Lucky Jodi

You've reached the end of the blog.

2007-04-28T23:14:00.000-05:00

Lucky Jodi is ready to leave the confines of this blog! Luck's back. To whomever dropped it off on my doorstep: thanks.

*Curtain falls on blog*

GIVE ME MY LUCK BACK NOW

2007-04-13T17:44:00.000-05:00

Okay. I'm done playing. I am about to get quite agressive about recovering my luck. I don't want to rely on my cleverness or charm or good looks. I want my luck back. Watch out Luck Stealer, watch out.

Club Lucky Review

2007-03-24T17:42:00.000-05:00

Club Lucky is in the middle of the club district (on John Street across from Hooters) but it's kind of hidden, or at least, none of us had ever noticed it before. The name is a bit of a misnomer... first of all, it's a restaurant not a club, and second of all it wasn't lucky. I can deal with a restaurant calling itself a club, but the not being lucky thing is really disappointing because of course I wasn't really there for the scallops (yummy), the bruschetta (so-so), or the grilled calamari (rubbery, not impressive, especially considering it was a special), clearly I was there looking for luck. And even though the servers were attentive, charming, and I gotta say, kinda hot, Club Lucky doesn't have draft beer (what?! In Toronto? how unlucky is that for this chick?) and nothing really lucky happened. In fact things got a bit unlucky if anything. While we were at Club Lucky, Brian got a call saying his grandma-in-law fell down so he had to ditch us for the hospital, plus, later in the night (granted, not at Club Lucky, but still) I lost a challenge to a guy named Tom-oops-Ben. Damn I hate losing. So Club Lucky, not so lucky.

Out of a possible 7 rabbit's feet, Club Lucky gets a 3 from Lucky Jodi.

I have a feeling that Lucky Dragon will do better. I mean they have draft beer (cold tea, hee-hee) and fortune cookies.

Lucky Alberta

2007-03-05T22:18:00.000-05:00

It was as great as it was supposed to be. The first weekend of the Spring BreakOUT tour was very screamy. Phew. This is what Calgary's event looked like...

Next stop Lucky(?) Newfoundland and Halifax.

Lucky Toronto Restaurant Reviewers Wanted

2007-02-25T20:59:00.000-05:00

Clearly I need to review the two "Lucky" restaurants in Toronto:
1. Lucky Dragon on Spadina, which apparently is known for its "cold tea" service (if you've never done the cold tea thing you absolutely have to; it's hilarious).
2. Club Lucky on John St.

Who's in?

I'm a Pig. It's my Year.

2007-02-18T10:49:00.000-05:00

Happy Chinese New Year. It's the Year of the Pig. That's my year! Since it only comes around once every 12 years, I fully expect it to be a lucky time for me! Yessss, luck!

Here's a description of the Pig. Of course I have substituted "Jodi" for "Pig" throughout. The blog isn't called Lucky Pig is it? Well then....

Jodi is a fun and enlightening personality blessed with patience and understanding. Jodi enjoys life and all it has to offer, including family and friends. She is honest and thoughtful and expects the same of other people. Jodi can be perceived as oblivious or gullible because she does care about others so much that she will do just about anything for a friend in need.

There's more! Apparently I'm a "Metal Pig" because of the specific year I was born... Metal Pig. That's hilarious.

THE METAL PIG-I-MEAN-JODI

Outspoken and confident, Metal Jodi gives 110% for everything she does. She throws herself into relationships with others completely, sometimes to a fault. She is headstrong and diligent in the workplace, honest and caring in a relationship and trustworthy with everyone she meets unless given reason not to be. Metal Jodi usually gives people more credit than they deserve but when challenged can be a hard nut to crack.

Metal Jodi's not too far off. What do you think?

Mystery Gift

2007-02-13T00:58:00.000-05:00

Today I received a small yellow bubble pack at work. It had no return address. I opened it and shook out the contents expecting a CD, a DVD, an I-dunno-something-else-I-might-receive-at-work, but what I shook out was a small, hinged pill box with the eiffel tower on the cover plus a red-foiled chocolate heart. There was no note, card, nothing. I called a usual suspect or two, but nope, wasn't them. So, I've got a mysterious Valentine's day gift. For the record, I think Valentine's Day is retarded and I never, ever celebrate. That being said, mysterious packages are about the coolest thing ever so lucky me!

