Monday, June 30, 2008

favouritism


my bike. for the time being. it makes me really happy.
yesterday i downloaded EVERYTHING joy division has ever released.
So susequently i went for one hell of a joy division bke ride today.
I love joy division. It is so morose. Reminds me of myself at 15.
I made a pretty sweet "film" in media studies 20 that featured "Trainsmission" as its soundtrack.
Apparently at 26 not much has changed.
Self-pity and bad dreams.
Lst night i had a pretty elaborate Louis Riel dream. Hard to explain, but pretty involved.
Not nearly as unpleasant as the one about the minks from the mink farm all in my car and dying and killing each other. It was especially creepy because it was set at a real place, an actual abadonded mink farm in Furdale (really what it's called) that i used to drive past to my house outside of Saskatoon. Anyway, there was a big watch tower for spotting foxes and coyotes that were trying to stealz the minks, and the whole property was lined with tall spruce trees, all the same size. Very eerie looking. I wish i had a picture. (Un)fortunately, my brain still has a picture, so i dreamt it was still an active fur farm and i was going there to save the minks. I had an old mustard yellow ford falcon, and i was loading them all in the car but they were going berserk (as they would i'm sure) and clawing and scratching and screaming. It was pretty unpleasant.
Maybe i feel repressed guilt for using mink oil.

Surfin' Bird is a pretty unusual song.

i have no nice things to say. except that i have an adult bed now (aside from the accoutrements) and i am pretty happy wit dat.
I never have things to say. most of my conversations are with myself or arguments.
i bet that's a bad sign.
Good bed though.





And because i couldn't think of anything nice to say, here is something nice to see.

My aforementioned Green-Shanty:



Cucumber


Tomatoes


Lobelia


Nasturtiums (sp?)


Tomatoes


Brussel Sprouts and Cabbages


Zucchini

Saturday, June 28, 2008

hey rain, wash my car

The rains are falling straight down.
But it's been satisfactorily sunny for sure. Some pretty hawt and nice days.
Yesterday our plans to canoe were thwarted by circumstance so we set out to play croquet/bocci and picnic in some of Dawson's finer grassy spots instead.
Unfortunately, our time at this first stop was limited by bureaucracy, so we moved north and rocked the mud bogs flat/father judge's cabin with many rounds of bocci.

It kind of looks like the desert. It would have been good swimming weather.
I like hanging at Father Judge's cabin/grave.
It is pretty and green. Usually not too bustling.



I also took pictures from a father judge's eye view...if he wasn't underground. And dead.





summer would be almost perfect if not for people.
well i guess not all people; some of them are pretty good.











and now i have my camera back and so i am using it.
this should help stave off suicidal urges for a few weeks at least.

Thursday, June 26, 2008

they only let him slip away, out of kindness i suppose

Back to Dodgeball City.

I think perhaps the lesson is Don't Leave Dawson.
I don't know. I don't have enough RAM to process the whole experience just yet, but i will work on providing a more fulsome recap of all the wonderous things the urban horn-of-plenty had to offer (and steal) from me.

So perhaps you'll recall me whining about not have a camera on account of breaking it; Yes? If so, you've been paying good attention to this blog. If not, for shame. It was a really important traumatic event and i tried to share it with you and you just turned away.
Regardless of your commitment (or lack thereof) to my babbling, i sent the busted camera back to Nikon, and then they sent me a brand new camera. I am very excited. This means today i will be hosting a sexy photoshoot with my garden and then maybe it will seem like my life has a small measure of purpose and direction. Maybe. I'm pretty excited about its progress. Not quite as excited about the weeds, but you'll see those too.

Also i am in this mix cd exchange that's been pretty fun and right before i left i sent out my june edition of the cd and this is what is was like:

1. Dirge Death in Vegas

2.Collect the Diamonds Q and not U

3.Lila Engel (Lilac Angel) Neu!

4.I’ve Been Riding with the Ghost Songs:Ohia

5.Bloodflow Smog

6.Spanish Dance Troupe Gorky’s Zygotic Mynci

7.Saturday Little Wings

8.Melody Day Caribou

9.I Felt Your Shape The Microphones

10.Am I Demon Bonnie “Prince” Billy

11.Hot Burrito #1 Flying Burrito Brothers

12.Badge Eric Clapton

13.Don’t Let Me Down The Beatles

14.I Wanna Be Your Dog The Stooges

15.Pretty Baby Entrance

16.Fire in My Heart Super Furry Animals

17.Stay Loose Belle and Sebastian


I made "fancy" packaging for it and every-ting. I was satisfied with the end product, which i described in an interview to Forbes magazine as "romantic, in a creepy way".

just like me.

i have a sock tan.

