Do it! Do it! Do it!

Alison and I went to the gym this morning for the first time in quite awhile and I weighed myself after I was done. I weigh EIGHT POUNDS more than the last time I was in. Must be that second cookie I had yesterday.

Our friend and my coworker Meg just left after having lunch and a visit with us. She made a delicious noodle salad to go with Alison's famous vegetable pie, and then we forced her to look at pretty much every bit of creative work either one of us has ever done. We were like two siblings vying for parental attention. Now she's gone, having been bored completely to tears, but we might as well keep all this stuff out because Joan is coming over any minute. Where did I put that bronze Participaction award from grade four?

- Andrew

Holiday "Activities"

Where has the time gone? The past four days are a giant blur of visits, Ultraman, and alcohol. And Ultraman is due back tomorrow I just realized, even though we've only watched ten of the 39 episodes. Oh well -- I'm starting to perceive a bit of a pattern to the plots. The Science Patrol gets a call about a giant rubber monster that appears from the sea/a lake/the earth. They put on their helmets and race to the scene, leaving Fuji the lone female member to hold down the fort/look after their child-mascot/make coffee. Once there, they generally stand around/formulate ineffective plans/otherwise act useless, and finally are saved when one of them secretly turns into Ultraman, who clumsily wrestles the monster for three minutes before blowing it up with a beam of dotted lines that comes out of his hand.

On Monday night we had a few friends over, including Jeff, who had to go back to Toronto the next day. It was a real nice time, but I stayed up way too late debating and theorizing with Johanna after everyone else had sensibly gone off to bed. Topics discussed: Christmas tree aesthetics, kitsch, the Japanese, political correctness, hippies, religion, parental influence real and imagined, Supreme Court rulings on sexual deviancy in public places, the Narnia Chronicles, non-judgment of others, judgment of others, political corruption, dealing with requests for immoral favours. Alcohol consumed: wine, rum & eggnog, rum & coke, beer.

Charles dropped by on Tuesday afternoon and we gossiped for awhile, then put together the artwork for an album of songs he's been working on for sometime and is just finalizing. I can't wait to hear the finished product! I also completed Talk to the Hand: The Utter Bloody Rudeness of the World Today, or Six Good Reasons to Stay Home and Bolt the Door, which Erika gave me for Christmas. It's by Lynne Truss, author of Eats, Shoots and Leaves, and is very much in the same hilarious, if slightly heavy-handed, style. I think I like this one a little better, actually, as the subject seems a little more worth getting worked up over. A sample:

"Those of us who automatically deal out politeness words in suitable contexts are becoming uncomfortably aware that we earn less credit for it than we used to. It is becoming obvious that we are the exception rather than the rule, and that our beautiful manners fall on stony ground. People who serve the public are becoming impervious to rudeness, either because they are young and don't care, or because they are older and have learned to toughen up or suffer a nervous breakdown. Either way, if you attempt to sympathise with a shop-worker who has just served a rude customer, the response is rarely the one you expect. Mainly you will get a blank shrug, which carries the worrying implication: this person doesn't care whether customers are polite or not. This makes it quite hard to go through the ensuing politeness display without feeling self-conscious, or even quaint. 'May I please have it wrapped separately?' you ask, with your smile fading. 'Thank you, that's perfect, how kind you are.' The ground starts to slip from under you, as no validating response comes your way, yet you are powerless to stop being polite and old-fashioned. 'And what a fine morning, forsooth!' you exclaim. 'Ha. By God's breath, thou hast a cunning way with yon mechanical abacus! Hast thou a quill-pen prithee? Or mayhap I must digitate upon yon artful keypad?'"

Yesterday I had to actually do some work at the office, as the bi-weekly used car supplement which I produce is due at the newspaper by 9:00 Wednesday morning and we're closed until Tuesday. This thing is usually about a day and a half of work, but I got it done yesterday in under four hours. Mind you, the changes this time around were pretty minimal, but still it's amazing what a little lack of distraction and some motivation to get out of the office can do.

