Better You Than Me

Happy Holidays! Blog is on a bit of a hiatus due to the following: HOLIDAY TO COSTA RICA!!!

Major essay worth 45%

Three upcoming articles to write.

But most importantly--no internet access during holidays except to write aforementioned essay! Woo hoo!!

In other news, it is absolutely beastly outside. How does a mind-numbing -30 something suit you? Yeah, it blows. And it seems to have a numbing effect on people's already-feeble brains. I had two ''parking so close I had to sideways-limbo-squeeze into my frickin drivers side'' incidents, one right after another, this morning. In one of them the wingbat morons were IN THEIR CAR STILL RUNNING and observed me trying to squeeze myself into my car. For good measure, I hit their minivan with my arm a few times, and then banged it with my car door. Take that, too-close morons!

It felt pretty good, you know, with the cold biting my face off and then the added injustice of not being able to squash myself into my car. So, be forewarned. If you insist on sitting in your running car watching me attempting to get into mine because you parked stupidly close, I will conduct some sort of angry damage.

I also gave them the serious evil-eye when I was walking by, and when all you can see are my eyes, they are very, very evil.

Ah, I need a holiday. This just slams the lid on it!

Something's Still Gone Wrong

I read the Globe & Mail on a daily basis, and follow stories of domestic abuse regularly, as they are sadly common. The problem is that they are under-represented in almost every form of media, and violence against women is glamourized. I feel that we haven't done enough if partners committing violence still get away with it, and it's still handled as a 'private affair' or some such nonsense.

Even commentaries on news stories tells a terrible tale--men believe themselves to be the victims, and that women ask for it or instigate or cause it. Any way you slice it, women are the problem and men are the helpless, if stronger and more violent, ''victims''. Even when women lash out and murder in self-defence they are still charged more stringently than men who kill their partners. When women refuse to leave abusive partners or protect them, this is used to show how they were never 'really' abused anyways.

This disregards the tormented psyche of abused women, and how it can warp a sense of safety. Many times women do not leave because of threats against their families and friends, not because they love their abusers.

See below comment on a particularly terrible case of domestic abuse: The husband murdered his entire family, and this commentator feels the need to step on his ridiculous high horse and lambaste women for 'causing most of the problems.' Riiiiight.

**********Commentary*********************
In 2007, police across Canada dealt with more than 40,000 incidents of spousal violence – an estimated one-third of the actual number of incidents,=================

Actually its closer to two-thirds with men predominately the non-reporters. Manly because there are no programs to help male battered spouses, far from help as many will say.Ending Violence Association appears more to wish to end a mans ability to defend against spousal assault. With equality the catch phrase of the day why, or how, could they ask for the whole $47M when there isn`t a single safe house or program or government agency that will help male victims.

As the majority of DV is started by the women {emphasis mine. WTF} I can`t imagine the lions share not going to defend the largest group of victims that have nothing as it currently stands.Seems this must be something other than ending violence.

**********
Sure it is. This is exactly the prevailing attitude that gets families and women murdered in their homes by men they know and loved at some point. This is still why equality is a foreign concept.

As If You'd Done It Yourself

I was pondering this ethical question yesterday after an incident. If something happens (bad) and you are a bystander who doesn't do or say anything, are you just as responsible? What if you consider the bad situation as 'normal' or 'good'? Are you still morally reprehensible?

I was at the gym the other day and saw out of the corner of my jaundiced eye a former co-irker at a job that, to mince words, went very poorly due to some terrible behaviour of the boss. The co-irker was a nice enough person who absolutely didn't see anything wrong with the boss's treating us like shit. Therein lies the problem--if they don't see an issue, is there one really?

I guess it helped that the boss and co-irker got along fabulously and would have weekend plans together, special meetings w/o the rest of the sad chain gang and got all sorts of great favours. New computers, nice wall art, an office specially built...Oh, the mismanagement of government funds went a long way to give the 'favoured few' some great treats!

Back to the gym. I did the only mature thing I could. Completely ignored the co-irker and pretended I didn't see them. The other thing I wanted to do was give them the finger as I walked by, but it was relatively busy and others might misinterpret this as a gesture to them. And that would be tragic. So, I limit my bad behaviour to giving the building the finger when I drive by. It feels cathartic. Oh and badmouthing them every chance I get. Take that!

I guess it's just this holiday feeling I get, where I want to get all vendetta-ish on the assholes from prior jobs. Gives me a warm and fuzzy feeling inside...

Too Good To Be True!

From the Globe and Mail- related to a reader's question, but I just loved his response so much I had to copy/paste it. SO funny!
************************************************
Ah, your question brings me back to my youth – when I actually liked people and wanted to hang out with them.
Now that I'm in my 40s I've decided, with a few exceptions, I hate everyone. And I find most social gatherings to be little more than zinger- and faux-pas-filled festivals of irritation and annoyance.
And so I avoid them. These days, I mostly concentrate on my work and my family, and spend what little free time I have moodily staring into the fire in the living room of my gloomy mansion, sipping bourbon and muttering misanthropic aphorisms to myself, e.g. Jean-Paul Sartre's famous dictum, “Hell is other people.”
(Next inevitable phase: me in tattered bathrobe and ratty slippers, standing on my front porch, bandy, fish-white legs gleaming in the sunshine, shaking my fist at some kids whose baseball landed in my begonias.)

But back in the day I was a social butterfly nonpareil...
************
Reminds me of the social anxiety I felt living back in'res' again, and trying to make lasting connections. I didn't, but I did make a variety of surface-level shallow connections. Apparently I am best at that, skirting the top of the pool of friendships, making friends of a great variety but at best, very shallow level.

A Paradigm A Day?

Wish it would keep the Dr. away, instead of keeping me up at night worrying about that damned deductivist paradigm, and where is that dratted hypothesis?

To top it off, I even do have to go to the Dr's again, and I'm concerned that my poor ear will have to be subjected to that heinous water torture (see previous spring, ear blasted with water to remove hideous blockage-causing infection). So yeah, it's not keeping the Dr's away and not helping me sleep either. Why am I in school again?

I'm even going on a small vacation with the partner and it's seeming like a menage a trois, me, him and the laptop. Ah Christmas, you can't come soon enough...But then those paper deadlines will and yeah those can certainly wait! Bit of a double-edged sword.

In other news, I am rather touched when I find out that when I am away, people genuinely miss me. Do I really make that kind of positve impact on friends, co-workers (co-irkers? nah, love 'em!) Makes me happy, and I even recieved a gift of wonderful Lindt chocolate today, and was asked by satellite office when would I be in to give everyone an update?? Ah, the caring touches my hardened heart!

Win-win

So I'm back in the frigid north, and man it is a cruel awakening.

I would like it here if it just.weren't.so.damn.cold~~~ !!! Otherwise, my job is still ok, my house is still standing due to the care of a dear friend, and my rabbit is still giving me the cold shoulder. He was hopping around last night, visiting with my suitcase and packing stuff, and then spent the entire night sitting behind a chair, like a malevolent shadow. I seriously couldn't find him because I thought his grey shape was a shadow. Haha.

It's dark when I go to work and dark when I leave. Argh. I am trying to stave off the impending madness by being incredibly busy, and so far (day 3 of being back) it is sort of working. Well, the holidays are coming, I have 5 major papers to write, so what are my excuses?

