what_made_you_smile_today
raze a burgundy van parked outside the record store, four or five girls inside, somewhere between their late teens and early twenties, listening to "my humps" by the black-eyed peas, singing along. i started singing too, just for fun. they had the window rolled down, so they could hear me, and it made them laugh. something possessed me to cut loose with some ridiculous dance moves while walking away. they laughed even more, and then screamed their approval. couldn't help grinning at that. 130309
...
gabbie four ducks tiptoeing (if that is even possible) across what must have been perceived In their little avian brains as thin ice. they were earnestly trying to get to the rest of their clan who were busy frolicking in the unfrozen area of the lake, doing dive bombs with their heads underwater and their feathered duck butts up in the air. 130309
...
Risen Favourite moments? When you arrived and kissed me on the cheek, the way we can signal to each other while you're on the phone and I understand. The amazing tea you made. Lying next to you, the exact same view as on Skype, only in real life. (That's why I love that view on Skype). Giving you a foot rub and your happy noises. Your feet grouch ing about socks going back on. Looking after you and making sure you take your meds. Your bed hair. You not getting annoyed with me when the tech stuff went wrong. Figuring out my grill together. The little swell of pride that you liked how clean I kept my oven. You dancing around me in the kitchen without making me feel in the way. You sitting on the floor to talk to me. When I asked to try some spelt bread, you buttered a piece for me. Then the awesome bacon sandwiches. Sitting next to you and feeling so comfortable. Remembering the moisturiser. The second foot rub. Coming home to you after a cigarette break. (Made me so happy). The way you didn't make me feel bad about the case not fitting. You sharing Spring Awakening with me. Watching glee. You putting on your pj bottoms and your cute little insecurity about the stain. Your calves. Your thighs... *coughs* leaning into you. How comfy you were, but not afraid to move til you were comfy too. You stroking my hair, my neck. The way your touch sent sparks flying everywhere. The fact you weren't afraid to do that. My favourite thing was the back rub. When you took your straps down. Put your hair up (and later when it came down.) Feeling your back arch. The happy noises that were a little different. The way I lent forward and smelled you, wondering if you could feel my breath. Holding you by instinct, worrying my arms around your neck was too much. You not pulling away. The way you held my hand to stop me, and all the things that said (can't remember when that was). Touching your collarbones. It being ok when I grabbed your wrist in a non bad way. The way you looked back as you left. The way you called out that you loved me. 130310
...
unhinged cherry blossoms
other peoples' kids
130310
...
raze lady_a sent me a picture of chester the potato. one of his eyes is a gold button. the other is black. it gives him the appearance of having a monocle without a string. his ears are two canadian pennies. he's weirdly, amusingly dignified-looking. could use a good shave, though... 130310
...
raze lazy grey sky rain. 130311
...
past first bike commute of the year, with the slow piles high but well away from the road. 130311
...
raze made a massive salad for lunch. baby spinach blend, cucumber, hard boiled egg, croutons, and baby tomatoes. tasty goodness. it looked pretty nice, too, before it disappeared. 130312
...
raze pizza and beer with a friend and his cat. the cat didn't drink beer or eat pizza with us, for the record. but he didn't seem to mind much. 130320
...
raze "right here, right now" by jesus jones, edited to become "right here, right meow" with the addition of feline vocals. 130321
...
unhinged remembering his kisses
the way he looked at me
walking up the steep hill on madison
in the long flowy dress
i wore to work yesterday
as people driving by
turned to stare

his laugh
as we chatted over his breakfast
his surprise
as i kissed him goodbye

affection in unexpected places

the confidence of my legs
as i climb up the hill
(i will get to the top)
i turn to look at the view
into the deep deep valley
pine trees everywhere
the mountains obscured by snow(!) clouds

i love this place
130322
...
gabbie nothing, surprisingly

tears fogging my vision

staring
glaring at this magnificent bluebird day
(usually my best_day)
and wishing for darkness

it all went so sideways
130323
...
unhinged the little japanese boy that wouldn't stop staring at me at the restaurant. that level of awareness from a child that can even talk makes my teacher glands salivate. 130324
...
unhinged *can't

damn_typo
130324
...
Lovers Lament A gif someone sent me of an aerial view o a mother and a baby elephant walking across, I assume, the savannah. There weren't many trees, and the ones that were around were fairly small, like I could grab one and shake it if I want to. Anyhow, so this little baby just walked headfirst into this little tree and kinda bounced off of it. You could tell the little bugger wasn't hurt, but it made me giggle. 130324
...
Lovers Lament *of

*wanted

*Never type after taking sleeping pills. Too many typos. Rawr.
130324
...
past Free wash at the laundry machine followed by a run through the snow. 130327
...
raze putting the finishing touches on steven's song from last night and hearing it all come together. "you held me by the ocean", it's called. that's just a great title any way you slice it. 130328
...
past The sunlight and breeze from the open window filling my freshly cleaned apartment. Spring is teasing us. 130329
...
raze making someone else smile. 130329
...
raze this:
http://vimeo.com/60845952
130402
...
gabbie kung fu grandpa on youtube.

normally viral clips don't garner my interest but 5 million views got my attention.

actually i had a much needed belly aching, tears springing, laughing my ass off moment.
130402
...
unhinged beethoven
brother_ali
atmosphere
130402
...
unhinged him 130405
...
epitome of incomprehensibility Copyediting something my dad wrote - usually his writing's boringly correct, but then there was the queen of England "Mary Tutor" and I smiled and thought, Yeah, I'm his daughter. 130406
...
Ouroboros vegan nachos 130406
...
unhinged the little baby that lives below me
growing_up
trying to talk
baby babbles
i could hear through the floor
130414
...
unhinged the little baby at work in her stroller smiling at me
when i waved
i said 'hi'
and she quite recognizably said 'hi'
right back


even though she probably wasn't even old enough to crawl; amazing
130414
...
raze in the clouds i saw the head of a wise gorilla in profile, cut off at the neck. or it could have been a tree. or a mushroom. a statuette of sky open to interpretation. 130420
...
cocoon the sun
the bugle
skype with the sister
new yellow socks
130421
...
raze tea with lady_t. 130424
...
raze a good sandwich. finding a handful of things i was looking for at a bookstore not far from home (they didn't have the specific books i wanted by roberto bolano or louis ferdinand-céline, though, which was a little disappointing). the girl behind the counter, with her violently insincere smile. usually hearing "have a nice day" from an automaton who doesn't give a third of a shit about my day irritates me, but today it just made me laugh. 130511
...
raze good basketball game. good shrimp roll. stupid but amusing fortune cookie that wasn't stale. 130512
...
raze the best plum i've ever had. 130513
...
unhinged sunshine on the space needle
the little baby that smiled at me and her mother laughing at her noises
the security guard in the transit tunnel complimenting me on my new sunglasses
130513
...
e_o_i on YouTube, the guy in the space station singing a cover of David Bowie's "Space Oddity"

outside, the dandelion leaves, because I can wash them and eat them (I like things I can eat)
130514
...
raze finding a little pocketbook i forgot i had, with funny pictures of cats in it. 130515
...
gabbie an expansive field of yellow flowers
against a promising blue sky
stole my breath
in a good way
130517
...
raze tomas berdych roaring back from what looked like certain defeat to knock novak djokovic out of the italian open. right on, my czech brother. right on. 130517
...
gabbie the pens defeating the sens

because its the cup
130518
...
e_o_i ...tonight, but oh well...

My brother invited us to a production of Romeo and Juliet other people in his school were doing - I'd never seen the whole play before - and as we were leaving the theater one of the students walking in front of us said, "That Romeo was a badass! I didn't know he killed so many people!"
130518
...
raze the return of norm! 130524
...
e_o_i velcro_pancakes, here 130525
...
raze the giddiness of sleep-deprivation, which can be something like an annoying-but-endearing friend, sometimes. 130526
...
raze more crazy tennis. 130527
...
raze i got a few new short-sleeved shirts a week or two ago, for the warmer weather. i was doing laundry today, and while putting one of these shirts on a wire hanger to take upstairs, i noticed it had somehow absorbed one of my hair ties into the collar, right around the tag, as if it had been sewn into the fabric of the shirt when i wasn't looking. i couldn't figure out how such a thing was possible. how do two unconnected, vastly different things fuse together while rolling around in the dryer? that's some frankenstein shit right there.

after tugging on the hair tie for a while, it dawned on me that it was part of the design of the shirt. it's not a hair tie at all. it just looks a lot like one.

that was worth a chuckle.

(initially blathing this in the wrong place was worth a chuckle too...a frustration-induced chuckle, but a chuckle all the same)
130529
...
e_o_i Happy futility.

After I took the time to replant some of the numerous wild strawberry plants in the garden, I discovered those I didn't move were still there, too low for the mower's blades to decapitate. So they'll survive, unless the lawn needs to be mowed more than once a summer. And who would presume to do that? Not me!
130530
...
e_o_i And the taste of the apple I'm eating now. It has a slight taste of mint, it really does. 130530
...
e_o_i again ...and t_rex_says. You guys are awesome. 130530
...
gabbie done!

cleaned up
packed

and moved out
and up
and beyond the confines
of the games
once played

its my turn to make the rules
130530
...
raze the return of the accidental blue patch cord heart to the studio floor, not exactly as it was before, but clearly recognizable.

photographic evidence, from its first appearance earlier this year:

http://johnnywestmusic.files.wordpress.com/2013/02/imgp0002.jpg
130531
...
raze nemo falling asleep on my lap while doing sideways push-ups.

(nemo's a cat, for the record)
130601
...
unhinged the truth is here ep - brother ali
saying hello to the rosebush on my walk to the busstop
130603
...
no reason someone punnier than me who makes have to try not to laugh out loud at work like a crazy person (who_made_you_smile_today) 130603
...
raze some good french open tennisone match a series of wildly unpredictable momentum-swings ending with a brilliant comeback, the other a comparatively drama-free beatdown of an arrogant player who couldn't back up his big mouth (by the end even his countrymen were booing him, and you don't hear that very often). 130607
...
raze an eight-year-old boy named nikolai.

one of my dad's clients invited us over for dinner tonight. he and his wife made us something like a nine-course meal. it was insane, and delicious.

but the highlight of the evening was their son, nikolai. for some odd reason he decided he liked me, inviting me into his room, full of toys, and deeming me worthy of playmate status.

while his teenage sister listened to death metal, unseen and unheard behind her closed bedroom door, we put together a tent next to nikolai's bed. okay, so we failed miserably until his father intervened and set us on the right track. then nikolai talked me through the follow-up job he'd set for himself — erecting a protective fence around the tent using the different-coloured pieces of a lego mat. i helped him make a sign alerting pedestrians of the ongoing construction.

at the dinner table, while holding the salad bowl, i asked his father if he wanted some before passing it his way.

"thank you for being a considerate guest," eight-year-old nikolai said.

"thank you for thanking me," i said, laughing.

"you're welcome," he said, smiling.

what a kid.
130609
...
raze a random_memory_resurfaced.

sitting on the porch, playing guitar, when a guy about my age with shaggy red hair, glasses, and a beard came over and asked if i wanted my lawn aerated. when i said no thanks, i watched his eyes narrow as he performed the silent equation "long-haired person playing guitar = potential smoker", and then the question became, "wanna smoke a joint?"

