Laura blog

Random Encounters

2009-05-12T19:30:00.004-06:00

#5 Bus, headed east on Jasper Avenue, 5:00 pm, Tuesday.

I'm seated at a window seat on the driver's side of the bus, about three rows back. The bus stops at the Edmonton General to pick up some passengers and a guy gets on, maybe 18 or so. Dressed in black pants and a white track jacket, the guy and his j-roc inspired apparel (he must have lost his visor, it was a windy day) walks over and sits down on the seat next to me.

Guy: "Hey, how are you doing?"

I don't even notice he's talking to me because I'm listening to my mp3 player. I realize he's talking to me so I look at him and realize that I don't recognize him at all.

"uh?"

"So you're shy, I see that. So how's your day going?"

"Oh, fine thanks. How is your day going?"

"Yeah I like to talk to people. It's hard to meet people, so I like to talk to people on the bus. But only ladies"

"Ohhh okay i see" - trying to humour him

"So are you coming home from school? Work? Or what?"

"Just going home after work. You?"

"Do you have an ipod?"

Yeah buddy why should I tell you..."yeah"

He pulls out an old cassette walkman "this is old school and I think it's better than an ipod. It has radio and that's all you need"

"I used to have one of those"

I stare out the window for a minute while he adjusts his radio.

"My brother punched me in the mouth yesterday. It's still hurting".

...

Silence for a few minutes. I'm not even going to bother responding to that. Many years of taking the bus has taught me to never give anyone an invitation. Give them an invite to blabber endlessly to you and they will almost always take advantage of it.

I fold my hands on my lap and go back to listening to my music and staring out the window and concentrating really hard on the buildings we pass. I stare at the CKUA building as the bus goes by and realize for the first time that there's more building behind than you can see at the street level. The lady across the aisle gets off the bus so the boy swiftly gets up and takes her seat. Eventually he gets bored of that and goes and talks to the bus driver. I can hear him saying something to the bus driver about traffic. I take a better look at his face. Doesn't look like he was punched, but maybe it's hard to tell.

We both get off the bus near the Union Bank Inn. He stands outside the front door of the bus, looking down the street with no obvious desire to go in any particular direction. I pass him on my way to 100 Street to catch the #8. I look back before I turn the corner and he's gone in the other direction. The 8 arrives and I get on and go home.

Things to do in the evening.

2009-03-17T20:36:00.003-06:00

I'm a nerd. Being a nerd, like to go for walks in the evenings. Some days I go for walks for the fresh air, other days for the exercise (winter has not been nice to me and my clothes don't seem to be fitting well) and sometimes I go for a walk to be a nerd. My favourite neighbourhood to walk through is King Edward Park (KEP), directly north of where I live. It has fantastic grid streets, boulevards with huge trees, next to no traffic and every house, church and shop is unique. It's an interesting place to walk through and I have to admit that I find myself walking through it quite often, whether on my way to Bonnie Doon, Value Village, Mill Creek or just while going for a walk.

I didn't have my camera with me tonight - I thought it would get darker sooner but it turns out that I had more than enough light for what I needed. I'll post some photos in the spring once I get out and take some!

Holidays

2008-12-27T10:25:00.009-07:00

I'd like to share some photos from my new camera

Some photos of the U of A campus, pre-snow:

I have until January 5 off from work and I hope to make the best of it. I am going to Canadian Tire today to get crazy carpets/toboggans so that I can go to the ravine and pretend that I'm 10 years old again.

Also, I think the skating rink by my house is open now so I hope to do some skating.

I have lots to do so hopefully I can forget about work for a while. Yesssssss!

Deadmonton

2008-10-03T21:53:00.003-06:00

So this is just a post where I'd like to vent a little bit. No, more like share my opinion on some stuff.

Topic 1: Leaving Edmonton. There is a huge rush to leave Edmonton and I'm feeling left behind. So I'm pretty much stuck here for a while housing arrangement wise and I'm just thinking what is so bad about this place. Moving to another city will not make you a more interesting person, nor will it guarantee that you will meet some mind-blowingly amazing people. Yes Edmonton at times is the redneck capital of the wild west and we're all lost in a mess of big-box stores, shitty live music venues, Ed Stelmach, long depressing winters and an economy very much dependent on the dirty oil sands. There is some good stuff though, like the university campus, 124 Street, warm summers with lots of sun, downtown (sometimes), whyte ave area (believe it or not) etc. When you find something good to do it's that much more exciting. Haaaaa I'm not even convincing myself here. Next!

Topic 2: The Arlington is going to be officially torn down now that it's no longer reasonably salvageable. Shame on that slumlord bastard I forget his name.

Topic 3: HMV doesn't have the latest LCD soundsystem CD, released last year. Let's hope they go the way of shitty Music World and go out of business.

Topic 4: Alarm clocks. I was 2 hours late for work on Wednesday. NOT COOL. I have officially proved my incompetence to my co-workers and supervisor. But I guess that's my fault more than the alarm clock. I think I'll change the topic to CAN'T SLEEP, NOT TIRED. That's a better thing to complain about.