It's supposed to be -25/-30 this weekend. Jeebus save us.

The more things change...

The more they stay the same?

I'm back in residences, living the student life for a brief chunk of time. And as always, observing the hilarity that is human nature. Case in point: I've met tons of great people and they are super interesting, but I've also had the chance to see flirtations gone awry.

A girl (Katie) was flirting with a guy in our classes, both lived on my floor in res, and please note that there are limited guys in our program--like 7 out of 50, and some are definitely over 50 themselves. This guy (Ed) was a bit older, around 30, I gathered, dressed suspiciously nicely for a dude, quiet etc.

I noticed their interactions throughout the week, a bit of closeness here and there, hanging out together, sitting together in class--all that fun stuff. Then I was sitting and watching TV in our lounge when Katie comes in chatting with another classmate about Ed, and how they were flirting and he took it to mean seriousness! and promptly got cold feet, didn't want to pursue things after res, etc etc. She said she was not serious, and forget it, let's just be friends. And then mentioned that he asked her to hang out more afterwards, like the pressure had been taken off or something like that. Also that a girl from the other classes seemed to be interested in him, and he wasn't dissuading her of that notion, and that pissed Katie off. Why fight for a guy who doesn't care?

I wasn't really listening, but being in proximity couldn't help it. They leave, I continued watching TV and guess who comes in with a different girl? Why, Ed!

We had a party on the weekend, and yes, guess who comes? Everyone from our little drama triangle, Ed, Katie, mystery girl. Katie leaves early. No surprise there!

As a keen observer of human nature, I found this very interesting. Interpersonal communications never seem to tell the whole story!

Everyone In Our Group Has Blue Eyes

Classes are winding down for our residency, and as we sat through yet another 3-hr class, I couldn't help but think: boring, and I am going to seriously miss this.

I even bought a weird muffin for too much money because I was tired and thought it might help me and maybe stop my strangely loud stomach grumblings. Note-I do eat breakfast, and the biggest guy in the class's stomach did not grumble, it was mine!

The class took a turn for the serious and emotional. Our theory professor had attended the 'I have a dream' speech by Martin Luther King, and he spoke on that for a bit, relating it to various theories we studied. He talked about how powerful it was, and how nobody knows what is going to make history until we're studying it in a Canadian classroom 30 some years later. He even choked up a bit, and it got emotional.

What was also sad was he mentioned how he wasn't sure how much longer he was going to be teaching, jokingly saying he wasn't getting any younger, but it was more than that. A significant other was seriously ill with a relapse, and things were not looking good.

Everyone stood up and gave our professor a standing applause, and it was just such a heartfelt moment. A strong way to end the class, and it also made me very sad. I'm going to miss being here.

Trainwrecks!

I have been on a bit of a hiatus, due to a bigtime change of scenery. I am now in my beloved homeland, the balmy waters of Victoria. Also going to school. Not so beloved, but very interesting and challenging.

With school comes an interesting mix of the overachievers (and don't get me wrong, that can be stimulating, but they are ALL keeners) and like me, the people who are on the fringes just soaking it all up. It's great, and very cool to be back in the nerd environment again, with nerds. Which brings me to the trainwreck point of this-- due to immersion in crazy-intense theory, I have now coined a term of my very own, which can be used in a communications theory, I'm thinking something like semiotics, but hey, whatever works best for you/.

I have invented 'railroad talkers' those lovely people who just. don't. know. when. to. shut. up. !!! I have now run into at least two confirmed, but I know more are lurking in the murky realm of academia. They go on and on and on and on and on and you're starting to ...walk away...and they...follow you into the...hallway; to continue their point. And it's never your point. It's theirs. And don't you forget it....down the hallway...into the washroom...

As a fellow conversationist, and I like to think of myself as a witty one, I just can't stand it! I hate getting 'railroaded' over by these lousy talkers. Great thinkers, yes they may be for sure, but would it kill you to put a sock in it? How are you still breathing? Heaven forbid someone get a word in edgeways--just keep going, chuggin' along, they think you'll give up soon enough and can steam away full speed ahead!

I accidentally started a conversation with one I didn't know was a railroad talker. One simple question by me: Why this program? And fuck. I avoided this person for the rest of the freaking night. I was also able to witness a hilarious moment- the trainwreck! When two railroad talkers clash!! Oh, the drama!

They can't stand each other. Also bitch about how they just can't get a word in edgeways, and man, doesn't that person just talk so much? It's crazy! (And they are JUST as guilty. ha ha)
How "interesting" and yes, ironical use of quotations.

Be aware, dear people, if your conversation is going nowhere fast, stop. Just wrap it up. People love concise, witty and to the point. Good rule--if it's very personal, intimate or details about your day that nobody gives a shit, then nobody gives a shit. Don't!
(For significant others, this does not apply. Bore away~)

Don't let me down

An homage to The Dears latest album (or at least I think it was their latest, I got it last winter about this time, and one song in particular resonates with how things were going at this time--I was struggling, job-wise, and had a seriously ill piggie)

This song, by the way, is Crisis 1 & 2, if that shows it's significance at all.

As the snow is now whipping with a blinding ferocity, I think about the things I'm grateful for, not just my burgeoning dark-induced insanity. I am in the process of cultivating a new friendship, and just had a dinner with so much wonderful conversation it amazed me. I love it, and I love how I build rapport with people seemingly easily. Why does it seem that old friends are harder to maintain than new ones?

As I left work, I passed by a coworker who said 'Bye Susan' and passed by someone else who again recognized me and said Hi!--I'm thinking, in another city would I run into people who know me so easily? It's interesting. I mostly hate the small-town stuff, but when people recognize you and welcome you, it's kind of a good thing.

The tricky thing with friends, is making them. Who reaches out first, most? Whoever reciprocates the most=friends? It's a tricky formula. I only extend the olive branch if I feel a certain kinship, and then if I sense it, I am hesitant to make the first move... It's like going on a date without all that weird sexual electricity.

This friendship seemed to come about organically. She made the first move, I made the second, and then she inferred a later meeting--so, nobody is on unequal ground. I think it's really cool, and I'm super glad I am in the right mindset to be free to meet and join minds~

The thing about friends, is that they absolutely do need to be maintained. Bad friends are ones who let your compassion and loyalty fall by the wayside. Good friends reach out, like you will reach out, and meet you in the middle. Bad friends know they can rely on you always, and you know you can never rely on them.

I think that's why I'm extra glad that I can still attract like-minded people, and I appreciate that we seem to be on the same wavelength regarding who takes the next steps. It's an investment that always pays off what you put into it, if everyone's on the same level. Relationships require work, so why wouldn't friend relationships? (not that much work though, they are supposed to be fun!)

i hold your heart (i hold it in my heart)

A little ee cummings, anyone?

I was rather shocked to find that he was a man. He has the most romantic and ridiculous love poetry around, and his use of symbols is unparalelled.

"Loving you is just enough, 'cuz nobody cares a fuck about us," Aaron & Maria- American Analog Set

I just watched the teeny-bopper movie 'Twilight' and horror of horrors, I liked it. Maybe it was because my 'other' is away for an extended period of time, but darn that douchebag actor was looking in fine form. It made me ponder desire, the sensuality of the lead-up versus going straight for the action. Do we really want to see it? Twilight is all about the lead up, all show and no play. The smouldering tension is really what drives the film, and the overall plot. There is definitely some sexual aggression, but it's couched in terms of vampire-human relationships, rather than boy-girl. Does that make it easier? I think we still see it on our terms, rather than hunter-prey terms...Understated violence, losing control and surrendering to our base instincts, our senses has always been the pinnacle of ultimate desire.