Then Ali and I went to my boss's place for an incredible dinner with his family and a few other people. It was a fantastic smorgasbord of delicacies, and we had a great time talking mostly about bugs, cats, and people's most hated jobs. Unfortunately it went on until almost 11:30, and we were supposed to be meeting up with our friends Matt and Laura for drinks at 9:00(!), as they had to go back to Toronto the next day (a recurring theme at Christmastime in Halifax). Oops. We felt terrible about it when we finally showed up, but were glad to get to talk with them for a couple of hours before the bar closed. They're really sweet, funny, wonderful people, and it's ALMOST not worth seeing them for such a short time when it means having to say goodbye again. But things seem to be going really well for them in the big smoke, and we were plenty drunk by that point, so nothing but happiness and good times came out of it.

So today was a bit of a hangover, catching our breath day with little to no activity. I did a tiny bit of freelance design work and read some rock books which Charles loaned me as bribery for doing his CD artwork. Besides that, a couple of episodes of Lost over ordered-in manicotti was about all that happened. It really is a pretty lame show. As crappy TV goes, it's no Ultraman.

- Andrew

Merry Christmas

(A stocking stuffer from Ali. Whuddya think, though? Should I grow a real one?)


Hope everyone's having a nice one. We've been getting to see lots of friends, and that's hopefully going to continue into this week, which we both have off. Went for a nice walk around the ghost town in the fog today, and then ate a big Tofurkey with all the fixings over a bottle of wine and a couple of episodes of "Lost" (which is not quite as good as I'd imagined from all the hype, but oh well, we've also got 40 episodes of "Ultraman" to check out). This evening we recorded this carol using the new mic stand Ali gave me:



Peace on earth.

- Andrew

Re: Hulk Smash!

A few seconds later...



- Andrew

Egads!

Guess who?








Why, it's Woody the Talking Christmas Tree, of course! (did you guess?)
Why spill your guts to Santa when this friendly giant fir will lend you an ear? Face, I mean a face.

Orders from a Self-Confessed Nerd

This is my new screensaver at work. Everybody go to see King Kong right now. I know it's been overhyped, but that's no excuse to miss it. It's gorgeous and terrifying. A perfect environmentalist horror movie.

- Andrew

A Nice Winter Day

It snowed last night and today was really sunny, which made for some nice walking around, even though the purpose of the walking around was Christmas shopping. I managed not to be a total crank. Well, not all of the time, anyway. In fact, I'm actually starting to get a little bit into the seasonal spirit, I have to admit. I think the only way out of being angered and depressed by all the bad taste and downright ugliness which Christmas seems to bring out in most of the western world is to dive headfirst into the festivities on your own terms. There's been enough holiday iconography and signifiers collected up over the years that there's bound to be something out there to induce the warm fuzzies, whatever subcultural camp one finds oneself barricaded in. For instance, we've been listening to Duke Ellington's version of The Nutcracker Suite tonight, and tomorrow we'll catch a matinee showing of It's a Wonderful Life before picking up a small tree to be sparely and tastefully decorated. Sure, the merchants would love for me to feel depressed and therefore guilty over my lack of Christmas spirit so that I'll spend more money at this most important time of year for them, and maybe it's just the sunshine talking, but I say screw 'em.

- Andrew

Loo loo loooooo...

OK, so I'm sorry I haven't been blogging very much lately. Things are pretty hectic and I always seem to be tired when I have free time and I guess the whole Christmas thing has been kind of bumming me out so I never really feel like I have anything worth telling anyone. We watched the Charlie Brown Christmas special the other night and it was devastating as usual. Alison cried and I got a huge lump in my throat. I remember getting that lump from it one year when I was a little kid, and I didn't even know what it was -- I thought it meant I was getting sick. They really suck you in by making the first half all jokes from the comic strip and you think, "Oh, this is not so bad. I think I can take it this year," and then they begin quickly ramping up the pathos, starting when Charlie Brown goes out with Linus to find a tree. Even the light in the sky when they go outside is enough to make you realize, "Uh oh. What have I gotten myself in for?" By "you" I mean me.