Topic 5: Loud headphones on the bus. Need I say more?

Topic 6: People that don't recognize/acknowledge you when you say hi and YOU definitely know them and their name and whats going on in their life. WANKERS!

That's all for now. I'm not really in a bad mood!! It's okay! Just wondering if anyone agrees with me any one of these items. Please assure me I'm not crazy! Just gotta get it out of my head once in a while.

Other than that things are fine, I am LOVING the fall colours and I've taken a gazillion whimsical photos over the last few weeks. If only we could freeze everything and it would look like this and stay this temperature all winter!!

Fail blog

2008-09-09T17:36:00.002-06:00

I know I'm probably the last person on earth to discover the wonders of the Fail Blog but here is a personal favourite video:

http://failblog.org/2008/09/08/conspiracy-fail/

You're welcome.

Yack Yohnson

2008-08-12T19:23:00.001-06:00

Drunk post!

I'm going for a walk now!

July update

2008-07-07T22:55:00.004-06:00

For the record, I do not attack alpacas with toothpicks. However, I do attack people that look like John Travolta from the movie Grease with chairs in the Edmonton City Centre Mall Food Court. Exactly one person will get that joke oh I'm so funny.

So how has everyone been? I somehow feel guilted into giving a blog update. Here goes:

Well I was in Scotland from the end of April to the end of May, I had a great time, drank some beer, met an awful lot of Auzzies, enjoyed haggis neeps and tatties, listened to people play bagpipes for change, ignored pickup lines from englishmen with bad teeth in bars, visited fairy glen, stumbled home drunk and picked up curry chips to eat on the way, sailed the Loch Ness, went on a Dolphin cruise and saw no dolphins, toured a scotch whisky distillery, experienced the crazy bus drivers who hate their jobs and lots lots more that I have likely forgotten about. I have about 60 photos uploaded to Flickr...but there are 500 in total. I'm working on it.

I could see being there for more than a few months, maybe a year, and picking up a scottish accent. I think it's totally a cool accent. The people there were really friendly. SIGH real world awaits tomorrow morning and every morning hooray....

Now because it is late, here is a picture of fairy glen in all its glory.

Goodnight

catsup

2008-04-08T20:16:00.002-06:00

I just realized that I have only updated this blog once a month so far this year: that's about 4 posts? Pretty pathetic, why bother?

So obviously I'm procrastinating again. Today at school we had to present our water resources posters while classmates walked by and asked us questions. Josh and I had a poster outlining our design of gabion baskets and rip rap revetments for a riverbank that was subject to erosion yes our next project will be the documentation of paint drying on a wall.

Right now I'm having a good time watching 10 people standing in a field across from my building playing with two dogs and just watching them run around.

Dinner. I think I'll make pancakes!

Bored while doing school work

2008-04-07T20:53:00.004-06:00

Hi There

As I try to take a break from finishing a project I have decided to write a long overdue blog post. I'm trying to do my design notes for a spillway for a dam so that people downstream won't get washed away when the dam gets too full. My water resources prof decided to show us a bunch of videos on what happens when dams break just to show us how bad it is to make a mistake here. It made me glad that I won't be doing this for a living (well, hopefully).

Not sure where I left off on my last post. Have I mentioned that I am going to Scotland for the first three weeks in May? A friend from school and I have booked our plane tickets and hostel dorms already. I just need to go get some cash to take with me and then it's all good and also book some bus/train tickets hopefully if I can remember. We're going to Edinburgh, Uig (Isle of Skye) and Aberdeen and hopefully stopping a whole bunch of places in between and seeing some sweet castles. Or remnants of castles. Things feel kind of rushed right now because finals are next week then promptly after finals I have six days to move out of the apartment and pack and leave for three weeks. However will definitely be good to get out of town for a while and forget about stuff here and just have fun and relax.

Not sure what else is news-worthy. Charlton Heston died this weekend? Baby was born with two faces/heads in India. Protesters ruining the carrying of the olympic torch (haha my favourite news item).

So I've been thinking about work. Once I go back, that is it. No school in September and no temporary job - I will be a lifer. I'm not complaining about having to work - duh everyone needs to pay bills and stuff but it will probably feel weird to know that I am there on a more or less permanent basis (permanent as in longer than 8 months, certainly not forever). No more school means no more ridiculously long vacations at Christmas time and no more days of sleeping in because I feel like it (although I very rarely miss class this way). They're going to hold me accountable for my work and I will have a lot of responsibilities. I sound so adult now haha ohhhh if only they knew I'm not really that mature.

Janet has gone back to Germany after coming home for a month and a half so I will see her in August. Quite a few people I know from school are graduating and moving away, mostly to BC and elsewhere in Alberta and even some out east. As much as I hate school and have talked about my general hate for it on this blog and all past blogs, I am feeling a little...well...sentimental right now (not that I would cry or anything just disappointed-ish). I'm not sure, maybe I have some kind of mental disorder that is making me just a little bit sad right now. Surely I won't miss Engineering.

...

