Thursday, June 30, 2011
TFF: Barney's Version
I've been wanting to see this one for a while. I love Paul Giamatti and Dustin Hoffman. I also love movies that go through the years like Forrest Gump, Benjamin Buttons, Walk Hard, etc.
TMI
I'm gonna pretend that I'm an old person, or at least my mother, and give you too much information (TMI) about the latest ailment I've been dealing with. Actually, it's not even an ailment... it's been more of a "What the hell is that, and why won't it go away?" experience.
I may have mentioned in my Ketchup post that I had a small eye infection about a month n' a half ago. Anyway, when the antibiotics didn't completely dissolve the little bump within three days, I returned to the clinic as the doctor suggested. She examined it again and while she thought the infection looked better, she noticed that the little blister inside my eyelid was a bit blue, which means that it's over a vein - except she couldn't understand why that blue vein was there.
She asked if I had suffered a head injury recently. Nope. She suggested that perhaps it was a varicose vein and that I might've always had it. Either way, she didn't seem too worried, but she wanted to make an appointment with an eye specialist for me to get it checked out.
Even though I knew everything would likely be okay, getting a shrug and an "I don't know" from a doctor can be a tiny bit unsettling. I'd rather she had said, "It's nothing. Don't worry about it. It'll go away on it's own." I waited a week for her to make the appointment with the specialist. I thought of calling her office back about it, when finally I got the call. My appointment would be another three weeks away. Ugh.
I hoped the little blue blister would go away in that time. It doesn't hurt and it's really only noticeable when I pull back my eyelid, which isn't something people normally do. But still... Because I know it's there, I've found myself pulling my eyelid back far more than usual ~ apparently only to freak myself out about it. :P
Three weeks passed, and it didn't go away. My appointment was at 8:15 this morning, and so last night it was really on my mind. Throughout the evening, I kept giving Jim all these reasons why I might have this vein/bump. He was patient with me and my random optimistic hypotheses.
"Maybe it's always been there, like she said? I've never flipped my eyelid up to see it. It could be a result of my head injury when I was a kid? It was right over the same eye. That's probably what it's from! I heard the doctors say that the gash severed a nerve. Maybe the infection just displaced that nerve or vein, pushing it forward a bit? Maybe the impact made it into a varicose vein? Isn't it weird that I had 32 stitches in my head, and now maybe something from that accident has come back to haunt me as soon as I turn 32?!"
That last line gave me the willies, as my mind turned to dark thoughts of dormant blood clots. I always thought I had been lucky to have slept through that car accident - I hadn't felt a thing! (...until the stitches) - but maybe the car accident gets the last laugh!
Jim knocked some sense into me with his sweet kindness, assuring that I'd be fine and that he wanted to go with me... and then he told me to stop looking at it in the mirror and go to bed.
I awoke in much more confident spirits as we headed off to the specialist.
The doctor gave me the usual eye test. He informed me that I don't need glasses. He thinks the former eye clinic ripped me off because I have perfect 20/20 vision. (Although I will admit that the slight magnification and glare-blocking lens does take the headachy edge off when painting or staring at a computer for too long. But maybe some rest or a tylenol would've had the same effect? :P)
After the eye test, I told him that I actually wasn't there for glasses, but that I was supposed to see him about a vein in my eyelid.
He examined it carefully and gave me the exact response I was hoping for, "It's nothing to worry about. Just a little blister. It'll go away on it's own."
Annnnnd exhale!
I may have mentioned in my Ketchup post that I had a small eye infection about a month n' a half ago. Anyway, when the antibiotics didn't completely dissolve the little bump within three days, I returned to the clinic as the doctor suggested. She examined it again and while she thought the infection looked better, she noticed that the little blister inside my eyelid was a bit blue, which means that it's over a vein - except she couldn't understand why that blue vein was there.
She asked if I had suffered a head injury recently. Nope. She suggested that perhaps it was a varicose vein and that I might've always had it. Either way, she didn't seem too worried, but she wanted to make an appointment with an eye specialist for me to get it checked out.
Even though I knew everything would likely be okay, getting a shrug and an "I don't know" from a doctor can be a tiny bit unsettling. I'd rather she had said, "It's nothing. Don't worry about it. It'll go away on it's own." I waited a week for her to make the appointment with the specialist. I thought of calling her office back about it, when finally I got the call. My appointment would be another three weeks away. Ugh.
