How Can this be Good for You?

I realize that I'm taking a step backwards here, but I've been fascinated lately by the concept of the "E Meter". You hold onto two metal rods and an electrical charge goes through your body/mind as you do insane repetitive thoughts for hours on end. How can this be good for you? Does Tomkat participate in this? Does Beck? How many hours do they spend doing this per year?

Doesn't it fry your brain?


After having worked at a summer resort operated by "people of another faith", but really a cult in my opinion and shall remain nameless, I've seen how people will surrender their "free will" to the family they've found in a cult.

I mean, even I had that van of people who came around and picked me up for my Christian Youth Crusader group every Thursday night back when I was 13 years old. I'm surprised my parents allowed
me to go, but hey, whatever. I managed ok, and I even remember pulling my own hijinxs while I was there. Like when they picked me up for the wedding of the Pastor's daughter who was marrying some dude from Prison.

Come on, what is going on there?

It is scary stuff. To read so much about the Scientologists though...
I must say, "Ewwwwww!!". They seem like quite an unsavory bunch of characters. Of course I mean the ones in control, as a majority of them are likely victims to whatever extent.

Check out this e-meter costing over $4500 American. Yikes!

If you've ever lived in Vancouver, you know that there is much too much property crime and far too many car thefts. One of the VPD's most successful campaigns is the "bait car program", which nabs and videotapes plenty of junkies driving erratically and shooting off handguns from time to time.

The VPD promoted themselves with bravado in a street style.

This is what happened.





I find this hilarious and harmless fun.

Milestones

Today the littlest E was able to get his hands on his own wee unit.
It was so cute!!
I must say that I was a bit concerned at first only because he has trouble with his "grab control". It's never really in a delicate grab mode, more of a death grip.
I suppose he'll figure it out.

Hurray!

movin' on.......

I never really got into his Seachange album, and I must say that his being a Scientologist was a huge disappointment, but whatever.

This video has got some fantastic work in it.

An Unhealthy Obsession?

Santa brought me a new Vanity Fair magazine for Christmas. I enjoy this magazine, only because I'm a sucker for tabloid. I particularly enjoy the trials and tribulations of the enviably rich and the mayhem that ensues from life's excesses. I find it entertaining. Also, I don't have long patches of time now where I can read, so that's how it is.

So of course I latch right on to the tale of Jeremy Blake and Theresa Duncan. I'm reluctant to even type their names here lest I incur some sort of wrath be it supernatural or other. Just a normal pair of hipsters living their lives, being successful in Los Angeles, a city which I am also obsessed with.


I'll just say that the pair both committed suicide a week apart, and I might remember some snippit of this thing unfolding at the end of July, except that I was preoccupied with the upcoming birth of my boy.

Basically, I have spent a disgusting amount of time on these two deceased individuals, poring over every fact about their lives, and deaths.

I really don't feel like posting links to sources that I have read as I feel somewhat guilty,dirty,overly curious,pathetic,and exhilerated that I am engaging in such Schadenfreude.
First I honed up on the so called "facts" and "conspiracy theories", somewhat venturing into a world of haters. So many buzzards circling around. I tried to read and ignore what was necessary for me to NOT feel completely soulless, but who's kidding who, sometimes the dark is seductive.
To me, it is a mystery unfolding on the internet. There is a movie here, but I'm certainly not writing it. I will be moving on sometime in the near future.

I've recently tired of one particular blog as it was starting to feel too negative.
Also, how much time do I really want to spend on one dead blog. Goodbye to that one.

Now I've gone right to the source. Interesting in it's own merit, but certainly not worthy of the hype bestowed upon it. I have been rifling through, snooping on comments and getting obsessed with the Lunar Society. The whole premise of a secret society being very Pynchonesque in itself. I find many of the posts interesting and hilarious. Maybe I see a little of myself there. Not the glam or the blonde, but the interests. The music, the critical theory, the psychoanalysis,French New Wave,punk rock,consumption and criticism of pop culture,all that good stuff I went to University to learn. All from someone I never knew who took their own life.
So.Weird.

I borrowed these lovely images from her blog.


Happy New Year, she shouted into the void!!!

Damn!!

OK, so I've still got the damn pink eye.

