Seismic Twitch

These past couple of days I’ve discovered that working graveyards is not very conducive to writing in my blog. When I’m usually writing I’m sleeping and when I’m usually sleeping, I’m working. It’s totally topsy turvy.

On Saturday night, after the deluge the city got (there were a few funnel clouds associated with that storm as well) 1.5 inches of rain in 20 minutes, Bran, Boy and I went for a nice long drive. I know that gas is expensive and all that, but I think we spent far less on gas than we would have for a movie, popcorn and pop for all of us. Anyway, we drove out westward and headed toward North Battleford. The extremely high humidity of the day created a couple of rather impressive fog banks. It was really neat and we got to use the fog lights. The fog was never thick enough to be a hazard, thank goodness.

On the way back into town we stopped so that Boy and Bran could take photographs of farm lights and such through the fog. While we were there the fog moved closer and closer until we were wrapped in the cool, moist cloudy air. While we were stopped there (Bran and Boy used the car as a stand because they didn’t bring the unipod or tripod with them) many cars went whizzing by. One car slowed down and stopped. The guy was the only one to stop and check if we were having trouble with the car.

Yesterday I went and saw my advisor/supervisor at school. It was good to see her again. I will be taking 18 credit units of classes per term. They are: Advanced research, Advanced theory (mandatory to all grad students in Sociology), Women in Law (mandatory to me by my supervisor – she’s teaching the class), and Advanced Criminology (because it’s dead interesting and despite having it as a 400 level class, I don’t have it as an 800 level class, nor do I have it from that particular professor, so I’m taking it). Now all I have to do is register for the classes. I’m also going to see if I can fit in Cree 102. I hope so.

Vegitarians, don’t read this next paragraph. Just skip down to whatever I’m going to come up with after this paragraph.

Now, for all the carnivores out there…on Sunday morning we had steak for breakfast. We’d been trying to get our spit together to barbecue the darned things but since Friday it didn’t work out (what with having a short monsoon on Saturday and all that on Saturday). Sunday morning I cut up and fried a huge pile of mushrooms (there were even leftover mushrooms – that never happens in our mushroom loving household!) and Bran fired up the old Weber grill. He cooked up the most tasty, most tender sirloin steaks ever! He sprinkled them with Montreal Steak Spice (if you can get this stuff in a grocery store, do it!) and cooked them to perfection. I even managed to get a couple sandwiches from the steak that I wasn’t able to finish.

Back to the regular entry without the consumption of animal flesh…

On the weekend it appears that our guys had some trouble keeping away from the booze. Three to be exact. Two of them didn’t have abstinence as part of their parole conditions, one, however, did. The two that didn’t were hauled away and spent time in the RCMP holding cells. The fourth, caught on Sunday night, has been sent back to prison to await the decision from the Parole Board to find out if he’s going to be revoked and go back to the pen or get a reprieve and come back. Either way, for now he’s gone. He is one of my favourite people there. He’s always trying to pull our chains and then grins and laughs when he succeeds or fails. He’s a hoot. I hope he comes back.

The two graveyard shifts really kicked my ass. Maybe it’s the heat making sleeping more difficult than it could be, maybe that it’s only two shifts, but when I finished my shift today I was dragging butt on the floor (not a pretty sight). The husband of one of my co-workers brought by coffee and doughnuts. I took full advantage of one of the large double/double javas he brought. It was a little bit of heaven in a cup. I didn’t have any of the doughnuts though. I wasn’t hungry.

Yesterday my copy of Shoah arrived from Korea. I spent most of last night’s shift watching the first 2 discs. I got about 1/2 way through the third disc when I had to pack it up and give the shift report to my co-worker. They arrived in good condition and I’m very happy with them. I just sent off an email (writing this reminded me) to the guy in Korea to let him know that they arrived in good order and I’m pleased.

