Author: Allegra

Born when atmospheric carbon was 316 PPM. Settled on MST country since 1997. Parent, grandparent.

pix

Eddie inspecting the baggage; one of the eagles at the launching point; launching the boat, note position of exhaust; Sugar.  Sugar fell asleep on me on Sunday immediately after the ceremony.  I must have smelled great – I was attacked by a bee when Cindy dropped me off.

We haz the cool

  • I will never be cool in THAT sense, but I can certainly praise the thrice blessed Jeff, who got an air conditioner yesterday.  It made living at Geekhaven Beta a damned sight more pleasant – it was fracking hot.  Eddie was all over it.
  • I will resist the blandishments of my naturist friends today and NOT go to Wreck Beach.  Jarmo & Co and Mike will be off there today but I simply have too much life maintenance to do, and then Jeff and I will go pic-a-nic someplace, maybe. Depends how appealing it is to stay where there’s a steady stream of cold air.
  • Lawrence H, one of my coworkers, saw a Dall’s porpoise out in the Strait on Saturday.  It was just part of how awesome it all was, the trip from Vancouver to Victoria.
  • Victoria, approached from the ocean on a hot day, has a mesmerizingly beautiful scent of hot, sweet pine.  NO not like Pine Sol.  A magical, resiny gorgeousness that lifts on the breeze and drowns one in anticipation.  As drfilk noted, “Well, that’s better than I thought it would smell.”
  • I sang much of the way there, as much nautical stuff as I could remember, which isn’t much, but thanks to my mother and father I know all of the lyrics to at least one version of “The Eddystone Light”.
  • I learned last night that somebody I never talk to at work (I don’t sit with him at lunch anymore) thinks I’m a great performer.  Now I am thinking “When the hell did I ever play in front of him? And PS, thanks.”
  • Oh, is the rent due?
  • My rear end still hurts from the trip there. A little.  Not like Sunday morning, when my parents were giggling at me every time I sat down and squawked.  My back isn’t great but I know walking will fix it.
  • I have to water my plants; they got a good soaking Saturday morning but they are droopy as hell, as container plants are in this kinda heat.
  • Robof9 took pics of his wife’s work.  She is a professional plant person.  Sheesh, I guess that makes her a horticulturist… anyway, 100000 plants that she grew all needed watering on Sunday and he took pics and I await them happily.
  • Next post, various pics.  Be prepared..
  • I have booked a Can Car to deal with the box situation.
  • I think I need a summer weight housecoat.
  • For those who might be nervous on his account, Paul survived the last round of layoffs at his work.
  • The folks downstairs, in an effort to avoid us, have taken to smoking cigarettes indoors. For me this is annoying, due to my disturbed relationship with tobacco; for Jeff it is nauseating and hopelessly rude.
  • I participated in a Pagan ceremony on Sunday.  I am still processing it. When asked to pray I directed my energy towards a good outcome for somebody I despise, in an effort to cultivate both mindfulness and compassion.  The notion of praying for myself when I’m so comfortably settled with life the universe and everything (occasional bitchiness and annoyance with incompetence aside) was not on.  Runnerwolf was very specific about saying, “If you’re praying for somebody else, always pray for the best outcome – something concrete might not be what’s required for the person you’re praying for.” The psychology of this seems wise; you have formed an intention without becoming attached to the result, which is better than petitioning the lord with a laundry list of ‘want-its’ and then getting miffed when they don’t come to pass.  Funny story: she used popcorn instead of dry corn for ceremony once, with entirely predictable results come time to put the bundle in the ceremonial fire.
  • I know what copal and frankincense and myrrh look like now.
  • Why would an atheist bother with all that?  Because of Tennyson (oops, nearly said Donne)
    I am a part of all that I have met;
    Yet all experience is an arch wherethro’
    Gleams that untravell’d world,

One thing and another (Battlestar, Victoria round up)

Here’s a report, forwarded by Robof9.
G. E. Productions Inc. is filming on campus, portions of the movie“ Battlestar Galactica “.

Film Set Preps, Shoot and Wrap-up / Clean-up Day;
7:00AM to 11:30PM, Wednesday, July 2, 2008

Film Set Preps, Shoot and Support function locations:

1)  Academic Quadrangle – Courtyard and Reflecting Pond area.
                                     – AQ rooms 4120, 4125, 4140, SSB 9200

2) Parking – SH, Lot E(East portion)
                 – S SH N side of fire lane to bus loop
                – Lot G (lower East portion)
                – Studio II (East grass area)
                 – ASB E. lane (East side)

– Set areas will be dressed prior to filming by early morning.

–  Set props, vehicles & equipments positioned where designated, shall be cleared out as soon as film shoot activities are completed.

