merely talk

So.

This blog has now existed for a year. I'm shocked and amazed that I've been able to keep it up. But here it is and reading through some of the archives really gave me an idea about how much has happened and how much I've changed since the long weekend last August.

Very enlightening really.

I had an interesting and wacky weekend. Saturday night was the fireworks. My original plans fell through and I ended up going to a party with my cousin, Anna. It was nice to chill on a roof top patio and watch the fireworks with a cool group of people. No stupid people whoo-ing loudly, no loud kids, no crowd. It was awesome.

I ended up hanging out at this apartment until 2 in the morning and then Anna, these three guys we met and I took a cab to one of the guy's office building. It was actually where Anna had met the person who threw the party. She'd been temping there for the last 2 weeks. It was a production studio which had brought us some stellar offerings (Air Bud 1-5, and the soon to come Air Buddies). On the floor we were hanging out on there were two recording studios, one a Foley (the place where they add all the crashes and footsteps and other sounds on to the film) and the other a regular one that they used for the voice over work. There was also room with a whole bunch of head shots pinned on the wall (I think it was where the casting director hung out) and many, many editing bays.

There was also a couple bottles of wine and some mike's hard lemonade.

We were there a long time. Before I knew it we were on the office balcony watching the sun rise.

While on the balcony it was agreed that the next destination would be Denny's. If you've pulled an all nighter and you're still drunk Denny's is the place to be. We had a lovely waitress, Judy, who had been working since 11 the night before who told us all about the horrible night they'd had. There had been a fight and the police had to be called and it was crazy busy. She was super sweet and was great with keeping the coffee flowing.

Finally at 7 in the morning we headed home. My cousin crashed on my couch and I tried to sleep but it didn't really work. I just laid in my bed with my eyes closed for two hours. By 9:30 I gave up on the whole business got up and started making phone calls to make plans for the day.

Amanda and I headed to the Pride Parade. It was better this year than last, but it was still WAY to long and too spaced out. We got there around 12:30 or so, and it didn't end until twenty to three and there was not enough free stuff. But I had fun all the same.

After the Pride Parade I went home and watched Cruel Intentions (it was on TV). I didn't see the end though, Sean came by on his motorcycle and whisked me away to a BBQ on the beach. I have never ridden on a motorcycle before and now I'm totally sold on how awesome they are. I felt pretty darn free with the wind whooshing by.

The BBQ was fun, but I was pretty tired at this point and was probably not as sociable as I could have been. By the end I was content to just lie in the sun and listen to the drum circle which had set up near by.

That was pretty fun though.

All in all I think this weekend was a success. To make it even better I was able to get a good 13 hour sleep in last night, and I don't have to work today.

Also I have two weeks of work left. So the end is nigh.

I fireworked it up last night.

Anna and I headed down to Kits Point and found a nice patch of grass by some weird monument that is supposed to represent the Northwest Passage (it looks like an upside down U).

It was Canada's turn first and I'm often disappointed by their presentation. Last night was no exception. It's all in their music choice. And yes Louis Armstrong is awesome and "What a wonderful World" is a great song, but it doesn't scream "fireworks" too me. Ditto with "At Last" and Gershwin's "Summertime". Fireworks are not subtle, and the music shouldn't be either. Which is why Canada is not going to win.

Today I'm working then hitting the beach. Should be a nice inexpensive day. Which will be good, because I went on a shopping spree last weekend and the bank account took a hit.

I chopped off my hair on Saturday. Well not personally, I went to my hairstylist. I also dyed out all the not my natural colour, so I'm back to just black hair again.

My haircut makes me happy. Especially the bangs. I've missed them and I've been too lazy to cut my own in.

Hit the beach with Amanda yesterday. I had stopped at the magazine store on my way and picked up the latest Bitch and Bust. Great beach reading in my mind. Sadly it was a little windy so reading became slightly more difficult than it should have been.

