Roses and Thorns March 14 - 20

This felt like a pretty full week - especially the first half. Anyway, here we go...

Rose
On Monday Emily (the gal I met at the Chong n' Chong fundraiser) n' I met with the folks responsible for the Dana Larsen/End Prohibition/Free Marc Emery campaigns, to sign up as volunteers. I presented about four marketing ideas for various initiatives, and (if it's not immodest to say so) I think I really impressed everyone. I felt like a creative director. :) I'll share my ideas in Just a Plant ~ Part Two, even though not all of them are prohibition related. One of my ideas has to do with public transit.

Afterwards, Emily n' I hung out for a few hours. Even though she's quite a few years younger, it feels like we get along like old souls.

Thorn
Okay, until we either buy a new vacuum cleaner or get ours back from Kelowna, consider this to be a permanent thorn: Cleaning those effing carpets with a lint roller! Jim n' I almost bought a new vacuum cleaner yesterday, but I know that as soon as we do, ours will be returned. Actually, I think Cheryl might be bringing it with her next weekend when she comes to Vancouver. *fingers crossed* If not, we're buying a new one.

Rose
Tuesday night an old friend from out east was in town playing at Falconetti's. Mark moved from Aurora to the coast a few years ago, but I haven't seen him since he's been out here. It was great to catch-up a little n' watch him play. (The other musicians who performed were really good as well.) Mark gave me a copy of his CD, Fear No Journey, which is getting a little radio play on the island. Cool stuff.

Thorn
We requested a new parking space at our building, because the one we've got is tucked in a tight corner with a low pipe that Jim has bumped his head on a few times. Our superintendent agreed it was a bad spot and assigned us a new one where we've been parking for the last couple of weeks. However, right in front of our space there is a bunch of recycling n' garbage piled high. Jim asked our super twice to confirm if he's parking in the right space (because we'd eventually like to use that spot to store our winter tires). The super said yes, and that the garbage belonged to the lady who parks next to us, but that she's just slow to remove it. (The space in front of her spot is cluttered with tons of crap as well.)

Anyway, yesterday afternoon there was a note on our car saying that it wasn't our spot and that our car would be towed on Sunday if we were still parked there. We think the note is from the hoarder parked next to us who has claimed the spot as her overflow dumping ground. We also think it might be from her because she often parks on an angle that crowds our space. Jim returned the car to our old spot, and then contacted our super this a.m. to have him confirm whether that other space is indeed ours or not. He hasn't gotten back to us about it yet... :P

Such a nuisance.

Rose
Also on Tuesday evening, I hooked up with my friend Laura for dinner, who accompanied me to Mark's show afterwards. Laura was the script supervisor on DE, and a really great gal. Our dinner n' show slowly turned into a very late, very fun night. Although I did wake up with the sliiiiighteeeeest twinge of a headache (late) Wednesday morning. Not enough for an tylenol, but enough to let me know that I was probably having too much fun on a weeknight. ;)

Thorn
The main support beam on our couch was broken during the move - so this week we finally came to terms with the fact that we're might have to suck it up and blow some money on a new couch (y'know, because we're so rich n' everything). Or... I don't know... we'll see... :P

For the last month, we've tried using a blanket beneath one of the cushions to prop it up where the base is broken -- even so, the whole thing is kinda uncomfortable if we both sit on the couch at the same time. It really sinks, which really stinks. I'm pretty sure that neither of us would trust more than two people to sit on it at a time. 

Anyway... yeah... I'm trying to look on the bright side which is that this couch is too big for our new apartment anyway, and that one of those smaller condo-sized couches would make more sense. Hindsight, space-wise we should've kept the smaller love seat instead... Of course, if it had gotten broken en route, we'd still be in the same boat.

Rose
I needed to buy some new mascara this week. Even though I knew what brand I was looking for, I'm the sort of person who likes to browse make-up aisles like I would an art supply store. Just leave me alone n' let me wander to my heart's content, exploring the colours, brands, packaging, benefits n' features... It always ruins my browsing fun whenever sales people force me to identify exactly what I want to purchase.  :P (Although I guess by them enforcing focus, they do prevent me from spending too much money on stuff I probably don't need...)

So this time when I went to pick up my mascara, I wasn't there for 30 seconds when I was jumped on by about three bored sales associates. I let them do their salesy job, and actually ended up taking their advice by buying a brand of mascara I had never seen before. And because I'm writing this beneath the rose subhead, I shouldn't need to tell you that their advice paid off...

Actually, the first product one of the girls recommended had a comb applicator, and I hate those. I know some people who swear by 'em, but I find that I often end up blinking whenever I use them, which is always a piss off. Instead it was the second product that all three girls suggested - Marcell Power Volume mascara. I found that it really lengthens n' thickens in just one application. Use more than two coats, and your eyelashes would probably start looking like falsies. It also doesn't clump, smudge or flake. (Although if you get it, you might want to wipe off the end of the wand before using, as the straight brush tends to grab a lot of excess there.) Anyway, I'm impressed with the results. I think it is pure mascara awesomeness!

Thorn
I traded in a shwack of my CDs this week, and only got $28 for them because the guy said most of them were scratched, which reduces them to $1 each. I think what happened was because many of them were in two or three-packs, so even if just one was scratched in the pack, I'd still only get dollar for each CD in the set, regardless if the others were in perfect condition. (If you follow me n' that run-on sentence...?) Although I have to admit, that I haven't always been so careful with my CDs...

Rose
Instead of taking the cash, I traded my CDs in for three others:

Wagonchrist - Tally Ho!: I had heard of this album before, but had never seen it anywhere. Anyway, much like the other Wagonchrist album I own "Marsupial", it's pretty fabulous.

DJ Spooky - Riddum Warfare: This was my first and favourite album I owned by DJ Spooky. Unfortunately Mike got custody of it when we split, and I got all the DJ Spooky leftovers. I haven't seen this album anywhere since, and I'm often too lazy to special order things, so it's exciting to finally have it back!

DJ Shadow - Preemptive Strike - Oh my goodness, what an amazing find this one was!  It's a two-disc set, but one of the CDs is a 24-minute track of absolute grooviness. Shortly after pressing play, I was jolted back in time, realizing that I heard this album twice before: Once when I was 19 and still living in Pemmytown. We had a party and were playing around with a video camera, when this guy started freestyle rapping to it. It was quite impressive. Then about a year later when I was living in London, we spent an afternoon visiting the guy who could rap, and someone popped the CD in again, (but he didn't rap that time).

I remember love, love, loving it back then and wanting to track down a copy for myself.  I believe the CD actually belonged to my old roommate Shawn, who owned a lot of groovy stuff. Anyway, over ten years later and I'm happy to finally own it, and still love, love, love it. Yay! :)

As mentioned in my last R n' T post, I had planned on picking up Bad Religion - Against the Grain as well, but I never made it that far, before I found these three gems.

Okay, I think that's it for another week!