Sunday, August 24, 2008

Love that Thom York!

I got my first Radiohead album when I was sixteen, having asked for it as an Easter gift. When I got the album, I had just broken my leg skiing and was in a cast up to my hip. Because I couldn't climb the stairs, my dad moved my mattress and stereo into the living room. I spent a couple of weeks in bed in the living room, doped up on Tylenol 3, listening to Radiohead's album The Bends and reading every Margaret Atwood book my mom found in the Grande Prairie Public Library. I couldn't shower and my mom had to wash my hair in the kitchen sink.

It was a weird time but the music was fantastic.

Even since then, I have been hooked on Radiohead. Their tunes are the soundtrack to a lot of wonderful (and of course, angst-ridden) memories. Last week, Kyle and I went to Vancouver to see them play live. I have wanted to see them for ages and was not disappointed. They were incredible live and even though we were soaked with rain, I was absolutely over the moon at the concert.

A few months ago when I was planning this trip, I booked a "hotel room" at UBC. Our plan was to splurge on a hotel room after a few days of camping on the way to Vancouver. The photos I saw on the internet looked pretty good. Spartan, but good. In person, it was a horrible, tiny, sweltering dorm room. It was 20 degrees outside and the thermostat in the room had maxed out at 30. When we walked in, Kyle said, "This is why you should do more research into these things."

Figuring we'd be better off sleeping in our car, we turned on our heels and got our money back. After phoning five hotels with no vacancy, we decided to drive down Broadway and stop at the first hotel we saw.

Inside the hotel, the receptionist asked, "What's your budget? We have one room left but it's the Executive Suite". While Kyle and I paused and looked at each other, she must have been moved to pity by our post camping greasiness and backpacks. She offered us the best room in the hotel for only $80 dollars more than we would have paid for our awful dorm room. It was beautiful with two bathrooms, kitchen, living room, and a lovely view of downtown.

Aside from when we locked our keys in the car in Golden on the 10-hour trip home, we had an absolutely fantastic trip.

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Patriotic scrunchies = gold!

I've spent more than a few hours this week watching the Olympics and have been left with some burning questions regarding women's gymnastics.

1. Did the Olympic Committee proclaim an edict requiring female gymnasts wear a scrunchy?

2. Must regulation scrunchies be co-ordinated with said gymnast's national flag?

3. Is there a relationship between bringin' it scrunchy style and Olympic glory?

I've done some intensive on-line research and found compelling evidence indicating that the answer to these questions is yes.


Thursday, August 7, 2008

I Heart Bowness

Kyle and I live not too far from the neighbourhood Bowness. I like Bowness. Bowness has a dodgy small town feel - with a lovely park along the river, a cool bike shop, a trendy breakfast joint, cute little houses from the 1950s, and a plethora of seedy apartment buildings with old mattresses on the balconies.

Sometimes Kyle and I drive to the Safeway in Bowness to do our grocery shopping (where guys in the parking lot sometimes try to sell you art made with sharpie pen). Outside Safeway, there is a tiny patch of spruce trees dividing the parking lot from busy 16th ave. Last week as I was hauling the groceries back to our car, I spotted a pregnancy test mixed in with the wood chips beneath the trees. Yikes. I didn't get close enough to the test to see the result but I sure am crossing my fingers and hoping the best for the woman who took a pregnancy test in the Safeway parking lot.

Sunday, August 3, 2008

And we're back!

As you may have noticed, I took a bit of a hiatus from blogging. This whole employment thing has really been cutting into my internet exploring.

I've been enjoying my job very much. I have always had the blessing of finding wonderful mentors wherever I go and my new workplace is no exception. The psychologists there are brilliant, passionate, and have been teaching me tons. I could say that I love learning but that wouldn't be entirely true. What I really love is being awesome at things. Unfortunately for my ego, there is a lot of learning that must take place before I can be anywhere near awesome at my job. So in the mean time, I'll endure the awkwardness of feeling fraudulent, bumbling my way through daily tasks and asking obvious questions.

Aside from working, I've been walking barefoot, eating ice cream, hanging out with family, going to barbecues, sleeping without blankets, having slushy drinks on patios, playing with our dog at the river, and taking in local festivals. Last weekend we had a great time at the Folk Fest. I'm posting the song Imitosis by Andrew Bird who played on Friday night. He was absolutely wonderful.

 
Background by Jennifer Furlotte / Pixels and IceCream