may long

May 20, 2013 — kimli

It’s just not a long weekend if I don’t completely fuck up my sleep patterns for no good reason. Up until 2am! Awake at 6! Rinse and repeat until today, when I actually wanted to get up and out of the house early – except I was so tired from three nights of poor/small sleep I couldn’t keep my eyes open, and I ended up napping at 8am! Boo. Today was .. not productive, unless you count the skirt: I finished up a skirt made up of a dress I cut in half. There was also a lot of me time, and perogies. Both the me time and the perogies involved a lot of bacon, so I suppose it was a good day after all.

As far as long weekends go, it was a quiet one. I tried to rouse interest in people for social times, but that failed spectacularly so Ed and I just hung out with ourselves. We had a really good time by our lonesomes: there were hidden comic book stores, a trip up Burnaby Mountain where there were bees, terrible terrible frozen yogurt, ALL THE ANIMALS EVER, Five Guys, and more: adventure! Apparently, we ARE capable of doing more than playing Guild Wars 2/MechWarrior Online for untold hours at a time. Good for us.

So, Burnaby Mountain. We like going up there because it’s rarely busy, and there are some spectacular views of the city and Burrard Inlet. Saturday turned out to be really nice, so after a variety of fascinating errands we took a drive up to see what we could find. Answer: all the bees ever, a battered old ladybug, some incredible views, and honest-to-god raindrops on roses (the whiskers on kittens and warm woollen mittens were at home).

Sunday was more of the same: morning moping, then afternoon in the sun. We went to North Vancouver to try out Menchie’s Frozen Yogurt, which was actually terrible: I didn’t know it was possible to make frozen yogurt taste horrible, but then there’s Menchie’s. We love Pinkberry and Qoola, but never again shall we be swayed by an adorable logo – Menchie’s was gross. We couldn’t find one flavour of yogurt that didn’t taste like ass (how do you fuck up strawberry), and settled for their sorbet which tasted like deodorant. Honestly, the best part of the visit was the awesome friendly cat that came to say hi on the patio, and the cute spoons.

Next up: Stanley Park. I wanted to see if there were any baby geese about, so we parked along Lost Lagoon and went for a walk. On our walk we saw:

  • Ducks
  • Geese
  • Vampire Ducks
  • Heron (which I can’t pronounce)
  • A baby heron trying to pass itself off as a duck
  • A mother swan sitting on an enormous nest with three eggs in it
  • Two raccoons (or maybe one raccoon that followed us around) that Ed wouldn’t let me take home
  • Squirrels
  • A goose brawl
  • Turtles
  • A pair of geese with 21 BABY GEESE OUT FOR A FAMILY SWIM OMG
  • Stupid people feeding the raccoons
  • More epic scenery
  • Seagulls being ominous

.. and more, all in the span of an hour. Lost Lagoon in the spring has been officially added to my List of Things I’ll Miss if I Leave Vancouver, which was sort of an ongoing theme over the weekend. There are things I would miss, like the easy access to nature and wildlife. My goal throughout the summer is to remind myself of all the things I’d miss if I left, and to recapture the joy I had when we first got here .. but that’s another post I’m not ready to write yet, so moving on.

Which we did, to Five Guys. I miss the one at Park Royal (which will be back when all the construction is done), but the new location downtown helps – at any rate, it’s not Surrey. I may love Five Guys in my mouth, but I’d never go to Surrey to satisfy my itch (unless that itch involves picking up Stephanie on our way out of dodge).

We really did see a lot this weekend, so I can’t really complain. I did, though. Out loud, where no one can hear me.

I’m looking forward to going back to work tomorrow: interesting things are afoot and hopefully I will have some news soon. News! It has goo written all over it!

i’m in the goo!