"you just missed me by a few years," i said, and we shared a laugh.

it was too bad. i think he would have been fun to smoke with.
130611
...
raze also, accidentally using my red name on a blue blathe when i'd never once done that before and never intended to. not that there's really anyone around to witness the snafu anyway, but still. fingers are silly things. 130611
...
raze i was having coffee and dessert at the tunnel bar-b-q restaurant with my dad. we do this sporadic thing in restaurants, when it occurs to us. one of us will guess what the bill is going to be, for fun. sometimes we come within a buck or two of getting it right.

"$17.28," my dad said this time, without really thinking. i couldn't come up with a good guess of my own, so i let his stand.

the bill came a minute later. it was $17.28.
130613
...
e_o_i Cilantro. The plant has been in the garden a few weeks and already baby cilantro plants are sprouting up. It tastes so good fresh, almost rivaling the parsley, but I have a sneaking suspicion it wants to take over the world. 130613
...
unhinged the butterfly lumbering drunkenly toward me from its binge on the lavender bush 130615
...
raze the pretty girl at the book store with her stringy long dark hair and her black-rimmed glasses who helped me find what i was looking for. some smiles are infectious. 130615
...
styx he was concerned that she was feeling empty

in reality she was just filtering out some of life's negativity with the ever evocative and obviously powerful written word




'of course i'm okay' she uttered silently, because she had to
130615
...
raze getting the speaker replaced in a quirky old canadian-made tube amp, and learning a few things i didn't know about its inner workings in the process. grunty ol' paul is back in business. 130617
...
e_o_i A compliment I got from one of the tutor directors: "You're good at math... for an English major." 130617
...
unhinged (or last night rather)


little nicholas pouting like the two year old he was and smiling through his crocodile tears at me whenever i looked him in the eye, giving me both thumbs up as we said goodbye
130618
...
past a free laundry wash. little things matter. 130619
...
raze the place that serves arguably the best breakfast in the city sits attached to a large office building downtown. the long wall separating the restaurant from the office building's ground floor is made of glass. people walking through the lobby can peer in and see the restaurant patrons, and vice_versa.

most days you forget the wall is even there. not today. this beautiful little girl who looked to be maybe eight years old, with long straight brown hair, wearing a purple shirt and a white headband, walked up to the wall until her face was a handful of inches away from mine. she stood there watching me eat with this hilarious expression on her face, like she was making fun of the kind of adult who would stand there snooping. but it was subtle. that's what made it so funny, and what makes it so difficult to describe now.

she didn't say anything. she didn't imitate me eating. she just looked at me with that indescribable face. it took a while before her laughing mother was able to get her to stop goofing and walk out the door with her.

it's too bad they didn't come in for some breakfast. at the very least, i would have shared some of my rye toast and raspberry jam.
130621
...
raze getting to see the end result of all the arranging and rearranging and cleaning of the "studio" space, which hasn't had anything like a proper cleanse in eons. it was a pretty slow slog, and for a while there it didn't seem like there was much progress being made at all, but now that i'm finished i can stand back and think, "hey...i did a pretty good job in here!"

it's nice to be able to walk around now without the fear of tripping or breaking a toe on something, too.
130630
...
raze new friends who feel like old friends. 130709
...
raze http://www3.sympatico.ca/digjen/soapscummain.htm

i am tempted to get some of these, to give to people as hilarious gifts. the hippos kill me. you can tell they're really passionate about each other.
130710
...
past i was short of cash at the coffee shop, but the worker must have sensed my foul foul mood that i've been trying desperately to improve and comped the price down to what i had. 130710
...
gabbie dictionary_of_hating_things


please continue....

the dark side is much more fun
130711
...
nr i was going to say the same thing!

e_o_i, if you do finish the dictionary, and would like to send it to me, i would endeavour to publish it. though i would possibly/probably ask that your pen name be your blather name.

i.e.:
The Dictionary of Hating Things
by the epitome_of_incomprehensibility
130711
...
e_o_i Thanks gabbie and no reason! Your comments made me smile, so I'll be all supply-and-demand and write more, though maybe not until tomorrow...

nr, that would be an honour, plus an impetus to finish a project! I'm not sure about the copyright, though, if all the entry titles are the same as in that particular dictionary. Would that matter?
130711
...
no reason hmm, that's a good question. i'd imagine permission would have to be acquired from penguin and/or david macey. if they're cool, they'll grant it! (this is my business plan.) 130712
...
e_o_i As long as he knows I don't hate him, just everything else! In the meantime I'll keep going, and if you'd like to contact me (it'd be cool to talk to you) you can send me a message through YouTube at "floratronik" and it will go straight to my email - though that might only work if you have an account yourself. If not I'll think of something else.

...

The sunset made me smile. I was taking a short jogging break before tutoring online again, and I wasn't looking at the sky at all until I turned a corner and saw some flamboyant orange stripes, which looked like ribbons surrounded by the white lace of clouds, only more vibrant and less lacy.
130712
...
unhinged the way kobe whined at all of us, dog speak for 'i know one of you has a treat' 130713
...
raze the great leaning tower of underwear that could have easily tipped over, but chose not to. 130715
...
raze finally getting the chance to record some of this almost daily rain we've been getting, standing on the front porch with a handheld microphone and headphones on while considering how strange i must have looked to anyone driving by. 130718
...
raze noticing for the first time the way birds have built a colonial network of nests inside of and behind a starbucks sign. 130720
...
raze a squirrel scavenging in the vines of a large plant that's grown up around the side of the house next door, sinking into the green and then reappearing at random, looking for all the world like he was up to something he shouldn't have been and didn't want anyone to see. 130722
...
raze eroticism in an unexpected place. 130729
...
e_o_i I googled "Montreal" to see if the E takes an accent in French (it does) and I saw that someone wrote at the top of its Wikipedia page: "you know many people in Montreal are very nice like flowers"

People are nice like flowers? Are people in Montreal nicer than in other places or just more flower-like? What do we do, smell nice and photosynthesize?

Unusually cute for a spammer. I wonder how long before it gets removed.
130801
...
raze hidden treasure found while cleaning_out_the_garage. 130802
...
no reason cats. so many cats. so full of love and affection and playfulness. all with different, yet awesome, personalities.

but then i had to leave, which is what_broke_my_heart_a_little_today.
130802
...
raze more like "what made you giggle today", but still...

finding a chuck norris comic book buried in the basement. "karate kommandos", it's called. very_punny, no?
130807
...
raze good tennis, again. that's always a recipe for some bendy face action. 130810
...
raze a fantasy fulfilled, and a hot bowl of soup. 130811
...
raze chocolate cake and coffee, the tennis gods smiling on me yet again, the impressionistic art made by the great purple and blue dollops of bruising on my left foot... 130816
...
e_o_i Graffiti that said "Rock on" - on a rock.

I have a very sophisticated sense of humour.
130820
...
raze chet baker in a coffee shop. (in audio form. not the ghost of the man performing live. but how cool would that've been?) 130821
...
past the rain taking the humidity from the air and pile driving it into the ground 130822
...
raze blueberry pancakes. 130905
...
raze this:

http://www.upworthy.com/a-boy-came-out-on-facebook-his-mother-found-out-and-decided-to-write-him-this-letter?g=2&c=upw1
130906
...
unhinged the tv show bob's burgers 130906
...
unhinged my new student
hes been asking his mom to play the violin since he was four
i love teaching ones like that
130906
...
raze the idea, silly as it sounds, of an orchestra made up only of people playing chord organs. 130911
...
past i get term loans at the library. 130912
...
raze lunch with a friend. good food, good conversation, and a borrowed book. 130912
...
past i was looking for someone to share a pint with and instead found a curling team looking for a fourth, solving the drink problem for the night and many more to come. 130913
...
unhinged my first student rocking her hard piece

fresh air - brother_ali
130913
...
raze a trailer for a movie that will sadly never be:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eu4AEwhJWxY
130922
...
epitome of incomprehensibility Good Infinity, yes. Even the local ADHD Pixie Dream Girl approves that message! ...That and your rom_com_subversion. "Rom-com" roles for both genders seem frustratingly limited... For example, I liked Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind for its genre-mixing weirdness - and Frodo Baggins being evil - but the "quirky girl" affectations of the Clementine character got a bit annoying.

Though, if you go the other route and make a deliberately boring character, he or she can become quirkily boring. Then what happens? (A Douglas Coupland novel, perhaps?)

What made me smile today? ...Well, there's a giant fluorescent teacup on the neighbour's lawn. There really is.
130923
...
e_o_i Literary gossip: http://the-toast.net/2013/09/17/oscar-wilde-and-walt-whitman-did-it/ 130924
...
raze ha! "oscar and walt" does have a ring to it. now i think someone needs to write a sordid work of speculative fiction called "kissing ernest hemingway". 130924
...
past the smell of tomato vines transporting me back twenty years and a hundred kilometres north. 130925
...
raze collaborative art between a woman and her four-year-old daughter:

http://busymockingbird.com/2013/08/27/collaborating-with-a-4-year-old/
130928
...
past realizing that, in my adult life, i've never been as on top of my laundry as i have for the last month. in unit washer/dryer does wonder for one's selfesteem. 130929
...
gja Cheese 130930
...
raze a new laptop. the old one was falling apart literally. things kind of fell into place unexpectedly, and i am now typing this on a brand new macbook after being a windows monkey my whole life. this thing is so pretty and sleek, i kind of want to make out with it. 131001
...
raze a very friendly cappuccino. 131003
...
past re-experiencing the sheer multiplicity of humanity that coexists in this town. 131003
...
e_o_i http://zidisha.org/forum/threads/favorite-member-posts.61/page-2

Specifically the cow picture. I don't think microfinance is a catch-all cure for poverty, but it's nice to see people being helped by the loans.

And cows that are named after nonprofits!
131004
...
raze the finest chocolate chip cookie on the planet. i'm convinced. 131005
...
raze the plastic smiley-face cover falling from its place atop the bristles of the purple toilet brush. of all the things to own a permanent grin... 131010
...
jane thinking of her. 131011
...
unhinged sound_installation 131011
...
unhinged the husky loping wolfish across university bridge with its human, ears back tongue out 131020
...
raze talking with steven and mary ellen about an olympic games for caterpillars, where the birds in the audience bet with birdseed and get into gambling trouble. 131022
...
e_o_i Great spoken-word poetry making me happy again, even if the story told wasn't that happy. A woman saying she liked my hypothetical rabbits. 131022
...
e_o_i And another guy's performance, a line about a boy holding a guitar case with FACE written on it. Probably FACE stood for the high school near McGill metro; the poet said it was like the boy displacing his face onto the guitar case (only he said it better and, ironically, with less rhyme!) 131022
...
no reason http://dearteenme.com/ 131024
...
e_o_i blather_blue silliness:

http://blather.newdream.net/s/saint_lunchmeat_aloysius_basketball.html

http://blather.newdream.net/p/pope_stops_up_toilet.html

Good old paste!
131024
...
CheapVodka On my way to by beer I saw a man, or should I say boy, running across the road to my side of the street. I was people-watching him, as I do to everyone.
Oh he was so close! He got to the curb and misstepped, totally face-planting the sidewalk. I continued to walk my block as we came almost face to face. He was brushing his hands off and checking his knee, which he must've skinned. When we got close enough to eachother to cross paths, I said, "It's ok, no one saw that." He smiled as did I. Perhaps he felt reassured? Obviously not only I but everyone on one of the busiest streets in town witnessed a total wipeout.

