Intimeresting...

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/debunking-our-fetish-of-the-fresh/article1375159/

Sort of sad to think about it.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/tiff-names-top-30-films-of-the-decade/article1374746/

Very polar, I know... too tired to comment tonight... perhaps tomorrow? At least in the next week anyway... lotsa stuff going on, went on, whatever.

:p

Taking Chances

Well, raining like a mofo here... obviously, right? It's Vancouver, Linnaea. Hmm... perhaps I need to revisit the whole rain gear situation. Need booties for sure.

Weekend was awesome... Friday night's Prohab Bike Calendar Release Party was awwwesome. Burnside's band, Tight Solid, was awesome, as was Rodrigo's The Good News. Also, sweet DJing of the retro variety by Dustin et al.

Saturday was booooring at work - slow and rainy. I don't think I've worked a full Saturday in awhile. Saturday eve was spent with Josh and Paul and pizza and beer (well, no beer for me... ugh).

Sunday - went to visit the Nana with Jane. Sad to see her as she is now - in a wheelchair and unable to speak with the progression of Alzheimer's. Had a good chat with Jane though, so that was cool.

Then homework homework homework.

Wish my throat wasn't so yuck. Having some problems doing radio interviews with people and also feel like belting out Don't Stop Believin' for some reason. haha.

School's school's school... busy, still a little uncomfortable in places but getting better, boring at times (I know this stuff already/could figure it out on my own in 15 mins, why do I have to sit through a three hour class for it?), fun getting comfy with a good group of friends though.

Training? Nil. Annoying, frustrating. I seem to get the urge to go running at very odd times - this aft as I was walking to the Skytrain to go downtown to pick up my package via Jeff at Phantom from Claude (which was awesome by the way - Cog Magazine, Philly courier manifest, gorgeous earrings), I suddenly wished I were wearing running shoes instead of sandals and wish I had three hours off to go for a jog rather than not. Wish I had those urges when I got home.

But, bonus? Ran into Corporate Geoff outside of Phantom and he's agreed to do a clip for my voicer project for Broadcasting class - awesome.

Biked home in the rain down Broadway. Loved it. Totally thought I was getting the hang of fixed. Thought as I rolled up to the apartment, "Hey, I think I feel confident enough to try some trackstand practice in our underground parking garage." Rolled in, went to turn left to go around a pole and my tires slipped out from under me and I went down hard on my left side, somehow scratching my hip and dinging my elbow, which might turn the colour of blueberries, as per the usual... sigh.

Well, back to homework homework homework...

Photo du Jour:

Attacked by mini-Wolverine... that jerk...

Quote du Jour:

For Becky... erg. Sorry babe...

"There is a certain relief in change, even though it be from bad to worse; as I have found in traveling in a stagecoach, that it is often a comfort to shift one's position and be bruised in a new place."

Music to check out:

Snow Patrol ft. Martha Wainwright - Set Fire to the Third Bar (very chill)

Royksopp - Royksopp Forever (also chill... good song to train to on a z1 workout)

Anya Marina - Whatever You Like (sweet accoustic of the T.I. song - thank you GG for presenting this...)

Music from Glee (good redos of hits... amazing voices...)

O My Heart

Well, I've got another lung infection (which is just awesome... [where's that sarcasm button for the internet?]) so I decided to stay home and catch up on work to get a jumpstart on the week...

So, Sunday day sort of sucked. Becky's dad finally left and after having him here for two weeks and change and dealing with the stress of that on top of school stress, work changes, and life being, well, life... Sunday was a bit of a sit back and regroup kind of day. Take stock, deal with what you can, shuffle what you can't to be dealt with by Future Linnaea (which is probably not a good idea but y'know...)

When the evening rolled around so did the indecision of whether to show up to Bad Party or not. You know when you feel sort of awful and going out to be around people can go either way - be really crap and make your life worse or completely turn your mood around? That's where I was. Feeling sort of like I was coming down with something in addition to being Dopey, Mopey and a couple other melancholy dwarves. I hummed and hawed and finally decided to go. Filled up a thermos with Neocitrine, my bag with several layers of warm clothes/gloves/buffs, my mind with happy thoughts and away I went.

This month's Bad Party went down at Andy Livingston Park with an Alley Cat called the Figure 8 of Death. A quick figure eight loop race with entry to fixed brakeless bikes only. Apparently the guy who won was on a fixed cyclocross which was a smart move on his part as it could get a little dicey and slippery...

After that was a skid contest where people hammer up to a line, lock their back wheel and try to skid as far as they can in a straight line without bailing. Impressive to watch as they all lean forward so far that their thighs are resting on their handlebars. Yeah. Sounds crazy, I know, but they look so intense:

Picture borrowed from Travis Jutson's Flickr stream of Cody from a previous Bad Party... you get the picture...

