Socks & Psychic Coincidences

I liked the movie, "I (heart) Huckabees."

And now I have a little story about 'psychic coincidences' that happened to me yesterday. I have just started taking the bus to and from work, as my dear partner ran off with my car to the heathen backwaters of Ross River.

I have a shortcut I take, and I have so far taken it 3 times. I also pack my gym bag to and from work in case I have time to workout at lunch, and the bag contains socks, shorts and a workout tank top.

Yesterday on my way to work I noticed a pair of my socks resting in a heap on the shortcut by the side of the road. Hmm, they must have fallen out of my gym bag on my way home yesterday, I thought to myself. I grabbed them up and stuffed them in my bag, and had a funny story to tell the co-irkers about my wandering socks. After all, I am the person who has their underwear fall out of their laundry basket onto the lobby of my residence building, not notice, and have everyone go through the day seeing pink panties draped on the floor.

I didn't think anything more of my socks until I came home and discovered my gym socks were still in my gym bag. At home! They had never fallen out! Also, these are no ordinary socks--I have a collection bizarre socks, and these particular ones are blue fuzzy ones with pink and yellow argyle. Definitely unusual. Nobody else would have these socks, trust me.

So now I am the owner of two pairs of blue fuzzy argyle socks, one of which providence found fit to gift me with, though dirty, by the side of the road.

I think the cosmos is trying to tell me something. Those socks, on that day, at that time, that look exactly like my gym socks. Psychic coincidence.

I just can't figure out what the message is though. Hm...

Yukon Kennel Club Dog Show

So who's best in show?

The dog show (Most Northern Dog Show!!) took place last weekend as well, at the Mt. Mac Curling Club. It was a multi-day show, with exhibitors coming from all over the Yukon and Alaska.

It was pretty fun, dogs of every description crowded cages, rings, owners laps, floors, stood on grooming tables...

Owners practiced running alongisde their prizewinning pooches with these silly little wire leashes. Ridiculous looking toy poodles stood on grooming stands, and this funny gremlin-looking dog (Pekinese?) was sleeping on a grooming stand, totally oblivious to the other excited dogs barking like crazy.

My fav? A cage full of sleeping Corgis. SO adorable. I think, if I ever get a dog (not likely right now, too into small creatures) I will get a Corgi. Happiest looking dogs ever.

My one grip was I wish a class list was posted, so we could come and watch the agility or obedience classes. Nothing was posted past; Retrievers Class 1-10, Toy Breeds 11-21, etc etc.??? Doesn't help the layperson figure out when the excitement happens!

Oh well. Also the dog ribbons the prize winners recieve are friggin' impressive. HUGE rosettes of every colour, even 4th place had a ribbon I'd be pleased to have. I wish horse shows had ribbons that big!

I really enjoyed the dog show, and it made me wonder if secretly all dog show people are like those from Best In Show. Hm. Didn't see anything crazy, but you never know...haha.

Yukon Wildlife Preserve

Had an open house last weekend, and therefore free bus tours~

Like the vultures we are (well, animal lovers on a budget) my partner and I decided to cruise on by and check out the Preserve. Normally, the tours cost $22 for a bus tour per person, and $15/person for a walking tour. Fairly pricey!

Bus tours last 45mins-1hr and walking tours are 1.5 hrs-2 hrs depending on how slow you can crawl.

The critters were absolutely delightful. Elk, baby mule deer (twins!!!) caribou, lots of random ground squirrels running amok, mountain goats, 2 moose, musk oxen with terrible tempers, bison and thinhorn sheep.

Babies were out in full force and I loooove them. The baby mule deers were so tiny they had trouble standing, and when the tour guide was asked how old they were, he said, " well they weren't here yesterday!" OMG!! squee!!

The only thing that sucked was that human babies were also out in full force, ignoring the cute animals and squalling in only that really annoying way that makes you hate them. We got to hop out of the bus and heft animal antlers and horns, which are very heavy, surprisingly so. I wanted to drop the moose rack on a particularly horrid baby. HA.

Great tour for free! I guess if you pay, you do it once and do it in the summer so you can check out the babies...or just wait until Open House weekend.

Not quite as cool as Quebec's Parc Omega, where you can feed the animals and they expect it and roam to your car, but for the Yukon? I'll take it.

Bunny Times!

This blog is a bit of a depart...

I'm writing today to examine the relationships between different species (creatures, in my vernacular). I have an elderly and ailing female guinea pig, and just obtained by accident and fluke, a young male rabbit. My pig is excited and interested in the rabbit, and started following him around with much interest, and the rabbit? Not so much. Ran away from the pig at first, and then turned and bit her --twice! That was too much for the pig, and she got upset and ran for cover. Poor piggy!

