habits.

I got this Lykke Li (Youth Novels LP) album in the used section in Zulu Records. I feel incredibly happy when I find cds that I want to buy in the used section. I guess anyone does. There's other times where I wonder why people give up such good cds, I know it's that they don't like it for some reason, but I really wonder what the reason is, most of the time I just think that they bought the cd impetuously and realized it was shitty and returned it. But sometimes things need a bit of sticking out.

These are the books that I am currently 'reading' at the moment. Whenever I go to the library, I always go to the graphic novel section and find books that I haven't read yet. allllwwaaays. You can count on that.

I visited UBC farm and I thought this was the most fascinating thing there (aside from chickens and nice plants and whatnot). PIPECLEANER BUGS!



The movies I have seen so far at the VIFF. They were somewhat enjoyable.

I was talking to Andy today about how exhausted and busy I have been lately. And he asked why and I told him about my days and it kind of felt like he didn't believe me. And I was also telling a teacher how busy I felt and she just sort of nodded and smiled. And I thought about it, and I realized that whenever someone else tells me that they've been busy, I kind of only half believe them. I always thought you're never really 'busy' and you can make a choice to make time for stuff. And with these past few weeks, I realize I was a sort of an unsympathetic non-understanding jerk and that people do get busy because they take on things that they really want to do and there's just not enough time to do all the things you want to do when you want to do it. And I guess that's when values come into play, you have to really know what you want to do so that you don't spend time on things that are just well, a waste of time.

This week I have decided has been a big jumble. And I know that parts of it have been great, but I want to remember weeks more than as a jumble.

Oh and friends visited from Calgary, AB and we sat at Tim Hortons and played Dutch Blitz and it was a nice way to start the day. My friend was saying how another friend is absolutely 'bonkers' for his new girlfriend. And for some reason that sentence just stuck in my head the whole day. I haven't heard the word 'bonkers' in a sentence in...forever, or ever. I thought it was endearing and so...goofy.

I hope you have a good start/end of the day.

paces and spaces

man, this week has gone by fast. along with the week before that, and the one before that too. it's nice but it feels like i haven't done enough. here's what i've done/eaten/seen:

This has been my favorite meal this week. Pasta with sauteed chanterelle mushrooms, dried porcini mushrooms with freshly grated parmesan on top. Godd! This is the first fall ever that I've eaten chanterelle mushrooms, and I am not really tasting what the big deal is about these things. I like the porcini, but the chanterelle. Hmm. I think that needs more consideration.

The book in the corner is the new David Sedaris book, When You Are Engulfed in Flames. I had been wanting that book for quite some time and vowed to only buy it at a used bookstore . One day, Jane and I were passing by one and there it was on display, but at that moment, someone picked it up and started looking through it. Jane and I just stood there and watched him, waiting to see if he would buy it or not. She told me I should just go up to him and ask if he was going to get it, and I thought that be kind of weird and too confrontational, but I guess it's even more weird to watch someone without them knowing. He didn't notice and ended up putting the book back on the shelf and me and Jane ran in and she told him we were watching him the entire time. He kind of laughed and said "Oh."

I saw Okkervil River on Thursday. And man! Seriously! I love this band. I first heard them through my ex-boyfriend in high school, and I thought they were good, but I couldn't really see what my ex-boyfriend saw in them that was so great. Then I saw them this summer in Calgary at the Sled Island Music Festival and something just clicked. When they played the songs I liked, it was like when you have a craving for dill chips and when you get the dill chips, it is the most satisfying and completing feeling in the whole wide world at that moment. And I think it was also that I thought at one point that the band was pretentious and one dimensional and too sad and intellectual for me, but when they played live, they looked happy, they look like they loved what they were playing and their later albums are way different from what I heard in high school.

But anyways. The show on Thursday was fun and I screamed and there were times where I was bursting with happiness and it was wonderful.

I went to the farmer's market in Kitsilano today and I ended up buying a pecan bar (along with 2 other bars and a bunch of chocolates), and god it was so good. I am now obsessed with bars and I shall be making them some time soon and maybe if you're lucky and I know you, I'll most likely give you some too. And hey did you know that ivy plants are bad because they choke out local plants? and that they totally dry out the soil underneath them and they are absolutely horrible in vancouver and we should never plant them again? Anyways. I ran into Hamza there and he sat with me while I ate a buckwheat crepe that had smoked salmon, dill, onion, greens and tomatoe (oh gooosh).

A poster submission for the Alcuin Awards that I am working on.

Hope your week was swell and went at a speed that was enjoyable.

motions

During Grad critiques the other day, the most hilarious thing said was, "Think of Jesus as your client."

In other news I am in the process of making my own vanilla extract, which is so exciting to me that I am beginning to think its kind of strange. But it's one of those things that I never thought I could ever make myself, it seemed so complicated, but really it's the easiest thing in the world. You just stick a bunch of vanilla beans in vodka and wait (approx 8 weeks or less) and you have vanilla extract! isn't that so amazing! that such small, tiny, easy actions result in something so useful to baking!

And also I am very excited about the Vancouver International Film Festival and here is what I am seeing:

secret dictionary

i went to calgary for a couple of weeks.

In my parent's backyard there is a raspberry bush. It's not nearly as big as the one at old other house, we used to have so many that we would give some to the neighbors. Neighbors who had a compost which apparently smelled really bad and turned my parents off of composting.


CALGARY GHOST TOUR.

During the ghost tour, there was this Calgary hospitality channel filming the tour, and the light on their camera was insanely bright and gave me a headache.

long island ice teas!

harrison in a parking lot. there is a story behind this parking lot. so it is called the 'James Short' Parking lot, because it is named after that guy. Anyways. This parking lot is located in Chinatown. Back in the day (like 1900's), Chinatown used to be located somewhere else in downtown Calgary, and the big business people of Calgary wanted to get rid of it because I guess they hated the chinese. But of course the chinese didn't go away and made Chinatown somehwere else. One of the big business people that wanted the chinese out was James Short, and his parking lot is right in the middle of chinatown. So I'm not too sure how he feels about that.

"Pretend to be laughing"

Calgary was all about getting into music again. I want to record songs!

For the most part I like going back to Calgary. But it's kind of weird. It's supposed to be home, but the thing with home is that you have set in your mind as something, and when it's slightly different, it's a bit jaring and takes a bit of getting used to, which is something you weren't quite planning on. What I mean is that you think you're going to go eat your favorite duck at this restaurant, but that restaurant closed because the cook is too old and wants to retire. Sometimes I would like things to stay the same. But I guess that's how it goes and really, what am I expecting anyways and new sort of interesting things fill up what seem to disappear and change.

Oh yah I went bowling and got 130 points! That was another highlight of Calgary.