What the hell?!
Why am I the only one in the family with this damn annoying goopy eye business?
I'm thinking it's because I touched a donkey at the Christmas Train night and then promptly stuck my finger in my eye?!

Whatever.....I just don't take too kindly to foreign bacteria invading my body.
Gonna break down and go to the doctor later.

EXXXXXXXXPLEEEEEEEEEEEEETIIIIIIIIVVVVVVVVVE!!!!!!!

Things are getting interesting

There has been one confirmed case of chicken pox at the daycare. Lovely.
Children covered in pustules. I wonder what an infant with chicken pox looks like? Can you still kiss him? I don't think that I can refrain.

That is all. I am too lazy to make a proper post with link thingys. Sic.

After 3 days of headache, a grotesque eye infection, general lethargy and other, I'm now a phlegm manufacturing machine. It is gross.


Goodbye.

Roots of Empathy

Last Thursday, my son and I had our Roots of Empathy gig at Strathcona School. It's a great program that hopes to build peaceful and civil societies through the development of empathy.
The idea is that by raising levels of empathy, you will encourage more respectful and caring relationships and reduce levels of bullying and aggression. Their program runs for 9 months, with my son being the 'teacher' at 9 different in class get togethers. I've listened to people bash the public school system, yet do nothing, and this seems like a good program, so I decided to get involved.

Someone asked me to do it when our first child was born, but I was such a mama bear back then. I was wayyyyy too over protective. Now it's fun. The kids in kindergarden are SO cute. They are all so into the baby that it's insane.

And wouldn't you know it, but the littlest E is mugging for the camera and making eyes at the teacher. It definitely leaves us both feeling positive and happy when we leave the school. I'll bet it does the same for that entire class and so on.

I've always felt this 'optimism' associated with kids. I guess it's their potential and the possibility for change that I'm referring to. Makes me glad I had kids!

Kids on GHB: wanna party?

OK, so if you haven't heard, one of the most popular toys of the year has been recalled because of it's links to the "date rape" drug.

Are you freaking' kidding me?

I mean, what are the odds of this occurring?! Could they not find any other contaminant with which to poison our kids? Is lead passe now?

I always wondered about a toy with tiny little dots being around creatures that put everything into their mouths. Two kids that ingested these things slipped into comas. Scary. This was Australia's Toy of the Year!!

Not to overstate the obvious, but remember what it did to Nick Nolte who took this while dating himself?

In Celebration of Mark Szabo

*Disclaimer: I'm not a record reviewer.

Recently, some people I know made an album celebrating the songwriting talents of local curmudgeon and hair farmer Mark Szabo. He's probably one of Vancouver's best kept under wraps songwriter. Did that come out right? And though I hardly ever see him anymore, I still enjoy the odd exchange on the streets of Vancouver.

Speaking musically, I came in around the time of Good Horsey. They were a great 3 piece that continues to inhabit my mind in the form of musical phrases.
Max Lee on drums is always a good thing.

Capozzi Park was next, with "Chocolate Covered Bad Things" and "The Record of Capozzi Park" . I think there were some tapes floating around too. Maybe there still are. It's laid back, and diverse, and cynical, and hopeful, and at this point, I'm looking back in nostalgia......so I'm drifting off...
Mark has a great way of capturing life: snapshots, snatches of conversation that transport you to a poignant place in your own history. It's urbane and emotionally universal. Or at least it seems that way to me.

Here's a version of Daytime Emmy with both Mark and Marcie on vocals. This would be ....I dunno when....almost 10 years ago? d'OH!
I'm glad that I've retrieved them from the back of my dusty CD collection which is stored away and unusable.

So all these years later, a project called Heartbreak Scene was started. Their CD is called The Szabo Songbook. I was stoked to see the number of noteworthy folks contributing: Mike Ledwidge(Zumpano), Pete Bourne(where do I start...), Mark Kleiner(Jungle), Dan Bejar(Destroyer...et al) to name a few, but not all that appear throughout.
Yes!! I know!!