The rabbit ran for cover too. Hm, not very successful.

I was hoping for a sort of friendship, I mean my pig was more than willing to extend the olive branch of curiosity. This was no '"Raising the Peaceable Kingdom: What Animals Can Teach Us about the Social Origins of Tolerance and Friendship" A book by Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson about raising animals that should be at each other's necks yet instead live in harmony. His is a pychological experiment, and mine? Arghhh....

Time will tell, let me wish!

Teeth-whitening update

Feedback is pretty good. My friends have said they noticed a difference, and I have even been slacking off a bit due to never being home, and the gel started irritating my gums.

Oh yeah, that. I would caution those who want to try Crest Whitestrips that any gel they get on their sensative parts to beware, those gels contain peroxide and will definitely cause soreness/swelling. Luckily it just means you have to take a day or so off then be extra careful when reapplying, keep just to the tooth.

Mine cost $38, which isn't too bad for noticeable results. The only part I haven't really seen a difference in is my yellowed incisors, which are still...yellowish. Hm.

My front teeth are now very white. Woo!

I finish the whitening set in the next day or so, and overall it's fairly painless. You can jog, talk, shower, do makeup with the strips on, just no eating or drinking. I did lips a bit with the strips, residual interference I think. It wasn't that bad but it was obvious. Haha.

I will have to post an update photo, and we did take before/after pix. To be uploaded soon!

No good luck

*Warning, self-pitying rant up ahead*

Honestly? I need to get out and I need a change. I just received news that a position I have been vying for since March is now on permanent standbye and it was supposed to start LAST FRIDAY.

I feel that I am going to slowly age and then have a brain as malleable as brie cheese if I stay at the mind-numbing situation I currently find myself in, and have found myself in for the last god awful 6 months. I am shocked and surprised I have lasted this long and honestly the only thing that keeps me from freaking out at the job is the fact I think of every day like my last day.

Today, I am very angry. That is all. The weather outside matches my inner seething, grey and furious.

I need to get the hell out. I think I will, job falling ass end out regardless. Everytime I have tried to escape everything blows fuck all into my face.

GRRRRRRRRRR

Anti-Bride

I am.

I have never been to a wedding as a fully-formed adult. Weddings attended as a flower girl don't count, as children aren't people.

This makes planning my own wedding more than a little tricky. How do you reconcile your dear parents wanting to take the whole show and run with it? Or they push you to invite 'dear Aunt Linda Burkowski' or 'Uncle Chuck' when I have never met these people? Yeesh.

I hate religion, and therefore shun the very idea of a 'ceremony' of sorts. I am not taking my partner's last name, though I have to say I'd be tickled if he took mine. If not, no prob.

Why am I getting married? Jesus, that's a tough one. I think it's because I want a big celebration, a gathering-together of all my friends and family to eat, drink and have fun. I do plan on being with my partner 'forever'..or at least as long as 'forever' happens to be!

I really hate getting bogged down in all this drudgery and wedding ennui. I have to say, I think women who dream, desire and fight for huge weddings are totally insane. It's so boring! People who want huge princessy-type weddings, I hate to say it, want to be famous on that day. This is their chance to get all the fame and stardom by purchasing it. So they do.

I don't want to buy a wedding. I want to buy a horse.

My wedding dress is pink. I won't be wearing a veil. I haven't even thought of vows and my wedding is in less than a month. I haven't registered anywhere for gifts. I don't know what my place settings look like. I don't have a seating chart.

Just writing that makes me want to scream. Jeebus! I am never doing this again and I think I would counsel anyone anticipating a marriage to just elope and get the damn thing over with...

Free Food Alert!

Free food alert: Jazz night at the Westmark's Steele St. Lounge Friday's.

Food is pretty good, stuffed potato skins, full array of veggies and dip, great dessert squares like Nanaimo squares, caramel-date, and brownie. Music is ok, a little 'blending-into-the-background' but hey, maybe that's what they're going for.

Crowd is old, mid 40's at the young end. All there for the game when I was there, but hey it's free food and the worst part might be is the constant pack of roving servers might guilt you into buying a beer, but that's not all bad.

In other news, how many servers does the Westmark employ? I swear they must have had like 50 hungry servers, eagerly eyeing down the tourista crowd for tip money. Like sharks, they circled tables. It was kind of tough to focus with all the roving servers...haha. Oh well, everyone's gotta make cash somehow.

