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!
Click on the title to get the file into a player so you can hear it. I wrote this 4 years ago standing in the rain waiting for a bus.
Oh your words
are written in the water
but your deeds
are set in stone
but even stone
can be worn by water
when ten thousand
years have flown
Speak your truth
and it will be a rock to you
speak your lies
the rock is gonna come a-flood
Do you suppose
in that fearful landscape
the rock can tell
the water from blood
Katie is increasingly stoked about her camping trip. Wish I could say where but we don’t want uninvited guests now do we…
The shop SMELLS OF BACON.
We experimented with a new soup recipe and it’s so simple and so tasty Katie and I are both doing the Snoopy happy dance. We can haz cheezy broccoli soup!
It’s raining, and we don’t mind. Only one more hour to go, and then I pick up Ziva (again) and we go to Costco (our home away from home) and then… ep 4 Band of Brothers with Jeff, since we are rewatching it. SUCH A GOOD SHOW.
Gotye’s Heart’s a Mess is playing on the shop sound system.
Yeah, so not so much revenue, but a good day anyway. Regulars came by, newbies came by, I got my CRA letter off to the post box, all the fridges are behaving, I organized a bunch of receipts, wrote down the new recipe… and Katie’s crush forked over his phone number. I can now let my breath out after a month.
I light a candle for a close family friend who just lost a baby. I sucked in my breath when I heard she was expecting… she’s multi-risk. And now she knows why women don’t announce pregnancies until they quicken. It’s horrible, it’s sad, it’s completely messed up, and it is life in it’s glorypain. She and her husband are going to lie low for a couple of days. Hell of a thing to happen on Mother’s Day, god help us all.
Yesterday I made the dough for biscotti, got the sign down and out the door on to Signfast’s truck and believe me that thing is AWKWARD to shift around, ran coffee through the Bunnomatic for the first time (it’s okay but we gotta make sure the sprayer is set right and we have to turn the machine on the instant we get in in the morning or we won’t have coffee for about half an hour or more), got the back fridge working with the help of my wee man. a temp sensor (which he says was located in the wrong place which is why the thing was rusted as a car on blocks), watched the amazing amount of foot traffic that goes by the store, learned that there is a coffee shop going in to the Community centre (which obviously made me sad), got a schoolin’ about what to do with the waste heat from the compressor which made me very thoughtful but means that the shop will be cooler in summer and warmer in winter, got proper knobs for the gas ovens, swept the shop, did all the dishes, made myself a sammy with the chicken breast from Grimms (I think we should order from them, their meat is really good), found out from the City of Burnaby that we do NOT in fact need a permit for our sign (I had been concerned), arranged other inspections or got them in train with the City, transferred some money into the biz account, got stuck in the worst…fucking…traffic ever while getting the last items out of Katie’s apartment, talked briefly to her former co-tenant Randy, who dished dirt on a friend’s drunken ass ex in a most entertaining fashion, found out that the Dandy Warhols are playing the Commodore June 22 AND IT’S A PLAY THROUGH OF THIRTEEN TALES FROM URBAN BOHEMIA one of my fave albums ever and I’m STOKED, had an extremely emotional conversation with Jeff during which he was extremely supportive and calming (thank you, and bless you) and no I’m not going to talk about it on my blog, watched a couple of episodes of Third Watch, and watched Eddie bring in a baby mouse, which after a brief discussion about what to do with him (Izzy living here after all) Jeff put back outside much to Eddie’s disgust. Candidly I shouldn’t even have suggested it because Izzy is a hand tamed snake and wild critters carry all kinds of interesting diseases. Day before yesterday learned about a Swedish sci fi show called Real Humans which is awesome even with subtitles and which I want to see the rest of soonish. Today I learned that Margot is turning into a dog. She now circles once (forwards OR backwards, which is beyond words entertaining) before lying down, and she still comes to greet and say goodbye when we go places. Jeff got her to almost fetch the other day, and she chases the floppy flyer (fabric frisbee style thingee).
Today back into the shop to wait for the sign and work on various things that you can’t work on when all the shops are closed. Katie’s at her friends place in New West but I wasn’t expecting her to come home, she was partying with the buddies who have been so supportive to her this past year.
