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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.

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.

4 am thoughts

  • The expression “Be careful what you wish for” just morphed from “Your thoughts have the power to change reality” to “If you wish for something bad on someone else and it happens, you will have to deal with how it makes you feel as a person about yourself” – I mean, unless you are really clueless. I have been wishing for emotional pain to land on somebody I don’t like for a while. I don’t know whether it’s happening or not, but I woke up at 3 am thinking, “You know, I’d feel awful it it happened, because I know what it’s like.” I’d like to think that the buckets of tears I’ve cried over the last two years have meant something; at very least that I’ll be more careful about putting myself into situations where tears appear necessary. Maybe that I’m trying to be more compassionate. Anyway, I’ve tossed some emotional baggage over the side, and while not always accompanied by tears, such thoughts seem to dovetail neatly with insomnia.
  • I had twelve unpacked boxes. Maybe sixteen… I still can’t find what I’m looking for, but I’ve unpacked some more. Soon more stuff can go into storage. Jeff found it amusing that I hadn’t realized all those boxes in the middle room were mine. Duh….
  • I really enjoy having friends drop by. Jeff keeps the public areas of the house comfortably tidy, so I never feel freaked out if people come over. And if you have beer or biscotti to stuff into them when they arrive that generally bodes well.
  • Tonight was the first night I got woken up by multiple sirens. Where I used to live in East Burnaby, we got sirens practically every night, and ALWAYS on Fridays and Saturdays. When I went to live up the hill, it became so still every night that it sometimes seemed rather post-apocalyptic, what with the fog and the eerie stillness. When I get woken by sirens, I pray for a good outcome, and experience gratitude that I live someplace where somebody cares enough to come rescue me if I screw up. Yes, atheists pray; that’s what I call what’s going on in my mind every time I wish for something I don’t have the capacity to make happen. I’m not praying to the, a or any God; we haven’t been introduced so asking him.her.it.they for something seems a little presumptuous.
  • I get to see little Darwin today!
  • I get to eat dinner and schmooze with Kopper and then she and I and Peggy will see jazz today!
  • I have only been up half an hour and I’ve already let the cats in and out three times each. Cazart!
  • Daughter Katie is out of town for three days at an in-laws wedding. All the rest of Suzanne’s kids bailed on her; the date was set three months ago; Katie couldn’t be in two places at once; so she sends her regrets with respect to seeing Darwin but she really did have a previous commitment.
  • The soundtrack for Juno is adorable. I found it on the network drive at work. Does this mean that somebody’s about to kick my door in, or is that in September when the new law takes effect?
  • I have been seesawing back and forth about my job. LTGW said yesterday apropos of nothing, “Is anybody really happy at work?” and I just sat there stupefied that he would ask such a thing. When I collected my wits, I said, “I don’t know. I don’t think so.” Then I thought some more and realized that the two things I like best about my job are direct contact with end user customers and my coworkers. As long as I have those, I’m staying put.
  • Jeff and LTGW appear to be favourably impressed with each other. I’m not expecting all my friends to like Jeff and vice versa, but it makes my life easier if they do. Besides, collectively, my friends have godlike powers to make extraordinary shit happen with exhilarating speed and deftness, yow!
  • I’m on twitter as allegras, if anybody cares. I only check on line.
  • Tammy told me something her boyfriend said that was so romantic and mature that I just kvelled.
  • Downstairs neighbour let me cut in line for the laundry. Thank you!
  • I don’t like listening to people yell at their kids.  I’m getting it from two directions these days.  Of course I yelled at mine but I don’t believe I did it as a steady diet.
  • I’m going to ride my bike someplace today, I just haven’t figured out where. I don’t think this rain will last – it looks like clearing somewhat.
  • A two stroke fired up close to our front door yesterday and Jeff said, what the hell’s dat noise? I looked. When I came back I said, “Somebody is burning oil to take care of his lawn.” It was a compactor or some such device. In ten to wenty years, only the supremely rich will even bother – everybody else will be growing food in the same space. Every day I see things that make me think, “Won’t have THAT as an annoyance much longer…”
  • It now being 5 am, I’m going to head back to my comfy bed and try to grab some more shut-eye.

Tyson

ScaryClown’s buddy Tyson, who’s battled brain cancer for many years past his best before date, died peacefully in his sleep last night, at home.  I’ll post a link to his site, which has a lot of his extremely cool artwork, when I can.

I’m really glad he didn’t die in hospital, and that he was enjoying life to the fullest until the end.  I had brunch with him a couple of months back….

Love each other while you can.

My evil plans for world domination continue

I have now passed S1 of Deadwood along to Fanboy Joe; Patricia is working her way through S2.  Bwa ha ha.

It was amazing to watch the last shuttle launch in Hi-Def.

Barbecued chicken, salad, garlic bread and pickled beets for dins last night.  Tonight steak and taters, because I feel like it.  The weather has been quite wet, but I’m happy about that as I have not had to water my transplants.  All of the seedlings Richter’s sent me survived except for one gai lan.  Nautilus3 warned me I’d need to feed the strawberries so soon I will be getting plant food.

The Luddite’s garden is an amazing collection of homemade bean poles, enormous raspberry plants, clematis, chives, strawberries in containers, and overgrown flowerbeds full of California poppies and other things I can’t recognize.  He recently evicted a skunk from under the porch.  He lined broken mirrors that he found in alleyways along one side of the back vegetable bed to increase the amount of light; the effect is hard to describe but I think it’s really cool, and it does work to increase the light rather dramatically.

The homemade bean poles.  OMG.  He deliberately pruned a pear tree to make straight branches and then cut them all down last weekend to make THE most SKOOKUM bean poles you ever saw in your life.  They are bean poles for the ages.

The garden at this house is pretty nice for a rental.  There are a lot of pretty flowering shrubs, and I love the ivy on the front porch, it’s one of the things that sold this apartment to me.

Walk at SFU

ScaryClown, who is an extremely cultured individual while being one of the rudest and most emotionally malformed individuals I’ve ever met, is a good person to walk in the woods with.  The walks in the woods close to work which we take at lunch are an endless education, as he (and Patricia to an extent) points out plants and critters.  The wiggly things in the pond earlier in the week turned out to be young salamanders – a. gracile as a best guess (thanks Patricia).  We risked soakers and falling ass deep into murky water to have a look at them.  Photos weren’t possible as the reflections were too much, according to Robof9.  The four of us were shouting and pointing like we are all much younger – and the youngest among is is 37, for cry eye.  Okay, I miscall it… all of us but Robof9, who is a very dignified individual, when he isn’t making dreadful puns.

Jeff and I just mopped up waffles and bacon and are getting going on the day.

As soon as the homily’s done and delivered, I’ll be back with more…..

Walk to work

I said more later…. here it is. So I’m walking down from the bus loop. That’s the Arts and Sciences building to the right – not shown, and the TASC building is right ahead.

Okay… now that you’ve seen it, the lovely woodsy walk, you have to ask yourself… What’s this like on a foggy February morning when it’s pitch dark out still and everything is covered in two feet of snow and nobody has shoveled, plowed, sanded or salted.  Yeah – that’s when those railings really make sense!!!