And we’re all a little older. Wiser, not so much really

So, it’s official. I am no longer the answer to life, the universe, and everything. Which is a fancy-ish way of saying I turned 43 yesterday. I think that officially puts me past my ‘early’ forties and directly into my ‘middle’ forties. Ah well, what can you do, yeah?

In other far more interesting news, I did some stuff. First, husband and I went to a barbecue competition out in Chilliwack. Had a lovely time. Weather was amazing, barbecue was **amazing**!

These guys? Truly, the best brisket I’ve ever tasted in my life. Oh yeah!

It was a lot of fun. Mind you, Mr. B and I both overindulged and then had tummy aches all night. And we would and will do so again.

Spring is officially making itself known around here.

Everything smells so very alive suddenly. The yard is just exploding with growing things. And, a lot of birds doing what birds do in the spring time. If you know what I mean.

One day last week I saw this from the bus. The next day I went back and got off a stop early just so I could take a picture. It kind of makes me feel a bit like crying, but I really love it too.

Isn’t it wonderful and sort of poignant? I think we all feel like Mr. Cardigan, up there some times. Just moving through life but forgetting what it’s like to be alive. It’s nice to know that there are people and things around us that force us to remember the other, more enjoyable parts of life. My google-fu led me to the artist Matt Bowen.

Last, but not least, okay – two things actually. But they are both in one picture.

1. For my birthday bestest husband in the world got me a new teeny tiny notebook computer to replace my slowly dying netbook. I’ll miss you Alice, but WOW is Florence ever a lot faster!*
2. My book club this month is reading a book that is near and dear to me. When I went to pull my copy off the shelf I realized I must have lent it out and not gotten it back because it ain’t there. Thankfully Pulp Fiction had a copy. Unfortunately it’s part of a trilogy and they only had the omnibus edition. I now have a book big enough that I could conceivably beat someone to death with it.

See, twofer! Tiny computer, HUGE book. Carrying this on the bus is going to suck! LOL

Happy Tuesday.

*What? You don’t name your electronic devices? How odd.

I hate it when I’m creepy…sort of

Coming home on the train tonight one set of doors wouldn’t open. Aside from the amusement factor of watching human after human after human walk into the stubbornly refusing to open doors the following happened. Thankfully it was all in my head.

In my head -  ‘Hmmm, one of the four sets of doors is no longer operational. That means that if just three more sets of doors fails we will be trapped in here. Huh, which one of you will I eat first?’

What? Like you never have those thoughts?

• Which person would be the easiest to take down?
• Do you take out a little one or a big one?
• If you take out a big one, will they get fully consumed before they start to go bad.
• If you take out a little one and you don’t get rescued quickly enough, will you probably have to take out another little one?
• Do you have two little ones?
• Screw it, just start with a big one???
• Etc, etc, etc

Right? Now come on, it’s not only me having these thoughts!

Monday…

Yeah, I got nothing. Here, have a cute drawing that I found on the side of a hydro box:

Beep, boop, beep – that’s steam punk or something for ‘man I wish it was Friday.’

So much to see & do

The commute for my new job is pretty long, like almost 3 hours a day long. So, I’ve been trying to find new (read quicker) ways of getting to and from. And if not quicker, at least more interesting things to look at. So far, 41st Avenue is probably the quickest, by about 5 minutes. But it is painfully boring and the bus is painfully full. If I’m going to be uncomfortable I at least want to be kept amused. So, on Friday I tried going down Cambie then taking the Broadway bus over to the train. Saw some very cool things. Like this sculpture by Magdalena Abakanowicz called Walking Figures at the corner of Broadway and Cambie:

For scale here is my rather large size 10 foot:

Very cool. They feel like they are marching off to downtown Vancouver.

There was also a man in a cowboy hat busking with a banjo:

Infinitely more interesting than taking the bus along 41st.

Then, since it was Friday, I took myself out for a little dinner followed by a wee study party at the library. Where did I go for dinner you ask? Don’t be silly! I was at Broadway & Commercial, how could I not go to Buddha’s Orient Express for ridiculously bad for me food?

And while I was there I had a moment of perfect contentment. End of a long week, hot yummy dinner, watching the people going about their lives outside, listening to snatches of conversations every time the door was opened. It was really quite perfect.

Look, even the top of my food box was smiling. I wish I could have distilled that feeling and put it in a bottle.

I spend a lot of time…

On transit:

I don’t drive so me and the bus/train/neighbourhood bus, we’re pretty close. I’m also crazy nosy and get bored easily. Like most 5 year olds you see out and about unattended. So, to stop me from mumbling and wandering off I try to find things to take pictures of. It’s like having an electronic pacifier for when I’m out in public. Today’s roundup:

Willing to bet this one is a little bit different from the one in Harry Potter. Probably a fair bit more vomit & people yelling, “No man! I love you!”

