Hiding out

I have a thing for dingy, dark, hole-in-the-wall pubs.

Tucked into a vinyl-covered chair with a giant cup of beer (after the waitress asks for my ID and giggles, "sorry, you look much younger than you are!"), people watching. Soaking in the mementos on the walls, the histories of people before me. Being called "sweetie, honey, baby" by aforementioned waitress as she attempts to coax out my life story.

Sometimes you just need to find a small place where it seems like you're light years out of the city, away from work and life's cares and concerns.

It almost makes being stood up for my meeting worth it. Well not so much stood up. Technically, everyone was just a hearty fifteen minutes late.

Panhandlers -- fined money they don't have?

Does this seem ridiculous to anyone other than me?

We're talking people who are homeless (for the most part), can't afford to eat, but we're going to fine them $200 to make them STOP panhandling? We need better social supports to deal with this, not trying to get money from people who clearly don't have it.

What are you going to do if they can't pay the fine? Take them to court? Jail them? That might work out in their favour.

Let's not be ridiculous, Edmonton.

Love affair

I have a not-so secret love affair with the mountains. I don't know what it is, but whenever I see them I say something along the lines of "Eee! Mountains!" and get kind of giddy and excited.
We went camping this weekend. Braved the cold, the rain, the snow, the squirrels and managed to have a pretty fabulous time. Saturday was a gorgeous day for a hike.
It's kind of sad to be at work, still smelling vaguely of campfire, tinged a nice shade of pink from the sun... yearning to be hidden away in a tent somewhere with my other great love.
This full week of work is going to be painful.

Love/Heartbreak

It seems like a couple of my favourite people are having a rough go these days. This girl is one of my absolute favourite people in the universe. Right up there with the Little and the Boy.

She is one of the smartest, most kick-ass women I know. She doesn't take people's shit. She has worked her hot little ass off to put herself through school to give herself a bright future. If she only has one job at a time, it's a miracle. She doesn't rely on anyone. She's creative. She's super sweet. She would do anything for anyone. She was the first person I ever gave a key to my house to and it got rather lonely to stay there without her. I've known her for something like six years. We've been BFFs for about three (that doesn't possibly seem like it could be right... feels like longer). We talk nearly every day.

She is a debaucherous, ferocious woman. I did my fair share of tequila shots with her. Befriended a neighbourhood furry friend (aka. the drunk kitty) who we would run into on our way home from the bar in London. She's fallen off a horse in Edmonton only to have a random boy scoop her up off the street while we kissed her scraped knees better. We got into some trouble at the Stampede. We've helped each other through break ups and told each other stories of new loves. We rant and bitch a lot and when we do... you'd better stay out of our way. We drank [faux] champagne out of individual-sized bottles.
And I've never met anyone who is deserving enough of her love. Not this one, not any in the past. Today she said that she hopes that someday she is as happy as I am, and I hope so too. Because she's someone who deserves to be completely blissed-out far more than I. Maybe she'll meet a hot Dutch/French/something boy in Belgium this summer.

Sixteen more sleeps and we shall be together.

P.Mans got me thinking...

With some of my old UWO buddies convocating this week (and the fabulousness of speeches/mp3s being available online)... I got to remembering my own convocation.

First convocation (Political Science, 2005): Marc Lalonde
Download or play the mp3 file.

The Honourable Marc Lalonde has served as a lawyer, Principal Secretary to a Prime Minister, and as Minister of Health and Welfare, Minister Responsible for the Status of Women, Amateur Sport, Federal-Provincial Relations, Justice, Energy, Mines and Resources, and Finance. As Minister of Health and Welfare, he co-authored "A New Perspective on the Health of Canadians", a document recognized internationally as a masterpiece in health care policy and internationally acclaimed for its radical departure from traditional policies. Lalonde is the recipient of many awards and distinctions including Officer of the Order of Canada and The World Health Organization Medal.

Second convocation (Public Relations, 2006): Louise Pitre
Download or play the mp3 file.

Pitre is a Canadian singer and actor, a Western alumna who has received rave reviews for her performances in musicals such as Mamma Mia! and Piaf in Toronto and on Broadway.

Her speech is marvelous. I highly suggest listening to it.
You have to earn your cocktails, folks!

My buddy Rob asked me what convocation is like. I said, "It's like Harry Potter". Seriously. He doesn't get it. I told him to get back to me after his ceremony tomorrow. The robes, the processional... it's insanity. Ha.

A crush that only Mary understands...

I wish Peter Mansbridge had spoken at MY Western Convocation.

Listen up.


Heart.

To my tough little princess...

