Settler words&music in S'ólh Téméxw, (leanpub.com/upsun) living where privilege meets precarity in MST country. she/her/they———– Novels: Midnite Moving Co., Upsun; Sweep Off Those Waves coming soon, Hair Sinister after that. —Restore All Indigenous Lands!
They say that housing prices haven’t dropped much in Vancouver, but I beg to differ. Three months ago, the last time I did a thorough search for a house which met my price, amenity and location criteria, there was precisely one house – which is still for sale. There are now nine.
I am even more astonished that one of these houses has three separate suites and $2K rental income.
The man who made a perfect water landing.
The folks who make Mayday must have peed their pants in sheer exuberance when they saw that news clip.
Dear Embassador Miriam Zim:
Let me preface my comments about the current situation in Gaza with three clear points:
I mean no hatred toward Jews or Israeli citizens;
I have no personal enmity towards you or your family;
I do not advocate the dissolution or destruction of Israel.
1. I believe that in a misguided attempt to secure its borders, safety and global reputation as no country to trifle with, the state of Israel and IDF is killing Palestinian civilians.
2. I believe that, news reports notwithstanding, Israel is not trying to avoid civilian casualties in Gaza, and given the nature of the military actions and the size of the targets, it would be impossible to avoid them.
3. Israeli news media and their global supporters repeat the question, “What would you do if you were under fire from Hamas rockets in Ashkelon?”, but neglect to voice the corollary, “What would you do if you lived in Gaza?” The people who live there are trapped, starving and desperate, and are not likely to be negotiating in anything like good faith while they are being bombed, or turn into obedient minions afterwards. The behaviour of the Israeli government and the IDF appears identical to activities for which persons in this century and the last have been tried for war crimes.
4. I respectfully request that you ask your government to cease bombing Gaza.
5. I respectfully request that you ask your government and military to cease activities (like ramming aid ships and bombing aid convoys), which prevent neutral third parties from providing aid to victims of Israeli shelling.
6. It is my intention to boycott all products, cultural and material, produced in Israel or by Israeli citizens, until such time as a just solution is negotiated with the people living in Gaza.
Israel’s current military actions in Gaza are not going to make Israel more secure. For the sake of reason and self-preservation, I urge you to convey this message to your government.
With best wishes for your health and safety during your sojourn in Canada,
Allegra Sloman
Vancouver BC
Jarmo’s on my team, Jarmo’s on my team, Jarmo’s on my team!!!!!!
I talked to Mike today, he’s doing better.
LTGW and Francis went swimming at lunch at the aquatic center at the university. The thought of LTGW in swimming trunks kept a happy smile on my face most of the afternoon.
Robof9 wrote one of the most humane pieces of business communication I have ever seen, not to me, but gosh it was good. I heart Robof9.
On the basis that I wouldn’t want to hear it read back to me in court – a sore point with me and Patricia these days, although not because we’re having problems with each other – I deleted this first line. I may say Patricia’s a happy woman these days, and she’s taking her boyfriend (long, long, long, and wonderful and not bloggable story) – to Carmen.
Tanya booked her 3D ultrasound, which of course I didn’t have access to back in the Mesozoic, when I was progenizing. Gosh, it was a long time ago, and it gets longer ago all the bloody time! It is good to experience the wonders of birth anew vicariously through Tanya. PS, her sister in law accused her of STALKING HER. When Tanya was at home in bed. Asleep. This is not good for the baby in waiting, and if the first thing that baby does the first time it’s in the same room as the SIL is vomit and spray feces like Eta Carinae spews light, it’ll be better than the SIL deserves. Oh, I’m so hoping Tanya’s eating when she reads this and sprays partly chewed Cheerios on her laptop as she’s lying in bed. Hugs to Battery.
Daxus got the ring Katie got him out of pawn. Seriously, I’m not crazy about the priorities, but it makes an incredible difference to Katie… huge in fact. If she’s happy bla bla bla. Jeff just scowled when I told him; he’s not the only one who feels like that.
We watched a documentary about the Hubble, thus the Eta Carinae reference earlier.
And I’m happy. I’m really quite unreasonably, and unseasonably, happy. I don’t understand how I can be so blah one day and so in a happy groove the next. Earlier this week I felt like scrap, and I feel good now….This despite the fact that my company’s landlord and the university ARE TRYING TO KILL ME EVERY SINGLE MORNING by not putting salt and sand down. There was a skin of ice on the stairs and the walkway this morning that nearly sent me on my ass and definitely wiped out some others. What’s with these people? Don’t they know that people who try to kill me don’t get biscotti?
Was it the ice cream? Mayan Chocolate ice cream is very good. That’s enough to keep you happy for a minute.
This is really gross, although thank goodness there are no pictures.
PS Jeff DOES eat his veggies, I’m just being a jerk. Why, he even requests veggies sometimes. Like bacon. And brussel sprouts.
Work continues to be loads of fun, so I am in the happy circumstance of looking forward to it this morning. Yesterday I made contact with somebody in Finance whom I never deal with and she turned out to be a goddess of competence and civility. A big salute to you Carrie.
Jeff is clipping Eddie’s massive toenail surplus.
Yesterday was a good day at work; afterwards I went to the Coop Car office on Granville and picked up my ‘fob’ (all the cars have little onboard tracking systems now) so I can rent a truck for Mike to help him finish his move (the alternative being putting the Road Apple on the road temporarily, which involves getting it running first) and then I came home and found Jeff looking porely on the chesterfield. I stuffed pork chomps, fried mushrooms and onions, chickpea salad and tater tots into him and he perked up somewhat.
