get by with a little help

well, i made it through the crush of december due in no small part to outside intervention, some calculated, some indirect. i realize talking this way (frequently) makes me sound like a bit of a mental patient, but i seem to openly admit my ups and downs here, so what the hell. we all know the kind of mental and emotional beating this season can inflict on even resilient intact folks. that i actually feel ok right now is a fairly big deal.

so without further ado, a big shout-out to ...

anne, for squeezing me in on her last day on the job before taking off to pop out a baby: thanks for the trim and killer scalp massage. i fear we may have gone a bit shorter than i wanted, but your stool is an important place in my life to practice the art of trust (it's NOT just hair as many people think);

suzanne, for providing a compelling enough lure to partake in xmas dinner alongside other human beings instead of flopping down with the president and bad tv;

marie-claude, the new gal at the morin salon, for ridding my heels of their hideousness and applying deep purple to my quirky toenails;

the hosts of a coupla cocktail parties that forced me to engage in normal conversation with pleasant people while sampling snacks of obscene point value;

the peanuts xmas music that somehow crept into the week's soundtrack too often;

to webgeek for the half-hour of original arcade-style centipede and frogger;

to motrin, limewire, sting, the websites of elections canada and the g & m, bell expressvu (especially tmn - i can't even admit how many flicks i watched this week), to the campaign for being slightly less demanding than expected, and to aimee mann for once again walking me through some kitchen floor moments.

oh, and a special thank you to claude for the quality time, for asking me to wear the saffron scarf, and for always keeping an eye on my glass.