currently

am at home in vancouver, waiting on some random asian couple to show up and buy some of our furniture.  presumably, this being hongcouver, they’re pretending to move, but really they’re setting up another illegal apartment for fifteen teenage asians whose parents have way too much money and are paying for them to go to school in Vancouver.  Said teenagers, instead of taking the parents money and getting a decent pad, instead choose to live with fourteen other teenagers, pay $200 a month and spend the rest of the dough on partying.

makes sense to me.

the house is relatively cool, despite it being midday, all blazing sun and dripping sweat.  adrian is quietly going through his cd collection, which will have to be sold or let go before we move.  ditto with comic books, records and books.

devastating.

headed back to nyc either tomorrow or thursday, depending on if my reserve days get dropped or not.  we’re hoping they do.

trying to sell random things on craigslist, also.  bookshelves, books, cds, etc….you think I can list 60 gigs of downloaded porn and get a couple bucks?  we’ll see.

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nearly peed myself

Where: A small corner of the British Isles that time and genetics forgot.

What is it?
It involves up to 20 competitors chasing a block of cheese down a hill. No, really.

The competitors climb up to the top of the almost-impossibly steep Cooper’s Hill and chase a large not-quite-round wheel of double Gloucester cheese down to the bottom. The winner is the first person over the line at the bottom of the slope, but theoretically, the winner is supposed to be the person who catches the cheese. The cheese, which is given a one-second head start, reaches speeds in excess of 70 miles an hour, so unless a competitor is the T-1000, or has managed to smuggle a motorcycle to the top of the hill, it’s not gonna happen.

Terrible injuries, however, are common.

Origins:
No one quite knows when the game started, but it is at least 200 years old, though some say it goes back further and was part of a pagan healing ritual. Apparently to pagans, healing rituals meant hurting yourself really badly.

Interesting fact:
After the final race, candy is thrown down the hill for a children’ ‘scramble.’ This has been attacked by children’ charities as being highly dangerous, but has been praised by almost everyone else as being very funny.

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random friday thoughts

feeling under the weather.  I have a cold.  as I understand it, I’ll have almost constant colds for the first six months of this job, then (supposedly) I’ll never get sick again.  crossing my fingers it’s true.  if it is, I only have four months to go.

the urge to write has been smothered under the urge to get as much sleep as possible, in the last couple of months.  imagine that.

trying to quit smoking again works best when the cheapest store in your area forgets to restock the only brand you’ll smoke.  me thinks they’re doing it on purpose to help me.

watching the departed makes me remember why I like the yankee accent.  specifically boston.  I just don’t think it’s terribly attractive on women.  which is probably why I don’t live there.  but this is the perfect movie for watching hot guys with northern accents.  matt damon, leo dicaprio and marky mark.  seriously, though, this is the hottest leo’s ever been.  brilliant acting.  well written.

need to catch up with my tv shows:  bsg, grey’s anatomy, heroes, family guy…other shows I’ve completely forgotten.

I need more cough syrup.  and a new septum.

I’m on call, but there’s nothing on open time.  so that means I’m not likely to get called.  since I’m not likely to get called, and it’s a gorgeous day, I should go outside and get some sunshine.  what’s really funny is that when I just typed that last sentence I said “sleep” not “sunshine”.  either way, right?

right.

will manage to post about travel soon, but the gist of the trips were the following:

amsterdam:  great hotel, gorgeous people, free bike rental, fun city to bike in, awesome bar on the beach, great music, decent food, great soccer (football), drunk bike ride back to hotel, free drinks from hot bartender.

sao paulo: interesting airport, really long (two hour) drive to hotel, FABULOUS hotel (grand hyatt, but really, should be a park hyatt it’s so nice), amazing food at a churrascaria, fantastic sleep in a delicious bed, two hour massage for $25us, more napping, some subtitled american tv and another really long drive back to the airport.

lots of flying, now need sleepies.

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