Friday, December 18, 2009

Visits!

Visits from friends both near ones and faraway are so fantastic! Yesterday I had a brief-ish visit with Emberella Cat & Sometimes Why, and I had a happy day of Winnett and Floordweller today! It makes me feel so happy and rejuvenated and like I can tackle things, like life and large cakes, when I get to spend time with such special friends. And there are even MORE visits to come!!!!

Monday visits are making me feel happy, and they haven't even happend yet! T-2 days till Filly gets in!!!!!!

An Army of Kindness

As I crammed for exams (a unwise approach, and best avoided) I found an army of unexpected kindness. In tears when I discovered I was utterly lost in statistics and that the help lab was so full I couldn't get through the door, I called my Daddy who although he remembered little of his own statistics course, was willing to sit down and try to learn statistics with me all morning.
When I went to a later emptier help lab, two fellow students patiently explained and figured things with me whenever I asked.
On the way home I ran into Kryptonite and asked to sit beside his gigantic mathematical brain while I studied that night, so I could ask him questions. He agreed, even though he wasn't sure he remembered statistics either. When I left his place around midnight, he immediately started getting ready for bed, and I realized he had stayed up late so I would have a place to study.
Both Code Yeller and Rafiki called me at ridiculously early hours of the morning to make sure I would wake up for my exams because I keep sleeping through my alarm clock lately. Rafiki didn't even have to get up early that morning.
One night as I studied in bed (as usual) Mummy made a salad and brought it up stairs so we could eat it on my bed together.
It made me feel like for any obstacle I encounter I have an army of people willing to fight beside me. None of them had to help me, and none of them hesitated to do so. It made me feel so blessed.
It made me feel SO blessed.

It made me feel like this:

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Canadian Greats

The other day I saw Kurt Browing do the most romantic strip tease ever. Unfortunately I could only find a short clip of it, but each shirt he takes off has "I'M YOURS" written on it, until he's skating in his t-shirt which has "I'M YOURS" written on the back.
It reminded me of when I was little and we would go visit my grandparents and my sisters and I would watch figure skating for hours and hours. Kurt Browning and Llyod Isler & Isabelle Brasseur were always my favorites because they always looked like they were having fun on the ice, while at the same time being technically and artistically amazing. Their costumes were also WAY better than everyone else's.

So here's Kurt Browning doing some awesome improv:
and my favorite Llyod and Isabelle routine ever:

A veery very long picnic

Yesterday I went to Mayflower's house - I was delivering her 90's, saved by the bell-style cell phone (aka her home portable phone that she had accidently left in my car). I came in and her and Flair and Mynine were having a "picnic" on a mat on the floor. Right away, to avoid failed expectations and tears, I let Flair know that I wasn't able to stay long. She said, "but can you come to the next picnic? It's starting now". I replied, "Yes of course, I can come for a little while". She said, "But you have to stay for the whole picnic. And this is a very very long picnic". She's only 2 1/2! So cute.

That smart little tyke warms my heart.

Saturday, December 12, 2009

private screening

Leaning against the wall at the back of a theater I was listening in on conversations, when one woman came up to another and said, "What did you do with my husband?"
The reply? "Well, I ate him."

I like that I have friends who can wash away my stress like water over a dusty soul. Keeps me fresh, keeps me centered. Thank you!

Friday, December 11, 2009

Brimming! Bubbling!


Filly can't contain herself tonight.

Word is, she had her french exam today, and she felt pretty good about it.

Word is, بلدي رجل was hired for the first time as an adjunct faculty member to teach the tail-end of a 3rd year course at Princeton, and his students simply loved him! Three hours of seminar, and they still wanted more! They stayed after class, loving the material he set out for them, loving the discussion...Filly is brimming with pride.

Time to celebrate!

بلدي رجل has decided to take Filly away for a weekend at Spring Lake, a little town on the Jersey Shore. The shore will be chilly, but at one of the little, historic inns on the shore, (see picture above) there might be cozy things like jacuzzis or fireplaces, and a bright, dazzling ocean to look at.

Filly is bubbling with excitement. How can there be so much, so many good things? How did she stumble upon this magnificent بلدي رجل, who manages to continually win more and more admiration from her, while peppering her life with delight, adventure and affection? There is something very novel and precious about a partner in adventure who at the same time, makes one feel protected, cherished and loved.

Filly sincerely apologizes for the sentimental mess she has spilled onto the blog tonight.

Sweet dreams my dears.




Wordsplay - Addicted even though I'm bad

Oh Boggle, I mean "wordsplay" - which makes me think of words getting flung all over the room by some sort of word handmixer.

www.wordsplay.net

Pets are friends

My lovely Rilesburg and RiceCooker are furry and snuggly and alternating between licking my feet and headbutting my chin or shoulder.

Thursday, December 10, 2009

tinsel and lights

Last night as we lay on the couch replete from a meal of indian food, Rafiki mused that he was thinking about putting up his christmas tree this year, which he hasn't done in about 10 years.
"Would you like to do that tonight?" I asked, nuzzling the nape of his neck with my nose.
"That would be a good idea," he contemplated, "because I won't do it if you aren't here to help me decorate."
So we hauled it up for the basement. His brother looked deeply surprised and puzzled when we started pulling it out of the closet, and laughed in that "you're strange but in a kind of cute way" that I know so well. I've never put together a fake tree before. I kept saying things like, "okay, how do you put the tinsel on?" and "when do you stop putting tinsel on?"
We finished at midnight, and we well pleased with the effect of it glowing and tinseling in the corner of the living room.

Scruffy and HAPPY!

MR. SCRUFF IS PLAYING AT WRONGBAR IN TORONTO JANUARY 15TH!
My favorite nights out dancing have been when Mr. Scruff is playing. Everyone was happy, the music was amazing, everyone danced, there were little Mr. Scruff drawings floating about on a screen above where he playing, and no one - absolutely NO ONE - wanted to leave at the end of the night. I've also had awesome company on those nights; not only were most of the strangers awesome, but I've run into friends on the dance floor, and one night Flavaflav came with me. Doing pseudo-ballet dances in tandem to happy music while sitting down is SO much fun.

Tuesday, December 8, 2009

The First Snow Fall

It snowed!

It snowed!

It snowed!

It snowed!

I wore all white for the occasion, and bounced a lot.

Sunday, December 6, 2009

An email from a friend :)

"I'm lying on couch watching a low quality feed of the first Transformers movie and I don't want to be. The tv is a full 10 feet away. I would switch the channel but the other day when I was messing around in my parents attic, I accidentally turned on his shrinking machine and now I'm an inch tall and can't reach the TV. I have to jump really hard on the keyboard to type. This message has already taken me half an hour to write :(

All is well I hope? Exams keeping you busy? My end of school rush is quickly approaching and I've been putting everything off so... cram cram cram.

Hopefully I'll be able to shoot myself back up to normal size again before then though.

Coffee or whatever this coming week? Let me kn... AHHHHHH... MOUSE... GIANT>>>>AHHh..."

Thursday, December 3, 2009

Adventing

My advent calendar was delivered last night by it's unbelievable creator Ms. Emberella Cat.

Each day is a cookie or chocolate creation that gets placed onto a giant cookie shaped to look like a landscape so that in the end I will have a beautiful and delicious diorama.

And Ms. Cat is so thoughtful that she even made the cookies out of spelt so they are friendly to my system.