I am lucky to do what I do

2007-02-11T20:07:00.000-05:00

This made me feel inspired and incredibly lucky to be working in interactive media today.

nyc + luck = double cool

2007-02-07T00:30:00.000-05:00

On Thursday I check in to a terrifying (by terrifying I mean really cheap) hotel in nyc on the upper west side. it overlooks central park. cool. it's also 2 blocks away from harlem. like in the movies.

i'm actually pretty psyched for the adventure. i've been to new york a few times, but never stayed at a cheap hotel.

i'm hoping i've got a little bit of luck on my side. Although I've already budgeted in one low-violence mugging and one sleepless night due to awful smell, creepy noises, wet, rats or giant roaches, it would be great if the adventures were kept to soho hijinks with canadian friends. NYC + luck = double cool.

Jodi: 2 points, Bad Luck: 1 point

2007-01-27T18:29:00.000-05:00

I won at darts. I won at pool. I know what you're thinking "Lucky Jodi," but no, it wasn't luck, I've got mad bar sports skills. Chris won at song lyrics (a totally new category of bar sports). So it's Jodi: 2 points, Chris: 1 point. Not that I'm keeping score (I'm totally keeping score). All in all it was a super fun, bad-luck-free night. Except when I woke up I realized that at some point in the seemingly-bad-luck-free night, I had lost my son Jaden's iPod Shuffle. Bad Luck: 1 point. Man that Bad Luck is stealth.

Anyway, certain from the moment I bought it for him that he would lose it, I had Jaden's name and my phone number engraved on the back of the Shuffle (and who loses it? No, not the 9-year-old. Me of course. Oh the shame), so maybe if I'm LUCKY, someone will return it.

PS. As a total sidenote, man some people are cheesy. Check out this dude, posting in the lost and found section of craiglist.

Getting Shot is Unlucky

2007-01-15T21:46:00.000-05:00

I went to see Primeval with Geordie on Saturday night. The trailer led me to believe I was going to see a horror movie based on the true story of a serial killer who has killed over 300 people and remains at large. I dig scary movies.

The movie starts at 10:20. We get held up at the New York Fries stand (awful fries, pissy teenager, broken card reader) so we don't sit down in the theatre until 10:30. By 10:36 we realize that the "serial killer" in Primeval is a CROCODILE. A CROC-O-DILE. And the human lead is the other Prison Break guy, not Wentworth Miller. I'm obviously not impressed.

So by 10:40 we are sitting in the adjacent theatre watching Blood Diamond. I actually feel lucky that Primevil was so atrociously bad in the first 5 minutes that it forced me to pick another movie I hadn't intended on ever seeing. I cry. I gasp. I am moved. And Leonardo is H-O-T. I don't even mind that Blood Diamond is nearly three hours long. I sit still. It is that good.

Since the movie is 3 hours long we don't get out of the theatre until 1:20am. Quentin Tarentino says that a good movie makes you want to go home, have some pie and talk about it (in fact, in True Romance, which incidentally is probably the best movie ever - Christian Slater's character, Clarence, says to Patricia Arquette's character, Alabama: "It's just after I see a movie, I like to go get a piece of pie and talk about it..."). Well I'm not one for pie, but I do like oysters and beer, so we go for a pint and some oysters at Smokeless Joe's, talk about the movie, make some new friends, and head home after last call.

It's now 2:30am, we're walking through the club district, up Duncan, just north of Richmond. A street fight's breaking out and I want to do something about it. A bunch of guys are starting to throw punches at one littler guy. I feel this is unjust. Geordie wants me to mind my business, there are dozens of people around, plus, it doesn't concern me, etc. For once, I agree to just keep walking. We turn the corner onto Queen going towards the streetcar stop at University and two "shots" ring out from around the block. Geordie's all "gunshots" and I'm all "those aren't gunshots." I check CP24 the next day to prove Geordie wrong, and in first-time-ever news, Geordie's right and I'm wrong. It turns out two people were shot at the intersection of Richmond and Duncan minutes after we walked by. So that was a potentially very unlucky sitch that I avoided. Man, it's good to not be shot.