Charlie Brown's and, particularly, Linus's voices are so perfect in that show. I don't know where they found those kids. So soft-spoken and understated. Especially in that Luke reading -- he really brings out the poetry in that passage like almost no one else could by completely underdramatizing it. I wonder what kind of adults those two grew up into.

If you haven't started bawling by that point, the "MERRY CHRISTMAS CHARLIE BROWN!" will of course get you every time. And if it doesn't you might as well pull the other foot into that coffin, 'cause you're beyond help. By "you" I mean you.

I'm making an e-Christmas card to send out to people. Maybe that'll help me get more into the spirit than the seasonal red and green sprinkles on the donuts served by Santa-hatted Tim Horton's ladies seem to. If not, I'll have to go out and find a play in need of a director.

- Andrew

Finished!

Well, for now, anyway. Here's the new and improved electronic tune I've been working on.



- Andrew

Haven't heard from you in a while, Ali.

Three things I love – yoga, Buster, and pre-winter light. I don't know who this yoga lady is...I found her on google images under "crane". She looks like she's having fun. Not taking herself too seriously. Buster, oh Buster, you are so cute. This is a recent photo of the kitty taking a break from knocking his superball around. The last photo was taken last year at this time and I recently rediscovered it in among my many CDs of photos. I needed an excuse to display it cause I really like it. I think it was about 4:30pm, late November. Something like that. It is very blue out. Anyway...

Next time, three things I hate. (grrrr.)

Of course I watched Martha.

Did anyone else notice at the end of the show, while the credits were rolling, over the usual music that goes: Bomp bomp. Bomp bomp. Bomp bomp. Buddle buddle buddle bomp bomp... there was a crazy sax solo? I was busting a gut, but maybe other people wouldn't find that funny. Also, there was some other instrumentation bringing out a 6/8 time signature where I'd only ever heard 3/4. That was kind of cool.

- Andrew

Music, Literature

So, I guess the most exciting thing that's happened recently is that we got a harpsichord. Wha-aat? Harpsichord? Did he say... I think I heard something about... (harpsichord, harpsichord, harpsichord) What're they all muttering about? I don't know -- something about a harp seal.


























Well, y'see, my friend Tim's grandmother recently passed away, and one of the things that was left to him was this you-know-what that his grandfather built(!) back in 1965. Unfortunately, Tim is living in Toronto now and the YKW was here, and had to be cleared out of his grandmother's apartment by the end of this month. So I am temporarily, indefinitely looking after it for him. It's a beaut, too, although it needs a lot of work as it hasn't been played in years. In fact neither Tim's grandfather nor his grandmother was a musician! His grandfather just really liked building things.

Luckily, he hung onto all the stuff you could ever possibly need to fix whatever could go wrong with it, so now I have a new hobby. It's actually a pretty simple mechanism and it sounds really cool, so it's gonna be a lot of fun. We just got it last night, thanks to Tim's friendly uncle David who drove it and me over to our place, and I've already put quite a bit of work into it -- restringing, re-plectruming, pluck-action adjusting, and tuning. Once it's up and running I'll definitely record something and put it on the old blog.

Of course, it's not as if I needed something else to keep myself occupied, but I seem to like having a lot of projects on the go at once, so I'm not gonna beat myself up over it. It's fun to be able to pick and choose what current fixation you're going to indulge, as long as you don't get overwhelmed by the sense of busy-ness or the fact that nothing's getting finished. For instance, here's a partial list of books I'm in the middle of:

David Bowman - This Must Be the Place: The Adventures of Talking Heads in the 20th Century, 3/4 finished. This one has the most hope of getting completed. I already told you how enjoyable it is.

Marcel Proust - Swann's Way, 1/3 finished. Really really good, but you have to be in the right mood. I'm getting there again.

Deepak Chopra - The Path to Love: Renewing the Power of Spirit in Your Life, 1/6 finished. I always get something out of Deepak, even though his new-agey vagueness generally bugs me now. I've already gotten some pretty great rethinking out of this book, so maybe I won't be compelled to finish it before it's due back at the library.