2008-03-04T21:48:00.001-07:00

what should i do for may/june? suggestions?

people just say they like it so it sounds like their taste in music is soooo obscure and mysterious

2008-02-25T21:28:00.007-07:00

Reading week was pretty much the best one ever. I had to spend two half-days at school and the rest of the time was devoted to getting some sleep and having a good time. Kyle was in town and we partied it up on Friday then drove between my place and downtown about 4 times on Saturday. It finally feels like spring outside and that is soooo good because I was starting to get really depressed. Not like serious depression but just blahhh because there seems like there is nothing to look forward to when the weather sucks and it is snowing and minus 40.

Well let's update some more. Civil grad banquet will be at the prestigious River Cree Casino in just under three weeks. Last week I went to H&M and bought, among other things, a sweet dress to wear. It is all black, has 3/4 sleeves and goes down to my knees. It is sort of baggy in the middle but it has a belt with belt loops. But the best part by far: shoulder pads. That, ladies and gentleman is something I thought that I would never purchase or wear. I think I made a pact with myself at the age of 10 that I would never ever wear shoulder pads. I probably made a similar pact with polka dots and spandex pants. For some reason I find it appealing now.

I also bought a fake blackberry from the dollar store last week and pretended to be a high-power professional for a day. But I lost it on the same day :( I sad now

17

alley

2008-01-24T14:37:00.000-07:00

********

Blast From The Past

2007-11-28T23:25:00.000-07:00

Because I'm too lazy to come up with real content for my blog...

Here is the link to my old website CLICK HERE(complete with blog) for your reading pleasure.

This December is the 4th birthday of me having a hobby...aka internet blog/webpage. It's kind of embarrassing for me to read through it...but if you've got nothing better to do go take a look.

Edit:
I also had another website....but I shan't link to it here. Some internet stranger hacked into it and put some propaganda on it. They also left me a nice note that they did not delete any of my files, they just messed around with my index. And they said I should update my security settings. Gee, thanks for the advice. NOW WTF ARE YOU DOING HACKING PEOPLE'S STUFF?

Permabanned

2007-11-19T22:17:00.000-07:00

Friday night Jason and I decided to go out for dinner to Garage Burger. It's my favourite place to eat downtown, hands down. When we get there, there are two tables of people, mostly middle-aged like parents age. Sort of unusual but whatever no big deal. One of the tables leaves shortly after we sit down. Then a group of three comes in and finds a table. So at this point, there are nine customers in the restaurant including us. Should be good service, right? When the waitress eventually comes to take our order, I order a burger and onion rings and Jason got a sandwich and soup.

We picked up some See/Vue Magazines and read for a while and waited. After about 15 minutes, I heard the waitress say to someone in the kitchen (but not us) "well looks like we are out of soup". So more time goes by. Apparently they also serve some food to the club next door, but still, the kitchen does not sound busy at all, it's really quiet.

After an hour rolls around, we get out food. At that point, the waitress says "oh we're out of soup what else would you like?". We decide we'll get fries then so she goes back to the kitchen and eventually we get fries.

So at this point I'm ravenous and eat the entire thing in about three seconds. Now, it's been more than an hour and a half since we got to the restaurant. All the movies we planned on seeing started a long time ago. We're pretty mad. I'm just disappointed because service is always good there. The food was really good but I'm not too happy about it.

We ask the waitress for our bill and she brings it. The total: $25. We leave her $15 and a handful of nickels and boot it out of there when she's in the kitchen.

I'm not sorry about it. There was no way it should have taken that long. We had no explanation or anything as to what was going on. The food was really good, otherwise I probably would not have paid at all.

So in conclusion I am afraid to go back there for the next little while until they get a new rotation of waiters. Which should happen soon enough.

Camera

2007-11-11T14:45:00.000-07:00

I get my camera back tomorrow for realz.

"If someone gives you wrong advice, you could grow up to be frankenstein, isn't it"

2007-11-05T20:28:00.000-07:00

Thanks Dr. Raj for the awesome quote. Stay tuned as I find more "quote of the day" quotes scribbled in old school handbooks.

Unlike these pictures which were taken about a month ago, it is now wintertime officially as we got the first snowfall on Sunday. I know this is lame that I am talking about the weather on my blog. Next I will be talking about crocheting and knitting and scrapbooking. But seriously, the next 5 months are going to be horribly depressing and soul-crushing. Think about it. It's dark at 5 o'clock now.

Anyways if you are still reading this crappy post then thank you. So exciting news today I bought some eggnog from Safeway. Now all I need is some rum and I have a party. That's one thing I miss from home: ample liquor cabinet, regularly stocked by Dad. He would get good deals buying liquor (the good kind) from Duty-Free. I know Doug likes the eggnog with rum and I like the rum with eggnog. Now when I go to the mall they have Christmas decorations and everything. I went to Kingsway on Halloween and they already had the decorations all set up at the Bay.

Right now I am trying to decide on a topic for my municipal systems paper that is due in about three weeks. Municipal systems as in water and wastewater treatment and distribution/collection systems. I was thinking about writing about some case studies of contaminated water like Walkerton or other situations on reserves. I need to pick a topic soon. Hmm.

