Monday, July 31, 2006

What a difference a day makes

Well, what a busy weekend. My brother and his wife came down for the weekend and he got the job he was hoping for and spent friday seeing his new jobsite and meeting his future coworkers. THEN it was a hardcore house search, and they actually got lucky and found a home! It's a small cozy house (not too close to us, but not too far away) in great shape that made them both very happy to be in - they made an offer and bought it on Saturday.
Whew.
They're both a little dazed and overwhelmed, but it's one of those situations where everything is falling into place. You just know it is meant to be. And me? Well I'm exhausted, but happy because it means my brother will be back near me soon...maybe even by September 1.
Crazy!

Recpectfully Inventing myself

There's a neat little personality test I found (thanks to Pacian) that
says that I am a Respecttful inventor. It's a pretty accurate test and actually had a bit of advice that I think would be helpful for me. Things like:
Try letting your insight into the world and trust of others allow you to understand the feelings of those around you.
Try applying your creativity to more artistic arenas, and letting your imagination take less practical forms.
While you know how much can be learned from observing your world, remember that much of life can be lived by experiencing it, not just understanding it.


All the gritty details are here:
My Personal Dna Report


A bit simplified, but true.

Friday, July 28, 2006

Look around you

J stumbled up on a comedy from the BBC called Look Around You. It's made up of little short films ~8-10 minutes long, done completely in the style of the bad educational films from the 70's I remember being forced to watch in school. The humor is very subtle and strange and very original. There are a few seasons episodes available to watch on You Tube. Their episode about water is so much like a lot of the films I had to watch in university chemistry classes it was surreal. They also tackle topics like the brain, germs, sulphur, ghosts and maths (there are links to them on You Tube from the water episode). Check it out if you get the time.

2 Cents Leftover (Sunday Scribbling)

When I pull the old tarnished pennies from my jewelry box I can remember as if it were yesterday: That morning we went for a walk… I was going to make my famous Saturday morning waffles and we were out of milk. We slipped on our comfy clothes and strolled lazily to the corner store to get what we needed. The sun was shining and the smell of the rain that fell the night before was still in the air. The leaves were orange and had just started to fall and the flowers were blooming their last before the frosts came. It was the kind of lazy day that you hope for but so rarely comes up – smiling and talking about nothing in particular and yet feeling as though everything was as it should be.

Moments of perfection in an ordinary life.

In the store you paid for the milk, and handed me the change with a twinkle in your eye. “Two cents…here you go - don’t spend it all in one place!”

“You’re too good to me” I said and grinned sarcastically. You grinned back.

We strolled home and made breakfast, and spent a timeless day together listening to music, eating waffles, reading, making love and enjoying all the little things we bring to each other's lives – it was a day filled the joy of just being with you.

Years later I still have those two pennies. A memorial to a perfect day.


It's amazing what memories a few words can prompt...thanks for reminding me of this. I know it's not sunday yet, but felt so happy remembering this. This was another Sunday Scribblings

Thursday, July 27, 2006

Huzzah!

Jay has officially signed his letter of offer. As of mid august he will be officially employed in this new job. I'm not sure what the official title is but he'll be working on the new morning show and doing master control stuff too. And the pay is decent too...bonus.

And there was much rejoicing...

Thanks to all out there who sent happy thoughts and listened to my stressed out rambles while we waited. It appears things will all be OK.
Yay.

The day I warped the world with the power of my mind

Today is the day I battle small molecules and inanimate objects for superemecy.

I WILL get these experimental results dammit, even if I have to bend space and twist the rules of nature with the very power of my mind!

sigh...it's so frustrating when experiments dont work for no reason at all...

Wednesday, July 26, 2006

The Geek was not amused

I started painting my back door and the back stairs to the basement last night. I've been waiting until the window I built was put in to start. I primed everything last night and put on the first coat of orange. It'll probably take 7 or 8 coats as it's an obscenely dark shade (we used it on an accent wall in the back door area) and the paint has a clear paint base and shows through anything, but I got time...it's something I can do every night until it's done. It may take all summer at the rate I go, but hey. It'll look cool when it's done. I'll post a picture and everything.