Did I say it to be nice?
No, unfortunately. I was being facetious. But I surely had to smile.
131025
...
raze a thin film of snow that came in the night and, finding no great reason to leave, chose to hang around a while. 131112
...
TCMT Remembering that there is someplace in the world where I can say what I feel. A place where I don't need to feel ashamed. 131112
...
TCMT Remembering that there is someplace in the world where I can say what I feel. A place where I don't need to feel ashamed. 131112
...
raze watching "blade runner" for the very first time, finally, with a good friend and a cat named sooty, while someone outside shouted at their dog to stop barking at another dog, as if they'd listen to him and cut their conversation short just because he said so. 131116
...
CheapVodka A movie about 'little people' starring Matthew McConaughey (perfect), Kate Beckinsale (beautiful), and Gary Oldman (uber talented). It was called Tiptoes.

I have an irrational fear of many things including the dark and bugs, but on the top of that list is most definitely 'little people'. Now, I have learned my lesson from the movie that I can no longer say such a derogatory term as midget.

Still, I'm irrationally afraid.

Sometimes, or even often, my boyfriend jokes (a long running joke, to say the least) about hiring one and having him hide in my bed as I'm asleep, so that I am awoke by one groping me, or whatnot.

If this were to happen, I would definitely awaken violently. I have told him this outcome many a time. I would be kicking and punching and just plain out for blood. This would not make me smile.
Partly b/c it's someone I don't know in my bed while I'm asleep and partly b/c of the fact that there is a... a... a littler person in my bed, groping me!

All this aside, watching the movie Tiptoes definitely made me smile. A story/public service announcement about how to respect little people but REALLY others in general.

How can you go wrong with such actors in an early 2000's concept? Even tho it all seems like a bit of a stretch, really it is fairly entertaining and is guaranteed to make you smile.


Oh boy, I'm a jerk, aren't I?
Hachi Machi!
131117
...
raze i sent an email to a friend asking if they wanted to get together, but i didn't proofread. when i went back to read what i said, i saw i'd missed a few words, and what i asked was, "YOU WANT TOGETHER?"

when words go missing, at least they make amusing things happen. i'm hoping for a response of, "YES! I WANT TOGETHER WITH YOU!"
131120
...
raze a new shirt that fits just the way you'd hope a new shirt would. it's like nothing i would ever think to buy for myself, but i saw it, and i got it, and it fits like it was meant to be mine. 131122
...
e_o_i A conversation between my mother and the GPS.

"Recalculating..."

"Shut the fuck up."

I suspect a lot of people have had that same conversation.
131122
...
gja An unexpected message 131123
...
decadactyl warm welcomes into a world i only watched for years. especially warm since my room is so cold. the radiator's strictly for show. i'm not gonna stop feeling all sneaky about being on here though... 131125
...
e_o_i Realizing that I'd phrased what I'd written a few days ago as if it was the GPS voice saying, "Shut the fuck up." That would have been funnier. But a little more startling. Driving a car in the dark and the rain is stressful enough, and I wasn't even the one driving. 131126
...
raze i finally figured out how to upload a video to youtube so the quality doesn't get completely hammered at the final encoding stage. for my next trick, i will stand on one leg for six seconds. 131203
...
raze bumping into the "nobody's_nose_but_mine" blathe and seeing i was heckled by the one_day heckler all those years ago. the funny thing is, what they said isn't half wrong. too many inside-outs do take their toll. 131214
...
raze getting a little overzealous washing dishes, leading to a clump of suds flying right into the crotch place, complete with a muted "fwump" sound effect. i couldn't have aimed better if i'd been trying for it. 140102
...
raze a few celebratory bottles of beer and the hilarity of a "digital fireplace" app, complete with cheesy music and too-loud, too-prominent crackling sounds. 140111
...
unhinged memories of my little japanese student cuddled between my legs as we checked his workbook 140113
...
raze some weeks back, when he was putting information together for his album's liner_notes, steven asked me for a list of who played what on individual songs. as a bit of a joke (though it was also the truth), for a song featuring the sound of rain recorded in the middle of a july thunderstorm i gave the city's sky credit for the wash of sound it provided.

today i got to see the album all packaged and final for the first time. he left the sky in there as one of the musician credits.
140118
...
e_o_i S from choir gave me $20 for the necklace I made, when I'd said $15. But she insisted. In a nice way.

And a discussion not just on beads but on glass and glass-making. I like the malleability of glass. (And the fact that the American composer with that last name makes puns on it in his compositions. Glassworks etc.)
140119
...
raze every single player i dislike has been knocked out of the australian open, from the cheating screamers to the scowling schemers, and now it's easy to root for anyone left on both the men's and women's sides to win the whole thing. tennis! yay for tennis! 140122
...
e_o_i Math student: "I'm doing exponents... LIKE A BOSS." 140124
...
raze the scariest teddy bear ever:

http://www.circuitbenders.co.uk/newsarchive/borgted.htm
140125
...
unhinged cherry_blossoms
in january (!!!!!)
140127
...
raze the same thing that made my stomach smile today:

black bean wrap on grilled lebanese flatbread with cilantro, avocado, cherry tomatoes, carrot, onion, and a ginger peanut sauce.
140130
...
e_o_i The picture of a capybara hugging a cat that came up when I googled "capybara" to see if I'd spelled it right. 140130
...
e_o_i People from charities who call me to ask for money are actually real people with real reactions to things!

Nature Conservancy Canada is doing nice nature-conserving things and it wants more monthly supporters, the woman's voice said.

My voice said: Yes yes, I see, and I just got a message from you, but I support different charities so I'm not going to give to one single one every month. But I'll probably send you twenty-five dollars.

Other voice: Well thank you, every bit helps, something to that effect.

Me: It did make me laugh a bit to see Enbridge among the NCC supporters.

Her: Pardon?

Me: Enbridge. The oil company. Like they're saying, "Oh look! We do care about the environment!"

Her (surprised): They gave a donation?

Me: Yes, yes, they were on the donor list in the newsletter. Thousands of dollars.

Her (grumbling): Giving with one hand and taking with another. I'll tell my manager about it. Can't exactly refuse them but (grumble).
140204
...
e_o_i *Nature Conservancy of Canada
(musn't forget those pesky prepositions)
140204
...
unhinged flowers in february
what i thought were forsythia
when i looked closer
there was something else
exotic
there, going on



(im used to being buried in feet of snow
the tundra
at this time of year
anything delicate
unfurled
curls my lips up at the corners)
140204
...
raze a picture in which a tongue poking out of the corner of a mouth first looked like a well-chewed piece of gum. i don't know why that gave a smile, but it did. 140205
...
raze i had a dream a book i was waiting on came in the mail, and it was thick and orange. when i woke up, that same book was there waiting for me. it wasn't orange, but the name and the thickness were right. 140210
...
flowerock Sunshine! I woke up to see realive sun light warming the redwoods out the window after five (or maybe more!) days of steady heavy rains.

hiking! with my love among old and new redwoods (obviously I love these trees), mist hanging in the air making patterns and rainbows! with the help of the sun light peeking through branches.

spider webs highlighted by the sun, covered in dew drops.

streams flowing and mud squishing, tree roots helping me up slippery hills.

energetic gray haired woman who insisted we see the waterfall.
the waterfall!

kids bouncing around and makin exciting discoveries, running up to their adults with anails and bugs and moss in hand.

moss and snails and bugs and slugs! and a squirell!

HuGS and kisses and holding hands.

reading little bits from the boom The BFG
140210
...
raze wandering around the used bookstore, hearing bob_dylan sing, "i'm trying to read your poetry, but i'm helpless like a rich man's child." 140217
...
unhinged memories of your smile and your hands on me intertwined. i need to make you laugh. the sound of your delight makes my heart beat faster. 140218
...
raze headless mannequins, and some that were missing the entire upper halves of their bodies. buying jeans gets stranger every time. 140218
...
raze learning my reggae name:

horace "rudeboy" rizzla
140220
...
e_o_i A grade 5 student I'm tutoring had a sheet on prefixes where he had to define each word.

So, for "spell" he wrote "To write a word."

And for "misspell" he wrote "To right a wold."

I laughed, and gave him a check mark.
140220
...
raze pre-pączki day pączki.

best.
thing.
ever.
140303
...
flowerock e_o_i about spell, I laughed, kids are amazing : )

my dog is about 8 momths old, little brindle pit mixed with Pekingese, basically a mini pitbul... I ve been walking her tothe river side every morning where she runs back and forth between holes s he is digging, barking and squeeking at them.

running in the perpetual mist that turns to rain and mist again to the sound or tree_clouds and river flowing.
140303
...
e_o_i On my way to Dorval library, I was finishing up the last chapter of Christopher Priest's The Islanders, which I had to return. I can read and walk reasonably well if I'm on a flat, non-dangerous surface and not about to bump into people.

On Pine Beach street, a man with glasses passed me and said, smiling, "Must be a good book, eh?"

I almost felt compelled to explain my situation to him, but then it struck me that people aren't usually interested in explanations except when they ask for them... so I just smiled. It is a good book, too. The ending doesn't really tie anything up - at least, not much - but I liked it. The different chapters can also be thought of as interconnected short stories, like in Paul Glennon's The Dodecahedron.

I also finished Une vie inutile and Beautiful Losers on my way to the library. Which reminds me - I am not a loser, nor am I beautiful, and it might make my life less useless if I read more French books.
140310
...
e_o_i (I mean, I finished reading those books while walking to the library at different points in the past. Not all today. Man, if only finishing library books were something I could do faster while walking. Speed-read-walking?) 140310
...
raze getting a spam email with the title "you can do miracles in the bed". am i a sex jesus, then? this is news to me. but happy news. 140312
...
raze i will now turn pillows into marshmallows. 140312
...
unhinged sun, clear strong spring sun
and
blossoms blossoms everywhere
140312
...
raze i had the TV on but wasn't paying much attention to it (wasting electricity … shameful, i know), when i caught part of what looked like the "coneheads" movie. but the actors were all wrong. then i realized it was the movie where sean connery is an art thief and catherine zeta-jones is investigating him, and this was one of those "formatted to fit your screen" jobs where the image wasn't just cropped but compressed to such a degree that the actors' faces got all stretched out and funny-looking. i was half looking forward to seeing sean connery as an unintentional conehead, but by the time he appeared onscreen relative order was restored and faces started looking human again. pity. 140330
...
e_o_i Tutoring. My youngest student is a girl in grade four. She was reading a short paragraph about Queen Victoria, and I volunteered more information about the monarch, saying ruled from around 1840-1900, I said (Wikipedia specifies 1937-1901; thank you Wikipedia), and she asked, "Were you alive then?"

Later in the lesson she asked me, "Are you still a kid?"

