Tag: calgary

leaving for a small adventure, I won’t be on-line very much


This one, a collaboration with Frank Roberts,
went to David Lawson, Connecticut UNIX
sys-admin for a company that hosts
CMS software for newspapers.

Saturday Night: Crawling up the I5, radio on, I put a spell on you, watching Seattle fade from the windows, I flashed upon The Power Of Ten, a science-fact short film on-line that zooms out, then zooms out, then zooms out again until the screen is only full of stars. Somewhere, in all that tall glittering chaos of Saturday night dreams and entropy, he must have been walking. Head down. A tangle of black hair. Easy to lose in a crowd. Then, out. And all I can see are buildings, streets garishly flooded with cars, cruising teenagers. A minivan of boys cat calls at us as we cross an intersection, I wave at them and Nicole laughs. Out. Now it’s a city reflecting poorly into water. The rooftops of skyscrapers, threateningly postcard perfect. She asks me if I have a comfort food, a cookie, maybe, shaped like a musician, large enough to cuddle with. “I wish I’d kissed him more”.

Saturday morning: Getting on a plane, Beatles music humming in my head, because the world is round, it turns me on, bland colours, folding clip seatbelts, as waiting becomes doing, fearful of cold, becomes the air over the Cascades and a pair of new gloves. My carry on, a camera, a book, a borrowed memory card. Seat by the window. Shoes off, wondering if I’m going to come back with all my toes. His voice echoing up from Texas.

–

Calgary and Edmonton are both showing temperatures of minus twenty something. I can’t even fathom minus twenty-something anymore. I don’t think it even hits minus twenty on top of the mountains here. In practical terms, what does that even mean? I fail at being Canadian. Sure I own a vintage beaver fur logger’s hat and chug maple syrup like it’s water, but I certainly don’t go to Tim Hortons, understand hockey, say “eh?”, appreciate the Blue Jays, smoke pot or understand temperatures below minus six.

almost last chance to see (yes, more digital prints)

The hour of departure continues to steadily approach. I’ve only one full day left here in Vancouver, but have I packed yet? Of course not. No, I spent my evening taking lovely pictures. You should buy some. Seriously. They’re awesome.

To re-cap: In an effort to fundraise for a short trip to Alberta the first week of December, I’ve begun selling digital prints on commission for ten dollars each. So, in return for ten dollars, I take a photo and send it as a file large enough to be printed. My pay pal address is bloodkrystal at the hot mail dotty com.

Examples:

complicated faith (uncropped)
This one, a collaboration with Frank Roberts, went to
Stanislav Shalunov, SF programmer and a Director of
Engineering at BitTorrent.
comatose (one of two)
This went to Kris Millering, Seattle techie and intimidatingly
prolific writer of serial fiction.

I’m ready for your love

Canadian chocolate, it’ll break your knees. Wait, what?

The closer I get to stepping on a plane, the more of New Wave I’m apparently listening to for an ultimate dose of positive reinforcement. Excitement has been building up in my body, buzzing in my chest and cooling my stomach at random moments of smiling memory. It’s so natural, I’m not even worried. Well, not about Mike, at any rate. No – even better. My primitive and peculiar social structures extend over the mountains. I realized today that not only is Calgary home to the man who was my very first boyfriend, but also my ex-boyfriend who’s since been declared a relative.* And, just for fun, they’re friends.

Oh, my convoluted family, how I love you all. I’m hoping to get to Silva and Amber’s wedding photos soon. They have been languishing, (yes languishing – a person with the right flavour ears can hear them crying), on my hard-drive, just waiting for me to have the time to process them and pick out the good ones. I’m thinking they’ll have to wait until I get back from Calgary, however, as people have continued kindly sending me requests for photos, (I’m at $130, can you believe it?), and those, being monetary, have priority. That I’ve managed to survive the past year without a Real Job is nothing short of extraordinary.

New York manhole covers, forged barefoot in India.

*the term boyfriend as used here is inaccurate, but close enough for rock and roll. Also, I am hilarious.

result so far: $110 and a house full of glitter

I’m still fund-raising, so I’m willing to take pictures all the way up until Friday night. (We leave Saturday morning).

To re-cap: In an effort to fundraise for a short trip to Alberta the first week of December, I’ve begun selling digital prints on commission for ten dollars each. So, in return for ten dollars, I take a photo and send it as a file large enough to be printed. My pay pal address is bloodkrystal at the hot mail dotty com.

Examples:

reluctant persuasion
This went to Angela Hunt, Los Angeles writer, photographer, painter
and founder of Hunt Press.		 hoist up the john b sail
This one is for Frank Roberts, a Vancouver hobby photographer and
video game IT manager.

our magic and the truth of tricks, oh man


Tanith
Originally uploaded by Foxtongue.

I don’t mind you hanging out and talking in your sleep

Mike called from the road today, we talked until the battery in his phone gave out. Every time it’s almost a physical shock how glad I am to hear him. I suspect it’s the same for him, we’ve never spoken for less than three hours. He’s going to drive as quickly from Texas to California as he can, the better to catch time with me in Calgary. There’s a chance he’ll be able to spend a week here after his Winnipeg gig before the next leg of his tour tears him away to Australia for the holidays. I certainly hope so. It’s all very cut and run, very edge of the clock, our planning. I don’t think we know what we’re doing. It means there’s good odds I’m coming back to Vancouver as suddenly single, but I’m kind of alright with that. It’s within my understanding, which counts for a lot, and we’ve certainly made friends-for-life. Love when you’ve got it, miss it when it’s gone, but keep going, right?

