Chinese market

I saw a bag labeled "Cumm Powder" at the chinese supermarket. I'm just thankful that it wasn't "Cock Brand".

(okay, on closer inspection I determined someone/something had just copied "cumin" wrong. Actual cumm powder is probably at the TCM store between the rhino horn and deer fetus and everything else that keeps poachers in business)

Slang

I heard some slang today that I didn't understand. I suddenly realized, I'm in the stage of life where I no longer know whether I'm too young to know the slang, or too old. Or just too out of touch.

Missing items

A few things have gone missing over the past few weeks. First, a touque was gone. I couldn't find it, so I figured it must have fell out of my coat pocket or something. Sometime later, I was going to use a reusable shopping bag and discovered it was missing. Probably in the same place as the touque. Annoying, but oh well, nothing valuable. Then even more recently, I was going to use my thermal mug, and discovered it was missing too. Now it's serious. Not that it's worth a lot, but it was a nice memento, something that our graduating class ordered, with our logo on. I stepped up my search, but still nothing. With all the obvious choices taken care of, it was time to search all the nonsensical places, like maybe for some reason I put it behind the TV, or at the bottom of my basket of socks, but still no luck. Phoned a few places I'd been, even if I was confident I didn't leave it there. The mug especially, as it would only ever go between my home and my car. I had a cable guy and a plumber in at different points, one of them could have walked off with something, but it would make no sense for them to take those kinds of items. It just drives me nuts not knowing. I had a dream last night that I found it, but, the location doesn't exist in reality so I couldn't just wake up and go there and get it. Perhaps that's the answer. Perhaps my touque, shopping bag, and mug managed to slide into a nearby dimension during a moment of weakness in the fabric of space-time. At this point, it makes about as much sense as anything else.

Library girl

There was a very attractive girl working at the library, I saw her there somewhere around half the time that I went over the past couple years. I decided finally that I should ask her out. Well, you can predict the immediate result of that. However, it's the long-term result that's more interesting. In the couple months since, in quite a few visits, I haven't seen her there a single time. Suspicious huh?

It sure as heck better be coincidence. Can you imagine how brutal that would be if someone actually quit their job to avoid the chance of encountering you again?

First woman to do something

This might be controversial...

This season of amazing race was won by an all-girl team for the first time. They seemed to be making a big deal about it. I really didn't care about that. Although it seems like it's a case of being proud of women, there's another less positive theory.

In the most basic sense, if you are considering "first woman to do " to be something really special, that's pretty directly saying that you feel women are inferior in some way. If you really felt they were equal, then you would only care about "first person..." and not differentiate men and women.

(ok yeah some cases in the past there were distinct obstructions for one gender or another, but I don't consider things like amazing race to be like that.)

Ski

I went skiing for the first time on saturday. Well, not quite first time, I recall going once with school in grade 5 or something but otherwise haven't done any skiing of any kind. This was cross country with C, S, and S. I figured it was a good time to give it a try, considering it's still fairly early in the season, and C is still on the road to recovery. S was a good teacher, explaining clearly, and offering tips as he felt appropriate.

I feel I did pretty well overall. Fell on hills when I tried to do the 'snow plow' thing to control speed, but did fine on gentler slopes where you simply need balance rather than skill. Going up hills was neither good nor bad.

It was a fairly easy trail to Watridge lake. Took less time than expected, so we decided to go around the lake. Mostly we were near the shore, but sometimes there was open water where a creek entered, so then we went up into the forest to find a better way over it, that was... interesting.

Overall it was fun. I was a bit surprised, since i had low expectations. But I plan to do it again.

Winter afternoon

A lovely way to spend a winter afternoon... the Zoo's conservatory. When it's really cold and dry and lifeless outside, it feels so good to just sit and relax in a warm humid environment full of plants. Just sit there and read a book, or think about things, or wander around curiously observing. Quiet on days like this, just an occasional visitor or zoo worker, very peaceful.

Guess what is the tallest plant in the conservatory? I estimate about 9 metres tall and about 3cm diameter at the base, quite impressive. (ok the description gives it away)