Live! At the RSO Starlight Theatre

Resi Researcha & Se Vicesi Officech

My favourites from the office pumpkin carving contest. Susan, Vera, Kelly, Gloria ("Three Cougars and a Puma") won second prize. Groovy.

Two extra minutes.

It happened! I tanned, woke up an insanely early hour, put on makeup, did hair, and made it to Capilano School for the shoot. My sister commented on my priorities (i.e. why is it that I have trouble waking up for work?)

Anyway, I got to see Christiana in her latin costume in person. She looked awesome. And she gave me a couple of her jewels to add to my collection. (Left: Christiana helping one of her girls with fake eyelashes)

This was not like the other Breakfast Television shoots. For one, there were so many little kids in their costumes. Many princesses, superheroes, and a couple that looked like Harry Potter dementors. It was all kind of cute... except when it was disturbing, such as the girl (she was one of the tallest, so I'm going to guess 12 years old) dressed as a Playboy Bunny. Yes, we all wondered what was going on. She did however get on television.

So, after much waiting and shivering in the sidelines, it was our chance to dance. Two minutes of cha-cha later, we were done. *sigh* I was hoping for more. I sure missed doing this. Boy was I rusty, but Darren was very good and lead me carefully (no spirals!). Can't wait to see the tape. (Right: Bridget Ryan, Lana, Darren, Christiana, Ryan, Olya, Shay)


Came back to work on time as I regularly would - but so much has happened that I was ready for a nap. I had changed into my costume. Kermit recognition was high, but I figured I looked more like a frog had swallowed a ballroom dancer (Pooh bear style). Lidia rather, asked why I didn't do my makeup like this every day... a scary thought.

Being Green

Lana: The grass here is still very green.
Rem: Yes! And it's on this side of the fence!

Presenting... the MUPPETS!

We did it! The Muppet Show won the group costume contest at the UADC dance. I think it was a pretty close call. The UADC executives had come as a Batman Villians and that was truly brilliant. But in the end Darren's Swedish Chef "Borgy borgy"s and the Muppet Theme song really put us over the top.

(above: Andrew as Fozzie, Darren as Swedish Chef, Kelly as Janice, Maria as Miss Piggy, Lana as Kermit, Clarence as Zoot - missing Sherry as Rowlf)

Didn't realise it would be so hard to dance as Kermit (though I did manage some dances). I shouldn't complain; there was a couple who showed up as jellyfish! Big hula-hoops covered with tranluscent cellophane for the jellyfish body, with plastic pop rings, ribbons, and streamers for tentacles. So very cool! So very undanceable.

And if one complains too much, they may find themselves in a dish for frog legs.

Next day was tea with Valerie! Made it to Steph and Rem's after running some errands with Wendy (preparing for the work pumpkin carving contest). I managed to arrived just in time to catch Anne on the phone. After that, got down to business: quality Val-Rem-Steph-(Keith?)-time over lots and lots of tea. Brain is formulating plan to see Val again when I go to Victoria, but would need to be much more organised.

Capped off the busy day with a the Northern Lights Classic Volunteer meeting. All excited and anxious now. It's probably my body saying I've got too much to do. But I can't help it! I might get to dance on television again! So excited. But don't know if it's happening just yet. Must wait and see.

Tonight: Second date with Jenn.

Dim Sum with a Difference

Arrived at Noodle Noodle feeling a bit nervous. It's been a long time since I've been here for Boyle McCauley Health Centre's Dim Sum with a Difference, but it all went by like a breeze. The Circle K volunteer coordinator was a bright-eyed business student who was extremely perky and articulate (born in 1988). Boy, he made me feel old. But at the same time, he was new; I had experience for the event. Setting up the chopstick draw boxes, was as chaotic as ever (splinters galore). I laughed at how that hasn't change. The menu was almost identical (not really dim sum, but including other good things such as a green onion cakes and Vietnamese chicken salad).