And you know, this is every Friday. Pop in, grab a snack.

An unexplained absence

Have been away from the blog recently, due to a series of interesting power outages, cell phone lines being down and internet lines being down. Oh, the joys of living in the middle of nowhere.

I could say it is a conspiracy, but I'm pretty sure it's just forest fires. Cell phone lines were down, we couldn't call out of province, the internet was creeping along at a crawl (and still costing a bloody mint!) and then the power went out for the rest of the afternoon on Thursday.

Also interestingly, the mail wasn't reaching Whitehorse either, as the fires in Liard were stopping mail before it reached Watson Lake. Hm.

In other news, the 'big change' I am/was hoping for has beens stalled and I am in dire need of a status update. Le sigh.

In other news, it is highly unlikely I will be living here for any longer than this summer. Really, there's no point. I hate my job, there are no good options, utilities are mindblowingly expensive, I get bored of the small townie-ness of this place...Yeah.No.

Pizza Review-Bocelli's Pizza

I have previously done pizza reviews in a big mass pizza overview, but I recently ate out at a new joint (new to me) and thought it deserved it's own review.

Solo.

If I were Bocelli's, I'd be gulping. Actually, when I was eating the pizza, I was gulping. Down water!

I went adventurous and it was a very mistaken leap. Bocelli's pizza has a fairly good reputation, though expensive. The ambience was shabby-Italian chic and it was warm inside, a couple fans were running. I was taken in by the casualness of the atmosphere.

I split a Pissarella pizza with a friend, and it looked very intriguing. Anchovies, pine nuts, spinach, marinara, carmelized onions, capers, and olives (I pick them off, not my fav.) When it arrived it looked gorgeous, exceptionally thin and gourmet. I took a bit and gagged. It was SO salty.

I thought, ok let's try this again and choked down another awful piece. I began picking absolutely everything except the pine nuts and carmelized onions. It was still incredibly salty. I was getting more dehydrated by the second, and tried for a 2nd piece and just couldn't do it. It felt like I was a slug someone was trying to kill by dumping salt on it repeatedly.

My stomach started getting angry and I started gagging attempting to eat the 2nd piece so I said my friend could eat it (iron tongue?).

I even mentioned it to the chef, who said it was a pizza for salt lovers. By the way, nowhere in the menu did it mention that. Salt lover? I love salt--I just don't like being poisoned by it. Then the chef said even the carmelized onions were salted! JESUS.

Clearly they were trying to kill me. I have an adventurous palate and am very open to new food experiences and I have NEVER had such terrible pizza. It was also expensive for the ONE bloody piece I could gag down.

A little Sin Tour never hurt anyone...

So, as I have been vowing to do for around 4 months now, I finally took a tour of Whitehorse's finest, the sex shops.

First up, near the elementary school & Salvation Army church, is the 'Adult Temptations' Adult Store. An interesting facet of this window display is that they will change the outfit the blonde plastic temptress is wearing quite often, every 2nd week or so.

And she is often wearing a plastic outfit too. The shop is small and smells overwhelmingly like plastic, maybe even burning plastic. The selection for silly outfits and ridiculous nylons is good, the lotions seem to be plentiful and they even had 'candy necklace' bras and thongs for cheaper than I have ever seen them down South, at $9.99 for the bras. There was also the original Rabbit vibe fore $74.99, which is what it usually retails for (range of $69.99+) and some cute shoes and some clearly hooker shoes. All in all, a fairly welcoming shop.

The location is bizarre. So near a school, and we wonder why children are corrupted at a young age, haha.

Next, we went to the mainstay shop, the very large Adult Warehouse. 'Now offering clubwear!' is often seen in their windows, and yes, the clubwear is actually pretty great looking, but here? In the middle of nowhere? Yeah...

This is truely a warehouse. There are racks and racks of expensive lace lingerie, bustiers (no steel or whalebone, which is illegal) just plastic boning. Many costumes and 'fun' attire, some leather and chain biker-babe stuff and the usual alarming array of insertable items.

Standout bizarre item? Penis conditioner, 'Now with more placenta!' for an umm..invigorating experience?? Ick!!

Lots of ridiculous Bachlorette-type stuff, including a frightening blue and pink assortment of teddy bears with furry penises. EW.

They also had a lot of DVD's for sale and/or rent. Dunno if I'd want to pick up a rental, as you never know who's paws have been feverishly handling it...

Interestingly, the candy necklace bras were $13.99, a whole $4 markup from Adult Temptations.

Fun to browse in though! Never know what you're going to find...

