Oh what a glorious past 24 hours I've had...

Greetings, Friends!

Despite being sicky sick and feeling like crud, I have experienced some wonderful surprises and bore witness to some interesting and amusing things over the past day or so, just wanted to share, because I'm in such a happy mood right now :o)...

...the sun is shining. Isn't that grand? To celebrate I ate my lunch outside for the first time this year. Ahh. And of course, what better lunch than a hot dog from Fat Franks, which has now, joyfully, returned to the Legislature area. Seriously, I think I ate there half my summer. MSG? Bah. Humbug.
...sitting outside eating my delicious smokie, watched two squirrels chase each other around the park like idiots. High-larious. Also spent 10 minutes watching bunnies out the window with my coworker, as the Leg is home to many of the fluffy critters.
...This week is Administrative Assistant Appreciate Week (I think it used to be something to do with secretaries, but that's un-PC...) and though I'm "technically" only 1/2 admin, I was delighted to find my coworkers return from lunch this afternoon with a bouquet of glorious spring flowers. Including a gerbera, my favorite flower. It was rad.
...I bought my tickets to go see the Dandy Warhols in May, and found out this morning that the White Stripes are coming to town. Yah!
...lastly, but certainly not least, I saw a most fascinating young man on the bus last night on my way home from work. I had to do a double-take, because it was so uncanny. He was a tall thin punk kid, dressed all in black, who was a doppleganger for Alex in "A Clockwork Orange." I had to bite my lip to keep from grinning at this kid. His fashion was impeccable. He even had a black bowler on his head and I half expected him to lean across the bus and beat some old man while singing in the rain....ahhh....Ok. Most of you would probably find that weird, or perhaps a bit creepy. I found it totally awesome and smiled to myself on the way home how someone could so intricately mimic a costume...

Ok...that's all for me, I've got to go to work now, with a smile on.

woot,

K

Step One: Kick Zombie Ass. Step Two: Kick Small-Town Ass. Simmer. Stir. Serves one Awesome good time!

Just got back from watching "Hot Fuzz" with Nobis. It was a delightful treat. I know, I'm partial to British movies, particularly comedies, but these guys are so funny and the films are so well done, it's hard not to want to cry laughing.

Though it starts off slower than "Shaun of the Dead" it's still a riotous good time. They parody/pay hommage to the classic Cop Action Thriller perfectly. The last few scenes with car chases, gunfights and gore are more than worth the price of admission on their own. It's equal parts spaghetti western, redemption tale and testosterone-infused American machismo flick.

Awesome. Purely awesome. Please, go see it. You will not be disappointed. And if you are, you ought to check your pulse, because in all likelihood you are dead.

Cheers,

K

Please, somebody put me in quarantine!

I'm not sure if it's a sign of the apocalypse or merely a bad flu season, but the past 6 months or so have been absolutely horrific for mass illness in my circle of friends, family and (most notably) coworkers.

Not sure what it is about the office. Maybe it's the recycled air. Maybe it's the fact that we spread our germs all over phones and keyboards and reach our filthy hands into the same bowl of candies/nuts at the reception desk. Whatever it is, it's nasty. I feel like I should be wearing a level-5 Hazmat suit around, or, at the very least, some sort of SARS-shielding surgical mask.

The coworker who occupies the office next to me was away sick yesterday and has spent the majority of today sniffling/coughing/hacking/oozing black goo (okay, not the latter) and every time he does so I want to slam my door shut and wedge a towel under the crack. And I'm not a hypochondriac. But seriously, when 10 out of the 20 people in my office are sniffling or calling in sick over the past few days, I get anxious. While hunkering down at home under the bedsheets sounds like a great plan, the amount of work I will be missing is too daunting to entertain the idea.

Auugghhh.My tummy now hurts. F***. That's it, I'm disinfecting my desk.

Ebola-ically yours,

K

Grief in a 30-Second Soundbyte World

So by now, I'm sure everyone's heard about the horrific massacre that took place at Virginia Tech yesterday. It's blasted across all the newspaper headlines this morning and the news has been non-stop on cable TV and radio shows, the ticker feeding constant updates on the dead, wounded and shocked.

These sorts of occurences have always made me sick, but of late, not for the reasons that such an event might evoke.

Watching hourly updates on CTV NewsNet last night, as well as flipping across other Cable news networks, I couldn't help but notice a theme of seeking out instant-explanations and finding ways to compartmentalize this event and stick it in a box marked "understood". The impetus to "move on" from the event was more shocking than the event itself. Lloyd Robertson (who, I admit, is not my favorite newscaster) encapsulated this sentiment when he stated that (and I'm paraphrasing): "our sympathies go out to the families of those killed and hope that this issue can be resolved so that the healing process can begin."

Excuse me? The "healing process"?! Hours, not days, HOURS have passed since the occurence, the bodies are probably still warm, and we are to believe that now is the time to "get over it"?! Where is the grief? The disbelief? The anger? Are we skipping through those steps towards acceptance and "moving on" or is it some sort of macabre real-life Simpsons episode where we are expected to go through all the stages of grief within a matter of minutes, so we can move on.

I expressed my disgust to my brother as he sat on the couch next to me, and he turned to me and shrugged: "when you live in the world of the 30-second soundbyte, people don't have time to think about the repercussions or impact on society."

So we are not meant to digest this event, merely swallow it and move on? I guess for some that might work, but the grumbling indigestion I feel tells me that perhaps such awful events wouldn't be happening with such frightening regularity if we took the time to reflect upon what we do as a society that evokes such outcomes, rather than choke down some mind-opiate pepto-bismol crap to avoid ever asking ourselves the hard questions to which we may not like the answers.

K

My Vimy Connection

So, anyone from Canada who even took the merest glance at a TV or newspaper over Easter weekend knows that this weekend marked the 90th anniversary of the Battle of Vimy Ridge in France.

Vimy is one of the greatest war memorials in the world, and also happens to be the place where several Loyal Edmonton Regiment soldiers were discovered and repatriated during the ceremony.

My brother also happens to be a member of the Loyal Edmonton Regiment, and as such was chosen as one of the lucky few who had the honor of going to France (and possibly meeting the Queen!) to participate in the huge ceremonies and processions that happened all weekend.

CTV did a lot of coverage for this, and my bro's gf and I were watching on Friday when we spotted him in a video of the events. You gotta scan to about 1:45 into the clip, but there he is, at attention, as the camera pans the crowd. So proud of him :o)

OK. Just had to plug one of those who share my DNA. We're a rare breed, you know ;o)

Cheers,
K


CTV Vimy Video

Fuck Robots, Man has Created His Own Universe!

Wee Bang

I am very into quantum physics right now. Not sure why. I think mostly because I find it mind-bogglingly difficult to understand the specifics, but the implications are phenomenal to work your head around. It's like a spectrum of understanding in our minds: the further apart that science and philosophy get from one another, the closer they appear. That whole "being" issue and all.

Anyways...so I just found out that they created a mini Big Bang. Basically by doing it in reverse to get some hot quarks or something. Not sure what it means, but the concept is terrifying and awe-inspiring at once.

Whoa. It's like, the universe and stuff, maaaaan.

K