Old crotchety man winter

There was a puppet program on TV in the waiting room of the clinic last week. I watched it while I waited for my name to be called. The sound on the TV was off, though. That is no good. Lip-reading a puppet.

Try it. It looks like they're just going "arp arp aarp ARP arparp". (Then turn the sound back on, because this is pretty funny.)

I went back to Cow Pie for Christmas and three of my four blog readers asked why I don't write in my blog anymore. This is for you!

It's that time of year when it feels as though it's dark all the time and I'm never quite warm enough, I don't feel like I get enough sleep and staying motivated at work is a slog. But it's also all white and sparkly and muffled outside and people still have their 'seasonal lighting' up. I'm OK with that. Obvious Christmas decorations in mid January, no. But lights can stay as they really brighten things up (as lights do). Especially the multi-coloured LEDs.

Walking around One Great City!, and our neighbourhood in particular, I realise how little this city invests in beautification. I like it here, I even like the downtrodden vibe to a certain extent, but on the tenth grey day in a row, one starts to think that it would be really nice to see a commemorative bench. A boulevard of planters. A park. So those lights really do make a difference.

I love winter, but it really makes me work for it. It's nicer Cow Pie, not so relentlessly itself. It wavers. It turns the mountains white.

Last day of April. Must post something.

I am having some crazytime at work. AJ has gone on mat leave so the workforce is down to three from five. Busy does not begin to describe it. On top of that, because the budget has been cut, my acting position is gone, so I'm back to my base position. I have been, well, not exactly demoted, but what? De-promoted? Un-promoted? Remoted? Only with fuckloads more work than ever. And a paycut. I am pretty sure my supervisor was playing dumb when she told me she didn't know what was going on with staffing as I nervously tried to advocate for my career earlier this week. A pointless exercise.

Such is life. At least I have a job in the wake of these 'tough economic times'. (I wonder when people will stop saying that? When the next recession comes around, say in two years, will there be a different phrase?)

I allowed myself a day's worth of distracted bitterness, but I really feel over it now. I don't even feel tempted to call AJ to complain. I will, though. Tomorrow.

For tonight, it is episode two of this piece of fantastic-ness. B and I were laughing, gasping, clapping and pointing at the tv last night in sheer amazement.

Hi, B.

B's coming up to his six-monthiversary of unemployment. One of the (few) benefits of joblessness is the opportunity it affords to keep up with the latest internet trends. The past month has been all Merton and chat roulette, trolling and equals three, piano cats and endless teabagging jokes. I have never felt so in-touch with my culture.

B just announced that his favourite instrument is the vocoder, but he's just trying to be cool. In fact, it is the ukelele.

We are going to the Bahamas on Friday. B suggested for a laugh that he bring along a ukelele. I agreed that this would be funny, so I found one for him online. Unfortunately, it is the cheapest piece of crap ever and I'm embarrassed to have bought it. I am suggesting he leave it behind when we return from our vacation.

Our flight leaves at 5:00 am. I thought the security desk didn't open before six so I'm curious to see what happens. I got a big, fat book out of the library for the flight. It's practically War and Peace, it's so enormous, but it's a thriller. I don't normally read these things but it's kind of fun to have a page-turner on a plane.

This is a family effort. We are meeting the parents, Em and B-i-L there and we're all going to share a house for a week and snorkel. I can't wait, but B has pretty much had it with relaxing so he's not looking forward to it much.

I think there will be internet access at the house but no computer, so my intimacy with pop culture will be short-lived. For B's sanity's sake, I hope it stays that way.

Oh I do love you, One Great City!

I'm not avoiding the blog anymore. I just seem to have nothing to say. I had 56 posts in six months the first year I started this. I know the trick is to write anyway, because really I always have something.

Here goes.

Since the killer hockey final - where I was secretly cheering for the US after hearing a not-entirely-discreditable prediction that Canadians, blinded by golden patriotism, would hastily vote Conservative were an election to be called shortly following the Games - I have developed a renewed interest in a game that really hasn't captured much of my attention since 1986. Hockey fan WorkerB fills me in on the changes since then.

Fortunately, this is a good place to live should one want to know more about hockey. The NHL site is helpful, but last weekend, there was a live game, outdoors: old Jets vs. the media. Jets were better.

And then 'Death By Popcorn'. Violating all forms of copyright, this movie has been hard to come by, but thanks to the wonders of the interwebber, you can watch it right now if you want. I wouldn't call it a great movie, but it captures something about this place that is bang-on: that (almost?) indomitable spirit of the underdog. This is why I wanted to live here (but I tell people it was because of the quality of the planning school).

Some say they're coming back. Others say, never. It's all about money now and that's one thing that One Great City! does not have. But it sure has loyal fans.

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B took a video of that outdoor game which I haven't got around to uploading to the computer. This entry has been waiting for that upload to happen, but as it seems to make sense without the video, I will go ahead and post this now. Two weeks after the fact...

Winter weekend

This weekend is a long one. Wa-hoo! Bad timing, though, as I realised Saturday morning that I only have one day (Tuesday) to finish an at-minimum two-day (Monday and Tuesday) task for work. I am gearing myself up to going in early tomorrow. That never seems to work. Perhaps I will surprise myself.

B and I started this LW with a fabulous skate on the fabulous winter trail, then went to the pub to watch the Opening Ceremonies. The sound was mostly off. I am generally not into that sort of thing, but also, deep down, very much into it - especially when it comes to the Olympics. I am nostalgic for the Olympics, coming as I do from Cow Pie.

My favourite part of any Opening Ceremony is the introduction of the participating countries. I think this is the only time when countries are referred to by their official names, so the orders are wonky, what with 'People's' and 'Islamic' and 'Democratic' prefixing the standard.

This set of introductions was particularly fun with all dancing that was going on in the meantime. Most of the dancers were pretty consistently energetic (one guy in particular was really into it, punching his fists in the air, bouncing his knees around non-stop - exactly why I love the Olympics), but you could see the odd individual growing weary - bored, even - as they drifted inward, forgetting where they were, much as I used to do after dancing my 11th song in a row at The Republik, beer in hand, concentration on slick dance moves sliding out the window to be replaced by sloppiness. I think if the stadium weren't covered, that phenomenon would have not manifested.

Otherwise, the event was relatively under-whelming, I thought. I thoroughly enjoyed myself, though. There was a lot to laugh at - often because of the squashed human form on HDTV. And I wish the sound had been on for K. D. Lang.

B and I are planning to go cross-country skiing today. There is a golf course in town that has very nicely-groomed trails in the winter. It's windy, though. I am fine with a still -21, -40 even, but the wind! Its relentless nature brings out my weenier side.

What to do, then? Watch a vid? Tidy? Bake muffins. I have a book that I need to finish in time for the second-ever meeting of the Planning Book Club which two friends and I started. The book is called Planet of Slums and I recommend it. A bit statistics-heavy, but eye-opening.

Screw it. The Olympics have inspired me. Skiing it is.