Come on, make up your mind :)
140411
...
raze replacing a broken string on the dirt cheap piece of crap classical guitar that was such an important part of love_songs_for_nihilists and finding that in spite of how dusty it got and how neglected it's been, there's still a special funky something about that axe. 140413
...
raze playing and singing bits of fiona apple songs with a pretty lady. there's how to start the week off right. 140414
...
raze an out-of-nowhere facebook friend request from someone who ran away a few years ago when i asked them what to expect from their friendship after catching them in a series of ridiculous lies, with no message attached to it, as if to say, "hey, i tried this before a year or so back and you didn't add me then, but maybe enough time has passed now that you will, and we can go on never talking to each other, and i can tell myself everything is okay because you allowing us to be facebook friends could be construed as tacit forgiveness."

people. they's funny.
140417
...
e_o_i Curry. I think it's magic. I was feeling grumpy when I got back home from downtown (I was doing work, again, at my dad's library) and then I saw curry on a breadboard - someone had been making something with it - and around the container, some had spilled out. So I pressed some to my finger and ate it. It made me much happier. 140417
...
raze the easter bunny in pancake form, with blueberries for toes, slices of banana for the pads of his feet, a whipped cream tail, and some strawberry hearts on the side. how can you not smile at that guy? 140420
...
raze hard boiled eggs. it's been too long. 140424
...
raze our friend the landlord telling the couple he was showing the house to that a tiny office nook used to be a bedroom. there's no door. there's no place for a door to go. you couldn't fit a futon in there, never mind a full-size bed. but hey, if they believed that one, i've got a magic bean to sell them. 140425
...
raze a friend who said, "rob ford is the one canadian more embarrassing than céline dion." 140502
...
raze i told steven we should get together soon and joked i might trim my beard for the occasion. he joked back that we should visit a professional hair stylist and hold hands while having our beards trimmed together. facial hair: natural face-warmer, friend to bird and crumb alike, creator of tender moments. 140506
...
unhinged lazing in the bed with my boy 140507
...
raze a robin on the fence, surely singing something while i was toasting a bagel. 140509
...
raze yellow flowers in the rain. 140512
...
raze kelly coming over here this afternoon to lay down harmonica on two songs and sax on one other, making real a few dreams i had about him. that man has so much talent it's insane. 140513
...
raze the scent of fresh cut grass, kicking up nostalgia dust. 140519
...
flowerock Doing back rolls and somersaults while playing with dogs at the dog park. Sitting in the sunny grass and talking about how much we love dogs with random other humans there with their dog companions. After that I had an amazing pear. 140519
...
e_o_i Eating checkerberries again near the cottage. Walking along a grown-over beaver dam. Writing in the sunlight and not getting the (paper) notebook wet. 140519
...
raze more like "what made you laugh almost to the point of passing out today":

i was watching some french open tennis post-match interview / celebration business when a technical problem turned a commentator's voice into a stuttering loop of gibberish. it caught him on the word "interminable" before he could finish saying it, so what came out was, "intermuh termuh termuh termuh termuh termuh termuh termuh termuh termuh termuh," and then they cut to a commercial. you had to be there. the randomness of it (and the hilarity of how appropriate it was that this would happen with that of all words) made me laugh like i haven't laughed in a while, to the point of abdominal pain.
140608
...
flowerock blather asking what made me smile reminded me to smile. It's a long tired sad feeling day. Kids are cute too, they follow parents like bouncy little balloons. 140608
...
raze i was making a salad, and before i starting cutting the cucumber i saw it had a distinct upward curve at one end. so i named it bill clinton. 140622
...
raze a squirrel with a beautiful, almost shocking red / brown tail completely at odds with the darkness of the rest of its coat. i'm not sure i've seen one quite like that before. 140623
...
flowerock Some nice tourists found a passport with a reciept from the shop I work for in it and returned it to us so we could return it to the right people.

there is a clown who hands out balloon things and jokes where I work some days. we talked about the historical/sacred/ancient wisdom and duties of clowns and laughter.

I had a short lunch with my adorable awesome boyfriend : )

I pet one if my favorite doggies today and encouraged the street kid who belongs toher to find a job, he just needs a dog sitter, maybe I ll find a place that can help him withat. he s a good kid with a sweet dog.
140623
...
e_o_i This line promoting "a GPS tracker for kids and pets without monthly fees." Kids and pets without monthly fees? I'm sorry, I don't believe it. 140624
...
raze thursdays i've been hanging out with gord, my musical soulmate from the high school long-ago. last thursday i had to bail because of sleep issues. i was confirming with him the other day that we're on for this thursday, and i told him i wanted to give the sleep gods the old whack over the head with a sledgehammer. "i can get one from work if you need one," he told me. good old gord. he really would lend me a sledgehammer if i asked him to. 140625
...
raze saw a woman running as fast as she could to try and catch a bus that was stopped at a light about to change. it didn't seem like there was enough time for her to make it, or enough time for the driver to throw the door open for her if she did.

when the light turned green, she was on the bus.
140626
...
e_o_i Graffiti - on the edge of a bus seat a yin-yang sign and "Keep blazing, you're amazing!" The handwriting reminded me of an old friend's and the message reminded me of flowerock here, and I grinned.

and then, on the rock seat at the bus stop, words expressing negative but passionate emotions, words that could only burst forth from the tortured soul of one whose bus is late: "Fuck STM! STM sucks!" STM's for Sosiatayy de Trahsporr de Moryal (I am for phonetic spelling when I am too lazy for accents).
140626
...
e_o_i (My favourite rock-related graffiti is still "Rock on" written on a rock. I see I noted that on 130820.) 140626
...
flowerock ^.^ rock graffiti is cool, depending on size it can be moveable, like scrabble pieces even!

I smiled today watching my goa pup play with other digs at the park. I love it when the dogs play like a moving puddle of wiggly doggy tails. tongues hanging out and flopping, tails wagging, rolling and jumping, but bumping... one dog had fur like yarn.
140626
...
flowerock keep_blazing_you're_amazing is pretty awesome 140626
...
jane a letter from paste! 140627
...
raze this:

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/art/news/death-metal-band-to-play-in-soundproof-airtight-box-in-london-9572606.html

and i can't decide if it's amazing, hilarious, or both. but that band name all on its own ... oh man. that's as metal as it gets.
140630
...
raze two or three dozen geese standing on a grassy hill at the side of the road, people-watching by the look of it. 140713
...
raze talk of the thrust at the record store. 140714
...
raze pierogi, cabbage rolls, and borscht from the little old ukrainian lady who runs a restaurant out of her house. so hearty. so good. 140717
...
unhinged soma

walking around my studio today with his mothers rosin cloth over his head/face, shuffling blindly like a zombie, giggling
140717
...
unhinged damn dude

you did not have pierogi, gawumpki, and borscht made by a little old ukranian lady. i am jealous. i could use some comfort food on a fruedian level like that these days.
140717
...
raze come on over! i'll share. :) 140718
...
Toxic_Kisses The ability to make so many other ppl smile today!

And I don't mean the kind of smiles that ppl do just bc it's polite or simply the socially exceptionable thing to do at that particular moment, but the kind that lights up there whole face and puts a bounce in there step when they leave.

Gawd that feels so good!!

And I wont deny part of that is ego based, I enjoy the fact that *I* was the one able to do that, but it's sooo much more than that! Knowing that regardless of what happened before or what happens after, that for one point in time they were genuinely truly happy, I Love That!

Granted there are some days I get home and I feel so completely absolutely drained and all I want to do is snuggle w/ my pink teddy bear and go to sleep for the rest of the week, but then there are days like today when I come home and I wish I could some how magically give the whole world a hug!! ^.^

I love you my fellow Blatherskites and I hope you all had an equally wonderful day!!!
140718
...
unhinged i cant eat gawumpki and depending on who makes it i cant eat borscht either (why do people insist on ruining otherwise perfectly good veggie soup with chicken stock?) but im up for a plate of pierogis any day.


little dude came to his lesson today with his face painted like a pirate, eye patch, moustache, goatee. too stinking cute
140718
...
raze this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aO8Lk05NY8k&feature=youtube_gdata_player

my consumption of tv news programs would flip from "never" to "always" if kids like these two were in charge. so good. i'd love to see them cover politics. "some man who's in charge of things said something loud, and when a man in charge says something loud you have to listen, but then people voted and now he's not in charge of anything anymore. voting is a thing you do with your fingers and sometimes your brain, but some people only use their fingers and don't use their brain. and now, here's sarah with the weather."
140722
...
raze should have said "none" and "lots" instead of "never" and "always". feh. 140722
...
no reason the two little girls selling us lemonade at their stand today

and the fact that we walked by an old-school lemonade stand on a sweltering hot day

and the taste of the lemonade
140722
...
raze an ice cream sandwich. i forgot ice_cream_sandwiches were even a thing, and then today, suddenly, the best ice cream sandwich i've ever had was right there being eaten. 140726
...
flowerock little dogs chasing gophers at the park.
pretty flowers.
140808
...
flowerock the traveller kids with a sign that reads "only you can prevent cannibalism!" saying to people "it starts with you!" do they mean the prevention or the being cannibalized? the other side says "traveling broke and sexy" I like the funny ones.

two cops on horses were looking for one of the traveller kid's dogs. The dog got hit by a car and ran off... they said they could get it treated and taken care of for free if they could find it and the return the dog to her human. kind police are refreshing. I hope the doggie is alright and was found.
140813
...
Toxic_Kisses Making him blush

there are very few things that can top the way it feels to have made a cute guy blush

Think that may have just made my week ^.^





Nite my fellow Blatherskites
140820
...
raze this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zeoT66v4EHg

after the novelty-induced laughter wore off, i found myself thinking, "hey, there's some interesting harmonic movement here. THIS IS ACTUALLY GOOD."
140823
...
flowerock ha ha, thanks for sharing that. I needed a silly kitty video. and I see what you mean. it was actually kind of good.

I miss watching a conductor. I love the movements and way the wand moves. I tried conducting, I think we all did at some point, such a good flow and kind of fun, good memories.

I smiled today... the woman selling books and antiques at the art studio I walked by was asleep. I bought two books... I wanted her to wake up to take my money so I didn't feel so awkward, I told her as she slept "I'm buying these books!" waving them around as if she could see them with the money in my hand. She did wake up, slowly and confused... she said her heart medication gives her nightmares so she doesn't sleep at night... she was positive about it though and we talked about how wheat is not good and she was considering alternative/herbal treatment because all the medications have bad side effects. they are to slow her heart down.
the interaction was good, I guess the description of her condition seems less smiley than the whole thing was. I enjoyed talking with her : ) and buying my books for a quarter.
140823
...
raze "you're a fuckin' maniac."

it was meant as a compliment, and it was good for a cackle and a grin.
140828
...
past I made my wired printer wireless and I figured out the correct page ordering/orienting to make double sided articles work. (I can only read screens for so long.) Some pleasures are more functional than others. 140829
...
unhinged my students. i love teaching. i need more bright eager faces. i have had wonderful students at this place. 140829
...
raze a horribly, hilariously botched high-five, followed by a successful meeting of hands on the second attempt. 140911
...
raze natalie saying hello to a little snail. 140917
...
raze improvising and recording a song with gord that can only be described as "barry white goes to hell and rolls around in a ukulele reggae hip-hop stew". 140918
...
raze a karen dalton song playing at indigo books. i have no idea how that happened, but there it was, sandwiched between john mayer and the other pop pablum, sticking out like the best kind of sore thumb, her broken but strong voice singing, "if things are going wrong for you, you know it hurts me too." whoever made the decision to throw karen in there, i kind of want to kiss them. 140920
...
raze reteaching myself the crudest rudiments of writing notes on a staff, fifteen years after i last looked at a piece of sheet music or gave even a passing thought to theory (which my brain never really took to anyway), so a cellist will have something to look at and hopefully get a better idea of what the parts i've written are meant to be. didn't see that one coming. 141003
...
TK Taking a walk around the neighborhood and saw written on the sidewalk

Jake
(heart symbol)
Andrew
141003
...
flowerock A tiny dog chasing a flock of giant geese.

Seeing some kind of "rays" in the lake... sting_ray... manta_ray...? Like wavy aquatic alien crafts.

Wading my doggie and my hair with the same biodegradable dog_wash shampoo...

the smell of cedar_oil

Time with my heartmate and his beautiful eyes and adorable face and loving touch.

