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.

Keith started early

He was supposed to start today but they started him yesterday.  I hope for a full report at some point.

Watched The Big Red One yesterday.  The firefight scenes are great but everything else suffers in comparison to Band of Brothers… especially the music, holy crap it was bad.

I made purple food yesterday – purple home fried potatoes.  I’m having some more now, damn they’re good!

I wrote a song last night. Like, late last night.

As soon as I got in the car to drive home last night I wrote a song. I’ll be posting the lyrics to my LJ, as looked at in the bright light of morning they seem, uh, a little on the ‘back of the hand to the forehead’ end of the spectrum, not that there’s anything wrong with that, that’s sort of what songs are for. Oh well, this is what happens when you challenge yourself to write something that doesn’t have a happy ending.

I know I’ve said this about 100 times and I keep forgetting it, but seeing live music is a really important feed for creativity. I just saw three live bands in a week! No wonder I start getting all antsy, and walking down the street singing. I wish I wasn’t so wasp-y sometimes, I’d sing in public a lot more.

Just for fun, a fraction of the lyrics for ‘The Hardworking Locksmiths of Sunnydale” which I started writing on Sunday.

When I got out of locksmith school

In the year of ninety seven

The old pros told me that there is

A locksmith’s earthly heaven

Be prepared, they told me

For work on work galore

But make sure that your stomach’s strong

You’ll see a LOT of gore

O Sunnydale, O Sunnydale

until you disappeared

You helped me pay my mortgage off

But man, you sure were weird.

What a bleeping day

To preserve the dignity and privacy of those involved, I will not recount some of the events of this evening. Nobody was injured, the cats are fine, and I won’t speak for Jeff but I would describe my current mental state as “spitting out feathers”.

Jericho was fine; I heard my first ever submarine shanty, which really is a fine thing to be able to say, the other performers were wonderful, Ballyhooley was great, they did a kickass version of Wraggle Taggle Gypsies and one of them plays uillean pipes ver’ well.  And there was an octave mando and more fracking pipes with holes in ’em than you imagine one guy lugging around.

Paul and Keith showed up, and just as promptly, disappeared, due to scheduling issues. I hung til ten but I had to get the car back to Joyce Station.

One block north of Joyce Station, and may the laws of probability and a pterodactyl’s left great claw be thanked that I had my back turned to this jackass, I heard a guy who hawked up a throat oyster so big that it was carrying a cell phone with ease – I heard the sucker bounce on the ground – and then he made an even MORE incredibly loud noise which sounded like somebody trying to clear a vacuum cleaner hosepipe jammed full of liver with a toilet plunger, and I must repeat, really loud. Reverberating between two buildings, drowning out the car noise. Score one for the human capacity to be really fracking disgusting.

New Puppy (Migraine better thanks….)

Dave @ OneLegWest has posted pics of his puppy Max’s first day at home. Check out how happy Jake is to see the new arrival….

I feel so much better and the sun is shining so delightfully that I’m off to Jericho tonight.

Did I mention the whole fam damily was over last night for a spaghetti dinner? Keith and Paul brought Caesar salad and corn bread, and Katie brought her sweet self and picked up her blankie from G’ma. Then we watched Buffy (Darla gets hers, the first time anyway). Happy Sigh.

Oh oh oh, I forgot to mention, I’m getting a FREE RIDE to Victoria for next weekend’s Pondfilk!! Dalai Jarmo just dropped by to say they are taking off at hours ungodly on Saturday morning to go see the tallships. Obviously I’ll chip in for gas so it won’t really be free, but Me Happy! It will be a most convivial crew, and they’ll just drop me off at the Harbour.

Every time I get a migraine these days I think happy thoughts and it goes away. Sometimes the happy thoughts involved nudity, but a lot of times I think about my friends and family and the happiness just wells up like a magical fountain.

Migraine, Psychic

I’m kinda aiming sideways at the screen, since I can’t see all of it. Before I sign off for the day, though, I thought I’d mention something that happened on Sunday. As I walked down Duranleau, I saw the sign for the psychic, and had an overpowering urge to go in. This DESPITE having seen the Bullsh*t episode about psychics (it’s a show by magician debunker atheist darlings Penn & Teller). I paused on the landing for five minutes, while the urge to go up got stronger and stronger. So, hoping like hell nobody from work would see me, I gingerly climb the stairs, where a pleasant looking woman tells me “Sorry, we’re closed.”

Guess she didn’t see that coming. I was giggling to myself as I went down the stairs.

Just back from Stonehenge….

I have a trip report from a coworker’s family member….

Hi

 

 

Just back from Stonehenge (88 miles in 90 minutes). And about to go to bed.  Went down after supper last night and got there just after midnight due to traffic. Many thousands of revellers (even some regular people with kids, lots of pagans but also lots of drunk f*ckwits and doped teenagers falling over.)

 

However, it was an awesome experience – despite the misty rain, cold and no sunrise. I had my iPod on full listening to my chill-out trance. Here are two pics.