Apart from the church stuff, which I would like to chuck over a back fence, and the lawn, which needs mowing, I’ve never felt better. I’m even recovered from the move. And it doesn’t matter that my todo list looks as it does. Gradatim, baby.
This one is called Be Ye Blessed and I don’t have a lot of words yet but it is a hymn. I loves Otto, he’s so good to me.
I tried once before to write a song about the backstory of griffins, but I think this one will work out better, being in a minor key. Lyrics when they come to me. On track for a 14 song month, per FAWM.
Church today. I am not feeling very inspired, but I’ll feel differently after church. Oh, yeah, I forgot… we’re rehearsing.
In the last week or two I have spoken on the phone to Lois and Terry and Bonnie and Carrie and Ron (an old family friend I probably don’t often mention) and Tammy and Dave the poet and my mother and the minister…. I keep forgetting what it’s like to really talk to somebody who knows me from when I was a pup. And sometimes I am doing more listening than talking, but…. I believe there’s something about friendship which occasionally requires this ‘sacrifice’. Tammy more than anybody I know makes me feel heard. It is a most wonderful sensation, even if we are murder on each other as travelling companions, heavy sigh. Carrie is being driven spare by repeating earthquakes and aftershocks and her moronic and supposedly no contact order former spouse.
Chalice circles start up again tonight. There is homework, darn it and we have to COMMIT to going twice a month for four months. It’s down at Sue’s place which is nice and close. I hate that there is homework. The free form chalice circles of yore worked a lot better for me.
Out to brekky with Jeff this am. I am hoping to convince him to combine it with a trip to Thrifty’s first as there are tiresome holes in our larder, like eggs and cream for coffee and white sugar (we have brown but it just doesn’t cut it for certain kinds of baking). Yes, he has agreed – as long as we don’t get anything frozen.
RGIII’s knee injury last night during the Seahawks Bengals game was just about the most disgusterpating thing I’ve ever seen lovingly replayed about a hundred times. Blergh.
Between now and shopping and brekky, it’s JOB APPLICATING TIME!!!
KATIE was at CHURCH YESTIDDAY! I haz a happy! (Song went okay). JEFF fixed KYLE’S COMPUTER. I haz a happy! I can’t get hold of the new bookkeeper! I haz a panic attack! TRE AND BATTERY dropped by for an impromptu visit and TRE PLAYED ON THE PINBALLS while BATTERY AND JEFF CHATTED! Tre is three and really really enjoyed it, although Margot wishes him to the uttermost pit. We haz a happy about dese tings! EDDIE IS UPSET AT SOMETHING in the yard. We haz a scaredy. LIZ MCINTOSH FRIENDED ME ON G+. Yay, my second oldest friend has gotten back in touch with me electronically. I HAVE AN EVIL PLAN TO MAKE MONEY IF I CAN’T GET A JOB. I can haz a scheming plot! And so, from asterisk to asterisk, from ALL CAPS TO italicized, from call to call and packet to packet and cheque to cheque and cheek to cheek and from plug to drain, these are the expostulations of our lives.
The latest. At least it’s brief.
I went to a gospel concert last night, and I rarely get a chance to have my face rubbed in my prejudices quite so roughly.
1. Lead chorister / choirmaster was the very parody of a jump up to Jesus gospel singer. He also sang flat until he warmed up. FRICKIN AWESOME ON KEYS THOUGH. no SRSLY.
2. For the love of GOD people, Jesus was NOT BORN IN A MANGER. He was born in a stable and LAID IN A MANGER. If I hear another person sing born in a manger as lyrics I’ma lose my mind.
3. Gospel should have a live band or a keyboard player as accompanist OR NOTHING. This group had a very sophisticated set of keys that did everything a band in a box could be expected to do, including sliding up half a tone, and providing ludicrous amounts of bass and percussion, but no soul whatever. That was candidly the most disturbing part of it.
4. Excellent use of soloists, although I’m not a fan of the sliding up into Minnie Riperton high notes.
5. I’ve heard every Christmas song a lot over the course of half a century; you’d think I’d be happy to hear different arrangements. As well as they were sung, and the choir sang their faces off, believe me, the arrangements did unspeakable things for long dead bears.
