Sorry

Sorry to whoever might be offended by this, but

I lol'd.



I never thought about this either, but he's got a good point. Great one-panel, and the comment about Revelations being a survival-horror game was just too good.

Sunday Post

Whoo Sunday. It feels like Thursday to me, though - got last Wednesday and Thursday off, now I'm in the middle of MY work week. Good God. Anyway, opened this morning and closing tomorrow so being drunk off my ass tonight is perfectly okay. Lisi is leaving on her bike trip through the Maritimes next week so she had a going-away party tonight - went through almost a full growler of Skookum as well as a very fantastic drink of brandy. Very drunk and tired (been up since 3:30 AM) so pardon the no treat. Ahwell.

Happy Weekend! See y'all soon.

Pale Blue Dot

"From this distant vantage point, the Earth might not seem of particular interest. But for us, it's different. Consider again that dot. That's here, that's home, that's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every "superstar," every "supreme leader," every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there – on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.

The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that, in glory and triumph, they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot. Think of the endless cruelties visited by the inhabitants of one corner of this pixel on the scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner, how frequent their misunderstandings, how eager they are to kill one another, how fervent their hatreds.

Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the Universe, are challenged by this point of pale light. Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity, in all this vastness, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves.

The Earth is the only world known so far to harbor life. There is nowhere else, at least in the near future, to which our species could migrate. Visit, yes. Settle, not yet. Like it or not, for the moment the Earth is where we make our stand.

It has been said that astronomy is a humbling and character-building experience. There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we've ever known."

~Carl Sagan

This picture was taken from the Voyager I probe as it passed the edge of the Solar System, about 6.2 billion kilometers away. Wow.

Surreal

Beautiful merger with Nature on the way home from work. Detoured to Saxe Point and basked in the full moon over the ocean for a bit; literally no clouds across the strait so you could see Port Angeles and even the mountain outlines because of the moonlight. On the way back to Esquimalt Road I noticed a young buck standing under a streetlight (young buck as in a deer - no euphemisms here, people); naturally, I decided to investigate - joy of bicycles, my friends.

Of course, the buck took off when I neared, but as it did, around eight or nine other deer bounded out from behind some parked cars and lawns and started running with the original buck. I suddenly found myself riding about five feet behind and at pace with a small herd of deer; the only sounds were the whir from my chain and the thuds from their hooves. We ran/rode together for maybe half a block before they finally clued in to the whole "pursuit" thing and split off onto yards until there was just one doe, and then she trotted off onto another yard on my left. It was just my Bike and I again.

And then around a corner there were two racoons beating the shit out of each other.

The Wild, man.


And now, the Other Point for writing the post: a late-night song. I've posted versions of this song twice now, I think (very first post, if I recall correctly!), and you know that that means it's damn good. Ladies and gentlemen, may I present Lisa Hannigan. Again.

One video viewer commented that her voice "massages that place of your brain where only coffee and hot showers can reach;" I have read few youtube comments that are truer than this - Lisa's singing and songs fill me with nothing but a delightfully mellow warmth, like a Girl sitting beside you under a blanket with a steaming cup of cocoa on a winter's day. Lengthy description, yes, but necessary for establishing sensation. Have a fine night (because it's 1 AM and I am crazy).

Sunday Post

Mornin' y'all. Hope the weekends are good - mine sure is. Two opening shifts in a row, which translates into getting to work at 4:30 AM and then having the entire store to myself (almost) and baking for ages. There is little more satisfying, to me, than wandering out onto the floor with my arms almost overflowing with fresh, still-hot loaves.

Got taken to Madrona Farm for the first time yesterday, too. Eden, Lisi and I headed out for some blackberries after I got off work, and we were settling in for some good free berries until Farmer Dave told us we had to do some work in exchange for berry pickin': we had to play a couple characters in a Scooby-Doo-themed mystery hunt for a kids' birthday party. Awesome. (except Lisi had to leave and missed out - harsh). Eden and I went back to the berries afterwards and picked close to a dozen tubs/jars/containers/etc full, as well as ate enough along the way to give me some pretty intense stomach gripes. Went to my new place (henceforth Prior House) to freeze my berries - we ain't got room in the one at my current residence. Hung out with new roomie #1 (Vanessa) and Eden and cooked up some corn, then eventually split and had a wonderfully leisurely ride back to Cadboro Bay. I already adore the new place; it's right between downtown and school, and the neighbourhood is beautiful for biking - there are quite a few streets that stretch fair distances with very calm traffic or even no traffic and a couple of these gorgeous roads lead to equally gorgeous places (cough Fernwood Square cough cough). Suffice to say, I'm havin' a little bit of trouble waiting for Wednesday to arrive so I can get back to Chilliwack to put the last of my stuff in the car to bring back.