Michael (Batman / hot chem teacher as he likes to be known) showed up later (after curling). I gave him a hard time for missing the busy period, and reminisced over past Dim Sum events. We broke into giggles when the auctioneer did his thing for the live auction. Sure he raised lots of money for the cause... but he also sounded like the Futurama Hypnotoad. We used chopsticks to (gently) hit glasses and plates to give us a beat and, with the auctioneer in the background, made a song. Not exactly good table manners. One of the Circle Kers gave us strange looks. It's a good thing they put the volunteer table tucked away in a back corner.

Angela is a miracle worker. Should have known that someone who couldn't make pants from a pattern (me), was going to have to do something drastic to make a Muppet costume from some assorted pieces of felt. The drastic action was to ask for help from Angela. She was amazing. She turned my scribbles and wild gestures into something that worked. And this was after 2 glasses of wine.


"Yu choi is the most assertive of the chois..." Lidia reads off of the Asia Food site. My lunch has inspired her to do some research. She asks me what "assertive" means. On the other side of the cubicle wall I make a faces... What does it mean to be an assertive vegetable? Later on, "Lana, Why do I have tofu in my freezer?" Yes! The Tofu Fairy has stuck again! Actual response: "Did you put it there to change its texture?"


Morgan has returned, I've returned Professor Fish fully intact. I swear he looked happier when I brought him back to her cubicle. She didn't bring me a rat as promised, but she did let me choose a print. She said she knew I was going to pick the one with the bicycle.

Met up with the TC Girls at Joey's on Jasper Ave on Monday. Much anticipated and true to form: lots of talking, laughing, and updates. Jazzy was near the end of her marathon wedding planning extended weekend (and looked sparkling for her engagement photos). Shauna's house has been under much renovation. Catherine's work place was just nuts. We were all curious about Char's pregnancy, but she hadn't been able to make it to quell our questions. After eating, we wondered if Joey's was going to kick us out, but the staff let us chat well into the night (as late as a work night would allow us). We departed talking about a road trip to visit Jazzy in Canmore. A van filled with us girls... and maybe a new baby...

Can hardly believe it's already been a week since work's OktoberFest. The event went well with me stressing as usual. The Old Arts Building is undergoing some massive renovations to their main entrance (the big acorn thing was dug up), which meant our access was limited to the backdoors (thankfully there was an elevator). Despite the obstacle, there was still a fair crowd from work. Things really started heating up when Michael kicked off karoke with "Tight Fitting Jeans"! "Lady Marmalade" and "Rocket Man" made an appearance. And then, with some jostling of the microphones, Michael and Big Boss Bill ended up in the duet "You light up my life." Ah... fun times. No tips for me though. Maybe I should have stayed away from the microphone.

It's Angela's birthday today. Or at least one of the possible days that her birthday could be (for some reason they only recorded the lunar calendar date). I'm not sure what to get her exactly. Though since she's always talking about how red wine can be healthy... I'll let someone knowledgeable at the liquor store decide.

Days until the UADC Hallowe'en social and my costume is still a bunch of scribbles on scrap paper. Not yet time to panic. But close.

In which Lana finds she may be an adequate date...

"When it comes to cheating, duping, to thievery,
It is always good, upon my word
To have women with you."

~ from Bizet's Carmen, translated by http://www.aria-database.com/translations/carmen.txt

It's Wildrose weekend in Calgary; Darren, Christiana, Ryan, and others are competing. Meanwhile, Lana is headachy, driving in the downtown area with Angela looking for "Open House" and "For Sale" signs. Good news: there were lots. Bad News: I was skeptical and not in a good mood.

Not the best beginning to the highly anticipated evening at the opera with Jenn. But after going home, working on some grooming (3 piece suit!), emerged in a somewhat better mindset for the night. And that's when I got lost. Awfuly lost. Terribly, horribly lost. I only had to ask myself how many times I've been to her house and still not know the way to sink into a stupor. Finally I after circling the area too many times and still not seeing her house, I called. Jenn was good. She said she was going to step outside so I can see her. And that's when I struck out the second time by driving right past her.