There were only a couple of tracks that I didn't know, most absorbed through osmosis during blurry, happy times at Ms T's and the Anza club. Back in the salad days of indie rock......there I go again.
The Anza has always been one of my favourite places to quietly, or not so quietly get drunk and observe the mating ritual, or glasses grabbing fist fight, whatever was written into the evening by Fate.
Some day I will know who that was.
So it's no surprise that all this reflection of late has certainly made me stop and take note of the talent that is Mark. Just thought I'd say that.

One of the songs that I didn't recognize on the album is (Some Kind of)Watershed. It can hold it's own in any Pitchfork review I'd say. Don't you agree?
For $10 and with the Canadian Dollar so strong, you really should pick this up!
Franklin Bruno writes a fantastic opener that pretty much sums it all up.
That alone speaks volumes.
Do It!!!!!

Strange...

I received an email from someone that I've known a long time asking why my blog had stopped. It was hilarious, because I didn't think that anyone was reading at all. Especially not a friend from University that is living in Ottawa. Big Ups Yerself Sandra!!

Mostly I treat this as some kind of ranting therapy about my crazy neighbourhood, but I got bored, so I stopped.
Or I guess you could say that I got busy....real busy, with another life form.

If there are any Built to Spill fans out there, and there must be...as they just played here in Vancouver, I have uploaded something for you. Strange. It's not exactly the real thing, but Boise Cover Band, a side project of Doug Martsh.

We are enjoying some of that here when we're taking a break from the ska/dub.

I had something funny happen with my Flickr™ account. As is customary, I had posted a pic of some people smoking crack and carrying on in front of my house. Someone on Flickr™ identified the person by name and made some comment about how their girlfriend wouldn't be happy to see such a thing. Her boyfriend smoking crack on the street I suppose.

I decided to remove the post as I didn't feel that it was appropriate to have someone outing him by name on the internets and volunteering his personal information. After doing this, I received a self righteous angry email from the person determined to "tell his story" on my photo sharing site.

Um, no.
I don't feel too cool about creating a place for others to tell other people's stories.

This person was pissed, and said "I thought that at least one of your subjects would have the oppourtunity to have the truth told about them".
Um, wrong.
Yes, everyone has a story, but no, you cannot tell it for them. Sorry to take away your chance to tell all, but it would be better for him to do the revealing, and not some third person account of his 'truth'.

Oh the controversy!
I guess these things are to be expected.

Chain Gang. Another good cover from one of the crabbiest ladies in Rock 'N Roll. Boise Cover Band does it good!!

It's my birthday...

...and the street life's gift to me was stealing my last Iris.

I cannot explain how violent I felt towards any potential flower theif that I saw today.

I guess my only solution is to remove all of the flowering plants from my garden and return them to the nice friend who gave them to me.

It is just too discouraging.

I seriously saw myself running down the street with my field hockey stick in my hand looking for heads to crack.

Maybe this year will be the year that I mellow out, but it's doubtful! ha ha!

Gangsta Stylin'

Last night we were grilling some dinner outside and we heard a pop.
It sounded like a gun shot. Not a rifle though, which I remember as echoing and reverberating throughout the fields during my childhood years.

I said to my man, "wow, that sure sounded like a gunshot".
So this afternoon as I was walking my dog, it was confirmed.
One of our local drug dealer types was wearing his gun in the front of his pants like a cool guy, and he shot his cajones off.

Guess we won't be seeing him for awhile.

I wonder if this is the genius in quesion?!

How apropos...

Yeah, what's there to worry about really?!

the possibilities are endless....

My child had some soiled clothes come home from her daycare in one of those small shopping bags from a large department store.
When I unpacked them, I found a receipt, so of course I had a look.

How funny to find a half dozen thongs had been purchased...in cash no less.
Very interesting.

I can't imagine which parent left this bag at the daycare.
I have a sneaking suspicion that it's the mom who is always showing off her arm pits and touching her bare stomach etc, but it really could be anyone.

Gonna just leave that one alone now...

I've fallen into a K-hole...

K-Hole-The Silver Jews

I found this news nugget fascinating.


$63,000 award for drug overdose
Last Updated: Thursday, April 12, 2007 | 9:25 AM PT
CBC News

A B.C. judge has ordered the Vancouver Coastal Health Authority to pay $63,000 in damages to a Campbell River man who had a near-death experience after being given an overdose of a painkiller.