I may have cried a little bit after she left because I'm so thankful for the friends that I have.

Honestly, you 3 lovely ladies, are the bright spots in an often dull existence. Luff you all tremendously!

Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Basking in kindness.




December 1st, 11:15am, I take an illicit break from my essay-wrangling to make up a cup of hot chocolate and rip open my package from Toronto. Twenty-four delicate little parcels spill out, each one decorated with stickers and a gold number. I open the one marked for today, and find something that looks like a Christmas tree ornament with a quote from my cherished anti-Christ on it! Such sweetly motivated irony! I hang it up in my kitchen window. I feel so special to get this little package, and so absolutely spoiled with love from all of you.

This, coupled with a warm Thanksgiving weekend at بلدي رجل 's family home, and I realize that somehow I've managed to find myself the most exceptionally thoughtful, creative and loving people the world has to offer:)

Monday, November 30, 2009

Oops, I don't know how to just put up the actual video I guess...will someone show me sometime?

Surprised Kitty!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Bmhjf0rKe8

I've watched this four times already!!!

Saturday, November 28, 2009

salt heart

I was extremely stressed and near to tears about an essay I had to write that wasn't coming together. I came home and made myself a boiled egg. I dipped the egg into the salt in the bottom of my bowl, and it left a perfect heart. I felt the universe was telling me it loved me.

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Presenting with the grown-ups


I made sure to store the pink, yellow and blue colored notes containing the wise words of Embrella Cat in my backpack. After weeks of anxiety and outright fear, I forced myself to get on the plane to my first professional conference...

The conference went much better than I expected! First off, no one threw rotten fruits or insults at me upon giving my paper- a very good start if I do say so myself! Secondly, I got some positive and useful feedback about my paper and, I also got a taste of how the profession works outside my own little department. Additionally, there is a chance my paper might be published in a series that comes out of the conference every year. (In the world of academia, publication is considered important, and it makes getting hired potentially easier).

Whew! I did it! And what's more, I think I can do it again:)

When I arrived at the Philadelphia airport, it was midnight, but بلدي رجل was there to pick me up anyhow! He brought me a single white rose, followed by many kisses and hugs.

This whole conference debacle just highlighted to me how very lucky I am to have authentically supportive and loving people in my life.

PS, I've since learned that بلدي رجل translates literally into something like "my man a state" and is completely non-sequitur...best keep using it then:)

Monday, November 23, 2009

Different Aspects of a Unified Whole

One of the things I like best about cognitive science articles and textbooks is that the authors are as likely to use female as male pronouns when referring to characters that don't have a specific gender such as "the reader" or "the average person" or "the main character of the story", it's refreshing and exciting.

I also like the silly examples they use. In a recent paper Daniel Dennett, a highly influential figure in the field, made a lengthy example of his vacuum and then descibed "Dennett's lost sock center: the point defined as the centre of the smallest sphere that can be inscribed around all the socks I have ever lost in my life."

I also find in the writing moments of insight into the incredible beauty of the world, "The most admirable and crucial feature of human intelligence that I see around me is not any ability to be right all the time, but an amazing competence in getting things on the right track once our beliefs, plans, or actions, have gone astray. As Joerg Siekmann once said, the most admirable moments in a mathematics seminar are not when someone presents a well-oiled proof, but when he discovers a mistake and recovers on the spot." My favorite moment of any ballet performance I saw was when Rex Herrington lost his balance doing fouetté pirouette and rolled out of it to come up on one knee, arm extended to his beautiful leading lady as if he was about to propose. Now that is grace.

My essay for a cognitive science course, is not coming together as I would like; but on the bright side, when I wrote to Code Yeller in alarm "I started talking to Mum about my essay and suddenly realized I am fucked. Oh shit."
Code Yeller wrote back, "Awesome. You are closed to finishing then. :) You've reached a critical stage, just pass it and you're done!"
So basically, I have to be like Rex Herrington, roll up onto one knee and extend my arm to my leading lady. No probbrem.

Good Surprise

I ran into Rafiki as I was walking to the subway from my last class. I leaped at him, and he caught my hug midair so my toes were dangling a few inches above the pavement as we hugged.

A Jewel for Margo's Navel

Kryptonite and I were wandering about our hood hungry with bellies rumbling, but Kryptonite explained he was in the mood for something slightly different, something new. Unless you have a special fondness for sushi, croissants or dog biscuits, and can consider each new variety as something exciting, there is never anything new in our neighbourhood. So we hopped on the streetcar explore our options in the many exciting cafés and restaurants opening up in Leslieville - all of which were closed. We wandered the blank and desolate streets our tumbling stomachs getting tighter and more insistent. At one particularly barren corner beside the Duke's tavern where some poor soul got shot last year, we stopped to catch our bearings. Kryptonite made a comment about an ad in the bus stop, and I asked "What are you talking about?"
His eyes lit up. "You don't mean you've never been there?" he said.
"The Sultan's Tent? No, what is it?" I asked in interest.
"Let's get a taxi," said he, "I think we can make it in time for the belly dancing show."
So off we rushed to eat in Morrocan splendor, while a beautiful girl belly danced between the tables for our entertainment, with hips that could dance like sunlight on water, a stomach that could undulate like the waves, and a costume so lovely in the colours of pale sand, that I coveted one for myself.
She brought people up from the tables to dance with her. My favorites were a little girl, who stood and shook like a stick in a blender; her daddy, whose hips could really move; and some old arabic man who really let loose with his own style. I danced too.
For dessert we took the waiter's advice and dumped my pistachio dusted creme brulé on top of Kryptonite's chocolate oasis and ate them together. Creamy, rich, lovely.
It was an awesome time.

Saturday, November 21, 2009

(update on) a world where it's always rockabilly

Alright, so I know the first video I posted is verboten (forbidden) for some strange reason in our country. So here's a taste of their goodness.
This is a fun video of their cover of Katy Perry's Hot 'n Cold, which gives you a taste of their 1950 stylin':


And this is the 1950's rock 'n roll style of cover of Rihanna that makes me dance around my room repeatedly. Aww yeah.

Friday, November 20, 2009

Study Aids

I've got my study aids all set up. I'm sitting in bed. I've got a bowl of clementines, a mug of hot apple cider, and a bag of chocolate chips. I'm as grumpy as hell, but I like my preparations.

Bubbly Words, Some of which I Understood!

A little girl and her daddy were speaking German in the grocery store I stopped by on my home from German class.

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

many many many

It makes me very happy that any time I search for an email in gmail from any of my 3 lovelies I get a listing that tells me I have hundreds of emails from each of you.

It's enough to make a girl feel well-loved.

Monday, November 16, 2009

Stunt Action Hero!

Nanermellon got a call from Mr. Bond (stunt coordinator man) who she worked with 2 weeks ago...Mr. Bond wants to bring Nanermellon in for another stunt job! This lil elf may or may not have been in a store when said call was concluded, and may have been completely busted by another customer when she did a happy jig/jump and so said: "awww, you totally caught me red-handed doing my happy dance!"

The actual stunt is no big deal, but it means he wants to test out my other skills a little bit because he likes me and thinks I got skills. Mr. Bond is one of the main stunt coordinators in the city and does TONS of work. Although this is for the same show, "Cra$h & Burn". I have rehearsal for it tomorrow morn!

HOORAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sunday, November 15, 2009

I'm a sneaky elf :)

Saturday, November 14, 2009

We ALL want to be like you

Jaja was getting ready this morning and she said, "I want Kippen to give me more pants... I want to dress like Kippen too!"