The point of my mentioning all this is, when I finished painting for the night I never thought to block off the area from the cats and lo and behold later that night I noticed there were little foot prints on the wood floor in the basement. I had to find the purpetrator (Geek) and wash his paws and then the floor - he was not a fan of the wet paws. Luckily it wasn't everywhere and the footprints came off.
Very cute.
Now there's a book shelf moved in front ofthe hall to the steps to keep them out. This morning both cats were already scheming at how to get over it-no doubt Geek will use his jedi powers to get over it somehow. Can't keep that cat out of anything...

Can You Dig it Like a Spigot

Slow rainy day, coffee break and me with nothing much to say. So I'll steal a page from Betty and do a meme.

1. When you look at yourself in the mirror, what's the first thing you look at? Usually my eyes. I like to look at the pupils moving about as they focus. Some days it I'm bored I'll actually flick the lights on and off to watch them move around. What can I say? I'm easily amused.
2. How much cash do you have on you right now? 50 cents (hey, there's no cent symbol on the keyboard anymore...where did it go? Did the @ replace it?) I do have $8 in Tim Hortons money tho, does that count?
3. What's a word that rhymes with "TEST"? zest, although the stupid rhyme "breasty breasty passed the testy" comes to mind for some reason.
4. Favourite plant? Jade plant.
5. Who is the 4th person on your missed call list on your cell phone? No cell phone.
6. What is your main ring tone on your phone? Our main phone just rings like a phone. We do have a cordless that rings some classical music piano piece tho, as we can never track it down when it's ringing. I'd love to get a ringtone that was a voice saying "ring".
7. What shirt are you wearing? A King of the Airwaves shirt I got for pledging and working at last year's FMPhasis annual fundraiser for our local community radio station.
8. Do you "label" yourself? I prefer quirky, and aim for eccentric.
9. Name brand of your shoes currently wearing? Holey Soles gator style sandles (dark purple). Yes, I know they are trendy at the moment but I put a pair on and was stuck having to buy them. Seriously, they are the most comfortable shoes I have ever worn. They have replaced my Birks, which I never thought would happen.
10. Do you prefer a bright or dark room? Lit room, but indirect lighting (bounced off walls or the ceiling). J likes dark (he can sit in the dim light for hours - I just can't do it) so a lot of our life consists of me going into a room frowning and turning a few lights on to brighten it up a bit on and him coming in and frowning and asking if he can turn them off.
11. What did you have for breakfast? A raspberry almond muffin and a cup of coffee
12. Since question 12 is weirdly missing, make some shit up. Strangely this question got Prodigy in my head: "Change my pitch up, make some shit up..."
13. What were you doing at midnight last night? Sleeping.
14. What did your last text message you received on your cell phone say? Again no cell.
15. Do you ever click on pop ups or banenrs? No. Especially not since the Malware Incident of 2006. Gorram malware...
16. What's an expression that you say a lot? Well I use the words very and seriously a lot
17. Who told you they loved you last? J this morning
18. Last furry thing you touched? Geek (Does J count for this? He's a hairy guy)
19. How many hours a week do you work? 38
20. How many rolls of film do you need to get developed? Three. We got a digital camera a few years ago and have a disposable camera plus two rolls from our old Elph camera to yet develop. We just never seem to get around to it. I'm not even sure what is on them anymore.
21. Favourite age you have been so far? I liked 25. After 30 I'm just not keeping track...until 65, then it's time to hop onto the seniors deal wagon.
22. Your worst enemy? Procrastination and self doubt.
23. What is your current desk top picture? A picture of J and me looking at each other and smiling taken at J's sister's wedding a few weeks ago
24. What was the last thing you said to someone? "Try not to go crazy about it" (to a coworker)
25. If you had to choose between a million bucks or to be able to go back in time and fix all your mistakes which would you choose? I'd take the cash. I haven't done anything truly awful and I don't know just what else would be screwed up by me changing things. I've tried to make amends as I screw up. I'd rather just take the cash and be done with it.