Location is nothing to brag about. Next to a pizza shop, Bocelli's.

You are not "The President"

What you do during a regular day does not normally impact thousands, if not millions of people.

What you are quoted on in the newspaper does not destroy or shatter your reputation, or cause incredible concern. (Unless you really are someone of Incredible Importance and therefore should have some proper media training)

Which begs the ultimate question: As a casual journalist...

Why is everyone SO paranoid about being featured in a fun, fluffy piece about music or parties? It's not like I am saying they swore and made racially incorrect comments about a dancer, it's just for fun and not a direct quote for the most part. I really hate this overwhelming paranoia--it's a teeny paper, not THE NEW YORK TIMES *gasp* *faint*

Seriously, I get people I know quaking in their shoes that 'I MIGHT' quote them on one thing, one time, ever, that they ever said, maybe, one day, possibly, ever!!"

And panicking and freaking out and worried and asking me to never quote them ever because they are worried about their reputation and who knows who might read that you liked the band..oh my!

The paper in reference is a miniscule paper in a miniscule town of no real importance. I feel that your reputation must really be on shaky legs if you are having such a difficult time even talking or being 'seen' with a reporter once in your life.

So, for the hard-of-reading, journalists and writers are not the devil. We, as moral, regular people, do not intentionally misquote, take quotes and statements out of context and do not try to trip people up.

You know who trips you up? YOU do. You say stupid things to a journalist, during an interview, and you can't quite seem to reconcile the dummy things you said to what is written. Journalists rarely ever quote verbatim, to protect their subjects. That is a kindness, not a right. We never set out to destroy your precious 'reputation' we merely want a good story with some interesting quotes.

You do not hold the keys to Ft. Knox and are a Premier at the Ministry of Truths, so give me a fucking break.

Snarky but good.

So not only am I a feminist, but a die-hard animal lover too--go figure!

This was found, I did not write it but I wholeheartedly agree with the sentiment. Animals, like people, are not disposable commodities that you can 'return' when you get tired/bored/sick of them. They are living creatures and deserving of love, care and attention. When you sign on as an animal's guardian, you do so for life. Their life, not yours.

Without further ado...Take it away, Craiglist!

Great News for Pet Owners in West Michigan!

After an exhaustive effort, I now have research to prove that you can take pets with you when moving!
Yes, it's true, and has been verified by many outside sources in the know.
This includes:
*Moves to neighboring states
*Moves across country
*Moves within Michigan
*Moves within the city that you currently reside.

It turns out that in every city they having housing that allows pets. So, the best course of action would be if you(the pet owner) sought out one of these housing options(that allow pets) instead of inquiring on housing that does not allow pets(since you have a pet).

I know, it seems complicated so let me use an analogy.
Example: If you are a smoker and want to rent a hotel room, you will want to book a "SMOKING ROOM" Now, if you call about a "NON SMOKING" room, you will not be able to smoke in said room.

Which is bad, as you are a smoker, and enjoy smoking. See how that works! Simple! Also, while my research is not entirely complete, there is strong evidence that suggests you do NOT need to give up pets either prior to or proceeding the birth of any of your children.

You can have pets and kids. Seriously, it's true...look it up. They(your children) might even learn some traits such as compassion, responsibility, and accountability(I know big words, look them up) if they(your children) are raised in a house with pets(the ones you committed to prior to the children)!

I thought my findings were just too good to keep to myself. So, pass them on to any pet owners you know!

Commercials Rant

Courtesy of your favourite feminist, myself!

First of all, I may be over-interpreting these but WTF? Wait and you shall see...

Fiber 1 Honey Clusters Cereal: Assholes can read your mind??

Features a British-accented man speaking over a women whenever she goes to ask a question about the cereal. Seriously, everytime she opens her mouth, he goes 'and it tastes great!' 'And it's full of fibre' 'And all you taste is vanilla!' 'Can't you believe it' 'Those are full clusters of honey!' 'You're thinking, am I a psychic?'

WTF? No, she's thinking you're a ridiculous asshole who can't keep one orifice to himself, thank you very much! People (women, me) DO NOT LIKE unasked for opinions. Particularly when the very clever advertising agency feels like women are so stupid they think the 'psychic' is answering their un yet-spoke words instead of just fucking cutting them off on every word. We're not that stupid.

****PC teeny computer ad**** Psychic men? Stupid women?
Now, I like these teeny computers, Acer makes a pretty sweet looking pink one and it is awesome. Do I like the retarded ads where a man is sitting on a park bench and a women asks him questions about it, and she NEVER gets to finish the thought/question. He interrupts every second with some asinine 'quip' and we, the viewers, are incensed.
"You're thinking, how do I get one of these?" "You're thinking, and how do you connect to the internet?"