Seeing us both making sincere effort to get over little arguments and misunderstandings. We did so well : ) we're both exhausted and a little overwhelmed. Overall though life is fine and sweet.
141004
...
raze a hawk doing its gliding thing, and geese doing their goosey things. 141005
...
unhinged the memory of the twinkle in his eye when he told me he liked how my bra strap matched my necklace 141005
...
e_o_i This made me laugh - and the date, 1976, surprised me (though it's not like animation hadn't been around decades before that, silly self!)

Lady Fishbourne's Complete Guide to Table Manners:

https://www.nfb.ca/film/lady_fishbournes
141015
...
e_o_i My grade four student; he knows what Pi Day is. And, not today, but my grade five student; she knows that STEM stands for science, technology, engineering, and math.

(I didn't know what pi was until grade 7. I didn't know about the STEM acronym until university. It existed at least when I was in high school, but Wikipedia doesn't tell me the earliest instance of its use. Bad Wikipedia.)
141124
...
Nicole Bl weed brownies delivered to my door step by an old man


my student explaining to his mother why he behaves in violin class 'i have dreams about this class'
141124
...
Nicole Bl weed brownies delivered to my door step by an old man


my student explaining to his mother why he behaves in violin class 'i have dreams about this class'
141124
...
gja Bridie 141125
...
e_o_i Principle 6 of the Olympic Charter was changed to include "sexual orientation" specifically as one of the things not to discriminate against... it was also funny that the email this group sent me about it said, "We did it!"

Because me + you = we, and I think all I did was click something. Hard work, that. But yes, I'm happy about the result.
141209
...
e_o_i Also also... My student was asking me math questions, and I got stumped at 7/8... sure, 7/2 is 3.5, 7/4 is 1.75... I guess 7/8 is 0.925? Mmnn, since 125 x 8 = 1000, 125 x 7 = 1000 - 125 so no, it's 0.875.

0.875! There you go. I guess I don't mental-math decimals that well.
141209
...
raze someone honking their horn at a driver who cut them off, creating an accidental perfect harmony with cannonball adderley doing "love for sale". horn vs. horn. 141216
...
raze the hipster business name generator:
http://hipsterbusiness.name/#
150106
...
e_o_i Recordings of surprisingly eloquent sleeptalk in an English accent - http://sleeptalkinman.blogspot.ca 150107
...
e_o_i (I like Fiddle and Roses from the link above. For a generator thing, it seems to have a long list of inputs.) 150107
...
e_o_i ...I don't think "inputs" is quite the right word... I need to go to sleep myself. For what it's worth, the only times I've talked in my sleep I woke myself up; while working at a summer camp a few years ago, I woke myself up (and thankfully only myself) by exclaiming something about orange soda. 150107
...
e_o_i I think it was just "Orange soda!" Orange soda is something about orange soda, now, isn't it? 150108
...
e_o_i Nerdygirlness at http://skepchick.org/2010/07/mythbusting-princess-leias-hair/

I don't have a particular hair fetish (that's reserved for imagining warring countries having sex, as my evil twin might've just said on blather_blue) but hair is this thing I seem to think about a lot, like food and math.
150108
...
perfectly_chaotic The combination of being able to sleep late enough(off of work today) and the sun rising early enough to see the sun glinting off of the snow on the pine boughs outside my window as I awoke. 150109
...
raze gave a waitress a big tip for breakfast and she looked kind of stunned and said, "that's wonderful." 150120
...
past embracing winter fully, multimodally, on foot, skis and skates. 150121
...
raze i sneezed mid-walk and the sound reverberated through and was elongated by the torsos of two ancient tenor banjos. 150402
...
unhinged my canine coworker coming in my studio for a belly scratch and my first student catching us in the act 150402
...
raze selling an old ride cymbal to a guy who will turn it into a piece of art. 150404
...
raze residual grocery-related relief. 150405
...
nr (yesterday)

their three-year-old ran over, touched my knee, and asked excitedly, "do you know the lego song?"

i asked, "the one from the movie?"

and he sang, "eeeeeverything is awesooooome," and then i sang, "everything is cooool when you're part of a team," and he smiled and ran away.
150405
...
nr i love the out-of-context actions of children. they're such fun little weirdos. 150405
...
nr an elderly woman on the elevator had grey hair with pink streaks. i told her i liked her hair, and she thanked me and said her granddaughters had done theirs first, and so she did it too, and she was the one who ended up keeping it up. 150420
...
flowerock Memories of a friend with a vibrant playful_soul and an abundance of tight golden curls and funny faces. Master of smoothies and general kindness.
First I cried because I learned that he passed away about a year ago. It was about a year ago that we last chatted through email too. I had seen him in a dream and thought I would say hi again through email... then on facebook I saw that his friends had all posted their respective photos and memories on his wall.
But he was a vibrant and playful soul, so I won't stay sad... he wouldn't like that, I'll just remember him for a while and move on, grateful for his influence and time and try to share my light best I can too while I still have life to move through.

Today I smile and your smile shines through mine too.


Also my heartmate being adorable and sweet and loving and reminding me that it's good to show love to my lover as often and generously as possible.
I love my cute sunspot.
150420
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raze a cigarette in a stranger's mouth. 150421
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raze oh, a whole lot of things, but mostly BOOKS BOOKS BOOKS. 150422
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raze a good conversation with a friend i hadn't seen face to face in a good long while. 150625
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raze talk of salads with an optometrist. 150704
...
raze a vanity license plate that said "WRETCHED".

i really want to know the story behind that one.
150808
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raze an unexpected morning dose of fleetwood mac. 150818
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raze this here:

http://theawkwardyeti.com/comic/books/
150822
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raze an unused TV a/v cable left on the floor for a while somehow curled into a near-perfect uppercase cursive S (or a handwritten treble clef, depending on what the eyes want to see). 150911
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raze while looking for a house where a used car was for sale i saw a street sign that said "socrates". 150928
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raze i was at the post office to send a few packages, and for no reason at all started singing the chorus from "rhythm divine" by enrique iglesias. it wasn't on the radio. it just popped into my head. the woman in front of me turned around with a look of confused terror on her face. you had to be there. 151005
...
e_o_i Obnoxious person writes that straight people have the only "natural" sexuality - because only they could repopulate a desert island! Then, other commenters turn the desert island scenario into a collectively generated story:

http://www.gaystarnews.com/article/this-homophobic-tumblr-post-transformed-into-a-dystopian-lgbti-adventure-novel-and-it-is-amazing/#gs.eD0q9Z0

Make fun, not war.
151124
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raze this epic punctuation fail on the cover of "tails" magazine:

"rachael ray finds inspiration in cooking her dog and her family."
151229
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e_o_i (That is indeed amusing.)

Conversation between my mom and younger cousin about my brother:

L: "I always thought your Y was going to become some sort of priest."

Mom: "Well, we're not Catholic..."

L: "Or like a leader of some form of, uh, churching. Or like join a cult."
160313
...
raze more like "what made you laugh until you thought you would pass out today":

doing impressions of different people, famous and not famous, the way they would sound if they were chickens.
160328
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nr well, yesterday. there was a group of teenagers on the plane on some kind of organized trip, and they were talking about what kind of radio/tv program would be played somewhere (i didn't get where). someone said "maybe the news," and a girl replied, "oh, i LOVE the news! it offers so much suspense!" 160722
...
flowerock. I forgot to be ready for the punch, so when my partner punched the pad I was holding, I back handed myself in the face with it... that's when I decided not to wear glasses on boxing day, in face we both took off our glasses. It was a lot more fun and laughter than it sounds. 160722
...
unhinged for you johnny:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AUq9sgPqfJ8
160723
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raze whoa. i've never heard that one before, and i went a little crazy with bootlegs way back when. what a guy. 160723
...
flowerock. The cashier at trader joes when he rung up my goat cheese said "goat cheese? Oh that poor goat!" 160723
...
unhinged i had never heard that one until yesterday either and was also obsessed with any boot leg i could get my hands on about a decade ago. (admitting that it was a decade ago that i was trolling jeff buckley message boards makes me feel old)


goat cheese tastes like dirty hair to me. i have tried it so many times and it's all varying flavors of dirt. ick.
160724
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raze someone drew a goofy-looking face in the grime on the back window of their van and wrote next to it: "if you don't like my driving, get off the sidewalk!" 160922
...
raze unexpected gratitude for a strategically-offered dollar. 161008
...
nr i went down to my underground parking lot today, and the girl next to me was getting out of her car and said hi. i said hi back, and she asked how i was and said she just wanted to say hi because she's my parking-lot neighbour. and because we have the same car, which i didn't notice at all at first (hers is silver, mine is red). i asked if she was new, and she said no but that she just never sees me. i told her about the big, bulky van that used to park there before her and how i was glad it wasn't there anymore.

it was cute. i like the idea of a parking-lot friend.
161027
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raze "how a bunny sounds", by kim krans:

http://tapeop.com/_m/issues/88/88_art.jpg

(seriously one of the best explanations of sound i've ever seen)
170112
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raze a woman pushing a baby in a stroller and holding the hand of a son who looked about six years old gave a wave to say thanks for being allowed to walk in front of our car as she was coming out of best buy.

the kid who wasn't in the stroller decided that wasn't thanks enough, so he (in this order):

(a) waved
(b) gave a thumbs-up
(c) blew a few enthusiastic kisses

all with a big smile on his face.
170428
...
raze at the same record store that started this blathe a few years back, nick was playing "gentlemen" by the afghan whigs. i was telling him how the opening words to "be sweet" always cracked me up:

"ladies,
let me tell you about myself.
i got a dick for a brain,
and my brain
is gonna sell my ass to you."

a cute girl who was maybe sixteen or so smiled, while her mother looked mortified.

i'm not saying greg dulli's lyrics are the best way to learn about love and sex (unless you're after a pretty twisted view of it all), but hey, you could do worse.
170603
...
raze at metro, zinc was eleven bucks. "i wonder if i can find it cheaper somewhere else," i thought out loud.

"you probably can," whispered the young guy stocking shelves, wearing a sly little i-know-i-shouldn't-be-saying-this grin.
170611
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e_o_i A video of a car race dubbed with funny sounds: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wAUK9hVgmNI

I am easily amused.
170907
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unhinged making a baby laugh at the busstop 170908
...
epitome of incomprehensibility I was just printing pages for a group class tomorrow morning. 4 students, so a lot of pages.

In the middle of it all, a window popped up saying the ink was low. It'd said that before, but this time a white streak - a lack of ink - ran through some of the papers. What to do? Thoughts: no way I'll find a print shop open before 9 AM on a Sunday (my class is from 9 to 11 tomorrow, yay). Maybe I could have students share?

Then a low-tech solution came to me: I turned the printer off, flipped it gently from side to side, put it back - and the ink was running again.