I was loosing points fast: Compounding my lateness with complaining about my day (at least I remembered to compliment on how lovely she looked... but forgot to take a picture)

We had decided to try out Fiore's for dinner (I had a coupon!). The bread was nice with lots of grains and such, but they charged me for my hot water with lemon! The outrage! Overall the experience was o.k. but in no way better than Chianti's (which it had been marketed as being so).

We were making good time, and made it to the Jubilee in time with only one minor left-turn related mishap...

Jenn: Look out for the pedestrian!
Lana: Good call.

Once there, things went pretty well. Carmen - which Lidia was shocked to hear that I had not seen - was filled with recognisable songs including the one that I've identified forever with tango. The dialogue was hilarious. Though I'm not sure if it was intentional... or merely a new interpretation. The ending, was satisfactory in Jenn's eyes, was frustrating for me. I could only think that I was very proud of Carmen (she was never untrue to herself even in the face of death), but in the end I couldn't sympathize with her or with Don Jose. Anyway, it was good. There was also some nice intermission time for us to people-watch (guy in top hat!) and for me to stretch and dance in the aisles (you can take the girl out of the ball room...).

The show didn't end until past 11 p.m. so it was too late for dessert. I took Jenn home and joked about improving one's wardrobe with creative driving.

With an ice cream coupon in my wallet I managed to weasel in a second date! I guess the points balanced out. Her laughing at me helped.

?!

"In the family of punctuation, where the full stop is daddy and the comma is mummy, and the semicolon quietly practises the piano with crossed hands, the exclamation mark is the big attention-deficit brother who gets over-excited and breaks things and laughs too loudly."

~ Lynne Truss Eats, Shoots and Leaves

I first encountered the interrobang on CBC's And Sometimes Y months and months ago. I thought this was great: the "?!" terminator was combined into one symbol with a great name (very punchy). It was created by an American in 1962 and hasn't exactly disappeared, but hasn't exactly caught on either. The show said that it was improper because it was an expressive (there was probably more reasons, but I've forgotten). Maybe I have wrongly interpreted the comment, but isn't punctuation meant to be expressive? The little stops and starts that notated a manuscript as it would have been performed or read aloud. And with that interpretation, I thought of punctuation as the markings on musical score. Breath marks that more than just happen to look like commas, accents (> and ^) that may have been a sort of exclaimation. (It also happens that old musical scores lacked these markings just like old manuscripts that had very little punctuation).

Feel somewhat validated now that I've finished reading Lynn Truss's Eats, Shoots and Leaves where she expressed a similar view on the comma (p.70):

More than any other mark, the comma draws our attention to the
mixed origins of mordern punctuation, and its consequent mingling of two quite
distinct functions:

1 To illuminate the grammar of a sentence

2 To point up - rather in the manner of musical notation - such literary qualities as rhythm, direction, pitch, tone and flow.

Not that this is her main point; there were also rules on punctuation, and stories that made me smirk (can one smirk hysterically?) on the bus.

I'm not sure of the entire effect of reading the book. (A small step towards mastering punctuation and help me to express myself more clearly? But that would mean I would need to start having more things to express...) To start with, I am using more colons and semicolons (though probably abusing would be the right word). And where before I was amused, I have been inspired to a little punctuation vigilantism (below: before and after).

I'll never be a Stickler. But maybe I could be just a mild snob... by questioning things such as this advert: On a not completely different note, and quite a bit of fun, some "quotation marks of death" (complete sarcasm and little finger-bends) are documented here:
http://quotation-marks.blogspot.com/

Unhappy now?

So far, living with Angela isn't exactly easy, but it isn't hard either. She's been very good and cooks for me. Very different from Dad's cooking - less salty, more experimental, less consistent. The other day she created a bittermelon omlette. She may have given up on my vegetable /non-vegetable categorisations.

