The Heart Wears a Tshirt in the Pool

It's so cold in this house. I know I have to wash my hair but the idea of taking off a single article of clothing is enough to make my skin shrivel. And I have no will to clean anything up but I keep spilling. I have turned the light off in the kitchen.

I was behind a girl at the grocery store today who was buying a single carrot, a single tomato and a box of tampons. I resisted the urge to throw sausages at her.

I'm awake and wishing I had things which I obviously do not have at this current moment in time. LIKE FOOD

I'm currently just finishing up a message to Cyrus about this neat video I just watched and thought I would post something here, making the point that I'm not totally anti-social.

Life recently has been interesting. I've met a neat new person (which I consider a breakthrough in Parksville), and I've hung out with her a couple times over the the last two weeks. Mostly just going for walks and baking/ watching movies (sofar). She's one of those girls who are too nice for kicks and is really easy to talk to. I also just had a coffee date with Carm, which is awesome because I never see any of the marimba people anymore. 

That being said, there has been a lot of quiet moments in between. I've filled it with either reading or working on this ancient architecture course I've been pushing through. Tonight the lectures were on "Christianity and the Roman East", "Early Islamic Architecture" and "Early Hindu Architecture"- all super interesting on it's own, and something that stuck to me were two concepts that I'm going to share with my lovely ladies--->

1) Outdoor vs. Indoor space. In the sense of how they built temples in the past/ kept not to congregate inside but to have for whatever gods, vs. Indoor religious spaces and having a roof and walls around you specifically for you to come to just do that. I'm pretty sure it was the Christians who navigated that route. But I could be wrong.  It's just funny to think that architects, maybe 1000 years ago, would be able to build buildings that you necessarily couldn't go inside, nor could anyone else. I don't think there would be willing participants in a big way who would fund that now. 

2) Domes = The heavens. 

That's about it, I'm heading to bed. 

it's only a paper moon

Well news: Takahashi got sent back to Edmonton after receiving a massage from a 16 year old girl at an esthetics school downtown. Apparently someone recognized him.

And because every post of mine includes a comment about Marketa's dog, you will be happy to know that I buried my hands into the deep fur of his face yesterday. He has take to staring deeply into space and barking at nothing. He is driving Marketa nuts.

Other than that, not a lot is going on here. My room-mate is supposedly going to Alberta tomorrow, for good. And oh yeah, I'm convocating on Wednesday. I wonder if it would be too sassy to thumbtack my degree to my cubicle at work...

hahaaaave a donut, Sarah Chezick

I celebrated my first day back to work yesterday by forgetting all of the myriad of passcodes and secret handshakes that it takes to do my job.

This house feels so very empty without Danielle. I am used to coming home to find her snuggled up in the armchair with a bowl of something and a glass of wine, maybe a few candles lit. Now I get home and the whole place is dark, cold, quiet. Doesn't help that there is a rapist that just moved in to the neighbourhood. Apparently supposed to be serving a triple lifetime sentence but is somehow living in a halfway house with an ocean view. Every grunt and wiggle from the nighbours has me reaching for my steak knife. Maybe this is the best month to be living with a tall man. Too bad he is never home.

And of course fate would have it that the detective that was part of the team that put the infamous Balaclava Rapist in jail to begin with is living across the street from Marketa. He is a tall older gentleman with a slight Irish accent and a sweet wife. When I take M's dog out he usually strains toward their house briefly before giving in to walk with lesser mortals. Mr. T is not shy about who his favourites are.

I've been watching the Great Gatsby for three nights in a row and must conclude that it is not very good. First of all the actors are too old. And I know that sounds needlessly picky. But do not pick an all star cast of middle aged blonde people for a movie about young love and brooding, Baz Thurman. 