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

"from Mozambique to these Memphis nights"

Yes, life truly is a highway.

I do not exactly believe that Tom Cochrane has ever been to Mozambique, but why not toss it in yer lyrics anyway right?

I have seen quite a series of them there highways (and skyways) over the last seven days; covered some serious ground and sky. 1894.40 miles between Dawson and Saskatoon. But it was an important wedding, and entirely worth each mile.

Jenna and i left Dawson at 8:00 am last wednesday morning on a lovely drive to Whitehorse. It was sunny and beautiful and we generally had a smashing time. Six hours in a car with someone great passes much faster than six hours in a car with my shitty-old-goat-self, i'll tell you that right now.
Joseph Beuys (my car) is a pretty good guy, all things considered. And still feasible despite ever-rocketing fuel costs. I particularily enjoyed being what i have termed the Co-Pilot car. On extra shitty stretches of the Klondike Highway you sometimes have to be lead by a Yukon Government Highways truck which eases you to safety, and i feel that by being the car right behind said Pilot Car my car becomes the Co-Pilot car. Logical? No! Fun? Yes!
So we got to be co-pilot on this drive, and it generally ruled. Other sexy results of the trip included the plans for Aaron and Jenna's White Magic cover band, Off White Magic, and the disclosure from Ms. Roebuck that she felt Greek Tony was "borderline attractive". Wowza.
Good trip.
We parked J. Beuys at the Whitehorse International Airport and prepared to fly to Edmonton.
It was immediately apparent that two of the most infuriating children in the universe were on our plane, but little did we know they would be sitting in our very row. Sweet jesus. N'er has such a short flight felt so trans-continental. Utter pain. Udder pains?
Jenna's little brother Andy, the responsible Roebuck, picked us up in Edmonton. We were in Saskatoon by 3 am. This is the first time in my life i have sucessfully made it from Dawson to Saskatoon in one (lonnnng) day.

Saskatoon is still Saskatoon. More Albertans, more condos, more bucks, but still Saskatoon.
It always feels very odd to be so very familiar with a place but not really feel like it is your place.
It sure is beautiful there in June though. Green everything and flowers and nice smells. Much more rainy than usual though, which put a cramp in my working-on-my-tan project for sure.
Got to see a rock show that i don't remember much of (with the exception of Steve Shatilla explaining that he brushes his beard before he showers, because otherwise it's all puffy and sticks out and then it just looks ridiculous) and got to see many people i really certainly wanted to see. A few i didn't as well, of course.
Saturday was the culminating event. The purpose of the trip was a wedding, which seems to be a prime reason to make long-haul trips these days; Marriages and babies.

Lorenne and Ben started dating shortly before our collective first summer together in the Yukon, so it was pretty mystical to see it result in a wedding. Super cool. The service itself was a fairly comical blend of their Christian families and their not-Christian friends and selves. The vows did include some sweet Corinthians action:

I Corinthians 13
If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don't love, I'm nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate. 2If I speak God's Word with power, revealing all his mysteries and making everything plain as day, and if I have faith that says to a mountain, "Jump," and it jumps, but I don't love, I'm nothing. If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don't love, I've gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I'm bankrupt without love.

It had a nice sentiment i suppose, but man the bibble is weird and the only part of the whole thing i could remember (until i just looked it up of course) was the part about the rusty gate.
I guess it just always catches me off guard because i forget about Christianity as a lifestyle. It's much more of an abstract concept to me. Like post-modernism. Speaking of post-modern:


The reception part was awesomely outrageous and it was lovely to hang out with Lorenne's ultra fun sisters and dance dance dance. My shoes were outrageously high and impractical which made for some near misses on the dance floor. Probably some actual misses too but i wined those out of my memory.

Today Ben and Lorenne left for Terrastock (http://www.terrascope.co.uk/Terrastock7/main.htm) wherein they will see really excellent music and make everyone exceptionally jealous. Bah to them! And by bah i mean fondest congratualtions, obviously.