Bradley Weafer, 38, got the overdose of ketamine, which is also used as an anesthetic, after undergoing back surgery at Vancouver General Hospital in 2001.

He was supposed to get three millilitres an hour of the drug. Instead he got the whole 500-millilitre bag in five minutes.

When the nurse went back to check on him after setting up an intravenous drip, she found Weafer unresponsive and making jerky motions.

In court, Weafer recalled being sucked into black tunnels. It was hot and scary, he said, adding he saw his life flash before him, felt being born and placed in his mother's arms. He also said he saw God.

Weafer also testified he had suffered brain damage.

Several witnesses including a psychiatrist supported his claim.

But B.C. Supreme Court Justice Frank Cole said the witnesses failed to establish Weafer had a brain injury.

He also ruled that they did not adequately consider the former social worker's previous health problems — everything from migraine headaches to leg pains.

But the judge agreed Weafer had suffered a near-death experience that was terrifying and caused a great deal of stress and anxiety.

He awarded him $55,000 for the psychological trauma plus another $8,000 in damages.

This is my new favourite song.....

It does the trick.



You know that once it has broken on the CBC it is old news, but I don't care.
I haven't seen the video, so I hope that it's not offensive.

ha ha!

No, The Customer is NOT Always Right

Date: April 13, 2007
Time: 09:00
Location: Superintendent's Office

"The purpose of the interview is discuss the incident on March 14, 2007, at approximately 10:35 am, on the 2900 block of Woodland Drive, when you were verbally abusive to a customer and called her a bitch while in uniform. Furthermore, at the fore-mentioned incident you also threatened to pepper spray her tied up dog."

Let me just say...BULLSHIT.
The only thing factual about this synopsis is that I was indeed in uniform.
It is tremendously frustrating when your employer would rather take the word of some jackass on the street who is obviously fabricating some tale, over their employee who they've known for years.
Or not.
Our latest boss, or commandant as some have called her is all about "respect in the work place" but refuses to hear my side of the story and would rather take the word of a total stranger and prejudge the interview process in this manner. I'm pissed that I am being called a liar, and I'm pissed that some idiot walking their pit bull off leash might have an impact of my finances should I be suspended without pay.
It's not the dog I hate, but the feckless owner who insists, "she would never bite".
Well, you don't know that, and I'm not taking any chances, so put a leash on it.
I'm a dog lover!! All dogs...and I don't support a ban or anything like that, but when I'm working, I don't need to meet your dog off leash.

This is the Kafkaesque nature of the Post Office.
Nothing makes sense, so just get used to it.

It's really not a bad job, but the poor management that makes it so.

Found a remix version of the Stars album that I played to death last year.
I particularly like Final Fantasy's cover of Your Ex Lover Is Dead.

Check it out

Road Rage

To the redneck rageAholic who wanted to run down a pregnant lady and her dog in the middle of the intersection: I know you're in a big hurry to get home and beat your wife, but it's WHORE (hoare) not WHORE (hoor)....get it right dumbass.

This is why women need to carry guns.

You certainly didn't wipe the smile off of my face though...it remains a beautiful day despite all of the underendowed men in giant trucks driving in our city.
Get thee back to Surrey, or Alberta.
Whatever.

Happy Easter Eveyone

It has been positively loony around the 'hood lately.
Early last night I heard someone screaming....so upon looking out the door, I saw a woman walking down the sidewalk hunched over and grabbing at the back of her head. She was obviously on some bad drugs, but experience has taught me that it is futile to call 911 over something like this. Especially if she is on the move. She passed a couple out for their Saturday night date, and they just carried on as though nothing was out of the ordinary. It was bizarre. The woman was letting out blood curdling screams and they didn't even bat an eye.

Later, I heard more shouting and saw the guy who has been soliciting money from people all over the 'hood by painting street numbers and Canadian flags in front of their homes for $5. He was shouting into our elderly Chinese neighbour's house and it was after midnight. Apparently, he painted their address in front of their place and was now looking for his $5. What a loon. My hubby nearly went out with the field hockey stick. It was totally uncalled for. I'm sure that they didn't ask him to paint that stuff on there, so piss off guy.

What can we expect today I wonder?