Thursday, June 29, 2006

I am a plant killer no more.


I am a miracle worker. From mere seeds, I have created life. Truly, I have staggering abilities.

I have flowers! In my garden! That I planted myself, and they didn't even die!


To truly appreciate how cute that flower is, you really need to see it in detail. Isn't it just beautiful?


And not only that - the seeds in pots are a-bloomin' too!


And the plants that I bought and then re-potted? They're flowering and looking beautiful!

Seriously, I'm so proud of myself. Go me!

Best! Trip! Ever!

I wasn't going to write about it, because I thought it would jinx it, but since Heather spilled the beans, I guess I can tell y'all.

Guys, we are planning the BEST TRIP EVER.

Picture it: June 2008. Three sassy Canadian girls living in London and one as-yet-unnamed but sure to be equally sassy other girl fly from London to Halifax, Nova Scotia. Upon arrival, they hire a vehicle, as you would for almost any trip.

Do they hire a sensible compact car? A sporty convertible? A huge-ass SUV?

Oh, no. They hire possibly the coolest vehicle ever.



A recreational vehicle. That's right. A Winnebago. (And yes, I am aware that "Winnebago" is a brand name, but it just sounds cooler than "RV")

They then, over the course of the next three weeks, drive this kick ass vehicle across the whole of Canada, excluding Newfoundland and the territories. Territories are for suckers. I have no problem with Newfoundland, it's just inconveniently located.

Because I am a huge geek, as soon as Heather and I first discussed this, I worked up a tentative route that would get us across the country, from Halifax to Vancouver, in 21 days with rest stops in all the places we're from - Toronto, Winnipeg and Edmonton. And then I looked up the mileage, converted it from miles to kilometers, made an Excel spreadsheet, formatted it nicely and printed it off. Dude. I told you - huge geek.

We'd be looking at a total of over 7,150 kilometers (actually 7,159.7 by my reckoning) over the three weeks. In a Winnebago! How awesome is that?

I've always wanted to do this trip. And, as those of you who have heard me rave about the coolness of Winnebagos in the past will know, it only makes the dream better to do it in an RV. Think how much tacky souvenir crap I can buy! Bliss!

Because we are poor, it's going to take us some time to save up the money, hence the 2008 thing. But that just means more time for planning! How awesome!

I can't wait two years! I want to go now!

Wednesday, June 21, 2006

Man, I listen to an odd mix of music..

Yet another fun meme via Gwen. (updated 29 June with missing song titles added)

The Rules

Step 1: Put your iPod/MP3 player or iTunes on random.

Step 2: Post the first line(s) from the first 20 songs that play, no matter how embarrassing the song.

Step 3: Post it on your blog and let everyone guess what song and artist the lines come from.

Step 4: Update the list with the song title when someone guesses correctly. (I will identify any unguessed songs by next week some time.)

Step 5: Make your guesses by leaving a comment or sending me email. You have to identify both title and artist, and you're not allowed to Google any of these, either.

1. Hello, hello, hello, is there anybody in there? [Buffy: "Comfortably Numb" by Scissor Sisters]

2. Raise a little hell , raise a little hell, raise a little hell! (Man, these are tough, eh?) [Heather: "Raise A Little Hell" by Trooper]

3. It's been one week since you looked at me. [Aaron: "One Week" by Barenaked Ladies]

4. Four o'clock in the morning, my mind's filled with a thousand thoughts of you. [Le Chat: "Last Thing On My Mind" by Ronan Keating and LeAnn Rimes]