I hoped the little blue blister would go away in that time. It doesn't hurt and it's really only noticeable when I pull back my eyelid, which isn't something people normally do. But still... Because I know it's there, I've found myself pulling my eyelid back far more than usual ~ apparently only to freak myself out about it. :P
Three weeks passed, and it didn't go away. My appointment was at 8:15 this morning, and so last night it was really on my mind. Throughout the evening, I kept giving Jim all these reasons why I might have this vein/bump. He was patient with me and my random optimistic hypotheses.
"Maybe it's always been there, like she said? I've never flipped my eyelid up to see it. It could be a result of my head injury when I was a kid? It was right over the same eye. That's probably what it's from! I heard the doctors say that the gash severed a nerve. Maybe the infection just displaced that nerve or vein, pushing it forward a bit? Maybe the impact made it into a varicose vein? Isn't it weird that I had 32 stitches in my head, and now maybe something from that accident has come back to haunt me as soon as I turn 32?!"
That last line gave me the willies, as my mind turned to dark thoughts of dormant blood clots. I always thought I had been lucky to have slept through that car accident - I hadn't felt a thing! (...until the stitches) - but maybe the car accident gets the last laugh!
Jim knocked some sense into me with his sweet kindness, assuring that I'd be fine and that he wanted to go with me... and then he told me to stop looking at it in the mirror and go to bed.
I awoke in much more confident spirits as we headed off to the specialist.
The doctor gave me the usual eye test. He informed me that I don't need glasses. He thinks the former eye clinic ripped me off because I have perfect 20/20 vision. (Although I will admit that the slight magnification and glare-blocking lens does take the headachy edge off when painting or staring at a computer for too long. But maybe some rest or a tylenol would've had the same effect? :P)
After the eye test, I told him that I actually wasn't there for glasses, but that I was supposed to see him about a vein in my eyelid.
He examined it carefully and gave me the exact response I was hoping for, "It's nothing to worry about. Just a little blister. It'll go away on it's own."
Annnnnd exhale!
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Let's Take a Walk!
**These pictures were taken in the spring, but I've been wanting to post 'em for a while.**
Whenever I go for a walk, I always take my time going down East 6th, so I can admire the knotty elms. I love how their twisty limbs reach up to the sky. They are especially gorgeous now that all their leaves have filled in. I'll have to take another picture.
Many were slated for removal as noted on decorated doilies announcing "Save The East 6th Elms!" Recently a batch of new signs have been posted saying, "This tree has been saved!" Apparently, the city was going to remove a bunch of these beauties and replace them with much smaller trees, because the annual pruning costs are so high. In the end, thirty trees have been spared from the wood chipper, and only six precarious looking ones will be removed.
Along my travels, the trees take on a different shade. (Or at least they did in the spring.) In the weeks after this photo, the sidewalks soon became carpeted with bubblegum-hued petals. So gorgeous!
Not far from this particular row of trees is the polka dot house. Using these photos, I took Marc Emery for a little walk since he obviously doesn't get out much. He really enjoyed the photo tour and had this to say about the polka dot house:
"I thought the pink polka dots on white was wonderful, but blue porch steps? Come on! Plus one window blind is blue while the other is white. That's wrong! The blue is intentional as the top of the chimney is blue on top of white. The steps should've been black and one window blind black with a black chimney tip on top of white. Then the green hedges would work better too!"
Ha. I think I'd have to agree. Black would've been a lot more striking than blue.
Every spring, I make a point of walking past yards with magnolia trees. I can't wait to catch a glimpse of their fleeting beauty. I wish magnolias blossomed year round.
Hiding behind a gorgeous magnolia tree on East 4th resides the very rare rhinokin. I think it actually may be the last one of it's kind. "Too weird to live, and too rare to die."
Further up the street is a supagroovy driftwood fence. I can only imagine how much fun someone must've had beachcombing for all that driftwood n' collecting those rocks, and then making something crazy cool out of it. Jealous. I want to make a driftwood fence!
On a somewhat related note, did you know that I collect rocks? I've had to reduce my collection, but I think I must still have about 50 - 70 small ones. I've never actually counted... (Yes, I'm a nerd!)
Also in the springtime I love the tulips in all their many shades and varieties. In Amsterdam there were these little outdoor mini-shops/kiosks that sell like a million types of tulips. (I might be exaggerating that figure a bit.) I wanted to bring some back, but were would I have planted them? :P Oh, to have just a small patch of grass and some sun!
