Bombardment!

Since they started advertising "Dodge Ball" on City TV, Kyle has been playing a new game around home. To play this game, all you need is a shopping bag full of wadded up dirty clothes and an easily startled opponent.

When I go into the bathroom, Kyle will hide somewhere and wait for me to come out. When I open the door and walk into the hall he'll sneak-attack me by running out of his hiding spot, whipping the bag of clothes at me, and yelling "Bombardment!" at the top of his lungs. It's only been a couple of days since the game began but I'm starting to get twitchy every time I have to pee.

Things I Have Done Today Other Than Work On My Presentation

- stopped by my friend Ian's office at the University
- went running
- called my grandma
- offered to babysit for a friend
- cleaned the kitchen (sort of)
- watched out the window to see if the mail man was coming
- played a Cat Stevens song on my guitar
- watched someone on youtube play the same song on their guitar
- picked dead leaves from one of my plants (oh black thumb!)

Well at least I haven't stooped so low that I'm watching "The View".

Adventures in Public Transit

Monday afternoon, as my bus stopped to pick someone up at the end of a merge lane on Crowchild (who puts a bus stop in a merge lane?!), the whole bus slammed forward with a lound crunchy bang. Immediately, I knew we'd been rear-ended and so did the bus driver who picked up her radio, began to cry and say "We've been hit! We've been hit!" Strangely, she just sat there crying as the woman who rear-ended us ran up to the bus door. The bus driver just kept weeping and wouldn't open the door so the woman ran around to the bus driver's window and stood on one of Crowchild's six lanes as rush-hour traffic whizzed by her at 80 km/h. The bus driver still didn't get out to look at the back of the bus or to make sure that nobody on the bus was hurt. She wouldn't even open the doors and let the passgengers off to catch the next bus until some guy shouted at her. It was really strange...

And then this morning as I was riding the bus to my practicum, I looked out the window as we drove past downtown and saw a big, gorgeous deer standing serenely in the bushes on a hill above Crowchild. It was one of the most surprising and beautiful things I've seen in this city.

Spike in Sales

Although I get some serious enjoyment out of their steeped tea, I'm not really a die-hard Tim Horton's fan. Strangely, roll up the rim (or in my case, gnaw up the rim) has some sort of strange hold on me that leads me to buy drinks I don't really want or need.

For example, yesterday on our ride home from Fernie I decided to buy a medium coffee despite the fact that I wasn't thirsty and the drink would more than likely give me a wicked stomach ache. I even got all creepy about it and decided that this cup "felt lucky". Indeed, my roll up the rim mojo was right on target and I won myself a doughnut. I was insanely pumped even though I haven't really enjoyed donuts since my co-op bakery days. What is it about roll up the rim?

Please play again? Oh you know I can't help myself!

An Equal and Opposite Reaction

Last week, I had a nightmare in which my sister Heather (the vet) brought us an evil cat to be our pet. In my dream, I had some weird psychic connection with the cat that allowed me to understand its thoughts. I knew exactly what was going to happen a split second before it laid its ears back, hissed, and launched itself off Heather's shoulder onto my face.

I woke up gasping, shook Kyle awake, and told him about my dream. He just put his arm over me and said, "That sounds pretty scary", and went back to sleep. I almost laughed out loud because Kyle is so much more sympathetic when he's half asleep. Now I'm not saying that Kyle is mean when he's fully conscious. He just loves to tease. Had Kyle been awake, he definitely would have used this dream to support his side in our never-ending debate about whether cats should ever be allowed to cross the threshold of our home.

Often when Kyle wakes up in the morning, he is particularly feisty. For example, last Friday I didn't have anywhere to go and intended to sleep in. Kyle, however, had different plans for me. As Kyle got dressed for work he decided to wake me up by whipping me in the face with his socks. I think that on mornings like those, there's something deep in Kyle's subconscious that seeks balance in the universe and has to make up for any excess sweetness that slipped out in the night.

Fruits of E-Stalking

Often while I'm doing homework I get bored and start to google random people that I know. I've googled myself, kids I used to babysit, my grandma...The other day I was googeling my friend Bjorn and this band called "Peter, Bjorn, and John" kept coming up. For the past ten minutes, I've been grooving to this song in the kitchen while making my lunch. Listen for their fun Swedish accents!

Rivers of Rust

This is a photograph taken by Canadian Edward Burtynsky, an artist whose work was featured on "The Hour" last night. This image, "Nickel Tailings," was taken in Sudbury Ontario where iron oxide is flushed into fields as industrial waste.

I am struck by how something so barren and alarming can also be so beautiful.