Let's get some shoes...Lethhs pahhhrty

2007-11-04T22:53:00.000-07:00

This probably happens to everyone, but when I try and force myself to be creative and whatever, my blog posts just end up being really hardcore stupid. And lame. I really like having a blog, I just wish I had more material for it. Well here goes.

Today I went to Ikea and got a table for my microwave so it can stop hogging all my counter space. And a shoe rack that smells like cedar or chinese factory hopefully cedar and not cancer or something. Either way I get totally ADHD when I got into those stores and my eyes glaze over and I get all disorented and just walk around (probably drooling too) but nobody ever stops me to ask me if I'm ok so maybe I just imagine the drooling part.

I got this table:
I sort of wanted this one, but it looked too "industrial" and would totally not fit in with my sweet decor (second hand everything). Too bad maybe next time.

My dad is going to Chicago tomorrow to look at a car so he has my camera for now.

Actually every time I go to a store I get the same glazed-over look on my face and my brain stops functioning properly. Especially grocery stores. Every package has a clusterfuck of colours and images so that when I look at all the shelves I nearly have a seizure. So then I forget what I mean to buy and buy other stuff instead and come home disappointed. Does this happen to anyone else? I think I will start a conspiracy theory about stores. They totally do this on purpose, it can't just be me. Right?

SO changing gears here sleep deprivation is the new sleep. I have a can of hyper-caffeinated chocolate from Germany.

Um so like laters gaters.

Rainfall Hyetograph

2007-10-08T16:28:00.001-06:00

It looks like blogger deleted my draft so I will have to start again. Oh yeah, I'm procrastinating right now. Schoolwork is boring and too difficult for a nice sunny day like today. I went for a walk down 104 Street this afternoon. For a while I followed this guy dressed up as a cowbow with a cowboy hat and boots and jacket. He was walking kind of funny and I am pretty sure he was drunk. He looked like he was about to trip over his own legs no seriously. He turned the corner just before I passed the high school so I stopped following him.

But anyways can you tell that I left my camera at home?

Did you know that Safeway is selling eggnogg already?

2007-10-07T23:24:00.000-06:00

Here is my triumphant return to blogging. I was going to write some kind of Garner Andrews-style dream with slow clap and everything but it was a trainwreck so I will get back to writing a new post whatever.

So anyways school has been going on for a month already (yikes). My work load was pretty easy for the first while, and now it is getting back to a normal engineering workload. But I still feel that I have some time to relax and whatever so if this keeps up I will be happy.

So what is on my mind then. School's actually not a big deal. I joined the Gateway (photo section, my writing sucks) and I guess it's ok so far. I took pictures at the Heather Mallick lecture last week and they sucked (but Heather Mallick was fantastic, she is my hero now) so I'm avoiding the photo editor for a while. It is nice to have stuff to do that is non-calculator related. Plus I get to borrow some sweet equipment that I normally would have to pay a lot of money for.

I just need to get over my shyness (I've gotten about a million times better around people over the years but still not great). That is pretty much the only thing stopping me from doing anything. I used to be so quiet that I hardly said anything to anyone, let alone people that know. And I still feel that I purposely avoid talking to people because I always feel like everyone secretly hates me and will just think that I'm an idiot anyways. It seems like they just act nice to my face to be polite. It is hard to describe. Regardless it's not a good feeling but I don't know why I think like that.

On a more happy note I now have a microwave and a bunch of other awesome housewares-related stuff for my new place. :)

Dear Internet

2007-08-20T18:31:00.000-06:00

I have found out who my favourite downtown busker really is! Glen Eigers aka Willie Nelson who plays in the LRT tunnels downtown.

He is on Morango's tek-cafe's website and it looks like he has performed there before.

Oh God bless you internet. In a world with internet I don't actually have to interact with people in 'real life' or 'talk' to them or ask what their name is. All I need to do it creative research (stalking) online and I can find out just about anything! So much for social skills!

Lunch hour isn't just one hour, it's a state of mind

2007-08-18T21:17:00.000-06:00

Since I am stuck in hangover land I thought I would keep myself occupied and write a blog post. Now I realize that I haven't updated in a month bla bla bla.

So yesterday was the last day of work. I handed in my 5000 word report (sooo glad that is done). Now I have two weeks off before school and it should be so awesome. I found an apartment just off Whyte so I can walk to school so goodbye Millwoods I won't miss you. Especially not the commute and the excellent but service (NOT!).

But this post is sooooo boring. Well house-sitting is almost over. I've been here for six weeks already and have pretty much moved into the place but with four days to go I better clean up or something. Capilano is a nice area for the most part.

So lets get on the subject of summer. I have forgone my plans to go to Vancouver by myself because I have a lot of stuff to do before school starts. But now I am regretting doing nothing majorly fun or travelling this summer. Le sigh.