Two guys from Vancouver - Wayne Morhart and Tom Briggs - made a movie about the bike scene in several cities across North America. Really well done stuff. They had the premiere of it on Sunday night at the Rickshaw over on Hastings.

Moses ran goat sprints before with the really good idea of having grudge matches. People could call people out to race. Or people who'd never raced before could try it out no pressure with their friends.

Mitchell wanted to race someone quick but ended up racing a very courageous frou frou girl. Guess how it ended up? Haha. I challenged my friend, Sean, but he'd decided he was a little tired from some sort of sketchy flesh eating disease he got from Pub 340 at Gastowns (kidding, sorta) so he nominated a friend of his who "spent his day standing up on a BMX so go easy on me." I didn't.

After the film, they had a raffle and my karma must've been good because I won two prizes! A saddle, which I'm trying to decide whether to update the Miele or sell in order to eat for the next couple weeks. Decisions, decisions... Oh, and a stem, which I made Moses go up and get because I was a little embarrassed to go up twice. I let him keep it in exchange for a future favour that I can call in aaaanytime. Bwahaha.

Then Hooper's band, Three Inches of Blood played:

Goatriders Hoard Sneak Peek

Looottta screaming. And that was about the time I went home.

Yesterday was fixie day. Brought the Green Machine in to West Point Cycle and James fix'd it for me. Then we spent twenty nerve-wracking minutes coming home downhill. Nerve wracking for me because I have to deal with feet moving all the time. Nerve wracking for James because he took his brakes off for the Figure 8 of Death race and didn't put them back on then had to go down the hill after me. Eep.

Good thing we made cake to cushion the fall. haha

It's tough to unlearn a life of freewheeling to go fixed. I think I've got the hang of starting and going... it's the stopping that I'm not quite sure about. I learned a bit on how to skid last night but with traffic... well, we'll see...

I still have both brakes attached (I know, I know, a huge faux pas...) but haven't touched the back and am trying to not use the front. I just really like my knees, y'know... :s So, the Miele, which is no longer a Green Machine as it no longer has gears... I'm thinking of renaming Danger Bay. Which makes sense as when I get on, I might die... but props for doing it to save our relationship here by changing himself to become what I want from him and keeping me from running off with the mistress - Soma (she is fast and easy... could you blame me? :p). Then there's ol' reliable Winter Bike that Andrew gave me when he and Kia moved up to the Kootenays. He's old and beasty but oh-so-sturdy, like a parent trying to keep me safe?

Anyway, getting off-track here... I really want to learn to trackstand - I obviously don't trust myself to balance, which is really frustrating. I also want to learn to do some tricks. I mean, all these videos that I keep watching about cycling, the only girl shots I've seen are girls ripping it down the streets... which is cool but what's up with that? I mean, I've seen some girls at Bad Party do some stuff, seen Claude do some stuff... why aren't they filming it and celebrating it?!

Pic du jour:

Quote du Jour:

"Everything has its beauty, but not everyone sees it..."

Karaoke tonight but I don't know if it's a good idea to go out as I should really be sleeping and healing things. Buuuuut, it's Karaoke! Oh, also Nite Rider PK at work. :s Kinda don't want to go but I guess so...

p.s. Addicted to Mother Mother's album "O My Heart" (as obvious from my title... haha) and that song from Gossip Girl that I totally recognized but couldn't figure it out because it was being sung by a girl instead of the usual boy: Anya Marina - Whatever You Like. So good.

Don't Stop Believin'

Wednesday. Gastown Sprints.

Full-kitted Dustin and Ced. Safety first guys... haha

There were two theories behind Gastown Sprints going into the winter:

1. The place would overflow because it’s awful out. During the summer, it’s gorgeous and amazing to be outside in the good weather so people don’t think to go inside. So, therefore, if it’s shitty out, people are going to migrate inside. Right? Apparently not.

2. It’s so awful out that no one wants to leave their houses to go anywhere. Couriers start to hate cycling so the last thing they want to do at the end of the day is slog through the wet to show up to a bar to ride more (a friend’s theory), and students start to believe that they don’t (or can’t) have a life because of their work. After not even a month in the rainy season, I kind of feel like leaning towards this one considering what went down Wednesday…

Which was very few people showed up. Which is too bad because it’s such a cool idea and could be really big and more fun than it already is with more competition…

I still get so freaked out before. My body goes into overdrive and adrenaline kicks in an hour or so before I head down because I am terrified that this time I’ll be revealed as an imposter and my spinning legs will just be blocks of cement and just get owned in my first heat. Haha. One ticket to Crazytown.