Yesterday the car died, literally. Bran drove me to the university for me to see my adviser and then headed off gas up the car. After the car was filled up he went to start it and…nothing. There wasn’t even the click of the distributor trying to get the spark plugs going. He checked all the fuses and they were good. So he called CAA (it’s paying for itself already) and got a tow to their garage. This meant that I had to buy bus tickets and take the bus home.

I don’t mind taking the bus…much. It’s ok in fall, spring and winter, but in summer it can be somewhat uncomfortable. The city is replacing the older, un-air conditioned buses with newer buses with air conditioning but they tend to be on the express runs. There are a few on regular routes but there aren’t enough for all the routes yet. This meant that I was on a regular bus on a very hot day. I sat at the very back of the bus to take advantage of the tornado of wind coming in from the open windows. However, when the bus got to the downtown terminal it sat in the very hot sun for about 10 minutes until the scheduled leaving. By that time I was soaked in sweat. Luckily for me I didn’t have long before I was getting off the bus into the less than stifling heat of walking home in the shade of large elm trees.

The car was towed off and Bran was given a taxi ride courtesy of the CAA. The car was left at their garage. Today Bran called to see what was the cause of the problem…they couldn’t find it. The car is running just fine now. So the problem was either a loose connection or the damp had created something somewhere preventing things from getting going. When the car was inspected they noted that the U-joint (whatever that is) needed replacing so they’ll be doing that first thing in the morning. We should have the car home not long after that’s done.

I have tomorrow off, so I’m going to be setting up the backgrounds and photographing my jewelry. I figure that if I want it done I should do it myself, afterall, they’re my responsibility, right? Anyway, that’s what I’ll be doing. Of course, I’m going to need some help. Tomorrow night will be dedicated to editing the photos and hopefully they’ll be up Thursday. I know I’ve said that before, but I’m really wanting them up. You might have to wait until Saturday though. I have the root canal on Friday and I’m not sure how I’ll feel that day.

My comments are still broken. I don’t know what I did to bork them, but they’re well and truly borked. In any time that they aren’t borked I get spam. This means that sometimes it’s not borked. This also means that spammers are waiting for an opening and then leap in when things are open for a few seconds. Really, the only comments I’ve gotten are a few spam. Nertz!

I think that’s about all that’s happened since I last blogged.

Ta-Ra

That’s what I had for supper tonight. I was up at a reasonable time, about 10 am, however by 1 pm I was worn out and wanted to go back to bed so that’s exactly what I did. I woke up at somewhere after 5 pm. I don’t know for sure exactly when. i whinged about supper and Bran told me that it was coffee night. I asked what there was at the restaurant that I could at and was told pasta. So for the third or fourth time this year, I was social and went out to a social thing.

It was nice to see the people who were there. There was Alison, Vickie, Vicki, Ave, Brian, Dwayne, Imre, James and Michelle. The only one I hadn’t seen afore was James and that’s only because he was new. There was much talk of crystals and stones and runes. I also got to see the teeniest tarot deck and book that I’ve ever seen in my whole life. The cards were cute but I couldn’t really tell what the cards were. I could identify the roman numerals but couldn’t see which suit they were and I couldn’t read the Major Arcana names. Since that’s sort of necessary for doing readings they were somewhat useless for me. It did give me the idea of getting a small deck and book for my bag so that I’d have something to do at work other than crosswords. Then again, maybe not.

I’ve been downloading desktop themes for my new computer. I’ve got a few nice ones. I especially like one called “Bamboo”. It looks like a simple Chinese painting of a couple of bamboo plants. I like the simplicity of it. I’ve also got a few others. I’m not sure how usable they are, but for whatever reason I took a fancy to them.

That’s about it. I’ve mostly been getting used to the keyboard…oh! I’ve joined Cre8buzz as you can see by the little logo thing on the side. I’m not entirely sure what it is, but hey, it’s something new to play around with when I get frustrated or bored with other things.

Ta-Ra

Let’s see. Today I got up and I was hurting some, but I’d gotten 6 hours sleep straight through so I was pleased. I started dishes nearly as soon as I was out of bed…or at least sometime after I was out of bed. I wanted to have most if not all of them done before Dad arrived.

