Category: Family

Sea Dragon!

The title of this post is a joke…. it’s the name of the first game my brother ever hacked.   It had >>>gasp<<< sound, and ran on an Apple II.  But THIS picture is not a joke.  Purty.

If the two apartments I saw yesterday were a joke, they were a really lousy one.  The first apartment’s environs stank of ill-use and poverty – although the apt itself wasn’t so bad -and there was a horrible gas furnace right in the middle of the apartment for heat – essentially meaning that the bedrooms would be freezing in the wintertime.  Pass. 

Serendipitously there was another sign up saying Apartments Available a couple of blocks away, and when I viewed THAT apartment the stench of rotting garbage (chicken bones and meat, I think) could be appreciated through the door.  My viewing was brief and to the point.

Keith tried to make the first appointment but he came off his bike and trashed it.  He was not seriously injured.  No sign of Katie.

The last coat of paint goes on my room, and then we bid farewell to Unca Dave tomorrow midday and then Hello Carpet Layers on Monday.  Which means we’ll be camping out in our own house, as we can’t move any furniture back in until all the carpet is down. 

The new light fixtures, wall sockets and light switches look def triff.

Work continues apace

The master bedroom is getting done today and then Unca Dave is leaving tomorrow for Gadget House – a day earlier than planned.  He will be returning to finish the bathroom and the trim and then head back to the wilds of Castlegar. 

Katie slept at home last night.

Although for the dignity and sanity of the miscreants I cannot name names, I love my coworkers.  Yesterday marked the 10th anniversary of my full time employment with the company that any widgeon with a cursory understanding of the internet could learn the name of.  I got THE BEST PRESENT from a coworker ever; it was a MOMENT and not a thing, but it was a frikken priceless moment, and I snicker helplessly every time I think of it. 

I was awoken by choppers this morning and learned at the bus stop that two human hearts stopped beating two blocks from my house.

I have been having dreams with colour in them.  In the first one Paul and I were living in a three story house when a yellow piece of landing gear came through the roof.  (I took this as a sign that Paul’s not going to make it in Vancouver through the layoffs, but we’ll see.) The following night I dreamed I was in a women’s change room and I picked up a bath bomb and it turned into an explosion of purple mud which I promptly painted my chest with.  It smelled good, too.  I very rarely feel or smell things in dreams, so I was quite pleased about that. 

 

I am so spaced out that I took a bag of plastic insects instead of my bathing suit out to Tom and Peggy’s car last night.  That makes me snicker too.

Trim

Yesterday I cleaned, painted trim (1st coat) and moved crap around.  Tom and Peggy fed me and Martha (may she (many years hence) inhabit a cushy cloud in the Hesht Behesht) gave me about fifteen minutes of neck and shoulder work, which I desperately needed.

Work is rapidly improving over my last grumpy post on the matter.  There has been, as they say, a sea-change. 

Tonight I put on the second coat and go to the puddle with Tom and Peggy and anybody else we can inveigle into going.

Glenn and Maggie were here last night as well to eat with Paul and Keith and Unca Dave, and they were still here when I got back from Tom and Peggy’s, so I got in a nice visit with them.

 

Man does the place look better…. the ceilings are shiny and clean!

Rainy day, sunny heart

It’s entirely crappy outside, but for some reason I feel way better about the world today.  Keith seems almost entirely healed up from his wisdom removal (he isn’t, but the swelling is way down) and he is hardly using any painkillers.  He is steadfastly opposed to the unnececessary use of any drugs, prescription or not.  Katie is cheerful about the world too.  She’s decided not to get too upset about anything.  Of course I could go on at great length about THAT.

One of my regular readers complained recently that I’m not WRITING ENOUGH.

 

Honestly, I didn’t know how to respond.  With some effort, I said, “Well, I was kinda trying to take Thumper’s Mom’s advice, If you can’t say something nice, don’t say nothin at all. But how ‘me’ is that?  Perhaps I should be locking and loading, rocking and rolling, twitching and foaming, as per usual.  But is this wise?  Should I not be aspiring to Buddha like calm and a world view which encompasses monts et merveilles without losing any cool?

Speaking of cool, I’m off to see Cory Doctorow at SFU on Friday.  I got the afternoon off.  I’m going to go and get a beer, and then go to the washroom, and then line up, and then call Rob of Nine (typed Nice, which is hilarious, because Rob of Nine is many things but ‘nice’ is not in the top ten soubriquets which I would apply to him) to come up the hill and join me.

Air Canada is full of devastated employees today.  The North Hangar is going to get entirely cleaned out.

Well, it’s time to suck back coffee and head for the salt mines.  More later.

Wii Party & other stuff

Brother Jerome held a Wii party last night. I mopped the floor with him bowling – the only game I played. Then I had a very satisfactory evening drinking a few beers (Paul found more Lion Winter Ale!), talking to Cam and Yoni (and getting Yoni’s version of Cam’s proposal after I admired her tasteful emerald engagement ring), and watching Margaret, Paul, Keith and Jerome go Rabbid and play golf. The avatar construction was the most fun of all. I wish I had a screen cap of mine. Keith’s looks like a, uh, chemically challenged Weird Al Yankovic.