If anyone would have told me during our normal-kind-of-tumultuous childhood (wherein fights were had over inane things, competition for sibling alliances were a common occurance) that we would have the relationship we have now... I would have probably given a slack-jawed, "uh huh, what-ever".

I'll admit it, I was jealous of you. Pretty little perfection, blue-eyed blonde who could do no wrong. The baby. Roll my eyes while you tell on me (and everyone) for looking at you. Breathing. Doing absolutely nothing at all.

It's taken years to realize that we have something special. That even if you weren't my little pain-in-the-butt sister, you'd still be my friend (hopefully I'd have the chance to know you). So mature and grown up for your age. I value your wisdom, your bright mind, your insight on life.

Things are rough right now. I know how that goes. It's hard in the summer when you're working and taking courses and not having much of a summer at all. I've been there. And I just want to say to hold your chin up, baby. You are a tough little munchkin.

Remember that time when we were uber-young that Kik was taunting you and you up and punched her in the nose? Totally unexpected. The baby showing the older aggressor that she wasn't to be messed with. From that day on, you've had this "Whatcha gonna do about it?" kind of attitude. Don't lose it now.

It's a long, hard fight. But I'm here with you every step of the way. You have to learn your own lessons, make your own mistakes... just like we all do. And I can't protect you from the world like I want to, and it's a good thing I can't. You will succeed, baby. You'll show them.

And I will be there when you cross the finish line. Stay strong little one. xo

Shots from Vancouver

Capilano Suspension BridgeFamily photo: Roomie, Me, Heather, Jill
Pretty flowers!
Kid-sized entertainment
Navigating our way around

Where I'd rather be...

Vancouver was excellent. I could definitely live there.

So lush. So beautiful. So environmentally conscious.

Left ridiculously early Friday morning. The Delta Downtown Suites where we stayed was quite possibly the best place to stay in the city. Location was incredible. So close to the Waterfront station! We utilized every method of transit... seabus, skytrain, bus, our poor feet.

Hit up Granville Island, the Capilano Suspension Bridge, Chinatown, Commercial Drive. Had all you can eat sushi and an amazing meal on Granville Island at sunset. Drank a fair bit of wine. Had much fun with the girls.

Pictures hopefully to come soon.

The best part of Kanye West... any part without Kanye West

A friend and I went to the Kanye West concert on Thursday night. I was not in a good mood.

Work had been a gong show all week (this is the week of insanity), and I had been working on stuff at my desk until 6 p.m. Essentially the last minute where I could rush my butt home, get changed and get to the show. Still a little late.

Overcrowded by teeny-boppers and glow sticks. Girls in weird/skanky clothing. A lot of people not being able to find their seats due to their own stupidity. All of this was oddly amusing. I was friendly and helpful (shocking I know) when the girls behind us were rudely interupted (and kind of yelled at) by drunk dancing chick and her boyfriend who were convinced that they were sitting in their seats (to make a long story short, nice girls were in the right place, DDC and BF's seats were WAY.OVER.THERE. (to quote the ticket-checker girl).

Lupe Fiasco was fun. NERD was what I imagine a seizure on acid would be like (without ever experiencing either a seizure or acid personally). Anything with two drum kits and a drum-off is a helluva good time. Pharrell is amazing. They got girls on stage dancing with them (even though most girls on stage looked so lame and weren't dancing, having fun, grinding back with Pharrell when he was trying to flirt with them).

Rhianna. Rhianna at times looked like she had too much of a dynasty/80's futuristic/Madonna (cone bra, not modern Madonna) influence. But whatever. You're a performer, go for it. She sort of did a medley of her most popular songs rather than singing each song individually... which made all the awesomeness seem quite short. But she didn't have a lot of stage time I guess. At least she left 'em wanting more.

Nearly an hour after Rhianna left the stage, Kanye came on. He had this crazy set involving him on some spaceship, a talking giant computer. It was interesting. Then, 10 minutes of crazy intro in... there was about 30 seconds of "harder, better, stronger, faster". Everyone baited for the song, ready for the hook to come.... and he lost it. He "sang" about 4-6 songs (hard to remember because each one sounded EXACTLY THE SAME even though at one point I turned to my girl and said, "weren't those the words to Gold digger?" "I don't know," she said. "I can't make out what he's saying at all." We were ready to leave. Then he started talking to the computer saying it's been a long time and he missed Earth and women. He talked about how he really needed some pussy. This made me cringe. He played golddigger (the p-word was his intro) and then played Jesus Walks. I have zero respect for someone who is so demoralizing one second and is all sorta-preachy the next. Gross. We left shortly after that.

Left for a couple hours of sleep and a mad-dash packing job before Vancouver.