 

The official count is that over 30,000 people attended the event. And at least 1,000 officials (cleaners, security, police, paramedics, marshals etc.)

 

In their own way the rebellious anti-socials the “non-spiritual” revelers, the atheists, anarchists, Hells Angels, drunks and f*ckwits were all unwittingly contributing energy to the pagan event. And if you look at it like that, then this is the biggest cultural/spiritual happening in the UK. (Not counting Music festivals.)  (Ed. Note – like Glastonbury, which is berloody huge). And everyone came along of their own free will. With free access to see – nothing. And maybe to have a moving experience, receive a blessing, have a social encounter, or to share in a unique collective event to dine out on for a long time. And because the authorities tried to stop it happening back in the 80/90’s everyone now wants to find out what they were trying to hide. 

 

It was one big trance party – without amplified music. Lots of dope ‘n’ drums. One very good pagan percussion band, dressed as ghouls playing samba rhythms – complete with tattooed conductor. They were accompanied by large paper and wood bull horns and a group of devils and angels, who danced and fought over the soul of a minotaur, a man-bull.

 

 

Andrew

Please note Andrew is a great photographer – these pics, taken on his phone, do NOT represent how good he really is.  Thanks to Peter T for passing these along!

Goodbye George/Hullo Darwin

My happiness at attending the Hilario Duran Trio got wiped outta my heart when I found that George Carlin died yesterday.  However I am still happy about meeting Darwin.

Some explanation of the pics.  The first is a CP train the Luddite owns.  He let me touch it.  Considering that I break things by scowling at them, this is amazing.  The second is of course Alex and the newish Darwin, who is the piggiest baby ever until you remember that he’s at the three week growth spurt stage, alternately ravenous and exhausted.  This was literally the first time I got a SFW shot, because, well, he WAS EATING NON STOP.  Anyway, Darwin made out like a bandit both in terms of food and prezzies.  The cat is the cat shown previously, this time on a roof across the alleyway, and the tea towel, if you look at it hard, looks like a girly version of Cthulhu.  You’re welcome!

w00t! Invitation to VCon

I’ve been invited to be a panelist at VCon.  Filk panelist, of course.  I just sent my bio and the panels I’m volunteering for off to the folks on the Con Committee.

Hm, wonder if I should revive my long dead “Con Committee Waltz” song?  I’ve thought of it from time to time, it being mostly inspired by the dry comments of Catherine C and Alan R back in the day in Toronto.  It would have all new lyrics now, only the choon has stuck in me ed.

And I told a lie on my bio.  I’m supposed to have more than one filk tune on Youtube – s’pose I can remedy that before the beginning of October?  Maybe I can remedy that today.  But not before I have a shower.  Minimal standards must be observed.

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.

Sonic treats and domestic life

Jeff and I had the identical reaction when we heard this.

See if you can guess what it was.

The rest of the site, starting here is quirky, laid out by an amateur (NO, I have no pretensions to excellence wrt web layout, thanks) and easily killed 15 minutes as I browsed through the odd instruments.

LTGW dropped by with Darwin’s previously paid for prezzie and hung out for precisely one beer, and just like an English play, he cleared the door moments before Tom and Peggy dropped by with a lesbian mystery manuscript for my editing eye (written by a third party), and Tom consumed two of the previously unmentioned chocolate hazelnut biscotti I made up last night and cooked this morning and Peggy dispensed a hug.  Oh, and Jeff and I did a shop starting at about 8 am this morning and I did laundry today and made up burgers which Jeff cooked and then we watchd Buffy S1E4 and before that Jeff took me to Brentwood and I finally ditched the Telus modem so they can stop charging me for it and picked up more beer.  Oh, and I made split pea with ham soup today and now Jeff’s (this unnecessarily graphic description of my cooking’s effect on my brother’s digestion is cut upon the insistence of all right thinking people) but he’s forgiven me because I cut up strawberries. This paragraph has been brought to you by the Temporal of Bureau Distortion.

The cats continue to be healthy and demanding; they appear to have stopped running up and down the damned halls at night.  Is there a connection between this fact and locking them out at night?  There could be!

My back feels better. I am so craving cigarettes though, it’s dreadful.  Nothing stays easy for long.

I am having a wonderful and productive weekend so far.

Mars images and animation

Boston.com has a bunch of Mars images from Phoenix and other recent probes:
http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2008/06/martian_skies.html

I also recently discovered that the Phoenix lander posts reports to Twitter.com. Twitter is a goofy little web service that lets people tell the world what they’re doing. Never saw the point of it until now. Here’s an example of a recent Twitter post by Phoenix:

Whoohoo! Was keeping my eye on some chunks of bright stuff & they disappeared! Sublimated! So it can’t be salt, it’s ice: http://is.gd/lFa 05:23 PM June 19, 2008 from web

Of course, it’s not really the lander itself sending the reports, but they’re fun anyway. I’ve got my Twitter account set up to send Phoenix reports to my cell phone!