Whenever I go for a walk, I always take my time going down East 6th, so I can admire the knotty elms. I love how their twisty limbs reach up to the sky. They are especially gorgeous now that all their leaves have filled in. I'll have to take another picture.
Many were slated for removal as noted on decorated doilies announcing "Save The East 6th Elms!" Recently a batch of new signs have been posted saying, "This tree has been saved!" Apparently, the city was going to remove a bunch of these beauties and replace them with much smaller trees, because the annual pruning costs are so high. In the end, thirty trees have been spared from the wood chipper, and only six precarious looking ones will be removed.
Along my travels, the trees take on a different shade. (Or at least they did in the spring.) In the weeks after this photo, the sidewalks soon became carpeted with bubblegum-hued petals. So gorgeous!
Not far from this particular row of trees is the polka dot house. Using these photos, I took Marc Emery for a little walk since he obviously doesn't get out much. He really enjoyed the photo tour and had this to say about the polka dot house:
"I thought the pink polka dots on white was wonderful, but blue porch steps? Come on! Plus one window blind is blue while the other is white. That's wrong! The blue is intentional as the top of the chimney is blue on top of white. The steps should've been black and one window blind black with a black chimney tip on top of white. Then the green hedges would work better too!"
Ha. I think I'd have to agree. Black would've been a lot more striking than blue.
Every spring, I make a point of walking past yards with magnolia trees. I can't wait to catch a glimpse of their fleeting beauty. I wish magnolias blossomed year round.
Hiding behind a gorgeous magnolia tree on East 4th resides the very rare rhinokin. I think it actually may be the last one of it's kind. "Too weird to live, and too rare to die."
Further up the street is a supagroovy driftwood fence. I can only imagine how much fun someone must've had beachcombing for all that driftwood n' collecting those rocks, and then making something crazy cool out of it. Jealous. I want to make a driftwood fence!
On a somewhat related note, did you know that I collect rocks? I've had to reduce my collection, but I think I must still have about 50 - 70 small ones. I've never actually counted... (Yes, I'm a nerd!)
Also in the springtime I love the tulips in all their many shades and varieties. In Amsterdam there were these little outdoor mini-shops/kiosks that sell like a million types of tulips. (I might be exaggerating that figure a bit.) I wanted to bring some back, but were would I have planted them? :P Oh, to have just a small patch of grass and some sun!
Well, look at that! The street lights just came on. It's getting pretty late, so maybe we should end the walk and part ways here. Have a good night.
Monday, June 27, 2011
Tonight's Feature Film: Superbad
I love Superbad! It's so super good! (Pun not really intended.) It's been a while since we've watched it, so we're gonna pop it in right. now.
Saturday, June 25, 2011
Barking Cat
From time to time, our black cat Luna growls like a dog when she hears people in the hallway. She certainly puts on a brave face for a girl who runs away from the Swiffer, and always hides for over an hour whenever we vacuum. But this barking cat is too funny and so strange.
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
Meatless Anyday
Lately I've been doing a lot of alternating between two new favourite recipes. They're both super easy and super tasty (at least IMHO).
The first one is called California Chicken, a recipe I've tweaked from Allrecipes. The second is just a concoction I recently made up with ingredients we often have on hand. It doesn't have a real name, so let's just call it "Mellowdee's Mishmash".
California Chicken
Serves 2
Ingredients
1 tsp olive oil
2 President's Choice World's Best Meatless Chicken Breasts
2 tbsp of hot sauce or pesto or whatever your little heart desires
1 tomato
4 - 6 slices of mozzarella cheese
1/2 an avocado, sliced
Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350. You can either brown your faux chicken in a pan before baking, or just brush the oil on your baking dish and cook it that way. Whatever.
2. Once you've browned your chicken, (or not), spoon on a layer of whatever sauce you like. I've twisted this recipe several different ways. The first time I just marinated it in oil, lemon n' garlic powder beforehand. Another time I spread on a layer of hot sauce. Tonight I'm making it with pesto. It's all good.
3. Put a couple slices of tomatoes on top of the breast, followed by a couple slices of cheese. Then toss 'er in the oven for 15 - 20 minutes.
4. Once it's all cooked and the cheese has melted (and inevitably slid down the side of the breast and onto the pan), top it with a couple slices of avocado and serve.
Mellowdee's Mishmash
Serves 4
Ingredients
3 tbsp olive oil
4 tbsp balsamic vinegar
(FYI: the oil n' balsamic are total ballpark measurements, as I just splash it in there. Use your judgement.)