Anthony Lane - Nobody's Perfect: Writings from The New Yorker, maybe 1/20 finished. It's short pieces so I just pick it up and read one now and again. Charles loaned me this one.

Michael Chabon - The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, only through 2 chapters so far. Got this one at the same time as the Talking Heads bio, and it's fantastic. There's some kind of perverse saving thing going on here. I think I feel like I don't deserve to read more until I've finished something else.

LeRoy (Satchel) Paige, as told to David Lipman - Maybe I'll Pitch Forever, 2/3 finished. Satchel Paige was possibly the greatest baseball pitcher ever, but no one will ever know because most of his career was spent in the negro leagues where proper records were not kept. He's a wildly entertaining guy with some pretty interesting views on life which often inexplicably revolve around diet. I started this bio during softball season and was quite enjoying it, but after awhile started feeling like I wasn't going to get a whole lot more out of hearing about another shutout. Still plan on finishing it, though.

Michael Crichton - State of Fear, 2 chapters finished. This is that piece of garbage my boss loaned me. I really don't see how I'll ever finish it, but feel that I can't return it without trying. Interesting that I've made it as far through this book as Kavalier & Clay, which is probably the book I most want to read on this list. The authors also have very similar names. Weird.

David Hume - An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, 1/2 finished. I read this back in the old philosophy days, but wanted to read it again after my big argument with Johanna's dad over laws of nature and human knowledge. I must say it really does stand up as a highly readable piece of philosophy, which of course means it's still dry as a buzzard-picked bone by general literary standards.

Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. - Breakfast of Champions, 2/3 finished. A very easy read and lots of fun, I've been reading it out loud to Ali at bedtime a chapter at a time. But because we seem to keep going to bed late there's often not time for a reading. Plus there are crossword puzzles that aren't going to just do themselves.

F. David Peat - Synchronicity: The Bridge Between Mind and Matter, 1/3 finished. I think I told you about this one before. Another kooky new age book written by a science-minded guy, this one trying to unify ideas in quantum physics and Jungian psychology. Koo. Ky. Pretty interesting, though. Unfortunately, it's one of my lunchtime books, and I'm usually too embarassed to take it out in public, opting for the Talking Heads book instead.

Herman Melville - Moby Dick, 3/4 finished. Another bedtime story for Ali that we pick up for awhile and love, then stop loving so much and start something else, returning when we finish that. It's been going on for years now. I swear we will finish it. It really is fantastic, but, like the Proust, fantastic in a long-winded, nothing ever really happens kind of way.

And now, because this evening's yoga class was extra strenuous and not very well taught, forcing me to take a hot bath on which I hadn't counted, it's time for bed, which means no Vonnegut again tonight. Maybe tomorrow night, if the band practice doesn't go on too long and I can force myself to tape Martha without watching it.

Bonne nuit.
- Andrew

When I press the special key it plays a little melody.

Sorry, not much to say again. Or rather, you're welcome. Two hours of Trump tonight. If I stay up to watch it I deserve whatever punishment tomorrow sees fit to dole out.

-- Removed to free up memory for more pressing things. --
Here's a little tune I've been working on for the past few days. There's some poorly frankensteined together bits and it's going to have a rhythm track of some kind in places, but so far I think it's pretty neat.

- Andrew

Birthday Fun

Had a great time last night, thanks to everyone who came out. We played some pool, had a few beers, caught a little Al Tuck action... 'Twas a fine birthday celebration. Like a dolt, I didn't take any pictures, but luckily my friend Meg did. Here's the Chester + Company pool sharks at Dooley's.

- Andrew

It's the most crotchety time of the year.

We were supposed to go over to our friends Charles and Kelly's place tonight to hang out, play with their kids, and eat some cheese. I've been looking forward to it all week as I never seem to see them or really anyone else anymore these days unless it's for some specific purpose, like someone needs a Mr. Bean lookalike for a practical joke or something. Plus I really like cheese. Yum.