2007-07-09T23:27:00.000-06:00

caffeine caffeine caffeine caffeine caffeine caffeine caffeine caffeine caffeine caffeine caffeine caffeine caffeine caffeine caffeine caffeine caffeine caffeine caffeine caffeine caffeine caffeine caffeine caffeine caffeine caffeine caffeine caffeine caffeine caffeine caffeine caffeine caffeine caffeine caffeine caffeine caffeine caffeine caffeine caffeine caffeine caffeine caffeine caffeine caffeine caffeine caffeine caffeine caffeine caffeine caffeine caffeine caffeine caffeine

why can't I sleep!!!!!!!!

Dear ETS:

You take me to work, you take me home from work. Your plush seats help me to relax after a long day of sitting in an ergonomic desk chair. The purr of your diesel engine sings me to sleep. I can see you on weekends or anytime I like.

But why ETS has our relationship fallen apart lately? Why am I always running towards you and why do you always drive away? Do you hate me? Is there something you're not telling me?

I'll let you in on a secret: I'm starting to think that I don't need you. My bicycle takes me to the grocery store whereas you do not. My bicycle is available during non-peak hours as well as late nights. No hobos ride my bicycle nor baby strollers either. I'm starting to think that you are replaceable, ETS. REPLACEABLE.

Goodnight

so what then

2007-07-07T21:24:00.001-06:00

Looks like this blog needs updating. I really don't know what I've been up to for the past month but whatever. I'm house-sitting in Capilano until the third week in August and there is not much to do here but it is nice to be a 15-minute bus ride away from downtown and close to the river valley even if the wastewater treatment plant makes the air smell like ass. AMAZING.

Anyways I have once again decided to move out of the house (for the 10th time, its okay if you don't believe me).
On another note I need to know where I can rip off one of those dairyland or beatrice plastic milk cartons/boxes. I want to rig up a ghetto system for carrying groceries home on my bicycle because its easier than walking home from the groery store. MEC has some nice cheap racks for bicycles so that is awesome.

Also the bikeology festival was on two weeks ago. It was all I expected and then some. The anarchists were there selling buttons, earth's general store was there selling cereal and there were was lots of bicycle related propaganda to go around. As a person that likes to ride my bicycle places but also relies a lot on cars and buses to get around, I felt pretty uncomfortable there. I guess I was not hardcore enough? Do you have to be hardcore to have an interest in something? This is what I really hate about people. It seems like everyone is in their little club and you have to be this hardcore to join.

So today I joined facebook. Not sure if I like it or not. It seems really difficult to find people or to look up anything, really. The point is I don't know what everyone says is so great about it.

Edmonton

2007-06-11T22:45:00.001-06:00

Why do Edmontonians always act so trashy?

Is it wrong to dream of one day having an enjoyable ride on transit? Or must I constantly be plagued by insolent trolls and their misbehaving crotch droppings?

Why??????

:'(

PHELEASE

2007-05-10T20:56:00.000-06:00

Whoa I still have a blog?

Not too much new lately. Today I went for a walk at lunchtime and I saw Willie Nelson (the guy from the LRT tunnels) loading some stuff into his car parked along churchill square. So he's not homeless although he looks like it but he does need crutches to walk (the ones you kinda rest your elbows on and then bend your arms and also hold them with your hands, hard to explain). But still he is totally awesome. He plays the piccolo too. CRAZY! My favourite street performer. Him and the guy that looks/acts/talks exactly like Ozzy Ozbourne (Nick Nicholas?)

So down to the important stuff. Went to West Edmonton Mall on Friday and dropped some money. I bought some stuff from H&M. Oooh I am excited for warm weather so I can wear some new stuff!

Until the next time I have new ideas for blog posts!

who wants this dawwwg

2007-04-23T22:24:00.000-06:00

hey there

Semi-drunk post time.

So what is new?

Yesterday I rode my bicycle to the university and back. That is a long ways, it took an hour each way. When I got home, I was afraid to go down the stairs because I was afraid that my legs would collapse and I would fall down and not be able to get up.On the brighter side I got to do some visiting yesterday which was nice. Some people I know are graduating this year and moving onto bigger and better and less lame things. I am so excited for them!
ok goodnight

safe in monotony

2007-04-21T23:09:00.000-06:00

This week in See Magazine they reviewed All Happy Family Restaurant and it only got 3 stars out of 5. It totally deserves better than that. They didn't get Winnie as their waiter obviously. I really have a craving for some late-night chinese food mmmmm. That place is also open until really late/early in the morning whichever.
It is a bad thing to have too much free time? Since I work only (ONLY!?!?!) 40 hours a week I have loads and loads of free time on my hands lately. I've got into cooking and baking and housewife stuff which please don't think I'm lame, do you hate home-baked food? It is the best food ever when you can eat it straight from the oven.
Doug says I need a feminist intervention. Then I just suggested that I need something more constructive in which to focus my energy.But regardless I'm not really complaining, just saying. This is my blog and I think I should be able to say what I want, do you disagree? Who am I talking to? Today is lamesville, I went to west ed mall and bought a bag from Old Lady and a sweet little umbrella from H&M. the new H&M is actually kinda cool. They're pretty cheap and they have some really cute clothes and I have a feeling that next time I go there I will buy about $300 worth of stuff. Haha. I would take a picture of the stuff but I am too lazy right now.
I keep listening to the Alexisonfire song "Boiled Frogs" and it is pretty sweet. I am not normally a fan of the band but sometimes they come out with some good stuff no really.
Sleep time. Laterzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

what you should do today

2007-04-19T22:02:00.000-06:00

Well I'm not trying to tell you what to do. You do what you like but if you have time, watch Manufactured Landscapes. It is a documentary done last year and quite excellently I might add. It is not your typical documentary, in fact it has little commentary and the pictures speak for themselves.