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bad timing

April 20, 2013 — kimli

Most of the time I’m able to escape whatever horrible ailments befall Ed, but not this time – I’m sick. He had a terrible cold that kicked his ass all last week, and yesterday, I caught it. My throat is on fire, my head is swimming, I’m sore all over, and there is congestion where there ought not to be congestion – I’m sick and I’m miserable about it: not so much because I have a cold, but because this is likely the SINGLE WORST DAY IN THE HISTORY OF DAYS to be unable to leave the house. By being Patient Zero, I am missing out on the following things going on in Vancouver today:

  • Record Store Day - all of these local stores are participating, and I wanted to check it out
  • Vancouver FanExpo is happening downtown at the Convention Centre, and as a well-rounded nerd into all things nerdy, I should be with my people (except without being all awkward)
  • Make It Vancouver is at the Croatian Cultural Centre – it’s one of two major local handmade craft shows (Got Craft? being the other), and I wanted to go play
  • It’s gorgeous outside – perfect for wandering around through various festivals and events
  • It’s April 20th – the annual 420 celebration is at the VAG this afternoon, and it’s always an amusing contact high/picture taking time
  • I have a Groupon for my favourite boat rental place in West Vancouver that expires in two days, and this weekend was my last chance to use it
  • Lori is leaving Vancouver and having a goodbye/buy our crap drop-in today, and I want to say bye :(
  • It’s the last two days of a big sale at Sephora, and I wanted to stock up on a few things
  • Re-Fashion Vancouver is today only in Yaletown

There are other things I’m probably forgetting, but I wanted to do so many things this weekend .. and instead, I’m a mess. A sad, unwashed, highly contagious, cranky mess.

Dislike.

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all of the fun

March 3, 2013 — kimli

I do not know how I can possibly be hungry after last night, but I am awake and starving and could eat all of Denny’s all over again.

Amazing weekend. Don’t particularly want it to end or face the mountain of laundry slowly gaining sentience on my bedroom floor. I want more sweaty music, more laughing with friends, more tall men named Sheldon flirting with me, more accidental running into Steve, more Andy and his amazing band, more Seattle. I want it all .. but I need clean underwear, so it’s back to reality (for now).

I picked Stephanie up in Surrey on Thursday night after a series of unfortunate events that started with my (paycheque-sized) tax refund being held up by CRA because I didn’t file 6 years worth of empty GST/HST paperwork. After getting that sorted out (thanks, Government Darill), I hopped in the Minibator and .. got lost. See, I don’t go to Surrey. It’s absolutely a Vancouver Snob thing. Worse, every time I try to go to Surrey or Delta or Langley, I end up in New Westminster because all bridges are the Queensborough Bridge. I may aim for the other, correct bridges, but each time my brain says “yep, this is totally the bridge to the ‘burbs” and I then I find myself in Wal-Mart with three grubby children and a shopping cart full of off-brand Kraft Dinner and pull ups. I eventually got myself sorted out and made it to Surrey, which was as stereotypical as expected. One Steph later, we were on our way: it was time for Seattle.

The drive down was largely uneventful, if you do not consider apocalyptic weather to be an event. We drove through torrential rain, wind, scary dark freeway times and even time travel fog before coming through on the other side in one white knuckled piece. We were staying with Steph’s sister in Redmond, and we pulled into the belly of the Microsoft beast just before midnight after a harrowing ride.

Steph and I left the house the following morning with no game plan, so we headed to the EMP for the Art of Video Games exhibit. It was neat, but not really worth making a trip for (and that’s saying something, given how much I am in love with video games) .. but the day was saved by the OTHER exhibits at the EMP: the Hall of Nirvana, and the ABSOLUTELY AMAZING horror movie exhibit which you REALLY NEED TO GO SEE. Also, if you’ve never been, there’s a super cool science fiction exhibit (which both of us had seen before so we skipped it this time) that is totally worth seeing. They’re currently setting up the next exhibit on Fantasy and Myth, so if anyone wants to go on a mini road trip in April, museums will happen.

A late lunch at the always ridiculous and delicious Lunchbox Lab followed, and a very brief stop into Pike Place Market – the market is only open until 6pm, and we got there around 5:45. The market itself is nothing new, but we wanted to check out the flowers coz they’re always pretty, and also buy some delicious vinegar from Sotto Voce (which we managed to do with 2 minutes to spare). Wandering happened, and then .. we saw a giant ferris wheel down by the water. With two hours to kill until the show, we decided to go down and check it out: one does not simply see a giant lit up ferris wheel spinning merrily around without further investigation, so we piled back into the Mini and I used my Super Sense to find our way down to the waterfront.

We had stumbled upon the Seattle Great Wheel, all lit up for the opening of the Sounders season. Upon seeing that the seats were in enclosed pods, we decided we needed to go on a ride (we are adventuresome but prone to freezing, and the wheel is right on the water) – call it a consolation prize, because neither of us got to go on the London Eye on our various trips to Europe. Also, the $15 ticket price was a great deal easier to swallow than the £20 in London. The ride was super fun and we got a lot of pictures of Seattle at night from above – would totally recommend, especially if you go during off season because it’s much less busy and you’ll likely get a pod to your group instead of having to share, so then you can totally make out like we and the cute gay boys in the pod next to us did.