1 garlic clove, minced
1/2 red onion, sliced
1 1/2 peppers, cut into strips - I like to be fancy n' mix it up by using 1/2 red, 1/2 yellow and 1/2 orange, if I have a variety on hand.
3 President's Choice World's Best Meatless Chicken Breasts, thawed and sliced
Dash of basil, oregano and pepper
3 cups of baby spinach
1 mango, chopped OR a few tbsps of parmesan cheese
Directions
1. Preheat over to 400. In a large baking dish toss together the olive oil, balsamic, garlic, onion, peppers, chicken and spices. Cook for about 25 minutes, mixing once or twice.
2. Dress each plate with a bed of baby spinach, then put the chicken-pepper mixture on top. Drizzle leftover oil n' balsamic over everything.
3. Top with mango. Alternately, omit the mango and sprinkle with parmesan cheese.
I don't know what you'd call it? Maybe Warm Chicken, Pepper, Spinach and Mango Salad? Nah. I think I prefer "Mellowdee's Mishmash". Either way, it's pretty good.
The first one is called California Chicken, a recipe I've tweaked from Allrecipes. The second is just a concoction I recently made up with ingredients we often have on hand. It doesn't have a real name, so let's just call it "Mellowdee's Mishmash".
California Chicken
Serves 2
Ingredients
1 tsp olive oil
2 President's Choice World's Best Meatless Chicken Breasts
2 tbsp of hot sauce or pesto or whatever your little heart desires
1 tomato
4 - 6 slices of mozzarella cheese
1/2 an avocado, sliced
Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350. You can either brown your faux chicken in a pan before baking, or just brush the oil on your baking dish and cook it that way. Whatever.
2. Once you've browned your chicken, (or not), spoon on a layer of whatever sauce you like. I've twisted this recipe several different ways. The first time I just marinated it in oil, lemon n' garlic powder beforehand. Another time I spread on a layer of hot sauce. Tonight I'm making it with pesto. It's all good.
3. Put a couple slices of tomatoes on top of the breast, followed by a couple slices of cheese. Then toss 'er in the oven for 15 - 20 minutes.
4. Once it's all cooked and the cheese has melted (and inevitably slid down the side of the breast and onto the pan), top it with a couple slices of avocado and serve.
Mellowdee's Mishmash
Serves 4
Ingredients
3 tbsp olive oil
4 tbsp balsamic vinegar
(FYI: the oil n' balsamic are total ballpark measurements, as I just splash it in there. Use your judgement.)
1 garlic clove, minced
1/2 red onion, sliced
1 1/2 peppers, cut into strips - I like to be fancy n' mix it up by using 1/2 red, 1/2 yellow and 1/2 orange, if I have a variety on hand.
3 President's Choice World's Best Meatless Chicken Breasts, thawed and sliced
Dash of basil, oregano and pepper
3 cups of baby spinach
1 mango, chopped OR a few tbsps of parmesan cheese
Directions
1. Preheat over to 400. In a large baking dish toss together the olive oil, balsamic, garlic, onion, peppers, chicken and spices. Cook for about 25 minutes, mixing once or twice.
2. Dress each plate with a bed of baby spinach, then put the chicken-pepper mixture on top. Drizzle leftover oil n' balsamic over everything.
3. Top with mango. Alternately, omit the mango and sprinkle with parmesan cheese.
I don't know what you'd call it? Maybe Warm Chicken, Pepper, Spinach and Mango Salad? Nah. I think I prefer "Mellowdee's Mishmash". Either way, it's pretty good.
Back to the Brush
For far too long "Suzie's Power" has been sitting on my easel collecting dust. She was the first oil painting I had tackled in a long time, as I had been focused more on acrylics since early 2008. When I started painting her last summer, my oil technique was rusty, heavily influenced by an acrylic hand and expectations. Fortunately, oil is forgiving and I eventually (sort of) found my groove.
But no sooner had I reacquainted myself with oil's fluid blend-friendly ways, we had to relocate. I brought my art supplies with me when we moved into my cousin's basement in Maple Ridge. However, I lacked the time and inspiration to put paint to brush, and brush to canvas. For the next few months I found myself consumed with the movie. Not to mention, I also had to start and finish my sketchbook project. (And I thought a flip book would be quick n' easy. Ha!)