He got here about 11:30. The neat thing was he found the house all by himself. I didn’t have to send Boy outside to flag him down because he’s driven past the house a time or ten.

We sat around and visited. There was some talk about my oldest brother, but not a lot. Then we ate lunch (egg salad sandwiches) and then went out to do things. First thing we did was go to the pet store for fish food. On the way to the back of the store where the fish are, we stopped by the birds, rodents and other furry creatures for a look-see. There was one bird that captured my heart. His (possibly her since they can’t tell whether it’s a boy or a girl without DNA testing) name is Malcom (I heard Magic).

The pet attendant opened the cage and I got to have a little chat with the bird. Despite the pet attendant noting that he/she didn’t care much for Bran, the bird was quite friendly. As usual he/she tasted Bran’s glasses. Then he/she bit Bran’s nose. I think it was just beyond a “friendly” bite, but he didn’t bleed so all is ok. Even Boy got to hold the bird.

Oh! How I wish we had the money and place to house a bird. Of course we’d probably get a couple. However, if we were to do that we’d have to make sure that we travelled to places that were ok with birds. It was a pretty bird. The other bird that I saw that I wouldn’t mind adopting was a greyish white type. I didn’t see what kind of bird it was, but it was certainly friendly.

We stood around and petted the rodents for a little bit and then headed off to the other side of town so that Dad could get a look at the magazines at McNally Robinson. They had a complete Calvin and Hobbes Collection that I’d dearly love to have. It’s only $150 now. There was also a pile of Zits books that I want and some more Foxtrot.

After that we went to the grocer store to get some groceries (sugar, salt, canned tomatoes, milk and oatmeal) and then headed to the Mendel Art Gallery to see the conservatory and the exhibit of 3rd and 4th year U of S art students photography display. I loved the conservatory. I got a ton of flower pictures in there as well as a couple of the Japanese Gardens outside. We’re planning on going back each Sunday. There’s an area across the river that I want to take weekly progress pictures of through the summer and to the first snow fall. I’ll be putting some of them here after I get around to editing them.

Oh, we also dropped off our recycling to the depot. It was nice to get rid of the tin cans. It’s not that they were making a stink or anything, I mean, we make sure they’re clean, but the container was getting a titch full. The paper container was jammed full. Happily there was a truck there emptying the big containers. Otherwise it could’ve been downright difficult to get our papers in one of them.

Then we walked to the restaurant for supper. That’s one of the nicer things about living here. We’re only 4 and a half blocks away. One thing I forgot though, was to take my antibiotic and to make sure that I took my next dose of T3. Though I was able to chew (Yay!) much of my supper, by the end of it my jaw was sore and my tooth area was sore. The walk home was rather difficult because of that. Some of the swelling is back too.

When we got home Dad decided to take off back home. So the visit is done with for another month. The dishes are all done. I’m patiently (or not) waiting for the T3s to kick in and start killing the hurts. Boy is reading Friday’s newspaper and Bran is on his way to the basement to put laundry in the dryer.

It was a beautiful day outside. There is some kind of plant (well, actually there are several of them, but I think they’re the same things) sprouting in the side garden and I have to get out there and pull up some of the ornamental grass and put the irises that were temporarily planted last fall in the front back there. I guess also cleaning up the yard would be a good thing as well. Maybe after my face stops complaining.

There’s no sign of the peony plants that were put in at the front. I know that many people like them and they do put out lovely flowers. But they are highly fragranced and both Bran and I are allergic to them. Not only that, but they attract ants. We have enough ants in our house thank-you-very-much. They also can’t seem to hold their own when it comes to supporting their own blooms, so unless you’re able to stake and tie them up (minds out of the gutter) they sag like 90 year old tits.

That’s the news that’s fit to print. It was, all in all, a very pleasant day.

Ta-Ra

Did you know that most Canadians don’t say “aboot” when they are saying “about”? It’s true. I think the only Canadians who might say “aboot” when they mean “about” are people from Newfoundland.

