Wednesday, May 28, 2003

Grumble. Some days the universe owes us a refund.

On his blog today, Earl imagined what might have happened on our walk if I'd got caught dipping my head in the sprinkler the second time. Unfortunately, I don't know how to make web addresses appear invisibly with a neat here, so I'll do it this way: www.earljwoods.blogspot.com — be sure to check back regularly.

To wear long hair is to rebel.

Planted herbs tonight: dill (lots and lots), marjoram, flat-leaf parsley, salad burnet, mountain mint. Didn't plant my sorrel or lettuce — there's always tomorrow. We also put in broccoli-uckily and lots of tomatoes. Note to self: take up jogging this summer ...

Now reading (handy theft from ecto, but then me, I'm a thief): Up the Down Staircase by Bel Kaufman. Thing Feigned or Imagined by Fred Stenson. Fire Bringer by David Clement-Davies. Also innumerable bits of theory and opinion for my capping project ... tick tick tick tick tick... Looking forward to reading Uncomfortably Numb by Sharon English soon ... once I finish something else ...

Sorry I don't know how to make italics yet ... or underlines...

Today I like: All you zombies. My library card (but not the picture). The rice cooker. A sunny bench. Swimming.

Today I dislike: Harm. Blue roses: blah. :-( The clotted cream that is my brain.

Tomorrow is the PROW 200 midterm. Must proofread one more time ... Remember to dig in the garden: it makes your fingers remember they're alive.

Leslie

PS: Happy birthday, Dave! You're a wonderful 26-year-old! ;-)

Sunday, May 25, 2003

Happy day. I walked today -- yay! Got too much sun -- wah. Ever have that experience in which you know you're doing something for the last time but can't say so? You just know. Weird. That said, I was rather obnoxious about the event, I think. The ritual of the walk means something to me, and I had been looking forward to it for weeks. The fact that we CAN walk should be worth celebrating. Hmmph! I think of the reasons I began in the first place, and they're still relevant, of course; and my own possible future informs my actions as well. But regardless: the experience should be greater than we as individuals are.

I have been playing with the Apple Music Store this weekend. If you have a Mac, you should upgrade to 10.2 immediately and go play. It's REALLY fun! I can't wait for music to be licensed for Canada too. Of course, I'm going to have to get another job to afford everything I want to download. But the ethics of the solution please me. Convenient downloads -- but the artist still gets paid, and the publisher still gets a cut to support production, promotion, development, etc. And the sound quality on the samples is excellent -- WAY better than the 45s I used to buy. There are still many albums I'll want to buy complete, but the ability to buy specific tracks is very, very appealing. I hope the Music Store works!

I made blueberry cobbler -- with wild blueberries -- and cornmeal muffins for dinner. Bruce made shrimp skewers and spicy chicken. When we eat well, we really eat well. Perhaps I'll become a vegan for 33.5. Hah! There's a bouillabaisse I want to try before I take that step.

Tonight I like: Sunny days. The whirl (always always and always). Grace. The memory of my maternal grandmother making cucumbers and vinegar for dinner. Tea, for its paths.

Tonight I dislike: Complaisance. My poor spelling. The blades. Disbelief. Arching away. That I have forgotten all that I have forgotten.

Never sensible but relentlessly sensitive,
laV
because someone told me it's all happening at the zoo...


Thursday, May 22, 2003

Stray thoughts ... Am I the only one worried that toilet-bowl cleaner now comes in icy mint flavour?

On April 18, I missed my 33 and 1/3 birthday. Rats! It would have been a great night to have a vinyl party. And it was a Friday!

Today I like: Tulips. Green leaves. Resolve. Tradition. Freewriting. Nouns. Verbs. Adjectives. Adverbs.

Today I dislike: Deadlines. Pension fund administration. Baggy tights. The student who knows who she is. My foggy foggy thoughts.

Saga break...

... I see no harm or danger in escaping
If the method suits the style
We put the mind on idle
And let the others take it for awhile
When the pace is too fast
And I think I won't last
You know where I'll be found
I'll be standing here beside myself
Getting ready for the final round
No one can stop me now
Tonight I'm on the loose ...

Walking on Sunday. Must wake up early. Only 10 km ... awwwww.

Check out www.bbc.co.uk/arts/bigread/top100.shtml -- Britain's favourite books. How many of them have you read?

We built a pergola! Bruce won't let me paint it purple. Too bad: I think an alliterative structure would be a great addition to our yard.

Sillily,
L and gone

Sunday, May 18, 2003

Hmm. Can't let Zak do all the blogging. Alors, c'est moi.

Can't wait to move to the JP campus: music library. It's been all eighties all the time in my head this week. Wow. Next week: back to the seventies. Whee!

Wrote a letter to my MLA about school funding and copied it to the Min'ster of Larnin' and His Highness Ralph. Now when they come for me perhaps someone will speak up on my behalf. No, I probably have to do a little more before that happens. Anyway. What a silly province to inhabit.

Next week is the MS walk. Must get my feet ready. Going to Beverly -- oh boy! On Friday I sold bonanzas etc. until 1:45. Oy vay. One more to go.

