Random

In our defence, we had been drinking.It was a hell of a night though.

Ode to a moustache.

I love bees.

I started my day with a crack whore!

I was going to go downtown to get some breakfast and because Richard is in Ontario I have his car and decided to drive. I turned out of the building and came to the first corner. I stopped and looked both ways and noticed a girl trying to motion to me. She was asking if I had a lighter for her cigarette. I told her I did not, but then thought about the one in the car so I checked.

There was none there, so instead of getting into an elaborate game of charades I opened my door to yell to the girl. To my surprise she sat down and asked if I could drive her downtown. I was GOING downtown so I figured what the hell.

I turned left and we were less than a block into the drive when she asked me if I've got a girlfriend. I said that I did and she then asked me if I wanted to have a 'little fun' for $20. I declined, and she persisted. Apparently she was a stripper who had been doing extacy the entire night before and now needed to get some money for her children's Christmas presents. I again declined and she dropped her asking price to $10. I told her I would drop her off at the next corner but somehow ended up driving her across town and having to decline her offer twice more.

After all that I decided against breakfast and just grabbed a burger. I figured if that's how the day started, the best place to be was home alone.

My new hero.

This is an island, built out of old pop bottles! Don't believe me? Read on!

Read this . . . and this . . . and this . . . and this. Then brace yourself, and read this.

Richie Sowa is a true visionary! He's dreamy!

Turnstile Pottery

I was on my way to the pottery studio. I went a bit early last week and was able to get a few extra minutes so I figured I would try the same thing again.

I started walking down Brunswick St. (That's the one I live on) and I noticed a group of 15 - 20 black youth walking together on the other side of the road. A thought crossed my mind 'SWARMING' but then I thought don't be silly.

You see, swarmings have been happening around here with alarming frequency. Last week at the pottery studio we were talking about them. It all starts when you walk past a group of black youths walking together and night. One of them throws something at you and once you react , you're swarmed.

So I think to myself 'don't be silly. It's just a group of kids walking somewhere together, don't worry'. Then they started throwing lighbulbs at me. The first one hit just in front of me and I could feel the exploding glass hit the denim of my jeans. The second one hit behind me but closer than the first. One of the kids yells out 'Gun shots!' and the rest laugh. At this point I'm a little concerned and I start thinking 'don't react, just keep on walking', and that's what I did.

Luckily that was the end of the ordeal, but now I had to walk down the 'bad street'. The street that's known for this kind of thing. So I call a cab, they'll be 20 minutes. So I can't walk to the pottery studio, and I can't walk home because doing so would necessitate walking past the light bulb brigade.

Fortunately another cab drove past me and I flagged it down. He drove me to the pottery studio, waited while I discovered it was closed, and then drove me back to my apartment. The whole trip cost me less than $5, that's how close I was to where I was going.

I guess I'm a greenhorn after all.

Earlier today a girl at work brought in some stuff her mother's neighbour wanted to get rid of. Naturally I grabbed some of it. I thought I had gone unnoticed, but it turns out someone was quicker on the draw than I and they snapped a photo of my sporting my new holster / fanny pack. (I tend towards the holster terminology as I plan to use it to carry the beer I'm drinking when I need two free hands, but to each his own.)

This is when the yellow coward got me from behind!
This is a close up of the offending object.

Welcome to Sunday afternoon in Halifax

Before:After:In other news: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ngTQNQwlf8

Fun times at the Unfair

Well, last night was interesting. Lauraine and I had a few pre drinks and then went to the NSCAD Unfair to see Gary (Lauraine's Bo) perform as a Siamese twins in the freak show.

The Unfair was one messed up affair.

It was in the Khyber arts centre and was three stories of unorganized madness. The main floor was a bar with bands playing. The coat rack was full, so I found a strange tunnel, and followed it for a while, 'till I found a place to hang my coat. Then we climbed the stairs and hit the freak show on the second floor. There was a bearded lady, a lizard man, a bat boy, and dancing/juggling Siamese twins. This pretty much disintegrated before long and resulted in everyone abandoning the show and getting drunk.
On the third floor, there were two rooms. In the first was a ping pong tournament being held over two car hoods supported on old tires. The main room on the third floor had a banker selling tickets. Drink tickets were $3.50 and activity tickets were $1. Activities included a tattoo booth, a peep show, a photo station, face painting, coin tosses, a barber booth, a portrait studio, and tarot readings.
It was wild and fun. I didn't know anyone, but everyone thought I was a film student so I just went with it. On my way out I grabbed a poster advertising the event as a souvenir. At the next party we hit, I told everyone my tatts were real, and nobody questioned it.