Lots of things i didn't get to do in Saskatoon, as usual, but it was truly a whirlwind tour. I'm now in Vancouver, on Kris and Antoine's lovely pull-out sofa bed, enjoying the sounds of birds and rain and not being able to sleep (jamais!). Kris and Allie came to get me at the airport and it was just great. I am excited to have a few days in the old Couv. It has been a while. I am going to see all the good people that live in this amoeba town and additionally check out a show at the VAG (which i will always say vaaaag like vagina, no matter how immature it may be) that's all about
"The Delirious World Of Anime + Comics + Video Games + Art". Ya.
And there's a baby beluga (lol) at the aquarium!

The hilarity of hilarities is that friend of real and digital life Wheelyapplegate is currently in my town while i am in his. I hope that Dawson is treating him as well as Vancouver is treating me. It's so warm and misty outside. And i truly enjoy peeing outside in big cities, which is certainly what i just did for no particular reason at all.





Sunday, June 8, 2008

this is why i live here

my room is the most satisfactory it has been in a long time.
through an elaborate system of modular shelving units, i've finally unpacked all my cds and books.
it feels terrific.
everything should always be in little boxes all the time.


so. organized. ya.
obsessive behaviors have their upsides, ya know.

Comic Sans Serif: Worst Font Ever?!?

Maybe. Looks like:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comic_Sans

Ugh.
These people have a few good ideas about it:http://bancomicsans.com/home.html


I don't have a few good ideas about anything.

Between the oldman fights and the dejected youths, it's all a bit like a wooden nickel.

Wednesday, June 4, 2008

another shitty day in paradise

i have a lot of hilarious memories of the Klondike Highway (Old Shitty the Tin Highway).
my first trip up said highway was in Steve's Neon with no shocks to speak of, 5 people, and a huge rubber ball strapped to the exterior of the car. There were two; one blew off just north of Whitehorse. We also had vast amounts of luggage strapped to the outside of the trunk. And we ran out of gas. Luckily we had the giant ball to entertain us while we waiting for Aaron to return with a jerry can. And it's hard to drive through Carmacks without remembering Jenna and my magical overnight adventure there in aught five (also the result of gas running out). I have quite possibly never been so hungover. I threw up on the inside of Jenna's truck and we had to wipe it up with a t-shirt featuring a bunch of drunk and stoned cartoon cats and the phrase "Another Shitty Day in Paradise". It was somehow meant to represent Jamaica. I'm not sure how. I subsequently stole a bottle of Pepto Bismal at Superstore once we arrived in Whitehorse and then threw that up on the floor of Superstore. It wasn't my finest hour.

Today i drove by myself and it was pretty sweet. Five and a half hours alone in a car really gives you time to think and sing along to jamz. To quote an artist friend, "I am the best person I know", so the time went prettttttyyyyy fast.
Not actually.
And it's frusterating to not have DJ help. Ipod shuffle can certainly remind one that not all music is suited to all times. Jesus.
Why do i have so many Skinny Puppy albums to begin with?
Despite some questionable song choices, it was a pretty nice day out and i saw 2 black bears and a mother moose and calf. I think the most noteable thing about the drive was that RVs were shockingly not the most irritating thing. No. Almost the opposite...cyclists. Long distance cyclists.
I understand if you live out of town and ain't got no ride that a bike jaunt on the highway is fair...but these Europas who shuttle over to show me how much more they appreciate nature than any Canadian ever could by biking in packs on the highway all up in everyone's business whilst wearing yellow spandex can suck my dick. That sounds harsh, but i feel it's fair.

I got to Whitehorse without "accidentally" running any cyclists off the road though, and let me tell you the Whitehorse section of highway is a real biker's paradise. I even managed to play it cool with the city driving. Sort of. Relatively speaking. I don't get out much.
Now i am chillin' at the Yukon Inn with one Style Hammond. He is sleeping now, cos it's Halifax late, but we went out for sushi and watched some crap cable. It was sweet. I am now gearing up to watch Spaceballs.
Nothing like watching Spaceballs in Whitehorse on a wednesday night to keep you humble.

Tuesday, June 3, 2008

sleeping hard or hardly sleeping?

It turns out that sleeping longer isn't necessarily the answer at all.
I had extra sinister dreams all sweet 6 hours of my last night's sleep as well.
I won't go into elaborate details because the situations and subjects are either so wildly obscure that i don't know how i'd break it down or so awkwardly literal that i don't want to break it down.
I will tell you that i'm going to "sleep" with both eyes open tonight.

