Wreck Beach on a Tuesday

I was talking to a friend on the phone late last night.  The vitamin D blasted me out of my winter doldrums (and killed my joint pain stone dead… who knew?) and I was sharing my good fortune with him.  Then he axed if I’d written anything lately. I was so disappointed with myself for saying no that I wrote an instrumental called – as you see above.  Jeff will, if I ask him nice, once more try to make me understand how to FTP something bigger than 2 megs…. I will post when I can.

This is a candle for the safety of a friend at church who is going through a very scary divorce.  I mean, really scary, like I’m scared to read about her in the news scary.

This is a candle of thanksgiving that I have money to help my kids as they establish themselves, and the support of Paul and my folks in that endeavour.

This is a candle of hope for Unca Dave.  My mOm is with him now, and I think she and Unca  Barry and the rest of Unca Dave’s kin who are visiting him are really wonderful.

This is a candle for Kopper at the turning of the year.  And one each for her unique and remarkable children.

This is a candle for Mike and his new apartment *yay*.

This is a candle for Keith, who for his recent demonstrations of manturity, leaves lights and appliances on as if he wasn’t a day over fourteen.  Typo intentional, yo.  Just in case you were wondering if hip hop is dead.  Not, just on life support.

This is a candle for Tammy, who’s back from France.

This is a candle each for my trio of friends/family in Kanata.  Brother James, a big shout out for the happiness you gave just by sending postcards to me at work and given Karen a smile from me.  Leo & fambly, thanks for sharing the pictures of your travels – and that porcupine, which made me burst out laughing when I saw it.  Deb, big warm seasonal inflected-with-cinnamon hugs for you, Jim and Jenn, and your companion animals….

This is a candle for me.  I feel human again.  Hurting, but able to think about something else besides me for a change.  It’s pretty good right now.

Brain test

I just took a test at testmybrain.org.

The tests were for forward digital span, multiple object memory, abstract art memory, face memory and verbal paired associates.  I was above average for everything except word pairs.

Forward digital span, 9 (out of possible 11)

Multiple object memory 22 (out of possible 25)

Abstract art 24 (out of possible 25)

Face Memory 14 (out of possible 15)

Word pairs 14 (out of possible 25)

This is oddly comforting to me.  I feel like maybe I not so dumb as all that.

This is my cousin Alyssa. No, not that one, the new one.

Cousin Gerald had a kid, and that kid had a kid.  I am going to give a prize to the person who comes up with the best two or three word description of Alyssa’s expression, because I have never in my life seen its equal.  Let’s just say I’m impressed with her amazing, beautiful and mesmerizing eyes.

Win a Prize!  Caption this baby!!!
Win a Prize! Caption this baby!!!

Quote from IMDB

Jeff thinks the reviews on IMDB stink.  I plead guilty to plebeian tastes.  Get this quote, which is kinda a quote of a quote:

David Mamet once explained the difference between art and entertainment. Entertainment, he said, reinforces what you already know, and tells you that you’re right. Art, on the other hand, suggests that what you know is wrong, and that your beliefs might not be correct.

Anyway, the quote is from a review of To Live and Die in LA which I now have to watch, because William Petersen in his mid thirties is yummers.

Slimfast and Methadone

Becoming Jane was the other movie from yesterday evening.  Apart from Anne Hathaway’s wandering accent, it was charming.

Hey, just in case any of you thought that the economy was going to get magically better… you have to wonder when stories like this are crawling out from under the rocks.

Today’s tasks.  Laundry.  Clean up “Slimfast and Methadone” in GarageBand (the last verse needs to be re recorded and the bass line goes spastic in the last verse… it’s kinda like listening to a train wreck right now).  Go to party at Doug and LEs and say bye to them honk weep. Buy almonds and eggs and butter and beer.  Not necessarily in that order.

Once Slimfast and Methadone is fixed, I will post an MP3 of it on the site and then I plan to do a Youtube video.

William Petersen

Of course he’s well known as the ‘about to resign’ Gil Grissom in CSI, but he was also Will Graham in Michael Mann’s Manhunter long about 20 years ago.  Imagine Gil Grissom but young, thin and hawter than the hubs of Hades, folks.  I just saw the Director’s Cut of Manhunter. Re Mr. Petersen..

1. He’s bowlegged!  Who knew?  He certainly doesn’t get shot so you can see his bowlegs in CSI.

2. He’s had that steely intensity with the curiously wiggly smile and body jiggle forever.

3.  He comes across as cerebral and sensitive.  OOOOO.  Fangirl squawking inserted here.

4.  Joan Allen and Kim Griest are SO good.

5.  Brian Cox is TOTALLY AWESOME as Hannibal Lecter.

Guess I liked the movie.

Jeff and Keith are sidebysiding on Left 4 Dead. This makes me laugh my ass off, because the ad for Left 4 Dead was ALL over the Metro in Paris.

Weather watch

Okay, check THIS puppy out for weasel words.

A rapidly deepening low pressure system will move inland over northern Washington State today. Rain will begin this morning, then change to wet snow over most inland areas and higher elevations with a rain-snow mix closer to the ocean. Fluctuating freezing levels and precipitation intensity add to the complexity of snow amount forecasts for this storm. However higher elevations of Metro Vancouver can expect 5 cm of wet snow with a mix of rain and snow likely near sea level. Snow amounts of 5 to 10 cm are forecast over the Fraser Valley and 2 to 4 cm are expected over Greater Victoria and East Vancouver Island except 10 cm over higher terrain and inland sections. Strong northeast winds will develop over East Vancouver Island in the wake of this system, with winds rising to 60 km/h gusting to 90 this evening. Winds are expected to ease below warning criteria Saturday morning. An Arctic front moves onto the coast from the interior for the weekend. Strong outflow winds combined with cold air will give wind chill values below minus 20 to inland sections of the north and central coast beginning this evening. Strong outflow winds may also produce localized snow squalls along the east coast of Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands through Sunday while the rest of the coast remains sunny, very cold, and locally windy.

I mean, they say it’s gonna snow, and I work at higher elevations.  (No, not because I rolled something up, thanks – although I was reading George Carlin in the can this morning). Yesterday at quitting time we checked the weather again and it wasn’t as bad as this, so sometime in the last 12 hours the meteo folks decided all crap was breaking loose.

So, everybody stay home if you can; every year in Vancouver 40000 new drivers who’ve never driven in snow take their baloney-skin tires, shitty driving skills, sense of entitlement and strabysmus out of the garage and lay it out for all to see during the first snow of the winter. IT IS NOT A PRETTY SIGHT.  So I gotta make sure I load up batteries in the camera, this should be good.  Also, must sweet talk men with cars, I may need a lift down the hill if the buses can’t make it up the hill to take me home, and forget about getting a taxi.  As for Victoria, it’s even worse.  It’s time to hunker down with a couple of good movies.

Too Long; Didn’t Read

One of the many useful internet acronyms is TL;DR.  That’s when your truncated attention span decides to step out for a soda.

Continue reading Too Long; Didn’t Read