Not sure if I'll watch the next Twilight installment, but I enjoyed this romp. Not a obsessed fan, but perhaps a bit more understanding of the swooning tweens.

We're Computerizing and We Just Don't Need You Anymore

Lately, there have been many things going on.

Flu clinics are winding down, the imminent threat of a zoological flu wiping out the human population has been averted, at least for now, Halloween has gone by and we're facing Rememberance Day.

The time change went off without a hitch, except for my pending insanity due to the extreme cold and dark. Vampire weather, I calls it.

If I answer the door with a butcher knife, no, I wasn't 'just cooking' no matter what I say.

I am preparing embark on a scholarly adventure, which I am very much looking forward to possibly just because I get to visit the exotic locale of Victoria BC and leave this place. Oh, and I like school, maybe the prestige associated with it, but I like it just the same.

I am also helping a friend lighten her wallet buying one of those 'iPod' things. She is rather techie-unaware and somehow gained the assumption that I am. Not. Oh well, enabling is something I can definitely do.

Halloween Hijinks

Hope everyone had a fabulous Hallowe'en! Mine was pretty great actually...

Guildhall for comedy night, followed by an a dance eerily reminiscent of middle-school gymnasium dances--lame music, balloons and streamers, and nobody dancing! That was a bit on the downer side, so we decided to pump things up and go to a houseparty guaranteed to be 'crazy.'

When we got there I pretty much decided it was not my scene--hideous death metal was bashing out of the stereo, meathead-ish jocks were chest pumping and looking scary and in general not my deal. Things did improve though, I got the grand introduction to everyone and things started loosening up. They also started playing good music on the stereo. I danced with Kermit the Frog, who was apparently a creepy individual (thanks!~) and then had to deflect a few others looking to dance as well. I had a sneaking suspicion that the rather drunk Lotharios were confusing me with the other 'princess' at the party--please note my costume was not a princess, it was a fairy. A butterfly fairy. Way different!

And since when did 'No thanks, I am married' become a come-on? Ha. Weird.

There were the usual party randomness...dancing, watching the showgirl's indecently-high slit in her red sequin dress get displaced and start showing us more than just hip...

We fled the party, literally, when it became clear someone was having a drug-induced freakout *in* the front door, effectively blocking it. That was when everyone wanted to leave right now and mass panic ensued. We also wanted to leave, but we waited it out and stormed out like troopers. Others were apparently trying to get in, and it was just madness. We made it out, ran down the street and met up with brother of friend. Chatted for a bit, then friend of brother phoned for a ride (please note it is very cold now. It was at least -9 on Halloween). So off we go to drive over and pick him up, and I'm the only sober one so guess who gets to drive! Yes, me!

We struggled with some issues; I couldn't reach the pedals, the wipers were going bananas, no back wipers, lights...
Got it sorted and off we go~ We catch the friend running frantically up and down by the library, I pull a U-turn and he hops in. He's freezing and very appreciative, and it's a good time to tell him we're hijacking his car to drive us home. He understands.

I drive myself and friend home and it's nighty-night at 4am. Good Halloween!

Public Service Announcement- H1N!

Yeah I left that exclamation mark in there on purpose...

It's a large hullaballoo for what may very well be less serious than the common cold, but I'm here to address the government nay-sayers who are a little too in-touch with their paranoid side--this one kills young people, so I wouldn't mess around with it.

I have talked about the vaccine with a nurse I work with, and I am intimately involved in discussions surrounding the vaccine, results, tests, releases et al. There are always risks involved in every vaccine, no matter how benign, but in the whole, the positives outweigh the risks in almost every case.

What people really can't bank when they say they aren't getting the vaccine because;

a. untested, which isn't true--they have been running tests in AUS as well as Europe as soon as it became clear GlaxoSmithKline was going to have to release something soon.

b. Heard bad things about it. There are always going to be 'iffy' things about vaccines-they are not perfect. They can cause allergic reactions, or the incredibly rare Guilliam-Barre syndrome--but again, these things have to be monitored in a clinical setting, and Gulliam-Barre is so rare and difficult to predict, any kind of flu vaccine could trigger it

c. Teh internets told them otherwizse. Never a good idea, particularly when it comes in the form of a fwd by friends/family. I just read one telling me how plain ol' warm saltwater was as effective as Tamiflu when injected up one's nostrils. REALLY? Go to a real site (and the govt nay-sayers, calm down. If anything went wrong with this, they would have to pull absolutely everything out.) There is no screwing around with the entire Cdn. population.

I have read on teh internets about how asparagus will cure cancer, and the million and one uses for hydrogen peroxide. Not true. Everytime someone wants to spout out about how 'they read on the internet' about a certain item, I want to ask if they were at the deputy minister's teleconference, and did they have a discussion item on it? Because I did!

Basically, the nurse boiled it down for me. Vaccine--risks involved, but minimal compared with an illness that can and will kill young people. Sore arm vs. month in hospital? Should be an easy one, and please don't leave your responsibility to get vaccinated by the wayside, saying 'others will get vaccinated and halt the spread.' Sadly, this is how some diseases make a comeback in the population, and you know how rubella, measels, mumps were stopped? Because everyone got the jab. End of story.

A pocketful of theories

I'm currently enrolled in a Master of Arts in Communication and this 'student' thing is taking a bit (lot) of getting used to...

I finally cracked a book today with grand ambitions of reading two, yes count'em, TWO chapters. Read one, and didn't quite finish it. Got seriously bogged down by theories. What kind of theories? Why, glad you asked, let me take this opportunity to bore you...

In reality, one of the theories was quite familiar to me (cognitive dissonance theory, one of the theories under the 'cybernetics' realm of theories) and that was because cognitive dissonance is behind that uncomfortable feeling of 'buyers remorse.' I guess it helps that I also live alone right now and only have CBC on TV. Save meeeee....

Buyers remorse is a pretty obvious theory. The bigger the purchase, the more the dissonance, or 'remorse'. If you had a choice between two cars, then not a big deal. A choice between a car or a trip to Europe? Big deal. Lots of dissonance. You might even return the car to go on that trip!

That and 'Queer Theory' really called to me. Maybe I will write my paper on those two. Queer theory is the 'untheory' and the 'unlabelling' of all things. Basically, it is how can you normalize things and name them when that is a gender construct and Queer theory serves to deconstruct all that is 'normal' and 'named' but that doesn't mean it is only for gay/lesbian/transgendered...even married people who remain childless by choice can be considered under the Queer theory, because they are bucking social normative conventions as well as gender constructs (women=reproductive organs, etc).

Very interesting! Well, sort of interesting. At least I can extemporize on it a bit, instead of it just whooshing over my head.

So, not a ghost but...

I spent the majority of that evening with an irrational sense of paranoia. I couldn't find my lunch, and then when I couldn't find juice for a smoothie, and no sign of the juice container everywhere, that was it!

