HAPPY 18th BIRTHDAY KAS!!!!!

I went out yesterday with Laura and Rachel, and Laura took photos of us playing in the snow. I want her to send me them. There was a broken down bus and I posed with it – I pretended to try to pry open the back doors. We went down to Granville Island to look around and go to BeadWorks. Rachel got beads and hemp and I got beads and tools to make earrings. I made a pair for myself the other day – Bonnie taught me how. It was the day it started snowing – Saturday evening. We went to Country Beads on 4th (just up the street from Las Margaritas).

Here are the ones I made on Saturday:

Dear Streetcleaners,

Please come to my street. The gutters are piled with mushy dirty leaf-mulch. It is supposed to snow this weekend. My car slips and slides in the leaves. The tires get stuck and spin; they don’t grip. My car got beached on a bank of leaves; my father helped dig my car out. Please come clean 26th Avenue… it’s disgusting.

Thank you,
Monica

Here’s a fun drinking game that Vincent taught us:

King’s Cup - Use a deck of cards, everyone has a full glass, and there is one empty in the centre. Lay all the cards out face down. Each person takes a turn and draws the card.

Ace – Waterfall: the person who drew has to start drinking and everyone else has to follow. They are only allowed to stop when the person to their right stops.

Two – Pick someone to give two shots/gulps to. Can be two different people (one each)

Three – You have to take three gulps/shots.

Four - Rule Card. You get to make up a rule such as Quacking after each sentence, or any card higher than 4 you have to get up and then bow to Kas. If you forget AND the person who made the rule catches you (before next card/sentence) you must take a drink.

Five – Theme. Pick a theme, then you go around the circle and say something to fit in it. Such as sex toys, fantasies, board games, nationalities. The first person to repeat has to drink or the first person to hestitate for a while.

Six – Story. One-word-story-game. Each person says one word to make the story. The person who screws up and it cease makes sense has to drink. Or if you hesitate for a long while.

Seven - BULLSHIT! Start counting around the circle. If you’re supposed to say seven, a multiple of seven, or a number with seven in it… say BULLSHIT instead. Don’t and you drink. Hesitate too long and you drink.

Eight – Bathroom FREE card. Did we mention as soon as the game starts… you can’t go to the bathroom? Well you can’t. So here’s how you can! Draw an 8!
Nine – Thumbs. The person who drew it gets to choose a special time to put their right thumb on the floor in front of them (in view). Everyone must follow and the last person to have their thumb down has to drink. Void if someone picks up another nine before they’ve used up their Thumbs.

Ten – “I have never…” Anyone who has done whatever you haven’t, gets to drink.

Jack – Boys drink.

Queen - Girls drink.

King - You get to add something (drinkable) into the cup in the centre. (Usually alcohol). The person who draws the fourth KING gets to DRINK THE ENTIRE CUP!

Friday I went to South Surrey (White Rock) to interview a Bonsai Master. He is amazing, and he has such an awesome place. I hate that my camera ran out of batteries. I hate that fucking camera… father chose it, and now he has a new one…. fuck that. Anyway, later that night I left class early. I was really bored and wanted to go out with friends but nothing panned out. I stayed home being mush.

Saturday I was totally feeling blah and mush and gross. I woke up around 1pm and talked with Craig for a bit. Then he went to bed and I continued to be angryblahmushyuck. I tried watching Breakfast at Tiffany’s but it was a really crackly VHS that I borrowed from Rachel. Jordana then called and we went to dinner and then dessert with Nigel and Janice.

Today I drove out to Burnaby to interview a Landscape Designer. He is very interesting and quite talkative. I was worried with both gentlemen because their first language is Japanese, but they were very coherant in their explanations. Both agreed to let me tell the photography department they have photos or material. The Bonsai Master suggested I speak with the Landscape Designer and the Landscape Designer (having already told him I spoke with the Bonsai Master) gave me the number of another Landscaper! Quite useful.

Then I went for coffee with Anna and Kas in Kerisdale. I got a parking ticket! Yay forgetting to plug the meter! It’s not that bad… at least it doesn’t go against my license. That is something to be happy about. BTW Starbucks went Christmas on Wednesday. (Craig – that means Chocolate Mint Bliss is back). And I got the Peppermint Hot Chocolate because I was in THAT Kind Of Mood. AND the Cranberry Bliss Bar. Hmm they are good – but the cream cheese icing is rich. Heh.

I am quite excited about my new hair cut. I have been needing it for a while. But my hairdresser tells me I need to get a proper roundbrush so that when I blowdry I get volume. I have straight stringy hair. Ew Stringy.

Exciting new also: Craig is heading back to Manchester AS WE SPEAK! He’s on the Virgin Train, a bullet train between major cities. Virgin as in Virgin Megastore on Robson… but in the UK they are huge…. Virgin Mobile, Virgin Trains, Planes, etc. He’s been in London for school and unfortunately the place he was at couldn’t get the internet sorted. But he’ll be at home (avec internet) at his mum’s.