Joy. :)

Probably more, but I'm addled by lack of sleep, not to mention there's still probably fermenting blackberries somewhere in my body fuckin' with my brain (not cool when you've been up since 3 AM). Ahwell. "For I have learned, whatsoever state I am in, therewith to be content."














Different kind of treat. I keep coming back to Thrice's "The Alchemy Index" (despite... uncomfortable mental associations), and although it's never really gotten heavy playing time from me, it's truly a fantastic album(s?). It was released in two halves, "Alchemy Index I & II" and "III & IV"; the four albums are then "Fire," "Water," "Air" and "Earth." Obviously concepts and themes factor into each, but what's astounding to me is how much musical ground Thrice covers between the four - each album is pretty damn distinct from the others. Finally - personal favourite - each album closes with a short sonnet piece. Good ol' fourteen line sonnets like we learned in English class, but - the best part - despite each one tying into its' album's theme they all close with a common melody on the ending couplet.

The following is the Air sonnet, "Silver Wings;" here's a link to the song. Tied with "Child of Dust" from Earth for my favourite, so I'll leave it up to you to find that one. Again, highly recommend looking up at least the sonnets, and if you like what you hear, definitely hunt down the rest of the albums. Have a good Sunday!

From tender years you took me for granted,
But still I deigned to wander through your lungs.
While you were sleeping soundly in your bed,
(Your drapes were silver wings, your shutters flung)
I drew the poison from the summer's sting,
And eased the fire out of your fevered skin.
I moved in you and stirred your soul to sing;
And if you'd let me I would move again.
I've danced 'tween sunlit strands of lover's hair;
Helped form the final words before your death.
I've pitied you and plied your sails with air;
Gave blessing when you rose upon my breath.
And after all of this I am amazed,
That I am cursed far more than I am praised.

Digital Post

Woo Thursday. I'm working at a farm today, and then tomorrow I'm going to the bakery at 4:30 AM. I will officially be a baker. So stoked. See you later!

"I finally thought of the right comparison. Driving instead of biking is like having a microwaved frozen dinner instead of cooking something from scratch - it's quicker and convenient, yeah, but... it's not very tasty, it's bad for everyone and, quite frankly, it's simply just not satisfying. Just *bam* and you're done - no enjoyment of 'doing'."

-Me

And it's great because it's true. (and oh God I'm turning into a fundamentalist)

Found this on Copenhagenize. So great, especially the picture at the very end (actually, especially the picture at the very end AND the picture just before it)

Now pardon me while I go sleep and get all stoked for my day off tomorrow. Droppin' off my rent for the new place, droppin' some books off at the library, maybe some grocery shoppin' and then some good ol' bike drooling at MEC or something to finish off the day. Mmmmmm....

Sunday Post

"In the archipelago of coffee, each man is an island. The woman are - who knows where - withdrawn but not quite vanished, like god at the end of the nineteenth century. Between your figure and the ground there is a tissue of airless space about the thickness of a piece of paper, in which all double helices untwine, adieu my little corkscrew, and swim off stage at the speed of light. Warnings, some visible, are posted at each junction. The floor may be slippery, the eyes in the mirror may be holes, the cashier may be unfamiliar with your gravity, the money may be avian. But the coffee is real and powers the economy."

-Don McKay, "Nocturne MacDonald-Cartier Freeway"

New record. I have managed to achieve a hangover without actually drinking any alcohol. Midnight coffee + three hours of sleep. Awesome.

But finally I've returned myself to civilized society. I've gotten home, had a shower, stuffed some normal food in my belly, and I'm finally able to keep my eyes open for longer than five seconds at a time. Progress, I tells ya.