–  Between 9-10pm Wednesday July 2, ‘08, all filming activities completed.   All vehicles, equipments & props removed, film shoot site cleaned-up and  wrapped out of campus.

I saw a man on a bike with a parrot on his shoulder in Victoria.
I have a migraine (no surprise, all the sun I got this weekend plus really inconvenient amounts of hormones).
I got up really early and ate pea pods in my mOm’s garden yesterday morning.  Om nom nom.
I had a really really amazing weekend.

It’s a beautiful day

I’m at the folks’ place in Victoria recovering from one of the more memorable days in many moons.

I got up at 4:30 and left the house with Jarmo and crew around 7:30.  We launched from Burrard ramp.  There were eagles at the launch site.  The launch was hilarious, mostly because the Suburban’s muffler was under water for a good chunk of the launch.  Anyway, that was successful.  Out into the Georgia Strait where the combined one two punch of the Fraser’s two arms dumping into the strait caused incredible lumpiness.  I lost my hat (I had sunscreen), applied sunscreen to the back of Jarmo’s neck and his bald spot, and stood for the first 1.5 hours.  We stopped at Galiano and got ice cream bars and pumped the bilges, after which the boat behaved in a much peppier fashion.

Got to Victoria Harbour long about 11:30, with bunting flying and hordes of people for the tall ships festival, including the Nina, and Jarmo just moseys up to the nicest section of dock and gets everybody a pass to the docks.  I bail to go to Pondside for the filking. 

Shortly after I got there me and twenty other people ran through the Tapioca Song… EVERYBODY there knew it off by heart, it was amazing. Instruments included stand up bass (thank you thank you Peggy) hammered dulcimer, banjola, many guitars, resonator guitar and many harmonious happy voices…..  AND – and this makes me so happy I could burst – it was simultaneously signed in Ameslan. 

I played with Devon Rex cats and listened to some of the nicest and smartest people in the world tell stories and sing songs and play exotic instruments.  Happy, happy sigh.

Then I realized I was exhausted and begged Dr Filk for a ride to my folks’ place on his scoot, which he kindly provided.  There I was thinking I wouldn’t get a ride on a motorcycle this summer, ha! THEN I got to ride to my granny’s place in the Camaro, with the top down, during a cloudless summer evening.  I had a lovely (and brief) visit with my gran, then came back here and drank a cup of tea.  There was a deer in the parking lot across the street from her apartment while we were there.

You have to admit I had an amazing day and I send big hugs and kisses to Douglas and Juliana for sponsoring the amazing event that is Pondfilk.  But I am sun- and windburnt and entirely bagged and my bed is calling me in three part harmony with stand up bass accompaniment, so good night moon.  mOm’s going to give me a lift back there in the morning, and then with any luck I’ll hitch a lift back to Vancouver with Tom and Peggy.

Tired and happy.  That’s me right now.

Nothing but pix

So, in no partic’lar order.  The broom made me think “Hogwarts is missing a student!”; and the bunny was a creature dumped on Burnaby Mountain by some schlunk, may he or she encrust the worst part of hell, BUT the story has a happy ending and the bunny was rescued; Patricia, LTGW and Francis at the pond; a salamander in the pond (hard to see, but there); a bee in a salmonberry blossom; fungus in the woods; the flowers Jeff gave me earlier this week which smelled heavenly; Trev and ScaryClown at lunch.

And then my heart burst with joy

Keith came over and said, “I have a prezzie for you.”  It was a tshirt with a design of his own contrivance.  In lurid, but slender, rainbow hued type, it says, “Queen’s Fluffiest Pillow!”

Once the timing had sunk in (it’s mere weeks before Pride Day – a fact he alluded to in his presentation of the garment to me) and I had donned it, I looked down and realized we were both wearing robot socks.

Paul came over and said I have a present for you.  It’s my 100$ check from the BC Gov to spend on the environment (nice vote buy, assholes) and a screed from Elections Canada that manages to get my name wrong in two new and interesting ways 6 weeks after I changed my address with Elections Canada online.  Who the fuck in their right mind believes this government is smart enough to spy on its own citizens?  Even if they were, the bureaucracy they run this crap through couldn’t organize an orgy in a brothel.  Canadians must be the world’s politest incompetents.  Okay, end of rant.

Then Paul tried to break my computer, and failed.  His new iPod kept trying to crossload itself onto my computer when all we were trying to do was charge the damned thing.  I had to unplug the damned thing twice and force quit my MacBook twice to get it to stop doing that.  Since I know from SQUAT about Macs I freak anytime untoward happens – I have no Mac geek to lean on.