In some ways, compared to Mom and Dad, she demands more social attention (e.g. when I'm at home, wanting to talk or be in the same room with me), but less in others (i.e. she has a social life of her own). She makes regular calls to China to see how Mom and Dad are doing. I'd ask for the phone to tack on a couple of questions. I end up feeling caught inbetween an internal laugh and scream: their first question to me, "Have you been leaving Big Sister home alone?" Oh, if only they knew.

I knew that almost everything I was saying was going to trickle to my parents... but it didn't seem to be that bad to talk to her. She asked me why I seemed unhappy all the time. I told her some of my worries... she told me "let things be" of a Que Sera kind of attitude that I can't quite translate into English. I didn't come from that kind of stock. Look at Mom, and herself 10 years ago - I come from a line of worriers. But at least I'm not getting any direct pressure from her.

Half Baked

"No one likes imaginary cookies." ~ Jaclyn

We celebrated Rem's birthday at Feast with his home-made pies (apple, pumpkin), which put us all in a mellow mood. While chatting, we pondered the question "Where have all the nu-uns gone?" Nuns: the formidable, much sought-after characters who can potentially boost any fundraising / soliciting efforts. Possibly even more persuasive than a priest, and Jazzy has already commented before: How can you refuse a priest?!

In the end, we didn't have any concrete ideas of where they had all gone or where to find one. I was admittedly no help at all, offering only the disjointed black and white images of nuns drinking beer and water skiing (Nuns Having fun: "Habit forming"! *snort*... now this is cool, "Ask Sister Mary Martha") Maybe that's part of it - they're all out having fun... Wait. Don't have I have an ex-nun co-worker? Oh, the fun of Friday's at Feast. At the end of the night we were a room full of monkeys.

Erik's ETA is in 20 hours. I have big ambitions for this time. For tonight: baking without butter or vegetable oil. But since, even with Jaclyn's genius internet savvy on my side, I have not been able to find a functional cookie recipe to accomodate these deficiencies, I will postpone that 'til tomorrow.

Wrote to Erik telling him my weekend plans to finalise cleaning; he asked if it was for crumbs or footprint on the ceiling. I'm not even sure how to get footprints on the ceiling... I am intrigued. Micah suggested that this was a elephant joke; I imagine a long broomstick with a footprint stamp on the end; There must be an easier way.

At some point, I will have to go eat what I've exploded in the microwave.

Early Adventures with Professor Fish

"If he dies, just throw him in the toilet." ~ Morgan

Morgan is in Vietnam. Lana is now responsible for Professor Fish, the blue beta with an attitude.

Day 1: Introductions between Professor Fish and Spoka. Add food pellets to the tank before leaving for weekend - hoping that he will ration intake.

Day 5: Return from long weekend with the awful thought that Professor Fish may not have made it. He's o.k. Relatively speaking. He moves when I tap the tank, but doesn't look happy to see me.

Day 6: Suspect that Prof. Fish has gone on some sort of hunger strike. Uneaten food pellets have become globules on at the bottom of the tank. He just floats there under the plastic arch. Noted little reaction when I feed him or tap on the tank, but I can see flickers of movement when I'm working at my desk.

Day 7: He's dead! Panic! Um... wait... he's mostly "upright", but one eye is sticking out of the water. What does that mean? Lean in close, tap, tap on the tank. ACK! He swam back under the arch like no dead fish should. Hm... was that evil fishy laughter?

Day 8: Check the tank first thing getting into office. Prof. Fish is floating precariously again with one eye above water level. I know the trick, but it's still a bit shocking. I remain calm, drop in the food, and get to work. I glance over once and while, and see he's migrated back to the arch. He's probably sulking.

Christiana has officially adopted the coffee maker. There is a hole in my small appliances graveyard that I'm slightly afraid might affect my Feng Shui. I had removed one of few things that actually work in my office; the balance between useless junk (e.g. the old battery collection to be taken away for proper disposal, the toaster) and potentially useful junk (um...) has shifted. Hm... come to think of it, the fish might be having an Feng Shui effect too...