Finally there came a day when I decided to give SP some well-deserved love. Alas, I grabbed the wrong friggin' brush, mixed a bad batch of colour, and bunged everything up. Ugh. She was hideous. A beautiful soul, scarred by thick maroon lines. So I set SP back in the corner for the next few months to dry and delay.
Once we moved to our new Vancouver home, I rested my easel beside our bed. There SP taunted me. For the last few months she has been the last thing I see every night as I go to sleep, and first thing I see every morning.
"Fix me!", she would whisper.
Once I had more or less organized our new place, I thought it might be time to get back into painting. But instead of SP, I opted for a mango liquor bottle. A small, quick project, hoping it would be like kindling to ignite the flame.
I finished the bottle, and then considered tackling SP again. But it was clear that I needed some gesso to fix up my mess. (For you non-painterly folk, gesso is a thick white base that is used to prime a canvas and can also be used as a painter's substitute for 'Liquid Paper'. If only someone could invent an undo button. I can't tell you how often I mess up and then think, "Shit! Undo!" Ah, this computer age we live in...)
In the meantime I started a second project. A small 40th birthday gift for my SIL. I finished 2/3's of it. Then amidst a cleaning frenzy, I lost my painter's spark. I don't know if it fell behind my dresser or got bagged up with some old clothes, but it left me... or perhaps it was simply transferred to larger canvases - namely walls. I took on the task of painting our kitchen and our bathroom. My artistic sensibilities found a new purpose as I put a lot of energy into decorating, and making this new home a place where I actually wanted to live. A couple more months passed. (Needless to say, we gave Cheryl something else for her birthday instead.)
All the while, Suzie's Power hung out in our bedroom. The more things I checked off my to-do list, the louder her voice became, "Fix me, dammit! You can't ignore me forever." And I couldn't. The guilt hung over my head. She has so much potential, but instead there she sat, unfinished. Her botched shiny face attracting a light layer of dust and cat hair. I promised to get her some gesso soon.
But I lied. Despite the best of intentions to buy some while wandering the artsy Granville Island, I spent far too much time pouring over veggies and flowers in the public market, that Opus had closed by the time I made it there. (Okay, okay... To be honest, I didn't actually make it all the way to Opus. My shoes were giving me blisters - a springtime blessing I always seem to endure - and I knew they'd probably be closed by the time I hobbled over there, since it was already after 6. So I decided to spare my tender tootsies and headed back to the car instead.)
When we returned home, SP gave me a disappointed look for not planning my island visit better. "Why didn't you go to Opus first, dummy? Wasn't that the whole point? What is wrong with you woman?!"
I knew I had to make her a priority. The next week, while Jim n' I were out n' about, I dragged him into an art supply store and grabbed a tube of gesso. Back home, as I walked in the door, Suzie's Power blew me a kiss, "Finally! You've done good."
Unfortunately, the gesso sat in my purse for a few days and then on top of my other art supplies as I became distracted by more pressing household chores, like taxes, cleaning off the balcony, and trying to start a little flower garden (which I suppose wasn't so pressing).
Suzie's Power stifled her scream to a defeated sigh, "For f*ck's sake...."
Then a few days ago, I got a groupon offer for half off at Raw Canvas. It's this super neat sounding place where you can paint, while noshing on all organic eats n' vino. Sounds like a good time. I was tempted to buy myself a coupon.... but then I realized that if I want to paint while sipping on a glass of wine, I can do that right here for free! I don't need to no darn coupon. (Although I still think it's a cool idea with the whole socializing factor.)
I went into our bedroom and woke SP by gently wiping the dust off her face. I grabbed my easel, paints n' pallet and headed outside. With our balcony now cleaned off, it's the perfect little open air studio. I set up my easel so SP is blocking my view of our garbage and recycling. Above her I can see the mountains on the north shore. Crows watch from a nearby tree. Below, I can hear people speaking in different languages or with a variety of accents. (I don't know why our apartment/Vancouver's multiculturalism excites me so much, but it really, really does. I love that through our bathroom vents, I can often hear little children playing in some language I don't understand.)
I gessoed over the ugly patches, shaving down SP's silhouette, and redefining her with new contours and colours. While still very much a work in progress, you can see her beautiful potential beginning to shine once again. We smiled at each other as I made careful strokes, my oil-based groove hitting it's stride.
Oh my goodness, I can't even articulate how good it feels to be painting her again. Why did it take me so long?
