Snow Day!

This was the view from our apartment yesterday (Sunday) morning:
This was the view this morning:The city has shut down, much like it did during the new year snow storm of 1996-97. I hear the buses are running again, but the university closed for the day. Michael and I will spend our time fighting over the computer to finish up our last assignments, but we'll also take breaks to watch cartoons. That's what you're supposed to do on a snow day, right?

I said it's a celebration

There are many celebrations today. Happy anniversary Mom and Dad! Happy birthday Dad! Happy birthday Sarah H! Happy birthday (two days from today) Jillian! I thought of all of you as I sank my teeth into the amazing cake pictured below. Sarah's mom, Wendy, bought it at Wildfire bakery - it's vegan and wheat-free - and we devoured it last night. Happy day!

Rock Club Mayor

Remember how I want to be a mayor one day? Well, my dream has come true. I am the latest mayor of Rock Club! For those of you who don't know, Rock Club is like a book club, except instead of reading one book and talking about it, each participant brings a song to share and discuss. The mayor is a rotating position and isn't decided by an election or even bribery, so don't get too excited for me. I drew an ace from a deck of cards, what can I say?

This is where you come in, friends. The mayor gets to decide if there is a theme, and I can't decide. I have a few ideas floating around in my head, such as songs from soundtracks or cover songs, but I need suggestions. Another idea that a Rock Club member suggested was asking your parents to pick your song - I'm sure my Dad is already scheming.

I was anointed mayor at the last Rock Club gathering on Tuesday, so I've got some time to decide. The event was a cereal social - everyone brought a box of cereal so we could snack while we listened to the tunes (Shannon, at one point I had a cereal combination featuring Panda Peanut Butter Puffs, Count Chocula and bananas!). The theme was Shlong (Short songs and long songs), which gave me the opportunity to bring one of my favorite Jonathan Richman songs: New Teller. It clocked in at 1:39.

I've been on a real Jonathan Richman kick lately, and that is how I found the flip book animation featured below. I was searching for footage of Jonathan Richman dancing (I'm brain dead after writing many essays and I needed a break...). Sadly, he doesn't dance in this clip, but his guitar provides the accompaniment. I love flip books, and I love this artist's simple sketching style - maybe because it makes me think that I could make my own flip book one day. My favorite part is when the water bottle fills the great lakes. I also love that after viewing this sketch, I discovered that there's a whole world of flip book animation that I never knew about before. Oh, Internet.

Blog club

Lydia and Brie already posted this picture, but I'm posting it too because it's so cute. I understand that Robyn is burned that she wasn't invited out for blogger tea in Vancouver last week, but the fact is the whole get-together was quite tentative and we didn't realize it was a mini blogher conference until were all in the same car together. The best part was Lydia and Sarah R had never met Brie in person, even though they read each other's blogs. It's great how blogs bring people together - especially for tea and cake at Sweet Revenge. If we do it again, you're all invited!

If you're wondering, and I assume you are, my chocolate pudding cake was divine. The icing-pudding dilemma was fierce, but I think I picked the winner; the fact that the pudding cake was served warm helped me make my decision - it was a comfort on a cold, wet day in Vancouver.

Don't play with your food

I love nature, but one thing that I don't love about nature is animals that torture their prey. Is it really necessary? I guess I'm referring to cats and killer whales. This has been on my mind since I woke up at 3:30 am at Lydia's house to her frantic calls for help. No one was breaking into her house, which is the thought that got my heart racing; rather, Lydia's cat Neko was killing a mouse - slowly - under her bed. I ran to her room to find her standing on said bed. I didn't carry her out of the room, but I'm sure she wanted me to - she was that upset. You can read about the episode and the final outcome here and here.

While wasting some time on the internet looking for pictures of killer whales torturing seals (an activity I've seen on numerous documentaries), I came upon this clip from the BBC documentary Planet Earth. I'm posting it today because I used to have a problem with sharks, but now that I think about it, I might like them - more than cats and transient killer whales anyway (BC's resident killer whales don't eat seals or other whales, so I like them ok). The fact that sharks are killing machines means they don't make their prey suffer (more than necessary), and I'm onside with that.

