French Canada

I finally made it to this Francophone campus I keep hearing about. It looked pretty nice. It was closed, though, and I really was just passing through it on the way to an Irish pub to meet Ontarian friends.

Regret

I wanted this place even though it was a bit expensive, even though my room was tiny and had only three walls, because the house was like a dream come true. How come it had to turn into a f*cking nightmare?

Alberta Beef

These arrows would point at the ends of the three lines, but even from the 6th floor of CAB, I couldn't get more than 2/3rds of each of the meat lines in frame.

New Places

How could you not wonder what it's like inside a place called the Russian Tea Room? The tea wasn't that good, and I didn't try the psychic readers, but I like the atmosphere.

Surfin'

I like to imagine that this guy just parked her brand-new Mercedes here one day and decided to wait until conditions in Edmonton were good enough for surfing. I guess she's been waiting a while.

New Perspective

It's shaping up to be a pretty rough weekend, so I decided to try to go someplace new. Or at least, to go someplace old in a new way.

Fringe!

Finally went to the Fringe Festival today, to see Back to Methuselah. Even if I hadn't gone to a show, though, they have lots of buskers, and stalls like this one that are selling.... uh..... ?

Counter-Counter-Culture

Once again, Edmonton graffiti comes through awesome. ly.

Housework

The house just keeps getting better. The electrical guys came in to install a fan today. Soon, it will be like an actual livable place.

The Layout

It _did_ work!

The Plan

Yeah, I think that could work. It'll be like having two rooms instead of one.

The New Neighbourhood

I can't tell you how disappointed I am that the best used book store in the city is no longer 50 feet from this new house, but it's still nice to be steps away from a good cafe, a great theatre, and the local dive.

No picture today

Of all the things to forget to move, I forget my camera.

Happy Birthday Sullay!

I think Sullay said his only wish is to be happy, but it's hard to imagine him otherwise. It's certainly difficult to be anything but happy when he's around.

New House Walkthrough

I could handle that the house was filthy, that the sinks leaked, that the bathroom paint was peeling worse than that abandoned prison, that the fridge was full of black mould, and that they had smoked and spilled wine on the wall in my bedroom, but the half-eaten meat they closed up in the stove long enough ago that it smelled like feet - that was too much. Guess how much they lost in damage deposit? Nothing.

Bright!

I swear, the room was dark when I took this picture, but Kristina managed to absorb what light there was and shoot it back at the camera. I chose the right person to dye my hair white.

Light Rail

It's nice to have a welcoming place to go home to at night. It's even nicer to have 3.

Ah, Voltaire

I always made one prayer to God, which is extremely short. Here it is:
God granted it.

Life and Death

What if you died yesterday? What if you felt a poison numbing you, flattening you, tingling and wobbling in thick waves as it spread farther through your body than any pain you've ever felt before, until it set you to shaking and you floated apart hour by hour uncountable tiny pieces at a time? But you woke up again in the morning, dead and yet alive again. Newly alive, because you were already dead, and you could still feel it to know it. What would you do today?

Broken

What a sh*tty day. I broke. I am broken.

Western Culture

Chris took me to an Esks game tonight. I'll never get used to the prairies: 35,700 people came out to see the second-worst team in the league almost lose to the worst team in the league. And this isn't even Saskatchewan.

Whyte

I love this guy, but it could be because I'm always a little drunk when I see him. He plays a mean mandolin and a mean banjo on the same night.

Off-White

This isn't what I expected, but I think I like it better than the colour I asked for.

Church of Capitalism

Ah West Edmonton Mall. If you're going to have a perpetual-Christmas wing of your mall, you might as well put it above the mini-golf course. I don't know why people malign this place so much.

More Heritage Days!

Heritage days again today! Hooray!

Kvass!

Scandinavian dancers & their promotional materials

Crowd member on stage - not planned

Nepalese boy on stage - planned

btw, if you forced me to pick a _single_ picture for each day, I'd go with the one with Vianey for yesterday, and the one with the boy with the foam gun today. Which ones would you go with?

Heritage Festival!

The Heritage Festival, which could also be called the why-I-love-Canada festival, is where you go to the park and find out that most countries in the world make some sort of fried bread, and some sort of meat on a stick. Also, performances:

Vianey dancing at the Mexican Pavillion

Azerbaijani musicians

Aspiring Nigerian drummers

Taiwanese pop-cover-band sensations

Native dancer

Fried fish on a bun???

Late night

There's a nicer picture of us, but it doesn't capture how it feels to have to walk across the bridge in the morning before going to bed.

More moving

I think there will be perpetual moving for the next two months. Today it was AMT, picking up her mops from Georgie, taking them home, and then heading out to see TRANSFORMERS!!! I hope the moving is always this awesome.

Sheesh

Three days I've been home, and still I haven't taken the laundry basket off the ceiling.

$2.50?

I just totally ripped this bill in half yesterday night. I couldn't believe it. (It was an accident.) Willie looks like he's taking it personally.