Green Bird Writing

V-Fest 2008, Sunday September 7

Mon, 08 Sep 2008 15:24:08 GMT

Wheeee!

So, I woke up around eight and remembered that the Weakerthans weren't playing until 3:55, so I called Freckles and told her not to bother coming over until around noonish. We left at 2, after some issues with printing the tickets, and made our way by subway downtown. Got a bit lost, found a hotel to give us directions, took another subway and a street car.

The street car guy was funny. He started with "Welcome to our tour of the streetcar route." and went on to discuss the lovely pattern on the wall (rough stone) and how it would look absolutely lovely in someone's living room--"and you could do another wall in transfers!" When we reached our stop, he said "Imagine a world where all the stations are deserted... Queens Quay, Museum, Union... you have now entered the Twilight Zone. Please take a good look at those who are leaving. You may never see them again."

I get the impression that his job is not all that interesting.

From there, ferry. It was pretty crowded in line, although it was probably at a lot worse at 1, when the park opened. Fare was covered in the ticket, and we found seats. Ferries are so sloooow. It arrived late, so we made it at 4:05, and the Weakerthans had already started. We caught the tail end of Our Retired Explorer (Dines with Michel Foucault in Paris, 1961. Continued with (in no particular order) Night Windows, Sun In An Empty Room, Aside, Reconstruction Site, The Reasons, Civil Twilight, Tournament of Hearts, and Left and Leaving, ending with A Plea From A Cat Named Virtue. No encore, sadly.

Someone else started up a bit after that, but we went to explore the stage. Got a free bag (later lost, oh well), watched people play Rock Band and Guitar Hero, listened to a bit of trance-ish Rock by YOAV, and then got some burgers. We were going to get subs, as Subway's $5 footlong was the most reasonably priced thing on the Island, but ti turned out it was just a Subway-sponsored stand. With human scrabble.

There were autographs available, but it was only if you'd bought your tickets through Futureshop. So I suppose I'll have to find the Weakerthans on another occasion. Not that I wouldn't see them again anyways.

Got burgers instead and went back to see Stereophonics. I don't know anything about them, but I think they might be English. It would explain the St. George's Cross someone was waving around. I will be looking for more of their stuff later. Then there was some guy named Paul Weller. When he started, Freckles and I tried moving forwards, for Oasis, since we were pretty sure that no one would be moving after Weller. We weren't wrong. Weller was good, we shifted a bit more, and then I was grumpy for a bit.

There was a half hour period between Weller and Oasis. In this point, people kept shoving me, the guy in front of me kept backing up and insisting he wasn't, and the smokers started up again. There were definitely cigarette smokers (and why the hell would you wave that in the air, over people's heads?), and quite possibly pot smokers. Smelt like a skunk. Lovely. Between that, my aching feet and back, and the fact that I am about 15 years out of date when it comes to Oasis music, I was rather cranky.

Then What's The Story (Morning Glory?) started, I was happy, and then suddenly, the music stopped. Initial response: Wut? I couldn't see the stage at that point, since about a hundred people were in front of me and trying to see. Apparently the lead singer was shoved by some random guy who appeared from back stage. I'm not even sure why anyone would do that, but I'm rather out of touch when it comes to the bizarre grudges that people hold against singers who aren't even aware of their existence.

Anyway, they eventually came back on, played till 10:40, and left. Never finished Morning Glory, but they did a few others I know, including Don't Look Back In Anger and, of course, Wonderwall. They finished with I Am The Eggman. Not sure why about that, either.

Ferry took foreeeever. Seriously. Oasis ended at 10:40, Freckles and I made it onto a Ferry at 12:20. Not cool. But we made it back eventually, I got at sleep at 2:30, and life was generally good.
I am still bemused as to why anyone would go after Oasis, though.

Sat, 06 Sep 2008 03:44:28 GMT

Today's Octopus Pie keeps making me giggle. (For those who don't read Octopus Pie, it's taking place at a Ren Faire. It's also the source of the line "This is the most Craigslist duel ever.")

German went well. When I went to ask the professor if I'd missed anything at the beginning of class, since I'd been late due to a building mix-up, he said "Oh, the linguistics student, right?" I hope that's a good sign. Syntax had nothing special, except for the fact that I kept almost dozing off. Oops.