Make it passionate, and impossible to touch

Yesterday my dog rolled in human feces, I kid you not. He went happily tearing off into the woods and came back with it liberally smeared over his ears, neck, feet, back, and embedded into his collar. Whoever produced the criminal dump took the time to wipe with toilet paper, but not to bury their poo. While squatting in the brush, I wonder if they could have envisioned two strangers knee-deep in a creek soaping their excrement off of a miserable, shivering dog.

Last night I went to a rap concert and got irresponsibly intoxicated, particularly for a Tuesday. Spent this morning's 9:30 class gazing around in a vague manner and trying not to spew all over the petite Hawaiian girl seated beside me. That being said, the concert was wonderful, really excellent. The crowd ranged from a 50-ish conservative looking woman seated by the bar with a bottle of Stella, to a lone fellow in the corner, hood pulled up, head lowered, performing a series of complex footsteps even when the music stopped. Douchebags and miniskirts were at a minimum, everyone seemed stoked and most people were dancing.

By the by, this is a photograph of a badass rock. If my face looks puffy and swollen, it's due to the fact that I had previously burst into tears at the sight of the cliffs we were told to scramble over.

Word on the street is that we will soon be acquiring stickbugs. Stay tuned.

Heavy Mitted Love

Tonight Danielle and I went to pick up a couch from an apartment close to ours, and we thought we were going to carry it home ourselves. Put it turned out to be insanely heavy and I somehow cut myself and was bleeding everywhere and we had to keep stopping to adjust and finally the two young guys that we got it from, who were apparently watching from the balcony,came down and carried it home for us. It was the best thing.

Yeah, we've got good food box here too. We used to get them at the Chambers house and split them between us because there was always a ridiculous amount of food in there, and there is only so much cabbage one person can eat. It's a pretty genius idea, same with food forests.

And I went to a lecture during the summer at the university because there was a giant international conference on (this is when all the geniuses were staying at Marketa's and I helped a guy from Norway with strep throat get medicine, and he called me a hero). Anyway the lecture was about human rights and organic farming, and how only a certain "type" of person generally has access to this kind of food, and also how we are always advocating for the rights of farmers and the right to eat good, non processed food, but we rarely think about the working conditions of people working on farms. In California relatively recently they turned down a bill that would make the use of short hand hoes illegal. Imagine the back pain after hoeing weeds in a half-crouching position all day. But long hoes are too expensive apparently, so the farmers association kyboshed it.
Ok I just found it in my agenda: "June 3- Dr. Patricia Allen on Food Security and Social Justice' and then underneath I wrote "problematize community as exclusive." Because I guess as long as there is a community there are those that exist outside of the community, for example people who cannot afford the food that they deserve as human beings to eat. Here is a link: http://www.marylhurst.edu/academics/schools-colleges-departments/school-graduate-studies/food-systems-society/faculty/patricia-allen.html

On a separate note, Tyson recently killed and cleaned up an imposter rooster amongst his parents chickens and we are supposedly going to eat it sometime. His name was Richard. 

Something Something Something

My life has been completely uneventful the last couple weeks. Seriously, nothing new to report other than me being sick multiple times (hey sarah, u getting betterz? wow, gotta get u sik again)-says the common going around whore cold. 

Life has been totally uneventful, that I've resulted to taking free classes online to pass my nightly time/ to see if I want to seriously take ahold university(which I think will happen regardless one day). One is Ancient Architecture, another is Behavioral Economics, Haut Cuisine/Soft Science (which is shredding my brain) and lastly, the newest one I just joined up for kicks, is some introduction to computing programming while learning to use python. 

We're also moving back to our old house on wright rd. My next door neighbor today decided he was going to help unpack, so we spent 20 minutes putting away dishes in the china cabinet. Hes three and named Sy.