Clearly there was a thief who stole lunches and half-full bottles of cranberry juice. I flew through my house checking all the windows, locks and rolling down the blinds. Armed with my fussy dwarf rabbit and an ancient tennis raquet, I crept downstairs to confront my lunch and juice thief. Nobody there. I checked the windows just to be sure.

I puzzled and puzzled over the mystery juice until I decided to go for the smoothie anyways, pulled open the freezer and found the juice in the freezer. Evidently in a brain fog of some sort I had misplaced it into the freezer and forgot all about it... And funnily enough, I guess Wednesday was an extreme brainlessness day, because today I even found my missing lunch--in the work fridge. I had put it in there in the morning, and then forgot where I put it! Jesus.

Somebody tape my head to my shoulders, because it is in real danger of falling off and then where would I be?

Ghosts ate my lunch. Yes one of 'those' days

Ok, we have made 'progress' sort of. Blogger is acting like a fucking idiot and won't let me compose anything, like I need this shit on this kind of day of all days.

Ides of Fall? Seems like it.

Today I packed a lunch, wasn't a great lunch but it was there to eat. I made sure I packed it carefully in my bag as I noticed the tupperware lid was loose, and didn't want potatoes and veggies spilling into my bag. Get to work, take lunch out of bag and notice tupperware isn't in there. Think to myself, 'probably fell out of bag in car' and think no more of it until lunchtime. I go to my car, figure I will drive to the bookstore, search car for tupperware, buy books, then go back to work and microwave lunch.

Several hitches to this plan:

While searching for tupperware, I took my keys out of the ignition and left them on the passenger seat. I did not actually find my tupperware lunch. I failed to notice the keys on the seat, locked the doors and proceeded to buy books.

Go back to car to find keys on seat, doors locked. Run back to bookstore, shriek my anguish about leaving keys in car during lunch time from work, lovely good samaritan drives me to my house, waits for me to find spare house key and then find spare car key (thank you husband who knew this would happen one day) and then drives me back to my car. Phew, disaster averted!

I go back to work, still without lunch, and have to rush and buy lunch (Quiznos, could be worse!). Work blah blah blah, come home and expect to see tupperware sitting happily next to couch like nothing ever happened. But there's no tupperware. In fact, it isn't anywhere. Cue spooky music...

Clearly ghosts ate my lunch. I am exhausted from a temporary new position at work, car issues, started school, husband is gone for the forseeable future...ENOUGH!!!!!!

Oh and blogger decides to have a total shit fit and not work worth anything, adding to my feeling of insanity that is building. Today is not a day to accomplish anything, read school notes, nothing. I have to take a step back...

stepping back...

An absence...

Yes that's right, your always-faithful blogger took a week leave of absence from the blog.

Did it because was feeling a tad burned out by life, and am back with a new take on things (hopefully!).

Also, I felt that I had to share a bizarre dream I had, which was possibly spurred on by reading too many gal mags at the gym. My dream was that I was in charge of naming nail polishes, like OPI, Revlon, etc. but the names for them were strange...

'Wrathful' red

'Other Woman' heather

'Keyed-car' silver

'Trollop' teal

'Let me down' blue

'They don't have phones where you were last night?' pink

So you get the idea. Still not sure how I remember all this either...

ZOMBIELAND

!!!!!

Just saw it the other day, and like today when I saw my first 'actually jaundiced' person, it was a shock to the senses, a bit of a horror, and very badass.

Now, the jaundiced person was just interesting, kind of yellowed around the edges, vaguely red eyes, clutching a cigarette and coughing lungs out.

Zombieland on the other hand, was a splatter-guts gore hilarious. Man, who knew cutesy 'Little Miss Sunshine' Abilgail Breslin was so funny? New fan right here. This is a huge spoof on all these new vampire and zombie movies, but with the addition of Woody Harrelson and a fine zombie cameo by the big guy Bill Murray, it couldn't go wrong.

There are some touching parts, like Harrelson's son he first referrs to as a 'puppy' he lost in the great zombie apocalypse, but is actually his child. Also touching is the extreme nerdom of star Jesse Eisenberg, rivalled only by Michael

Cera for king of the adorable dorks. His greatest romantic dream is being able to tuck a girl's hair behind her ear while she sleeps. This goes very wrong when he does that, wakes up to find said girl has turned extremely carnivorous--for him!

I also like that they keep anonymous, so Woody's name is his destination-Tallahassee. Jesse is Ohio and the two scammer girls are Witchitaw and Little Rock. It's cute and it works. Oh and Tallahassee has an obession with Twinkies and destroying shit.

What have you got left to lose when you've already lost it all? Absolutely nothing.

Enjoy the show, it's gore-riffic!

Women's Health Magazine- The new Cosmo?

Yes I have read and do read Cosmo on occasion, like waiting around at the grocery store or on a bike at the gym. I expect trashy articles, re-used stories and lots of ads.

When I picked up Women's Health at the gym, I was expecting something a little...different. This mag. publishes Men's Health, Runner magazine and books under Summit Media.

Interestingly, I watched a CBC documentary yesterday on the million-dollar industry that is diet books, starting off with the much maligned Atkins diet phenomena. What CBC also showed me was how Summit Media was pushing the new South Beach diet in each of it's magazines--but not as advertising, but as genuine book reviews. Liars! So basically, we pay for magazines so they can feed us as much crap articles posing as genuine as they can, along with the treasure trove of ads.

Ok, aside from that aside, I read through Women's Health and was expecting some fitness articles, health articles, healthy food recipes, you know, things that lend themselves to health.

What I got were ridiculous (ok, I hate it when people spell ridiculous as 'rediculous') articles that were pandering and simpering.

Case in point: What if you and your boyfriend/partner aren't compatible on certain issues? We tell you how hard this is to resolve!

1. He's a slob, you're a neat freak.
2. You like tabloids, he's more intellectual.
3. You want 3+ children, he wants one.
4. You like to shop and spend, and he's a saver.

Seriously? Need I go on? All I got from this stereotypical tripe was that women are dumber than men (tabloid reading); baby obsessed (show him how practical 3 childen could be!); spend like money grows on trees and shopping is a sport (shop vs. save); and are obviously neat freaks who love donning the 'hausfrau' role (you're neat, he's a slob).

And people pay for this garbage.

Scratch beginings: Me, $25 and the American Dream

In a book review mood these days!

Written by relative stranger to the writing world, Adam Shepard takes a sociological experiment and writes about his experiences with it. He is not a trained writer, but he is a keen observer and clever fellow, had a university degree and some ambition. He states that he was inspired by 'Nickel and Dimed' by Barbara Ehrenreich, and wanted to 'prove' her wrong.

The premise of the story is he drops himself into a city with the clothes on his back, $25 in his pocket, a tarp and a duffel bag. He then must make $2500, find an apartment and a job within 365 days. Tall order, but he wants to see if it is possible go to from rags, to slightly nicer rags. He cannot use his degree or connections at all. Nobody knows him or his education, he starts on ground zero but without a drug addiction.

I liked this book. It's a little disingenuious, as the author tends to focus hard on the positives and ignore the gritty underside that would make this book even more fascinating. It reminds me of immersion journalism like 'Black Like Me' by John Howard Griffin but with less...texture.