Murder? Really now!

For those of you not fortunate enough to have previously heard this song, it's pretty good. For those of you who've never heard of the group, you need to look into them. Fine quality Canadian comedy musicians. They've got lots of good songs, this one used to be my favorite. Now it's got added significance.

See if there's anywhere / anyone in it you recognize.

Not so nutty after all!

Wingnut from Portland writes . . .

"I have [Wintertime Blues a.k.a. Seasonal Affective Disorder] . . . here's what works for me:

• Right after you wake up, take a fifteen minute brisk walk around your neighborhood. Get your blood pumping.

• Put yourself on a strict sleep schedule. Wake up early to get the maximum amount of light during the day.

• Eat a good, healthy breakfast. I recommend something like this: Oatmeal with cranberries, raisins, nuts, and coconut milk and maple syrup. A cup of tea, but not coffee, because coffee will make you burn out early.

• Eat lots of protein and minimize carbs. High carb foods like pasta will raise your serotonin quickly, but also give you a worse crash when that energy runs out. Protein is much more stablizing.

• Foods to minimize: sugar, wheat (pasta, bread), sugary fruit, juice that contains sugar (orange juice esp. is bad for sustaining energy after the initial burst)

• Foods to eat more of: meat and dairy (especially eggs), tofu and lentils for those who are vegan, coconut milk, vegetables and greens, nuts and seeds, potatoes, yams, beans.

• Drink as much water as you can. Usually in winter people forget to keep hydrated, because it's cold and they're moving slower. But we need water at all times of the year!

Hope this helps. "

I do too Wingnut, well done!

Oh Pizza Corner

(This picture is kinda blurry because my camera was, at some point, switched over to the wrong setting, but as long as you can make out two figures, you'll get the jist of the story.)

Last night, apres le concert de 'In-Flight Safety' Rich and I went for pizza. While we were there we met a chivalrous lad, helping a woman with a broken leg into the restaurant. We struck up a conversation, and it soon became clear to me why this fellow was so special. He had to good fortune to have been named Greysen, which although different in spelling still counts as the most awsome name ever conceived.

What a lucky fellow.

Horroscopes

"I hope that one day you will learn how to give all the extraordinary love you have to offer. Another one of my greatest desires for you is that you will cultivate, earn, and seize all the freedom you need in order to become yourself completely. To my great pleasure, you've recently begun to tune in to the possibility that these two goals might be extremely fun for you. During the coming weeks their hold on your imagination should heat up considerably. In 2007, I hope they'll become your modus operandi, your Weltanschauung, and your raison d'être. "

For your own, go here.

Market Day

Today was market day, which I remembered just before bed last night. Luckily bedtime last night was 11 o'clock and I was able to get lots of sleep and still make it to the market in the morning. As promised I took a bunch of pictures to show everyone what I was talking about.
I also tried on a couple of hats. I don't know if I'll buy any of them, but I they were all handmade (and it was the artists themselves who ended up taking my picture wearing their creations). Which do you think suits me the best.

a)b)c)

While I was at the market I bumped into Tchaikovsky (the angry chick from the last post) who was buying some squash.

Once I left the market I went to the Sally Anne but didn't find anything I liked so I grabbed some Persian food and started to walk home. On the way I passed the Kyber Arts Centre, and it was having a craft sale. (All art school-esk indy crafts. Not the tea cosies etc. that you might expect.) It was there that I bumped into an artist who recognized me from work. We talked for a while, and it would seem that she's only been in Halifax since August. Seems like nobody I meet is actually from the city.

Upon returning home I looked at some of the business cards I grabbed and found some really cool places and people. Here are a few to show you what I mean . . .

http://halifaxscavengersociety.wikispaces.com/home
http://www.turnstilepottery.com/about.htm
http://angrysheepdesigns.com/

Rogue's Roost Quiz

This week, we made it to the Quiz. It was less formal than I thought, and although we scored very well in the second round, we didn't win.

Our team name changed over the course of the evening and by the end of the night we were called "Me hot crossed buns O'saurus o' me dreams (elipses)". Don"t ask me what that means, I couldn"t tell you.

By the end of the evening, things were going nuts. People we were with snuck wine out of the bar and into McDonald's where they continued to drink very obviously. Following that fiasco, we all went back to the Wonky House and had a sock hop.

Don"t believe me? Here's proof!
(Yeah yeah, I know. My camera batteries died on me. Next time there'll be more!)