Showed up and was quite unimpressed with the lack of people. Hung out with Moses, Louise (who apologetically told me she’d told her roadie friends… pfft. I think in my head I responded with ‘Bring it, Bitches…’ even though they WOULD probably own me as they do this sort of thing on a regular basis. haha), James and Craig (former Bike Dr. manager). We had six on the girls’ side and 14 on the guys’ side. Raced heats and my first head to head was against… Moses. I guess the girl I was supposed to race took off so he graciously stepped up and jumped on a bike to own me. Haha I think Moses is a secret kick-ass roller racing ninja. For a guy who says he doesn’t do much, he threw down a solid 24 and change, which is sweet. I think Louise and I should start racing the boys because I really think it would make us faster, just like in skiing if you race faster people, you get faster.

So, final showdown, Louise and I. I put it in my head that this time, I’m going to put down as much as I can on the line, check my seat to make sure it won’t drop mid-race, and focus. Scary countdown and hammer… should’ve checked my hair as it came half out of its elastic and went EVERYWHERE. But, I continued on. We were closer than I’ve ever been to her and the little blue line was slipping in front of the yellow one here and there and suddenly it was over and the name that flashed on the screen was mine…

Have your name in lights? Exciiiiting.

Pretty schweet, eh? Haha. It was quite fun. We were looking at pictures last night and James mentioned that we should try to get more picture like this one… it’s almost like tennis (there we go again – tennis similes, I know, I know…): the winner seems to stay on the venue just a little longer, letting what just happened sink in, basking in the win. Pretty cool.

What did I win, you ask? A free beer, free haircut, and 40 bucks. Awwwww yeah.

I think my favourite part of the night, win or lose, is when you leave Pub 340, get on your bike and do a lap of the city. Nice and relaxed casual urban fare.

Thursday morning woke up snuggled up and full of endorphins with a Big Stupid Grin on my face. Bonus? Classes were cancelled so I didn’t have to head up to Langara for the day. So I went back to bed. Ha. Got a nice ride in the afternoon in the gap of no rain.

Friday night headed down to Gastown with the Jounalism crew. Tons of fun because we ended up at the Chill Winston, which is Moses’ favourite bar so I got to hang out with everyone and enjoy some classy martinis.

After we left the bar, we somehow got separated with some miscommunication. Geoff and I hung out on Water St. waiting for the others to get back to us. Started a game of Spot the Pirate. Pretty easy rules:

1. Watch groups of people as they approach.

2. Pick out who is the mostly likely to be a pirate. Use your own descriptions here… so long as you can back up your choice with hard evidence, it will be accepted.

3. Proceed to give voice to your pirate/make fun of them? in a pirate accent. Which inevitable turns into an Irish accent for some reason. So long as you throw in a couple ‘Yarrs.’ or other pirate-oriented words, you’re fine.

4. Bonus points for picking out No Pants Girls. A.K.A. the girls of Gastown that wear dresses where their jackets are longer than said dresses so it gives the illusion that they are, in fact, not wearing any pants. Yeah, got made fun of a lot by us.

Worked all day Saturday. Tired. Rainy. Depressing. Very strange and different dynamic to have Pol back in the store and to have so few of the people I started with not work there anymore.

Last night headed over to James/Brodie's place. Enjoyed some homemade chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream (amazing), The Hangover (fuuuunny), and Brodie's pictures from travelling. Makes me want to travel.

Now it’s Sunday. I’m stuffed up. Sick? Confused because normally I have a pretty good immune system but this fall has sucked, health-wise. Maybe because I’m not training? Too much stress? Not enough sleep? I don’t know. Sigh.

It sucks though because I’d really like to go out and do something… hike, rock climb, whatever but I’m scared, as I’ve already had one lung infection, to push things too hard in case I screw things up worse. But I have this fuzzy idea of a little bit of activity might be able to boost your body and it just throws down on you being sick and wins. And then you’re fine. I don’t know. Maybe it’s the cotton in my head talking?

Pic du jour (click to see full awesomeness... haha):

Quote du jour:

“You must learn from the mistakes of others. You can't possibly live long enough to make them all yourself.”

Tonight's a showing of The Revival - bike movie made in Vancouver - at the Rickshaw at 8:30ish? So, if you're reading this and live in Vancouver, you should come down to 254 E Hastings and get ready to have your mind blown. It's going to be awesome.

Teaser #1

Teaser #2

Oh, and I got hit by a car last week... not a big deal. I'm fine. Keep on the DL. Tell my mom and I'll kill you. haha