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26.10.05
Kind of a Montréal update, I called on wednesday, the student
who was doing the mites changed ...his entire life, really, and is no longer doing the experiment. Hence, there is
no ready supply of species for me to catalog. There are unsorted samples of mites there, and they have other mite
stuff going on, but it's unclear whether they need me at this point in time. Nothing is certain, I'm getting a call
on Monday that will decide things either way. I still really want to go, so fingers crossed, or "Ich drucke die
Daumen", thanks Dez.
In related news, I had this dream last night: It's after dinner here, dark outside,
we're cleaning up, and I get a phone call from (ok, this sounds ridiculous) Donald Trump (see? I told you, I neither
watch nor like 'The Apprentice'). It would be about midnight NY time, and it sounds like he's in some really crowded
noisy place. People here are being loud too (despite my death glares), so I can barely hear him. It sounds like he's
reading from some form letter that tells me my services are not required, or something. I'm trying to clarify and
eventually he's gone and it's just the background noise, and I'm shouting into the receiver at no one. So I go out
on my deck and lie down on the floor and look up at constellations I've never seen before, and they're all really clear,
like in star charts or storybooks, where the outlines of what you're supposed to see are already done for you. Then it
starts to rain. That is all.
I woke up thereafter, It was 5something in the morning, and I couldn't get back to sleep
for a couple hours. Dreams as wish fufillment my ass.
"You've got a freak flag, but you don't fly it" - Luke Wilson in The Family Stone by Thomas Bezucha.
25.10.05
These signs are up on Skytrain, antibacterial pens. Really. I didn’t know there was an outbreak of pen-related illness. How many people out there are licking their writing instruments? And what’s the point of an antibacterial pen when you can still pick up viral or fungal pathogens from it? Perhaps it’s reassuring for those who like to roll their pens in raw meat before using them. And are Skytrain commuters really the best target market for this product? If someone was paranoid to that extent about irrational levels of hygiene, would they really be on public transit?
The fact that products like this can make it to market is symptomatic of a larger trend to further divorce society from annoying reminders that we are and will always be part of nature, no matter how distasteful we find it. You are an animal, your intestine is filled with bacteria that are beneficial to you. More bacteria live on your skin and in your mouth, and there are probably a few innocuous parasites tagging along for the ride as well. Deal with it.
Antibacterial pens belong in a world of plastic bubbles, where all surfaces are regularly wiped down with a blend of LemonTM-scented antibiotics. All the air is HEPATM-filtered, with elevated walkways joining self-contained and hermetically sealed total living environments. All of this keeps out the resistant superbugs we have created, which are killing those who cannot afford to live within our “Freedom Communities”. Windows, being weak points in both biological defense and “Terrorist” threats, were banned several years ago. The LandscopeTM virtual environment projections are just as good, and allow for total control over an ever-changing view of what we imagine the world must have looked like at some point in history. And no one misses the sun. Thank you, and have a nice day.
rant: transitive and intransitive verb (past and past participle rant·ed, present participle rant·ing, 3rd person present)
speak in loud exaggerated manner: to speak or say something in a very loud, aggressive, or bombastic way, usually at length and repetitively
Encarta® World English Dictionary
23.10.05
Had a big family thing yesterday. My father’s mother’s sister turned eighty. Almost all of that side of the family is here, we filled half the restaurant. There was a seating plan, which was introduced after some people had already become entrenched in their seats, halfheartedly enforced, then abandoned completely. The net result was I was away from my parents at what ended up being the “young table” with two young families and some of my first cousins. Talk of employment, career planning, software development, gen X vs. gen Y, university, down payments on first homes, paying rent, living abroad, schools, daycare, and vegetarianism.
By far the most popular subject of conversations was how much everyone has changed since the last time we all got together. While we see immediate family regularly, and run into those that live nearby at the supermarket or community events, the extended family only gets together maybe once a year. There are twenty-six people in my generation alone. At three months, the youngest is Robin, who was remarkably well behaved the entire night; then I held her. After happily drooling on me for a bit, she started crying. Me to her father: “Uh… growing discontentment here.” He rescued me shortly.
The point is: there’s a lot of kids to keep track of. I found myself needing a moment to recall everyone’s names, and had to remind others of just who was who. The confusion was aided by the fact that several cousins are hitting their early teens, and the Puberty Fairy has paid them a visit. The adorable little glasses-wearing guy who sang songs out of the Harry Potter books last time I saw him is now a dog-tag and Billabong shirt spiked hair and contact lenses teenager as tall has his mother.
At the other end of the spectrum, my grandmother, the most senior member of the family at eighty-seven, looks like the youngest in her generation, her ink-black hair showing only the occasional strand of silver. I have trouble keeping up with her when we go shopping; we both walk fast, but she’s more aggressive.
I digress, again, but that’s kind of what the entire night was like. The family is made up of everyone’s separate stories, our unrelated but interwoven tangents, held together by blood and marriage. We are an insoluble network, a safety net, a captive audience. It is, after everything, belonging, and happiness, and love. Thanks again Tim and Andrew, Happy Birthday Auntie Betty. Till next time
The Puberty Fairy: younger sister to the Tooth Fairy, she wears lots of black and writes angsty poetry. What are the odds that I’d go somewhere else after and still be wiping the drool off of people’s faces? Good weekend, overall.
15.10.05
From Thursday:
Thanks to Wayne Maddison, Dolph Schluter, Jeanette Whitton, Diane Srivastava, Tony Sinclair, Chrissy English, David Suzuki, and everyone else involved.
11.10.05
"Today is a voyage of discovery."
10.10.05
OK really, I don’t usually give any thought to horoscopes, and of course the idea of it rankles my inner existentialist, but here was mine the day I was offered the job in Montreal, it was right when my projects at UBC were ending, and my future employer is a colleague of my then employer:
“Your goals will be accomplished before long. A friend helps out. Forget about financial insecurity – all will be well.” – Vancouver Metro, June 29th, 2005
It seemed to fit, so I took note of it. And here’s mine for this weekend:
“Continue to lie low and protect your health. You’ll be charging out of the gate in the race of life in two weeks, so rest deeply now. Deal with government agencies, institutions, head office / -but do NOT chase these – only respond when approached, do what’s necessary, then leave it alone.” – Burnaby NOW, October 8th, 2005
Finally, cosmological justification for my sitting around, no wait, I’m “resting deeply”. And for the heck of it, here’s a classic from Dose, July 27th, 2005:
“Playing the harp in a heavy metal band can be exhausting. Picking it up and smashing it is pricey too. Consider a new instrument.”
In related news, it looks like I'll be out at UBC again for a few days to update some stuff I did earlier, so hey, I'm quasi-employed. Happy Thanksgiving everyone.
03.10.05
You'd think I'd have learned. I chopped a habanero pepper about three hours ago and now
my fingers are tingling unpleasantly. It burns...... it burns! The theme of this site is: never underestimate
the power of capsaicin.
Capsaicin: name for a group of crystalline alkaloids that cause the sensation of "heat" in chili peppers.
See what you learn when you pay attention.
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