We also had the loudest most annoying teenagers right beside us, which made for a slightly less enjoyable beach experience.

Can't we keep them in school year round, 7 days a week?

Headed to the Bourbon on Friday night. And I was actually rude to stupid men who would just sit down without being asked, comment on my personal appearance and generally be annoying. I wasn't looking to get picked up. I was looking to dance and drink, and because the men (and I mean men, not boys...most of these guys had a good 10 years on me) wouldn't go away, I was only able to accomplish one of these things.

Little note to the men of the Bourbon, when I girl keeps squirming away from you STOP trying to put your hands all over her. If she won't tell you her name, STOP trying to "charm" it out of her. When she says a seat is taken, get up and go and STOP trying to talk to her.

She isn't playing hard to get. She just isn't interested. Not every girl in the bar is looking to get laid.

(I think I may have hit my limit of stupid men for a lifetime).

In the last few days I've:

- bought, started and finished the new Harry Potter
- burned on top of my original burn
- bought a new bikini
- bought 3 new shirts, when I should have been looking for shorts and/or capris
- ran around with a bunch of 5/6 year olds playing soccer
- been mildly anti-social
- watched the new Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and laughed my ass off
- decided that Richard Roeper (as in the guy who took over for Siskel) is a dick
- become very frustrated by my essay project
- tried to decide if Stars "Your ex-lover is dying" or Arcade Fire's "Rebellion (lies)" is my current favourite song
- got my tickets for Toronto
- discovered that smart cars come in PINK!! which had increased my interest in them by 10 fold
- gossiped about my fab weekend to anyone who will listen
- generally have maintained a relaxed, zen like attitude despite the general stress of life

I went to Jericho Beach yesterday with Amanda. And even though I applied my SPF 30 twice during the day, it didn't seem to take. Well it did, but apparently I missed some spots, because I have a few weird patches of burned skin on my legs and stomach, and about half my back is bright red.

Sigh.

I'll be sure to apply much more carefully today.

The folkfest was going on down there, so we checked out all the tents outside of the gates. There were lots of fun scarves and clothes and jewelry. There was this really cool earring thing I adored and am now somewhat regretting not buying. But I did get a pretty cool wrap skirt, for $5!

Overall I have to say I had a pretty awesome weekend. And I have a short work day today, so it's almost like the weekend is continuing. Since I will be heading back to the beach today.

Thank God summer has finally come.

Checked out the Richmond Nightmarket last night. It was pretty surreal and awesome. I took a good look at lots of jewelry, fell in love with a shirt or two (which I left there) and bought some really nifty stationary priced at $1 per set, (I bought four...my favourite with the saying "OK See you soon, Happy New Year!").

I also got coffee with a new friend. Which was nice. There was a little bit of awkwardness when he thought we were on a date and I didn't, but otherwise an enjoyable evening.

And now I'm off on a date. A real one even.

And then tomorrow, beach and re-hashing of the date with Amanda.

Sounds like a pretty good weekend to me.

And not the crappy new Ewan McGregor movie either.

I headed out for my last visit to Pender of the summer, this weekend. I wish summer would come to BC because the chilly air and rain put a slight damper on the weekend. I still had lots of fun and was able to relax though. I made great use of the hot tub, even going sans bathing suit on Saturday night post bar. Does that count as skinny dipping?

The ferry rides to and from weren't even too harsh this time. It helped that on Friday night we went right past a pod of Orca's and I saw the little babies. Up to this point I had never seen a killer whale in the wild, and to not only see their back fins standing proudly up, but to see the little ones, made my night.

On the trip home we saw the tall ships which had left English Bay that morning, sailing at full sail out into the ocean. It was pretty cool, all their sails were open and I momentarily I wan not on a ferry but a pirate ship. It was pretty awesome.