It was probably too soon for Keith to be out flailing around – he had all four wisdom teeth pulled out on Friday, for gosh sakes – but man, it was nice to see him not thinking about the pain and swelling for a while. He kept some of the teeth, and they are quite impressive. Dr Rondeau actually called him on Saturday to check up on him! Keith, of course, is following the aftercare instructions scrupulously.

Kate is home asleep. There was some kind of emotional upheaval yesterday that got really ugly… details thankfully not available. She claims to be done with Daxus again, but I am past the point of believing it. The lure of his – whatever the hell it is that has such a zombie hold on her – and his family, of whom Katie is inordinately fond – will probably resurface. At last report he was making noises about coming up here. I have to say, Dr. Filk will be disgusted if he shows up when he’s not around to give Dax the welcome he may hastily prepare; Dr. Filk is on the island for the weekend.

Today, more dejunking (we got banker boxes and shredder yesterday) and I’ll be heading over to Tom and Peggy’s to catch a lift to church shortly.

up early

Up at 4:42
2005-05-05— Posted by: allegra

This is Jim P my double first cousin in common-law and a geoduck. Pronounced Gooeyduck. I have no idea why. Anyway, these are alleged to be mighty fine eating. Personally I like the facial expression.

Today is Nita’s 19th b-day. Have a wonderful time, doll!

attitude
2005-05-05— Posted by: allegra

This is a newborn Bengal Tiger from a zoo in Indonesia.

Who would do such a thing?
2005-05-05— Posted by: allegra

Liz…. WHAT is the meaning of this outrage. Pope Benedict is a kindly old guy who likely has an interesting range of prostate symptoms. He’s following after “My Charisma outshines my Three Tiered Crown Wojtyla” which ya gotta admit is not a fun place on the playbill AND St Ambrose’s prediction says Ben’ll be the third last pope before the world gets an enema so it’s like hurry up and get your sheep herded, boy, cause the lord’s branging down the storm soon.

And some louse of an Italian – a cockroach among humankind – puts a really badly scanned picture of his face into a mockup of a Nazi uniform. Look, I freaking well did what people told me when I was sixteen, and I tried to work faster if they were carrying guns. The Lord sent him a finger infection so he never had to fire a gun and he ran away, that last year of the war, as sensible lads in his situation would if they could get away with it. Personally nothing about his war record makes me unhappy with Ben.

It’s just a nasty picture, and I think sad thoughts about changing his ways at the “ritale” who did it. I am only posting it so you can see the kind of calumny the new Pope is being subjected to, and to let you know that the Italian government shut the site down.

Okay, if I was consistently playing anarchist I would at this point say “Screw the Pope” but there are several problems with this approach. I’m not happy with the Pope, but I don’t think he should be subjected to any more ridicule than I get from, say, my immediate family, which, were he to get it, would probably cause him to croak and necessitate another Election. On the other hand, what is the Italian government doing stifling art and free expression??? Not that this picture comes anywhere close to being art. I don’t know which side of this divide I should jump to. Should I go with the “Don’t Disrespect the Pope, he is the spiritual leader of one person in six on this planet”, or should I go with, “Why not have a little fun???”

The first gay marriage in the family data base

I love my mother
2005-05-01— Posted by: allegra

Yeah, I know, it’s kind of old news, but I have a new reason. My mother just emailed me, and I have to quote from it because it is SO beautiful and subtle….start quote

It's been interesting.  I have eaten too much, not slept enough, experienced the tail-end (one hopes) of a Saskatchewan winter, communed with four cats, been principle photographer at a wedding, spent a lot of time at a hospital.  I kept up with your blog and heard from David a lot but not enough.  I am collecting up Graeme's family history to put into the family data base.  He is now your first cousin once removed by marriage.

End Quote. So let the haters hate – I don’t care. My mother is placidly including a same sex marriage in the family annals / genealogy, and that’s exactly the way it should be. Welcome to the 21st C.

May day, May day
2005-05-01— Posted by: allegra

This is Samil the Tigron; the pic is copyright Agence France Presse and Michel Riopa took it. Agence France Presse sues people if they make money off their pictures; they whacked Google recently, which made me laugh, as half the cute animal pictures I’ve ever posted here were AFP. Sue me! I need the entertainment. They’re gonna have to repo Paul’s shoes if they want to find any boodle around here.

Anyhoo, I am currently in a Very Bad Mood. I am hoping a restorative cuppa and the prospect of Paul going to work within the next hour will return me to my normally cheerful, or at least neutral, state of mind. Then I’m off to pretend I am a member of the working class. It’s been bloody years since I marched in a May Day parade. And dratitall, none of my dyes are clean. Oh well.

One of my correspondents, who attended a recent U2 concert, informs me that when Bono asked the audience to call the PM’s office, the phone number that went up on the screen first was 615 instead of 613. (They did correct it). I am sure some manicurist in Tennessee is wondering why all these crazy Canucks are calling to yell at her about the 3rd world debt sitch. Technology is a fickle friend, folks. Sometimes the receiving end (think depleted uranium) isn’t much fun.