Tonight, the clean underwear runs out, so laundry it is.
Only a couple of weekends until Conflikt II. Looking forward to it, but I have to rehearse….
Dinner for Tom’s birthday last night was glorious; it was so good to see everybody and share a meal. I must really try to be more hospitable myself – it’s good to feed people.
I wrote the letter to the Israeli embassador and forwarded it to a couple of people for comments and edits, and will post once it’s back from them. Me not happy about Gaza.
I watched, in its entirety (I couldn’t sleep, woke up at 2, so it’s good I went to bed so early!) a documentary about demographic winter. It was paid for by a bunch of fundies, but I have learned that one should study one’s enemies. I am still processing what I learned and may share my thoughts later.
Ha, I didn’t do laundry. Tonight I must do laundry or it’s going to be harsh strong bad at work…
I did my first working from home this weekend.
I did a lot of cooking.
I saw Keith and Kate, and watched feetsball with Jeff a bit.
And, of course, Sculpey. I feel rested and refreshed and ready for work.
I think it’s the cutest little zombie heart ever.
Katie and I went on a shopping expedition yesterday, and it was a success! She liked her new camera (her first picture, of me, was the WORST PICTURE EVER TAKEN OF ME and no, I’m not posting it because it makes me look like I’m drinking beer with a face made out of jello (it was tea, actually, but in a beer stein)) and loves her new hat, which has flowers in the pattern so Dax won’t ‘borrow’ it. It’s a very nice hat, the kind that Gwen Stefani or one of them other stylin’ broads might wear. And I can hear my ancestors bellow “And it should be, for what you paid for it!” A day with Katie is always fun.
I also picked up for free a replacement feather for Keith’s hat. I also went to Opus at Granville Island and picked up Sculpey, a clay gun, acrylic paints in zombie heart colours, and then I made this object! Yes, it needs painting. I will paint it sometime today.
If your initial reaction is “Blecch!” Yay me for the win!!!!
Katie’s art work, for which no pic alas, was a beautiful chess piece (a knight). She’s going to make a chess set eventually. I’d like to make a chess set too but I have to figure out how I’m going to do it because there’s kind of a technical challenge involved BEYONDS the fact I haz no skills. I’d like to thank ScaryClown for letting me know about Sculpey. Clay guns ARE FUN! I recommend them for insane amounts of stress relief – there are no fewer than 20 discs for the various shapes (which is how I did those veiny things on my Zombie Heart).
Et alors, Biscotti pour Tom. C’est mon métier! Then Keith comes over for lunch and then I’m off to the Lunderhaus.
PS it snowed yesterday. April is NOT the cruellest month.
It’s only 9:30 and Jeff and I have already cooked and eaten breakfast and done a small shop; I also put on a batch of biscotti for Tom’s birthday party tomorrow. Continue reading Busy weekend planned
Isn’t the weather gorgeous? And no, it’s not as dangerous as it looks, he’s actually a respectful distance away from ‘the rocks.”
So, there are three movies I should mention which have wormed their way in front of me: Jane Austen Book Club, La Vie en Rose, and Blast from the Past.
Jane Austen Book Club was goodhearted and fun, and there were definitely some good lines in it. It could also have been entitled “Managing Multiple Fandoms in a Testosterone Reduced World” but that I guess is being too cynical. I liked it because there was a character in it called Allegra, so every time her mother called for her or a character mentioned her name I’d sorta jerk reflexively. And she’s a babydyke, just to add to the wonder…. Anyway, nautilus3 recommended it and I finally watched it with Jeff. He likes Emily Blunt (so do I) and there’s a scene where her character Prudie is being a ****ing pain in the ass, and I said, “I’ve been that woman, and Christ she’s annoying” and occasionally Jeff would pause it, waggle his eyebrows and go “That was a classic chickflick moment.” Definitely a better script than you usually get with these kinds of outings, and the morals are delivered like the bill in a good restaurant, in a leisurely and tactful way.
La Vie en Rose I’m not going to talk about much. If you like Edith Piaf, see the movie. It’s great, and the lead performance is nothing short of mesmerizing – I can understand the Oscar nod. One of the best biopics ever, that I’ve seen anyway, possibly nosing out Ray as being the best I’ve ever seen. And tasteful. AND THE DUBBED SINGING IS AMAZING. The lip synch was incredible.
Blast from the Past…. If you like Alicia Silverstone and Brendan Fraser, you’ve probably already seen it. If you’re looking for a nice little comedy, undemanding, charming and steadily amusing, this will be a good companion. I must mention the guest spot by Christopher Walken, who was just starting his streak of being in all movies in a supporting role. I must own to liking Brendan Fraser – he was AWESOME in the first Mummy flick (I haven’t bothered with the others) and I really liked him in George of the Jungle. He’s a goofy looking guy… At one point in the movie I burst into tears and sobbed a couple of times. After the movie I explained what was going on (Brendan did something for Alicia that somebody did for me once, and I lost it) and Jeff just said, “Oh, I just thought you’d gone crazy.” Thanks, bud.
On another note, have you ever spent a fair amount of time with somebody, on a casual basis – like somebody you eat lunch with – and then one day he comes out and says something that everybody else at the table, including you, finds rather disturbing, and when somebody calls him on it he doesn’t notice? I had one of those moments yesterday. Rather than get into details, I’ve decided to turn the spotlight back on myself. Mocking the afflicted IS NOT A NICE THING TO DO. I should stop doing it. I should recognize when I’m doing it.