Me: 1, Printer: 0. The printer will be out for revenge soon, I can feel it.
170909
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e_o_i I meant to put this under "printer". Still, I guess it made me smile. 170909
...
raze this was the other day, but still.

a couple were leaving the restaurant after eating breakfast. their daughter looked like she was maybe two years old. when they were about to put her in the car, she took the pacifier out of her mouth and threw it onto the road. her father picked it up and brought it back to the car. then she took off her winter coat and threw *that* on the ground.

she wasn't screaming or throwing a tantrum. it was as if she just decided, "i don't want this stuff anymore." it was funny.
180203
...
unhinged she was also probably thinking it was funny that if she throws stuff like that her dad will bend over and pick it up...little ones like to play head games like that ;)



i went to my friend's three year old's birthday party and there were a bunch of cute little ones milling about and one of them particularly caught my eye (maybe because she was the same age as my little nephew).

she was sitting at the coloring table all by herself going at it (at 18 months old). then she was running around with all the older kids on the playground and actually keeping up with them for awhile. she was also talking up a storm but most of it was nonsense (like it usually is at that age). the teacher auntie in me loves just observing little ones doing stuff like that. the way their brains work and their little personalities are fascinating to me.


i was sitting at a table with her older brother and my friend for awhile and she got tired on the playground and came to chill with us. when her brother lifted her up i noticed one of her buttons on her shirt was popped open so i turned and said 'oh no! your shirt is open!' and buttoned it up for her and made a friend for life.


i helped her color a little bit and then she made another beeline to the playground, where she once again got tired and came back to the table and made the universal symbol for 'pick me up' so i hoisted her up onto my lap and she gave me the best cuddle hug ever.


i really love other people's kids
180204
...
raze this was about a week ago, but i meant to make a note of it here and forgot.

i was walking in the park when this little girl, maybe six or seven, saw me and said, "he's got long hair." then she looked at her mother and said, "i like his long hair, mom!"

man. cuteness overload.
200730
...
raze again in the park. there was a black cat with striking green eyes. she must live across the street. i say "she" because her collar looked feminine to me. i think there was a name tag. i didn't get a look at it. she walked up behind an english sheepdog like she was trying to sneak up on him. no fear in her at all. the dog didn't see her. she climbed halfway up a tree just for something to do. then she walked over to me. i bent down and held out my hand for her to smell. that way she could decide if i was someone worth trusting. she looked at me for a second. then she walked her head straight into my hand to say, "pet me, you fool." so i did. 210424
...
raze the word "yeah" sung about six hundred times by a voice i hadn't heard before. so much feeling can live inside a single word.

AND:

a paste! sighting on not_quite_truisms!
210810
...
kerry recommending a record store to a 17-year-old client who can't find the vinyl she's looking for "ANYWHERE." 210810
...
raze someone whistling "don't_worry, be_happy". so i sang:

"here's a little song i wrote
you might want to sing it note for note
don't_worry
be_happy"
210814
...
unhinged lazy cat 210814
...
e_o_i A conversation between a mother and child as I was walking to the metro.

The kid, maybe seven or eight: "For my birthday, I want a job."

The mother: "A job?!"

It was the surprise, the incredulity in her voice that made me smile behind my mask.
210817
...
kali "We'll burn that bridge when we get to it" 210817
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raze the sound of a hammered dulcimer. 210821
...
kerry a perfectly hard boiled egg, halved and sprinkled with sea salt. 210821
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unhinged little shit cruising my balcony for seeds and looking straight at me when i laugh in delight as he searches the potted honeysuckle 210821
...
unhinged little_known_facts_about_roosh_v 210822
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unhinged the giggle video 210822
...
kerry watching my coworker show off his winning lotto ticket 210823
...
raze hearing bark psychosis on the radio. it was only the first thirty seconds or so of "big shot" used as connecting tissue between shows, but still. that isn't going to happen again anytime soon. 210825
...
tender square an older woman in a sun hat and a bald man holding hands as they tentatively stepped into lake michigan together. 210825
...
kerry janet says mike is her "teddy bear." he blushes. 210825
...
raze getting a whole pile of books in the mail. 210827
...
unhinged evidence of overnight rain 210827
...
tender square seeing george bush, my squirrel, come for a visit after a four-day vacay from home. she came right up to me and gently slid her little claws across my palm to pick up the shelled walnut i was offering her outside. 210827
...
unhinged rain... finally!
the little girl i came across on my way to the forest. the way she stared at me the way little ones will and her delight when I caught her staring and waved and the deep smile that made her eyes disappear into her face when i told her to cheer for the rain. she was probably about eighteen months old...no more than two. her sparkly intelligence right at the forefront of her deep child curiosity.
the rain filled spider webs
the new lamppost art downtown
my grilled cheese with egg and caramelized onion


i know better than anyone how to hunt the smiles that chase away my sadness
210827
...
tender square children toddling in matching mint vests with reflective strips that are too big for their frames, holding a rope as they walk through the neighborhood, on the way to the park with their day guardians. 210830
...
unhinged a new painting collage method bears compliment-getting fruit
a friend offers to buy my art
210830
...
tender square so, so many things.

- the moment we crossed into canada as i sped through the empty windsor-detroit tunnel

- when barry, the border agent, noticed i was from windsor and gave michael and i the go-ahead to proceed into the country (i wept)

- leaving the tunnel plaza to enter the city and realizing that this will always be home

- drinking a legit tim horton’s coffee and hearing michael’s “mmmmms” as he munched on his long-awaited crispy chicken wrap in the passenger seat

- the way the teal waters of the detroit river shone as we snaked through riverside drive

- the smell of yeast impregnating the air near hiram walkers distillery

- the five-minute hugs i shared with my parents after we’ve been apart for 18 months (my mother and i bawled like children, our makeup smearing)

- the delight in my dad’s “ho! ho! ho!” when he saw the star trek shirt we'd gotten him for father’s day, holding it to his chest to model for us

- the joy in my mom’s ooohs and ahhs when she saw the cattail garden ornament we'd gotten her for mother’s day, followed by her immediate plans for outdoor placement

- the fact that my parents loved their cards just as much as the gifts themselves and talked of framing them; the fact that they said all of it was unnecessary, that our being there was gift enough

- holding my dad’s hand for over a half hour as we sat, the four of us, talking as if no time had ever passed at all

- the koala bear hug i shared with my sister, each one of us lifting a leg to wrap around the other because our arms did not bring us close enough

- petting lebowski’s cute little smiling gremlin face and getting his hair all over my clothes

- my sister’s deep belly laugh when she saw the cross-stitch i made for her birthday of a shirtless joe dirt, his mullet blowing in the breeze, with the brea-esque statementballs to the wall” emblazoned on it

- the dinner we had on the johnny shotz patio, where i ate the best damn veggie wrap i’ve had in a long time (shout out to the server for convincing me to go with the mystery sauce)

- drinking ginger tea in the gazebo, the four of us talking for hours as the sun set, and the feeling that life was slowly but surely returning to normal
210902
...
raze this adorable little girl with red hair marching down the sidewalk with her fist raised and a look of furious determination on her face while her mother said, "are you running? are you walking fast?"

(and welcome home, c.)
210902
...
e_o_i Before we got to the trail, David said, "Let's see a porcupine today."

I said you couldn't just decide to see a porcupine. Well, you could, but one might not be there to be seen.

On the way back, near the bottom of the hill? A FRIGGIN PORCUPINE. Rotund, ambling. When it saw us approach, it shuffled away rather than ran, disappearing into the bushes to our left.

In between there was the kiss on the quiet lookout, in view of the lake.

Then, in the park playground, we got on the rocket-shaped swiveling thing and made it turn around and round.

(I'm at my aunt's house this week - the aunt who lives in a small town called Arden - and he was just up from Toronto for the day.)
210902
...
e_o_i tender_square, I'm glad you got to see family you hadn't seen in a while too!

It was good seeing my Ontario aunt plus her son and his girlfriend again. And being able to do batik again in her workshop, and seeing her in-house shop... but some of this is What Made Me Smile Three Days Ago.
210902
...
kerry a guy jogging through the park is saying on his headset, "i AM actively listening!" 210902
...
kerry this phone conversation with audrey:

her: hey where are you now? Still in the area?
me: i'm on a ferris wheel!
her: you're on a ferris wheel???
me: we just walked around waiting to hear, we're just killing some time. So are you free now?
210902
...
e_o_i New definition for active listening: listening while doing something active :)

This morning I found my notebook that had book reviews and a rough copy of part of my novel in it. I was anxious that I'd lost it, especially since I'm in someone else's place and only here for a few days, but I'd just left it on top of a bookshelf.
210903
...
tender square my grandma, still shimming her tatas at 87; her mobility’s greatly diminished but her vitality transcends the pain.

(thanks j and e_o_i)
210903
...
raze learning a lot of different unicode symbols show up on blather.

makes me wanna sing
makes the clouds disappear ☁
makes the sun come out
makes me wanna twirl my umbrella

(i don't plan on making any future use of this, but it's still pretty neat to know it works.)
210903
...
unhinged bibi the monkey 210903
...
tender square dinner with a girlfriend i hadn't seen in six years. we reconnected last summer after losing touch and our friendship has picked up right where we left off. 210904
...
raze a ridiculously cheesy instrumental cover version of "flashdance ... what a feeling". 210908
...
raze getting mail from a friend who wrote my name on the front of an envelope as "johann westoffovich iii". 210909
...
kerry beautiful_buried_red_blathes 210909
...
unhinged overheard in the co_op restroom:

'food makes you poop mommy'
210910
...
e_o_i A pine tree looked especially green against the blue of an early evening sky. I stopped, gawking at how beautiful it was.

Easily amused/scared/angered? Yes. And easily impressed by trees, because why not.

"johann westoffovich iii" - that's glorious. Reminds me of a story I'll write about in "hat" (I promise, unless I drop dead in the next few minutes).
210910
...
raze leylah fernandez smiling even as she was losing the US open final to emma raducanu. 210911
...
unhinged the rukus all the little birds in the thicket started making after the rain started, like they are saying 'hello rain. you've been gone for awhile. we're glad you're back.' 210912
...
raze george_bush

(and hey, i liked the idea of recusing a sad-looking lawn ornament! i thought it painted a fun, unexpected image.)
210912
...
tender square a child surfing on a saucer swing, riding each air wave like a pendulum, her body getting so high she was parallel to the ground below. 210916
...
unhinged the little bitty boy in his stroller in front of the music store, the smile that spread across his face and he started moving the fingers of his right hand in a crude waving motion

'yes! hello little guy! i know this mask is weird on my face!'

his mom was struggling with her dog and double stroller that looked the size of a small car. 'he just learned how to wave.'

'i can tell' and i kept waving until he stopped caring.

sooooo cute
210916
...
raze bumping into the blathe for "shampoo" and reading what e_o_i wrote there.

(it should really be "what made you laugh so hard you almost fell over this morning", but i assure you there was smiling involved too.)
210920
...
raze honest to god, turning on the radio for a second before leaving the house to go for a walk, and catching the tail end of "chest_fever" just now. 210923
...
tender square (unhinged, if you have not watched s9e1 of gbbo yet, read no further; there are spoilers ahead!)

i nearly fell off the couch i was so hysterical watching as paul, prue, noel and matt pretended to be a band lip-syncing “don’t burn my tart, my flaky pastry tart.” they were dressed in cowboy boots, patterned vests, and brown mullet wigs a la billy ray cyrus. hell of a way to open season 9, i tell ya.
210924
...
raze talking with unhinged about mushrooms, and seconds later turning on the radio to hear "mushroom" by can. the musical synchronicity is coming fast and furious right now. 210924
...
tender square reading the collaborative power of piano_gorillas and i_do_not_eat_the_bus. it is so cool that you two blathed together like that years ago; the call and response captured in the pieces are so special. 210927
...
tender square raze's post on "family." soul smiles with that one.

second place: a farmhouse bird feeder in a tree that was decked for halloween with a skeleton of a bird perched atop the roof.
210929
...
tender square beautiful encounters in the arb today:

- randomly running into our former next-door neighbor, sabra, as we entered the park. she greeted us enthusiastically from 15 feet away; i almost didn’t recognize her because i didn’t have my glasses on and she’s lost weight recently, which i congratulated her on. her and her friend andrea were hiking in preparation for an upcoming trip to north carolina where they’ll climb the smoky mountains. “i used to hike those as a kid when my family vacationed in tennessee,” i gushed. “have a wonderful time!”