He lives in a homeless shelter, had a rough time getting a job, gets a job, and even then it's not all smooth sailing. Unfair job conditions, illnesses and a broken toe plague Shepard in his journey. He shows the benefits that down on their luck people have, but he also shows how truly hard it is to 'pull yourself up by your bootstraps' when you suffer from addiction, illnesses, mental illness or injury. It's not always easy and poverty will always exist.

What I wanted to see was a bit more detail about his early life in his journey. He skims over the difficulties, like fights, stabbings, addiction problems. It's not all cotton candy and fluff, but as a reader we need more depth. There, I said it. The characters aside from the ones he really focuses on are 2-dimensional.

But, Shepard is not a trained writer so we'll cut him some slack. He is very good at showing how the 'blame game' is played with the disenfranchised, particularly when store people hire him and other homeless to hang clothes, and then kick them out at lunchtime instead of inviting them to share the luncheon. They also accuse a worker of stealing when it was clear he had no opportunity to do so, and what homeless man would want baby clothes?

Is poverty really a cycle? It can be for some people, not good at budgeting, addictions, single parents...And for some it is an excuse to not buckle down. Shepard doesn't shy away from the fact that some people are just lazy and can't focus.

In a sad part in the end, Shepard reveals that both his parents have cancer, so his 'experiment' becomes all too real when his mother is unable to support her self & pay for cancer treatments. He leaves his experiment, takes up a job near his mother and must support her as well as himself. This bit of sad truth only shows how real the game has become for him and other Americans.

Feel like something bleak? The Road by Cormac McCarthy

Pulitzer-prize winner Cormac McCarthy, also known for 'All the Pretty Horses' and 'No Country for Old Men' has come out with a post-apocalyptic depresser for all readers. It is very different from Margaret Atwood's 'Oryx and Crake' in that there is no reason for the apocalypse, and all we know is that the entire world (set in USA) is on fire and burning, ash drifts, it is very cold, there is no sun and no warmth. Food is scarece and there are gangs of crazed cannibals that have slaves and keep humans for food replenishment.

It is a very, very bleak novel. It also makes you glad you are alive in this current world, as imperfect as it is. It is also being turned into a movie, so stay tuned! I'm a bit concerned about how awful the movie will be, as there are some scenes in the book that make you glad you aren't watching them.

A man and his son traverse 'the road' a burned highway through the states. They seek the coast for warmth, and maybe the sea will be blue and the sky will be blue, instead of a murky angry grey. They are always starving and the man has some sort of TB and coughs blood on occasion. The man is living for his son and thinks often that if his heart was made of stone, they would be better off. I think the son does think the man's heart is gone, as the man shows no pity to an ancient starving man, and he shoots someone looking for a doctor. The man is concerned only about their survival.

And, rightly so. In a scene (**spoiler**) the man checks out a house, and it has sleeping bags and packs, which was dangerous. The boy is scared. Any people are bad news in this world. The man is curious and desperate for food, so they check out the house further, and he sees a door with a padlock on it. He breaks the padlock off and opens the door, and an incredible stench greets them. There are stairs leading to a basement, he takes the stairs and a horrifying scene plays out. A man missing legs lies moaning on a hideous mattress, naked people scream and beg for help, some missing body parts. The man backpedals and runs away, narrowly missing the cannibals coming back to their lair. They were the cannibals food supply, kept locked in the basement.

In this new world, it seems more merciful to die early, which is what the man's wife does once she realizes there is no way out, and she leaves her son and husband to eke out a miserable existence. There is no help, no salvation and the eternal question of 'God' seems pathetic and useless.

Not an uplifting book but a good one. Pick it up to remind you that your life is truly wonderful.

Restaurants to Avoid, the Edgewater Pub

So far, there are a few restaurants on my 'avoid' list. I just added one recently and this blog is to inform you to avoid it...or risk being disappointed, your choice.

I went to the 'Edgewater' Pub recently, and having been to their very expensive offshoot restaurant in the basement, the 'Cellar' I was expecting something good. Turns out the only thing they really share is maybe a kitchen and insanely exorbitant prices.

Entrees for dinner cost $23++ and that was the cheapest entree. I'm sorry, I am NOT paying upward s of $25 for salmon. Forget it. It's not even encrusted in gold! Not to mention this is a pub, and their pathetically wimpy 'pints' were more like sleeves and friggin overpriced at that-- $6. Sad, really.

The service was terrible, the food served in miniscule portions (seriously, for $11.50 the salad had better be on a PLATE not a teensy cup. Fuck that) do us all a favour, and don't patronise that ridiculous place. I had a seafood salad (tiny) and soup (tiny) didn't taste bad, but for the sky-high prices I was expecting something half-ways filling. Forget that.

Edgewater pub is joining Tony's pizza and Bocelli's pizza in the 'hall of infamy' for incredible suckitude. I will bash and badmouth them as much as I feel, and I will never again go. Pfffft. The entire dinner was a terrible disappointment and I felt like holding my wallet open so they could rob me blind anyways.

Dr. Gabor Mate "When the Body says No"

Went to a great lecture by the venerable Dr. Gabor Mate, author, physician and innovator in the realm of linking spiritual/mental/physical health with ailments.

I feel a particulare resonance with his message of stress afflicting us in physical ways, last year I was hating life when I was commuting 1+hr each way to work. It ate into my time, I hated the bus/skytrain and everything about it, except for my actual job. Eventually I brushed my hair behind my ear and felt a lump on my neck. It worried me, but I thought I had knocked my jaw or something, and didn't press into it. the next day I had another lump, on my neck. I was seriously concerned and got it checked out immediately--the dr. thought it could be mono, or infection or worst-case scenario, lymphoma. That looming spectre of blood cancer scared me shitless.

Got blood tested and it was all good, just an infection. I am never sick. I was never sick before that, and haven't gotten sick since. It was my body rebelling at my phsyical dislike of my current situation and bang-you can't ignore lumps on your neck, ever.

I got lucky. Many people end up with MS, ALS or cancer after a lifetime of suppressing their emotions or hating their situations. Gabor Mate's message was important, but there is no real easy answer rather than 'relax' and 'be less stressed.' Yoga is good, a drink after work is good... but one of the keys I think is to 'let go'. Work stress? You go home and forget it, leave it at work. Family stress? Learn to say NO, feel guilty but rejoice in that guilt b/c it means you are standing up for yourself, for once. (loved that one!)

The good Dr. has books out, "When the body says No" "In the realm of hungry ghosts" "Hang on to your kids" and they're all doing fairly well. He is a deadpan humourist, and a very intelligent human. Read him and absorb some of it--it might save your life!

Orpheus and Eurydice

Through lady luck's smiling fortune, I went to the ballet last Friday night with a friend. She scored tickets (free!) and I happily came along, and as it turns out, fantastic tickets costing $100 for an astounding interpretation of the Orpheus and Eurydice myth.

The ballet is shocking, animalistic, sensual and stripped bare. It is unlike any ballet I have ever seen or are likely to see again. I savour the memory of it, even though it is extremely difficult to describe to those who haven't seen it--it's that tongue-twisting inability to accuractly depict just what was going on.

There is nudity, all the dancers are topless with the exception of gold pasties over their nipples. The women's gold pasties are linked by a single gold chain, an oddly erotic ornament. There is loud screeching, vowel-burning, melting language. The dancers drag words from each other grudgingly. They howl at the audience, they prance like demons.