Anyway, that’s what I was doing this evening. Believe it or not I went out and was social. Ok, I wasn’t so much social as sitting with my back to the wall, drinking cola (I don’t know if it was Pepsi or Coke or some other cola type drink) and listening to various grad students and professors play music. Yes, I was out, in a bar, in the evening, with hordes of other people around. Of course, Bran was with me to make the entire thing possible.

The first person to play was Rodolfo, a professor from (I think) Bolivia. He played some really finger tangling songs from South America. His fingers are seriously fast. Then there were various and sundry grad students playing guitar and piano. Then an undergrad played some country. First a Johnny Cash song, then one that he’d written himself about coyotes. It was hilarious. All about how they’re just plain folk but if they were human they’d be in jail. I loved it! The last was a professor from China who played a traditional Chinese instrument with two strings. It sounds a lot like a violin, but somewhat more nasally. Anyway, he made those two strings sing.

Bran and I walked both to and from the event. It was pleasant both ways. I think, though, that the walk home was more pleasant because the venue we were in had absolutely no ventilation and it was quite crowded. In order to hear the musicians well enough, the doors had to be closed. Needless to say I was greatly relieved to get outside to the fresh air. Of course, we had to run the gauntlet of smokers who were outside “taking the air”. After that it was clear sailing.

The guys who put in our windows still haven’t replaced the window they broke. It looks ugly and we have to be extra careful coming in and leaving the house to make sure that our backpacks don’t push through the window.

I was up early today, but oh, how I did NOT want to get up. I wanted desperately to sleep more. Alas and alack, I had to get up and do my volunteer shifts. Sucks to be me. Bran made us both a couple of egg salad bunwiches after I’d gotten the coffee poured. I’m rather proud of myself. Last night I set the clock on the coffee machine, set the timer, and got the coffee ready to go off automatically. We got up to a freshly brewed pot of coffee. Anyway, I was late for my shift, but at least I got there. I tidied up a little bit, wrote up a new stats sheet, recorded stats and did crosswords. It was all very exciting.

I caught the 12:35 bus and came home and then discovered a new game called Cradle of Rome It’s the new crack for me. It plays like Bejeweled, but is slightly different. You match up a minimum of 3 tiles and try to get the blue tiles. When the blue tiles are gone for that level you move to the next and do the same. I know that doesn’t make much sense, but if you’re playing it you’d know what I mean. The blue is the background of the tile. The tiles start out as bugs, leaves, flowers and such, then you get to buy a house. The next two levels have to be played and won to buy a mill and so on. I’ve managed to get to the top level that you can play on the site. In order to play all the levels you have to buy it. So, yeah, it’s next on my “Games I Must Buy to Feed My Addiction” list.

That’s about it. The next few days are going to be interesting. We don’t get any money until Tuesday and it’s the very last student loan installment. After that there’s no more money coming in. Bran and I desperately need to get jobs.

Wish us luck.

Ta-Ra

Ok, let’s see what happened today.

I got up with a sore throat. That’s right folks, I have a cold. I can’t figure out how or who gave it to me. I”m not a touchy-feely person, nor am I a huggy-buggy. I keep my distance from people. Yet I have a cold. Bran, who hugs every person in sight, has no issues having people sit on his lap, doesn’t have a cold. Boy, who goes to a school that is crowded and mobbed with kids and germs, doesn’t have a cold. But I do. Meh!

I did, however manage to catch the earlier bus, the number 80 and got to the university on time to start my volunteer shift. Not only that but that particular bus isn’t crowded at all. I had many choices of seats to settle my butt down into. The key to the Centre was at the Info Kisosk, right where it should be. I was astounded.