Anyway, here's yer post. Once again, no work until 2 so I'm rollin' nice and leisurely this morning (although said quasi-hangover is definitely a factor in my pacing). Job's still going good - I got to handle some actual baking yesterday cause half the crew went on break and the other co-worker, Kate, found herself spelunking through the nether regions of the freezer looking for creampuffs. Good times, good times. New schedule up today as well, so I'll hopefully have a pair of days off in a row again next week and I'll be hauling my ass back to Chilliwack to gather the last of my belongings I actually still want, and then I'll be moving into my hopefully long-term house. Life is good :)

Have a good week!

Digital Post

Today is a good day.

Specifically, the last couple days have been beyond-Good days. I am now working full-time in a bakery, and I have long-term living arrangements set up in a very lovely suite with a pair of very lovely ladies who I've met only once, and it is right by the workplace of another extremely lovely lady whom I know quite well - I look forward to after-work hanging out. This was all established by Tuesday.

Wednesday, I joined my lovely bandmate and uber-friend Eden on a trip up to Port Alberni to visit her family. Got up at 6:30 AM, biked down to her place, walked to the train station and had a three-and-a-half hour ride to Parksville where I met her sister and the fucking cutest baby I have ever seen. It's ridiculous. I think my brain actually melted a little bit. Suffice to say, I now adore babies an incredible amount. We stopped at their cousin's place on the way to Port Alberni; it was pretty much a miniature farm in a wooded lot that had a huge blueberry bush field - we spent ages out in the sun picking berries then sat down in the shade for some guitar and baby noises.

Finally left, finally got to Port Alberni (driving through Cathedral Grove on the way; good God I love it there - I went through four times total over the day-and-a-half), spent more time out in the sun (blackberries this time). By this point I felt more than a little sick from all the berries. We were joined by their friend Mike (or Nick? I can't remember, laaaame) and we went back through Cathedral Grove to Cameron Lake for a great swim and subsequent ass-freeze; truth be told, the water was actually quite nice, it was just really weird to be in water that wasn't salt water, and it was just really fucking cold when we got out. Headed back home (Cathedral Grove number 3 - swooooon) and made some extremely bitching veggie kebabs and rice salad and washed it all down with the divine brew Phillips Skookum. From-scratch caramel popcorn followed and we all finally piled off to bed (lil' Seth was dead tired without an afternoon nap).

Woke up early this morning, helped find tomatoes in the garden, then went for a fantastic walk with Eden along a creek trail in town. Forests are magical. This was again fortified when Eden gave me a ride back to Parksville for the train when we went through Cathedral Grove AGAIN and actually stopped this time.



This was actually from last August, but I remembered where I'd taken it from and I pointed it out when we walked past. Suffice to say, I love the West Coast more than I could ever probably express with words.

Finally pulled ourselves away from the Hall of Trees and made it to Parksville where we had a fairly surreal song trade sitting on the steps of an old-style train station, and then I got on the train and was back in Victoria three hours later.

Long breakdown, no justice given. Finest two days I've had in a very long time (and it was even better because I've got a job now - I didn't feel like a slacker once while contentedly sticking my head out of the window of a speeding car to feel the wind), and I soundly love my Home, my Friend (and her nephew - ohmygodsqueeeee) and my Life, and I hope that everyone I know can feel something like this at least now and then (preferably more often, but apparently I'm unusually good at being content).


And because it's Thursday, here's an anti-climactic and unrelated (but still pretty good - I mean, come on, look at that Zelda picture) Digital Post. See y'all on Sunday (or sooner).

Sunday Post

Pardon me while I rush this Post out. I'm wolfing down some breakfast while I type because I gotta GET MY ASS TO WORK FUCK YES. Yessiree, at long last I finally have employment, and as a result my bank account is taking a pummelling the likes of which it hasn't seen in a long time.

Bus to final interview: $2.50
Black pants from Value Village: $7
Black steel-toe shoes from Mark's: $112
Dropping almost $40 at Cornerstone and the Fernwood Inn the following night and not freaking out because you now have money coming back into your bank account: Priceless

(and I still haven't used my VISA once. huzzah)

Have a good Sunday!