Tuesday, July 25, 2006

Motion Notion

Well, it’s taken a while, but I finally have a few minutes to write.

I looked at the few photos I took while we were at Motion Notion and I’m sad to say that most of them are blurry or not too interesting. I was too busy having a good time to remember the camera, so unfortunately I only have a few photos from Saturday afternoon of the main stage and our campsite…doesn’t even begin to do it justice I’m afraid. But it’s all in my head, so I’ll just pull it out for you…

It’s been 3 years now since we heard about Motion Notion through our friend Ken and we went the first year not knowing what to expect and were totally overwhelmed. It has gotten better every year as a festival and we’ve had a better time each year, not imagining it to be possible until it happened. There is so much to say about it – the campsite is beautiful. It is set down in a valley next to a river, with lots of trees and grass and a farmer’s field of canola nearby, which this year was actually seeded with grass for people to tent on making for more space to spread out in. There is a large main stage in the centre of the valley and two smaller buildings, one for a “chill out area” with more ambient music and another area for a second small stage. There was even an interactive tent where everything you touched made a sound or triggered lights. The main stage always has fantastic abstract and bizarre art, some of it black light reactive (this year there was a huge 25foot long blacklight painted dragon suspended over the dance area!) with an absolutely top notch sound system…you know the kind you can stand right in front of and feel the base pulse through you and never have a sore ear afterwards – crystal clear sound. This year the festival outdid itself, as a group of people who’ve gone every year (calling themselves Fort Jag (i.e. Jagermeister)) built a second main stage for the event – full out stage and area with a complete light and sound system. And so there were two full main stages. Hooray. There was also a insanely bright laser spotlight thingy pointing up in the centre of the field. The nifty thing is that if you weren’t into the style of music at one stage you could just wander to another…or another…or over to an area with the food vendors and just relax…or swim in the river or hike in the woods...or go back to the tent or find a communal bonfire and meet new people.
That’s the other thing that makes Motion Notion so fantastic – the people. I’m used to large music festivals being full of loud drunken jerks fighting, stealing and ogling women. None of that here. At all. Zip. I’ve yet to encounter a rude or angry person, and everyone was friendly. Maybe it was the hippie quotient, but you could walk up to total strangers and have conversations, and complete strangers would come up and share food with you or just hang out and enjoy the sun or the fire. No fighting and no weirdness, just everyone respecting each other and having a great time. It was common to be sitting by a fire and see someone hear a tune or a style of music and see their eyes light up and they’d say “gotta go!” and run off and listen or dance. I know I did it more than a few times! I mean how often do you hear a techno remix of the Imperial March…you have to go and dance to that!
And the music. Oh the music. All manner of music – psytrance, funk, breaks, house, techno, drum and bass and even reggae and ambient depending on the time and place. J and I could wander and listen to what we liked. He’s more of a breaks guy and I’m more partial to the techno and trance stuff so we could wander and meet up every once in a while if we wanted to see different things. So many times we’d be so tired and think “oh let’s go sit for a while” and as we walked away the music would call us back: we’d hear bits of things we’d like: Adam Freeland, Prodigy, Fat Boy Slim, Bjork, Theivery Corporation, and so many other familiar things mixed in with so much new music…and it just kept playing!
This year we had the good fortune to camp in with the GOMP crew who were running one of the smaller stages (lots of funk, techno, chill out and reggae) as our friend Ken has been doing some work with them. We really got more of the community feel this year. Everyone was very welcoming and I met a lot of great new people. I’m pretty shy and I was able to just sit back and watch people, talk when I felt comfortable and just relax. Everyone was themselves and very happy to be that way. 3000 people all like that...it makes for a fantastic atmosphere. A lot of people wore costumes at night and over the weekend I met the Mario Brothers, a jedi, a few fairies, firedancers, stilt walkers and a grim reaper (who stood in the field occasionally and slowly nodded or waved at people as they walked by - my friend Ben ran up and hugged him). The best costume I saw was a guy who had shaved his head and glued pieces of bevelled glass to his head, wearing an outfit with pieces of glass in srategic places all over it - he was like a giant huge grinning mirrorball. There was even a Ghostbuster apparently, but I missed him. J brought his jedi robe I made for him a while back (a bonus when it was cold!) and on a few occasions he could be seen in the woods swinging the lightsaber around. I even mooched it for a brief quest through a campsite or two. (The look on someone's face when you skulk into their camping area wielding a lightsaber is really priceless!) I wore a few of my UV reactive masks and gave a few away. I also had a blast going around the last morning giving away about 5 dozen granola bars and meeting and saying goodbye to so many nice people. I came home with many gifts given to me from random nice people.
As a bonus, no mosquitoes and very little rain this year. Oh yes, it was a good time. It got very cold at night (I will bring long johns and wooly socks next year), but the view of the mist off the river in the mornings was beautiful. I’m kicking myself that I have no photos. I’m hoping others I know will have a few to send me – if they do I’ll post a few.
Well, I could go on and on, but I just would sound like a babbling fool I expect. I probably already do. Let’s just say we had such a great time that we got ourselves tickets to go to Shambhala music festival in August. It’s apparently even better (I can’t imagine) and about 8500 people in a ranch in Salmo BC, with 6 stages of music over 4 days…our tickets arrived in the mail last night. I can’t wait. There’ll be just enough time for me to make a silly amount of food before we’re off in the second week of August.
Here we go again…