Then, after I’d tidied the Pride Centre, I did the readings for my presentation on Tuesday. I’ll be talking about a chapter from one of Keynes’s books, some of something that Lenin wrote and an entry that Mao wrote. It was interesting. Keynes’s view was that the economy couldn’t be trusted to manage itself and the government must intervene to take care of those that capitalism runs over. Lenin went a bit further with that, but people were allowed to own little plots of land to work for themselves (collectivization didn’t happen until Stalin’s time when he forced the farms into collectives and many people starved to death), and Mao, who wrote that everything has its opposite and that a communist government must maintain the balance and that the utopia on earth would be communist China.

My tooth is bothering me again. It hurts to chew down at all, so now I’m eating mushy foods. It’s not really a hugely bad thing since the Child Tax Credit came in. So far I’ve had some tapioca and some macaroni salad. I have Aero bars that will melt in my mouth and therefore don’t require chewing. And we also got some genuine-real-fake-crab-flavoured pollock. That’s soft and doesn’t require much jaw pressure to chew. I’d rather have steak, which of course, I crave because I can’t have it.

The third thing that went wrong today was that my ear buds (called “thumpers”) got torn out of my ears when the wire got caught on a bus seat as I went down the steps to the door on the way home. When that happened it appeared that the wire to the right bud broke because no sound was coming from it. Happily, whatever was wrong with it is fixed now because it works. It could be a problem with the exposed wire. It’s been wrapped in electrical tape to cover it all up. It’s possible that that wire issue and the cold temperatures combined and disconnected the wire to the right bud. Anyway, it works now and that’s what’s important.

Bran won a box of music CDs this afternoon on what was formerly called “Free Cycle”. Right now he’s burning them to his computer. I’ll be doing that after I’m done. then I’ll put them on my MP3 player. There is a wide variety of music. We now own are very first Shania Twain disc.

Tomorrow evening there is a gathering of sociology students at a bar/lounge. There’s a possibility that some of the sociology professors will be there too. Since I hope to get into the graduate program, I should go and schmooze. I’m not good at schmoozing, but it’d be a good thing, so I’ll probably go. Of course, if I can convince Bran to go with me, then I’m going to.

That’s it. Oh, I spoke too soon about the hot flashes being over. I got one while I was standing at the till waiting to pay for the lozenges at the drug store. By the time I got back to the car I was ready to strip naked and shock the city. Luckily for the general public I just opened my window as we drove home. Now I have the little fan blowing me.

Ta-Ra

It is you know.

Thus far today I’ve done several sinkfuls of dishes, got out of bed, showered, and went out to a birthday supper. Oh, and I knitted as well. Not only did I knit, but I had to take apart several rows in order to catch those most annoying things…dropped stitches.

I got up at 12:30 to my alarm. Bran didn’t come to bed at all. It must have been related to all the sleep he had the night before. He’d done a shit pile of work while I was sleeping. The dining room is very nearly the way we want it to be. He made it so that we can go through to the kitchen without having to do the hip waggle to avoid boxes/stuff. He also did a sink full of dishes and got the next load ready for me to wash, though it had to wait a while because the water was too hot.

Boy was made busy alternately drying dishes and doing the sundry chores that Bran needed him to do. Oh, another job that Bran did that I forgot about was that he washed and dried the mats that are in the kitchen protecting the floor from grease and water. So now we have clean mats. Boy took out garbage and when Bran was ready to make a get-water-get-rid-of-recycling run, Boy accompanied him. I stayed home to finish a load of dishes and shower.

My hair was wet and emanated steam as I walked to the car from the car to the house when we left for the birthday supper at Gibson’s Fish and Chips. Earlier, while I was waiting for a load of dishes to soak (and for the water to cool down enough for my delicate little hands), I watched some YouTube videos. I made the mistake (maybe it wasn’t a mistake) of watching a video of a dog market in South Korea. This was a market where people could go, buy a dog, have it butchered for them (the offal was used to feed the other dogs) to take home and cook. I don’t think I’ll be able to eat the flesh of animals ever again…including fish.