It is windy as an apocalypse here today. Despite the perilous bluster, i put the sweetpeas in the ground outside today. They are going to climb up a rusty bed headboard Molly and I got from the dump. I will of course spam this blog with a massive backlog of pictures of this and other garden/life related subject matter upon the return of my camera which is, according to the "good" "people" at Nikon waiting for a part. This does mean that they are going to fix it for me, which is sweet. Not having a camera is a real draggggg.

I realised today that in the next six days i will be driving to whitehorse twice and back to dawson one of those times....1,767 kilometres.
I'm also gearing up for a wacky car/van/bus zig zag on my way home...i'm in your BCs, stealin yer best place on earthz.
I haven't had a good long haul bus trip in a while though, and i think in order to balance karmic flow, i am due. Also it really strengthens one's disdain for humanity, which i feel is important to keep up on. Otherwise i might get too sweet.
[i don't actually believe in karmic flow. it may or may not even be a real term. -ed.]
Saskatoon in June eh? Haven't known that in quite a while. It better be nice out, but most likely it will be windy in a similar fashion to Dawson.

My mouth is raw from citrus. Lemons and strawberries all the time. There are worse ways to get a sore mouth, but then there are better ones too.

I'm pretty sure i just saw the third Horseman ride by...i hope the greenshanty doesn't blow down.

blasting off like NASA, baby

I forgot to mention earlier that my detective dream of last night included a segment wherein i dreamt i was on mushrooms (not the detective dream...a different one)...

it was wacky. all the visual 'effects' were highly prominent, yet i was only sleeping.
i thought this was essential to report.


you know who i miss?


these guys:



aaaawwwww mannnnn.

Monday, June 2, 2008

I'd put my money on mead


Today was an odd day from start-present.
I slept til 1 pm which is the most i've slept in months. Weird.
Sleeping that long gave me some hella-detailed and elaborate dreams, the best of which featured me as a detective in a "Murders in the Rue Morgue"-esque dreamscape a hundred times better than John Grisham ever done wrote. Except I don't think there were any Ourgang-Outangs involved. If you haven't read "The Murders in the Rue Morgue", you really really should:
http://poestories.com/text.php?file=murders
The picture at the top of this "blog" "entry" is a page from the original manuscript.
Old timey writing. Nice penmanship.
I am a big fan of Edgar Allan Poe. I had kind of forgotten how much Poe i read in high school.
I was a goth; it just made so much sense. But short story, or at least good short story writing, is a real art i reckon. Very hard to do. And Mr. Poe kind of invented detective writing, which i for one am thankful for. He also played as hard as he worked: "On October 7, 1849, Edgar Allan Poe died at the age of forty. The cause of his death is unknown and has been attributed to alcohol, brain congestion, cholera, drugs, heart disease, rabies, suicide, tuberculosis, and other agents."
So that's something to think about.

I just completed my first EI report online. They sure make you enter in a lot of passcodes and numbers. I am not a huge fan of having have long passcodes with letters and numbers and lower case and upper case and all that jazz either. So hard to remember. I have enough data on my plate.
Does the internet know i'm not a computer too?

I have also been spending a lot of digital time working on my mixed cd for this cd exchange thing.
I don't know most of the people involved, so it's extra pressure because i don't even know what they're up for. I think as a mix it works pretty well though. I spent a great deal of time and fair bit of money at the old Aurora Office today buying assorted labels, pens, and packaging materials for the cd...now i just have to make some fancy wrappers and away they go. Pretty exciting.
It also means that i will get a cd in the mail for the next 10 months. Going early on in the cycle leaves me more time to enjoy without the stress of being next in the rota. Like getting batting out of the way early in baseball. I really don't like baseball.

I got a package from my mom today that contained, among other things, several garbage bags. Empty garbage bags.
Not like a package of them- loose ones.
I don't have any idea what she is up to ever.
The package did have dried mangoes in it though. I love mangoes, and the "fresh" mangoes here are deplorable. I mean really just the pits. I was just reminiscing the other day about the winter Burnie worked at the Bonanza and ordered in these Ataulfo mangoes. Oh man. The little yellow ones that aren't stringy at all. That's the money mango:

Ataulfo Mangoes are small, delicately shaped mangoes with a skin that ripens to a golden yellow. The flesh is velvety smooth, with almost no fibrous texture and a wafer-thin pit. Sometimes they are referred to as "champagne" mangoes.


Of course it's now been years since i've seen one of them here.

I am driving to Whitehorse on the 4th and again on the 10th.
June is going to be hectic. It's a good thing i don't have a job.