Finally, it was time to make our way to Neumos for the show: Astronautalis was opening for Why?, and I will always always drive to Seattle to see Astronautalis play. The venue was crowded as fuck (all ages show), but by pure chance Steph and I managed to get a great spot by the stage just time in for Andy’s set. Also, I poked him twice in the shoulder because I am smooth, and I got a hug. I win. We didn’t stay for the headliner because we were both tired and not feeling the massive crowd, so we made a graceful exit and drove off into the night (slowly, as Pike East is the Granville Street of Seattle and every single person between the ages of 21 and 30 were standing in line to get into a club).

Saturday was a bit rushed, because we had things to do and a deadline to meet back home. We ran important errands (wine, iTunes credit, looking for gnomes) and got out of town around 1pm. More terrible weather on the way back to Vancouver, all the rum at the duty free, and we were back home by 4:45: just enough time to power nap, power shower, and get ready to do it all over again. Steph enjoyed the show in Seattle, so she bought a ticket to come with Ed, Shan and I to see Astronautalis in Vancouver at the Biltmore where we met a coworker who bought my other ticket, and ran into No Fun Steve who was there to see Why?. Fun! I put stickers on my boobs, got right up at the stage for the set (much to the extreme annoyance of the fan girls who planted themselves at the stage for the entire duration of the evening so they could be front and center for Why? – cool but don’t give me dirty looks when I try to get up front for the act I want to see; I will gladly acquiesce my space to you when the act is done), bopped around and generally had myself a great fucking time, as always. Andy and his boys put on an amazing fucking show, and I absolutely adore dragging people out to Astronautalis shows with me because they always enjoy it and then I get to go say hi to the band and they sometimes remember me and yay! Also, shut up – I rarely fangirl out over things, so if I want to be a squealing ninny over this I’m totally allowed because they are my favourite ever, and I will always enthusiastically support the things I love in any way I can.

Also, didn’t accidentally see anyone pee this time. Bonus.

We stuck around for most of the Why? set, then took off before the Biltmore turned into a dance club (that happened the last time we were at the Fortune Sound Club and it was terrifying). The plan was to get tacos, but Chronic Tacos broke our hearts by being CLOSED (apparently for renovations?) so we did the next best thing: fucking DENNY’S, Y’ALL. We ordered ALL THE FOOD (there was so much food), ate it all, then went home: Steph was Rum Drunk and I was Tired Drunk, and we needed to be poured into our respective beds to begin the downward descent into reality and back to a life without daily rap shows and Moons Over our Hammies at midnight.

So much fun. A++++, would do again in a heartbeat. Am a bigger fan of Astronautalis and his band after every single show I see. Love my life, and all those in it.

Pictures coming sometime!

classiest ever.

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all of the things

February 24, 2013 — kimli

In preparation for what I hope will be a busy year full of Good Times, I spent much of the last week Doing Things. Outside. With Other People. It’s fun and exhausting all at once, and I keep forgetting how much I like outside. I really ought to remember it more often.

On Wednesday, Ed and I went to the Vancouver Aquarium for After Hours. It was our first time at the Aquarium, and it was FUCKING AWESOME. I can’t believe we waited so long to check it out, but we both absolutely loved it to the point of buying a memberships so we can come back and hang out with the otters to our heart’s content. You’ll still never catch me at the Aquarium’s Seafood Nights – that’s too morbid even for me – but I plan on spending a lot of time exploring the Aquarium this summer, because scooting to Stanley Park is awesome and plus there are cool critters everywhere:

Fish Crab

i bet i taste good.

graceful, yet creepy as fuck

graceful, yet creepy as fuck

.. and so on and so forth. I posted a lot over on my Instagrams, and will likely post a thousand more over the course of my membership. FUN! Also, the next After Hours (adults only so you can enjoy the Aquarium without kids around) is on June 6th. Y’all should go – I will be there!

