The beaver is a proud and noble animal
Notes from a bemused canuck
In case you can't read what the shirt says, the text is:
Christian
American
Heterosexual
Pro-Gun
Conservative
Any Questions?
Now I don't really mind that the kid is affirming who he is, he's quite entitled to. It's more the medium and the tone of it, the in-your-face aspect of it that I dislike. It's also the tone of “if you disagree, well fuck you, you're wrong”.
God bless america, or something like that.
Ok, maybe not yours, but someone's.
LONDON (Reuters) – Two nuclear submarines, one British and one American, surfaced near the North Pole on Monday for an impromptu game of soccer, Britain's Royal Navy said.
The two vessels surfaced through two naturally occurring gaps in the ice about half a mile from each other after completing a joint underwater exercise.
“The crews of HMS Tireless and USS Hampton are gearing up for a game of football,” Commander John Parris said.
“It will probably be English football (soccer) since I doubt our lot know much about playing American football,” Parris told Reuters from Portsmouth in southern England. “I expect there will also be the mother of all snowball fights.”
In addition to the military element both ships were carrying scientists interested in tracking signs of global warming.
The world's first nuclear-powered submarine, USS Nautilus, was the first vessel to navigate under the North Pole in 1958.
From meh, ok to fucking pissed off in less than 5 minutes. That has to be a record.
I felt kind of good this morning, considering all that happened to me over the weekend. I’d slept well, made myself a nice lunch, and got in the metro to go to the office. I left at my usual time. Thing is though, the metro was running really fucking slow this morning. Ridiculously so. So of course, I get to the office late. And the first thing out of the mouth of my boss is not “hi, how was your weekend”, but rather “hmmm, you’re slipping in your time again” (meaning I’m coming in late). Now dear boss, I love you, you’re a great guy, and don’t take this the wrong way, but fuck off. That’s not the way to start a week.
Sigh.
So, it happened again. I keep doing the same mistake over and over. To those people who know me, I will be taking your “I told you so”s for the next little while. For those of you who are wondering what the hell I'm talking about, I basically gave my heart away too quickly again.
Oh allright, sounds melodramatic, I know. Basically, the whole Erin thing just went sour. I could see things progress to a state unseen since Tina and I lost perspective. Then reality reared its ugly head, and she told me she was in love with someone she'd just met.
I'll get over it, but it sucks. She's sweet, she's beautiful, and I was attracted to her. Still am.
So Erin and her troupe are headed back to Ottawa. I'm attracted to this girl. She's smart, funny, very beautiful, loves music. The fact that she's in a wheelchair doesn't even figure in the equation. She's beautiful when she laughs, it lights up her whole face. She's one of the most … alive, for lack of a better word… people I know. She came to breakfast with Lorraine – the woman with whom she lives – and Lorraine's daughter Emilie and one of Em's friends.
To be really honest, I have trouble describing what happened in words that would make sense to myself, much less to other people. Breakfast was fun – without much interrogation – and after that, we went to Jillians, the arcade at the forum. It was fun, but I felt like a fifth wheel. I didn't get the chance to talk to Erin all that much, and I actually spent most of the afternoon with Lorraine. Basically, they all had a very intimate dynamic, and I don't know, I just felt a bit out of place. I would have loved to have the chance to talk to Erin more, but I guess I'll have the chance next week.
I think she's still coming – she said she'd see me then, so I'm assuming it's still on. I think I passed the initial screening, but it just felt bizarre as hell to have 3 chaperones, an expression Michel coined and is very appropriate. And even then, I just feel so… bewildered by the whole experience. I guess I'll find out where things stand the next time I talk to her, which should be tonight, I guess.
As a side note, this song should really be added to my previous list.
Come up to meet you,
Tell you I'm sorry,
You don't know how lovely you are.
I had to find you,
Tell you I need you,
Tell you I set you apart.
Tell me your secrets,
And ask me your questions,
Oh, let's go back to the start.
Runnin' in circles,
Comin' up tails,
Heads are a science apart.
Nobody said it was easy,
It's such a shame for us to part.
Nobody said it was easy,
No one ever said it would be this hard.
Oh, take me back to the start.
I was just guessing,
At numbers and figures,
Pulling your puzzles apart.
Questions of science,
Science and progress,
Do not speak as loud as my heart.
Tell me you love me,
Come back and hold me,
Oh, when I rush to the start.
Runnin' in circles,
Chasin' tails,
Comin' back as we are.
Nobody said it was easy,
Oh, it's such a shame for us to part.
Nobody said it was easy,
No one ever said it would be so hard.
I'm goin' back to the start.
I did something last night that I've never done before. I was chatting with miss kitty on my laptop, in bed, and I was really getting tired. so she told me to just stop typing and go to sleep. This caused a bit of a problem, as I wasn't fond on the idea of saying goodnight just yet. We both had webcam feeds on, so in essence, she watched me fall asleep from 200 km away. I could feel my eyelids closing, so I finally said goodnight and put away my laptop.
I slept well, but woke up all giddy this morning at 6 am – to which people who know me will be amazed at – and couldn't get back to sleep. She's coming over for breakfast this morning with some friends. Should be a fun day, even though I feel like I'm going to get grilled and interviewed :P
I've been spending a lot of time lately talking to someone I met recently. She's a wonderful person and I'm really looking forward to meeting her in about a week. We were talking, among many other things today, about music. I realized that I love sharing music with people I care about. There's something really intimate about introducing someone to your favourite song, and telling them why it's important to you, or how you feel about it and why.