Family Matters

One good thing about Aunt Linda is that she knew Dad before he was "King" of the household. Another, she remembers. Not necessarily good things all the time, especially if you're on the receiving end of her heckling, but it was pretty funny hear about Dad being a picky eater: He who proudly says he's eaten rats, and snakes, and other things that I don't really want to think of - as child would only eat from a fish the fleshy cheek.

Aside this, other things learned at Dim Sum the morning of Mom and Dad's departure: A divorce is an affair beyond two people (and their children). The way that Aunt Linda acts, divorce is a failing of the entire family (and possibly village). Therefore, brother-in-laws, father-in-laws, uncles, aunts, everyone should be involved and talking about it, and expressing their displeasure to the couple. My first thought was (sarcastically), "Shaming / guilting the couple into staying together is a great idea." But now I wonder about this: Could a village really save a marriage? I've been to a few church weddings now and a couple of non-religious ceremonies, where in each there's been some talk about how difficult married life can be, and that all those present, the family, the friends, the church (where applicable), should offer support. But when the marriage ends in divorce, does it imply that the support wasn't there? That there was a responsibility in each of these people, not just the husband and wife, to keep the marriage lasting? Or atleast a responsibility to attempt to influence the outcome? Or is this another example of the "There is no word for privacy in Chinese" idea? My brain is so unclear.

Mom and Dad are gone. Patrick, Angela and I sent them off last night. I laughed at the candystore with the sign that their merchandise was approved to go on the plane, as I imagined one of their large, ornately decorated caramel apples being wield like a hammer. Maybe you had to be there. We watched from the barrier as their carryon bags were checked. Mom looked back, waved, and smiled. It was such a happy smile.

So far Thanksgiving has meant sharing Erik's cereal with Jenn over Wallace & Gromit. Tonight, will be turkey dinner with Angela, Theresa, Carl, and the kids.

Gold Talks

Saturday morning, the last of what I thought would be my quiet time, I spent with Chris. It was a major catch up session (little happening with me, lots happening with him) at Erik's, punctuated with my attempts to feed him leftovers and vegetables, and in trying to define vegetables in the first place. (Only one week more until Erik's return! Must start cleaning!)

I make it home in time to catch Angela and Patrick's late afternoon arrival. Before Angela has fully unpacked, Theresa, Carl, and the kids make an appearance. It was quickly becoming too loud and too crowded. Extra foils were added to the table. We had dinner. And it was o.k. Nothing bad happened.

And then possibly something good did.

Mom has again been hinting that something bad might happen to them on this trip, with reminders that as sisters we have to stick together. It's probably practical and all that, but I still feel tense thinking about it. A moment of less anxiety for me when we (the women-folk) squished into the bathroom (best lighting) to look at gold jewelry. They were deciding what was to be kept, and what was to go back with Mom to China to be made into something else... Maybe my prejudice against gold has softened over the years... or maybe it was kind of fun to be girlie with my sisters. I was relaxed. The stars don't align like that often.

Automata at Hulbert's

"You made the wrapper too easy to open."

~ Jenn, as we discussed superfluous lawsuits and those evil candymakers

The headache started some time after lunch. I genuinely needed leave work, but there was so much work and other things I had planned for the evening. So, escape to Erik's for a quick remedy: a nap. After curling on the floor for an hour and a half, I came to two conclusions: I wasn't going to fall asleep because the hamster powering Erik's fridge is on some sort of exercise regime, and, I am a total slob (yeesh, Lana, do some vacuuming already).

Eventually, feeling a little better after the lay-down and some food, met up with Catherine to go to Hulbert's. We hardly got lost and only asked for directions once, at a grocer's. The bookstore next to the cafe had a lot of delay potential, but we managed to stay focused - onward!

The cafe was pretty and packed. Local artwork on the walls, tealights on the tables, and some very funky table tops (tile and broken pottery mosaics). Many Math faces, and strangely enough, one from Circle K. Turns out this Darin is a friend of Dave's.