Saturday was a big day for us, as we hit up not one but FOUR different places. First on the docket was an engagement party for Bonnie and Catherine, who are among my very favourite people ever. I’m so giddy that they’re getting married I could (and routinely do) fall over – they are adorable, and I love them all over. The theme of their party was Fancy Times; everyone needed to wear a tea gown and a fascinator or hat. As expected, Ed balked at wearing a gown but did wear a hat so we both looked very dapper (I may have been more ridiculous than dapper). Friends of theirs hosted the party in their gorgeous house, and it was a lovely afternoon with cupcakes and excellent people I do not see nearly enough and the couple of honour, Bonnie and Catherine.

We came home for a quick wardrobe change (more boobs were required), and picked up Josh and Shan for Adventures Parts 2-4. We stopped in at the Hot Pink art show to say hi to some people, meet some other people, and look at art – I even BOUGHT an art, and I am super excited to hang it in my Lady Cave. I really want to commission Bret to make me an art of my oranges – maybe that will be my birthday present to myself. Art is super!

After art (where I really should have stayed longer because I missed out on meeting a bunch of people I’ve been Twittering with forever), we went to St. Augustine’s to meet up with Cait and Dylan for food and beer. The place was packed beyond imagining and it took quite a while to get seated and even longer to get food, but it was well worth the wait (the burger I had was frickin’ amazing, with Perfect Bacon and all the delicious). We stumbled up the street afterward to go to the Royal Canadian Legion, which was equally hopping with an eclectic mix of people and really loud bands. We had hoped to play some darts, but the boards were being hogged by some nasty hipsters who were not taught how to share (or play darts). Cait almost started a rumble, but we eventually gave up on Operation Darts despite the incredibly friendly Legion regulars who helped us find a table and got us seats. It was actually really cool in there, and people were loving the band. My parents used to frequent the Legion in Victoria almost every weekend for dancing, before my dad was unable to – I could almost picture my mom and dad in there, tearing it up (and complaining about how loud the music was).

Then, home. In between all the Outside, I did quite a bit of trouble-causing in various places online, and was giggling all night at the aftermath of my outrage and pot-stirring in various locations.

Today there shall be nothing. I slept in, I’m writing, and I’ll probably watch the Oscars. The week ahead holds the strata AGM (not exciting), and a trip to Seattle (very exciting) with Steph – we’re going to the Art of Video Games exhibit at EMP followed by an Astronautalis show, then coming home on Saturday so I can go to another Astronautalis show the next night.

ADVENTURE!

Now, to do additional research on obtaining a UK Ancestry Visa! It’s wishful thinking at the moment, but who knows what the future holds?

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bad mood bear

February 20, 2013 — kimli

I am in a terrible mood. There isn’t any particular reason for it; I just want to crawl back into bed and shut the world out for a day or so. I’ve had trouble sleeping recently, and last night I had a rare fit of angst about my ridiculous boobs, and I’m not in London, but those things don’t add up to the black cloud over my head. I think I’m just grumpy. Very, very grumpy.

So, to distract from my terrible, horrible, no good, very bad mood, here are some things that have genuinely entertained me over the last week; described with adjectives I do not normally use:

  • I loved this article about a couple in New York who, over 50 years, amassed a priceless art collection for the sheer love of it. I don’t care about art, art collections, couples from New York, or most things, but the article was just .. lovely. It’s worth a read, even if you are heartless and jaded like I am – something about the story of the Vogels made my insides all warm. Their names are Dorothy and Herb, for crying out loud – how can you not love them? There’s something amazing about doing something purely out of love, and the wonderful legacy they’re leaving the art world is so sweet.
  • Heavenly Nostrils is a syndicated comic strip about a girl and her unicorn best friend. It is impossibly endearing, and it’s easy to be drawn into Phoebe’s world. Start from the first strip and catch up – it is fun and cute and not at all hokey, which cannot be said about most syndicated comics.
  • This article about whipped honey is great. The author really, really likes honey and cheese, and – very likely unintentionally – describes her whipped honey experience in near-pornographic terms. You will never think of pepper grinders in the same way again.
  • Tonight I am gonna see some sharks. Stay tuned to my various internets for the inevitable eerie yet gorgeous pictures of jellyfish! I’ve never been to the Vancouver Aquarium, so I am excited.