I also watched a video about Ligers and Tigons. These are cross breedings between the two species lions and tigers. They do not occur naturally in the wild. It was all about how these hybrids (which are sterile) frequently born prematurely. If they survive to adulthood they are prone to a great many health problems. Ligers, a cross between a male lion and a female tiger frequently suffer from “gigantism” in that they never stop growing. They are frequently put down when they become to large to control. Tigons (male tiger, female lion) are frequently born suffering from a form of dwarfism. Because of the mixed genetics they are prone to autoimmune diseases and cancers. Also, they have unpredictable temperaments and Ligers become depressed as adults because they are having to contend with two different kinds of instincts. Just think about it. Lions are very social animals and live in prides. Tigers are loners and are not often seen in groups of more than two or three and those are usually young siblings. Breeding the two must create all kinds of problems.

We got to the party and the place was jumping with Liz’s friends. We found seats with Cassandra, Trevor, JJ and Ryan. Bran ordered the fish and chips, I ordered a Caesar salad (I know it has anchovies in it, but it was the closest thing to vegetarian) and chips. They make their own chips there and they’re damned good. Anyway, before I showered I had a peanut butter sandwich so that I wouldn’t fall over in the shower. So with that, the salad and chips I’m full. In fact, Bran had to finish my chips for me.

I’m trying to figure out where shrimp land in my life. I love the flavour of them, but as much as I might joke about it, shrimp aren’t vegetables. Oh well. I’m sure I’ll figure something out that doesn’t create a shit pile of cognitive dissonance for me.

That’s about it. I’m going to knit, read other people’s blogs, and then watch some of the recorded movies on my computer.

Ta-Ra

Tonight I went out with Boy and Bran to a pot luck at the Pride Centre. I made a marvelous Greek salad (cucumber, green and red peppers, green onion, black olives and tomato all soaked in a lemon/oregano/oil dressing). I also cut up tiny cubes of feta cheese, but I didn’t put them in because I wanted anyone who was vegan to be able to partake of the deliciousness. It was very delicious and there is very little left over.

Also present at the pot luck was JJ’s famous and very delicious chili, the handy coincidence of multigrain nacho chips, a veggie platter and dip, a candy cane cheesecake (I don’t like mint so I didn’t have any), chocolate macaroons, some sushi, a berry pie that was taken from Marquis Hall, the residence cafeteria, and that’s about it. There wasn’t a whole lot of food today but there were a lot of people. I’m glad we took a large salad. I didn’t eat anywhere my fill because there were several people there who didn’t bring any food.

I woke up with a headache today. That totally sucked. Bran got me some ibuprofen and my morning pills and I went back to sleep. I got up somewhere around 1 or 2, I can’t remember which and began cutting up the vegetables for the salad. Bran went out and picked up additional veg that was needed.

While he was gone I started to read Heidegger again because I have a paper due on Thursday along with my answer to the final exam question, “What is religion?” Very quickly into the reading I realized that I’d need some caffeine aid to keep me awake, so I made some coffee. It helped a little bit. Anyway, after Bran got home I occupied myself with cutting up the veg and cheese. We left to the pot luck at about 5:15.

That was my quarterly going out at night activity. I shall probably not go anywhere in the evening again to be social until sometime in the new year. Maybe it will be to attend the next pot luck at the Centre.

That’s about it for me. I’m going to read about other people’s lives and then try to slog through the very last of The Phenomenology of Religious Experience and maybe make a start on the paper. This is going to be rather difficult though. It’s hard to write about something that I don’t understand. I’ll try not to let that stop me though.

Last night Boy shoveled the sidewalks. I don’t know how good a job he did, but I think that he probably cleared most of it away. As you can see in this photo, snow has fallen and blown in. The intrepid trekker you see at the bottom of our sidewalk is our letter carrier.

There doesn’t seem to be a whole lot of snow, but the weather has required me to get toque head today and wear mittens. I had two pair on, a pair of leather over mitts and a pair that I’d knitted, but the over mitts made my hands cold. That’s an odd thing because one would think (wouldn’t one?) that having a pair of reasonably wind resistant over mitts would help to keep my hands warm. After I got onto the bus and settled into a seat, I took the over mitts off and put them in my backpack. I just wore my knitted mittens and tucked my hands inside my sleeves. That seemed to do the trick.