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

I'd like one in extra fluffy.

I went to the Royal Winter Fair. All the cows were getting their hair cut, blow dried, brushed, and styled. It was extremely cute.
I would like one of these cows:




Their emo hair cuts and short stubby legs combined with extreme fluffiness were extremely appealing. We watched them being presented in the ring, and some of them got stubborn and grumpy, and walked into other cows, mooed expressively, and did their best to walk in any direction but the one their owners wanted to go. I really liked them. I asked Kryptonite if I could take one home as a pet and keep it in my backyard. I'm sure Mummy wouldn't mind...

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Grumpy Monkey

http://solomonblecher.blogspot.com/2009/11/grumpy-monkey.html

بلدي رجل Sent these photos of his nephew's third Halloween to me today. The subject line read "aw, grumpy monkey". If you have a look at the comments on the blog, he writes "What a nice little monkey. I would like to take him home with me." Nephew AND uncle-so cute!

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

rustic pears for autumn

I got called into work today. Work is absolutely lovely. Walking through the door is like stepping into another world. It is a blast of warmth and humidity, and smells of good green things growing. It smells of life. The displays are beautiful, and it's beautiful and interesting to see their new incarnations... I have arranged them a time or two myself, but they are never the same. This time rustic pears nestled everywhere, like the pots had borne stone fruit for autumn in imitation of the trees in the fields. I adore my boss. I got to bring flowers home, and they are warming my entire room, rich and loving.


Encounters

1. There was a man in his truck singing at the top of his lungs as he drove down the street.

2. There was a man walking carrying a large stuffed elephant.

Monday, November 2, 2009

I'm in the pursuit of happiness

1. One of Jaja's ladies that she teaches brought her two bunches of flowers from her garden, "One for you, and one for your mother." They look beautiful.

2. In German the word for wife/husband is the same as the word for man/woman. In class today we were learning about possessive forms "mine, yours, his... ect." We were doing an exercise that had the sentence "Wo ist seine Frau? Er sucht siene Frau." and while working on it, one student translated it as "Where is his woman?" which sounds undeniably gangsta and funny. I like this student. He has a habit of saying funny things in a mild way. For example, when we had to draw our family trees it came out that he has 7 or so brothers and sisters. I heard him comment, "You know, I like having all these siblings, but if I had known I was going to have to draw a family tree, I would have left a few more condoms lying around the house."

3. When I do homework sitting in bed Princess Dragon often comes and snuggles up to my legs, using one of them as a pillow.

4. Rafiki called from the grocery store to find out if I had made apple crisp as planned last night, because if not, he explained, we could make it at his house tonight.
Well, I had made apple crisp, I said, but we could make another one.
"Did you eat it already?" he asked.
"Of course we ate it." I told him.
"Well, we could make it and cookies tonight." Cookies was our original plan. "What with the oven being on already."
"Of course we could." I agreed. I like the way he thinks :)

5. Jaja read me a story that made me go "boh" softly because it is so cute and solemn and sweet and true. It is from 'Adventures of a Homebody' by Karen Parker.
"A friend of mine claims she became a changed person the warm October day she saw a red leaf in a brown puddle. She was eight years old, composed - as most women are at that age, ambling aimlessly and happily through life. She stepped in the puddle; the disturbed water moved the leaf and caught her attention.
'It was just a leaf, like many others, and an ordinary everyday mud puddle,' she explained to me with that apologetic note we use when moved to something beyond the mundane, by the mundane. 'But , you know, something stirred in my mind or my heart - oh, I don't know - all I know is that I felt different from then on. I'd seen a leaf in a mud puddle. Really seen it, for the first time.'"

Saturday, October 31, 2009

Honey, Where's My Super Suit?

Afro Boy and Extendo Girl went out for a night on the town.
We were .... frickin'.... SUPER.

We went to the Referee's house for a party. Everyone was super nice. There were two other superheros there and one arch villain, so we felt right at home. Our guns may have been filled with water at one point and used for squirting people.

His crew all made an effort to make me feel included, which was pretty sweet. The Salesman kept asking if I was having a good time, and then telling me they were all a bunch of assholes - which seemed like a bit of a contradiction (why would an asshole care?). They also liked to tell me how wonderful everyone else in their crew was, and how they themselves were not. Which was pretty cute. Afro boy is by far the goofiest of the lot, and spent the most time dancing, but everyone cut a bit of a rug. Even me.

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

A Chocolate Menagerie

I had the best night last night. Kippen came over so we could work on advent calendars together.
She brought me a chocolate menagerie:

and a decadence of jelly beans which we both nibbled on:


We read stories and giggled and it was cosy and nice and good and productive.

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

:D I'm a genius!

omg omg omg omg omg omg omg omg omg omg omg omg omg omg omg omg omg omg omg omg omg omg omg omg omg omg omg ... my Prof. who has the brain the size of a small planet gave me a compliment today ... omg omg omg... he said he was impressed at my ability to understand abstract and convoluted concepts and describe them consicely and clearly (unlike in this post)... omg omg omg omg omg... and he doesn't give out compliments that easily ... omg omg omg omg omg omg omg omg omg omg omg omg omg omg omg omg omg omg omg omg omg omg omg omg omg omg omg omg omg omg omg

Monday, October 26, 2009

Dirty Words are the First Foreign Phrases Anyone Learns

Big Fish willfully misinterprets German sentences into dirty English phrases. Jaja and I were practicing German in the car, and every once in a while Big Fish would interrupt with a "what did you say?"
My favorite interpretations were:
Schmect gut ---> Smacked her good.
Guten Tag ---> Good and tug
Guten Nacht ---> Good nobbin
Richtig ----> Lick dick
Danke schön ---> Donkey shin

Common sense rules!

I, who know little of accounting procedures, just solved a huge GST discrepancy issue for my company by using my very practical brain.

My proverb for the day therefore is:
When looking at many columns of numbers that are all fairly similar it is safe to assume that the issue will reside in the one that is significantly larger or smaller than it's neighbours.

Way to go me!

Thursday, October 22, 2009

My mother's mantra

My mother says that her mantra before she wrote exams was "Love, light, intelligence."
Now there's a philosophy I can get behind.

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

simple pleasures

my kitten is snoring, ever so slightly.

mummy just dropped off quite a lot of chocolate.

sometimes studying doesn't get any better.

Cat on a bicycle

My cats are silly. Although because they are shy with non-family, none of you generally get to witness this.

So here is a video. (I apologize for my cackle mid-way through, I think it's funny when people or cats almost fall)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TBDMBEilsHc

Superficial happies

I have recently become enamoured of a revlon nail file.

It's a four step process that you can use to smooth and buff your nails.

And it actually works on my stupid ridge-y eczema nails. 80% of the ridges and bumps on my nails are now gone and I feel like I kind of have lady hands instead of reptile elderly monster creature hands. Now if only my cuticles would regrow...

It's also entirely possible that my enjoyment level is increased because liebchen seems to be entirely fascinated by the process and is in fact also using it on his own hands.

There is nothing quite so funny as watching your boyfriend buff his nails to a brilliant shine.

Monday, October 19, 2009

Eden Valley

The community I'm working in is amazing! The school is built around a ceremonial room that's like a tall narrow turrett with an atrium at the top. Such great energy at the school...apparently this reserve was originally like the Australia of the reserves where they sent all the "problems" and the community is transforming itself...

