Category: Uncategorized

committing consumerism

Drove Keith to the Main Station for work and then mounted a dawn assault (well, 10 am on a Saturday) on the Fluevog flagship store.  (Did you know John Fluevog is a Burnaby Boy?) Scored parking right outside and then bought Katie a stunning pair of black heeled boots and I got two more pairs of ‘vogs, one being a buckle up number in sage green (which was just over 100 dollars because I pointed out to the salesman that the toe caps seemed to be from two different dye lots) and t’other being flat black boots made of unbelievably soft leather.  The salesman was petting the leather and making happy noises which cracked me up.  Thanks Wesley!  Katie had trouble believing that heels could be so comfy, and I had trouble with the price tag, but I told her I’d buy her anything in the store that she liked and fit her, so I’m happy to be doing that.  I am tired of her always wearing trashy shoes and frankly so is she.

We also poked our heads into Nood and JUST LIKE IS TYPICAL OF MY FAMILY Katie made straight for the most expensive item in the store (a $1700 fiberglass 3/4 circle chair in white and royal red – think Austin Powers).  I read her the price tag and she leaped up like her ass was on fire.  I fell in love with a very beautiful dresser that was actually a good deal for $800 (beautifully made and designed with MANY different shapes and depths of drawers!) but stuck to the mission of shoeness.

The rest of the day I’m going to do laundry and let my debit card cool off. Possibly, I will make HATS for CATS.

I have come up with the name of my steampunk band, Mission Dirigible.  It’s imaginary, but awesome.

 

Lovely long break

Well, I have taken a break from blogging and a four day break from working, and let me tell you how things went….

Saturday last I did the shopping, picking up a small fresh turkey at Choices plus fixings.  Sunday I cooked for a good chunk of the day and Keith and Paul and, later, Katie, came by and ate what I had been slaving over.  Which was not as juicy as roast birds of yore but still damned good and the skin was amazing.  Monday I spent the whole day with Tammy, who was visiting from out of town, and what a lovely, lovely day we had; I went to pick her up with Katie in tow at 9:30, and then we went to Metrotown and had a chai latte and a bit of a gab fest before Katie went into work; then a quick stop at London Drugs where despite all of Jeff’s dire warnings I purchased him (and Keith) matching birthday presents, being RC helicopters; then since the rain quit for long enough we walked down at New Westminster Quay and then met up with Keith for a late and fabulous lunch at Balkan house (the pork fillet with mushroom sauce was spectacular!) and thus Tammy got to see both kids, which is great since she’s known them for 20 years and has much enjoyed being an ontie to both of them.  Then, we went back to Geekhaus and I sang and played (not long enough to be boring I hope) and drank beer (I was being good because I had to drive) and played with Tammy’s torch phone (I got some songs and video thereon)  then long about 8 I drove her back to her mom’s place in Granville Island environs.  The weather was foul for driving and I hit hydroplaning conditions BOTH ways on the highway, which sucked the proverbial, but made it home in good shape, only to find Katie anxious to catch up on Homeland.  The darned shows are so good that despite having watched all three of the last episodes of S1 I had to watch them again.

Today I am running laundry and dishwashers and dropped off Katie (who has sworn a mighty oath to come home tonight which just makes me laugh my ass off, because she’s going to go out and hang with friends on her Friday night no matter what she says to her mOm on the morn) and picked up food and drink and painkillers and had a facial at Cecil B, which was absolutely wonderful until the moment I realized I’d put Ziva in short term parking at which point I couldn’t relax cause I thought my damned car was going to be towed.  She wasn’t.  Then I realized I hadn’t put the alarm on at the house and rabbited home, and all was well there, so I scraped about a bunny’s worth of fur off Margot while she made her ineffectual and entirely pointless growling noise, and cleaned all the cat litter off her paws and the grunge off her bum, and when I came downstairs to collapse in front of Plants Vs Zombies for half an hour, ended up scraping hair off Eddie, who for once seemed to be okay with it.

Now I am contemplating a late and leisurely lunch of leftovers and honestly, I don’t think I’ve felt this good in ages.  Oh, and I sent my spare fascinator (there’s a combination of English words you don’t hear frequently) back with the lovely Tammy so her mOm could wear it for New Years’ and at some point Keith will go collect it as he can see her condo from where he works.  My cunning plan to have people meet each other at my behest when I’m not around continues!  And Tammy’s mOm is extraordinarily well connected in the arts and fundraising communities in Vancouver, so you can’t say I’m providing an introduction that won’t be to everyone’s benefit.  I briefly saw her condo which was resplendent with Christmas decorations of subtlety and taste.  Hell, someone’s got to do it.

I send all who have been wondering where I’ve been the best of the season, and I hope you all have a safe and comfy New Years’ Eve.  And may the blessings of temperance, civility and prosperity follow the excesses of the season.

Mike’s hosting this year’s partay.  It should be a modest and jolly affair.

Well I had a lovely vacation but now it’s over

Some things that happened that I didn’t mention.

Lots of practicing, maybe a new song.  It will emerge from its cocoon eventually I s’pose.

Straightening out some songwriting stuff.

Working on the December 4 homily.

Lots of hanging out with Katie, which was marvellous.  And is. She got VERY drunk for her birthday but managed to bring home the remains of the ‘penis cake’ which Jessica La Diva made for her.  (Much consternation in the girls’ circle “How come you never made a cake like that for me?”)

Purchased a slide whistle.  I think it will be useful in the nice echoey atrium at work during town halls.  Also, a pickup for the acoustic.  Now I need batteries for all the pedals Jim E loaned me.

On a sad note, those (insert slur here) at work have still not paid me the 2500 bucks they owe me for getting Mike on board – since September, and it’s now almost December.  Could use the money, chaps.

In talks with a guy I met on Craigslist.  I am hopeful merely for civility; nothing else on my wish list seems to be practical or reasonable.

Got to go down to the Fraser and by accident (Katie Sharpeyes “contact lens edition”) saw a seal, which morphed into two seals, who promptly had a full on “Let’s frolic and leap about where people can see us” until a speedboat turned up, at which point they promptly disappeared.  Given that I had just written a song about selkies it was pretty freaky.

Jeff IS AWESOME.  The inertnets dieded for a while and he got it back up by going out to the junction box and PM’ing it.  No, not Private Messaging it.  Percussive Maintenance.  He beat its sorry little head like a gong, and it WORKED.

Helped out with coffee at church and never saw so many newcomers at once.

Watched Lost Girls last night and laughed quite immoderately…. it was a good episode and my unholy crush on Kris Holden Reid continues.

Lovely long walk in Deer Lake Park earlier this week – no achy joints afterwards, I’m loving the new anti inflammatory.

Now to make coffee and shower and go back to work.  I wasn’t ignoring you, the internet was down.