The weekend was a great little mini-vacation before I throw myself into work and writing. I started reading Catch-22 and am so far very impressed. It kept cracking me up on theferry and I'm pretty sure I was annoying many of the people around me with my giggles but it was too hard to contain them. It was also great to see my parents and to check out my Aunt's new cottage. It's a beautiful, little victorian house with the most perfect english garden. And her little dog was just as adorable, white and fluffy as ever. I had a great visit with my aunt too, and saw all her latest creations. She's an amazing sewer, knitter, beader, embrodier, the list goes on and on, and she is most definately an inspiration.

On Saturday I even had the good (?) fortune of running into a boy, who made me sad last month, at the Pender bar. He explained himself though and I believe him, so perhaps I'll be seeing him again. Only time will tell.

I've decided the best part of the Pender Island bar experience is the re-hashing of gossip with John the taxi driver on the drive home. He gave us some island gossip even my parents hadn't heard. Which is always useful.

It's looking like I won't be making it back out there until Christmas, which makes me a little sad. I realized today that as of Wednesday I have one month of work left, and one month left to do my essay and that I'll be leaving Vancouver soon after. Which makes me sad. As much as I'm looking forward to moving back to Edmonton and (gasp) going back to school, I'm really going to miss the life I've made here. I'll miss my friends, both old and new, having my family close and all my kids. I just started with a new family and that little boy has captured my heart after just 3 sessions. Which is awesome, but also makes me sad, cause he's just one more kid I'm going to have to leave. Sniff.

Anyway, I didn't really mean to go on that tangent. I promise I will return to my usual sarcastic, shallow programming in the next entry.

Perhaps I should eat some dinner, I'm feeling a little light headed.

I went to the Rodin exhibit at the art gallery tonight. It was donation night, so the price wasn't too steep and the sculptures were pretty awe inspiring.

But Rodin was just the first floor. On the second floor there was this exhibit called "Adaptations". The patrons of the gallery were encouraged to interact with the various pieces and adapt them. This included a room filled with chairs. I took one and placed in a corner to symbolize what a naughty girl I am and that I need a time out, or that I'm a loner, or isolated, or something. It was all very artistic.

The second half of the second floor was this display of a guy who plays with images from the media. He would take two dimensional pictures and create 3D sculptures. One was a parade of various war propaganda from Japan in the war and another was a girl from a Japanese adult entertainment ad. One of his coolest pieces was this huge rug. It was the size of one of the giant rooms in the gallery and it was a replica of the TIME magazine cover with the exploding Columbia on it. If you removed your shoes you could walk on it.

As Anna said "Hey Mom, I'm on the cover of Time Magazine."

It was pretty trippy. Especially when you went the floor up and you could watch all the people walk around on it. It really played with perspective and would have been my favourite part of the gallery if not for what I found next.

Which was my new favourite artist. His name at birth was Theodore Fu Wan, but at some point in the 70's he legally changed his middle name to Saskache.


Think about that for a second.


What gets even better is he discovered that on the trans Canada in a certain prairie province there is a small town called Theodore. So he did a whole bunch of research and then went to the town and took his picture there, and sold those photos as postcards.

I went to the gift shop to see if I could find any of them, but they mostly just had Rodin stuff, and really pretty purses which I became distracted by.

He had lots of interesting art. One was a list of ten girls names, which he called "The first ten girls who came to mind", and another which was a self portrait of him being very skinny, next to one of him being all buff with the caption "I did it.....IN JUST TEN MINUTES". I laughed.

So he's awesome. And Canadian.

Go Canada!

I had a great time in Edmonton. Many little mini adventures, including putting Malibu in my slurpee at the 7 eleven, experience the infamous Black Dog, randomly running into people, getting a job for September, rediscovering my love of smoked Gouda and cooking, people watching all the weird people in my new neighborhood and breaking into apartments.

All in all a successful vacation.

The best part was seeing all my friends back home and getting a chance to catch up with Amy my former and future roomie, and all her adventures in Russia and PEI.