We were here Automata, but the menu had lots to offer too. The authentic London Fog came highly recommended, but I abstained (maybe next time). The band had a lot more material, and sounded great. I have to say I was pretty bad and couldn't sit still in my seat. I don't think I've ever been so close to all the musical gadgets that were being employed - more pictures were taken.

When Tomas introduced Rem, "He does some complicated math that no one understands", you could hear Beth's "Woo!" loud and clear. And with the last introduction, it was over. *sigh*

"one fine day, when i'm strong enough, i'll stand up out of this chair, and walk away. one fine day, if i live long enough, you'll see the back of me, as i'm walking away, one fine day i'll wake up to find, that all my fears and heartaches, have melted away... but maybe i love you all too much."

I had bitten down all my nails. It's a good thing that I found something else to distract myself for a little while. Wendy caught me taking pictures of this shoe and said I was crazy. It's beautiful, and sad, and autumn - worth a couple of attempts. I think in some ways it's made me a little more sane... but I could probably use more sleep.

Andria's surprise birthday party for Matt was last night. Disappointingly, I missed the "Surprise!" moment due to work. But I did get to Dewey's eventually and there was cake. Mmm... very good cake (homemade by Andria and Hannah) where the icing literally made my teeth hurt (time for the dentist?).

Matt was wore a newspaper pirate hat, with a drink in each hand (looking extremely happy). Other guests sported Ninja Turtle-esque eye masks made out of paper rings. Andria got Matt a camera that was many-things-proof (including water, shakey hands, dust...). But of course the next logical question was: Is it beer proof? We didn't stick it in the beer pitcher for the test (imagine trying to explain it to the warranty reviewers), but I still played with it a bit (wondering now if any of the no-flash ones turned out).

The party migrated to Remedy, with a walk too long and too short in between. I wondered what the Cookie Monster had to do with NAFTA... something still to investigate.

For love of W&G

"The bounce has gone from his bungee." ~ Wallace, "Wallace and Gromit in A Close Shave"

Yesterday was the orientation meeting for the Change Team. The faciliatator used the phrases "Thinking outside the box" and "maximizing synergies". I feel as thought I'm being set up for a Dilbert cartoon, which is a bit of a laugh. But overall, I'm kind of worried.

Oh, well. I make it back to my desk. Work on the requests that have come in during the meeting, and leave. My "Cheese Extravaganza" was to begin!

After the Muttart I had hid at Erik's to try and cook up something that would complement our shows for the night, the Wallace & Gromit shorts: "A Grand Day Out with Wallace and Gromit", "Wallace and Gromit in a Close Shave", and "Wallace and Gromit in the Wrong Trousers". What resulted was (of course) cheese and crackers (cheddar and camembert - but no Wensleydale), a veg plate of cucumbers, carrots, celery, homemade pasta and cheese, and chocolate (hot and cold). Hm... I guess I could have made my theme "Foods that start with C"... After thought: moon cake would have also been appropriate (I wonder if they have cheese flavoured?).

The baked pasta involved the most anxiety as it was "experimental" (almagamation again of 3 online receipes). I gave warnings. To me it smelled funny... funny that was above and beyond cheese funny. But it all turned out o.k. People ate! Jenn has suggested I rebrand these culinary experiments as, "Failed Poision Attempt #X". I'm not sure that leads to quite the right idea either, but as I am checking the day after to see if the people I've fed have a new status of "X is sick from Lana's cooking" on facebook... maybe this wouldn't hurt.

After talking a bit about our favorite numbers (mine are prime, and Rem suggests I check out the Mersenne online site), catching up on our days, and eating, we watch the shows. So funny, and quirky, and sweet. Wallace just has to do everything in a complicated way, while Gromit suffers silently (his wonderful eyebrows tell the story). The "Cracking Contraptions" skits were brilliant, and reminded me of the "science equals lazy" thinking from The Dictionary of Maqiao. Only except one has to spend so much energy to be lazy.

Another good night. Most likely the last movie night for me for a while. Erik is back in 12 days. Parents' departure in 5.