5. A lovestruck Romeo sings a streets a serenade [Kobrinsky: "Romeo & Juliet" by Dire Straits]

6. It's pretty good, the wine, the way that we look ["Used To Be Alright" by I Mother Earth]

7. I didn't hear you leave, I wonder how am I still here ["Here With Me" by Dido]

8. Come to my window [Aaron: "Come To My Window" by Melissa Ethridge]

9. Hey now, where you going with that load of nothing in your hand [Jocelyne: "Going Down To Liverpool" by The Bangles]

10. Touch me, how can it be, believe me [Lady Librarian: "The Sun Always Shines On TV" by Aha]

11. Drove downtown in the rain [Aaron: "Brian Wilson" by Barenaked Ladies]

12. She calls me from the cold ["Shimmer" by Fuel]

13. Hello, I saw you, I know you, I knew you [Stinkydog: "Pop Song 89" by REM]

14. Once upon a time, not so long ago, Tommy used to work on the docks [Aaron: "Livin' On A Prayer" by Bon Jovi]

15. I took my love and I took it down [Gwen: "Landslide" by Dixie Chicks]

16. As he sat down upon the train, silence settled in his brain [Le Chat: "Runaway Train" by Blue Rodeo]

17. Today is gonna be the day that they're gonna throw it back to you [Aaron: "Wonderwall" by Oasis]

18. We've got stars directing our fate [Buffy: "Millenium" by Robbie Williams]

19. Little ditty about Jack and Diane [Gwen: "Jack and Diane" by John Cougar Mellencamp]

20. Now there's a backseat lover that's always under cover [Sarah: "Walk This Way" by Run-DMC]

I'm a little embarassed by some of that, but I'm going to power through the shame. And it's amusing how many of them are SO FREAKING EASY!

Sunday, June 18, 2006

Concrete Blonde

Brad asked: What I want to know is do you still have that Concrete Blonde t-shirt?

Answer: Hell yeah.

Imagine, if you will, Toronto in September 1992. A young girl from a small town is about to attend her first non New Kids On The Block concert with her two best friends. It's Concrete Blonde on their Walking In London tour and Wendy was a big fan.

All three of us bought t-shirts, as I am prone to do at concerts, and Steph and I wore them pretty constantly. By the time I got to university, it was pretty worn out but I still loved it. It was my signature look - long black skirt, Doc Marten MaryJane style shoes, tights, Concrete Blonde t-shirt and plaid shirt.

I don't wear it anymore, but it's still a much loved item of clothing. It's comfort clothes. It's lasted 14 years, and I think with a bit of care, it'll last another 14.

Tuesday, June 13, 2006

Question

Internet, I have a question for you.


Let's say you get an order of chips (that's what those crazy Brits call fries, for all you North Americans) with your kebab when you come home a bit tipsy on a Monday night. Now, you don't feel like eating them at the time, so you stick them in the fridge. Then, the next day, you reheat them in the microwave and eat them.

Gross or no?

Sunday, June 11, 2006

Outed: I am a Bon Jovi fan.

In January, tickets went on sale for a concert. A concert that I had a not-so-secret desire to see. I immediately called Buni and Sarah, thinking they were pretty much my only friends would be up for the concerty goodness. Sarah declined, as she had already seen the band in concert. Buni was in.

And thus it began.

I bought Bon Jovi tickets.

They were more than I thought they would be, but still I thought, Bon Jovi. C'mon! They're clearly worth it. It was scheduled to be at the new Wembley Arena, so I bought mediocre seats and thought no more of it.

A few months ago, I got an email from Ticketmaster. Wembley wasn't going to be ready, so the concert was being moved to Milton Keynes. Travelling to see Bon Jovi? Even better! Now it's an event!

And yesterday was event day.

The gates opened at 2, so we figured we'd get there for about 3. Nickelback, the opening band, was scheduled to go on at 6, so that would give us plenty of time to snag a good spot. Oh, that's right. We did some planning.



This was the crowd when we arrived. We got there at about 4, and we thought this was crowded.

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Oh, we had no idea what was coming. We snagged a spot on the sloped bit, just to the right of this walkway thingy.

After about an hour, a few more people had turned up.

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Man, that's a lot of people. So, we sat in the sun for a few hours, drank some beers, contemplated which t-shirts to buy, chatted, the usual. Good times were had by all.

At about 5:30ish, the first opening band went on. It was a band called Spin, who won some kind of contest on some radio station to open for Bon Jovi. They were from Leeds, I think. They were kind of annoying. The lead singer was all "Milton Keynes! You must love us! Now sing along to this song you've never heard! Woooo!" Dude. Relax. They're here to see Bon Jovi. No one cares about you.