Friday, July 21, 2006

The old switcheroo

Well I must say: Up until this morning, when I've begun to feel quite alright actually, I've felt quite exhausted and queasy since getting back from holidays...I seem to need a holiday after I go on holidays as I cram in too much while I'm away.
J was truly inpired while we were off and he's been zipping about life the past week with a spring in his step and a glimmer in his eyes. It is wonderful. He's so inpired to get back to working on music with his software program and has concluded something I've firmly believed in for years - life is what you make of it. You create your reality and if you are unhappy, then you find something, even if it is just one thing, that brings you joy and do it with a happy heart. It is so wonderful to see him so inspired.
I on the other hand, while happy and content, have felt awful, and almost like a wet blanket over the past few days. It's like J and I have switched and he's the insanely happy one for a change...
But I am happy to say that I am starting to feel like my old self again. I'm not queasy today, I slept a bunch and I have an optomistic spring in my step today. My brother is coming to visit next weekend (he may have a job here and be moving back-very cool) and J finds out today if he got the job he interviewed for before we left (it seems very positive). Things seem to be on the upside right now. And so, I'm on the mend.
Life is what you make it.
Have a good one.

Wednesday, July 19, 2006

Geosomin returned to her typing and dreamed her little dreamy dreams

So the night I left for the festival I had the neatest dream. It was very vivid and I can picture it even now. Everyone I've mentioned it to said it was kind of creepy. I didn't see it that way...I found it very inspiring. I still do.

I dreamt I was hiking through a woody path at sunset, with the sky all purple and red. I remember hearing dragonflies and a squirrel chattering. Up ahead, a few small girls (aged 6 or 7) ran up the trail ahead of me. They had shoulder length blond hair with flowers in it, and wore long light blue dresses. One of them turned and ran up to me, giggled and said “Come dance with us Heather! Dance with us!”...and when she looked up at me I could see she was a cyclops. Her face beamed happiness, and she smiled like all sweet little girls do when they're having a wonderful day.
I paused a bit and stared at her face and then asked her how she could see (as typically cyclops’s are blind as their eye doesn’t function) and she said “Oh don’t worry, I can see everything. It's wonderful." She took my hand and said"Oh, please come dance with us. Dance with us!”
Then they both turned and waved and ran giggling off into the bushes ahead of me.
I remember thinking “all righty then…” and then I woke up right before my alarm.