- the american foxhound puppy who gently jumped against my knees when passing with its human while we were stopped at the edge of trail to talk with sabra.

- a brief but prodigious shower of golden leaves swirling on a zephyr above our heads.

- a scattershot of starlings fluttering in formation as we ascended the hill.
211001
...
raze the latest addition to george_bush. it made me so happy to read that. 211003
...
unhinged the choir of birdsong coming out of the blackberry thicket during the burst of rain this morning 211003
...
tender square cars slowing on huron parkway to let a couple of geese safely cross from the median to the other side of the street. 211004
...
raze one of our squirrel friends from the park (one half of the newsom twosome) enjoying a barbecue potato chip at the base of her usual tree. 211005
...
raze getting a whole pile of used books in the mail (again). 211006
...
unhinged a little girl walking to school with her dad, walking slowly. words were exchanged, then she started walking slower backwards.

someone didn't want to go to school today
211006
...
tender square raze's post on "tender_square" today. now i want to look for date square recipes. 211007
...
unhinged the big mural of a little kid playing with a rubber duckie in a rain puddle on stone near 45th 211007
...
raze a walkerville student sitting on one of the park benches with three of her friends.

"i like your glasses," she said. really earnest.

i wanted to tell her i liked her hair (it was curly and thick and beautiful in the freedom she gave it to be itself without any chemical intervention), but i didn't want to make her uncomfortable. so i just said thank you.
211007
...
raze hearing my name in indian music, though i know it isn't there. 211009
...
raze the revelation that puppies are subwoofers (thanks to what tender_square wrote on weird_confessions). 211010
...
raze getting some pictures of my favourite member of the newsom twosome. finally! she was even kind enough to pose for me. didn't see jimmy, though. he was probably conducting business overseas. that guy gets around. 211011
...
raze three black baby squirrels play-wrestling. 211012
...
tender_square it’s garbage day and the city uses trucks with arms that hug, lift, and tip each collection bin aggressively as though the two were long-lost loved ones reuniting after absence. because of this, bins often get knocked over when they are placed back on the pavement by the truck, it’s not uncommon to see toppled bins all over the neighborhood.

on our walk today, an amazon delivery driver accidentally knocked down someone’s empty bin as they were backing out of their driveway. i fully expected them to drive off. but when they realized it, they stopped, got out of the van, and righted the bin on its wheels before going back to finish their route. people can surprise you sometimes.
211012
...
raze tali running in circles again. 211016
...
unhinged the one year old that watched me emerge from the woods today at the park who was fascinated when i waved especially after her mommy told her to say hi to me.

she was so fascinated in fact that she let her mommy get dangerously far away to stare at me. i ducked back in the woods so she would follow mommy to the playground with a big grin i only get from cute babies on my face
211016
...
raze reading birdmad's story on trouble_breathing from more than twenty years ago. i love coming across gems like that while floating around. 211017
...
tender_square a middle-aged man twisting and gyrating gleefully while he waited at the bus stop. i was so engaged with watching him dance, that i nearly ran into someone as i crossed the street. “you do you man,” i said proudly. 211021
...
raze the best apple fritter i've ever eaten. HOLY HUMMUS, IT HAD ACTUAL APPLE IN IT. 211022
...
raze the image of someone hiding a tiny gun in their beard, c/o nr on "immigration". i know that isn't a light-hearted blathe, but i appreciated the moment of levity. 211026
...
nr a random memory from seven years ago. i was cat-sitting for a friend's cat, named eva. eva was sitting next to me on the couch, and i said to her, "eva, my name is meryl (omg, unmasked!). meryl. mer-yl... eva, what's my name?"

she stared up at me for a couple of seconds and said "meow-ow."
211027
...
kerry a 2-egg scramble with kale, garlic, toast, and plenty of butter. lou licking the plate when i'm done. 211027
...
raze newsom eating a peanut and making a sound i've never heard a squirrel make before. i don't even know how describe it. "soft gulping moans" is about the best i can do. i think she was saying, "thank you for feeding me." 211106
...
raze (i guess i don't know how to proofread either. poor missing "to". all it ever wanted was to be inserted in the proper place.) 211106
...
tender_square a small boy chasing after his remote-controlled car, his feet pattering in time with his breakneck-speed heart. 211121
...
tender_square after i moved onto someone’s lawn so the recycling truck could empty a bin on the street, i gave the driver a wave of my floppy mittened hand like a child would and smiled at him, and he returned just as big of a wave and smile back to me. 211123
...
tender_square a little boy dressed in a snowsuit laughing next to his dad as he tried to make snowballs with a plastic contraption he opened and closed repeatedly in his mittened hands. 211128
...
e_o_i This Dumbing of Age strip: https://www.dumbingofage.com/2021/comic/book-12/02-ill-leave-you-a-phantom/tedium/

I don't think it needs context to be funny, but I can explain briefly that

a) these characters are in college; Liz (first girl speaking) goes to a different one

b) Liz wanted to hook up with Joe, partly to show she's moved beyond her uptight upbringing, but they didn't end up having sex (in this case, probably for the best - Joe also likes someone else, maybe probably); this is the next day

c) Dina likes dinosaurs, thus the dino apparel. She's kind of a fan favourite. As a character, she started off having a lot of communication problems with the other first-years, who didn't always "get" her, nor she them. Might be a kind of autism, might be a personality thing. Probably both. But it's been heartwarming to see how there's been adaptation on both sides; others accept her more and she opens up to them more without having to suppress her idiosyncrasies (and here, perhaps, Joe's weirdly aroused by her little speech - though he could just be embarrassed and she's not the one he has a crush on).

"Explain briefly," ha.
211202
...
raze my first pair of thermal underwear. ever.

(and holy shit did i need them today while trudging through the tundra.)
220115
...
kerry baking (excellent) cornbread for the first time in years 220115
...
raze finding a sticker for a honeycrisp apple on my left pant leg, making me look for a moment like a very large apple waiting for someone to take a bite out of me. and later, eating four of the best cookies in the world. 220131
...
e_o_i "the key changes feel like God" from https://www.dumbingofage.com/2022/comic/book-12/03-trial-and-sarah/apostate/ 220202
...
raze symptom_girl_and_the_1970s, with its "social punching from grandma indexes" and updated breeding schemes. so good. so wonderfully e_o_i. 220202
...
raze (phooey. that should have been symptom_girl_and_1970s, without the "the".) 220202
...
tender_square seeing the smile of someone i love and adore. 220207
...
raze a woman pushing a grey and white chihuahua in a stroller. 220226
...
raze a thin string of cotton that fell from a sock or a shirt or something, giving me the thumbs-up on my bedroom floor. 220305
...
Bizzar A photo he sent me of him wearing the gift I sent him. His whole response to it. Making him smile continues to feed my soul in ways I can’t explain. I’m like a fiend, searching for the next way to pull his lips at the corners. I guess when you love someone, that’s really all you need. 220306
...
raze a mockingbird imitating a car alarm. 220315
...
tender_square a cup on my desk brimming with the silver foil of york peppermint patties (a surprise from my boss who knows how much i like them). 220316
...
raze my first corgi sighting of the year. 220317
...
nr my nephew-cat put his paw on my foot when i opened the fridge, in order to entice me with cuteness to feed him his wet food. 220318
...
nr my cat-nephew again. he was guarding the house from the wind and blowing leaves. he was chasing the leaves as well as he could from inside the glass door, growling at the wind, and otherwise keeping watch. 220323
...
tender_square a small boy running at full speed like the superhero he was in his flash costume. 220401
...
nr i forgot to put water in the vase of flowers brought to me and they looked like they'd already started to die. but after i put water in, they perked right up. 220415
...
raze someone else's smile a few dozen miles away. 220420
...
Soma I was sent a picture
That I didn't even know someone took
Of me alongside my partners
Holding hands
And smiling like maybe I'm happy
And it makes me actually happy
To see that there's a version of me
That could feel that way
220421
...
raze three dogs jumping up on me to say hello at the same time. 220423
...
nr i just went to an open mic, where i accompanied my guitarist friend on drums while he played an original song he'd just written. then i sang "jesus wept" (jeff_tweedy/mavis staples) and played my tenor ukulele, and he accompanied me on guitar.

i'd never sung into a microphone for a crowd before, but it felt great. hearing my voice and my friend's guitar magnified made me really hear how it sounded, and i felt freer to perform the way i wanted to.
220425
...
tender_square a small boy trudging in black galoshes, holding a whale umbrella above his blond head, his space backpack overwhelming his frame as it hung to his knees. 220426
...
nr a friend owed me $55, and he knows my favourite number is 46, so he e-transferred $55.46. 220426
...
tender_square seeing the smile of someone i love. 220427
...
raze patches doing patches things. 220428
...
raze unexpected company. 220429
...
raze a squirrel who could be related to red_tail hanging out on my front lawn, filling his mouth with as many leaves as it would hold. 220502
...
tender_square the unique auras of photogenic squirrels captured by the stunning eyes of someone who sees into their very souls. 220505
...
raze a man blowing a fortress of bubbles around his daughter, who was too busy looking for squirrels to notice. 220514
...
raze all the floof my heart could handle. 220601
...
nr playing at an open mic and subsequently have multiple other performers ask if i'd play drums with them too.

and then one of them called me a confident drummer. i don't get called confident too often.
220606
...
oof *having 220606
...
raze (yayness! i'm so glad it went well!) 220606
...
raze half the cracked shell of a whole walnut. something left behind by a furry visitor who ate on my porch when i wasn't looking. 220617
...
raze watching a shower's steam bring back the drawings of two squirrels i made on the bathroom mirror. 220701
...
nr my sister video-called me with the intention of putting my adorable 8-month-old nephew on the phone when i answered. i missed her call, so i called back a bit later, and "he" answered on video. he smiled right away and was super chatty. my sister said when they tried to call and didn't reach me, he cried. and i melted. 220704
...
raze blowing a bug from my free hand while petting tali from behind, and her reacting by turning around and looking up at me with a big grin on her face. 220705
...
tender_square a young boy chatting to his grandfather as they puttered down the sidewalk, the two of them in matching detroit tigers ball caps. 220706
...
raze looking up just in time to catch one of hoppy's_children in full flight. 220714
...
raze the return of the downy_woodpecker. i watched her bounce from branch to branch, searching for the best place to tap out her own special brand of morse code. 220728
...
tender_square a black bag containing six ears of fresh corn bill got for me from a stand in saline. 220728
...
raze this is more like "what moved you today", but still:

what dallas wrote on blather_loves_you.
220801
...
nr i'd been feeling a bit down about work, and then today i researched into a problem for a customer and emailed them back, and copied in the specialist who they'd originally asked. the specialist replied to me and said "well done! you're good."

and later today people on our team listed their birthdays, so we could celebrate them all. a smart, fun woman on my team who i speak with relatively often and who's helped me out a lot is a march 7 baby. she was like "[nr], yours is so close to mine!" and i said "hey, fellow pisces, we're the best," and she said "no wonder we get along so well."
220802
...
kerry pandan ice cream in a dark chocolate waffle cone with a condensed milk drizzle 220803
...
tender_square an elderly woofer rolling happily in a damp divot of mulch made beneath a swing. 220804
...
raze celebratory pizza. 220808
...
tender_square his post-walk glow and his soothing voice as he relayed stories during an impromptu video chat. 220813
...
raze birthday wishes from special people. 220816
...
raze seeing cautious charlie grab the treat i left for him in the back yard. 220817
...
raze a young girl on a bicycle singing to herself in a language all her own. 220818
...
raze more backyard_visitors. 220819
...
raze a beautiful gift i wasn't expecting. 220821
...
e_o_i Seeing that nom made the same sore/sorry association that I did in sore_feet. Years apart.