First day was great, feels good to be here! The inn we are staying in is this crazy farm by the river and every room has a different mural in it. Ours is a meadow...I'll do pics when I can.

More later in the week!

Your brain is AMAZING!

Think about these two facts:
1. When someone is talking there are about 25 different speech sounds per second that you hear and unconsciously identify. That's fast.
2. Half of the words you hear in fluent conversation are unintelligible when presented in isolation.
And yet you can understand what someone's saying! That's incredible!

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Pans - the power of thoughtful gifts

Today I used one of my lovely/amazing cephalon pans (as I do most days) to make my eggs and I felt loved :)

Saturday, October 10, 2009

Fruit Bowl :)

Today after I finished my show at the AGO a little girl came up to me to show me her drawing that she had done at the drawing station. She was adorable, maybe 4 years old. I wish I had a picture of her drawing! She pointed at different blobs of colour that were contained by a brown circle and told me all the different fruits that they were and then we talked a little bit about which fruits were our favourite. In her drawing of the fruit bowl (that she said she might fill in with more brown later so it looked more bowl-y) there was a cherry, a blueberry, a strawberry, a banana, a tomato and a chocolate chip (!). And then she told me: "I brought this over for you since I thought you might be tired and hungary after your perfornance."

:)

There...I Fixed It! :)




Friday, October 9, 2009

Heat!

My building finally turned on the heat today....mmmm...warm.

Good thing since my personal furnace is in Nova Scotia.

Monday, October 5, 2009

Scientific Sonnets

okay, I might be in love with some of the philosophers on artificial intelligence, or at least their writing.
Consider this argument concerning consciousness: "Not until a machine can write a sonnet or compose a concerto because of thoughts and emotions felt, and not by the chance fall of symbols, could we agree that machine equals brain-that is, not only write it but know that it had written it. No mechanism could feel (and not merely artificially signal, an easy contrivance) pleasure at its successes, grief when its valves fuse, be warmed by flattery, be made miserable by its mistakes, be charmed by sex, be angry or depressed when it cannot get what it wants." ~Professor Jefferson's Lister Oration from 1949.

Jaja says she hopes I am never wooed by someone who writes scientific sonnets. hmph.

Hello my fellow mansions for souls

In 1950s when Alan Turing responded to the idea that artificial intelligence was sacrilegious and impossible because thinking was a function of human souls, which God had not seen fit to bestow upon animals or machines, he wrote, "In attempting to construct such machines we should not be irreverently usurping His power of creating souls, any more than we are in the procreation of children: rather we are, in either case, instruments of His will providing mansions for the souls that He creates."
I find that sentiment to be beautiful poetry, and a very cosy philosophy.

Thursday, October 1, 2009

Down the Garden Path and into the Bushes

We learned about ambiguity in psychology of language today.
I really like reading example sentences.

from the headlines:

EYE DROPS OFF SHELF

KIDS MAKE NUTRITIOUS SNACKS

CLINTON WINS ON BUDGET, BUT MORE LIES AHEAD

TORONTO LAW TO PROTECT SQUIRRELS HIT BY MAYOR

RUMORS ABOUT NBA REFEREES GETTING UGLY

from a medical record:
"on the second day the knee was better, and on the third day it had completely disappeared."

Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Quotes are like prizes!

I'm addicted to this game.

My five favorite quotes so far are:

1. "When You Make a Mistake, Don't look back at it long. Take the reason of the thing into your mind and then look forward. Mistakes are lessons of wisdom. The past cannot be changed. The future is yet in your power." ~ Hugh White

2. "If you will call your troubles experiences, and remember that every experience develops some latent force within you, you will grow vigorous and happy, however adverse your circumstances may seem to be." ~John Heywood

3. "Every man, however wise, needs the advice of some sagacious friend in the affairs of life." ~Titus Maccius Platus

4. "Be gentle and you can be bold; be frugal and you can be liberal; avoid putting yourself before others and you can become a leader among men." ~Lao-Tzu

5. "Everyone chases after happiness, not noticing that happiness is right at their heels." ~Bertolt Brecht

All the Single Babies

Baby's got rhythm.

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Thinking in Songs

Here's the song my Rafiki sent me this morning:

Falling in Love at a Coffee Shop ~ Landon Pigg


(if you're curious, here's the song that makes me think of him.)

Monday, September 28, 2009

Little people

On the train back from Montreal Liebchen and I were seated in front of a mom and her two little kids on the 2nd portion of their train trips that day.

The little girl was about 3 and her name was Jas(!)

She was the most talkative and eloquent little kid I've ever had the pleasure of listening to. She provided me with many entertaining moments as she narrated her playing and what she was seeing out the window but my favourites were:

Jas: We're going to Canada! We're going to Canada!
Mom: We're already in Canada sweetheart.
Jas: Nono, we're going to Canada!
Mom: We're already there Jas, that's why we needed our passports.
Jas: We're already in CANADA? Oh my goodness! I can't believe I missed it!

and

Jas: Mom? Hey Mom?
Mom: Yes?
Jas: Mom, I would like to cuddle and read stories now please.

Sunday, September 27, 2009

Shining Eyes

Watching one talk on TED reminded me of another talk someone sent me long ago, which moves me from inside to out.

Friday, September 25, 2009

Ideas Worth Spreading

Today in my statistics class we watched Hans Rosling talk about statistics.

I love the talk. I love the website. I cheer wildly.

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Happy Post #...

Today I read a very nice blog that had lots of lovely posts from people that I like very very muchly.

Thanks for sharing :)

Bedtime Stories

Rakifi and I were lying in bed the other night, and I asked him what he wanted to do: "Do you want to watch a movie? Should I put on a story? Go to sleep? Just chat?"
"I want to chat," he said, "Tell me a story."
"What about?"
"Hm, okay, I'll give you five words and you need to put them all in the story."
"Deal."

I told him a story and then he told me one. With many apologies, I can only remember four of the five words that either of us gave.

His Story
Elephant, Mouse, Emerald, Silk Dress

There once was an African boy by the name of Ubah, and he had a pet elephant by the name of Emo. Emo was the only family that Ubah had, for he was an orphan. One day Ubah and Emo were walking in the jungle and Ubah came across an enormous emerald. Ubah's dream was to move from Africa and go to America and live wealthy and he knew this emerald was his possible ticket to the promised land. Suddenly a snake which was camouflaged in the undergrowth slithered its body toward Ubah looking to acquire Ubah's body for nourishment. As the snake lunged toward Ubah, Emo caught the snake with his trunk and flung the snake into the bushes. Surprisingly the snake uncovered a hiding mouse and ate him. Poor mouse.
Meanwhile, an evil secret society kidnapped the Princess of Decco and threatened to kill her if the King did not comply to their wishes. The secret society posed the ransom of the unique emerald, which in turn, upon acquiring it, they would use to expand their operations. The emerald was worth billions of dollars, so whoever owned it could have dramatic influence. The King dispatched his whole army and all his servants to find the person with the emerald, and to bring this individual to the King's feet. A servant of the king found Ubah and told him the story and Ubah agreed to go to the castle to meet the king. The King demanded Ubah hand over the emerald so that he could rescue his daughter from the secret society. Ubah was in agreement with the king but it would have to come at a price. Ubah wanted enough money to start a new life in America. The king granted him his wish. The King made contact with the secret society and claimed to have the emerald them. The secret society agreed to the return of the princess in exchange for the emerald, and this was done. In doing so, the secret society seemed to have all of the necessary resources to obtain power until the secret society was ambushed by the King's garrison after the transaction was made. For the betterment of the world, they destroyed the secret society. Ubah was granted a handsome reward for his noble act.