Nickelback was on after them. Now, I am not a Nickelback fan. I find them annoying. I tend to describe their music as "that one song and all those other songs that sound like that one song." So, I assumed that they would suck.

Now, we all know what happens when we "assume", don't we? That's right. Nickelback isn't as bad as you think they'll be. What? That's the definition of assume that I'm familiar with. This is just the first time I've been able to properly use it.

The lead singer guy was very funny and charming. So even though I wasn't the hugest fan of their music, I find myself liking them now. At one point Buni turned to me and said "Dude, he just sounded just like you." We're both Canadian. It's in our Canadian genes. We're funny, and we all sound the same.

Not everyone enjoyed the Nickelback though.

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This lady slept right through them. Well, you can't win 'em all.

But then Nickelback was done! And you know what that means!

DSCN0734

That's right. The last of the sixty five thousand people turned up. All there for Bon Jovi. Sixty. Five. THOUSAND. That is a LOT of freaking Bon Jovi fans.

And then there they were! Bon Jovi, right there in front of me. Well, there were about thirty thousand people in between us. But still!

DSCN0744

Bon Jovi! Hee! They came onstage, and I turned to Buni and was all "Dude! That's totally Bon Jovi!" Hee!

I have to say, they were pretty awesome. They played for two and a half hours, pretty much straight. They played most of their big hits, and in a good order. They mixed the big singalong hits with the slightly more obscure songs and newer stuff. And they were great.

DSCN0745

They had a bass player, rhythm guitarist and keyboard player with them, but they didn't get any screen time. That was all for Bon Jovi. And they were awesome.

The part that I loved best was that they were clearly having such a good time. And they obviously like each other a lot. And goddamn, Jon Bon Jovi is a good looking guy when he smiles. They were obviously loving the fact that there were sixty five thousand Bon Jovi fans singing along with every word.

When they sang "Livin' On A Prayer", Jon Bon Jovi started by singing the chorus alone by himself on the stage, and got the whole audience singing along. Sixty five thousand people singing the chorus to your song, and clearly loving every single second. How could that not be the biggest rush of all time?

DSCN0746

It was dark by this time, and when the song started, the sea of people in front of me lit up with little white lights. Thousands of people recording video and audio on their mobile phones. Awesome.

They didn't play "Blaze of Glory", which was the only disappointment, but it's technically a Jon Bon Jovi solo song, so I didn't really mind.

As the concert was ending, I was getting nervous though. Sixty five thousand people in Milton Keynes. Now, let's say that a quarter of those people were taking the train back to London. That's probably a conservative estimate. So, that's sixteen thousand two hundred and fifty people getting trains, the last of which is leaving at 12:13am. Bon Jovi finished at 10:30. It's a half hour walk back to the station. That means that there will be one hour and 13 minutes to get those sixteen thousand two hundred and fifty people onto trains.

Obviously, some of them are going to be stranded in Milton Keynes. I was determined to not be one of those people. Fortunately, we got on a train. I was happy that we made one. Not everyone shared that sensible attitude. This short blonde woman wearing inappropriate footwear was moaning the entire time we were lined up to get into the station. Now, I thought they had the whole thing organized pretty well. The line was moving, they were only letting people into the station when there were trains to get on, and there were obviously more trains than normal running. But no, she was all "this is so stupid and frustrating, I'm meeting someone, why am I not on a train already, I'm so angry, this is so annoying, why aren't I on a train, I'd better meet that person or I'll kick some ass".

I wanted to kick her ass, but I resisted. I'm strong like that. We got on a train, sadly without any seats left. I sat on the floor and we got to Euston in time for me to catch the second last tube train. Sweet!

Not so sweet was Buni's experience on the tube, where she caught her last train, and ended up on the same car as annoying blonde woman. Apparently her friend was pointing out to her that even though they got back to London later than she planned, they were lucky enough to get the last tube train. Obviously, logic is not welcome to such a crazy person. She's just lucky I wasn't on that train, because I don't know if I'm strong enough not to have kicked her ass then. You do not want to mess with me.