But this incredibly stupid Christmas parade happened this evening that I only half remembered about and it prevented our bus and hence us from travelling to the north end. Over an hour we waited in the freezing cold, which is actually less time than a lot of the parade-goers, who started showing up along the route at 4:30 for a 6:00 parade with their blankets and folding chairs and understandably crying kids. The whole thing was just a bunch of local stores and businesses renting trucks to cheaply and crappily advertise their existence. I really don't get the appeal.

And because the whole downtown was completely messed up traffic-wise, we couldn't get a cab either, unless we were willing to wait at least another hour. So no Charles, no cheese. Don't people realize there are plenty of commercials they can watch on TV? The best scene of the night was a woman yelling at her little boy, who was complaining that his uncovered hands were cold, "All right, fine, you can have my mittens!"

Anyway, sorry this blog is becoming such a crankfest lately. I'll write something cheery next time, I swear.

- Old Man Grumpus

Sympathy for the Hand Grenade

People in cars are trying to kill me. When I ride my bicycle to and from work, they keep pulling out right in front of me or veering suddenly into my lane. Sometimes two or more will team up, one parked guy opening his door suddenly while his partners whip by real close on the other side of the bike lane. I make them really mad on my clownish toy vehicle. I look like a child playing in traffic, and should therefore be taught a lesson. I might as well be on a pair of stilts. At least they could see me from farther away.

Meanwhile, pedestrians are trying to make me kill them. The other morning a man grabbed his four-year-old daughter's hand and pulled her, without looking, directly into my path. He continued not to notice me even as I struggled desperately to avoid hitting the very large target that the two of them formed and not fly over the curb and consequently my handlebars. He couldn't hear me. So I didn't exist. Except in the wide eyes of his daughter.

Some people do hear me, and even see me barreling straight for the spot into which they're considering stepping, and they go for it anyway. Even if I shake my head frantically and give them the wide-eyed crazy guy look. Even if I repeat the word "no" over and over, starting under my breath and quickly building to a berserk shriek. I don't fool them, because they know that to serve them the punishment they deserve would be to punish myself at least as severely. I have no power in this relationship.

Hence, I am caught between the sadistic and the masochistic deathwish. Those whose hatred will not be relieved solely by my destruction would utilize me in their own, destroying me in the process.

- Andrew

The guilt, the guilt.

Anyone to whom I owe email(s): Thanks so much for your nice words. Yes, I am a terrible person. No, I haven't written you off. Please be patient with me. You deserve better than what I seem capable of at any given time. Matt, Jeff, Tim, I'm looking at you guys.

Anyone wishing I would post on this blog more often: Screw ya, whaddya think I am, your own private entertainment machine or something? Just kidding. You're absolutely right.

Unfortunately there hasn't been too much to write about. It's getting colder so we're staying in and watching movies more, or rather TV shows collected on DVDs. Just finished the second season of "Arrested Development", which was as always way too funny for it's own good. Also, last week, the first and I think only season of "Undeclared", because we knew Matt was going to be watching it too. It was made by the same people as "Freaks and Geeks" and was just about as good. I had seen one or two episodes when it was on TV, but I'd forgotten that the main character's dad was played by Loudon Wainwright (Rufus's funnier and more talented father). That was a nice bonus.

I'm a little sick of Donald and Martha, but will of course continue to watch them anyway. I think I'll start taping them, though, so I don't have to stay up late. Oh yeah, and we added another drinking game phrase: "presentation" (but only when they pronounce it PREE-zen-TAY-shun).

- Andrew

The News

This just in... local aging bohemians Andrew and Alison have reportedly joined a gym. The full reason is not yet known, though there is speculation that regular yoga classes at a similar cost to those being considered elsewhere are a probable partial influence. Rumours that the two will also be taking advantage of cardiovascular- and muscle-enhancing equipment can be neither confirmed nor denied. Opinions are varied as to just what this surprising turn of affairs means. While some pundits express skepticism that this is anything more than a short-lived bid for attention, others see it as the couple's first irreversible step into the realm of yuppiedom.