Can't wait for Sunday.

Currently back home. With any luck, the roommates won't discover any more of those silverfish/centipede things while I'm gone, unless they are the Skin Horse version. And come with adorably cuddly cobras.

Fri, 05 Sep 2008 05:17:38 GMT

Bonne fête, czol . You haven't been on my f-list long, and I don't know much about you, but I hope you have a good day and a grand year.

Tue, 02 Sep 2008 23:20:37 GMT

Goddamn. I need to bring more stuff up. I was trying to be practical, but my room looks so empty now, especially compared to everyone else's. Need... books. Lots of books. Some other stuff too, but mostly books. Everything else is secondary.

Tue, 02 Sep 2008 22:57:08 GMT

The internet is finally hooked up. Huzzah!

Mon, 25 Aug 2008 01:58:46 GMT

I'm bored. Yes, I know, I should be working. Don't care. Nose is stuffy, I'm simultaneously cold and hot, and I'm bored of this psychiatry-ish nonsense. Someone entertain me, please.

Sun, 24 Aug 2008 01:13:47 GMT

There was an online game I played a few months ago, where the objective was to fill as much of the screen as possible with these balloons that would inflate as you held the mouse down. There was smaller balls bouncing around, sort of like in jezzball, where if they hit the balloon would explode and you'd lose a life. Does anybody have any idea what this game was? I can't find it anymore.

Sat, 23 Aug 2008 20:43:35 GMT

Sweet. Mac has a white water club. And the beginner's class isn't on a busy day, and I can sleep late the morning after. Sounds like fun. That and fencing. There's also the poster monkey club. Might not do Mondays, as Mondays are awful, but Thursdays'll work.

(What can I say? I spent last year alternately panicking and being dead bored. Might as well find something neat this time.)

Also, why on earth is the chess club listed with the religious clubs?

Ew...

Thu, 21 Aug 2008 03:10:55 GMT

A hundred and twenty-six dollars for a workbook? And five novels on top of that?

French, I am losing my love for you. Even the German package is cheaper, and it comes with cds.

Linguistics:

European linguistics from the 16th century -- unlisted
Morphology -- $28.50
Syntax -- $48
Semantics -- unlisted

Languages:

French -- $126. I'm getting as many of the novels as I can from the library.
German -- $84

Free choice:
Indigenous Studies pt 2 -- unlisted
Japanese culture and religion (tentative) -- $32.10 (1/2 books)

This looks like more than last year. Dammit.

Tue, 19 Aug 2008 18:17:58 GMT

I am bored and a terrible worker. So, meme time!
The rules of the meme:
Bold those you have tried.
Strikethrough those you wouldn't eat on a bet.
Italicize any item you'll never eat again.
Asterisk any items you'd be interested in trying but have not yet.
Underline anything you don't know.

1. Venison
2. Nettle tea
3. Huevos rancheros
4. Steak tartare
5. Crocodile
6. Black pudding
7. Cheese fondue
8. Carp*
9. Borscht
10. Baba ghanoush
11. Calamari
12. Pho
13. PB&J sandwich
14. Aloo ghobi
15. Hot dog from a street cart
16. Époisses
17. Black truffle*
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes
19. Steamed pork buns
20. Pistachio ice cream
21. Heirloom tomatoes
22. Fresh wild berries
23. ~~Foie gras~~
24. Rice and beans
25. ~~Brawn, or head cheese~~
26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper
27. Dulce de leche*
28. Oysters
29. Baklava
30. Bagna cauda
31. Wasabi peas
32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl*
33. Salted lassi
34. Sauerkraut
35. Root beer float
36. Cognac
37. Clotted cream tea*
38. Vodka jelly/Jell-O
39. Gumbo*
40. Oxtail*
41. Curried goat
42. Whole insects (Just ants in chocolate)
43. Phaal
44. Goat’s milk
45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more
46. Fugu
47. Chicken tikka masala
48. Eel
49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut
50. Sea urchin*
51. Prickly pear*
52. Umeboshi
53. Abalone
54. Paneer
55. McDonald’s Big Mac Meal
56. Spaetzle*
57. Dirty gin martini
58. Beer above 8%
59. Poutine
60. Carob chips
61. S’mores
62. Sweetbreads
63. Kaolin
64. Currywurst
65. Durian*
66. Frogs’ legs
67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake
68. Haggis
69. Fried plantain
70. Chitterlings, or andouillette
71. Gazpacho
72. Caviar and blini*
73. Louche absinthe
74. Gjetost, or brunost
75. ~~Roadkill~~
76. Baijiu
77. Hostess Fruit Pie
78. Snail
79. Lapsang souchong
80. Bellini
81. Tom yum
82. Eggs Benedict
83. Pocky
84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant*
85. Kobe beef*
86. Hare*
87. Goulash
88. Flowers
89. Horse
90. Criollo chocolate*
91. Spam
92. Soft shell crab
93. Rose harissa
94. Catfish
95. Mole poblano*
96. Bagel and lox*
97. Lobster Thermidor*
98. Polenta
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee
100. Snake *

