what gets missed

when my dad phoned a short time ago and asked, cheekily, what i'm up to, i squealed "watching layton kick ass!" for awhile, that's really what i thought. he surpassed my expectations in last night's debate, although really didn't go far enough in talking directly to the very quebec voters that we here are struggling to attract. tonight, thank god, jack did less of that pres-de-mon-coeur storytelling bullshit and more hammering of the liberals. he stayed focussed on top messages and showed some passion.

two gay civil servants whom i encountered on the balcony at the lookout a few weeks ago amusedly pointed out that i present with a different personality when i speak in french than i do in english. i told them i'd never noticed, and i hadn't. but i guess it's true of lots of people. and jack.

wish i hadn't missed the opening statements tonight. it was 15 minutes til start time when i realized two important things: i was hungry. i had nothing to eat. so i rushed out to satisfy my craving for hummus and hint of lime tostidos. while doing so, i puzzled over how whenever my schedule becomes this fucked, especially during an election period, two major things in my life vanish freakishly fast: produce and hygiene. i'm not saying i'm proud of this. without fail, my normally healthy home-cooked diet deteriorates into overly carby items that can be dipped, toasted or nuked. and without fail, self-care drops to a dangerously low ranking on my priority list, dangerous on account of the sort of matting of hair that many cat owners know too well. i'm not like rank or anything, just ungroomed. my non-computer time winds up being divided quite evenly between coffee, cigarettes, and the occasional nap. i love it.

so only during a campaign is the question "OK, so we'll re-convene by phone tonight at 10.30 then?" unweird. there's a tele-meeting to debrief the debate and confirm our position on our relations with the federal party vis-a-vis high level campaign strategy/messaging - a position a couple of us will be taking to the head honcho of the ndp campaign on sunday. obviously jack dipping (finally) into our quebec message box once or twice last night was a plus. but holy moly, some shit needs a-fixin'.