Yeah, so we went last night for an orientation session, and then early this morning for an elliptical workout. Seems pretty fun so far. There are TV's on different channels and if you bring headphones you can hear the sound and watch while you're working out. I got to see some music videos, which I don't get to at home because we don't have cable. Alison thinks we should check out when things are on that we want to watch but don't get and exercise then. I'm worried someone will show a good movie or a hockey game and I'll end up accidentally killing myself on the treadmill.

We also went to a yoga class on Saturday, which is how we got sucked into signing up. The class was really good, taught by a super nice Japanese lady named Michi who looks exactly like Dora the Explorer. She says "please" before every instruction and gives you a nice little parable-type thing to meditate on at the end of the class. We were psyched afterwards, and then they took us in this little tiny room and gave us the hard sell exactly as if we were at a car dealership. Pretty weird. But it does seem like a good deal, and we can keep signing up a month at a time so there's no long term soul-selling going on. Installment afterlife.

The other thing I wanted to tell you about was a movie we watched a couple of weeks ago now. It's called Palindromes, and it's directed by Todd Solondz, the same guy who did Happiness and Welcome to the Dollhouse. Like those films, it's about as black as comedy can get, while also telling the uncomfortably realistic stories of some uncomfortably sympathetic characters. I.e., it is awesome.

The story is about a 13-year old girl who wants to have a baby, so she gets pregnant and is coerced into an abortion by her parents. Not realizing that the doctor was forced to give her a hysterectomy, she runs away from home so that she may continue trying to have a baby. Of course she meets some sketchier than sketchy characters on the road and it's all very creepy and full of hilariously over the top pathos. Typical Solondz plot.

But the really out-there thing in this one is that the main character is played by a series of different actors who are different ages, races, and even genders. I'm still not exactly sure what the reason is behind that, except that one of the key thematic questions in the film is whether people can ever really change. There's also, I think, a point being made about the way others' perceptions of us affect our own self-image.

Finally, it's a loose sequel to Welcome to the Dollhouse, as this girl is related to the Weiners. Poor Dawn.

All in all, I give it two hyperextended thumbs up. Check it out.

- Andrew

Later you'll hear all the news!

We are busy 'round here, more than usual it seems. Blogging's taken a hit. Here's a cute pic to add something new to look at and later, we'll talk about shid.

-Ali

Which one will he finish first?

-- Imagine listening to "The Book I Read" by the Talking Heads as you read this. It was here, but I removed it to free up some of my limited space for sound files. --

Probably the last thing in the world I need to do is start another book, but I picked up the Talking Heads biography This Must Be the Place at this fantastic book store in Wolfville on the weekend and now I can't put it down. The guy's writing took some getting used to; actually, at first I thought he might be mildly retarded or something. His sentences are very short and he often says things that seem to be leading somewhere, but then moves immediately on to something else. But now I'm appreciating that I never have to spend a lot of time on stories I've already heard. And the unpredictability is quite exhilerating.

Actually, I just started another book, too. I think I'm in the middle of about twenty-five books right now. This one was loaned to me by my boss so that I might have my mind expanded. It's a grocery store piece of trash by Michael Crichton, of Jurassic Park fame, in which bio-terrorists use people's ("unfounded") fears about the unsustainable nature of our culture to wreak some sort of havoc or other. Even though it's a novel, it's all full of footnotes and lecturing about the "facts" on global warming, or rather the lack thereof. Mr. Chrichton believes we're all fools for worrying about what we are doing to the earth, as people have been worrying about that for centuries and nothing has happened yet. What is with this new use of the novel to espouse crackpot conspiracy theories? It's pretty annoying.

If he either a) didn't have such a history of embarassing misunderstandings when it comes to science, or b) could write, I might be able to get into the book on some level. Instead, I have to slog through many many pages of truly awful prose so I can talk informedly about the global warming conspiracy with my boss. At least it's really easy to read. You can skip every second sentence and not miss anything.

- Andrew

Weekend Snaps

I'm sitting here with Buster on my lap and he's making it very hard to type by pinning my arm to the chair, but I don't even mind 'cause he's being so sweet and I've just been going through all the photos we took in Wolfville on the weekend and remembering what a nice time it was. Still, if Buster had thumbs I bet he'd be some kind of master thumb-wrestler of Guinesian proportions. I fixed a bunch of those photos up for you to eyeball, so here they are.