I'm just tired now, my foot is asleep. I'm listening to Solomon Burke and wishing I owned a warmer room. And Socks. ps, add to the list that I want to learn to knit socks.

pss, add to the list that one day I want to copy a non-profit that supplements the cost of farmer market/local food for low income people. There is a non-profit in somewhere, USA that does just that with the poorer populations and they just raise money, that I think gets added to a "bank" of sorts to cut the cost of produce. I want to learn more of how they exactly do it, and what sort of problems they hurdled over to create something like this. It would also be neat to team up with this place in Nanaimo that I can't think of right now... that does similar things (good food box program) where you pay 10 dollars every week for a box of veggies that would be cheaper than buying them normally (they buy in bulk and divide the fixings to every buying). Awesome hey?

washed the dirt off our intentions, prattled on about bad inventions

Ran my first race today. Was beaten by a bunch of small children and was given a underarm rash by the free technical t-shirt that they everyone but hey. I happen to have band aids enough to keep the chaffing down. My family recommended that I grow my pit hair out for next year. Then my dad quoted Game of Thrones at me. I just found this picture on the internet and I kind of miss this time. But also not at all. Plus I had a weird dream about my prom date last night. I think there were whales involved.

Cutcomb honey in my tea? Yes, please.

It's hard to believe how emotional a ruined piece of graffiti can make you. I've really been enjoying following Banksy's tour of New York, but the idea of people being so petty as to alter, destroy, or cover up his work is stunning and sad. Perhaps they're like totem poles, in a way, and are not intended to be a permanent fixture. However, it's not as bad as one company back in the UK who removed two pieces and sold them at auction for upwards of $300,000, claiming that the citizens of the town "didn't properly appreciate the artwork."

I'm supposed to be writing a midterm today, but right now I'm quite obviously procrastinating. Read a Chinese manuscript the other day written around 200AD that claims if you're a good and honest person for a period of three years, fortune will return to you. It made me nervous, for some reason.

The boyfriend is listening to loud, pounding music in the living room, but it's acceptable as he's also cleaning the toilet. Our dog ran through a gate yesterday when we were out and cut up his face. He also knocked over some chairs, dug holes in the lawn, and tore up his sheepskin rug. He's like a destructive, not terribly bright three year old throwing a tantrum, albeit one with a propensity for licking your face and 500x as much hair.

Emma, we will be at the start of the 8km tomorrow, although neither of us will be running in it. If you win, I'll buy you some champagne.  

when we're dead or when we're dreaming

Amazing rain today. Honestly couldn't tell if it was falling up or down for most of the afternoon. And in the office we could hear it approaching- the rush of sudden pressure- and all three of us would pop our heads over the tops of the cubicles to watch it hit the pavement of the parking lot outside. We eventually had to stick an empty recycling bin under the consistent tap of a few drips coming in through the roof. And Jan drove me to the bus stop, which I am taking to mean that I have an in with those guys, like we bonded over how giddy the weather was making us.
My knee has been aching to the point that if I turn it in certain directions it feels like something inside is tearing. Doesn't help that I fell while cruising up the uneven pavement in Cook St Village the other night. A couple carrying a giant canvas looked genuinely concerned. Of course I fall down in front of the most caring citizens. And of course when I am exercising I turn into this aggressive machine of maniacal grins. As soon as I am down and bleeding I am back up, smearing the blood off with my fingers. Pain doesn't hit until I am in the bath later, trying to get the tiny rocks out of my skin.

Danielle has posted an ad on craigslist to try and find me a room mate for when she is in Mexico. We've had one response from a 26 year old carpenter named Angus. I am mildly anxious about living with a stranger, let alone a male stranger. I do not handle November well. November is when it hurts the most to get out of bed. And in November I graduate.

I've had a burning headache all day, possibly induced by the amount of wine consumed yesterday when Marketa showed up with her dog and a bottle of sake. Something about that dog. I know that he is not cute but when he is happy to see you its enough to make your heart explode. When he was a puppy some of M's friends dressed him up and took a million pictures of him, so that now when anyone aims any kind of electronic device at him he becomes frenzied and starts running around the house, trying to get away. The thing about fluffy dogs like that is that you assume that when they are running around with their tails in the air they are in great moods. Mr. T is constantly being chased from one end of the B+B to the other by excited guests.