Tue, 19 Aug 2008 14:11:21 GMT

Given that I've just added people to my f-list, one would think that I'd make some sort of humourous and intelligent post. Instead, you get this:

While walking to work today, I realized that, every once in a while, I've been kicking my right ankle. That would explain the pain.

So much for first impressions.

Mon, 18 Aug 2008 23:18:38 GMT

Boss-lady is pleased with my numbers. Submitted a hundred and twenty-seven documents out of a hundred and thirty three today, or three hundred and sixteen pages out of three hundred and thirty-three. S'about a document every three minutes. Not too bad, considering I was not terribly focused in the morning. I dread to think of what will happen the day I manage to focus all the way through.

Got my sticker from Mac. Whee, student privileges! Which mostly consist of free transit in Hamilton. But still.

Mon, 18 Aug 2008 01:15:56 GMT

Blah.

Blah work. Blah school schedule. Blah twit not talking to me. Blah lousy pepperettes. Blah apathy.

I think Mondays next year will involve sushi. This is about the only happy thing of note for the weekend.

Meeeeme

Thu, 14 Aug 2008 00:14:49 GMT

1. Name:
2. Birthday:
3. Where do you live:
4: What are you studying/What are you working as:
5. What makes you happy:
6. What are you listening to now/have listened to last:
7. What is particularly good/bad about my LJ:
8. An interesting fact about you:
9. Are you in love/have a crush at the moment:
10. Favorite place to be:
11. Favorite lyric:
12. Best time of the year:
13. Weirdest food you like:

RECOMMEND
1. A film:
2. A book:
3. A song:
4: A band:

FANDOM
1. Favorite Fandom:
2. OTP/OT3:
3. Icon/Fic Journal (so I can join):

PLUS
1. One thing you like about me:
2. Two things you like about yourself:
3. Put this in your lj so I can tell you what I think of you?

1. Name: Sam
2. Birthday: April 17
3. Where do you live: Southern Ontario
4: What are you studying/What are you working as: Linguistics/data entry
5. What makes you happy: Books, food cooked by other people, updates to comics, writing, making muffins, music
6. What are you listening to now/have listened to last: We Will Rock You (musical)
7. What is particularly good/bad about my LJ: Bunch of different stuff.
8. An interesting fact about you: I can lick my elbow.
9. Are you in love/have a crush at the moment: Nope.
10. Favorite place to be: Point Pelee/in bed
11. Favorite lyric: "Terrified of telephones and shopping malls and knives,
And drowning in the pools of other lives.
Rely a bit to heavily on alcohol and irony.
Get clobbered on by courtesy, in love with love, and lousy poetry.

And I'm leaning on this broken fence between past and present tense.
And I'm losing all those stupid games that I swore I'd never play.
But it almost feels okay." Aside, the Weakerthans

12. Best time of the year: Depends on my mood. At the moment, I wish it were winter right before it snows and it smells like cold.
13. Weirdest food you like: Eel. Omnomnom.