This one I actually took a couple of weekends ago in Halifax, but I've been meaning to adjust the colour on it so's it'd be suitable for viewing.


This is the super-quaint but really nice room we stayed in at Victoria's Historic Inn. It was very olde and fancye.


We took a walk along the tracks that run between the town and the natural dykes that protect it from tidal flooding. Here's some of the nice scenery we seen.







I was going to write some more, but Martha's about to start. Remind me to tell you about this really great movie we saw the other night. Cheers!

- Andrew

Boo! :c (Supposed to be a vampire.)

Happy Hallowe'en, everybody. Ali and I had a really nice time in Wolfville and we'll probably post some pictures on here when we have more time. But first, here's a not very spooky little tune we created from scratch in the practice space tonight and recorded on my scrappy little dictaphone.

[It's gone now. It was pretty scrappy, and not very spooky. Seriously.]

Could become something decent, I think.

We're rereading Breakfast of Champions now 'cause we were in the mood for something light, and I'm happy to say it's held up pretty well. Very amusing and eerily relevant thirty-something years later. Hmmph.

OK, here's one photo from Wolfville that Ali worked on today. It kind of goes with the kind of spooky song.

Later.

- Andrew

Plans, Pipe Dreams, and Just Plain Irresponsible Brain Cell Use

As you may or may not know, Hallowe'en is the anniversary of Alison's and my first meeting, which was at a costume party in Montreal 11 years ago. I was Gilligan, and I lucked into a perfect cross between Mary-Anne and Ginger, with absolutely no Mrs. Howell. So to celebrate that blessed event we're going to Wolfville this weekend and staying in the same inn we stayed in last year at this time. I've been working like crazy with next to no free time so I'm really looking forward to it. Ali's actually going to be helping to shoot a wedding in Wolfville most of Saturday, which is how the whole thing got planned, but that's fine with me. It'll give me plenty of time to catch up on my Sudokus and maybe pass the halfway point in Swann's Way. And as Alison points out, there'll be no computers or telephones around.

OK, so did anyone else watch The Apprentice last night? What th' aitch? How could he just go and fire four people at once? Doesn't that mean the show will be three episodes short now? And what's with "step up"? When did everyone start saying that? We've added it to the drinking game for a more rollicking time. "At the end of the day, Jennifer M. just really needs to step up to the plate." Sheesh!

By the way, we finally made it into the practice space on Monday, and it was pretty fun. The Microkorg is our unimaginative if temporary drummer for now. I'm working on some jammable basslines to teach Ali for next time, but eventually I really want to try putting together some kind of long, slowly evolving, repetitious and modal keyboard piece in the style of Philip Glass's "Music in Twelve Parts". I'd like to out-serialize Stereolab. Might be kind of hard to do effectively with only two people playing at once, though. We'll see.

I've added another magazine website to our links: Make Magazine. I heard about it on CKDU because they were giving away a subscription to it as a prize during their funding drive. It's pretty cool, in a very extended sense of the word. Scrappy projects for bohemian techno-geeks. Definitely worth checking out.

And that's how I've been wasting my time lately. How about you?

- Andrew

The Nature of Things.

Today, downtown, there was a young owl in a tree nearby my office. People came in to tell me and Shirley about it. Of course we had to go check it out and take pictures! I only had my little digital so you can't see it too well. As we were watching him some crows started ganging up on the poor little guy...they were making a racket and flying at him and trying to either boot him out of the tree or hit him or something. It was horrible to watch...so we left. Shirley had to go on a job anyway and I couldn't stand to witness anything more brutal. I hope he's okay. Maybe his mom swooped in and saved the day. That's how it'll end in my mind anyway.

Puppy!

Okay, so I'm a sucker for the all the little fuzzy creatures in the world. Everyone knows this. As soon as I sat down at the hair salon the other day, the owner came over and plopped this into my lap! I went snap happy after that. Her name is Lola, btw. -Ali




Stay still Lola! Lola...Lola! Lola?