But no sooner had I reacquainted myself with oil's fluid blend-friendly ways, we had to relocate. I brought my art supplies with me when we moved into my cousin's basement in Maple Ridge. However, I lacked the time and inspiration to put paint to brush, and brush to canvas. For the next few months I found myself consumed with the movie. Not to mention, I also had to start and finish my sketchbook project. (And I thought a flip book would be quick n' easy. Ha!)
Finally there came a day when I decided to give SP some well-deserved love. Alas, I grabbed the wrong friggin' brush, mixed a bad batch of colour, and bunged everything up. Ugh. She was hideous. A beautiful soul, scarred by thick maroon lines. So I set SP back in the corner for the next few months to dry and delay.
Once we moved to our new Vancouver home, I rested my easel beside our bed. There SP taunted me. For the last few months she has been the last thing I see every night as I go to sleep, and first thing I see every morning.
"Fix me!", she would whisper.
I finished the bottle, and then considered tackling SP again. But it was clear that I needed some gesso to fix up my mess. (For you non-painterly folk, gesso is a thick white base that is used to prime a canvas and can also be used as a painter's substitute for 'Liquid Paper'. If only someone could invent an undo button. I can't tell you how often I mess up and then think, "Shit! Undo!" Ah, this computer age we live in...)
In the meantime I started a second project. A small 40th birthday gift for my SIL. I finished 2/3's of it. Then amidst a cleaning frenzy, I lost my painter's spark. I don't know if it fell behind my dresser or got bagged up with some old clothes, but it left me... or perhaps it was simply transferred to larger canvases - namely walls. I took on the task of painting our kitchen and our bathroom. My artistic sensibilities found a new purpose as I put a lot of energy into decorating, and making this new home a place where I actually wanted to live. A couple more months passed. (Needless to say, we gave Cheryl something else for her birthday instead.)
All the while, Suzie's Power hung out in our bedroom. The more things I checked off my to-do list, the louder her voice became, "Fix me, dammit! You can't ignore me forever." And I couldn't. The guilt hung over my head. She has so much potential, but instead there she sat, unfinished. Her botched shiny face attracting a light layer of dust and cat hair. I promised to get her some gesso soon.
But I lied. Despite the best of intentions to buy some while wandering the artsy Granville Island, I spent far too much time pouring over veggies and flowers in the public market, that Opus had closed by the time I made it there. (Okay, okay... To be honest, I didn't actually make it all the way to Opus. My shoes were giving me blisters - a springtime blessing I always seem to endure - and I knew they'd probably be closed by the time I hobbled over there, since it was already after 6. So I decided to spare my tender tootsies and headed back to the car instead.)
When we returned home, SP gave me a disappointed look for not planning my island visit better. "Why didn't you go to Opus first, dummy? Wasn't that the whole point? What is wrong with you woman?!"
I knew I had to make her a priority. The next week, while Jim n' I were out n' about, I dragged him into an art supply store and grabbed a tube of gesso. Back home, as I walked in the door, Suzie's Power blew me a kiss, "Finally! You've done good."
Unfortunately, the gesso sat in my purse for a few days and then on top of my other art supplies as I became distracted by more pressing household chores, like taxes, cleaning off the balcony, and trying to start a little flower garden (which I suppose wasn't so pressing).
Suzie's Power stifled her scream to a defeated sigh, "For f*ck's sake...."
Then a few days ago, I got a groupon offer for half off at Raw Canvas. It's this super neat sounding place where you can paint, while noshing on all organic eats n' vino. Sounds like a good time. I was tempted to buy myself a coupon.... but then I realized that if I want to paint while sipping on a glass of wine, I can do that right here for free! I don't need to no darn coupon. (Although I still think it's a cool idea with the whole socializing factor.)
I went into our bedroom and woke SP by gently wiping the dust off her face. I grabbed my easel, paints n' pallet and headed outside. With our balcony now cleaned off, it's the perfect little open air studio. I set up my easel so SP is blocking my view of our garbage and recycling. Above her I can see the mountains on the north shore. Crows watch from a nearby tree. Below, I can hear people speaking in different languages or with a variety of accents. (I don't know why our apartment/Vancouver's multiculturalism excites me so much, but it really, really does. I love that through our bathroom vents, I can often hear little children playing in some language I don't understand.)
I gessoed over the ugly patches, shaving down SP's silhouette, and redefining her with new contours and colours. While still very much a work in progress, you can see her beautiful potential beginning to shine once again. We smiled at each other as I made careful strokes, my oil-based groove hitting it's stride.
