let's hope i never have to cut you from the team.

i don't really surf the interweb. i mean, i press refresh on fb quite a bit, and listen to docos on google video and have the occasional youtube session, but i've never really paid attention to the less obvious and infinitely more impressive sites that exist out there. maybe my curiousty has been peaked by all the new blogs i've been lurking on lately, but whatever it was, today's little online expedition netted me a few neat finds...

meet me at mikes. i cheated in finding this site since i picked up a postcard from their shop on my way home, but it did lead me to adrian johnson, a pretty neat illustrator/designer in the UK. how cute are these?







also...

i got really excited and sad at the same time when i came across someecards.com because a few months back a couple of us had this fun idea to sell greeting cards for occasions such as breakups and confessions. looks like these guys beat us to it.


finally, i think we should all print one of these off and have it ready for the next Palin tv appearance:

on a more somber note, tonight we say farewell to our home on Napier St. in the glorious 'hood of Fitzroy (North). it's been a great year and a half, and we are leaving having discovered some wonderful friends and countless heart-warming memories to cherish all thanks to this old terrace house. i'm off to have a last supper of sorts on Brunswick St. at Vietrose with Rols and possibly Ceci... mmm spicy plum chicken and sangria.

xx

when and where

so i love hayden. a friend messaged me earlier about aa bondy and whether or not i had ever heard him, and yes i had. he's pretty great. and that got me listening to other acoustic guitar and mellow vocal artists this afternoon, starting with jose gonzalez. inevitably i ended up with hayden, who is pretty much the best dude ever. i don't know from experience, but from afar, i'd say he'd probably be a great best bud to chill with. he came and did a show in a tiny little band room at the bar behind my boy's house here in Melbourne a few months back, and i sat there mesmorised for the entire set. the whole audience was sitting cross-legged on the floor staring up at him in amazement, hanging on his every lyric, every chord and every little anecdote he shared between songs. it was just him too, playing guitar and harmonica or harmonica and piano. wow.

and so i went to my good friend youtube to listen to some live songs. and this is the official video posted for the song when and where... say whaaaaat? werd? and is it just me or does that girl in red look like someone i know?
When and Where

country song repeats

I can give you all of my gems
For you I’d pick the flower stems

if i wasn't here, i'd be there.

if i were to quit law school, i'd be a wanderer. not in the sense that i'd become nomadic or a perpetual traveller, but more like i'd wander locally. in and out of shops and alleys and cafes and galleries. i'd walk slowly through parks and stare straight up at the sky and breathe in really deep. i'd like to have some time in my pocket, that i could use to take pictures and record secret messages.

i'd be a song writer. the kind that never really does it properly but always does it beautifully. i would just write with my eyes closed, just speak from my heart and play what my fingers tell me to play. maybe i would even get good at it.

i'd draw a really big picture. on canvas, with pencil, like this boy i met in one of my favourite little shops in northccote that has a garden in its window at the moment. they sell weird finds, and paint-by-number kits and really good mochas. i want to cleverly design something they could sell there, one at a time, under a cute alias.

i'd write short stories. i'd re-learn french, i can't spell in french anymore. i was a spelling-bee champion in grade 6, i made it to the regionals, just two competitions away from the finals in Senegal. and now i can't remember my plus-que-parfait. you don't use it, you lose it. but if i wasn't in law school, i could re-learn it. and spanish while i was at it.

i'd go to the beach every weekend, to surf or to just lay out in the sun and read. oh, i would read all the time. the books i bought at the Book Grocers sale, every paperback only $5! i think i have about 7 waiting to be attended to.

i'd get good at shooting with Diana. i'd find old picture frames and put up my favourite shots all over my new house.


i'd go to yoga. i'd go every morning and get really bendy.

i'd send more messages to long-lost people that i neglect these days. i miss some of my girls from home a lot.

i'm listening to jose gonzalez - heartbeats. and mine does. sigh.

please?

i hate coming up with things i want for my birthday. there's always something that i'd love to get, but being put on the spot like this is really stressful. it's like bringing me into a movie rental place, i get anxiety attacks from too many options.

i think these are a safe bet, i'd like these.


and this guy.