RECOMMEND
1. A film: Amelie if you want to be somewhat cultured, Road To El Dorado for the awesomeness that is Miguel and Tulio
2. A book: The Brightonomicon
3. A song: The Slow Descent Into Alcoholism
4: A band: The Weakerthans

FANDOM
1. Favorite Fandom: Girl Genius
2. OTP/OT3: Gil/Agatha is the obvious choice, but I'd be all over Gil/Wooster like white on snow.
3. Icon/Fic Journal (so I can join): Haven't got one.

PLUS
3. Put this in your lj so I can tell you what I think of you? That would lead to the folding of the space/time continuum, and I cannot do that in good conscience.

Wed, 13 Aug 2008 23:43:11 GMT

Having driven through Macedon, Mexico, Texas and Egypt, I am currently in Rochester. Aside from absence of $1 coins and a great many u's, there is not much of note. The Thousand Islands were more fun. Pictures and an actual description of the trip will probably appear sometime next week.

There was a lady at a used book store yesterday with mad book skills. I want to be like her when I grow up.

Also! The little sister found a copy of Who Is Bugs Potter? Greatest. Book. Ever. I was laughing out loud over it. Bugs is made of win.

Mon, 11 Aug 2008 05:38:06 GMT

Dear McMaster,

Is currently August 11. Want my timetable now. Plz to not be insisting it is the 10th.

Kthxbye,

thelittlebudgie

Sun, 03 Aug 2008 23:49:57 GMT

Made pad thai and spring rolls. The recipe was supposedly for four, but it could've easily done six, and by the time I was done cooking I wasn't very hungry. Still, what I did eat was quite tasty.

Thu, 31 Jul 2008 23:39:14 GMT

What kind of hat is is Jenka's hat? I really can't think of a name for it, and it's annoying me, because how on earth am I supposed to find it without a name?

Today the lady who sits behind me was making a fuss about the cake she'd picked from a coffee shop, so I helped her find the number for the store. It was a while later that, when my boss walked by, she said "<lj user="thelittlebudgie"> was just helping me find a number, for my cake. So don't get mad at her."

"Ok," quoth the boss, before turning away and getting the expression closest to wtf I've ever seen on her face.

I also learned that I'd been placed where I was because the lady who sits behind me can apparently be quite argumentative and paranoid, but she likes people with my hair and eye colour. That was... odd.

Going to make spring rolls to go with supper Saturday. Found a tasty-looking one for avocado rolls, and I'll probably do one with bean sprouts. Not sure what else to make with it, though.

Ahahahaha!

Thu, 31 Jul 2008 00:49:08 GMT

Quite a while ago, a bootleg of LotR: The Two Towers, was made famous by its... amazing subtitles. I know quite a few people have seen some of it before, but here's a link to the site that hosts a few of the more inspired lines.

I rediscovered it today though TV tropes, and started clicking on random times to see what would come up. And I get to the second-last section, scroll down a bit, and now cannot stop giggling over it. Why? Well, this:

Sam's the Joker!

Tue, 29 Jul 2008 19:36:34 GMT

So, I have a lot of random stuff lying around. Want a surprise? Leave your address (comments are screened), and I'll mail you a little something by this time next week.

Edit: I'm no longer taking requests for now, unless you're in Canada. International mail's a bugger.

Tue, 29 Jul 2008 13:09:22 GMT

After having read various f-list entries on Comic Con, I have determined that I need to go next year. Since sneaking off isn't an option, sice I live at home during the summer, and lying would be met death and more death, I require advice, f-list. How does one go about convincing one's parents to let one go on a cross-continental trip?

I'd be paying for everything (you have no idea how much I ground my teeth when people complained that their parents wouldn't drive them/buy them a plane ticket/pay for their admissions/etc), and given that I'm already legally an adult in both Canada and the States, there's no problems in that quarter. On the other hand, their house, their rules, and I have a sneaking suspicion that cross-continental, international flights might be against those rules. Moreover, I'm not counting on either Blondie or Freckles being able to make it, and I'm not even going to ask the fluffbrain, seeing how well my attempt at taking her to a concert with my own money went.

So, f-listers. Suggestions? Advince? Anecdata?

(I could, of course, just ask them, but I'm not expecting much success with that method.)