In summary: Bon Jovi is awesome. Blonde women with inappropriate footwear are annoying. The rest of the photos are here. Woo! Bon Jovi!

This Post Is Not About Bon Jovi

I was all set for the next post to be a witty and entertaining story of the adventures of Buni and Alice and their Bon Jovi concert attendance.

That was until a bug flew in my ear.

People, a bug flew in my ear.

It did not hover in the perimeter of my ear area. It did not do an uncomfortably close fly-by that freaked me out. It did not fly into my hair and get stuck.

A bug just flew into my ear. Into the inside of my ear. As in, there was a bug in my head.

Now you might be the most rational and calm and able to deal with a crisis person in the world. But I defy you to remain calm when a bug flies into your ear. It's just not possible.

It's not just freaky because you're aware of the bug on a logical level, and it's icky. It's freaky because you can hear the wings flapping inside your head. INSIDE YOUR HEAD. And that is a level of freakoutedness that I had not believed possible, until I achieved it moments ago.

My first instinct was a "get it out get it out get it out get it out" panic that had me scratching and poking and trying to get the bug out. That didn't do anything, and the bug was clearly panicking as the wing flapping was very intense and frequent. My freaking out only increased with the bug's panic levels, so I raced to the bathroom to try and use a Q-Tip to extricate the bug. That was also unsuccessful. Also unsuccessful was banging the other side of my head, as if I had water stuck in ear, and not a living, breathing flapping bug.

I was practically in tears at this point, so decided to call NHS Direct to see if they had any protocol on getting bugs out of people's ears. Maybe there's a system. I don't know. I've never had a bug in my head before.

Imagine, if you will, my panic increasing and freakoutedness reaching startling new levels as I proceed to do the following: start up the computer, open Explorer, Google "NHS Direct", call, listen to the huge introduction message, get disconnected, call again, listen to the huge message again, get put on hold, and finally speak to someone.

She refused to talk to me, because I don't know the number I am calling from. They need a call-back number apparently. And yes, perhaps I should know my own home number by heart, but I never call it! Or give it out to people! Or really use the phone for anything except ordering takeaway food.

Anyway, she wouldn't help me, so I hung up in disgust.

By this point, the flapping had slowed. It was now a long pause, feeble flap, long pause pattern, rather than the short pause, intense burst of speedy flapping, short pause that was FREAKING ME OUT.

And then the the flapping stopped.

So, you know earlier, when I was all "I had a bug in my head"? That was misleading.

The truth is I have a bug in my head.

But I think it's dead now, so hopefully I can get some sleep.

Wednesday, June 07, 2006

Hello Kitty!

Well, hi there Internet! I'm glad you stopped by. I've got a couple adorable girls I'd like you to meet.

Meet the most adorable kittens in the world.

The name debate carried on until yesterday afternoon, when my friend Jess at work pointed out that I would be getting them on 06/06/06, so they should have eeeeeeeeeevil names. Jess came up with the names, and Aaron came up with the abbreviations. It's all about teamwork here at the blog. My friends are very clever, so I'd like you to meet Lucy and Beez.

Lucy (short for Lucifer) is on the left, and she's very adventurous and outgoing. She's also sleeker looking and a bit bigger. Beez (short for Beelzebub) is on the right and she's much shyer. She's also quite fluffy.

And they could not be cuter if they tried. Seriously, they're adorable. It's a wonder I could make it to work today, what with the overwhelming cute factor in my flat threatening to keep me at home.

How can you not love this face?



This is Beez, looking adorable.

They were a bit shy and scared when I brought them home and had them in the kitchen, but once they got into the living room, the inhibitions came off and the cuteness ran rampant.


They really liked the shelves.

They're just as cute as can be and I love them to bits already. We just need to work on Beez's shyness. Last night, Lucy slept on my bed and Beez slept under it. Aw, bless.

For the full photo spectacular, Flickr away, Internet. Enjoy.

Monday, June 05, 2006

In anticipation of KITTENS!!...

I give you the nerd test.

I am nerdier than 16% of all people. Are you nerdier? Click here to find out!

The kittens will not be nerds.