My Story
Dragon, Sorceress, Rabbit, Flying Carpet

There once was a kingdom in which the houses of nobility got together every year for an annual rabbit hunt. Like a fox hunt, they would release a rabbit into the wild, and then would chase it with their hounds, the nobility riding behind on horseback. There was a sorceress who had once had a love affair with a member of the nobility, but had been scorned by him. He had casted her aside, and she now wanted revenge. Knowing of the rabbit hunt, she decided to summon a dragon and unleash it upon the hunt. While she had fallen in love with a member of the nobility, she also knew that they had lost touch with the common people and become isolated within their society. She felt that it would do them good to be shaken up and loose some of their complacency. However, while she was angry, she didn't want the dragon to eat anyone, she just wanted it to scare the heebie-jeebies out of them. She followed the dragon on her magic carpet to make sure it didn't harm or eat anyone, especially the horses who were after all innocent and blameless. The dragon terrified the nobility. Their horses panicked and bolted, and they were scattered far and wide across the kingdom. This turned out to be a good thing for all. It was good for the country, as the nobility were forced to meet the commoners as they found their way home again, and while self absorbed the nobility were not bad people, and they learned from the experience. It was good for the sorceress as she was well pleased with the result of her adventure. It was also an exceedingly good thing for the rabbit, as the hunt was distracted and it was able to live happily ever after.

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Dr. Flair & Lil Mynine


I've been trying to get an appointment with Dr. Flair forever but she's just so busy!


Love letters

A most lecherous discourse between Filly and بلدي رجل ...

Hello Sir,

I can easily be persuaded to engage in a courtship ritual with you tonight, whereby we consume food, speak amusing words and make suggestive looks at one another. It occurs to me that tomorrow night also, I am available to enact the the essential gestures of this ritual. I generally subject the French language to a stammering slaughter every other Wednesday, but, instead of dinner tomorrow night there could be a rendezvous in the South Philly area at 10pm? Some imbibing or some such?

Dear Madam,

I believe that tomorrow night will be a superior point in time for aforementioned enacting of courtship ritual. I do, however, intend to make audio contact later tonight, and visual contact is well within the realm of possible occurrences. I believe I will be more appropriately positioned at that time to help decide what kind of non-destinational gastrointestinal feeding location would be more suitable to speaking amusing words and making suggestive looks.

with utmost sincerity,

Monday, September 21, 2009

Singing Meat

The first chapter of my textbook finished with a story. Only one more reason for me to love cognitive science. The chapter discussed the possibility of computers having intelligence, and what it means for something to be intelligent rather than being neat and going bing! in interesting ways.
The story was extracted from a longer story by Terry Bisson called "Alien/Nation".

"They're made out of meat."
"Meat?"
"Meat. They're made out of meat."
"Meat?"
"There's no doubt about it. We picked up several from different parts of the planet, took them aboard our recon vessels, probed them all the way through. They're completely meat."
"That's impossible. What about the radio signals? The messages to the stars."
"They use radio waves to talk, but the signals don't come from them. The signals come from machines."
"So who made the machines? That's who we want to contact."
"They made the machines. That's what I'm trying to tell you. Meat made the machines."
"That's ridiculous. How can meat make a machine? You're asking me to believe in sentient meat."
"I'm not asking you, I'm telling you. These creatures are the only sentient race in the sector and they're made out of meat."
"Maybe they're like the Orfolei. You know, a carbon-based intelligence that goes through a meat stage."
"Nope. They're born meat and they die meat. We studied them for several of their life spans, which didn't take too long. Do you have any idea of the life span of meat?"
"Spare me. Okay, maybe they're only part meat. You know, like the Weddilei. A meat head with an electron plasma brain inside."
"Nope. We thought of they, since they do have meat heads like the Weddelei. But I told you, we probed them. They're meat all the way through."
"No brain?"
"Oh, there's a brain all right. It's just that the brain is made out of meat!"
"So. . . what does the thinking?"
"You're not understanding, are you? The brain does the thinking. The meat."
"Thinking meat! You're asking me to believe in thinking meat!"
"Yes, thinking meat! Concious meat! Loving meat. Dreaming meat. The meat is the whole deal! Are you getting the picture?"
"Omigod. You're serious then. They're made out of meat."
"Finally. Yes. They are indeed made out of meat. And they've been trying to get in touch with us for almost a hundred of their years."
"So what does the meat have in mind?"
"First it wants to talk to us. Then I imagine it wants to explore the universe, contact other sentients, swap ideas and information. The usual."
"We're suppose to talk to meat?"
"That's the idea. That's the message they're sending out by radio. Hello. Anyone out there? Anyone home? That sort of thing."
"They actually do talk, then. They use words, ideas, concepts?"
"Oh, yes. Except they do it with meat."
"I thought you just told me they used the radio."
"They do, but what do you think is on the radio? Meat sounds. You know how when you slap or flap meat it makes a noise? They talk by flapping their meat at each other. They can even sing by squirting air through their meat."
"Omigod. Singing meat. This is altogether too much. So what do you advise?"
"Officially or unofficially?"
"Both."
"Officially, we are required to contact, welcome, and log in any and all sentient races or multi beings in the quadrant, without prejudice, fear, or favour. Unofficially, I advise we erase the records and forget the whole thing."
"I was hoping you would say that."
"It seems harsh, but there is a limit. Do we really want to make contact with meat?"
"I agree one hundred percent. What's there to say? 'Hello, meat. How's it going?' But will this work? How many planets are we dealing with here?"
"Just one. They can travel to other planets in special meat containers, but they can't live on them. And being meat, they travel through C space. Which limits them to the speed of light and makes the possibility of their ever making contact pretty slim. Infinitesimal in fact."
"So we just pretend there's no one home in the universe."
"That's it."
"Cruel. But you said it yourself, who wants to meet meat? And the ones who've been aboard our vessels, the ones you have probed? You're sure they wont remember?"
"They'll be considered crackpots if they do. We went into their heads and smoothed out their meat so we're just a dream to them."
"A dream to meat! How strangely appropriate, that we should be meat's dream."
"And we can mark the sector unoccupied."
"Good. Agreed, officially and unofficially. Case closed. Any others? Anyone interesting on that side of the galaxy?"
"Yes, a rather shy but sweet hydrogen core cluster intelligence in a class nine star in G445 zone. Was in contact two galactic rotations ago, wants to be friendly again."
"They always come around."
"And why not? Imagine how unbearably, how unutterably cold the universe would be if one were all alone."

Sunday, September 20, 2009

An Impressively Upside-Down World

My mummy calculated that she has done over 90 thousand headstands.

Dancing makes everything good

Last night, بلدي رجل visited family for Rosh Hashanah, so I went to a salsa club to try out the moves I've been learning in class. Some friends came, and friends of friends! Lovely people and lovely dancers. I found a dance partner who just wanted to dance well, not grope well:), and he taught me many new moves. I love to dance!

Saturday, September 19, 2009

Bored @ The Bay? Some ideas...

Things PBJJ did while waiting for me in The Bay today... ;)

Tee hee! I think # 13 is my favourite...