I took it as a sign that the weekend would be a good one and I was meant to dance in the woods.
And it was.
And I did.
But, more on that later. Lots to do…

Wednesday, July 12, 2006

She’s packing it up, and sneaking away, and buggering off…

Well…I’m off.
Meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep!
See ya in a week.


“The intent behind Motion Notion is to help people become more in touch with the earth and themselves by experiencing mind-expanding music and art in a very natural environment. Motions in dance, progressions in our lives, and the flux of the universe are all related. The notion is that movement is existence and that we can find clarity by understanding change and movement. It’s about the infinite. We seek the answers to life's biggest questions.”

“One sacred rhythm beats within all people and throughout the universe as a whole. This primal pulse is what I endeavor to understand and why there is a Motion Notion”
James Katalyst, event founder
(from the MN website)

What I need

At a prompting I found on Diddums blog I tried typing in "my name needs" (well not "my name" but my name...you know, my actual name...you see...oh you get the idea...) in to Google and did a search to let it tell me what I need.
Apparentnly, the first 10 things that I need are (in no particular order, capitals emphasis and italics all a la Google):

-I Need Men...Now!
-I need to go rambling
-I need two therapists
-I need to start wearing a brassiere (I'd like to clarify that I already do)
-I need a childhood
-I need VEGGIES!
-I need to jump out them blue jeans and show you my butt (not gonna happen)
-I need to acquire data from the client, understand the client's needs & report these needs to the solution designer
-I need to stick with my career as a country artist
-I need to access information ubiquitously to provide answers


As for J, well:
-J needs a home where he is the only child or the other siblings are male
-J needs snow
-J needs redemption
-J needs to "get on with his sh*t"
-Jay needs to sharpen his sarcasm
-J needs a redname
-J needs new shades
-J needs a rookie challenge
-J needs to approach music with an open mind


Who knew?

Happy thoughts required

J just found out his job interview was moved to today at 2.
Please send all your happy thoughts his way...

Hmmm…I just don’t think there will be enough food

I am tired. A jug of iced tea fell on my head yesterday (long story) so I couldn't get to sleep because my head hurt. But, it was a busy and productive night.
For our trip over the past few days I’ve made the following:

-12 dozen cookies
-12 tofu corn dogs
-a big container of tabouli
-72 granola bars
-10 scotch eggs
-2 dozen pumpkin muffins
-2 dozen cheese bacon biscuits (I call them “cram”)
-red pepper hummus and some pitas (OK I bought the pitas)
-we also have cheerios and soy milk, pudding and fruit

I’ve used up all my flour and had to go to the store multiple times for eggs and brown sugar. There will be many people there and I plan to share cookies and granola bars with lots of them. Plus, many of our friends that we will be meeting there are guys who haven’t had “real” cooking for a while, so I made extra so I wouldn’t be all snarky and and can share freely. You never know if there will be a fire ban on, so I planned our food to be OK cold that can be shoved on a stick over the fire to warm it up if we want to. And if there’s leftovers (..if? >:) ) that’s just fine with me.

I also made 3 bikini tops to wear while there and a few masks for if there is a costume event. J made his lightsaber fully equipped with a superbright LED light inside…he hee - flashlights are for paduans!

I can’t wait. I’m so excited! We leave tomorrow morning…AND after we’re staying in the Polynesian room at West Ed Monday night (they have a theme room sale on). The picture on the website has a waterfall into the hot tub and tacky wall paintings and mirrors all over the place AND we get free passes to the waterpark. Tacky tacky! Joy joy!

A holiday indeed! Mee hee…

Tuesday, July 11, 2006

Word o' the day

A man I saw biking in a skin tight black suit this morning (like the germans on the Big Labowski with the giant scissors - speedo short cut legs no less!) inspired my word of the day that I've been saying all day and giggling uncontrollably afterwards.

Wait for it...

Unitard

*snicker*
OK, Resume your lives.

Blah blah blah meme blah blah blah.

Once upon a time there was a girl who wanted to be on holidays but wasn't yet. She sat and thought as she worked about all she would do and what was left to be done before she left. Then she sighed and filled out a meme before getting back at her work...