Which reminds me, I’m going to need someone to take care of my cats while I’m away. Nick and I are flying out the morning of December 1st, and though he flies back on the 7th, I’ll be driving down to Edmonton with Mike and won’t be back until the 8th.

I guess you’re just what I needed.

I’m at $90 when I need to be closer to $250

The ticket’s been booked. I’m going, getting on a plane December 1st.

I’m still fund-raising though, so please feel free to take advantage of the ten dollar offer while it still stands.

To re-cap: In an effort to fundraise for a short trip to Alberta the first week of December, I’ve begun selling digital prints on commission for ten dollars each. So, in return for ten dollars, I take a photo and send it as a file large enough to be printed. My pay pal address is bloodkrystal at the hot mail dotty com.

Examples:

St. James infirmary
This one went to author John Robinson, director of needcoffee.com,
the 2006 Bloggies Winner of Best-Kept-Secret Weblog.
don't even sing about it
This one went to Stephen Smith, Canadian software tech,
writer and co-founder of 365 Tomorrows.

who wants pictures?

In an effort to fundraise for a short trip to Calgary the first week of December, I’ve begun selling digital prints on commission for ten dollars each. Want one?

So, in return for ten dollars, I take a photo and send it as a file large enough to be printed.

Examples:

they tasted of honey
This one went to Duncan Shields, a Vancouver writer
(contributor to 365 Tomorrows) and video game animator.
genetic nondiscrimination
This one went to Frank Roberts, a Vancouver photo
enthusiast and video game IT manager.

wear those poppies with pride

Lung

Lung asks Claire, “How many people have you slept with?” and suddenly we’re all counting on fingers, measuring numbers, months, morality. I’m there to pick up a copy of the Senior’s Living Magazine that Lung and I have an article in – my first bit of glossy-paper local hard-copy. Vancouver’s 50+ Active Lifestyle magazine. There’s a steel haired woman jogging on the cover, sunglasses, IRONMAN t-shirt, and yellow text declaring someone’s else “Artist. Author. Actor.”. It looks very much like the sort of thing you might find for free between the pages of a community newspaper. We’re on page 30, messily rambling about Lung’s travels.

Though it’s interesting to see my name in print, especially with his, reading it over is a little painful. Lung gave me a rough draft so dirty certain passages were completely incoherent and I only spent about an hour cleaning it up before we sent it in and went for dinner. Flipping through to the other articles, however, I found we fit right in. Absolutely everyone in the entire magazine abuses punctuation and laughs vindictively at grammar. “You, have to Love It” kind of stuff. It makes for easy reading, if odd, as if the writers of Dick and Jane had copy-edited every page. It’s almost soothing, which, it occurs to me, might be the point.

25 unexpectedly useful websites

100 ways to save the environment

110 resources for creative minds.

As of today, I have a new roommate for December. Her name is Karen, we don’t know each other particularly well, but she seems like an incredibly nice young woman. (We went to highschool together. Bizarre, that). Very much one of us, she goes to BarCamps, SFU, and has a passion for engineering transit. She’s even got a livejournal. Vancouver’s rental situation has moved past ridiculous into outright obscene, so it’s a relief to have found someone without having to resort to the vague social terror that is Craigslist For Rent ad.

Another thing checked off the list today – finding a place to stay in Calgary the first week of December. Sean, (yes, someone else with an lj), a comp-sci, pure math guy that Dominique and Rowan introduced me to a few years ago, has volunteered his spare room! Yes! An exclamation mark! Somehow, in spite of the mini-catastrophes plaguing this trip, things are coming together. Now to find a way to get there. Pity there’s no easy way to put a transmission back into a van…

I wonder if it will be a surprise

My apartment is getting a lift. The kitchen has been painted two mellow shades of pumpkin and highlighted with a russet metal gold, the bathroom is going classic with a coffee & cigarettes black and white, and Nicole and I are going to french stripe my living-room in something warm as soon as we find appropriate paint. (Got any?) A scour of Craigslist provided a nice pewter light fixture to replace the brassy nicotine-coloured hanging lamp that’s currently haunting the main room, (Brett will be over to install it tomorrow), and the silk sari that hangs above my bed is getting yanked out and put up in the hallway with white LEDs running behind it, with the blue ones moving to frame Gavin’s self-Portrait of The Artist that hangs across from the couch. I’m really looking forward to the change. And by ‘really’, I mean ‘it’s beyond about damned time’.

Which reminds me: Does anyone want to come along with Nick Eddy and me to Calgary for the first week of December?

It would be nice if he had someone to drive back with. We’re planning on leaving November 30th and arriving December 2st with a stop-over visit at his grandparent’s orchard in Osoyoos. He would be returning Dec 7th while I, (hopefully), continue down to dreaded Edmonton to visit with Ian and Christy.