Hatha Jodi

2007-01-11T01:03:00.000-05:00

There are two things that I'd been saying I'd done, which really meant I'm probably doing them tomorrow so they're as good as done, which I forgot to do for a lot of "tomorrows" so I was kinda lying. By mistake. Don't worry, I'll get to the luck part in a minute, but first I've got to come clean.

First big fat lie: saying since early November that I'd signed up for cleaner electricity in order to do part of my part in saving the people on the planet whom I like. Anyway, I did a lot of "since switching to Bullfrog" talk months before I finally sent in my void cheque. Yesterday. Yay Bullfrog Power. Yay me. But still, curse anything that requires you to remember to bring in a void cheque. Seriously.

Second big fat lie: saying I'd bought my kids' names as domain names since early December. I did that 2 days ago. It's done. Ha! You can't have jadenmcrae.com or callummcrae.com for 10 years minimum, buddy. So there! (no, I'm not going to link the URLs, there's nothing there, but if you don't believe I own them yet, go ahead and check, I totally understand). On a happy note, you can't have the guinea pigs either believe it or not, 'cause someone else got 'em... oh does that ever feel lucky lucky lucky...but of course that's another story.

Anywayyyyy... now that i've unburdened myself of much of my guilt, here's the real luck moment... I was all like, "might as well buy luckyjodi.com" 'cause, uhhh, 'cause... anywayyyyy the point is, it's not available. Some dude in India bought luckyjodi.com. HUH? Why? So I googled it, and as it turns hatha jodi is a rare Indian root-slash-herb that is supposed to bring luck. How crazy is that?!? Hatha jodi looks like this:

I'm planning a jaunt over to Little India to figure out what/how one cooks with hatha jodi. You should come for dinner. It's sure to be the luckiest meal ever!!

Bad-Luck-O-Meter

2007-01-05T10:42:00.000-05:00

It's called the Bad-Luck-O-Meter. It's kinda fun. Dude's accent is great. Plus, I think it's a very smart interactive marketing activity. And I'm into that.

Lucky (2000 and) 7

2007-01-02T20:44:00.000-05:00

Day 2 of the New Year and I'm trying to figure out if my missing luck expired for some luck thief as the clock struck midnight on the 31st and whether it's all mine again for 2007.

I ended up with 7 candles on my birthday cake yesterday and since I'm not turning 7, I hope that was some sort of lucky sign. Btw, our homemade (and by homemade, I mean taken out of the box and made in our home) cakes are legendarily ugly, check this one out.

If you're wondering about the Happy Birthday tiara and the hideous fuschia necklace (it says "It's my birthday"), they were bequeathed to me at 12:01 am on January 1st by a guy named Don at the New Year's Eve party I was at - his birthday had just ended and mine had just begun. I had planned to find someone with a January 2nd birthday to pass them on to, but didn't, so possibly killed some magic there.

As for first footing - we were the first people across my friends Kirsty and Ryan's threshold on New Year's Eve, so I hope that was lucky for them. Kirsty's mom, Molly, was there and noted that all our travels from house to house (we hit a few places that night) were in keeping with the tradition of first footing and I'm all "OMG, I just learned all about first footing," so that was cool. We weren't home so no one hit my house until the next day. It was my Dad who was first across the threshold. That's gotta be lucky.

Another thing in the luck department... I woke up on my birthday totally congested, sneezy and watery-eyed. That would seem unlucky to most, but it means that I'm allergic (or at least I look allergic) to our recently-acquired pain-in-the-ass guinea pigs. Two guinea pigs: free to good home. Yessss. Um, but if you're actually interested in adopting them I totally take back the part about them being a pain in the ass, they're really very sweet, just look at 'em. The orange one's famous - he appears on the Family Lab interstitials on Family Channel. And they come with all the guinea pig accessories you could ever need.

Happy Hogmanay

2006-12-28T18:04:00.000-05:00

So here's the deal. As I've said before, I definitely feel that Lucky Jodi can make a comeback in 2007. And since January 1st is not only the first day of the new year, but also my birthday, ringing in this special day right is of utmost importance.

