Author: Allegra

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

Sundry and various

A Social Network my dad can get next to.

Thanks ScaryClown.

Don’t click on this link unless you are prepared to see what happens when you combine alcohol, a wardrobe malfunction, heroically bad martial arts chops and a friend with a digital camera.

ScaryClown sent me that one too.  It’s a truly amazing picture, and I feel sorry for the poor bastard.  Really.  Why is he still wearing a tie?

 How to make boats more environmentally friendly.

Forwarded from Peter T.

Another loverly day

My passport’s here already!  I get to pick it up tomorrow. Katie says hers has turned up but she has to take time off work to pick it up so she’s some choked.  Oh well  ….NOW I CAN BOOK OUR VACATION!!!!! WEE.

Keith watched the Happy Feet segment of King of Jazz and he loved it almost as much as I did.  If anybody cares….

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Keith reports that he was on a Skytrain that got struck by lightning.  He said the car went deader than a doorknob and when the repair guy showed up (4 minutes later) he said the car disappeared off the screen at central like it wasn’t there any more.  To be anywhere in Vancouver and see lightning at all is unusual – to be in a Skytrain car that gets hit is downright freaky.

Went to Planet Bachelor tonight for a cooperative dinner and to pick up the camping gear.  I will not be posting unless my cell phone works up there, which I doubt, and I don’t feel like paying $30 in internet charges just to log onto my crummy site.  So I’ll be away from Friday night to Sunday night.

I am really looking forward to it, although a lot of my fave folks will be no shows due to other commitments.

Spoke to one of the Beacon young adults today about getting cooperative ministry set up at SFU.  We will see what happens.  I loved small group ministry when Paul and I were hosting – I have so many happy memories of that time.

Kira JUMPED INTO MY LAP when I was at Planet Bachelor tonight – that was a lot like getting struck by kitty lightning.

I must with sadness report that Speck, a companion animal in Chipper’s family, has gone where all good dogs go.  He was a lively critter – he loved to run.

Labyrinth

I’m still processing from my labyrinth walk yesterday.  Walking meditations – for those who are able – are very powerful and go a long way down into the human psyche.  I found it interesting that I experienced the entire walk as resistance and physical pain, but the next morning, I woke up knowing what I have to do; I am clear again and realize the pain was a reminder that there’s something I have to do, which I won’t enjoy.

To be more specific, I have gotten into a bad habit, and I have to shed it, and the sooner I do the better off the world will be. So the walk was a reminder to drop something rather than acquire it.

I was the first person to walk the labyrinth as part of an open house which Ellesmere United Church hosted – it’s in the SAME BUILDING where I live.  What are the odds?  When I walked into this building, I was overcome by a feeling that I was in the right place… learning that a Chartres labyrinth is now part of the architecture of the place, and that it was put in while I was living here, has only made the living here sweeter.

Soon I will leave this nest for a new one – I don’t know exactly when or how.  But it will be soon, and then I will move into a different phase of my life, one in which I am not living by myself.   In the meantime, I have acquired some good habits and some discipline about keeping my personal space cleaner and tidier.  But I gotta say, I am SO looking forward to having somebody else to cook for, I’m going to cook and bake like a maniac the first couple of weeks.

On Sunday I will have been off smokes for two weeks.  It’ll be interesting to see if I can avoid smoking the next time I see Paul or daughter Katie.

Quick post

Bailed early on Richard Grainger last night at Jericho because Katie K was toothpicking (you know, holding eyes open with toothpicks).  I HATE the other coop car location up here.  It sucks a very filthy mop.  The parking space is miserably inaccessable.

Other than that life is good, except I didn’t get to play.

Oh, for the love of Pete

No, not Pete, some other guy on the Internet.

Scanged from Fark.  This could never have happened with me and Paul.  I would have figured him out from the typos almost immediately.  Mind you, I will never in a thousand lifetimes be able to fix an aircraft, so the typos aren’t really an idscf0066.JPGssue in the grand scheme of things.
Yesterday somebody asked me how the manhunt was going (not, thank God) and referred me to Craigslist.  I said, “Been there, etc.; I got one nebbish, one crazy, and one nice guy who didn’t want to have anything to do with me.  I’ll stick with what I got, and nobody has to listen to me snore, thanks!”

I keep watching the Happy Feet section of King of Jazz.  I really like watching Paul Whiteman dance – yes, I like watching the fat guy dance.  What’s wrong with that?  The other thing I keep watching is the unbelievable King of Jazz S&M sequence in “I’d like to do things for you” which, honest to Murgatroyd, is odd beyond compare.   When the guy starts lisping about spanking in baby talk my mouth hangs open about a yard.

We were down three people at work yesterday, and I got to be on the phone all day.  But the Fool was my day card, so I went into every interaction as a brand new fool – and all the customers were wonderful except one, and he turned out not to be my problem.  Anyway, I got a pile of orders to the ceiling, so, on the assumption that today will be like yesterday (it won’t…..) I’ll go into work a trifle early.

I restrung my guitar yesterday, the Nanostrings having grown this weird fungus-y thing on them.  I got Martin bronze and steels instead.  Immediately one of my old songs “All the Con Men I have Known” which is partly about Brian W – wherever he is, and partly about Kevin D – ditto, at least from what his wife tells me – and partly about Wally Solotow, may the goddess rest his soul, came into my mind and I rehearsed it for tonight.  I then picked up the guitar and wrung it into shape (the Seagull stays in tune very well once you bang it in) and got the chorus to a song which is going to be called “Little Cat” except of course it’s not about cats at all.  Then I started work on a mando chord progression which is extremely weird but I think will eventually turn into a song.

I am going to share a small secret.  About half a dozen times in my life, I’ve written a song that wasn’t true at the time but reflected a situation or emotional state, good or bad, and over time the EXACT words of the song have come true; or have since become hideously ironic.  I wrote a song with the lines “Well I wish I knew when we’d meet on earth again” within about 12 hours of Glenda dying last year, and that was a little close for comfort, when I found out afterwards, especially as my recollection of the song was that I had to stop what I was doing and write it.  I recollect it clearly; I was in the kitchen and for once alone in the house (songwriting with Keith around is an entire pain in the ass).   Anyway, it happened again.  I can’t say I’m entirely happy about it, because it’s just so bizarre, and the experiment is not repeatable or quantifiable, but imagine what it’s like to be me these days! Just think, if I write the correct lyrics I’ll win the lottery.

Pic is of the moon over the city from the deck at Jericho.