The dancers are incredibly athletic and exotic, and they lithely display an extended narrative through interpretations of Hades, demons, the angelic figure of Eurydice the tree nymph. The music is doomed, light, fun and frightening in turn.

This ballet by Marie Chouinard even shocked the skeptics in France--it's that good. If you ever get the chance to see it, don't do what one angry viewer did-storm out. Stay, and it just looks silly if you get angry half-way through, the good stuff's already gone! Oh and don't come back to retireve your husband, he was enjoying the culture, something Whitehorse sadly lacks at times.

This was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and isn't currently running at the Arts Centre anymore. What a fantastic season-opener!

Hate Crush-The New Secret Nemesii

http://jezebel.com/5361960/hate-crushes-a-love-story

Inspired by this jezebel story, do you have a person, or group of people who you are absolutely transfixed by? And not in a good way?

I do, but my secret nemesii usually don't fall into that category. The 'hate crushes' are nemesii who you watch obsessively, see what they are eating, what they are wearing, what classes they go to--and you secretly scorn them, their ridiculous party outfits at 11am on a Sunday morning...

Also, people you see on the street only briefly, but you have to watch and see what their story is. Usually you feel superior to them, or you think they feel superior to you--a teetertotter of social discourse.

Who's your hate crush?

Is It Obvious?

Taken from great newsy/feminist website Jezebel: I think it's very interesting, and I'm surprised at how obvious the message is here--why should the victim have to take responsibility for the crime?

Sexual Assault Prevention Tips Guaranteed to Work!
1. Don’t put drugs in people’s drinks in order to control their behavior.
2. When you see someone walking by themselves, leave them alone!
3. If you pull over to help someone with car problems, remember not to assault them!
4. NEVER open an unlocked door or window uninvited.
5. If you are in an elevator and someone else gets in, DON’T ASSAULT THEM!
6. Remember, people go to laundry to do their laundry, do not attempt to molest someone who is alone in a laundry room.
7. USE THE BUDDY SYSTEM! If you are not able to stop yourself from assaulting people, ask a friend to stay with you while you are in public.
8. Always be honest with people! Don’t pretend to be a caring friend in order to gain the trust of someone you want to assault. Consider telling them you plan to assault them. If you don’t communicate your intentions, the other person may take that as a sign that you do not plan to rape them.
9. Don’t forget: you can’t have sex with someone unless they are awake!
10. Carry a whistle! If you are worried you might assault someone "on accident" you can hand it to the person you are with, so they can blow it if you do.

And, ALWAYS REMEMBER: if you didn’t ask permission and then respect the answer the first time, you are commiting a crime- no matter how "into it" others appear to be.

****
Funny how that works, isn't it?

Chinchilla

I saw a funny riff on the iPod character, a black chinchilla with the earbuds. It said, iChew.

And man, they weren't kidding! I had a chinchilla, Maxwell Smart, during a brief time in my childhood, before I left for university and my parents (mom) decided he was too much to look after and gave him away to a petting zoo or something like that.

Max was a terrible chewer. He ate paint off the basement floor, chewed walls, wallpaper, bricks, carpet, wood, cords, everything that wasn't nailed down or was nailed down he chewed to pieces. He was also astoundingly cocky and I once saw him in a near-death leap from the tall Yucca flowerpot onto kitchen tile, clutching a popsicle stick vertically in his teeth. We gasped, and the popsicle stick flicked harmlessly to the side upon landing instead of impailing Max's little lentil brain.

Small-brained, he still outwitted us on many, many occasions. He would scurry into gopher holes, run under cars, hide inside cement bricks, under the barbecue and lick grease off the bottom (made him very sick) and even into the ductwork & heating of our house. That was a funny and exasperating time, he was loose in the vents when a vent cap came off. He had the run of the house all night and we had little chinchilla poops everywhere as evidence. Everytime he saw us, he would race back into an opened vent--my dad finally outsmarted him using raisins and a mop to reach out and block the exposed vent when Max went for the raisins.

Then we read later that too many raisins can poison chinchillas. Max liked eating bizarre and intriguing things. Savoury and sweet were his favourite, like dried vegetables, coffee beans, prunes and raisins.

He had a princely cage, 3 stories with a coffee can (Maxwell's) to sit in on the loft level and a fishbowl to sleep in on his bedroom level. He was difficult to handle so to get him out of his cage we used to remove the fishbowl he was sleeping in (they are nocturnal so sleep all day) and shake him out of it. He hated that, but he was a hisser and a biter normally.

When we cleaned his cage we removed the 3 story part and left the cage bottom, and sometimes Max went for a ride in his fishbowl onto the cement floor. We went through 2 fishbowls that way, with Max in them when they broke. He was fine.

Chinchillas clean themselves by jumping into a rubbermaid of volcanic ash and rolling about, flinging dust everywhere. When they are unwell or can't clean themselves with the dust, their luxurious fur feels greasy and looks it. You don't even wash a chinchilla.

They are brave and foolhardy creatures and live forever. They have a remarkable lifespan and can live for up to 20 years. Max liked to pretend he was a punk 'skater kid, and he would run alongside walls like a skater on a board. They also need lots and lots of exercise outside their cage at night, and without it they resort to stress habits, like fur pulling. Max let us know he needed more playtime and a bigger cage by pulling out his tail fur. Charming.

Chinchillas are definitely challenging pets and incredibly destructive. I wouldn't really recommend them to anyone, as they belong in Peru habitating high up in the volcanic mountains in caves.

Terrible Wedding Cards

Speaking as someone who was recently married and still doesn't give a shit about the whole 'tradition' of it, I went in search of a non-sappy wedding card for a dear relative's upcoming nuptials.

I went to Wal-Mart (so sue me, there's basically nowhere in this town to buy this stuff and Shoppers is just as bad) and the selection was dismal.

First of all, the cards had tacky, simpering sayings and some were implicitly religous, even though there was specifically a 'religous' sayings side. Get back on that side, jeebus! Enough with the 'In God's eyes we are joined in this miracle' or "We gather our loved ones under the eyes of Our Lord' and just plain sappy, "This is a special day for such special people, forever in love" and "Today is the day two become one" UCK.

Then, a noticeable lack of blank-inside cards. Like, none.

The designs were retarded. Boring, cheesy, no fun sparkles or glittery bits, and the one that did have something on it, it was ribbon protruding from the behind of a bride's bustle. WTF?

I picked one with a 'sassy' saying and it is still boring looking for my taste. Overpriced ($4.99 and shitty. Hm)

Word has it that Murdoch's (Gem shop) has good blank cards. Oh well, until next time...

Feel for the Farriers

The farrier came out yesterday to shoe my leased horse, who apparently had never worn shoes before. He trimmed her up fine the other week-too well guess because she was lame and ouchy for pretty much the entire week, so we thought, ah ha, shoes will fix that!

He came out and it even started a fiasco. I had tied her up in the front corrall and taken her best friend horse out to the ring to ride. I cut my ride short (was wearing the wrong shoes due to laziness) and found dear lease horse roaming free in front of the pasture. The farrier and I caught her and tied her up so he could commence shoeing.

We chatted a bit, the horse seemed quite concerned about the nailing sensation into her feet, but is a calm horse, so we didn't worry. She was looking for reasons to spook though, and when some kids ran past, she leapt to the side and knocked the farrier's hoof stand over. That was ok, she was a bit worried.