That’s all I’ve got. Taking my bad mood for lunch now.

i still wish i was in london

 

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close to home

October 30, 2012 — kimli

For the last 12+ hours, a “police incident” has been going on around my condo building. The street and alley are blocked off, and there are cops everywhere. Normally this would be cause for concern by itself, but I’m doing just a little bit of extra freaking out: both Ed and I missed being witnesses/directly involved in the incident by mere minutes/a really bad cold.

Details are still rolling in, but it sounds as though someone was roaming up our street breaking windows and throwing bottles around. He was armed with a knife, and was at our building door while a strata meeting – that I was supposed to be at, but had skipped because I’m sick – was happening in the lobby. Something happened, and the guy broke one of the lobby windows (possibly while trying to get in). The strata people went to the elevator for safety while they called the cops.

While this was happening, Ed was being a nice husband and getting me a sundae from McDonald’s to soothe my angry throat. He took the back stairs to the parking lot, got my sundae without incident, and made his way home again via the front stairs; passing one of our neighbours on way. While he was in the stairwell, the lobby window was broken and the strata went into hiding while Knife Guy continued down the street towards the McDonald’s, where he was eventually shot and killed by police.

I was supposed to be at that strata meeting, but because I wasn’t, Ed was out getting me ice cream and somehow JUST missed being involved or a witness in a bizarre dance of fate – while he was on one side of the building, Knife Guy was on the other. Those positions were reversed a minute later as Ed made his way home, and Knife Guy met his unfortunate end. Neither of us knew the full extent of how close we came to Actual, Serious Danger until this morning when all the pieces started falling into place and the timing of the incidents solidified – it was really, really close. Scary close. Too close.

The strata was moved off-site for questioning, and didn’t return until 2am. Police officers canvased our building, asking if anyone had seen or heard anything. The street and alley are still closed, as is the McDonald’s. All night we listened to people try to drive around the roadblock, and get yelled at by the police asking what the fuck they thought they were doing (the answer was “I want to go to McDonald’s” every time). Windows are boarded up, there’s real yellow police tape everywhere (so similar to the Halloween tape surrounding my cubicle, but so much more real), and things seem much quieter than usual (although I’m normally not home at this time of the day, so what do I know).

I’m working from home today, going with common sense instead of the preferred opposite. I don’t really want to be here – I have a lot of work to do and there are packages waiting for me at the office full of EXCITING THINGS – but my head is kind of floating (when I close my eyes the world lurches), I can’t breathe very well, and I basically look and feel like hell. I got sent home from work yesterday (twice), so I guess it’s good that I’m here right now – I have cats, Diet Coke, computers, armed guards outside my door, and no clothes on. Today I will sit in the dark, write a dozen wiki articles, and concentrate on getting better so I can attend the Halloween fun at the office tomorrow (as well as open the EXCITING THINGS piling up on my desk). I will also be grateful that neither Ed nor I were involved in last night’s craziness, regardless of how close the calls were. And I will think twice about ever asking for ice cream again, because it evidently comes with bad mojo.

Too many fatal going-ons. It sort of makes me miss the relative sanity of drum circles and Dumpster Olympics.

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new weekly feature: save my marriage

July 15, 2012 — kimli

Starting today, Delicious Juice Dot Com is delighted to present you, beloved reader, a chance to Make a Difference and save my marriage in one fell swoop.

Orphan Animal Pics is a local organization started by Lisa Brideau. The concept is as simple as it is brilliant: volunteer photographers take gorgeous shots of gorgeous animals desperately in need of foster homes or adoption. Each week I will profile several animals that I had to be physically restrained from going out and adopting this very second, in the hopes that someone – maybe YOU – has room enough in heart and home to give these beautiful creatures the love and comfort they so sorely need. As an added bonus, by adopting or fostering these animals, you will keep me from doing so and thereby save my marriage. I would adopt every animal everywhere if I could, but then Ed would divorce me. Most of the time, that would be a bad idea. According to the media, if Ed divorced me I would never find love again – so keep me from becoming a spinster cat lady by adopting these beauties:

Shyla and Jonathon:

photo by cindy hughes

When I saw Shyla’s picture, my jaw dropped open and I emailed Lisa to ask HOW this cat could possibly not have a home. Shyla is a bengal cat, which means you would have your very own LEOPARD in your household (which would automatically make you the coolest person in your neighbourhood).

