Seriously?

Check out this list of songs deemed inappropriate post 9/11. All I can really say is...seriously?

Casa Diablo Vegan Stripclub

Look at this and let me know what you think. I think the news story is disgusting and presented in such a disrespectful manner. The reporter pretends not to hear a word the woman says about being vegetarian because he's looking at her tits but I think this is a pretty accurate representation of the reality of the siutation. Also, anyone else have an issue with all the references to women as meat? The meat is on the pole? Seriously? Why save animals but degrade women? Yes, the women are there by choice and probably paid well but this just continues to contribute to this idea that women are there to look at and objectify. I believe the source of all abuse in the world is dehumanization, when we stop looking at people as someone's child/mother/friend/sister etc. and they become an object. I do want to visit Portland though because it seems like an awesome city. Anyone else have thoughts on this?

Busy busy.

Super busy week guys! I have something 1-2 things scheduled every day including a trip to Van. KA-RAY-zee. I'm not used to having anything to do but I'm looking forward to all the business for a short while although I have a feeling by the time the week's up I'll be ready for it to be over.

So I'm editing the next issue of Sparks which I think I mentioned on here at some point. If any writers out there want to submit some poetry it's sparkssubmissions@gmail.com. You don't have to be in Victoria to be in it so anyone out there who writes send in your stuff.

Everyone please come to the improv. show on Thursday! It's at 8:00. $5 for students, $7 general.

Ok, that's about it. Lame post I know. Hold on...before you go I'll give you a deep thought so you don't feel I've wasted your time.

"Sometimes when I feel like killing someone, I do a little trick to calm myself down. I'll go over to the persons house and ring the doorbell. When the person comes to the door, I'm gone, but you know what I've left on the porch? A jack-o-lantern with a knife stuck in the side of it's head with a note that says "You." After that I usually feel a lot better, and no harm done. " --Jack Handey

Aren't you glad you stopped by? I thought so.

Feeeeeeelin good.

We did yard word today! Go us! I feel like things are looking up. We found out that our landlord was selling our place and instantly started panicking thinking about moving and trying to find a place we can have our companion animals and fearing we would be living in cardboard boxes in the "park" across the street. Today people were by to look at the place and it sounds like they're wanting it for rental income which would be great. They seemed really nice and it would mean us getting things fixed that have needed to be done for a long time but our landlord just isn't into having anything to do to maintain this property so obviously it's a good thing that she's selling.

Another exciting thing is that Steve asked me last night if I would be into helping put on a spoken word poetry workshop at Esquimalt High this week. Of course I am! We're going to perform and then do workshops and I've chosen the topic for mine as "Poetry and Feminism" which will be fun to talk to high school students about! Yay! Oh and they're giving us some cash to do this. $50 each which is rad for just talking about something we love. It's going to be Steve Thompson, Matthew Cook, Missie Peters and me so I think it will rock. Missie and I will be able to practice our duet piece before the improv show too which will be nice.

Davis and I have actually been gardening for a good chunk of the day which feels great! We're going to plan some vegetables but first we're just weeding and turning over soil. It's turned really cold really fast though which kind of sucks. I can't wait for summer! Seriously.

Last night was Shayne's "Ghosts of the Highway" tour kick-off at Solstice and it was a lot of fun. We'll miss seeing Shayne around for the next few months but I think it will be really great for him. I'll throw a few photos up later from last night.

Ok, we're going to go start on dinner. We've worked up an appetitite LITERALLY! Thanks so much for reading this--you're a rockstar!

Saul Williams

Saul Williams was off the hizook! (Or something else that's cool to say) He was amazing and very glammed out ala Bowie/Prince style. It was fantastic. It looked just slightly less cultish than this...



I'm going back to Van next week for more ink in my skin! Yay!

I was quite sick at the concert and continue to be quite sick. (i.e. sniffling, sore throat, sore muscles, impending death) I also have a midterm that is far past due to write tomorrow and I haven't studied for it or been to class in quite sometime. Hmm...speaking of which maybe I should go study?