Foot number one was done, time for foot number two. Her patience, as a horse, was worn completely thin. The farrier's patience, although vast in quantity, also wore thin. She leapt about, causing an absolute ruckus. His dog came racing to the rescue to 'discipline' the bad horse, working my horse up even further. Finally everything calmed down, the farrier pulled the bent nail and started on nail #2. Horse has another full on freakout, leaps into the farrier, knocks him over, his box of supplies, the hoof stand, everything goes flying. The farrier loses more patience, and has a hammer and a loud voice. Horse gets the point, dog leaps into action, it is very chaotic again.

Ok, calmed down, farrier removes nail #2 and goes to put nail #3 in. Horse loses it again, smacks straight into farrier, steps on his foot, makes him absolutely roar with anger. It is very terrifying for all involved. Horse finally calms down, and lets him remove bent nail #3 and put nail #4 on. There are 7 nails in a shoe. Jesus.

Luckily horse gets the point and everyone escapes relatively unscathed. I asked the farrier if they were this bad all the time, he says, "If they were, I would have gotten out of this business a looong time ago." I get the point. He then asks if she has had shoes before. Nope, not to my knowledge. "Explains a lot," he says.

Horse trots out sound, we breathe a big sigh of relief. I wouldn't want to be a farrier, man that is one tough job.

Badvertising Part II

Last I left you, I had some interesting old school ads that were quite horrendous on the 'modern woman' front. These ads are pretty new, and to me, and to a lot of those current with the feminist forefront, are just as bad. An ad with a man in a possessive/aggressive position, the woman lying supine and at his mercy advertising clothing? For who? The wife beater?

Which diet pill works for you? Why isn't a man on this ad also? Why should only women care about their bodies, dissolve into society like thin wraiths. We shouldn't take up much room, apparently.

Don't you know good women are Audrey Hepburn-esque, gamine and tiny. As a smaller person myself, I always make a point to say I 'act like a taller person' and also like to say I'm in training for the Miss Universe competition. Nah, I'm definitely not a champion bodybuilder but I think bulk/muscle training for women is a fantastic idea and I'm super proud of my bicep/shoulder definition, if only to show those determined to delegate women into the 'thin, slim teen, submissive petite' stereotype how wrong they are when faced with a woman with more than a few muscles.

With that being said, you sure don't see 'shrinking pills' for tall women if tiny is the preferred norm. Nope, 'they' don't care how tall you are, only that you are growing thinner with each bad ad.

Not everybody wants to lose weight, and diet pills are a terrible idea for the maintenance of a healthy body & mind. Not everybody relishes a pack of men standing over them, even if the men are suspiciously effeminate.

I wish I could say feminism wasn't needed anymore, but every time I read the news I think it hasn't finished yet, we haven't reached that point yet. Case in point, even personally I feel it. One time I was walking home at night from work and crossed the street to my apartment. At that same time, a bunch of young men were approaching me. They presumed that I crossed the street to avoid running into them, and yelled to me something in that manner. I didn't bother answering, but thought to myself; If you were smaller, more vulnerable at night with a gender known to attack you, would you avoid them?

I have been groped while pushing open a door at a campus pub before, in broad view of my outraged male and female friends. Trust me, it doesn't engender trust in men, ever. Until you can demonstrate your trustworthiness, feminism will never be unnecessary. Wish it weren't so, but there are a myriad of other issues that I can't even get started on; women's sports, payscales, childcare duties, doctor's assumptions that young women are brainless and too infantile to understand what you want when you say you want to be permanently sterilised...Oh, we've only just begun!

((Please excuse this awful wall of text, Blogger will not let me add paragraphs to avoid the eye-bleed. ARGHHHH)

Special Edition: Badvertising Before and After

Advertising hasn't really changed much--except for the obvious smoking ones. Smoking is bad for you, haven't you heard?

A lot that hasn't changed holds a staunch anti-women view, and is often blatantly misogynistic. As my friend put it, the difference is that today's advertising that preys upon women's insecurities is fluffed up, prettied. It's 'because you're worth it' or ' all your friends do!' or 'lose the weight, gain confidence with the Acaii berry diet, Hydroxycut, Ephedra' when in reality it's all snake oil designed to make women slaves to men/their bodies.

Worried about weight? Feminine 'odors'? Oh, there's a parasitic pill for that, and some bleach that'll help that smell. Now men will love you, but only if you alter yourself in some way first--you're worthless without our products.

Next to come...how today's advertising compares!

In the US drinking a Chelada...

I have discovered a very interesting new drink: the can of Chelada.

I googled and as it turns out the 'traditional' Chelada is beer, salt and lime mixed together. The Chelada I had was from a can, courtesy of Bud Light and Clamato. So my version, for review's sake, is really a 'Michelada' which is tomato/beer/sort of like a beer Bloody Mary or Caesar.

It was huge, contents of can equaled to 2 beer. The tast was, well, quite strange but in a good way. If you are a fan of Clamato, then this is the beer for you! It is Bud Light, Clamato, lime and salt. The only problem I had was the sheer size, and after drinking it everything tasted to me like it had Clamato, and I was drinking Coronas and Miller Light...so yeah. But worth it.

For a can, you're running at $3.25 which is a pretty good deal. Go ahead, try out some of these bizarro beer cocktails-you might just like 'em!

Haines, Alaska

We took advantage of the fabulous long weekend and made the 4-hr trek out to Haines, Alaska.

I'm not sure what I was expecting, but as soon as we hit the AK side, the scenery was gorgeous! No more the blasted, withering landscape of the Yukon. There were huge trees (Cottonwood, I believe) that looked healthy, lots of lush undergrowth, and that fresh ocean smell. I was very impressed!

Haines itself is quite teeny but pretty cool. There are a few bars, restaurants and hotels (we almost stayed at the Thunderbird...yeah, next to a transfer station, no thanks!) Luckily the looming and ancient hotel Halsingland has lots of empty rooms, so we got our choice! It was bizarre but so worth it.

It was also Mardi Gras night, which was awesome-tastic! Fun times were had by all. I even bought a bottle of 'Dr.Bronner's 16-uses miracle soap from the hippie store. We had salmon po'boys, fantastic thai (so hot I was sweating/crying) at the Chilkat restaurant/bakery and it was all good...until...

Our tire went flat before dinner! Bummer. We did what any people wanting to have fun would do, abandoned the car, had dinner and went drinking. We walked back to the car the next day and spent ALLL freaking day dealing with it, in a series if misadvetures.

Can't get the tire off? Walk to service station, buy a big tire iron. Walk back to car.

Jump on one side of tire iron, other person heaves other. Tire comes off gradually & reluctantly.

Drive car to service station on spare. Have tire fixed, go to lunch driving on spare.

Pick up tire, remove spare to put tire back on. Car, imperceptably on a hill, lurches forward and falls off tire jack. Axel grinds in gravel.

Struggle for awhile, car lurches threateningly every time. Give up, put spare back on, drive to school parking lot. Take spare off, finally put tire back on and get the hell out--it's 2pm by this time. We still had a 4+hr drive.

ARGHHHH.

Well, I still liked Haines. And I still liked having a long weekend, even if I did get stung by an angry wasp on the last day and my wrist/arm ached and had shooting pains up and down all night. Still aches. Ahhh...