Oh my goodness, I can't even articulate how good it feels to be painting her again. Why did it take me so long?
Sunday, June 19, 2011
Weirdest. Interviews. Ever.
Have you ever caught Zach Galifianakis's improv-style interview show "Between Two Ferns" on Funny Or Die? It's so bizarre. Usually guests play it straight, like Ben Stiller here....
But in this one Will Ferrell plays it weird right back.
Riot
My reading habits have slowed to an embarrassing halt this year. I think it's because I've been craving something that'll tickle my funny bone, and neither of my bedside books fit the bill. For the last few months, I've been casually flipping back and forth between two books. One is "The Law of Dreams", an award-winning book about a young man's journey from Ireland to Canada during the potato famine. While historically fascinating, it's kinda dark -- plague, poverty and death aren't exactly elements of a rollicking good time. The other book is "The Power of Now", which probably needs no introduction because I think everyone n' their dog has heard of it -- and if you haven't, you should check it out (even though I personally still have a few chapters to go...) It's very inspiring. But sometimes, you just gotta be in the mood to be enlightened, and lately, I only want to laugh.
So, last Wednesday afternoon, Jim n' I headed downtown so I could finally take advantage of the Chapter's gift certificate I got at Christmastime and buy myself something funny. I decided to pick up a copy of Tina Fey's autobiography, "Bossypants", and my nose has been buried in it ever since! She's an absolute riot (of another kind) and my newfound idol. I don't know if I've ever had a female hero before besides Julia Butterfly - the brave activist who spent two years living in a California Red Wood, that she referred to as Luna (also the name of our cat, only by coincidence.) But as an aspiring flatfooted writer, I double-heart Tina Fey. I'm even thinking of writing her a fan letter. Seriously. I think she's that awesome.
Even the back cover cracks me up:
Anyway, as I was saying, I spent some time reading in Chapters until we decided that we should probably head'er home before downtown got too crazy with the whole hockey thing going on. At only 1:00 in the afternoon, there were already line-ups down the street outside of every pub. The sidewalks were almost a body-to-body sea of white, blue and green, while horns, hoots and hollers filled the air. There was also a pretty big police presence on every corner and checking random bags outside the sky train. If this was early afternoon, I couldn't imagine how crazy the city would be come 5:00 once the game had started! (Never mind how insane things got after the Canuck's lost!)
I guess hell must've froze over, because we actually put the game on, but kept the TV on mute. I'd occasionally look up from my book to see the score and report it to Jim who was strumming his guitar and playing online checkers. (Honest to gawd, he's totally addicted.) When my sister called, I left the room to chat with her and start a late supper. The next time I returned to the TV, there was breaking news about a car that had just been overturned. We turned up the volume and watched with disgust for much longer than we should've, as downtown Vancouver was transformed into the most fucking despicable sight I have ever seen.
I knew without a doubt that there'd be a riot - win or lose. I've heard about what happened in '94, and I expected that there'd be a new generation of assholes out there hoping for their chance to indulge in some historical rebellion as well. (Fortunately, we now live in the internet age and so some of those stupid bastards are getting their due!) For Pete's sakes, some people even came prepared with t-shirts that read, "I'm only here for the riot". Don't tell me they got those printed up between the second and third period.
I know people are dissin' the police, but I will give 'em credit that the '94 riot had only 1/3 of the crowd and took twice as long to control. While some things probably could've been done better, it also could've been MUCH worse!
But instead of venting about all those shitheads, I would rather write about how incredibly proud I am of all those brave souls who risked their own safety as they tried to stop or help others. Like the photo I saw of one woman who could've been anyone's mom, confronting a group of would-be looters. Or the group of young men who prevented a bunch of rioters from setting Chapters on fire - the same Chapters we had just been to that afternoon. Then there are all the awesome folks who volunteered their time and energy to clean up the mess, some as early as 5 a.m. the next morning.
I wanted to avoid going downtown for a while because I felt gross about the whole thing. However, we had a special celebration dinner with our producers at Gotham Steakhouse on Thursday night that couldn't exactly be postponed just because I felt 'icky'. Gotham is beside the Bay, right at the epicenter of the riot. I'm actually surprised their windows weren't smashed like others in the neighbourhood. I wonder how they managed that?