- photo stolen from patrick o'dell's blog... pup's name is ginger.

and what the hell is on joey's head?

two things really hit me smack in the face with flashbacks: music and smells. today, it was a song. and it reminded me of driving to work in mississauga and getting super angry at 102.1 the edge. this terrible band got so much airplay at home 4-5 years ago because of can-con rules imagine. i say this because i refuse to accept that there may have been an actual fan base that called in to radio stations and requested them. absolute garbage.

so i am sitting on the tram, after a long day at my new job. this day was a little longer than most because of a late night helping a certain boy i know complete a very important report. i really didn't mind the fact that i only had 4 hours of sleep, it was all done out of love. anyway, super long day. i actually manage to snag a seat in the packed car and i am stoked. across from me sits a female, late thirties, with a black bob complete with pink highlights and a lip ring. her ipod is blaring, totally uncool cause i want to nap. and as if that wasn't rude enough...

"look at this photograph, everytime i do it makes me laugh....blah bla blah blahhh...and what the hell is on joey's head?". nickelback!?! and it is so loud. why??? who listens to nickelback on PURPOSE? who listens to them in 2008, when they are not being forced to on canadian morning or afterwok radio? she followed that song up with robbie williams - angel.

anyway, it just got me thinking of home. and it reminded me that there are things there that i don't miss. not even a little.

it's just a feeling.

and that is all it is. i was listening to some philosophy podcast a few weeks ago when i was in a state of complete and utter despair (it's a long story...) and a quote really broke through some of those cloudy emotions that fog up our lenses every now and then. 'it is not the circumstances or the situation itself that is terrible or hurtful or bad, it is how you react to it, how it is perceived that makes it so.'

now that obviously would be a hard principle to apply to say, war crimes or car accidents, but let's face it. our day to day tragedies take up a lot of energy, wasted tears and panic attacks that grip our hearts and threaten to never let go.

i guess what i want to say is that it's just a feeling. it's a feeling that if you let it, if you give it attention like you would to a child throwing a temper-tantrum, then it will run wild and ravage your mind and your spirit.

and maybe another thing to remember is... look at what you are fighting for. because the past gets blurry, and blurry things look soft and fuzzy and slightly squishy, which means they probably appear more cuddly and inviting then they really were/are. and it's easy to miss when you are unsure of your present and most likely your future. it's easy to want to go back, because like i said before, familiar things are nice, comfortable and safe. but they are also things we tried and discovered that they didn't work.

6 things that occupy some of my time.

6. Dexter. i know it has been airing for years at home, again another example of me being a late adopter, but wow, it's like CSI meets House meets Saw I/II (was there a III?) meets American Psycho... i am loving this show, big time.


5. podcasts. BBC World News, BBC History Channel, BBC Documentaries, Flight of the Conchords, The Philosophy Series, of course The Ricky Gervais Show... being informed and entertained at all times is pretty rad.

4. google video. i work as a 'data entry officer' which means i copy and paste numbers all day long. that's it. my boss is the best and not so much permits but omits to intervene with my method of staying awake: google video. documentaries, conspiracy theory rants, scientology exposes, there are some real gems out there.

3. the US Presidential race. who needs reality tv or the Apprentice when we've got Palin and McCain? The School Smarts vs the War-loving, gun-toting, God-fearing All-American Cliches! i've listened to the presidential debates and the vp debate and it is just mind-blowing how much of their speeches are made up of rhetoric, complex and elaborate claims that the more you listen to the more apparent it is they have no coherence or substance. i wasn't an automatic Obama supporter from day one, but any observer is given little choice but to be on his side after listening to Palin or McCain's attempt to complete two or three consecutive arguments without blantantly contradicting themselves or just abandoning the issue altogether in favour of using annoying catch-phrases like 'well, yeah, we're reformers! mavericks!' what is this, Top Gun? i'm surprised they haven't launched an ad campaign promoting Palin as the 'Goose' to join McCain the Maverick.


besides the ridiculousness, the implications of this election are far-reaching and could mean a new tone in international relations so i think it is important for people to take notice, even if we aren't Americans... for real insightful stuff, I recommend listening to: Michelle Obama and Matt Damon.

2. 2/2 Elm St. i'm moving to this address in 2 weeks. hoo-ray! some highlights of the new place are a dishwasher, beautifully tiled back garden, 2 showers, a wall of mirrors in Ceci's room and a large jacuzzi tub... in the middle of Megsey's room. oh yes, friends, i'm moving into an 80's sexy movie.



1. home. i'm going to be there in less than 2 months after being here for just under 2 years. does time and distance change a person? does it change relationships that are forced to endure the space? does time heal or hurt or fade? it is all very intriguing and i'm looking forward to smooshing several faces.