I definitely think about things differently because of this film. It should be out there to rent, but if you are patient and want to wait about two weeks then the public library has a few copies available and a fairly short waiting list.

Well worth your time. See it.

update

2007-04-15T20:15:00.000-06:00

Kyle see comments from previous post.

best quote ever (this post is about public transportation peeps)

2007-04-14T23:32:00.000-06:00

From connect2edmonton.ca:

"ETS: Wherever Life Takes You, They'll Get You There (as long as you don't mind being horribly late and as long as life doesn't take you anywhere after 1am or before 6am)"

Ha ha so sad but true.

Also:
"First of all Edmonton was never going ahead with a BRT, they were just announcing a study to undertake the beginnings of a consultation to consider the factors that would lead to a sharing of perspectives from concerned stakeholders that would create directions for future initiatives related to potential improvements and establish conditions for the implementation of BRT. Or some such bureaucratic nonsense."

BRT = Bus Rapid Transit.

Am I being too nerdy? I work for the City, on the same floor as the people who plan out roadway alignments for the "proposed" bus rapid transit. Seems like work is going on but I don't know if we actually one day will see better bus service. If we never officially get bus rapid transit I will be sad. I like the bus, just not how long it takes to get somewhere. I think we could have a great system if we tried.

On another note, it is warm outside yay and there is daylight until 9:00 pm most days oh summer is coming I just know it.

Shadow the cat!

We went to the strat last night and it was okay. It has been too long since last time I was there (6 months maybe?) No pants shitting this time though. Midgets, yes. Pretty typical strat night but haha at about 1 o'clock these two girls and a guy walked in. They must have been 16 years old I would say. Wearing nice expensive clothing (guy had his collar popped) and they really stuck out. Haha. Not wearing any black. We left soon after but I wonder if they survived and/or will ever return. They looked like they had stumbled into a snake pit: "whoa what is happening here take me home to riverbend i want my mommy"
But I like the strat. You can sit down and get a pitcher for 8.50 and just drink and not give a shit and you can hear yourself think because there is no obnoxious loud music (there's a stereo and a tv in the back somewhere but not too loud) and just be relaxed. There's the occasional drunken yelling and loud conversation but it is not too bad. The beer is mostly recycled piss water that always makes me puke but I love it. Oh good memories standing in the alley behind the hotel just puking. Ohhhhhh yeah you should be grossed out by now hahahahaha.

On the house buying front we may be totally screwed. I need some legal advice before we can proceed any further. But for now I have been reading too many blogs and news acticles and opinons of people regarding 'booming' housing market. Will it get higher and higher or will it crash soon? Who knows, but it is driving me CRAZY. I want to get a place so bad but I need to be sure that if the economy crashes I can still afford to keep the place. Maybe Im just spoiled because bah $&@*(#$@&$U#I$J

THe END

EXPLANATION

2007-04-04T19:22:00.000-06:00

Title: my digital camera has a dead pixel. when i zoom in on pictures you can see one spot on each one where there is a little blank spot

Picture:
from my trailer park boys 2007 calendar: Lucy

All your burning questions have been answered now. You can rest easy

The ENd

my camera has a dead pixel :(

2007-04-02T20:44:00.000-06:00

Well hello there

Of course since I thought it was finally spring it had to snow again. But it is not so bad because I think that winter really makes me appreciate summer and warm weather and all that good stuff.

2007-03-31T21:13:00.001-06:00

Monday monday monday

2007-03-31T20:19:00.000-06:00

Back! Really I should be updating this more often. This is exactly what happened to my last blog: I started out by posting a lot, then the novelty wore off then I forgot about the blog and only updated it about every 6 months. But now I am on a work term and there's no excuse! No assignments!

Really not much exciting has happened lately. I've been sick off and on for the last two weeks. I had strep throat and the flu but I didn't go to the doctor because I am obviously an idiot so then hey the strep throat went away but then hey look ear infection. It was so bad that my eardrum ruptured and I've temporarily lost much of my hearing in my right ear and get to take some nice powerful antibiotics so I'm always really tired and now my dad convinced me that I possibly have mono. There really is nothing that wakes you up more than waking up to the fact that there's blood coming out of your ear. I'm getting tired of always asking people to repeat what they say because I am FUCKING DEAF. No I don't have mono he is good at making me really paranoid about everything. Haha let me add another random complaint to this post!

Probably the worst invention/idea ever is the distribution of "medical" advice via the internet. It turns everyone into a doctor and makes people horribly paranoid.