Reading:

As evidence, I offer this photo:

I went to pick up one book that I had pre-ordered. It was even prepaid. There was absolutely no reason for the additional 4 books that leapt into my bag. Sigh.

Knitting:

This is my next big project. Still in string form, obviously:

Top down cardigan starting with the lightest and moving to the black. So excited!

Being distracted:

Bus bench engraved graffiti

The Fraser River and a rather unsettled bit of weather for the commute home.

Now, I’m going to have grilled cheese sandwiches & tomato soup for dinner, look at my books, and hopefully not get greasy fingerprints on the pages.

Happy Thursday.

Tuesday, and still no Joe

Two morning commutes and no Joe. I’ll be honest, this makes me inordinately happy. Having to be all strong and stuff at 6:15 am in the daylight savings time week just seems a bit ridiculous. Thanks for all your ideas & suggestions. You guys are most creative.

This morning, this person who I thought was a woman, (turned out to be a man) standing with me at the bus stop was farting up a right storm. Keep in mind, we were the only two people there. They weren’t going to lose their place in line if they happened to wander off a few feet to drop those air biscuits. Sigh. My hopes for this neighbourhood are being ground down and down and down.

But then, the same farty person shared my entire commute with me. One bus, then a train, then another bus, then a stop at the coffee shop. As far as I’m concerned, they were just messing with me at that point.

On the ride home today, cheek by jowl with all the other poor transit souls I looked up and saw this:

Isn’t that great? It’s from the book Inward to the Bones: Georgia O’Keeffe’s Journey with Emily Carr. Go ahead, click the link. Some very cool stuff. It’s all a part of the Poetry in Transit. Look! Another link. I’ll wait.

And, I just got a message that the book I ordered on Friday is already in at Pulp Fiction Books. Almost magic! Perhaps I’ll see if they have any of Kate Braid’s books in stock while I’m there tomorrow.

Happy Wednesday.

Waiting for the bus, now with moral complications

My new commute is quite a bit longer than the old one. A bus, then the train, then another bus, then a wee walk. It takes a little over an hour all together. This past Friday first bus was late. 15 minutes late. While waiting this gentleman struck up a conversation with me. Let’s keep in mind that it was 6:05 a.m. His name was Joe, he was very polite, nicely dressed, and a lovely voice with this sort of round African accent. And he really wanted to talk to me about Jesus. Sigh. After we had exchanged names and apparently enough chit-chat that we could move right on to everlasting life talk, things went kind of like this:

J: So Tammy, do you believe in Jesus?
M: No. I believe in science and humans taking care of each other and themselves.
J: But what about everlasting life? Don’t you want to believe in that?
M: No. No I don’t.One life is quite long enough.
J: Are you married? Do you have children? Don’t you believe that god is looking down on them and taking care of them?
M: No. No I don’t. And I don’t want to and I’m not interested in religion. At all.

Keep in mind, I was being super polite, because he was being super polite. He wasn’t all up in my face and challengey, ’cause then I wouldn’t have been polite. I was starting to thing, where the hell is the bloody bus!!!!?!@?!?! though.

J: Don’t you want to have more success in your career? Promotion?
M: No. I’m fine.
J: Don’t you want to make more money?
M: No. I’m fine.
J: What about a better retirement more financial freedom?
M: No. That’s my responsibility and I will take care of that.
J: I will pray for you.

Sigh.

Now, at this point I’m thinking, surely, if there is a god, they have much more important things to worry about than me getting a promotion and not eating cat food when I retire. Don’t they? If not, they are simply not using their time in a very proactive way.

Finally, the bus shows up. Ironically enough I’m thinking ‘SAVED!’. But no. Of course Joe sits with me, because of course we’re not done yet. Then he hands me a pamphlet and asks me to read it so we can talk more on Monday.

Are you freaking kidding me? At this point I’m just sliding into full on Canadian mode and trying as hard as I can not to engage. Plenty of nod & smile, which probably didn’t do me any favours.  I don’t want to offend, but I’m really feeling trapped by this ridiculously polite man. We finally arrive at the train, then it’s on to my second bus which drops me off near my office. As I’m getting off the bus, boom, I hear, ‘Oh, hello, Tammy!’ OFFS, it’s Joe. He’s going to Richmond dontcha know, so he takes almost the exact same commute as me.

The passive aggressive in me just wants to find another route for my commute. But, I’m not going to do that. Nope, I’m not. I’m going to explain to him that while Joe has freedom of religion I also have freedom of non-religion. And that I’m happy to chat with him in the morning, however; I will not be discussing religion and the possibility of me becoming religions.

And, if that doesn’t work, I’m totally falling back on vaguely passive aggressive technique of changing my commute route.