1.Took 24 boxes of condoms and randomly put them in other people's carts when they weren't looking.
2. Set all the alarm clocks in Housewares to go off at 5-minute intervals.
3. He made a trail of tomato juice on the floor leading to the women's restroom.
4. Walked up to an employee and told her in an official voice, 'Code 3 in Housewares. Get on it right away! This caused the employee to leave her assigned station and receive a reprimand from her Supervisor that in turn resulted with a union grievance, causing management to lose time and costing the company money..
5. Went to the Service Desk and tried to put a bag of M&Ms on layaway.
6. Moved a 'CAUTION - WET FLOOR' sign to a carpeted area.
7.. Set up a tent in the camping department and told the children shoppers he'd invite them in if they would bring pillows and blankets from the bedding department to which twenty children obliged.
8. When a clerk asked if they could help him he began crying and screamed, 'Why can't you people just leave me alone?' EMTs were called..
9. Looked right into the security camera and used it as a mirror while he picked his nose.
10. While handling guns in the hunting department, he askedthe clerk where the antidepressants were.
11. Darted around the store suspiciously while loudly humming the 'Mission Impossible' theme.
12. In the auto department, he practiced his 'Madonna look' by using different sizes of funnels.
13. Hid in a clothing rack and when people browsed through, yelled 'PICK ME! PICK ME!'
14. When an announcement came over the loud speaker, he assumed a fetal position and screamed 'OH NO! IT'S THOSE VOICES AGAIN!'
And last, but not least:
15. Went into a fitting room, shut the door, waited awhile, then yelled very loudly, 'Hey! There's no toilet paper in here.' One of the clerks passed out.

Friday, September 18, 2009

All together now: "awwwww"

My phone buzzed this morning as I was drifting in and out of sleep, with my cat lying on my stomach purring. I flipped it open to read the text message, "Morning girl friend :) just wanted to say how crazy i am for you!"

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Adventures in Rubber

I happily quote my textbook, "There is much that is unclear, much that is ill understood, and much that will, no doubt, soon prove to be mistaken. There are places where it is not yet clear what the right questions are, let alone the answers."
"Philosophy of cognitive science has something of the flavour of a random walk on a rubber landscape. No one knows quite where they are going, and every step anyone takes threatens to change the whole of the surrounding scenery."
~Andy Clark, Mindware.

How could I not be excited by a discipline with so much adventure? :D

NY Times Wedding Announcement

بلدي رجل was quickly sifting through his email before we went out for our run last Sunday. He showed me a New York Times wedding announcement from his colleague, saying "This wedding announcement is so odd, it reads like a CV".

I then quickly checked my email correspondence, only to find that I too, have a colleague who has announced her marriage in the New York Times! It reads:

Catherine Doyle will be marrying Alfred P. Newton On October 8, 2009. The bride graduated summa wrestler cum laude in 2008 from Villanova University. The bridegroom graduated the harder they cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania that same year. The couple was introduced by Sarah Doyle, mother of the bride, who graduated cumma cumma cumma chamelion laude from Columbia in 1970, at an event sponsored by the father of the bride, Bobby Doyle, who graduated pre-cum laude from Columbia University in 1968.

Monday, September 14, 2009

Sunday, September 13, 2009

I've Seen Better :)




Today PBJJ put a yellow shirt on Rilesberg that said: "I've seen better" and Rilesberg ran around with a massive smile on his face for like 20 minutes - hilarious!









Friday, September 11, 2009

Six Surprises As School Starts

1. My statistics teacher reminds me of a Miss America contestant. She's very pretty, with long shiny hair. She wears bright button down shirts. She speaks in a slightly ditzy but intelligent manner and says things like "I immigrated to Canada because it's the best country in the world!"

2. There's a girl who I've seen all over campus and in a lot of my classes for the past two years. She hangs out in odd corners of Hart House, shows up in some of my tutorials, and is always surrounded by a group of friends who have funny conversations that I sometimes listen in on. This year I found her sitting outside my Minds and Machines class with her friend Hobbit. I finally sat down and chatted with them. I like them both.

3. Chamigan's (afore mentioned girl) friends have a habit of visiting each other's classes. That's what Hobbit was doing at Minds and Machines (and now he's gonna take it :) and Ivan joined her for Thinking and Reasoning the next day. She says it's interesting, a good way to find out about classes they're interested in, and things never get lonely. I love it.

4. Vervaeke is one of my favorite professors. He's vibrant and witty and very challenging. The professor for my Bases of Cognition class was unannounced. When Vervaeke walked into the room Chamigan's and my eyes lit up (yup, Chamigan's in that class too, and she likes Vervaeke as a prof as much as I do), and we turned to each other grinning. She held her hand up for a high five and said "This is going to be the best day."

5. I started to read the book "Extended Minds" by Andy Clark this summer through the recommendation of a friendly acquaintance. It's funny and well written. My text book for Minds and Machines is by Andy Clark, and there's a week of our syllabus on extended minds. I feel so well prepared.

6. I have a class in the same classroom that I took poetry in. So many good memories.

Tuesday, September 8, 2009

Sickness and Good stuffs

It's very good to know that even while in the midst of the never-ending cold good things still happen.

1. My friends are awesome. I got calls and emails and text messages with well wishes and offers of assistance.

2. My liebchen is also fantastic, he got me chicken soup, brought me gingerale in bed, listened to stories on my ipod with me when i didn't have the energy to do anything else and made me laugh so hard my stomach still hurts two days later (laughter is the best medicine after all!)

3. Mademoiselle the owner (Mom!) brought me homeopathic medicines, took me grocery shopping and kept me company all day Saturday even while coping with her own broken heart

4. Liebchen's dad cooked a delicious dinner and told me that he loves me and especially loves me with his son. It's a pretty awesome feeling to know that your partner's family not just likes you but likes you for their child.

Blackberries & Sunshine

Walked through the woods with the prettiest slanting sunshine yesterday, the kind that looks like it might be able to beam you up to the sunShip...ate the last 2 blackberries of summer (I think) and they tasted yummy. Looking forward to walking the trail with all the changed leaves this fall.

Yay for woods! Like a good hug.

Yay for happy blogs and lovely friends!

Saturday, September 5, 2009

Silly Banter

I was working on a puzzle and Rafiki was eating bananas on toast for breakfast. I looked up at him and he said "Want a bite?"
I said, "Mm. Not of the toast," and winked at him. I'm catching on to this romantic silliness he does so well.
A few minutes later I looked up at him again.
"What are you looking at, Hot Stuff?" he asked.
"That's what I'm looking at." I agreed. Rafiki laughed so hard he almost lost his orange juice all over the table.
I win! :D

Friday, September 4, 2009

An Army of Kindness

Madmoiselle the Owner was a calming font of knowledge and support, bringing me homeopathic remedies and sending me off to the nicest walk-in clinic she new.

Rafiki was like an errant knight coming to attend to any rescuing that could be done since his lady was in distress.

The doctor was like a calm mother hen, who sat brooding on her eggs while one of her chicks fussed and worried, and who she watched with love and amusement and then fixed the problem and sent the chick on her way.

Kippen called to see how I was feeling even though she was feeling as poorly as I was. (get better Kippen. hugs. let me know if you need anything).

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Happy Birthday Bird!

When Bird turned two, a friend of the family said to her, "So, this is your second birthday!"
"No," Bird corrected, "this is my happy birthday."