So lately I've been thinking about what life will be like when my parents and grandparents move back. My parents sold their house and bought a condo in Richmond for my dad to live in when he's based out of Vancouver. I went to see my grandparent's new condo last week and it is nicer than I thought it would be. I miss my grandparents and I'm glad they are coming back.

this post is sans pictures

2007-03-14T20:45:00.000-06:00

hello! Goodbye!

We don't care about the young folks

2007-03-03T20:14:00.000-07:00

Today was warm and it feels like spring or summer may actually be coming soon.

I went down to Whyte Ave today and bought a sweet pair of leather shoes that are brown, pink and white. They were the last pair and a size 8! It doesn't get any better than that.

I read that in a magazine Whyte ave/old strathcona was once the worst neighbourhood when Alberta Avenue/118 Ave was the most desirable place to live. When my dad was going to university, he lived by Bonnie Doon. He took the bus down Whyte and he said that you DID NOT get off the bus until you got to the university and that the avenue was a nasty place.

But anyways it is an okay place to go if you have nothing better to do. Sometimes I feel like Edmonton is unbearably boring but really it is not. There is always something going on, you just don't hear about it.

Ooh I dyed my hair again, now it is chocolate cherry:

But red dye is ultimately crap that washes out in about 4 days so it's dark brown then!

So what else happened this week? My sister got a scholarship to germany next year! She will off learning about german things and eating schnitzel and most importantly I don't have to listen to her irrational complaints about EVERYTHING anymore!

So in conclusion if you want to hear the best song ever download Peter Bjorn and John: Young Folks. The song will be in your head for DAYS.

That is all, goodbye.

moooo-urns

2007-02-20T19:49:00.000-07:00

What is there to write about anyways if I update this blog.

Oh today my Dad took my sister and I out for dinner to Sherwood Park. Everytime I drive through there I am soooo glad I don't live in the park because getting around without a car would be pretty much impossible in the winter.

So I'm all about being interesting today! I got up at 530, put on my office clothes, took the bus to work and worked until 4.

It's reading week right now so that is cool. Honestly I have no stories today. Lately I've been getting back into doing sewing again. I am making a new bag/purse and possibly a smaller bag from some fabric from the store. I used to make bags out of old jeans and give them to people in my family for presents but I stopped a while ago. It sounds lame but I like it. I suck at drawing and other stuff so this is as creative as I get. I will try to post pictures if what I'm working on looks good and if not I won't. Ha
Here's a picture of futuristic chairs at Kabsa that really were bought at liquidation world yes the whole world is fake like that:

so I totally updated flickr yesterday!!!!!!!! 11!!!one!!!

2007-02-14T21:16:00.000-07:00

Hi there you are about to read a semi-drunk post because it has been faaaaaaaaaaaaaar too long since I've done any serious drinking no that's not true but here's hoping that I do not wake up to a migrane like on new year's day did I mention that I wanted to kill myself it felt so awful? I thought I had hit my head on a fridge the night before but apparently I was so wasted that I told the same story three times to this group of girls at a party that night.

SOOOOOOOOOOO anyways. I hemmed a pair of pants today! I bought them two weeks ago and they have been sitting around but I could not wear them due to vertical challenges. Now I can look super cool while at the office like it matters anyways sometimes I feel like I work in lamesville hey look I'm wearing a sweater and sensible shoes. If nobody mentions it I wear my dirty runners to work because they're a zillion times better. Right now I feel like I could go to sleep right away but lukcy you I decided to POST ON MY SUPERAWESOME BLOG OH YES. Today on the bus I saw someone I worked with last year but holy crap I could nNOT remember their name and I still cann't and I felt really bad cause I wanted to say hi, but what could I say?? "Hey there...YOU...how are you???" Too bad!

I love taking the #8 home from downtown it is so fun and exciting. That bus makes me want to whip out some form of alcohol and go sit in the back and join the socialization.

So in response to what you are surely thinking, here is a picture of a chicken slum on a rural Surrey farm

dreeeeeeeeeeeam weeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaver i believe you can get me through the niiiihiiiight

2007-02-12T21:01:00.000-07:00

Party on Garth!

So anyways look it's Eddie!!!!!! AWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW

Morrison Hotel

2007-02-11T20:38:00.000-07:00

Today I made cheddar cheese soup! Its okay to be jealous of my high-paced life style, I know.

But seriously I've really been trying to cook more lately and I seems to be going well. I used to be paranoid of touching raw meat because of its nastiness but actually it's fine.

That picture is of the university in the summer. That day Doug, Kyle and I went for a drive to Elk Island. I remember hitting a stupid grouse and breaking the grill and headlight on my grandpa's truck. That dumb bird cost me a few hundred dollars! The best part was when the Park Warden drove by as we were looking at the dead bird and I thought he was going to get mad at us for driving too fast but he just said "yeah, they're not too smart". Then he proceeded to clean up the body for us. Success!

I also remember the big hen party/middle aged lesbian party in the campsite next to us. Then the other campsite of old people gave me the death stare because I was parked on the grass in front of them and they told the park warden and he made me move my truck far away. Bah! Oh well it was still fun! The best part was when the three of us combined were trying to figure out how to start a fire and chop wood.