Cranberries: Nature's bounty

It might surprise some people, but it's cranberry time already! We have been casually picking, not intently yet, and we've already gotten enough to make some awesome cranberry muffins.

The trick with cranberries is that conventional wisdom says to pick after a frost, but you don't have to--just check on the ground in any wooded area and you are pretty much sure to find ripe ones. I have found that mossy, treed areas that get little sun seem to have the ripest ones. The sunny areas have ones that are still barely turning red/pink.

Some good cranberry recipes; my favourite are cranberry muffins and cranberry truffles--think of the niche appeal, 'hand-picked!'

http://www.gourmetspot.com/recipeofweek34.htm

I like this one, even though the truffles never hardened and I had to keep them in the freezer!

Eerie Coincidences

I'm revisiting a series of strange coincidences today. Not sure if you recall the 'missing sock' episode of earlier this spring, well I am now experiencing coincidences that are much stranger and creepy--they involve...death!

I recently started a new job, and within a week at that new job the news was passed around that an esteemed colleage had a celebrated a birthday then consequently passed away, doing poorly at a pallative care centre. That news washed over me like much of the overinformation I was exposed to, until I read the email that he died merely a week after his birthday.

That was sad, and that day I was digging around through supplies until I found a clipboard and snatched it up, pretty sweet score. I glanced at my find and noticed it had a name written on it, 'property of' and it was the man who had died that day.

Not willing to risk fate, I put the clipboard back. I'm not that eager to encourage the wrath of angry gods, or anything like that. Creepy.

I'm also on a bit of a Pat Conroy kick, having read The Prince Of Tides and thoroughly enjoyed it. I moved on to Beach Music and read the acknowledgement and thank-you page before the prologue, and came up on a mention of a brother who died by his own hand in 1995. He comitted suicide August 31st, and I started that book yesterday, which was also August 31st.

Another bizarre and eerie coincidence! Now I am set to puzzle over these occurences, and consider what they are trying to tell me. I had a teacher who once postulated that to dream of a death, or a loved one dying, meant that in real life it was a positive, that you would hear from someone you hadn't contacted in ages and that you missed.

I hope it's something similar, and not sinister...

Training for Courage with Paul Dufresne

Yup, went to his clinic this past weekend. It was definitely for those interested in getting a lot out of their hard-earned cash, as it went from 9am-5/6pm with nary a break except for lunch! It felt strenuous for my days off, I mean, no sleeping in time??

Worth it, in my experience. What I really enjoyed was his 'it's ok' view. Horse freaks out? No problem. My friend's horse was getting snitty on the ground and tried to rear when Paul was showing us a half-pass on the ground, and what did he do? Stuck with her and was like, it's cool. She forgot about her temper tantrum and kept working. He said we often mirror the horse and when they freak out, we freak out. If we just keep on keeping on, the horse will be like, oh, ok, my human thinks we're doing fine. Guess there's nothing to worry about, carry on.

And that is so true, I mean, I would freeze up if my horse tried to rear when I was leading her!

We did some cool exercises, like 'driving' a horse over a tarp with us between a barrel and the tarp in case the horse decided 'no more' and wanted to buffalo past us, or jump the tarp. An important lesson, 'never get between your horse and a scary thing'

We encouraged our horses to be ok with us kicking a bag full of tin cans around, a giant neon soccer ball (my horse knows the ball and wasn't impressed still) and step up on command on a small platform. We weren't allowed to let our horses jump on it and stay there, as they will fall off and who wants a 1300lb animal falling on them??

My horse liked the platform and leapt on it and tried to climb right on, and I was like, nooo way!!

We also worked on a lot of 'poll bending' exercises, getting the horse's head lowered and comfortable. We practiced this exercise on horseback as well as on the ground.

Good clinic, be prepared for long ass days. You definitely get your money's worth, and a great tool for bravery and 'keeping your cool' which I needed.

Coming up next with Things My Boss Said

I was inspired to write this after a pal sent me this link: It's not bad, but you could make it better! http://bartlebysunite.tumblr.com/

And now, my entries:

Boss: “The council hasn’t come to sign cheques yet? Why don’t you give Bobo an email.”

Worker bee emails: “Bobo says he will be in on Thursday.”

Boss: “Why did you email him? I told everyone staff is not to contact council members. Only I contact council members!”

Worker bee: ????

**********
Boss: “Nobody is to contact council members-only I will. Therefore I will be taking the minutes at the council meeting, because of this. Worker bee no longer can attend council meetings.”

~~~after council meeting~~ next council meeting a month later

Boss: “Worker bee is taking minutes at the council meeting.”

Worker bee: “I thought you said staff wasn’t supposed to attend the council meetings anymore, and that you would take the minutes?”

Boss: “Well you take better minutes.”

Worker bee: “I have a migraine that day.”

Fall Fantastic

Bit of a lament here. Whitehorse has no fall fair, and no rodeos. No schooling shows either. It really bums me out, as last weekend was the Cobble Hill fair in Cobble Hill, the Saanich fall fair is coming up, and I miss them so much!

The Cobble Hill fair is a really cute tiny fair, complete with dogs herding ducks over little bridges, a horse show, 'largest vegetable' awards and baked goods and handicraft competitions. It is very tiny, but so worth going. When I was there, they had a miniature horse in-hand class where the handlers had to run the minis around traffic cones and one mini got super excited and ran off with his handler, pulling her to the ground. She was ok but man, those suckers are strong!

The Saanich fall fair is big, has a midway and everything. They have a fabulous rabbit/livestock competition and a horse show that is very well attended. They even have draft horse pulling competitions as well as carriage/trap competitions. It's fantastic! I didn't even go to the midway last time I was there, I was so caught up in the other events--they have a beer/wine category under handicrafts too, and there are a ton of entries in the 'vegetables/produce' categories, as well as baked goods.

My friends are going to the Alaska fall fair in Palmer, AK. It's about 45mins-1hr outside Anchorage and around 13 hours away from Whitehorse. I am so envious! It sounds like a blast, and I do miss those lovely fall fairs...

The Gift of Fear

By Gavin deBecker.

Not a book review, as I haven't read it yet myself (currently reading The Prince of Tides, yeah don't ask) but I have read a spinoff about stalkers who quotes heavily from 'Gift' and therefore feel it is appropriate to bring it up.

Also, a great feminist news source/angst mongering website I frequent does great book reviews and just reviewed this one, as they felt it was timely.

It is always timely, and in an effort to take this beyond book review, the book is about your senses being able to guide you past trouble. That sick feeling or 'hairs raising on your arm' creepy sense is valuable. They tell you something is wrong, and don't stick around to find out what.

The important thing about this book is not 'living in fear' which is extremely debilitating and dangerous, but using that one type of fear--creepy sense, as a tool to save your life from a bad situation.

de Becker doesn't victim-blame, he says we are all responsible for our own safety. Women in particular are to be aware, on guard constantly, as men are always the aggressors. We can't depend on others to protect us, they haven't earned the right to that.

One of the most troubling aspects of protecting ourselves is that women, through society and rom-coms, are conditioned to accept a man's aggressive behaviour, not taking 'no' for an answer, and always accepting a man's help, even if not needed and puts one in an uncomfortable or dangerous scene. We have to learn to say NO. And leave it at that. Don't feel bad, if they are bad people, so much the better. If they are good people, they will understand.