After class today (when I spent most of the class copying the notes that I missed last Tuesday) I went to the centre for a bit of a little social break (yeah, social and the concept of me in the same sentence). I stood outside with Chelle and Pam while they smoked. Oddly enough, today I got heavy lungs. Maybe it was the cold temperature, I’m not sure, but I had to leave them before they were done their smokes because my lungs got that logy feeling, like I’d spent last night in a smoky bar smoking unfiltered cigarettes. They still feel somewhat that way. I guess I won’t be hanging out with the cool kids again for a while.

Well, I have a shit pile of work to do today and tomorrow in preparation of my mid-term exam on Thursday (for which I’ve done no work or reading in) and for tomorrow’s discussion in Soc. of Religion class. It is possible that tomorrow I won’t be making an entry because of needing to catch up with notes, reading and digesting for the exam. I’m not joking…I really slacked off for this class. I’m glad that my methods class put back the due date for the second assignment.

Ta-Ra

Today was interesting. I got up and showered. This was lovely because all of the moisture felt like heaven. If I wouldn’t drown, I’d stick my face in a sink of warm water and inhaled deeply. I hate colds.

Then it was off to school. We drove today so that we could go a little later. Today was my day to do an hour’s worth of volunteering in the centre, so that’s what I did. It turns out that the aquarium is leaking water in one of the corners so the carpet in that area was sopping wet. I found that out because I was torking around in my socks (it helps keep me cooler). I spent about 1/2 the time emptying out the tank, getting the fish and plants out, getting the sand out, moving the filter, putting it in the pail the fish were in and turning it on. After Bran got to the centre, he suggested and I agreed, that getting a new tank for the centre would be less bother than getting the tank emptied out, getting it thoroughly dried out and then sealing it with silicone.

Bran went off to the petstore and bought a tank. Alas and alack, it was a 5 gallon, not a 10 gallon tank. While I was away at class, he went off to get the right tank. I had a reasonably good time in class. After class I got into a discussion about the differing issues and particular needs that Aboriginal women have with regards to spousal abuse. We finally decided that we should start an organization that actually does something rather than just makes things look good to get government money.

After that I went to the centre and found a broken tank on the floor. Poor Bran. He tripped and twisted his ankle which ended up banging against the mirror of a car. That broke one pane of glass. Then, as he was coming into the building he banged it again, which broke another pane. After I found out the sad saga of the new tank, I made sure that Bran took some ibuprofen liquid gel capsules for the pain his ankles were in and then we left. The first place we went to was Petland to get a new tank.

This is where a miracle happened. Before going to the tanks we went to the furry and feather place and looked at the bunnies (one had a really neat colouring that reminded Bran of the story Velveteen Rabbit, the other bunnies (including one that looked like Bun-Bun from Sluggy Freelance. There were ferrets and hamsters and gerbils and then we looked at the birds. There was this cockatoo (I wonder if all pet stories sound like this). It was obviously a youngster. It was small and had no crest on its head. Bran offered to pet it and it put its head against the bars to revel in the attention. I also petted it as well and was able to get my fingers a little farther down its back. I’m pretty sure that if it were able to, it would’ve purred. So, it appears that were we to win money, there would be a cockatoo in our lives. Too bad we don’t have the over $3000 it would cost for the bird, cage, toys and food for it.

We got the tank and then headed home. Supper was a very nutritious combination of a double-double coffee for Bran and I, and Ice Cap for Boy and a dozen fritters (apple and blueberry). Ever so good for us.

Bran will be heading off soon to go to the Buddhist temple to see the Bishop of the Canadian Buddhist temples speak again. While he was in Bran’s class today, he was only able to talk for 50 minutes. This evening he’ll be able to talk much longer. The subject du soir is “compassion”.