Up until 8 days ago, I thought I had that wrapped up. Geordie was at a party about a month ago. He came back from the party with the news that Caroline & Trevor had invited us to their condo for New Year's Eve. They threw a great party last year complete with a delicious tasting menu of about 10 dishes with a different wine pairing for each one. Ah the wine. Long before the cheese course began we were playing "I never" and by time the last bite was taken it was time to dance. On the furniture of course. Needless to say we were pretty happy to be invited over again this year.

Except we weren't. Invited I mean. They weren't even having a party. Geordie had misunderstood (something like "we should do that again sometime" was interpreted as "see you at our place on New Year's Eve) and less than 2 weeks before New Year's, I was without plans.

Chris Tindal to the rescue! There was to be a bus. A party bus. It was going to Montreal. I LOVE Montreal. It is the perfect place to retrieve your lost luck/ring in the New Year/turn a year older. Family was secured for babysitting purposes. Yesssss.

Except Tindal turned the party bus into a rental car. And worse, he turned Montreal into Almonte. I'm sure Almonte is a very nice place to go to die-I-mean-party but it's no Montreal. And a party bus-read-minivan, even to Montreal, with just me and Geordie isn't quite the same as a party bus full of partying people.

So today, with just 3 days left to secure a plan, I turned to *sigh* google. My search went something like "luck new year's eve toronto" and it led me to some info about the Scottish celebration of the New Year called Hogmanay. Apparently, it involves torches and fireworks and whisky and shortbread. It starts on December 31st and can last into January 2nd. Now that's a party. Seems that the Scots (my ancestors incidentally) are a superstitious people (huh, that might help explain a little sumethin sumethin) who believe that what happens on New Year’s Eve affects the luck one will have throughout the coming year (see! told you!).

One of the customs of Hogmanay is "first footing" where friends visit each other's homes after midnight bearing gifts - whoever the first person is to cross your threshold after midnight combined with the nature of their gift determines what kind of luck you are going to have for the year. Apparently having a tall, dark, handsome man with a gift cross your threshold first is luckiest. Makes sense to me.

I don't know exactly how to get a piece of this first footing luck however. I mean, I won't be home for a while after midnight 'cause plans seems to have fallen into place today: Kirsty + Ryan (with brand new baby) and Geoff + Jen (probably without brand new baby) + Geordie and I (no more brand new babies for us) will go out for dinner at the funky Kubo Radio on Queen East and then those of us without brand new babies will head to the surely-debaucherous-probably-story-worthy-very-likely-hijinks-
inspiring-eclectic-and -often-beautiful-people-filled party at Bill Angst's.

I wonder who the first person crossing the threshold of my house will be after midnight. Does it count if it's us coming back to our own house? Probably not. Huh. So, um, see you at my place on the 1st? Early. Do your best tall, dark, handsome impression and bring the whisky and shortbread. This lady's lookin' for luck.

Oh, and if you're looking for a cool birthday present for me, I'd enjoy having my name added to the January 1st Wikipedia page under "Births." Although clearly you would be jeopardizing your Wikipedia credibility (wikibility? credipedia?), the upside is that I would love you forever.

Happy Hogmanay!

Lucky You

2006-12-23T00:36:00.000-05:00

I'm not going to lie to you. I'm confident I'll start 2007 a year older (my birthday's January 1st) and a lot luckier. I'm already thinking of a new blog topic.

A random lucky thing coming up in 2007? The release of a new luck movie "Lucky You" (which happens to also be my favourite thing to say when I begrudge someone something but with a "well" in front of it, as in "well lucky you") which stars (drumroll please) Drew Barrymore. I love Drew Barrymore. She is one of my fave celebs. I like her sticky-outy chin. Probably 'cause I too have a sticky-outy chin. Anyway, I first caught wind of this movie while at a preview screening of Good Sheppard (Angelina, Matt, everyone else in Hollywood). How did I get there? Glad you asked. It was a lucky thing - I won the tickets by being the first person at my company able to name 2 of Canada's Top 10 Movies of 2006 (hint: I won, because I didn't say Bon Cop, Bad Cop) Wow wow wow was Good Sheppard so not good. Of course that makes winning the tickets so not lucky at the end of the day.