All the King's Men (Tom Cochrane)

Shut your eyes my darling there's nothing you can say
the man in the moon won't fall on you
he doesn't live there anyway
you don't have to be a soldier to fight in your private war
let the blood you might see rain down on me
you don't have to fight no more

there's nothing you can say
there's nothing you can send
there's nothing that can change the facts
not all the king's men

you'll ride upon the stallion
i'll ride upon your mare
we'll ride so far ride so hard
far away from here
when we look back upon them
it all will become so clear
the gates will open up for us
we won't have no more fears

there's nothing you can say
there's nothing you can send
there's nothing that can change the facts
not all the king's men

look away look away
you might be tired and troubled but not today
when they come down upon you
I won't let them get anything on you
and I'll be there for you, May
"Oh no they won't said I!"
look away look away
you might be tired and troubled but not today
when they come down upon you
I won't let them get anything on you
and we'll dance away all those fears and troubles
look away

we both were motherless children
they sent us separate ways
the family you'd seen beat down on you
mine it was okay
I've come to take you back, May
save you from this fate
they won't have any more chances
to treat you this way

there's nothing you can say
there's nothing you can send
there's nothing that can change all that
not all the king's men

look away look away
you might be tired and troubled but not today
when they come down upon you
I won't let them get anything on you
and we'll dream away all those fears and troubles
look away.

Hey you! Yes, you. You -- I'm talking to you!

Tonight I like: Amarige. The other side of the tracks. La belle et la bĂȘte. John Prine. A grey sweater. Wolves. Small spaces. Only always I.

Tonight I dislike: Coty, for discontinuing my favourite perfume. Cleaning house. Spam. Frost in May. The idea that corned beef comes in a can. Stop signs. The four o'clock news.

... as the wind caresses the sand...

Zowie! Zoiks! Leslie (which doesn't rhyme with essence)

Monday, May 05, 2003

Tonight is my last night of freedom until the end of June. I should be enjoying it inordinately but am not. Still too stressed from the last few weeks. Very very very tired. Could sleep through the whole day and not notice. In fact, tried that today. But guilt kept waking me up.

Everyone should get a blog. I regret that so many people write in their blogs with an awkwardly sly sense of performativity. We all recognize that these are sculpted thoughts. It should not be necessary, therefore, to point metadiscursively to the fact that the writing is a construction. BLAH BLAH BLAH!

I am thinking an awful lot about stealing my grandmother's ashes. Despite that I have deeply unresolved feelings about the woman, feelings that hover somewhere close to hatred, I still find quite upsetting the idea that her final wishes were not honoured. My family of course thinks I'm crazy and will not assist me. Which is fine. If I need help, I know where to find it. And the element of surprise may work to my advantage anyway. I'll be wearing the black pajamas.

... you know I've always been a dreamer, and it's so hard to change ...

Tonight I like: Tom Robbins. Snowflakes. Windows for being the twisted, insidious operating system it is. Michael des Barres and Pamela Knight singing 'Obsession'. A puppy falling all over himself. Violas. Pizza flyers because. Hush hush.

Tonight I dislike: Lyle Oberg (that verb perhaps insufficiently emphatic for my purposes). Pits in packaged dates. Laziness. The destructive force of group mentality. Conformity. My bangs. Washing dishes.

...early in the morning .. .late in the evening...

Resting in the nature of the essence: laVermeer


Sunday, May 04, 2003

Hmph!

Not too much to report, other than we've been spending money like most people drink coffee. Birthdays plus spring plus IKEA -- bad combination in one week. And now I'm practically unemployed! : ) But on the bright side we found perfect chairs for the dinner table, and with a lacey cloth the table looks SO elegant. We could fool a lot of people -- if that was the only part of the house they saw. I bought two new books: _Oryx and Crake_ by Margaret Atwood and _Fierce Invalids Home from Hot Climates_ by Tom Robbins. Yay! Finished _Summerland_ this morning -- wonderful. I should probably read the other YA books I bought before starting the new fave novels but ... So little time, so many books!

Right now I am baking date squares (or matrimonial cake, if you prefer). The house smells delicious. I am trying to get well centred before everything spins up again. The last two months were rather extraordinary. Probably next year won't be quite as demanding. Then again, maybe I should look at the tentative schedule before saying that.

Bingos to work and books to edit and papers to write and books to write and appointments to attend and gardening to accomplish. I wish the weather would warm up! I want to be much more diligent about eating vegetables this year -- especially salad. And fruit. Soon we'll plant blueberry shrubs. And maybe a new cherry shrub. And some more raspberries. Too bad blackberries won't survive the winter here. Maybe in the garage?

Maybe tomorrow I'll sleep and sleep and sleep and sleep. Just can't seem to catch up. Finally went to the new Save-On Foods -- definitely a let-down. So they're building one here, too. I hope it's like the one in the Highlands or else I won't bother darkening the doors. Looking at plant material at discount retailers always makes me snicker. Why bother? Meanwhile, the neighbours at #3 sold their house for approximately $279K. They think this bodes well for us -- ??? Oh well. Gather ye easter creme eggs while ye may.

xx les xx

PS: Happy 30th Birthday, Stephen!

Thursday, May 01, 2003

FINISHED!!!

Five days until the next course begins.

Sigh.

Going to sleep now.

Leslie