Anyway, Paul has left still needing some charging method for his new toy, (which I’ll have you know I wish I had) and Keith is gaming, and Katie is needing more resumes, and I need to pack and sleep. Jarmo’s gonna be here 6:45 ayem-ish tomorrow, and dawn comes early.

ScaryClown was here

He had an interesting day at work so he went to our place early after I checked with Jeff, and when I got there he and Jeff were ensconced in the living room watching something. Then Jeff and I made dinner (he broiled the chicken breasts to perfection, I must say) and we consumed it on the back deck with attentive cats and much hilarity. The cats liked him… it was sweet watching ScaryClown leap to his feet to let one in when he scratched at the door. “You’ve set a precedent,” Jeff said drily, and ScaryClown said something to the effect that cats easily train him.

I have no beer left, but I’ve seen Robert Macnamara in Fog of War and I was amazed. It’s one of the best shot and most interesting and best scored documentaries I ever saw. I remember DrFilk raving about it when it first came out.

Keith started early

He was supposed to start today but they started him yesterday.  I hope for a full report at some point.

Watched The Big Red One yesterday.  The firefight scenes are great but everything else suffers in comparison to Band of Brothers… especially the music, holy crap it was bad.

I made purple food yesterday – purple home fried potatoes.  I’m having some more now, damn they’re good!

I wrote a song last night. Like, late last night.

As soon as I got in the car to drive home last night I wrote a song. I’ll be posting the lyrics to my LJ, as looked at in the bright light of morning they seem, uh, a little on the ‘back of the hand to the forehead’ end of the spectrum, not that there’s anything wrong with that, that’s sort of what songs are for. Oh well, this is what happens when you challenge yourself to write something that doesn’t have a happy ending.

I know I’ve said this about 100 times and I keep forgetting it, but seeing live music is a really important feed for creativity. I just saw three live bands in a week! No wonder I start getting all antsy, and walking down the street singing. I wish I wasn’t so wasp-y sometimes, I’d sing in public a lot more.

Just for fun, a fraction of the lyrics for ‘The Hardworking Locksmiths of Sunnydale” which I started writing on Sunday.

When I got out of locksmith school

In the year of ninety seven

The old pros told me that there is

A locksmith’s earthly heaven

Be prepared, they told me

For work on work galore

But make sure that your stomach’s strong

You’ll see a LOT of gore

O Sunnydale, O Sunnydale

until you disappeared

You helped me pay my mortgage off

But man, you sure were weird.

What a bleeping day

To preserve the dignity and privacy of those involved, I will not recount some of the events of this evening. Nobody was injured, the cats are fine, and I won’t speak for Jeff but I would describe my current mental state as “spitting out feathers”.

Jericho was fine; I heard my first ever submarine shanty, which really is a fine thing to be able to say, the other performers were wonderful, Ballyhooley was great, they did a kickass version of Wraggle Taggle Gypsies and one of them plays uillean pipes ver’ well.  And there was an octave mando and more fracking pipes with holes in ’em than you imagine one guy lugging around.

Paul and Keith showed up, and just as promptly, disappeared, due to scheduling issues. I hung til ten but I had to get the car back to Joyce Station.

One block north of Joyce Station, and may the laws of probability and a pterodactyl’s left great claw be thanked that I had my back turned to this jackass, I heard a guy who hawked up a throat oyster so big that it was carrying a cell phone with ease – I heard the sucker bounce on the ground – and then he made an even MORE incredibly loud noise which sounded like somebody trying to clear a vacuum cleaner hosepipe jammed full of liver with a toilet plunger, and I must repeat, really loud. Reverberating between two buildings, drowning out the car noise. Score one for the human capacity to be really fracking disgusting.

New Puppy (Migraine better thanks….)

Dave @ OneLegWest has posted pics of his puppy Max’s first day at home. Check out how happy Jake is to see the new arrival….

I feel so much better and the sun is shining so delightfully that I’m off to Jericho tonight.

Did I mention the whole fam damily was over last night for a spaghetti dinner? Keith and Paul brought Caesar salad and corn bread, and Katie brought her sweet self and picked up her blankie from G’ma. Then we watched Buffy (Darla gets hers, the first time anyway). Happy Sigh.

Oh oh oh, I forgot to mention, I’m getting a FREE RIDE to Victoria for next weekend’s Pondfilk!! Dalai Jarmo just dropped by to say they are taking off at hours ungodly on Saturday morning to go see the tallships. Obviously I’ll chip in for gas so it won’t really be free, but Me Happy! It will be a most convivial crew, and they’ll just drop me off at the Harbour.

Every time I get a migraine these days I think happy thoughts and it goes away. Sometimes the happy thoughts involved nudity, but a lot of times I think about my friends and family and the happiness just wells up like a magical fountain.