Laundry just beeped at me. I’ve gone into crazy picture organizing mode. I really want iPhoto but it’s a MacOS program, not a PC. I really want a MacBook Duo Core… that way I can have both my PC and iPhoto and such. But of course, the funds are not there right now. Maybe around the time I’m moving out. Maybe a moving away present!

Speaking of moving — the short-term type — I leave on December 12th and return on January 7th for anyone who cares to know. My cat’s paws smell like poop. I don’t like it. He sits on my chair above my head… on the back – you know? He’s smelly. I’m gonna go finish my laundry because I have no socks. Can I have yours?

She stepped up to the podium ready to impress them all. Rows of students dotted the horizon and directly in front of her sat the professors. She froze. Looking to the professors, she licked her lips then pressed them together anxiously. The Dean glanced at his watch.

She shuffled her notes and cleared her throat; thoughts were going 90 miles an hour through her mind. Her cough echoed through the auditorium on the microphone. The clock ticked. The students glanced at each other in confusion, expecting something. Anything. Speak, she willed her voice. Say something, she told herself.

“Good Afternoon,” the words rang out from the speakers dotting the walls. Keep talking. “I’m here to speak to you about love, sex, life, and relationships.” Her eyes darted to her cue cards, instinctually moving the front card to the rear. “I do not claim to be an expert on the matter, in fact, I don’t believe this to be possible. I only intend to share with you what I know.”

Give them the fine print. “If this was not the lecture you were expecting; if you wanted an older, wiser individual, you’re welcome to leave. The first thing I tell myself in the morning is that you don’t have to do anything you don’t want to. So if you don’t want to spend the next hour in this lecture hall with me, you can leave and no one will hold it against you.”

She glanced aprehensively at the professors. The man on the end with the gray beard seemed disappointed; yet the woman beside him was beaming. She flipped over her next cue card, waiting for someone to get up from their seat.

You step through the fang-adorned archway, prepared to be scared and entertained. Around the first corner a skeleton glows red, watching you with one eye. You continue, anticipating and dreading the unknown…

Don’t worry; it’s all in good fun at the Brinkworth Dungeon in Richmond. They don’t depend on cheap tricks or actors to get your heart racing. Everything is hand-built from wood, plastic and Styrofoam and compared with 15-20 photos to ensure accuracy. There is the Headless Breathing Bride who cradles her head in the eerie green glow of the attic. Dr. Jeykll working in his lab, Frankenstein, and Chucky bursting through the wall. A Parental Advisory sign warns about the Hook of Pain piercing through the ribs of a man, the guillotine slicing off heads, and Gwendolyn’s limbs stretched beyond control. Linda Blair’s Exorcist sits in bed, reaching towards you; notice there is no glass in the window between you and her. This is only a small taste of what is inside the Brinkworth Dungeon.

Admission is $7 for everyone over five, to cover the creations by Barry Brinkworth and family. But, if you bring a non-perishable food, or baby item, admission is only $6. Food donations go to the Richmond Food Bank, who request donations all through the year. The baby items are for JRFM’S 13th Annual Basics For Babies to aid against the shortage of baby supplies at shelters in the Lower Mainland and Fraser Valley.

The Brinkworth Dungeon is open this year from October 13th to November 4th. Visit the website for details, directions, contact information and pictures. http://members.shaw.ca/thumper57/dungeon/

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Photo: Laura, Ben & Monica in the Dungeon; meeting Chucky (bursting through the wall)

The Dungeon was pretty good. Had fun in the car with Rachel (smack that!). I enjoyed the trip but I wish that I’d brought a camera (aka had a camera). Fortunately Laura had a camera, took photos and put them on a CD for all of us to look at. (THANKS LAURA!) Jordana: I’ll post the writing I have to do in accordance with the field trip so you can hear all about it in my professional article!

I’m also pretty excited and nervous about a phone interview I’ve set up for my article for Writing class. Ikes! It’s with SFU Education Professor who wrote a book on my topic. I have to set up the questions and everything once I get home from class tonight. I haven’t been able to find the book anywhere – none of the major or second-hand book stores have it. I did find it on Amazon (new or used) but shipping to Canada takes 4-6 weeks. From experience, it took approximately four weeks for my RealWorld QuarkXpress book to get here.

I asked my sister, who goes to SFU, “If a SFU professor wrote a book, would it be in the SFU Library?” She said, “Most likely it would be.” Then she told me the web address to check. I asked her if she’d check it out for me. So that was last night, meaning she picked it up this afternoon, but of course, I’ve been at school. I have to call the professor tomorrow morning, so I’ve got prepare tonight.

I really want to go shopping and nab all the after-Halloween merchandise that businesses will be trying to get rid of. COSTUMES FOR ME!! Speaking of costumes — here was Halloween Day’s Costume (see left). I was quite proud of my makeup (yet again)… but the photo doesn’t do it justice. It was blended from dark blue around my lashes up to silver in my eyebrows.

The blue and black tights are my sisters – they totally make the costume. Much better than my pink fishnets which made my skirt look a little too French Maid-y.

Good news! My case got dismissed because the officer didn’t show. No speeding ticket! No points on my N! No fee of $136!