Current attire: painful shoes (I have blisters on my little toes), jean skirt, black tank and blue dress shirt with a necklace and black specs.
Current mood: Tired and a bit mopy.
Current music: "Porcelain" by Moby
Current annoyance: That when money is tight and I'm stressed about it things always break down...the dryer, my hair dryer, our dishwasher is acting up. Yet when things are good and no worries everything runs fine. Why is that?
Current thing: Making food for camping. I believe I've gone crazy with it but it'll be yummy.
Current Song in my head: Jam for the Ladies by Moby
Current video in player: my exercise ball tape
Current DVD in player: Six Feet Under season 2 disc 3.
Current refreshment: water and coffee.
Current worry: Will Jay get the job he's applied for and has an interview for when we get back? I hope so...I really do. Really. I do.
Current thought: How is it that you can look into the face of someone you've know for years and not recognise them? Can people change that much? Or is it the looker that has changed?

Songs that make me happy:
Everloving by Moby
Go by Lemon Jelly
Hey Boy Hey Girl by the Chemical Brothers

Things that make me happy:
Cheese
Sunshine on the river
Waking up to my husband smiling at me as I sleep

Three things I'm thankful for:
J
my job
that I have people who love me...and that I don't have to do everything myself.

doop de doop de doop...de doop....doop.

We just got a Dave Tipper audio DVD (surrounded). We've only heard him spin live breaks (at last year's Motion Notion) but he apparently does lots of ambient music. I likes me ambient music so we tracked down one of his DVDs and had a listen last night.
Veddy good stuff.
I do wish there was a way for audio DVDs to just turn off like a CD when they're done and not go back to the menu, which only has about 1 minute of looped audio. Eventually no matter how comfy you and your love may be veggin in a giant bean bag chair you have to get up and make the music loops stop!
I took a bit of a break from operation camp prep last night to relax with J and actually not cook anything or do much of anything (other than somehow break the clothes dryer...sigh). Tonight is the last night of foody prep and then gathering all our stuff into a giant pile for insertion into our little car...I managed to cause my hair dryer to self distruct this morning and now I'm scared to touch any electronics or machinery in case the whole "three times a charm" thing applies to me breaking stuff...maybe I'll just sit here and hum all day.

Hmmmm hmmmm hmmh hmmm hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.....

Monday, July 10, 2006

Hotel

Hotels puzzle me. They are a getaway, a necessity and a luxury all in one. They are designed to be bland and pleasant to everyone, and yet some people live in them as they travel or work (I wonder, after a time does it make them bland and pleasant to everyone?). Some (like my Mom) will actually unpack their suitcases and "live" in them. Sometimes they are a small room to sleep in, cheap, but clean on your way *to* somewhere else. Others times they can be a destination for people (like me) who go for the hot tub themey jobs (one room I recall even had mirrors on the ceilings...) and have an over the top time. I figure if I'm going to stay in a hotel I'll make the best of it. And yet, a hotel that popped into my mind at the hotel prompt was not a themey or exotic one, but a little hotel we stayed in when we went to Europe.

For example, when I think of our trip to England I'll always remember the hotel we stayed in the first and last nights. We were visiting family in Whitby the other nights, but after arriving from the airport whilst driving our rental peanut car on the insanely huge freeways and into London after being awake for 32 hours, the hotel was a very pleasant sight to see.
The Alexander hotel...right near Paddington Station. I'm smiling just thinking about it. Nothing fancy, but near the subway so we could get around. As soon as we arrived we checked in and went up some windy stairs to our lovely little room with windows overlooking the road. We were too excited to sleep so we went rambling around London, through Hyde Park, past Big Ben and Trafalger Square and the palace. Then when we realized that if we didn't head back soon we might just expire right there on the path, we got some curry takeaway and went back to our little hotel room. It was windy and rainy and we cracked the windows, listened to the wind and the city and ate our curry sitting crosslegged on the floor...somehow it was perfection. We sat and gazed out the window from the bed and eventually fell asleep. We crawled out of bed the next morning after watching a truly confusing morning children's show and bumbled down to the breakfast room to have toast, cereal and coffee, before packing up and setting off to Oxford and Whitby to begin our quest for Letcombe Regis and J's grandfather's old home. The night before we left we stayed there again and felt just as welcome. After seeing a musical we went to Piccadilly Circus and ran around like idiots in the all night arcade there before stumbling back to sleep a bit and try to get to Heathrow on time.
Although we spent just a little of our time at the hotel, it was a large part of our holiday. I'd love to go back...