One more thing, the workshop for the improv show coming up went really well. It was a lot of fun and I think the experiment of mashing spoken word and improv should be quite successful. Missie and I are doing a piece together which is her lovely poem "This is not your grandma's poetry." It will be my first shot at a collaborative piece and I'm excited to see how it turns out. If anyone is interested in coming it is at the Victoria Events Centre, next Thursday, the 27th.

Ok, now I'm going to study. For sure. (and sniffle)

Big Cervix

Ok, one other thing that is pretty funny.

Google Analytics tells me where people find my blog and about 6% of my traffic is from search engines. I can see what people google that brings them to my site. (Yes, I know those of you who google your own name!) But the funny thing is that someone googled "big cervix" and ended up on my blog because of a post earlier about a conversation at Stitch N' Bitch. That's awesome.

Oh, there you are.

Anyone want to go to Vancouver with me next Monday for the youth poetry slam at Cafe Deux Soleils? Ryler Dustin is the feature and I am falling in love with him. Listen to his poem "Love Poem" and you will too...I dare you not to. Looking at the site for the Van Poetry Slam is making me want to move to East Van. The bonus of living here is that eventually, if I keep writing, I can be a big fish in a small pond. In Vancouver I would be...a piece of seaweed or something. I think I'll just try to go across for more events. It's close enough. So...who's coming with me?

Ok, everyone go here and check out The Burning Hell. They're awesome. Davis and I saw them live on Thursday and they were fanastic. They remind me of "They Might be Giants" a little bit. Also check out Jenny Omnichord who opened for them and is also in The Burning Hell. It's kind of Kimya Dawson but with a weirder instrument.

I changed my hair again. (I'm not big on segue ways today) It is purple where it used to be pink and looks a lot like this...




Davis and I are getting the 24" iMac next week. Wireless keyboard and mouse complete the package. Yay! I'm not an Apple girl usually because I think so much of it is about image but this computer is sooooo freaking rad and great for editing. (photos, video, music etc.) Plus it will be our t.v. because it's huge enough. Plus it's so cool! Yay.

Oh, I made a couple posters for Chelsea. They're the first posters I've ever made so I'm pretty happy with how they turned out. This what they look like...



and this...



I think she's using the parking meter option which is cool because it's my photo. The other one is Kristel's.

Ok...leaving for Van in an hour. I should probably pack or something. I'm so stoked! Should be some good photos to follow.

Vancouver what?

We're going to Vancouver tomorrow to see Saul Williams! It's going to be so much fun. Catching the 1:00 ferry over. I will try to get some good pics. I haven't been in much of a mood to blog lately so forgive me. I still love you dearly.

I'm funnier than you think I am, but not as funny as I think I am.

Mom's oldest foster daughter (let's call her...Ria) is sleeping over tonight. We bought facemasks and covered our faces in mud and then just hung out.

Ria: "I have a bump on my neck, what is it?"

Me: "A knee."

Davis: "That's the funniest thing you've ever said."

Me: "Really? That's so sad."

Davis: "Funniest thing today."

Too late. Damage done. And for the record, it wasn't even the funniest thing I said today. I said something else earlier in the afternoon that I remember being hilarious. It's just unfortunate that everyone doesn't get just how funny I am. Sometimes I feel so alone. *Wink.

Sorry.

It's difficult for me to write these days. I'll be walking on clouds one minute and feel completely alone the next. Because of this it's hard to get anything out in words because I am too busy trying to sort it all out in my head. Yesterday was mostly quite wonderful. Ryefield and I went to Habit for coffee and laughed at all the people in their tapered jeans. Then we went to Mo:le for lunch. I had the avocado, crispy dulse and sprout sandwich and it was so delicious. I had a lab in the afternoon and worked on planning my experiment which is testing the hypothesis that people are smarter when they're hungry.

In the evening I went to an arts collective show at the Victoria Events Centre which featured dance, film, drama and burlesque. It was great.