In other news, spring is definitely coming as evidenced by two spastic dogs hurling themselves around the back yard this morning.

I also realized that buying a scone or a muffin at a coffee shop in the morning is ridiculous and expensive and fattening. Therefore it was bake all the things this morning. All the things seemed to include cheese, ham, and onions, BTW. Oh, and multi grain flour. ‘Cause fibre…totally undoes what cheese and ham have wrought? Yeah, prolly not.

And, for the ever curious Damselfly, here are my new shoes. One pair of Dansko’s (in the back) and one pair of Clarks. Both eminently qualified for walking to and from buses and trains on week days.

And hopefully good for running from people trying to convert me. Oh, and zombies. Always good to be able to out run the zombies.

ADVENTURE!

Well, for me it constitutes adventure. I had some overtime at work this week so I used it up today and left work early. I was just going to go and buy some new shoes for work. But then, I got to leave even earlier than I had previously planned and the day turned into a full on funfest. First up, Pulp Fiction Books on Main Street.

Easily a bazillion used books and some very cool new ones too. I almost came home with this:

But I restrained my self. I did special order some John Steinbeck though. ‘Cause that’s how I roll. Oh, and look, lectio!

Thinking of you! And flogging! But I digress.

Back outside and there was this cool little number:

This is the corner of Main & Broadway in Vancouver. Why are these things not everywhere as an aid to those of us who are directionally challenged? Seriously. Also at Main & Broadway:

By now I was feeling a bit peckish. Hopped on the 99 bus and headed to the Broadway Station for one of my mostest favouritest guilty pleasures.

Buddha’s Orient Express! Mmmm, I love this place with a truly unholy passion. I can’t even explain it. It’s not what anyone would consider ‘good’ Chinese food. Hell, the work express is right there in the name. It’s quick. It’s hot. It’s beyond filling. If I lived in this neighbourhood I would never buy groceries. Just Buddha’s Orient Express, every day. I’m drooling just a little right now thinking about that. Just so you know.

Still ridiculously full 3 hours later. Outside the Broadway Station are these tiles that were inscribed by I’m assuming local residents.

Now that is a happy smile. It’s a Dr. Martin Somethingorother. I’m going to assume he’s a dentist. Just a guess.

Then it was back on the train to a very boring mall where I did indeed find shoes for work. Oh, and I stopped in at Lush. Tonight, I shall have the most epic bath ever!

Today was awesome.

You had me at public embarrassment

There’s this little indie coffee shop on my way to work. Amazing pecan muffins, just sayin’. The main reason I first went into this place was the fantastic sign on their door:

No public washroom. No public phone. No excuses. Right, fine. Got that. But then…Failure to comprehend to this sign will automatically entitle you to public embarrassment. NICE! I am all for a bit of public shaming once in awhile. Now, I stop there every morning for my coffee just in the faint **hope** that I might see a little public embarrassment.

None so far, but I am hopeful.

This afternoon on the bus I could here this sort of clicking noise behind me. I turned around and boom. There was the 70′s. Just sittin’ there.

A Rubik’s cube, guys! For realz. And a teenage boy actively working on solving it. Magic. I felt like the 41 bus had turned into a Tardis and I had fallen back in time. I’d like you to also note the Cybermen headphones this kid is also sporting. You just know those things are creating some sort of electrical field and in 10 years ‘they’ will tell us those things caused brain tumours.

Then, later, on the train, another pair!

The same brand, only in purple. And just as huge. Then I started actively looking and I counted 5 more pairs of these things in the next 10 minutes of my train ride.

Apparently I’ve missed yet another trend. I think I’m okay with missing this one, actually.

Thursday. Always better than Monday.

First off, yeah I totally failed at the technology thing and couldn’t turn off the comments on my last post. That said, it was really nice to read some supportive and positive messages. Thanks! I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again. Y’all rock!

In super fantastic positive news, the RCMP have caught and charged those that they believe are responsible for Sunday night’s shooting. Can I get an amen? Testify! I am sooooo going to sleep tonight.

In other way more eclectic news, I’ve been seeing some more interesting things on the new commute. Wanna see? Sure you do! Look!

A snowy morning commute yesterday!

Some cool heads behind the bus stop at Kingsway and Slocan??? I think???

Hmmmmm, really? Okay...

This was written on the curb (kerb?) at the bus stop yesterday. The teenager I walk in front of to take the picture gave me a look of pure disgust that I was taking a picture. Whatever!

It reads, ‘None of this will matter when you’re 75 and you can’t piss or shit or walk. so smile ‘

I was just happy that they used the correct form of you’re. Mainly because I didn’t have a red Sharpie on me to mark in corrections if necessary.

Snort. Happy Thursday, guys!