Sun, 27 Jul 2008 02:23:14 GMT

I saw the musical We Will Rock You today. Looking it up on Wikipedia shows that some of the names of the Bohemians were changed--the two who discover Galileo and Scaramouche were apparently previously called Brit and Meat, but were called Duff and Oz in this performance. They named themselves after great rock heroes (mind, the play took place 300+ years in the future, after all non-computer generated music has been banned). There was Ozzy Osbourne, Madonnna, The Boss, Prince, Avril Lavigne, Clay Aiken and Duff, named after the "biggest, baddest, most hard-core, rock-and-roll of them all--Hillary Duff."

Particularly amusing was the part at the beginning, in which Galileo insists he wants a name, not a user ID. "But without a user ID, how can anyone poke you?" asks Khashoggi, who works for the corporation that dominates the world.

"I don't want to be poked!"

"Oh, everybody wants to be poked, Mr. Galileo."

It was rather cracky, but the songs were well-done. The character playing Galileo didn't sound much like Freddie Mercury, but I suppose it's best that he didn't. Very nice playing from the band, too. I'd definitely see it again.

Also found the comic book store again. It has Girl Genius volume seven in stock, and everything is on sale for US price or less. Woo!

Wed, 23 Jul 2008 20:47:56 GMT

I was going to do something about Faye from Questionable Content, but then I got distracted by the sequel to Inda and The Sims, so now I'm all mellowed from my annoyance. So, short version:

Dear fans of QC,

I know some of you were really hoping for Martin and Faye to end up together (and that some of you are sstill hoping for it). I was relieved when they didn't, since I couldn't see anything but grief coming from it, but that's neither here nor there; you're just as entitled to your opinions as I am.

However.

All the people who insist that Dora is a horrid bitch and that Martin would have been better off with Faye? Have you been reading the same comic as I have? I won't say that Dora is never irrational, or that she's all sweetness and fluff. It's just that, to be blunt, Faye's far worse. Take last week's comic with her and Wil and what she did "for the lulz", as the internet would say. Or her reaction to Sven being at home with another woman. Or her constant aggression, especially in earlier comics. Or what she did when she saw Martin's ex. (Although that comic left a bad taste in my mouth all around. "You came across the country to be with her despite her asking no such thing and actually being uncomfortable with it, called her constantly despite her attempts to make some space between you, and she dumped you? What a terrible person!") And that's just off the top of my head.

Is it in character? Yep. Does it make sense, given her past? Yep. Doesn't even bring her up to Dora's level, sorry to say. Not saying you can't like her; I still do, and in any case have no right to tell you who you can and can't like. But if you're going to go on about how irrational and bitchy Dora is for thinking that Faye hooked up with Sven for revenge, for example, and how this proves Dora is unsuitable for Martin, you might want to take another look at how rational and reasonable (or not) Faye is.

That was therapeutic.

Tue, 22 Jul 2008 13:58:51 GMT

To those time-travelling Girl Genius fans on my F-list: There are currently a weeks' worth of updates up. I haven't read them, since it'll be a dull week elsewise, but I figured I might as well let you all know. (I'll probably give in to temptation on Thursday, anyway.)

To those Girl Genius fans who do not know how to time-travel:

To see briefly into the future of Girl Genius, go to a comic page. Firefox users should right-click and select "View Image"; Internet Explorer users should right-click and view properties, then C&P the image address. Change the date at the end of the address to the date of the next update (YYY/MM/DD format). Hit enter, and if you're lucky, enjoy an early update.

Warning: Peering into the future may have one or more of the following side-effects: Dizziness, nausea, a longer wait until the next update (especially common the further into the future one looks), being mistaken for a minion of the Other by those who have not yet seen the update, and mimmoths. All time-travelling is done at your own risk. I humbly suggest not looking more than a day ahead, which is, admittedly, all that is usually available, if that.

To those on my F-list who do not read Girl Genius: What are you waiting for? Go read some.

I was going to write something about the webcomic Questionable Content, but I wanted to use links, and that probably wouldn't go over too well at work. Tonight, then.

Huh

Mon, 21 Jul 2008 18:34:06 GMT

I just typed up a form including the name Ned Coates. Sadly, he does not appear to be either a member of the Watch or a rebel against Lord Winder.