We parked our car in the parkade across the street from the restaurant, which was a grim sight to behold. One wall of the parkade was torched black, with burned asphalt the length of five cars that had been taped off. Nearby, a man washed a few rental cars that had been damaged by smoke, some of them with smashed windshields. We got out of the car and breathed in the stale campfire air. The lobby windows were all smashed by the parking machine, which amazingly, still worked just fine as it charged us the pricy $9.00 fee for two hours, (even though we unintentionally stayed for three.)
As we walked down towards the restaurant, the energy on the street was calm and friendly, not shell-shocked as one might expect. We saw people gathering with officers and clean-up crews, having their photos taken. Love notes to Vancouver had been scrawled all over the boarded up windows. Even though I didn't want to go downtown, I was glad I did. It was a comforting sign that the city is already beginning to heal.
(BTW, our celebration dinner was very nice. They had one veggie option (which wasn't on their menu - but is offered when asked) so I didn't have to eat steak or starve. And our producers graciously covered the bill, which was almost 85 times more expensive than what we paid for parking, so I guess I shouldn't complain...)
Even the back cover cracks me up:
Anyway, as I was saying, I spent some time reading in Chapters until we decided that we should probably head'er home before downtown got too crazy with the whole hockey thing going on. At only 1:00 in the afternoon, there were already line-ups down the street outside of every pub. The sidewalks were almost a body-to-body sea of white, blue and green, while horns, hoots and hollers filled the air. There was also a pretty big police presence on every corner and checking random bags outside the sky train. If this was early afternoon, I couldn't imagine how crazy the city would be come 5:00 once the game had started! (Never mind how insane things got after the Canuck's lost!)
I guess hell must've froze over, because we actually put the game on, but kept the TV on mute. I'd occasionally look up from my book to see the score and report it to Jim who was strumming his guitar and playing online checkers. (Honest to gawd, he's totally addicted.) When my sister called, I left the room to chat with her and start a late supper. The next time I returned to the TV, there was breaking news about a car that had just been overturned. We turned up the volume and watched with disgust for much longer than we should've, as downtown Vancouver was transformed into the most fucking despicable sight I have ever seen.
I knew without a doubt that there'd be a riot - win or lose. I've heard about what happened in '94, and I expected that there'd be a new generation of assholes out there hoping for their chance to indulge in some historical rebellion as well. (Fortunately, we now live in the internet age and so some of those stupid bastards are getting their due!) For Pete's sakes, some people even came prepared with t-shirts that read, "I'm only here for the riot". Don't tell me they got those printed up between the second and third period.
I know people are dissin' the police, but I will give 'em credit that the '94 riot had only 1/3 of the crowd and took twice as long to control. While some things probably could've been done better, it also could've been MUCH worse!
But instead of venting about all those shitheads, I would rather write about how incredibly proud I am of all those brave souls who risked their own safety as they tried to stop or help others. Like the photo I saw of one woman who could've been anyone's mom, confronting a group of would-be looters. Or the group of young men who prevented a bunch of rioters from setting Chapters on fire - the same Chapters we had just been to that afternoon. Then there are all the awesome folks who volunteered their time and energy to clean up the mess, some as early as 5 a.m. the next morning.
I wanted to avoid going downtown for a while because I felt gross about the whole thing. However, we had a special celebration dinner with our producers at Gotham Steakhouse on Thursday night that couldn't exactly be postponed just because I felt 'icky'. Gotham is beside the Bay, right at the epicenter of the riot. I'm actually surprised their windows weren't smashed like others in the neighbourhood. I wonder how they managed that?
We parked our car in the parkade across the street from the restaurant, which was a grim sight to behold. One wall of the parkade was torched black, with burned asphalt the length of five cars that had been taped off. Nearby, a man washed a few rental cars that had been damaged by smoke, some of them with smashed windshields. We got out of the car and breathed in the stale campfire air. The lobby windows were all smashed by the parking machine, which amazingly, still worked just fine as it charged us the pricy $9.00 fee for two hours, (even though we unintentionally stayed for three.)
As we walked down towards the restaurant, the energy on the street was calm and friendly, not shell-shocked as one might expect. We saw people gathering with officers and clean-up crews, having their photos taken. Love notes to Vancouver had been scrawled all over the boarded up windows. Even though I didn't want to go downtown, I was glad I did. It was a comforting sign that the city is already beginning to heal.
(BTW, our celebration dinner was very nice. They had one veggie option (which wasn't on their menu - but is offered when asked) so I didn't have to eat steak or starve. And our producers graciously covered the bill, which was almost 85 times more expensive than what we paid for parking, so I guess I shouldn't complain...)
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