No, I'm thinking why you can't answer a motherfucking question without trying to cut the woman off, you asshat!
"You're thinking I'm psychic, right?"
No, just a fucking rude dick.

Seriously, I have seen two ads of this 'trend' now and I am NOT happy about it. Stop it. Women are smarter than that shit, knock it off.

Movie Review-- Up

Went and saw Pixar's 'Up' this past weekend. I wanted to see the new Terminator, but my partner was fixated on the feel-good message of a cartoon old man and fat child. The story was actually pretty genuine in the beginning, particularly when the man and woman found out they couldn't have children, and therefore decided to focus their dreams on moving to 'Paradise Falls' in South America, a childhood dream.

They never make it and the wife dies, a little life lesson to us all, isn't it? There will always be time and money for the boring shit, work, braces, dr's, roofing, cars, but no money for adventure. Sad.

The man is now quite old and cantankerous. He whales on a construction manager and is therefore 'sentenced' to an old folks home, the ominous Shady Oaks. He is a former balloon salesman, so he gets a great idea--strap 1000's of baloons and float to Paradise Falls, with a fat boyscout clinging to the porch accidentally.

The kid fucks things up all the time and is a fat whiner, which alternately amused and irritated me. Kids always screw shit up, apparently.

The movie got kind of boring and kiddish near the end, and leaned heavily on the patriarchial shit like daddy issues relating to 'not being there for son' and boy scouts. Sigh.

The old man is pretty good though, and has a giant ridiculous head. I am still not sure if this was better than the new Terminator though. HMMM...Have to see it.

Product Reviews

Battling it out in the trenches so you don't have to!

(or, eating peroxide and coating myself with a slick shiny coating..)

Product 1: Crest Whitestrips Classic on sale at Shoppers for $38.00

Apparently 'Classic' is the cheapest version and doesn't offer a 'faster' whitening like the 2 upper levels, the priciest being the 'Pro' at around $60.00.

The gel-filled strips go on your teeth 2X a day for 30 minutes each. They caution you to avoid 'gums' and fleshy areas with the peroxide, as sensitivity or redness may occur. The strips feel kind of strange and made my saliva glands go crazy. No overt 'chemicals' taste but I know they're there...

The strips are also part of an experiment. I got my partner a cheap-ish 'gel' whitening product, we took close up photos of our teeth, and are comparing results after 2 weeks on the differing teeth whitening products. We started yesterday. Will keep you posted!

**** Product 2: Nivea Silky Shimmer Lotion*********
Looks really pretty, a lotion with a tint of bronzer to help you on with your summer sheen. In theory, a great product and I have always had good experiences with Nivea. Silky Shimmer hits all the wrong notes, unfortunately. Nice colour but feels like shit. The 'silkiness' feels like liquid cornstarch rubbing against your skin, slippery and tacky at the same time. It's a disgusting feeling and I am/was very disappointed by Nivea for this dismal product.
Do not buy it. Feels terrible for a 'silky lotion' ICK!

**sidenote, all Nivea products contain liquid silicone to help add softness, the silicone is called Dimethicone. There have been issues in the news about silicone and other chemicals causing health problems, and unfortunately, SO many products (all of them except natural ones like Kiss My Face, Giovanni or Burts Bees have Dimethicone)

Things Whitehorse doesn't have

But would be nice (or good)

Waterslides. Even if you only go once every 3 years, they are frickin' sweet!

Shopping. Of any description. I am not a huge consumer-ish person, but what they have here is just not cuttin' it.

A town nearby. There's nothing, within 5hrs, that is bigger than Whitehorse. No 'let's pop over to the next town for some shopping, or a night out' which really sucks and trust me, after living here for a winter, you'll need it.

You have to travel ($1,000 plane tix) to travel out of here. So basically, if you go on a trip, it's just a trip in itself to get the hell out of here. =$$$$$$$ out of your pocket, unless you are flying Air North direct to Hamburg.

There is only 1 horse show. One. Dear god.

Every riding 'stable' doesn't have a barn...or a ring...or an indoor arena..or trained horses. The calibre of equestrian community out here is pretty frickin' dismal. *sigh*

Electricity, heat, food, rent all cost an absolute fortune, on par with an actual 'city' like Vancouver or Victoria. ????? Why?? Oh, perhaps it is because people aren't meant to be living in the frigid tundra..even if it is 22 deg. today!!