Shyla and Jonathon are a bonded pair, and must be adopted together. They’re both very shy – Jonathon, who is apparently even prettier than his sister, was too shy to come out for pictures – and would do best in a household without dogs or children. They need a patient, loving home to shower them with affection and tell them daily how pretty they both are, because LOOK AT THAT PICTURE. I would love to give Shyla and Jonathon a home and own a pair of leopards, but Ed – now in his 15th year of cruelly denying me things to love – said no.

Both Shyla and Jonathon are currently at Katie’s Place Shelter in Maple Ridge. Please consider giving them a home!

Azlan (wardrobe and creepy Bible allusions not included):

photo by ben johnson

Azlan has had a very rough life and deserves to live in comfort; being catered to and showered with love. He was found living behind a seedy bar on Main Street – the kind your mother told you never to go near – and had to have an eye removed due to a nasty infection. He’s healed up nicely though, and doesn’t seem to miss depth perception – perhaps you could be the one to make him a little kitty eyepatch and he would be an AWESOME PIRATE CAT! Just think of the adventures you could have!

Azlan takes oral medication for his hyperthyroid, and is doing very well with it. He’s very affectionate, and loves people – he’s okay around calm dogs, but would probably be happier in a home without other cats.

He’s currently at HomeFinders in Vancouver and is hoping you can provide him with a permanent home. HomeFinders would also consider a long-term foster, at which point they would continue to support his veterinary needs .. but I KNOW someone out there has a soft spot for this big fluffy bar star lion. The one latte a week you’d have to give up would be in exchange for a lifetime of love, and even the most hardened among us has to admit that is a pretty damn good deal.

I desperately want to adopt all these cats, so please save my marriage by getting to them before I can. Also, check out Orphan Animal Pics for other gorgeous creatures in need of homes that aren’t mine – and if you’re a photographer wanting to hang out with animals for a few hours, please contact Lisa directly! She also guest-posted over at the Lotus Events blog, showing off even more lovely kitties – take a look.

KITTIES!

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a sucker for free

March 11, 2010 — kimli

I got a present today!

The Vancouver 2010 website was offering personalized journals for free, so I signed up – then promptly cancelled my order when I realized “free” actually meant “pay $18 for shipping”. A month or so ago an email went out saying that the shipping rates were vastly inflated in error, so please come back and get your free journal. I decided to give them a second chance, and went back to collect my free book of memories. Shipping was around $10 this time, which was more reasonable – so I signed up and forgot all about it.

The idea was pretty neat – you could upload your own pictures to the site which would then be printed into your book. I was at work and didn’t have time to put a lot of thought into it, so I uploaded one picture for the cover, added my name to it, and called it good.

Receptionist 3.0 brought a mystery package to my desk this morning, and lo! My Olympic Journal! It’s actually pretty neat, and I love the picture I used for the cover:

i believe in the power of mukmuk and i

The book is obviously meant for little kids, as it suggests things to take pictures of and provides writing area for your own stories and memories of the games – but I am a sucker for all things notebook, and this one is pretty spiffy. It’s got some great pictures of Vancouver in it, and I will endeavor to fill it with hastily written grocery lists and future blog post ideas throughout the rest of 2010.

You still might be able to get your own journal for “free” – here’s the website; the code I used was either “journal2010” or “shipping2010”. Go nuts*!

*: It is not advisable to put a picture of your nuts on your journal cover to be printed by unsuspecting people in Ontario

In other news, I’m thinking about dropping my last name altogether and just going by Kimli – I’m totally famous like Madonna and Cher; I could pull it off.

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stop smashing my mustard

March 2, 2010 — kimli

I had planned on writing a post about all the outrageous things being said about Canada now that the games are over, but I just don’t have the heart to. How would calling attention to the attention-seeking Texans comparing Vancouver’s Games to Nazi Germany help anyone? The comments are just making me sad, and that’s never been the intent of my blog. Let the Russians accuse Team Canada of being on drugs. Let the Straight continually bitch about the police presence and liquor store shut downs. I’m so tired of all the negativity – doesn’t anyone simply have FUN anymore? What happened to living in the moment? Why does everything have to be political or angry or just plain whiny? The lights in BC Place were still on when the antagonistic comments started up again: the games are done, maybe now the city can start curing cancer/feeding orphans/returning stolen land/repressing my right to break shit when I don’t get my way. Doesn’t all that righteous indignation make you tired? Or is everything in your life one big struggle against The Man?

It must be a horrible existence; being completely unable to let yourself just get caught up in the moment and feel a pure and simple joy.

