourable mention goes to Flower (That Game Company).
Best career decision:
To leave my previous job
Best cause of shingles:
The months of unemployment that followed leaving my job
Best time to get a settlement from getting hit by a taxi in 2004:
After six months of unemployment in 2009
Best job interview:
I didn't get the job but an interview with Outward Bound was by far the most positive (and morale boosting) interview I had during an otherwise bleak time (on the employment side of life). The interviewers were genuinely interested in what I had to say and one of the interviewers gave me a lot of feedback on how I did.
Best camping moment: Seeing an ice cream boat. Honourable mention goes to the epic rainstorm that proved my tent is absolutely not waterproof. It wasn't super fun at the time but I can look back fondly now. Ha ha weather, you got me.
Best teaching moment (up North): There were a few bursaries being offered and I turned the application into a class assignment (I don't think my students had any intention of applying). Two of my students ended up winning and one of the winners entered my English class and shouted "I love English!" Next time I'm going to charge an editing fee.
Best fruit moment:
This is a category born in the Arctic Circle. One day a box of oranges was left in the Learning Centre by an upper administration person of the college. They had been intended for one of the smaller communities but the flight was cancelled due to bad weather. Those oranges surely were all that stood between that community and an epidemic of scurvy. There were probably people waiting with arms outstretched at the airport, hoping against hope that somehow the plane had managed to leave Inuvik and would arrive with its precious cargo. Sadly, it would not. On the bright side, the oranges were delicious and didn't last more than a few minutes after the students knew of their existence.
That ends my list. I guess I'm now officially back.
3 comments:
YAY!! It's been too long!!!
Best camping moment is for sure a toss up - for me it's between ice cream boat and your chili, or my reaction to your chili!
Woo—I like this post! Speaking of being indecisive, I got an e-mail whose subject was Free Brain Game to Improve Decision Making—it’s like the internet is inside my head!
On the juice: I think anyone else might have cracked after three bottles (or in my case no bottles) but you have a special kind of love for Tropicana. I hope you are in the commercial.
On your best ofs: I don’t know what my favourite book of the year would be but I DO know there’d be no contest between The Magicians and The Wind-Up Bird Chronicles. My best CD was the one you made me (so good) and I also really enjoy Ghostkeeper. I’m sure you can guess my favourite (and only) video game. I fully support the career decision but not the shingles. I love that the ice cream boat is such a fond memory for all of us and no one actually got any ice cream! Too bad Lake Ontario doesn’t have an ice cream boat. I’m not sure the rainstorm would figure into my BEST camping memories but it certainly was memorable. That was a fun list!
Jesse that commercial is awesome! You should have stayed to be in the action!
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