Monday, August 31, 2009

Clair

Mademoiselle the owner (aka Mom) , Clair (the dog) and I went to the country this weekend.

We were driving on a fairly desolate country road when we pulled over to go talk to some cows and calfs. The calfs were especially cute and they were quite close to the road so we had a good look at them for about 10 minutes when we suddenly heard a quite loud but intermittent car horn. We both turned around to see where this car was coming from and what they were intending to tell us with their horn and couldn't see anything, so we went back to looking at the cows. A few seconds later the horn sounded again in a constant unbreaking stream of noise. We looked around again and saw no cars but instead a very persistent Clair standing on the steering wheel of Mom's van and peering out at us.

My mother is now very concerned about what will happen when she leaves Clair in the car in parking lots as she appears to have learned "when I step on the wheel and it makes that noise the people get very excited and come running back to me". It's hard to be mad at the dog when she does something that cute and smart.

Sunday, August 30, 2009

Total Sweetheart pt. 2

After meeting me, Rafiki's friend Mighty sent him a text that said "Looks like you found a good one. Happy for you bro."

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Total Sweetheart

After he was hit on in a bar Rafiki told me he'd like a shirt that says "I'm taken, and I'm happy."

5 Things I Wasn't Supposed to Enjoy on Holiday

... but I really did.

1. Reorganizing the bookshelves. The novels are alphabetized by author.

2. Doing a puzzle with Flavaflav and her cousins.

3. Cooking and doing the dishes. Makes me feel at home, not so lost, and a little cosy.

4. The gardens of the Victoria & Albert and the Natural History Museum. I haven't really seen inside yet...

5. The plants! At least half my attention seems to wander from the tourist attractions to go, "ooo, isn't that a lovely vine-that's-supposed-to-be-an-annual growing up the side of a house? Where is my camera? Who cares if Someone Famous was once sick on that brick!" (actually I like learning about the famous people too, especially if they come with silly stories).

Sunday, August 23, 2009

The National Gallery

I found the National Gallery more or less by chance one morning when, late for a walk I wanted to go on, I was left stranded at Embankment Tube Station. I went awandering to see what I could find, and no sooner had I walked past the Sherlock Holmes pub did the road open out into Trafalgar Square, and there it was before me, complete with gigantic lions, magic shows, double decker buses and a flood of tourists. Inside the National Gallery I started smiling almost right away when I found a Canaletto which of course reminded me of Ursula in the Gerry Durrell stories. I started grinning when I found the more modern rooms and painting after painting, artist after artist were ones I knew and loved. Here are five (of many more) that I stood in front of lost in happiness and thought.






Friday, August 21, 2009

Jane Eyre

"It is a crime against God to deny yourself love. It should be the eleventh commandment!"

The BBC production of it is beautiful and haunting, all the colours muted and tone on tone; Ruth Wilson is perfect as Jane Eyre; and my favorite line in it is here recorded.

Thursday, August 20, 2009

Cops and Academics....?

1. Having dinner cooked for me when I get home. mmmm... bow tie pasta!

2. Spontaneous Morris Dancing in the street that made me forget about them wearing their leg bells in the bar.

3. Discovering a market where they yell in GENUINE cockney accents. Step aside Audrey Hepburn, the man in the bright orange hat wins.

4. 100% Pure LOVE!

5. Being offered a spoon in a bar for food brought in from outside. Yogurt and red vino: HURRRAH!

Kickin' mad flava in ya ear,
F.

(guest post by flavaflav)

5 Quotes from Alex and the Ironic Gentleman

I like it's odd and rather tangled descriptions.

1. "You would have also noticed that the small man had a very pointy nose, greasy red hair that fell lank to his shoulders, and no eyebrows. Although you might not have noticed that he didn't have any eyebrows because this isn't the sort of thing one notices. You might have noticed that he looked Odd or Unsettling, without quite knowing why, as often we cannot place exactly the reason we don't like a person. And we think it is because of who they are and how they behave, when really it is all down to a lack of facial hair."

2. "Coffee-table books make whatever their content is infinitely attractive. This is because coffee-table books have glorious pictures in them with saturated colours. Often coffee-table books can make the dullest or most disgusting subjects seem romantic. Like mould. A coffee-table book about mould would have glorious pictures of emerald-green, glistening mould shining in the morning sun."

3. "Of course, Alex was short for ALexandra, but neither Alex nor her uncle liked that very much, so they shortened her name. They could have shortened it the other way, I suppose - Andra - but she and her uncle preferred Alex."

4. "Headmaster Doosy sat, dazed. When it seemed clear the gentleman would not be returning, he quickly turned to the school intercom and spoke. 'Good afternoon, this is your headmaster speaking.' His voice shook slightly.' All students with the last name beginning with 'S' will have detention for the next two weeks. Thank you.'
Headmaster Doosy sighed and leaned back in his seat. He was starting to feel magnificent and powerful again."

5. "The school Alex attended was called the Wigpowder-Steele Academy, and it was very prestigious. What made it so prestigious was the fact that it had the word "Academy" in the title and the fact that it was one of those schools you pay to go to. This ensured a Higher Quality of Education and, more importantly, a Higher Quality of Pupil, because if you spend all that money it means that your child is therefore really special. Of course 'special' doesn't always mean 'intelligent', and in this case, as Alex had most definitely concluded after careful research, 'special' seemed to mean, simply, 'rich.'"

The book is by Adrienne Kress.

Monday, August 17, 2009

Awash on British Shores

1. I arrived in Victoria Station safe and sound, once again with a great sense of victory at having traveled to a new strange land and having navigated the systems correctly (I felt like a wizard when I used a British pay phone. Not that difficult, but to me it's NEW. I take pleasure in small triumphs).

2. Flavaflav met me with a head of red hair a grin and a hug.

3. All the plants we struggle to keep through the winter are extra large here. Fushias are bushes, rhododendrons are mountains, montgomery ivies cover walls and I keep stopping and saying things like "A fig tree? Huh! That's just not fair."

4. We went to a flower market and all the voices were calling out their wares in genuine accents. Flavaflav bought an orchid with two flower stems for 5 pounds! I was overwhelmed by choice and randomly bought tiny deep red spray roses, rusty callas, and white callas, which are now sitting about the house in silver teapots since we have no vases.

5. There are parrots and magenpies in the back garden.

Friday, August 14, 2009

Moments

1. Princess Dragon climbed into one of my open drawers of clothing, curled up and went to sleep.

2. A boy was paddling a log about the lake, lying on it like it was the back of some great animal as he rode the waves about the lake.

3. I saw a fox. It was romping in the park like a kitten playing. It leapt up high and then pounced down, it would jump backwards, and then bat at the mouse it had found with one flat paw. It would pause and sniff, and then do it all over again.

4. The moon has looked amazing these past few nights, it fills the sky and creates rivers of light across the lake.

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Princess Dragon Cat

My kitty decided it was bedtime. She came into my room and meowed imperiously, and when I did not respond she jumped up and sprawled across my keyboard despite my typing fingers and went to sleep. She didn't budge until I lay in bed and turned out the light; then she came and lay on my tummy and purred.
bed time NOW

She sleeps in the best places.
best paper choice

Saturday, August 1, 2009

Philosophy and Pheet

I was reading my book this morning and it made me giggle.