Sunday scribblings

Sunday, July 09, 2006

What not to say to a guy digging a trench in 30 degree wather

I kid you not. One of our friends said all these to J today as he struggled to dig a trench in the side of our yard to bury a pipe to drain water away from our window that always floods when it rains (Not offering to help is fine, whatever, but this...?). We decided to take it a few feet a day for the next week or so...it's gravelly soil full of tree roots and impossible to do more than a few feet without wanting to throw your shovel. Not that we did or anything. Nope. But we did stop. (And I'd like to clarify that I helped move gravel...)

And so I present a list of things NOT to say to your friends as he digs a trench in 30 degree weather:

-wow, your new career is a ditch digger now huh?
-Sure looks like hard work
-Wow that must really suck
-I dug a trench once and it was crappy work
-I'm glad it's you and not me
-Wow if you only had (insert random tool here) you could do this way easier and faster
-So how long do you think it will be, I have to go meet my parents for supper
-various snickers
...well, you get the idea. This is just a brief sampling.

Right now, I'm thinking our friend is a bit of an ass.
But give me a shower and a hot meal and I'll be a little more level.
Just had to vent there.
Ah...much better.

Thursday, July 06, 2006

What do you call 2 men with no arms and no legs hanging over a window?

Curt and Rod

bwaHA!
...oh come on people, I'm having a dull day here. Humour me.
Its a muggy hot day out here on the prairies. A coworker on mat leave brought her little girl, some briquettes and some hot dogs at lunch and we all brought a few nibblets to share (me? a McCain cake...yum) and all relaxed in the sunshine in the campus greens by the old schoolhouse for lunch. I still smell of charcoal...mmm...good stuff. I think food tastes better when it's cooked over charcoal...but it takes forever.
And now I sit...and sit...and sit whilst full of cake.
Oh sure I'm working, don't get me wrong:
I'd just rather be out in the sun eating more McCain cake...

The car of the future...20 years ago.

There is an absolutely rediculous 80's ad for corvettes to have a look at. It is fantastically trendy and oh so 1984...lasers, an astronaut driving, bad singers, and even glowy lines and computery sounds as the car drives into a Tron like tunnel...I guess the corvette was the most modern car out there at the time. It's good for a giggle or two.
And to think in the late 80s I was driving a 78 Pinto wagon at the time - brown with fake wood and no cool side roundy windows on my model. It was ugly as hell, but a good car ...I guess I just wasn't ready for all the future had in store for me!

Slow day...but tomorrow is my day off. Now that the wedding is over I'm gonna get my hair cut off all elven again. Yipee!

Quote of the day

"I tried some flavoured water. Not that I’ve never had flavoured water before, but I just usually tend to go for the original flavour of 2 hydrogen atoms attached to an oxygen atom. The impression I got from drinking flavored water was like it was drinking an aroma..."

~Robyn (girl who ate everything)

Wednesday, July 05, 2006

Frank, Narayana and Camping, Oh My!

Well, what to say?

Prodigy we hardly knew ye. I was listening to Fat of the Land this morning on my way to work and it is such a good album. So good infact that it made their much anticipated album release a while back seem incredibly mediocre and bland. Granted it's hard to follow up an album full of great music, but their new album is...well, forgettable. No real originality, it is undermixed and quite repetitive, with a real lack of originality and energy that was in their other album. I guess I just expected too much. Sometimes, like the Propellor Heads, it is better a group make one kickass album and then wander off into obscurity. Wandering back into the music scene with a halfhearted sequel is a sad thing.