We have no phone again!

This is getting pretty annoying. I really wanted to call birthday people tonight, and especially to wish Mom & Dad a bon voyage, since they're leaving tomorrow. We'll have to finish our chess game later I guess, Dad. I can't see any quick way to end it, besides losing which could easily be accomplished in one move.

I'm hooked on Sudoku puzzles these days. Has anyone tried them? It's a 9x9 grid divided into 9 3x3 grids, with a few numbers from 1 to 9 filled in in spaces here and there. You have to figure out where all the other numbers go so that every row, every column, and every 3x3 box contains each number once and only once. Eri, I think you especially would like them, because they're pretty similar to those logic problems I remember you used to be really into.

Have to go design a Xmas card now. It's a competition at work to see who comes up with the best one, and they're due tomorrow. I haven't started yet and I have to be in bed in an hour to go in early in the morning. Feels like high school, except without that nice free period I would always schedule for first thing in the morning. Wish me luck!

- Andrew

Just so everyone knows

We are still alive and in reasonable mental health and no one is holding a gun to our head making us type this with our temporarily unhandcuffed hands. And he doesn't have a moustache and a Felix the Cat earring in his left ear either. We just haven't had any any time, I don't really know why. And then our phone was out all day Sunday from the poor weather, so we couldn't even call people. So happy birthday, Dad, Eri, and Jason. I hope you guys had a real swell time. Ali tells me there's pix on the St. Louis blog, which I'm going to check out right after this though I really should be in bed.

We went into the practice space, by the way, tonight. Pretty fun scrappy jamming. I think the other people in the space assumed we had ceased to exist, because our stuff was pretty much buried and there was no space left in which we might play. Kinda smelled bad, too. Here's a picture of Ali rocking out and a movie of me getting down. I don't know why these movies always turn out so dark; they look alright on the camera's screen. Whatever, man.

- Andrew

Trees!

There are so many trees in this city and I love them all. I walked around a little yesterday on my way to and from the dentist and took a few snaps. These two are my favourites. (ali)

Hmm... no real theme I can discern here. Suggestions?

Boy, do I ever need a haircut. It's getting to be windy-rainy-Turneresque-sky season and my mane does not look so good in that kind of weather when it gets moppy. I'm a little vain, yes. But luckily I thought to take a picture of how I like it to look so I can show it to Krista and make her job that much easier:


I'm looking for a cheap mp3 player right now so that I can take rhythm parts from songs I've recorded, copy them from the computer onto it, and use it as a robot drummer for Our Igloo. The band that we went to see on Saturday, Hexes and Ohs, did a similar thing with a laptop and I was worried that they would make my idea redundant, but they actually had quite a lot pre-recorded and played a style of music that was quite a bit more "fascistic," for want of a better term, than what I've been imagining. More electronic-based, I guess. I want to keep it pretty scrappy and folky, and not at all become a slave to the recording. So any old player will do, as long as it's not the kind that can only play in "shuffle" mode, as that would be a little bit more anarchic than what I'm planning.

Here's a picture I took of Ali tonight when we went out for a walk. The moon was full and really pretty in the thick clouds, but by the time I could get the camera to work it had gone behind the clouds completely. I didn't want to use the flash and didn't have a tripod or anything, so that's why it's so blurry. I still like it though. The bright lights in the background are the oil refinery. The not as bright lights are the mental hospital. The really dim bulb in the sky is the moon. (The one behind the camera is me.)

- Andrew

Peechers

Documentary-style post. Weather here is crap but life is good. There are a whole lot of pictures that we've been wanting to put on here, so I'm gonna mostly clam up and let the pixels do the talking. Let me just say Ali and I went out for lunch, we visited our friend Krista whose cat is named Ralph, Flat Bunny had a nap, we went to see a two-person-and-a-laptop band called Hexes and Ohs who were thankfully nothing like Our Igloo despite identical instrumentation, I played chess with my friend Steve (and won!), we caught a bus home in the rain with our groceries, and we had our usual laundry and brunch this very very windy morning. Been a busy weekend.

- Andrew