My Movie Buddy

I have a movie buddy. Everyone should have one of these.

A movie buddy is someone, who is a friend, but all you ever do together is see movies. And, I mean, that's ALL we ever do together.

We meet at the theatre, catch up while we're buying tickets and junk food, see the movie, and then catch up a bit more when he drives me home. (If anyone's interested, I had a KFC chicken sandwich, fries, a diet coke and then some glosset peanuts. Yes, I'm one of THOSE annoying people who eat throughout the entire movie.)

My movie buddy's name is Mark. And I only am telling you this because he loves when I mention his name. I thanked him in the acknowledgements of my first book, Knocked Up, and felt so entirely guilty about forgetting to mention him for the second one. But for third book, my movie buddy's name will definitely be included.

Anyway, I haven't seen Mark in ages (being in Calgary and all) But now that I'm back in Toronto, it was definitely time to see Movie Buddy Mark. Because Movie Buddy Mark is the perfect non-date date.

We e-mailed. How about a movie, I wrote....then asked, "What do you want to see."

His response? "We could see that Lohan movie..."

To which I wrote back in response, "OH MY GOD. THAT'S EXACTLY THE MOVIE I WANT TO SEE TOO!!!"

That's the thing about Movie Buddies. They're pretty much the only buddies who are absolutely willing to see anything with you. The worse the movie the better. I honestly could not think of one other person in my life that I could have dragged to "I know who killed me" - even if I offered to pay for the ticket and all the food.

Anyway, we saw the Lohan movie. And it was fucking phenomenal. Well, it was phenomenal it that, "What the hell is going on?" kind of way, and also in that, "Ok, I know this is not a comedy, but I've never laughed so hard in my life" way.

My Movie Buddy and I basically had the greatest evening. All we did was see the movie. And we probably said, um, 50 sentences to each other the entire night. And that's a-okay.

And, get this, the audience was actually quite full. I know! Shocking! But even more shocking was that people clapped at the end of it, and like my Movie Buddy and I, were screaming out, "OSCAR NOMINATON!!!!" at the end. I mean, the entire audience was into how bad this movie was in that "I love this movie because it is so bad" way.

The point is, having a Movie Buddy in your life, one that is eagerly willing to see anything at all with you, is one of the best kind of buddies to have.

I can't wait, in fact, for the next shitty movie to come out. See you then, Mark.

Ashram....

I know. I know. It's been so long since I've posted. I'm not exactly sure why. I think, basically, I was exausted. And needed a break from everything.

Anyhoo, I'm in Toronto for the summer and it's so strange how the Calgary in me is coming out. Basically, I smile at people. And by people, I mean perfect strangers. And I'm scared to cross the streets here. But, boy, do I love being back at Pusie's (the nickname for Pusateries.) and the fact that I can get a cab in a second.

It's like I'm a whole new woman. A happy person! Maybe Calgary has changed me. The other day, I took The Dictator out to breakfast at Eggs Over Easy on Bloor street. We were walking home (her carrying, no joke, three stuffed animals) when I saw a seeing impaired woman, looking very lost.

Mostly, this was, I thought, because there is so much construction going on everywhere that she had to be super careful. I asked her if she would like me to walk her somewhere. So I walked her all the way to her house, her on one arm, and The Dictator on the other.

And The Dictator was being so good, this woman didn't even know I had a three year old on my other arm, until I told her. Anyway, she was a very nice woman. It turns out she became blind in her twenties. Hopefully, I'll run into this woman again, because she was quite lovely.

And then The Dictator asked why the woman couldn't see. I had no idea how to answer. I think I said something like, "Some people can see, and some people can't." It's hard when your child gets to that age where they ask you questions that you really have no clue how to answer.

I'm also working on my next book. I think I have a good title, which makes me happy, because I'm one of those writers who really has to start at the very beginning. I need the actuall title before I can get into writing the book.

But, right now, I have a new obsession. And, I'm hoping some one out there can help me.

I want to go to an ashram. That's my latest obsession. (And I will admit that a lot of it has to do with the fact that I just read Eat, Pray and Love, which is fantastic. So do pick it up. Or I'm sure you have a friend who has read it and can loan it to you.)

A few months ago, I went with a friend to a spa in Arizona. I worked out three hours a day, ate so friggen healthy I thought I may be in detox mode, because I just do not do well without a chocolate bar in my diet every day, and was in bed by nine o'clock every night.

But now I want to go to an ashram, where I can meditate and clean temple floors and enjoy silence. I do want to find inner peace. Yoga helps. A lot. But I want to take it a step further. But I don't want to go to India. I need some sort of ashram that maybe is in California and for beginners. I can't be half way around the world from the Dictator.

So, please, if any of you out there have been to an ashram, or knows someone who has (Also, I only want to go for maybe a week, as I can't leave The Dictator for longer than that...) please do share where and your experience and any tips....

And I promise to start writing more often....

Hope you are enjoying a wonderful summer!