I think it's one of the scariest clips I've ever seen in a nature documentary, probably because of the use of slow motion, so be forewarned. Everyone has time to watch it because it's only twenty seconds long.

The forecast calls for lightning

I'm taking an essay break to recommend that you read Rick Mercer's blog (see link on right). I'm not a huge fan of the Mercer Report, which can be seen on CBC TV, but I love the blog. And if I'm not mistaken, there's a bit of overlap between the two, which leads me to believe that the best bits from the show are captured in the blog. Here is an excerpt to whet your appetite:

Politicians love to make promises directly to seniors because they know seniors deserve a society’s respect, plus seniors have nothing to do all day so they actually vote. Election day and a slice of lemon meringue is a big day out for the blue rinse set.

Ceci n'est pas une bicyclette

This picture was taken a few years back, when Michael and I visited San Francisco for the first and only time. I'm posting it to draw attention to the bunny hugs (i.e. hoodies) that Shannon and I are wearing (click on the photo to see them a bit better). Shannon bought hers first, and I loved it so much that I bought my own (but it's not copying because mines navy). It features a skeleton on a bike, with no featured brand name. The problem is, I felt some sort of pressure to be an actual cyclist to justify wearing the hoody. I guess I felt that it made some sort of statement about biking and I didn't want to be a poser. I had a bike at the time, but it was an old beater that I rode around Main Street and that's about it.

Now that I live in Victoria I have a real bike, and I would venture to say that I ride it enough to feel comfortable in the hoody. I have fulfilled a tentative plan that I made years ago! Yesterday I rode my bike to see my grandma and I was proud that I ventured out in the rain. The trip was smooth, and I mused about the victorious blog post I would write about the experience. But then it came time to leave my grandma's, and the rain had gained momentum. I thought I could make it to my knitting date without getting too wet, but after one minute on the bike it became clear that I needed to go home. My shoes, pants, hands and hair were sopping wet, as you can see. If I really want to be a committed cyclist, I think I have to invest in some rain pants.

Sadly, the bad weather prevented me from seeing Sarah, but because we're so dedicated, we both knit a few stitches on our own. Good show.

Four things that are making me happy

I'm pretty busy with school right now (I'm just finishing up a report on government policy regarding the CBC) and I'm not accomplishing a whole lot as far as tentative plans go (although solving CBC's problems has long been on my list of things to do). However, I am excited about a few (four) things and I thought I should take a minute (a half hour) to share them with you.

1. Elephant Island

Some of our Victoria buddies are in this fabulous band, and we just went to see the last show of their cross-Canada tour last night. It was superb. For those of you who know Zoe, her brother Galen is one of the two lovely troubadours. I love Elephant Island's music, so I suggest you check out their website instantly and listen to some of the sample mp3s - my favorite is Nighttime. I find it goes down especially well with an ameretto and cola.

2. Fuzz Away

A couple of weeks ago I splurged and bought myself a fabric shaver for $15. It has changed my life - well, my wardrobe anyway. Aside from the fact that it uses up my rechargeable batteries without remorse, it has proven to be more useful than I thought possible. I've made many shirts, scarves and jackets look like new thanks to this little wonder of an invention. Forget razor blades - this baby is worth the investment because it makes upkeep easy, and it even comes with a two year warranty - especially important if you plan to use it a lot (e.g. you buy a lot of second hand clothes that you need to fix up).

3. Amy Sedaris

I really want to buy Amy's new book (pictured above), but I'm holding out until I'm done with school; it'll be a reward for my hard work. So while I can't go on about how amazing the book is, I can share a clip from her days on the David Letterman show. I especially want my dad to check out this link, because her character work is astounding (do you all know that my dad is a drama teacher?). So if you are interested and/or you are my dad, go to Brie's blog and watch this clip that she posted last month. Easy.

4. Knitting

This is my knitting buddy Sarah H. We met at a knitting class earlier this year and now we are fast friends. Also, we still knit! I'm not much better than I was then, but at least I can pearl with confidence. Sarah and I are actually meeting up at Bean Around the World for some knitting on Saturday - it'll provide me much needed respite from the CBC. If you want to come knit with us, say the word. I'll post my latest project when it's a little further along.