6. My cognitive biases had me saying to myself, “And how much more I love my dear little Beacon choir, even if I’d rather hack my feet off and eat them than submit to our current choirmaster by joining.” Don’t play well in the sandbox, me.
7. I got to sit next to Tammy, win, and walk to and from the theatre, win.
8. And I wrote an air walking home.
Almost 100 years old! no work no more
Tammy is here for Christmas, yay! I’m going with her to Granville Island today.
If you’re near water and have a drum, beat it in solidarity with the Idle No More movement at 11 am today (PST).
Now, the laundry before I leave for downtown. Tammy’s mum has already told me where to park for free at Granville Island… but I’ve lived in Vancouver 15 years and I already know. Tee hee.
I get to see a gospel concert in the next couple of days. I am a bit foggy on when and where, but I’m hoping I don’t have to drive too far.
It’s time for me to start practicing my Compost song for the sermon in January.
I have already applied for two jobs and it’s just gone 6 am.
I will continue to look, however. I’m supposed to hear back about the job in New West today. Hope I do, it’s a fifteen minute bus ride.
Kitchen clean up.
STACKS of church paperwork, but I have been given an energy boost by positive interactions at church yesterday.
Laundry…. the continuing saga.
Trying to figure out a mandolin part for the keeping bears happy song. Or a guitar part, but I hear mandolin.
Justin Timberlake clogs. In a movie, not a drain.
Margot was running around the house doing the crazy cat thing. Since she’s never done this before, she’s now laid up in the cat hotel in the corner of the living room and breathing with an astonishing stertorousness.
I need to find out what those folks are doing with my tax returns.
I have written a new song. Draft lyrics include
Heard
You Got
What you deserve!
And the band played Neener Neener
Luck ran out, you didn’t swerve
and the band played neener neener
Lie and bully, steal and break
and take and take and take and take
You think there’s been a big mistake
and the band plays neener neener.
Cuffs and cruiser, bruises too
Cause when you run, that’s what cops do
You’ll have time to think it’s true
and the band played neener neener
Textbook, what one should avoid
Wouldn’t stay in school, couldn’t stay employed
Can’t pronounce right but it is SCHADENFREUDE
and the band played neener neener.
Maybe you will get six months
and the band played neener neener
We’ll get relief from being played as chumps
and the band played neener neener
Maybe you will take a hint
and not have brains like dryer lint
Please enjoy your jailhouse stint
and the band played neener neener.
Yes, the tune sorta resembles Deep in the Heart of Texas.
Before I get rid of my Blackberry phone (I bought an HTC One S recently which I am very happy with) I have to clean off all the songs I sang into it. I’m knocking off for the day as far as notation goes. I have dozens to go, but I have other crap I need to be doing today.
We had a superlative meal at Chong Lum Hin last night – blowout amounts of food for seven people and six beers came to $115.
And of course Lois was there so we had a lovely schmooze. Kyle, Keith, Kate and Carly joined me Paul and Lois. Jeff was asleep. I think he would have enjoyed it. There was an extremely funny piece of byplay. The more I hang out with Kyle the better I like him. He simply doesn’t have a mean bone in his body, and that, my friends, makes a lovely change.
Church was awesome, although (speaking as a semi-pro) Donatella should have pitched her voice lower and slowed down. She wasn’t being kind to the deaf people in the congregation. And Lois came so I got to sit around and drink coffee with her afterwards. Paul took Carol home, blessings on his shiny silver head. Rob came up to me and scritched me behind my cat ears (I was wearing the anime hat Keith gave me.)
Today I’m off to Sue’s place for ‘the adventures of further churchy business’ and tonight I’m thinking about finding an open stage and singing.
The Beacon Birthday song (or some end of it…) is substantially complete and I am transcribing it. There’s a bridgy part that I’m not too clear on as far as the melody. Three other songs are nipping at me to be written down, but I’ve learned to wait until the tunes are fixed to do that.
Time to pop the last of the cookie dough into the oven so Jeff and I can SCHNACK! MWAH!
And don’t think I’m not angry about what’s happening in the world. I am. But I am also loving what is, including this foul and windy weather.