We eventually got it started though. Goooo team!

Flickr

2007-02-10T22:27:00.001-07:00

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

here's some music

2007-02-07T20:58:00.000-07:00

Due to popular demand, I do have a recording of track pants lady. I recorded it with my MP3 player a couple of weeks ago.

go to:
http://laura.fuckyouanddie.com/music

And you can download the file. Please excuse the offensive website name, the hosting is free.

Also, about the random pictures that I do not explain: That big hall/red roof is just a picture I found on my hard drive. I didn't take it but I think its from an abandoned building somewhere in the states. Just some people doing some urban exploration. I could post some more later. The rest of the pictures I took but Im too lazy to explain :P

we are not ready for an unforseen event which may or may not occur

2007-02-06T20:16:00.000-07:00

Track pants lady. I named my blog tranckpantslady in her honour. Who is she? She is a busker (spelling??) and she plays her guitar in the tunnels connecting the City Centre Mall East with the Churchill LRT station. On any given weekday lunchtime there are people playing music in the tunnels. Sometimes a guy I like to call Willie Nelson plays. He's old and has a big gray beard and he could possibly be homeless but his voice is amazing. It echoes through the tunnels and it sounds really good. It really cheers me up when I hear him and I always give him a few dollars because I appreciate his music. Sometimes a young native guy belts out rock songs and plays his guitar so loud that I think he is going to break some strings. He makes money too.

Track pants lady however is always in her own world. I cannot make sense of any of her music and there is rarely any money in her guitar case. I admit that I have walked by her many times and smiled at her but have given her no money. She looks middle aged, possibly some gray hair although I think she dyes it black. I have only encountered her once outside of the tunnel: we were on the bus and she was just sitting there quietly. She looked pretty happy. Sometimes she stares at people who walk by and they look creeped out. One day she was wearing a huge pair of sunglasses but acting otherwise normal (as normal as she can be).

So in conclusion I don't know why I named this blog after her.

house-o-rama

2007-02-03T20:00:00.000-07:00

Hey what the heck I have a blog?

Today Jason and I drove around for a few hours and looked at some houses we saw listed on MLS. We're trying to find something in the 200k or less range because we are but students and wow house prices really have gone up. I remember back in grade 4 when my parents were trying to sell our house in Millwoods and they were asking 140,000 for it and NOBODY wanted it because they were asking waaay too much. Now today we looked at a house that was 143,000. So we pull up to the house, seems ok, kinda small but that's ok neither of us are into cleaning a big house so we want something smallish. What's that paper stapled to the front gate??

Capital Health Order: This dwelling has been deemed unfit for human habitation. Do not remove this poster. Originally posted Feb 2006, reposted November 2006.

Fuck yeah. The bad thing is that it looks like someone is actually living there right now.

However it seems that the area south of 118 ave and north of 112 ave, between 97 street and 82 street seems really nice. It's quiet and there are very few, if any, crackhouses which I was not expecting. Pleasantly surprised!

tanning

2007-01-31T22:03:00.000-07:00

Today at the YMCA I overhead an obnoxious conversation between two cougar-like ladies if in fact you can call them ladies. One said that she doesn't need to wear makeup when she goes tanning. Well I almost let her know that no amount of tanning would ever remove her need to wear makeup. And she was a total bitch so I of course wanted to think up something nasty to say to her which of course I didn't.

Ughhh what kind of ogre will I be when I am forty?

cool beans johnny

2007-01-29T22:46:00.000-07:00

This weekend we're going for a drive to look at some neighbourhoods. Somewhere around the area east of 97 St, north of 107A Ave and south of 111 Ave.

Hopefully we can get a better look at what is there. It would be so exciting to live close to downtown and convenient too. Too many years of commuting from Millwoods is starting to wear me down and make me really frustrated and angry.

what I did today

2007-01-28T17:42:00.000-07:00

Did you know that you can buy houses closed down by Capital Health in the downtown area for really cheap?? Like less than $150,000 cheap?

How sad is that no wonder there's so many homeless people here. You can get a great job but good luck affording a place to live.

ho hum

2007-01-27T22:31:00.000-07:00

So I have had a blog for just over three years now and what have I learned? Probably a whole lot of nothing.

Everytime I have a good idea I need to write it down so that I will remember what to write because right now I have no ideas...

The old angelfire blog is still in operation but for whatever reason I have a new one here so I will link to the old site.

Dancers and sluts like a fag cruise

2007-01-26T20:07:00.000-07:00

Last night was the Benny Benassi concert at West Edmonton Mall. It was alright even though Benny didn't get on the stage until three hours after and we left an hour after that.

There was this older couple standing near us ( I think their son was the DJ, thats my theory) but anyways the lady looked super bored and she was texting people. At one point, she sent "Dancers and sluts like a fag cruise" to some random person. That one line pretty much summed up the evening.

hello track pants lady

2007-01-24T20:31:00.000-07:00

This is the inaugural post for my new blog.