But maybe Lucky You will be good. The premise, according to this trailer, seems to be that Drew's going out with a guy who gambles. a lot. and at first she's all "that's so hot" and then she's all "that's not so hot." Exciting. Can't wait to see how it all turns out for her when this movie hits theatres early next year. I'll probably win tickets. And the movie will actually be good. Lucky 2007 here I come.

Ridicafun Here I Come.

2006-12-19T01:35:00.000-05:00

You know what's lucky? Pulling a 6,000 word MBA term paper out of your ass when you start on Saturday, end on Monday and attend 4 parties in between. *Sigh of relief* *Cocky smirk* If not lucky, the rest of this week's at least going to be ridicafun.

Lucky Rabbit's Foot, Eh?

2006-12-11T17:45:00.000-05:00

My sister brought me a rabbit's foot last night. This morning I woke up with hives on my face. Hives. On my face. I've never had hives before so I went to the drug store to ask the pharmacist what to do. I was going to a Canadian Club event at the Royal York Hotel featuring Rupert Duchene and Stephen Lewis speaking on the topic "Beyond philanthropy: creative engagement of the Canadian corporate sector" that would be attended by all sorts of people I hoped to make a good impression on. So clearly the hives wouldn't do. The pharmacist told me that Benadryl was my only option to get rid of the hives fast. I bought the Benadryl. Then I read the many warnings on the box. Warning #2 read: "Avoid activities requiring mental alertness." Now, I've had many a day when avoiding activities requiring mental alertness wouldn't be a problem but today was most certainly not one of them: I have an MBA exam to write tonight. So I kept the mental alertness and the hives and went to the event anyway. I spoke with many impressive people. Of couse they'll forever remember me, not as that incredibly mentally alert woman, but as that woman with the hives. Stupid rabbit's foot.

Not Above Joining a Cult

2006-12-07T18:04:00.000-05:00

I'm less ashamed than you might think to admit that I have just submitted my plight to the website buyhisluck.com. I sent my name, birthdate and my short term goal ("getting my luck back"). The idea is that some dude named Tomas is going to send me his positive vibes and soon I'll be renewing my membership at Club Luck. If it all works out, he'd like a donation. Totally fair. There isn't a single testimonial on the site yet. I kinda like that; I mean, at least he didn't make any up.

I'll let you know if Tomas tries to suck me into a cult. If it brings my super sweet luck back I'll consider it. Hell, I bet cults are full of hijinks. I like hijinks.

Anyway, yesterday things were looking prettty good. I had a little lucky streak going for about 3 hours there. Then I went to visit a good friend. And by good friend I mean the good-friend-for-now-but-still- highly-suspected-of-stealing-my-luck kind of good friend. I demanded my luck back. Good Friend asked if he could hold on to it for a while longer. Nope, I said, don't mean to be an ass, but really can't spare the luck any longer. So, I tried the violent hug. Except Good Friend Luck Stealer is stronger than me and out-violent-hugged-me. Looks like he kept the luck. Possibly stole more. Man, today was shit. Every lucky thing that happened yesterday was reversed today.

My sister, Caitlin, is bringing me a rabbit's foot tomorrow. Keep your fingers crossed.

How to Steal Luck

2006-12-03T16:26:00.000-05:00

Here are two theories on how to steal luck:
1. The Magic Kiss
2. The Violent Hug

The Magic Kiss
In the chick-flick-tacular Just My Luck starring Lindsay Lohan, Lindsay's character, Ashley, is the luckiest girl in Manhattan until she kisses an unlucky guy named Jake at a masquerade ball and some magic happens that switches their luck. Hilarity ensues as a now very-unlucky-Ashley tries to find the person she kissed (oh yeah, not only were they both wearing masks, but they didn't get each other's names before they kissed...classy) to retrieve her luck.