Today is feeling very strange for a multitude of unspoken reasons. These days I just want to be hugged all the time. Is that strange? I'm just going through this needy phase where I crave human contact so much. So much it aches a little inside. I don't know what that's about. Some sort of existential crisis I suppose. I'm at that embrace or mask juncture where one chooses how much they want to let others in on their sorrow. It's a deep void and most people prefer to lay in the sunshine drinking margaritas and I don't want to interrupt that. So how far apart is the chasm between despair and hope? Is there one? I think what's important for me is that I keep moving forward. Just keep swimming...you know...that whole thing.

I hope I haven't brought you down by being honest. It's just how I feel right now.

F.E.I.G.F.O.P.A.U.I.M.B.W.P

Back by popular demand* is "Funny E-mails I Got From Other people and Used in my Blog Without Permission."

Ryefield told me yesterday that he wants someone to love him enough to gaslight him until he goes crazy and kills himself. He used the example of someone hemming his pants an inch everyday without him knowing so he would think he was growing. In response I sent the following:

"I will destroy you. Did you notice your pants are getting shorter? I'm going a millimeter at a time so you'll hardly notice at first."

I received this e-mail back:

"you understand now....

to dedicate one self to such a venture, there has to be a deep base line of love

Na, Na, Na Naaaaa, Naaaaaa
yoooooou loove me.

you want to drive me craaaaaaazy
you want to bend my wwwiiiillllllll
you want to break my spiiiiirrrrrit

don't you
don't you

ahhh....shucks

and with a coquettish flip of his chestnut locks, rye blushes, turning his ankle slightly outwards. With one hand he twirls silky ringlets of hair, with the other, he involuntarily pinches a nipple. Hard?, yes my God, but more than that. When strangers retell the story later that day, in hushed tones to their most trusted love ones, they will describe this movement as brutish."

I had nothing nearly as good to send back but this is the best I could come up with...

"How far is love from hate these days anyway? I can hardly tell them apart. It's maybe why I've killed so many so called "lovers" while they slept and chopped them up into pieces and buried those pieces under various trees in various forests.

and with a coquettish flip of her hot pink highlights, Kristy trips over something she didn't see on the ground because she was focused on being witty or philosophical or interesting and she falls to the ground. Hard? Yes, some say they felt the earth move.

But those people are goddamn liars."

I have nothing more to say about this. I think you get the point. (For those of you that didn't. I'll give you a hint. Ryefield and I are crazy, brilliant, hilarious and a threat to society)

***No one actually requested this but I could tell you all wanted it.

New things

I got my nose pierced today and I also got a new prime 50mm lens. To showcase both here is a photo featuring my new piercing taken *with* my new lens. How exciting.



I'm excited to have the new lens because I'm editing the next Sparks and I think I might do the art for it as well so that I can make it really match the feel of the writing. We'll see how that goes. Chatting with Nick Janzen for a bit at the Tongues of Fire general meeting last night got me really jazzed for putting Sparks together because I think it's going to be a lot of fun.

I spent a few hours at Solstice with Ryefield this afternoon waxing philosophical and laughing and scaring people and each other. It was delightful. Tomorrow he's coming with us to Chelsea and David's for a potluck which I think will be a lot of fun. Tonight we're opting out as far as cooking goes and Davis has just ran out to get Thai food. Yum! I'm going to go eat it. Sorry my blog has gotten so boring. I'm sure any day now I will have a surge of creative energy.

Braincrap correction.

Awww...guys I put the wrong link for Davis's deserted blog which is still awesome. It's fixed now but just to make it up please check his blog out HERE

We were at Solstice Sessions tonight and even Davis danced. Now I just feel exhausted though. Saturday should not be a day where you have to be up before 10. The pre-service orientation was kind of backwards for us since we've been fostering for a while. It was still nice to connect with other new foster parents. Although none of them have started fostering. Now we just have to go 2 more Saturdays. Yuck.