I feel sorry for those people.

Also, seig hail.

for the glory of mother canada

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one last medal ceremony

March 1, 2010 — kimli

The Olympics are done, and they were so much more fun than I thought possible. I’m not ready for the party to be over, so I decided the only appropriate thing to do would be to award medals to my Favourite Moments of the Games:

the little engine that could

The 3rd place Bronze Medal goes to: the afternoon of Friday the 19th. I took the afternoon off to hang out with Shan, and by the end of the day we were joined by our entire motley crew. Gorgeous weather, spectacular scenery, and a city-wide party – it was brilliant. A fantastic day from start to finish made all the better by Jon Montgomery’s amazing Skeleton win and subsequent celebrations. The Inukshuk Beach along False Creek should still be up – take a walk on the next beautiful day and enjoy some rock, Olympic style.

*~*~*~*

how can you be sad at being second when you're second best in the WORLD?!

The 2nd place Silver Medal goes to: TWITTER! The Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics were declared a Social Media event, and we shone just as brightly as the athletes. Sharing memorable moments over the last 17 days with people all around the world was phenominal and most of the time, hilarious. I don’t remember when I’ve had so much fun – watching the opening and closing ceremonies, sharing quips with strangers and laughing so hard at some of the jokes made I couldn’t catch my breath. The #van2010 tag added a whole new dimension to the Olympic experience, and for me was a defining moment of Web 3.0 (or whatever number we’re on now). I can’t imagine the Games without Twitter keeping me entertained, informed, enraged and aroused. The True North Media House (#tnmh) brain trust had an ambitious plan to cover the Olympics and show the world and the IOC what we’re all about, and it was pulled off with spectacular successes and a great deal of fun.

Twitter made the regular act of watching TV fun again. For example, I don’t give a hoot flying or otherwise about next Sunday’s Oscars – but I’m absolutely planning on watching it along with a few thousand of my closest friends.

*~*~*~*

best of the best of the best (aka: us)

In 1st place, your new Gold Medal Champion: The CTV Montage Maker!

No matter the moment – no matter the action – no matter the time restraints – the CTV Montage Maker was there to help you remember what you saw just moments before, only this time in slow motion and set to stirring music. From the Opening Ceremonies to every last straining muscle and smiling painted face, the CTV Montage Maker could be counted upon to replay the action for you immediately after it just happened in real time. For the last 17 days, we’ve watched his or her work and marveled at how quickly they were able to create a stunning and often overlooked piece of art; a collage of memories that will last a lifetime.

We salute you, CTV Montage Maker: if not for your tireless efforts and hard work, the best parts of the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics would be lost at the next commercial break; replaced by people singing about Ontario and emotionally manipulative commercials about coffee. Never the main attraction but always the highlight reel, your work will help this multitasking mile-a-minute MTV generation keep a flicker of a vague memory in the forefront of our scattered minds.

when you just can't settle for second place, you make your own rules

when you just can't settle for second place, you make your own rules

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We’re not quite done – there’s one more medal to award. In honour of Russia’s Evgeni Plushenko, who won a Silver Medal (or lost the Gold to Evan Lysacek, however you want to see it) in Men’s Figure Skating and was so disgusted at the result he (or whoever manages his website) created a Platinum Medal for himself and declared him the one true champion of Figure Skating of all time, we are pleased to announce a fourth winner: The Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics Closing Ceremonies!

A mime, fixing the 4th pillar, so Catriona Le May Doan could finally light her share of the flame! William Shatner talking about sex in canoes! Michael J Fox! Inflatable beavers and floating meese! Huge table hockey! Royal Canadian Mounted Floozies! Right up until they started the musical guests, every part of the Closing Ceremonies was hilarious and fantastic. More than once I could have sworn I was high on the drugs, and most of Twitter agreed. While I highly doubt the ceremony had the noble quality the IOC adopts as the norm, it was bizarre and uniquely Canadian – we are known almost as much for our self-depreciating humour as we are for the cliches, and I loved it. Let the naysayers neigh – Canada knows how to have fun, and while we may never outshine Beijing’s vision or live up to Britain’s expectations, we threw one HELL of a party and the entire world was there to watch us have our poutine and eat it too.

I am spectacularly proud of my city, and I think we should do this every year.

Posted in This Stepford Life. Tags: , , , . 5 Comments »
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