In the end (warning: plot spoiler... 'cause you would never guess this twist ending) Ashley finds Jake, gets to know him (before she realizes that he's the luck stealer), falls in love and doesn't want to take the luck away from him 'cause she loves him so much and all. But 'cause he loves her too he insists that she take the luck back. Then they figure out that they can just pass the old luck back and forth by kissing, which they intend to do all the time. So it all works out in the end. Shocker.

The Violent Hug
However, in Intacto, which looks MUCH MORE INTERESTING (I guess that's not a super huge challenge) I don't think everything works out so great in the end. The movie is about a crazy lucky guy, Federico, who is employed by casino owner, Sam, to outluck everyone at roulette tables. When Federico tries to leave the casino, he's cast out and violently stripped of his luck with a hug from Sam (a scary, scary hug of course). Wanting revenge , Federico sets out to create a dream team of lucky people (sole survivors of crashes and stuff) and tests their luck with increasingly dangerous and terrifying dares to find out who's the most fortunate. The stakes are high: only the luckiest of the four finalists will emerge intact. Get it? Intact. Definitely check out the trailer.

So those are the two theories I'm working with so far in the quest to find my luck and retrieve it. The magic kiss and the violent hug. And while there's a lot more research to be done, what's fairly certain is that this holiday season everyone can expect a kiss and a hug from me.

The Investigation Begins

2006-12-02T22:16:00.000-05:00

My first blog post in June was back when I was still luckyish. I had nothing to blog about. I'm not big on my kitten's so cute blogs. I considered an interactive manager-marketing chick - television professional -mom-mba-hijinks-renovation-mean girl- beer-candor blog. Meh. Boring. Well maybe not the hijinks and candor, those aren't boring. Perhaps fodder for another blog.

Anywayyyy. I lost my luck last July. The exact week that I lost my luck is easy to pinpoint. I left my bank card in the CIBC machine in Commerce Court at 5:57pm and was robbed of my daily limit by 5:59pm. $1000 in case you're curious. Not 3 days later I contracted a viral eye infection that landed me in the emergency room and then kept me home and quarantined. I spent the next two days wearing sunglasses while trying to work on my computer at a distance of 1/2 inch from the screen. Then I got to go on "vacation." Vacation and quarantine are an unlucky combination of words. Oh, and of course my bike was stolen from work while I was quarantined at home....

Anyway, there was a lot more bad luck in the months that followed but I don't like rambly blogs despite being a rambler so that brings me to two days ago when I told my sister, Caitlin, that I thought someone stole my luck. She said I was crazy. Then yesterday at 11pm I heard a loud cracking sound. So, um, now there's a tree lying in my yard. A giant tree. Roots and all. It looks like this.

Just so we're clear, I used to be really lucky. I won stuff. I was in the right place at the right time. Things turned up ro....

[OMG. I swear that I finished that last paragraph and clicked "publish" and this whole post disappeared. Which was crazy ironic (and perfect) since it's my first blog post about bad luck. And it's kinda happened to me not once but twice recently: last week I spent most of one night working on a paper (mba craziness, remember) and lost the whole thing by 2:30 am and spent until 4:14 trying to retrieve it unsuccessfully (obvi) and then cried a little (very grade 10 of me, all of it, i know) and had to wake up at 7 for work. Anwyay I was like, my luck is truly crazy bad, but then I got the post back after a while (like quite a while, after logging off and doing other things) and I'm like, I'm not that unlucky, yay, but then I thought wait, if something lucky happens when you're posting about bad luck, that kind of ruins everything and is kind of unlucky in and of itself. Right? Right? Just agree and look at the tree again. And let's move on. Here's the rest of the above paragraph...]

...ses. And now, not so much. So I'm going to investigate. I'm going to find out who stole my luck and try to retrieve it. If you have any hot tips, don't be shy. And if you stole my luck, give it back please.

What to Do When There's Nothing to Do

2006-06-17T10:36:00.000-05:00

This is the title of a book we owned when i was a kid. I figure I can write this blog when I have nothing else to do. So pretty much never. We'll see. At the very least, now that I have a blogger account, I can post comments to my friend Chris's blog. Chris blogs about energy - sorry, the environment - , which is cool, but that's not why I read it. I mostly read it 'cause of the funny links he often includes. Like this one. Gold. Pure gold.