I've been a bit of a vegetable of late, but I love it. After the wedding insanity of the past month it is very nice to just do the bare minimum for a few days and relax a bit. I finally got to see Donny Darko and I have to say I liked it. The bunny Frank really did creep me out, but I really liked the fact that everything wasn't explained. It was interesting a creative and I liked the whole idea behind the film. I've always had a mild fascination with schizophrenia and I love thigns that can't quite be explained. I like to think that there are things and laws that we just don't understand and I like it that way. It was interesting to see the politics in the movie though...made in 2001 with politics of the late 90's in it...it's funny how things change. The only thing that bugged me about the film was the character played by Drew Barrymore...she seemed a bit overdone and like Drew beefed up the role to be in it (I noticed she was a producer). She wasn't bad or anything...it just seemed to me that a lot of things she did didn't really move the plot along...but hey, good movie overall. I'm glad there are still original films being made.

Now that wedding stuff is over, I have a new focus. We're slowly getting ready for a big camping trip next week, in a valley by a river, with a few thousand other people. Yup, for the third year in a row I'm excited to say we are going to Motion Notion - 3 stages of some of the best electronic music spun by some of the best DJs from all over the world spun LIVE for 3 days...I can't wait - techno, funk, psytrance, breaks, ambient, you name it...it'll be spun there. There's something to be said for dancing you butt off in the middle of a green valley. The people are always super friendly and it's a great time to visit and reconnect with a few of our old friends we haven't seen for ages. Plus it's camping in a valley by a river and a nice beach. So after shoppiing last night for the next week I'll be making a tonne of muffins, granola bars and tofu corndogs and we have tonnes of fruit and pudding too. I realised yesterday it is a week today until we leave and we have to get our stuff together and ready. I'm trying to be more organized in planning when it comes to camping...being stuck in the middle of nowhere and needing something is a PITA. At least there is a burger vendor and a coffee vendor by the mainstage should I just get desperate for some actual cooked food or forget something. Last year I forgot (of all thigns) my jacket and it was cold at night. So this year I'm breaking down and making a list (can one be spontaneous and organized at the same time?). Plus, as long as J doesn't have to be back right away for a possible job interview we might even stay at West Ed for a night afterwards in a theme room. We can't really afford it, but the more and more we talk about it a good soak in a big giant hot tub after 3 days of camping and dancing seems like a great thing. I guess we'll see how things are next week.

And so, life goes on. For the most part, other than the odd kick in the teeth, it is pretty good.
That being said, I must go off and live it now. Bye.

Tuesday, July 04, 2006

Lovely way to start the day

Do you realise that you have the most beautiful face?
Do you realise we're floating in space?
Do you realise that happiness makes you cry?
Do you realise that everyone you know someday will die?

So instead of saying all of your goodbyes,
let them know you realise that life goes fast.
It's hard to make the good things last.
You realise the sun doesn't go down,
it's just an illusion caused by the world spinning 'round.

Do you realise that you have the most beautiful face?
Do you realise?


Lovely morning - I walked to work after a long sleep in a cold house with a snuggly husband and a purring cat or two. Listened to the Flaming Lips on the way to work and just as I was crossing the bridge over the river the sun came out from behind a cloud and made the river shimmer like a zillion little points of light...and then the song above started to play...and I stopped for a bit and watched the pelicans and grinned like an idiot before walking on.
Lovely way to start your day, that.

Sunday, July 02, 2006
















Well it's over.
Yay. All went well and it was nice to see some family and friends we haven't seen since, well probbly the last wedding. I got to spend the day being all girly and pretty, but now? Now, I'm tired and since there was OJ in the punch I had yesterday I'm feeling rather crappy. BUT it was a good day, AND my Dad did put my window in. Yay. I just thought I'd drop in with a few pictures of J and I from yesterday in all our finery before I went off to hide in the dark andnurse my headache.

Later...

Cunning Plans

 Life is wierd ya know. It seems a lot of things have been hitting me hard lately. Been distant from people, including my partner who is dea...