Not much to report….

Paul had a lovely time in Ontario and picked up, oddly, placemats for us.  We now have matching placemats for as many people as we would ever feed, which is really cool in a 1950’s kinda way.  Going retro…

Jeff went to a Vancouver Giants hockey game last night. When he got here Keith and I were still up so we watched the Castle season opener.

My eyes are trashed – I wore my contacts for about 4 hours yesterday and now I feel like I’m hungover, they are so gritty and sore.  Keith says I should start out at two hours and gradually increment.

Your morning cute. This is an a to z animal – ass to zebra.

plotting und planning

Spoke to Vampire Family matriarch Jan this morning, also ex-mom-in-common-law Phyllis, also Paul Mills to get the lyrics for “Willie was a loner”, left a message for Chipper, texted Colin, spoke to Keith about him starting to pay for his phone, and otherwise started getting in the swing of things for the trip east.

happy happy thoughts.

Now I have to pick out one song and do it before folks start coming over this afternoon.

Freshly written down

But more than ten years old.  Now, in all it’s disgusterpating glory, is one of the songs I am very very proudest of.  Company dump.  I wrote this for a coworker named Jamie with whom I worked at SR Telecom in Montréal.

Company Dump midi.  Sprightly, ain’t it?

Company Dump pdf of sheet music.  Mit Lyrics.

PLEASE PLEASE WIDELY REPOST THIS.  I want this to be the unofficial anthem of the Canadian Working Stiff by Christmas.

Anybody who wants to sing this  – even at a paying gig – doesn’t owe me a dime.  If you want to record it (a likely story) please talk to me; the moral right of my ownership is thus asserted.

In my wildest dreams, a ludicrously talented art school student decides to turn this song into a three minute video… I suspect it could be very, very amusing.

Ethical issues

Man uses snake to ward off seizures.

1.  Does this man have the right to use a service animal that will scare the shit out of a substantial fraction of the travelling public?  Somebody coming on him unawares might have a panic attack and collapse.  I was unable to find stats on ophidiophobia, but I personally know or knew three people who were very fearful of snakes, and I went to high school with a guy for whom a PICTURE of a snake triggered a panic attack.  Does his right to any lawful treatment for his medical condition include the potential for serious emotional damage to other people?

2.  How is a service animal currently defined – per jurisdiction – who gets to decide what a service animal can be?

3.  Is it possible this guy is making the whole thing up, and that the snake is not actually feeling the onset of a seizure?  I bet no.

4.  Has he inadvertently stumbled on a nice research study?

5.  If the snake can detect seizures, what is the snake detecting?

Grr

Things keep happening in my personal life that are amusing and appalling and entertaining, and I have to keep my mouth shut.  I feel like a kid on the wrong side of a bathroom door, dancing up and down and clutching my cameltoe, but no, no talky about any of those things that are on my mind, whatever the infelt urgency.  I think that there aren’t many kinds of human speech; bragging, stroking, complaining, and sharing information. I want to brag 80% and share information 20% and those proportions make for long odds against my hypothetical communiqué being of interest to even my mother, who has had little use for tiresome blowhards as long as I can remember. With this sad and frustrated concession to common sense, good manners and self-interest, all things I show little respect for under most circumstances, I must turn my attention to other things and not splash my business about in an irresponsible or tasteless fashion.

Okay, that’s enough whining, nobody frikkin’ cares.  On the plus side, Katie was here and we blasted through a whole bunch of recorded television.  Last ep True Blood, season openers for NCIS, House and Castle.  Yup, sat through 5 hours of tv today, but at least I got the f=cking DVR on without calling Jeff at work for the nth-t-nth time.  Also, got one more song written down, being Cash Flow… a sweet little tune.  In the last couple of days I got Calliope and Wish it was Mine done too, or did I report on that already (grumbling fuddy duddy noises.)

The weather has been g for glorious.

To my joy and astonishment

Keith and Mike accompanied me to the Jericho Beach Folk Club last night, where we saw Lauren Sheehan.  As always, I can’t recommend who I saw there highly enough.  She played a Guild.  A couple of times I closed my eyes and I could hear John playing.  Here’s a taste…. although she was solo, no bass or harmonica last night.  Also, she played one kick ass banjo.

Lynn sang Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah (we all joined in on the choruses) and I was crying by the end of it.  I saw my first resonator ukelele last night; the man playing it was UNBELIEVABLE.  All in all an amazing evening.  I didn’t get to play, and I don’t care.

Productive day

Jeff and I emptied out the last storage locker (saving $1200 a year) and did a bit of a shop.  The Commercial Drive Can Car truck rattled and squeaked like what it is, the highest mileage car in the fleet, and when I got to our place the s.o.b. wouldn’t start again; sounds like the starter motor is going.  The third time I fired up I got lucky and while it was running I called the office and gave them my sad tale.  Then I scooted back to drop it off and then Jeff got me and we went to Main St, where both of us realized that we’d forgotten John’s Jukes is closed on Mondays so no rubber bumpers for us.  As a consolation prize I went to Kam’s and got egg tarts and red bean pastries (best I have ever eaten).  Managed to get within eyeshot of Pulp Fiction without buying anything.

So now of course, after finding a home for all our furniture, books, etc we have to squeeze down again.  I’m considering buying shelving to put in the guest room, it being the last place I can think of in the house that has anything resembling room.

Keith came over yesterday and we had another Homicide fest.  I LOVE that show, there has been one lame episode in five seasons so far and even the lamest episode has something to recommend it.  Also, it’s funny seeing Michelle Forbes (who plays the massively loathesome Marianne in True Blood) before she got her teeth redone and playing an intelligent and likeable (albeit buggo) character.  She has one of the best voices in TV.

I also worked away on “Wish it was Mine” which is one of my fave songs of mine, just because it’s so passionate about the ways in which men and women are always misunderstanding each other, and yet is so very short.  Brevity is one of the things I like best in my own work; even if you hate it, it will be over soon.

Katie is coming over or I’m going down to New West at some point today.