So there you have it. A woman who used to call all caged birds, “lunch”, has actually fallen for a small cockatoo. I hope we win the lottery. I’d like to give that little bird a home.

Ta-Ra

“Let there be snot. Snot from here to eternity. Though she may attempt to breath clearly, snot shall be eternal.”

That’s what I’m feeling like right now. I have little energy, my nose is producing snot galore. My throat is somewhat sore, but it’s mostly dry. That’s one unfortunate side effect of the bupropion, dry mouth. So I’m drowning myself to compensate.

Yesterday, though snotty, was a good day. Bran and I went out three times. The first was to go to Witch’s Brew for their 10th anniversary sale. We got a couple of grab bags, I picked out two buttons (one that says “not a morning person doesn’t even begin to cover it” and “due to fog all thoughts have been shut down”), some incense (sandalwood and cedar), and some carnelian beads. In the grab bags were a ring, a fairy pin, a tree planter pendant, some natural alder incense, some coffee free iced coffee from some health food place, a dragon picture and Buddha card.

The ring I’m amazed at. Or more to the point, I’m amazed that I am still wearing the ring. For I don’t know how many years, I’ve been unable to wear nearly all silver jewelry because of the nickel. So either I’ve stopped reacting to silver, or else the person who made this ring managed to find some nickel free stuff to create the ring. It’s quite pretty. There are three stones, probably glass, of light sky blue. I have it on my middle finger of my right hand. On this trip we also went to the drug store for some menthol lozenges for me to try and keep my throat moisturized. Ibuprofen takes care of the pain.

The second trip out was out to pet stores to try and find plastic bags for the Convict cyclids. They’re very aggressive fish and our tiny tank (25 gallons) is just too small for fish that are so territorial. We’ll be getting more Corydora catfish and we’re talking about getting a couple of kinds of schooling fish. We also discussed getting more gouramis, but we haven’t decided. For now all the tank has left is the weirdo algae eater that Boy bought, the two albino plecs and one bronze Corydora. Bran’s at the fish auction right now getting rid of the Convicts.

On this trip we also went to the grocery store for some bread, pasta sauce, fancy pasta (I wanted bow ties, but they didn’t have any) and got some small shells. I also got some tofu dessert stuff, coconut flavour. If I don’t like the way it tastes I’ll give it to Boy (he’ll eat nigh on anything) and use the second one for a smoothie.

The final trip out was for two errands. The first was one that was nearly in vain. Scary Movie was on a television channel and they had cut out piles of stuff. So we decided to rent it and Scary Movie 2. We went to two places and they didn’t have them. One place didn’t have them at all, the other had them, but they were already rented by someone else. So we went to London Drugs to see if they had them for us to buy. They didn’t. Then it was off to Future Shop to try there. They did. So we got Scary Movie, Scary Movie 2 and Scary Movie 3.5. 3.5 wasn’t made by Wayans. It was a Zucker production and there were stars in it. Leslie Nielson, Queen Latefa, Tim something (Frankenfurter from that musical horror I can’t remember the name to), and some others. Continuity was kept by having the same “Cindy” and the same “Brenda”. All three were both incredibly politically incorrect and hilariously funny.

The second errand was a trip to refill our 5-gallon water bottles. There’s a place where for $2.25 ($0.25 more on November 1) we can get non-clorinated, non-everything else they put in tap water, water. While the tap water is potable, I really don’t like the taste. Not only that, I can never drink enough of it to feel like I’ve hydrated enough.

I’ve spent the afternoon watching haunted stories on A&E and now I’m recording Cold Case Files. It’s funny. I still want to say “taping” instead of “recording”. I wonder if “DVDing” will become part of our common parlance.

If Bran gets home from the auction soon enough, we’re going to the Mendel conservatory so that I can learn to take photographs. Not that I can’t, I mean, the DSLR can be an idiot proof camera of point-and-shoot. I want to learn about how to adjust the depth of field, shutter speed and other things that I have no idea what they’re for.

That’s about it. Such excitement.

Ta-Ra