In doing so, I came up with the following CD, which would be the definitive “Music of Richard”:
1. Harmonium, Dixie
2. Stevie Ray Vaughan, Little Wing
3. Sting, Shape of my heart
4. Daniel Lavoie, Jours de plaine
5. Stained, It's been a while
6. Peter Gabriel, Don't give up
7. Creed, My sacrifice
8. Tea Party, Walking wounded
9. Stevie Ray Vaughan, Ain't gonna give up on love
10. Elle Fitzgerald, Someone to watch over me
11. Dire Straits, Your latest trick
12. Bet.e & Stef, It's over
13. Pink Floyd, Wish you were here
14. David Usher, Black black heart
15. Dido, Isobel
16. Starmania, Les uns contre les autres
17. Ella Fitzgerald, Summertime
18. Billy Joel, New York state of mind
19. Coldplay, Everything not lost
20. Rush, Subdivisions
These are songs that, for various reasons, have some kind of emotinal impact in my life. Now, to be honest, there's tons of stuff that would also fit on there (the complete Dark Side of the Moon album, for starters), but this is as close to a 20-song compilation as I could get.
As an exercise, gentle reader, what's yours?
Edit: this was a postdated entry, as I never actually got the time to finish it yesterday :)
Taking a well-deserved break from work, as I'm almost done with the document I've been working on for the past month, I found this online. Behold, the tao of supermodeling.
(And yes, these are real quotes)
ON SELF-KNOWLEDGE
“Everywhere I went, my cleavage followed. But I learned I am not my cleavage.”
–Carole Mallory
ON POVERTY
“Everyone should have enough money to get plastic surgery.”
–Beverly Johnson
ON FATE
“I wish my butt did not go sideways, but I guess I have to face that.”
–Christie Brinkley
ON COURAGE
“They were doing a full back shot of me in a swimsuit and I thought, Oh my God, I have to be so brave. See, every woman hates herself from behind.”
–Cindy Crawford
ON CAREER CHOICES
“My boyfriend thinks I lost my true calling to be a librarian.”
— Paulina Porizkova
ON PRIORITIES
“I would rather exercise than read a newspaper.”
–Kim Alexis
ON INNER STRENGTH
“I love the confidence that makeup gives me.”
–Tyra Banks
ON TRAVEL
“I haven't seen the Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame, the Louvre. I haven't seen anything. I don't really care.”
–Tyra Banks
ON BREAKTHROUGHS
“Once I got past my anger toward my mother, I began to excel in volleyball and modeling.”
–Gabrielle Reece
ON EPIPHANY
“I just found out that I'm one inch taller than I thought.”
–Christie Brinkley
ON HEREDITY
“My husband was just OK looking. I was in labor and I said to him, 'What if she's ugly? You're ugly.'”
–Beverly Johnson
ON THE BASICS
“It's very important to have the right clothing to exercise in. If you throw on an old T-shirt or sweats, it's not inspiring for your workout.”
–Cheryl Tiegs
ON INTRODUCTIONS
“I think most people are curious about what it would be like to be able to meet yourself — it's eerie.”
–Christy Turlington
ON PARADOX
“Sometimes I get lonely, but it's nice to be alone.”
–Tatjana Patitz
ON THE CONSERVATION OF MATTER
“I've looked in the mirror every day for 20 years. It's the same face.”
–Claudia Schiffer
ON THE CASTE SYSTEM
“We're not Prince Charles and Princess Di. We don't think of ourselves as royalty. We happen to be working people.”
–Christie Brinkley
ON OCCUPATIONAL HAZARDS
“I tried on 250 bathing suits in one afternoon and ended up having little scabs up and down my thighs, probably from some of those with sequins all over them.”
–Cindy Crawford
ON ECONOMICS
“I don't wake up for less than $10,000 a day.”
–Linda Evangelista
ON LOGIC
“I think, If my butt's not too big for them to be photographing it, then it shouldn't be too big for me.”
–Christy Turlington
ON BODY PARTS
“I don't know what to do with my arms. It just makes me feel weird and I feel like people are looking at me and that makes me nervous.”
–Tyra Banks
ON BODY LANGUAGE
“You can usually tell when I'm happy by the fact that I've gained weight.”
–Christy Turlington
ON VERSATILITY
“I can do anything you want me to do so long as I don't have to speak.”
–Linda Evangelista
ON THE GRIEF PROCESS
“When my Azzedine jacket from 1987 died, I wrapped it up in a box, attached a note saying where it came from and took it to the Salvation Army. It was a big loss.”
–Veronica Webb
ON VENGEANCE
“Girls are always getting mad at each other and they tell their hairdresser to purposely mess up another girl's hair.”
–Tasha
ON BATTING .667
“I'm a pretty girl who's a model who doesn't suck as an actress.”
–Cameron Diaz
I had lunch with hyde_grrl today, and I decided to start eating better, so I took a greek salad (but with no tomatoes, and only olive oil and balsamic vinegar as dressing). Lunch was good, talk was light. After coffee, she wanted to go shop for something for her boyfriend, so we went to Lush, which is kinda like a high0end body shop, where we sniffed various body products for the better part of 20 minutes or so.
I hadn't been in the office for 5 minutes that my eyes start watering and my nose, sniffing. To make a long story short, what I thought was just a bit of a reaction to something I must've smelled at the store turned into one pisser of a reaction, which required me to get my ass to the Vic, as my whole face was swollen and red and itchy. Fortunately, I didn't need to use my epipen, as my airways were fine. Benadryl took care of the rest, but I still spent the better part of 5 hours under observation at the hospital. At the end there, I was completely fine, but just waiting for my friggin discharge. It's ironic to have to wait to leave an emergency room.
Anyway, I'm fine now and I'm going home.
I want everyone who reads this to ask me 3 questions, no more, no less. Ask me anything you want. I will answer them honestly. Then I want you to go to your journal, copy and paste this allowing your friends (including myself) to ask you anything.