First Snowfall!

Doo, doo, doo, looking out my back door...


I know it isn't much snow. But this is the rainy city. And there's more on the way.

H to the O!

Do you remember when we used to be able to drink water from here?


I do but the memories are fading. Those were good times. On the bright side, all of Vancouver has learnt a new word: turbidity. It means crappy brown water that you can't drink.

Soup Is Good Food!

Anyone who has seen enough of my photographs knows that I have a thing for taking pictures of place settings with food or drinks. Anyhow, to counter this crappy, cold, drizzly weather, here is a yummy bowl of garlic soup served in a loaf of bread that I had in Český Krumlov last January.

Insomnia!

I'm not a good sleeper. I've written about that before. I'm not sure if I have ever been a good sleeper. I know that for a long time I thought sleep was a big waste of time and tried to do as little as possible of it, and that as a teenager and into my twenties I wished that I didn't need to sleep. As I've aged I've come to appreciate sleep more; thus I'm more aware of it just not happening for me. My entirely non-medical and non-professional diagnosis, based on reading various websites about insomnia, is that I suffer from intermittent insomnia, which falls somewhere between transient insomnia and chronic insomnia. I've also written about how I'm making at least some effort to work on that by laying off the caffeine in the afternoons/evenings, though I've not been entirely successful with that (Hello, lifestyle change takes time!). There are other things that I do, like not exercising too late in the day, not eating too late etc. But there are things I don't do. Supposedly you shouldn't read things that are too mentally challenging at night as it gets your mind working. That just is not going to work out for me, as I like to read a lot, and being a literary snob, I don't like reading mindless books. There are other things I don't do. The one that is in my mind most lately, and it has been a lot lately, as I've been up late a lot lately, is that if after 15 or so minutes you don't feel like you will fall asleep, you should get up. You need to train yourself to associate your bed with sleep. If you spend most of your time in bed not sleeping, that won't work. So up you should get. Or up I should get. But I don't. I know full well that it is good advice and I should follow it, but I'm too attached to the idea of sleep. I feel that somehow, despite years and years of evidence to the contrary, if I lie there for just a few more minutes, I'll fall asleep. I don't know what changed tonight, but I finally got up. So here it is, 2h45, and I'm up writing this. Isn't there some saying about being careful what you wish for?

Water Advisory? Whatever.

Because of the heavy rains and winds of the past few days Vancouver is currently under a boil water advisory. Basically the weather has stirred up the reservoirs, increasing the amount of silt in the water which makes it more difficult to filter. So Vancouverites are either buying bottled water or boiling their water beforehand. I fall into the latter category. However the big issue here is not the drinking water but rather an unforeseen victim of the advisory. Namely, coffee. In spite of some popular misconceptions about what the drug of choice is here in our fair city, the fact of the matter is that Vancouver is a city fuelled by caffeine, powered by the bean if you will. As someone said to me on the phone this morning, "All of the newspaper headlines should be,'Vancouver grinds to a halt.'" Here's something you may not know: coffee should ideally be made using water just under boiling temperature. So how does one make good coffee and still serve safe water? Well, apparently one doesn't. Unable to get enough safe drinking water, many of the city's coffee shops have closed down. Lots of people make their morning brew at home, but a large percentage of Vancouverites like to leave their morning cuppa to the pros. And the pros just aren't providing. Which means a lot of cranky and tired people are running about, not quite able to function at their full capacity. It should all be back to normal in a few days, but until then, please spare a thought for the poor, caffeine deprived, headache addled Vancouverites. Be patient with them.

Red Green In The House!

Wow, you really can make a wallet out of duct tape.

Dub Selector

While we're on the dub trip (see below) here is my new favourite website. It's the Dub Selector. You can choose your own rhythm tracks, add your own effects, and watch hours slip away as you find your inner King Tubby, Lee Perry or Mad Professor. Now if only there were a way to record it.

Scratch

I went to see Lee "Scratch" Perry on Sunday night at Richards on Richards. The opening band, Dub Is A Weapon, who also were the backing band for Scratch, were excellent. I wasn't really sure how dub music, which relies heavily on studio effects would translate to a live show, but it worked well. After the opening set and a short break, the band came out again, started playing and then out came Scratch, wearing a crazy metal plated hat, carrying a sceptre with a plastic skull and tinsel on it, covered in rings and necklaces and bracelets, and with a shoulder bag that looked like a ghetto blaster. Oh yeah, if you don't know already, Lee Perry is bonkers. We're talking about a man who burnt down his own recording studio, the legendary Black Ark, because he thought it was jinxed. For the next hour and half or so, Scratch performed. I'm not certain, but it seems to me that he made up the entire show as he went along, often talking gibberish, other times less so, on subjects such as voodoo, bodily functions, politics etc. I even think he was making up the lyrics as he went along, which somehow makes his shows special as each concert is a one off experience. Scratch is now 70, so obviously not at the top of his game anymore, but seeing him perform live was still a treat. It was a pleasure to just stand and watch a man who has been such an originator and innovator with reggae and dub, music that has been so important to me.

Cowards!

Stephen Colbert calls the 2006 mid-term elections.

Movember 2-Claudio Grows a Moustache

I don't know if it had anything to do with me writing about Movember, but Claudio Lopez, in spite of being follicly challenged in the facial hair department, has taken up the gauntlet and is growing a moustache to raise money for prostate and testicular cancer research at Princess Margaret Hospital throughout November. So if you see him this month with a caterpillar on his upper lip, slip him a twenty. Now, I have no idea what a moustache on Claudio will look like, what type of moustache he intends to grow, nor what type of moustache he is even capable of growing. But I'm hoping it ends up looking a little something like this:


Good work, muchacho!

Rain Rain Go Away 2-The Update

Apparently what is up with this rain is a weather system called the Pineapple Express. And while the name makes me think that I should be enjoying tropical fruity beverages in the sun, what it actually means is torrential downpours and flood warnings in the Lower Mainland. I feel ripped off.

Rain Rain Go Away!

What is up with this rain? This is not Vancouver rain. I suppose technically it is Vancouver rain, as it is in fact raining and this is in fact Vancouver, but to me Vancouver rain is light, misty and drizzly and lasts for days on end. But this? This is hard driving, windshield wipers on high, umbrella wrecking, slanted sideways pouring rain that lasts for days on end. Hmm. Rain often reminds me of one of my favourite Deep Thoughts. It goes something like this: If a child asks you why it's raining, it's fun to say, "Because god is crying." And if the child asks, "Why is god crying?" it's good to answer, "Because of something you did." But anyway, back to this new variant of Vancouver rain...I don't like it. It makes me want to not leave the house. It makes me want to sit on a couch, eat chili, and watch football all day long. Which is pretty much what I did today. When will it end? Paul says May, I say April, Donna says we're being pessimistic. But she's wrong, as it could end in June. Or never.