"That night, when Connie does her reading, she announces that it will be John 13:1 to John 13:12. That's the bit where Jesus, at His Last Supper, gets up, takes off His robe, throws it over a chair, wraps a towel around His waist, and gets down and washes His disciples' feet, which I had always thought was pretty humble and downright nice of Him. I thought that, I did, but then there was always the naggin' suspicion in my head that maybe some of the disciples' feet might have been sendin' something heavenward that wasn't quite so sweet-smellin' and maybe Jesus thought He'd have to put an end to it if He was to enjoy His last dinner on this earth. And we all like to enjoy our dinners, don't we."
~In the Belly of the Bloodhound, L. A. Meyer

ah religion, it's never simple, is it? :)
I'm quite enjoying this series. Pirates, disguises, kidnappings, and adventures on the high seas. Woot!

Friday, July 31, 2009

An appropriate slip of the tongue

I just accidentally called my boss "Dim" instead of "Jim"

I may have difficulty using his proper name now that I've realized how close a much more appropriate term for him is to his actual name.

Thursday, July 30, 2009

peeps around town

1. I liked the group of kids playing cards at a round table in the window of Tim Hortons...

2. ...and the little boy who wandered up to a car and poked it with one chubby finger, His Dad said "What colour is the car?", and he said "Geeen."

3. I liked the man at the bar near my work who said, "You don't drink beer, do you?" and when I shook my head said, "Only vodka, right?" which happened to be true.

4. I like the two kids in the wagon and their grinning dad who was pulling them, as they shouted "Run Daddy run! Run Fast! WHeeeee!"

5. I liked the roly poly boy in a green tshirt with the full moon face. He ran up, sat down on the bench, looked out over the water looked at us, made an incomprehensible and no doubt very wise remark and then dashed off to the next bench.

my beautiful cacti



o gorgeous blossoms
thrive alive in my garden-
heaven in flower.

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Lisa and Vincent

I watched it yet again this morning. I LOVE that they did house on So You Think You Can Dance Canada. I love the flow of the movement, like they're on rollerskates or dancing around their kitchen in socks. It makes me feel like their whole bodies are saying "yeah, I'm having a fabulous time dancing, and I could do this all night."

Monday, July 27, 2009

I like Toronto






As my mom and I were driving up Warden just north of Warden Station on Saturday morning we were greeted by traffic stopped in both directions.

Wondering what this could possibly be for we peered out our windows to watch a group of Canadian Geese crossing the road from the completed housing development on one side of the street to the under construction housing development on the other side.

They were very kindly being assisted across by a group of burly construction workers holding up their shovels to make sure none of the cars tried to move before the geese were safely across.

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

quotable quotes

"So that's how the cookie crumbles, after all the hype."

"If you believe in your dreams... and follow your star... you'll still get beaten by people who worked hard and weren't so lazy."


"Du hast mir die Lippen wund geküsst, nun küssen sie mir wieder besser." (you kissed my lips sore, and now kiss them better.)



"Go to your fields and your gardens, for to the bee a flower is a fountain of life, and to the flower, a bee is a messenger of love."

Ever So Stylin'

Nanermellon's paper towels have palm trees on them. Niftiest paper towels I have ever seen.
Her hallway is also (temporarily) Barbie's Dream House Pink. It looks fab.

Monday, July 20, 2009

Glorious Days of Summer

I went swimming! In a client's pool! In my underpants!
We went on a planting job to one of my favorite houses. It could only be the home of someone fabulously wealthy, but for once I feel that it was money well spent. The house sits on top of the bluffs and overlooks the lake. The lake is clear and blue, and the sky shines out one shade lighter. Standing on their back deck you can see nothing else. The rear of their house is almost entirely windows from floor to ceiling to drink in the view. The back deck is smooth stone as pale as white sand. In the middle of it is an infinity pool. The water falls off of it and off the edge of the world. It looks as though it is pouring off into the lake hundreds of feet below. It is breathtakingly beautiful.
Madmoiselle the Owner and I had finished planting urns with chinese fan palms to grace the pool deck and were cleaning up, when dizzy with heat, she nudged me and said "When we're done I plan on stripping down to my underpants and jumping in the pool. Feel like joining me?" The owners of the house were out and only the cleaning lady was home, so I shed my jeans, and dived in after her. It was delicious. I could have lived in that pool for days.
I also liked Kryptonite's response to my excitement of swimming. He wrote: "i vote that we go swimming in random people's pools in our underpants at night. we used to do it back home ;)" I think this is a MOST entrancing idea.

I also like this sentence from the novel I am reading now: "Brammingham Place was an enormous, rambling house that seemed to spread in all directions. Mairelon was lurking with Kim behind an overgrown topiary duck while they waited for the last lights inside to be put out..."

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Superheros

We had a discussion of Superhero names.

Jaja was Fly Girl. (with wings!)
Cassadina was Astro Girl. (blasting around on motorized booties)
Rafiki was Star Boy. (with a car with extra-extra, especially fins)
I was Mirage. (like a sandstorm)

Jaja has decided that part of your superpower IS your alter-ego. Like a Ms. Smith. Hidden in plain sight ;)

Luffly Stories

Jaja has been telling me luffly stories.

There's a very cool man in her tai chi class. The class is run by a woman's shelter, so all the ladies were giving him the eyeball, and he said things like "My mum really wanted a girl. My middle name is Muriel," or "I'm getting in touch with my feminine side." But his very best comment was after meditation, when Jaja asked if there were any questions, he said "Well, I don't have a question, but I did have a thought. I think that after our nap we should all get a bowl of ice cream."

Then today, she saw a construction worker sharing his lunch with the pigeons, with pigeons perched on every part of him.

After that Jaja had lunch at a table with a pigeon on it, and an old jamacian guy (who sat, but not on the table, and told her to stay lovely :)

Monday, July 13, 2009

The Fun Police

Rafiki showed up at my door as the fun police with a warrant for my arrest. He pointed a cardboard gun at me, pulled out some cardboard handcuffs, flipped open his badge and told me I had the right to have fun. So we went and got ice cream.

Monday, July 6, 2009

incidents and accidents

1. Mummy has been creating awesome murals with chinese bug chalk. Observe:










2. Jacki became as hysterical as any of us at the cottage had been even without the help of special brownies. Too much cleaning can have that effect. My new favorite saying is "You want some pusta (pasta), spi-natch (said to rhyme with "biatch")!" Cooking and hysteria :)

3. Madmoiselle the Owner greeted me at work today with, "Pashmina! You have psycho hair today! And little tiny eyes!"
Mighty Mouse's voice floated out from behind a shelf of plants, "She really knows how to complement a girl."
Madmoiselle the Owner became flustered, "I mean, your hair is all fluffy, and you look very sleepy. Like a wood nymph!"

4. Daddy was scraping a scrap of cheese off a hot tray, burnt himself, then licked the knife (oh god), and Jaja snaped, "Daddy. Leave the tray alone. You can scrape it off later and have the cheese on your porridge tomorrow morning."
Score one to Jaja :)

5. I adore the packaging of my hair dye which tells me it will give me "100% ultra long lasting colour. 100% maximum shiny colour with depth and highlights," and that "The non-drip Gel-Crème texture allows a 100% fast and 100% easy application even on long hair." So accordingly, I think that by running my fingers through my hair (100% easy) I should instantly (100% fast) have metallic (100% shiny) hair that will last forever (100% long lasting). Sounds exciting. As it turns out it dyed my hair gray in a brownish sort of way. I like it. Oh boy am I going to be a sexy old person!