(Didn't T.S. Eliot say literature was a conversation across centuries? On blather it can be decades.)
220823
...
e_o_i Seeing a dog in Surrey_Park try to chase an airplane. 220826
...
raze a black_and_white puppy named otto licking the outsole of my shoe. "looks like you guys have got a new pet," one of his humans said. 220827
...
nr i sent my "niece" a video today wishing her a happy birthday. her mom/my best friend send me a text back that said "thank you so much! i hope you had a great day too. love you."

she's 9, and she's been wishing me a great day on her birthday for at least the past two years. that's more thoughtful than most adults.
220831
...
nr her mom sent me a text that was dictated by my niece, that is. 220831
...
raze nr breaking out the original full-length moniker for a very_punny moment. 220904
...
raze this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4T_LlK1VE4
220917
...
raze a post-dinner floof explosion. 220918
...
tender_square a gong being struck long after a lawn concert had ended. 220918
...
raze the most ridiculous cover version of "oye como va". 220921
...
raze jaws casually grazing my hand with his tail. 220924
...
nr a text from my best friend, E, about her 6 year old son, R:

"i was telling the kids about my dream where we were trying to find places for people to sleep over, but it was all grown-ups and no kids. they were disappointed about that because that wasn't as fun as no kids. then:

R: "was aunt [nr] one of the people in your dream?"

E: "i think so!"

R: "that's good because she's a FUN gron-up!"
220928
...
nr or grown-up, even. 220928
...
raze sparrows dancing into flight on the other side of the fence that separates my driveway from stephanie's back yard. 220929
...
raze magic. absolute magic. 221006
...
tender_square my father's friend, leo, bringing by a grater he overheard that i needed for a recipe. 221007
...
raze the smell of thanksgiving dinner filling the house. 221009
...
tender_square janelle beaming about the text praise incoming from her guitar teacher for videos of her folk songs she spent a lot of time performing and recording. 221023
...
raze six hours of slow-cooked spare ribs filling the house with the sweetest aroma. 221113
...
tender_square my neighbour, sending me a text containing a hand waving emoji. i thought he was just touching base because he’s watching over things while i’m out of town and so i sent him a gif waving back. then i realized he was sending the text because every time i pass his house following my morning walk, i wave at his picture window where he sits and waves as he sees me pass. 221117
...
raze a meal that brought warmth back to my cold bones. 221117
...
tender_square a goose taking a leisurely stroll across the street against a green while a line of cars waited patiently. 221203
...
raze the face of a friend i missed yesterday. 221214
...
raze discovering the leaf newsom left in my back yard the night before last is still right where it fell. 221224
...
raze tower time with sammy and charlene. 221231
...
past future toddling through the house singing a very recognizable babble version of "happy_birthday." 221231
...
raze the poem e_o_i wrote last_night in honour of toast that isn't actually toast at all. 230107
...
tender_square hearing the opening cowbell of hot hot heat's "talk to me, dance with me" on the radio when i haven't heard it in years. 230118
...
raze lil' bit taking food from my hand for the very first time. 230119
...
raze choc eating with his tail resting on my slipper. 230130
...
raze the image of shiloh acting as an exasperated linguistic critic. 230203
...
raze a snowman with scoliosis. 230204
...
tender_square sunshine warming my face through the windshield as i sang and danced to steely dan's "peg" driving 94-w. my own little pocket of joy. 230211
...
raze a bluegrass song that kept circling back to the line, "i've gotta have some bacon in my beans." 230212
...
tender_square spotting grandma down the hall, shaking her bum for the assisted living workers before physical therapy began, as i turned out of the elevator to take leave. 230217
...
raze watching the full trailer for "the flash" on a whim when the first five seconds were force-fed to me as a youtube ad, and hearing michael keaton say, "i'm batman," for the first time in more than thirty years. i didn't see that coming. childhood me got chills. 230220
...
raze the first cup of tea i've brewed in a very long time. 230222
...
raze not much. 230226
...
raze pictures i forgot i had. and i'm the one who took them. 230302
...
raze the return of soma.

(it's always so good to see you here.)
230308
...
raze getting the chance to introduce hoppy jr. to someone really special. 230313
...
tender_square meeting a backyard floof crew. 230315
...
raze air hugs from one of my favourite furry friends. 230319
...
tender_square a top-heavy toddler with wisps of soft hair running clumsily toward the playground. 230401
...
raze the voice of mary_margaret. 230421
...
raze seeing sybren for the first time in more than half a year. 230504
...
raze rust celebrating his two hundredth day at nuts_to_you. 230506
...
raze the image of brahms browsing blather in composer heaven and coming across birthday wishes from e_o_i. 230507
...
e_o_i Lara, the host family's dog, wrapping herself in a blanket before settling for a nap.

(Glad my Brahms-related musings were amusing!)
230508
...
raze the return of flux. 230516
...
raze tape damage introducing a bit of unexpected dissonance into a song that almost seemed better for being marred. 230520
...
raze getting a letter in the mail from a friend. 230612
...
raze the most floof-filled day i've had in some time. 230627
...
e_o_i The radio at the café was playing Falco's "Rock Me Amadeus." 230702
...
raze a monarch butterfly that flirted with the idea of coming inside when i opened the back door. 230705
...
kerry now the second sunday in a row that the little girl who lives across the street has taped a piece of paper that says "welcome home daddy" on it. the drawings are unclear, like cave paintings, and the house has a yellow door. last halloween the little girl sat on the stoop with her mother and announced that while she likes halloween, "valentines day is the best holiday." yesterday she corrected her mother: "it's not pronounced gross-er-eee store, it's grosh-ree-store."
her dad drives a vintage motorcycle with a white tank. in the summer he shaves his head, which is covered in tattoos. when the weather is cold he grows out his hair, which is brown.
i haven't witnessed him pull up to the house on his motorcycle and find the welcome home sign, but i would like to.
230724
...
kerry taped a piece of paper on the door, that is. 230724
...
raze making someone else's day a little bit brighter. 230725
...
raze shooter shepherding six young squirrels across the fence, pausing for just a second to give me a look that said, "dad things." 230804
...
raze the sight of lucifer lumbering through the back yard. 230813
...
e_o_i Not that it's funny, but I really admire how the_cost_of_living captures the feeling of a dream's rapid scene changes while still maintaining clarity.

Thanks to tender_square; I needed a break from worrying about boss- and dog-related problems.
230814
...
raze hoppy jr. showing up for the fifth night in a row after a protracted absence. 230821
...
tender_square a new squirrel pal; unafraid, curious, and hungry. 230822
...
raze charlene coming to see me in the rain. 230906
...
raze my backyard_visitors. the truest friends i've ever had. 230919
...
raze watching "the_point" with my dad. 231008
...
raze these bits of an online article that read like someone was having fun_with_google_translate:

"humans are extremely unlikely to come into direct contact with each other. in squirrel language, frustration means 'i'm angry'. 'i'm tired' is a squirrel word that means 'nap'."
231029
...
raze charlene being the first one here to celebrate her four hundredth day at nuts_to_you (again showing up in the rain). 231108
...
e_o_i I hiccupped loudly and the dog looked at me with utter surprise. 231108
...
raze a cure parody that's actually a brilliant homage:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7rsNbODR3GE
231114
...
Soma Anytime i come across someone’s YouTube recommendations on blather it’s always so ridiculous it makes me smile. Going to smile at the content is just bonus. There’s something so clandestine that i love about copy and pasting inactive urls. 231114
...
raze (it's always kind of cracked me up too that in a sea of html, nothing linked to outside of blather ever actually becomes a working link.) 231115
...
raze snow melting into the winter coats of my truest friends. 231206
...
raze e_o_i doing magic e_o_i things on westwood_park. 231215
...
raze waking up to see this on today's side of the recent page:

welcome_to
blather_red.
hey
you.
yeah_you.
do_you_know
the
color_of_the_day?
231218
...
e_o_i A student spelling "rendez-vous" as "rendez-vouz" not because it was wrong, but because the silent end letters now matched, and in the context of his reading response, "date" rather than "meeting" was intended.

(Funny how the French polite imperative to go (return?) somewhere can mean so many things in both language.)
231220
...
e_o_i edits languageS with an s, gah 231220
...
Soma Data 231220
...
raze hearing kate_bush on cjam. 240109
...
e_o_i Reading "mirth" by Soma 240116
...
raze an old man's scottish accent. 240125
...
raze a gathering of geese, with each migratory bird honking hello. 240204
...
raze a new modem quadrupling my internet speed. 240207
...
raze just now, feeding half a dozen sparrows and one half of the cardinal_couple i've come to know so well. it was a veritable avian drive-through. 240228
...
pony the image of you, raze, running that drive-through, perhaps in the middle of a forest, the sole proprietor with many satisfied small fragile customers. 240228
...
e_o_i A rap song based on a German tongue twister: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYkBf0dbs5I 240308
...
raze a cherry_coke commercial from 1998. the one with the ostrich in it.

nostalgia: it's what's for breakfast.
240323
...
Soma "yeah, we're both weird but sometimes you make me question if I'm really the normal one, because the things you think are interesting to do are sometimes beyond my comprehension" 240324
...
raze a piece of good_news after swimming through a river of shit. 240408
...
raze the cardinal_couple sharing a kiss. 240416
...
raze the blinking body of the first firefly i've seen this year. 240601
...
raze the glory of floof.

(also a successful single by peter cetera.)
240610
...
warmthofrelease hoppy's_daughter 240617
...
raze a cat on a brochure wearing a cardboard box like a cape.

(also, i think you brought me a bit of good_luck; right around the time you linked to that blathe last_night, i caught sight of the rabbit friend it was written for, taking flight on four legs across_the_street.)
240618
...
e_o_i Okay, this was yesterday, but Soma's contribution to ghastly_geography_limericks. 240811
...
Soma smiling_is_contagious
i'm just tickled pink that you found that super dumb limerick amusing. I was hopeful. That's an old one I heard back in my college days.
240811
...
e_o_i A couple's differing dreams: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/g9919n4dF7M

Mine are a bit of both - story-like scenarios of the sad_romantic type, and anachronistic mish-mashes of books and people and events (though with less fantasy-world references, except maybe The_Lord_of_the_Rings).
240930
...
e_o_i A squirrel on Concordia's Loyola campus, after the teenagers jostling out of the train and before the for_science experiment. The squirrel had grabbed a banana peel near a picnic bench and was gnawing the last bit of banana out of it. When it saw me, it dropped the rest and scurried off. 241031
...
raze joni mitchell's smiling voice near the end of david crosby's "laughing". 241109
...
Soma I didn't have any fear.
I didn't have any anxiety.
I just felt capable. I felt powerful.

I felt peace.
241110
...
raze reading about nr's heart_melting nephew. kids really are the best. 241201
...
raze a young boy dancing in a diner to entertain his siblings. 241205
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