Kaidy Mae

the shoe-tying is going fantasticly!! better than i could have ever imagined! i can do it real quick now, and my shoes dont come undone nearly as often throughout the day...

Whoa! When did they let you have laces Scotty? Does this mean that you're finally out of the institution? That sounds quite advanced. I've still got the Velcro kicks.

Have fun on your vacation buddy!

http://www.tshirthell.com/store/product.php?productid=112

My new favourite!

Verbatim...the silver looking record ones. A lot of discs aren't verified by my superdrive, but these ones always seem to work. Awesome brand!

PS kaidy - i'm glad you said that about henry miller - guigsy let me borrow it and i had a hell of a time with it and it made me feel like a big moron b/c it's one of his favourite books. phew!!

Glad I'm not the only one. Hmmmm...I can see Tropic of Cancer being one of Guigsy's favourites. As for Vonnegut, have you checked out Cat's Cradle? One of my favourites of his. Also, good call on the Dharma Bums. I haven't read that book since high school. Definitely one of Kerouac's best. I always wanted to name my next dog after Japhy Ryder. Hee hee. ::

hey sarahbelle, i think you mean chuck palahniuk. as much as i love fight club the movie, as far as books go i would have to say i enjoyed reading diary about a zillion times more than fight club.

Choke was good too, but he definitely has a formula. It gets a little old after a while. Good though if you're looking for something a little dark and different.

Thanks AD...I'd really appreciate that.

Wow! It seems that the lessons we learn about love (and also hate) are very painful lessons to learn. Sadly, it is only when we get truly hurt that we understand how much we have hurt others in the past with our words and actions. I hope that's all over for you now.

Peace.

Beyond this you can look into the aftermath in Afghanistan

Can you explain what you mean by this?

AD

What I meant by that statement is basically that the war in Afghanistan has been mostly forgotten about. Our focus is now on Iraq, Iran, Palestine, etc. However, I have a friend in the Canadian military who is STILL in Afghanistan trying to clean up after the US's game of hide & seek with Osama. (True, many can argue that the people of Afghanistan are better off now, but that is not at all what I am taking issue with.) It's bullsh!t. Out of sight, out of mind. Because it's not on the 6 o'clock news regularly, people tend to forget that there are still great injustices in these places. And there are still ordinary Canadians like you and I who just want to do a good thing by being one of the peace keepers in this world. They are still there. The children who are still there will spend the rest of their lives trying to overcome events that hardly even got a mention on the North American news. I'm not being very concise today and I apologize. Here's a little blurb from the War Child Canada website which kind of sums it up:

[color:"orange"] Continuous internal conflict from 1978 - 2001 has had tremendous impact on Afghanistan’s environment and the ability of the land to sustain human populations.

During these 25 years of internal conflict, millions of Afghan refugees fled to neighbouring countries. More than two million refugees have returned to Afghanistan since the United States overthrew the Taliban in 2001, but those returning to their former homes and livelihoods face the reality of economic devastation, environmental destruction and neglect.

Where are their "relief efforts"? What has this disaster solved?

I think I saw that movie

He blew me away the last time he was at Lee's Palace. This man is amazing!!!

i say bring on the natural disasters.

I find it very upsetting that you believe that only a "disaster" can change the way we are. There are disasters occuring all over the planet. Some natural, many not. I have always been puzzled about the human reaction to crisis. It seems that there is no need to band together unless the crisis has a sense of immediacy. For example, Sept. 11th was very immediate. Easy to pin down. One day. One event. Easy timeline. Good guys, bad guys were easily divided. The charities to donate to popped up like mushrooms and people felt that by donating $20 or putting a sticker of a bastardized version of the Canadian and US flags on their cars that they were making a positive change. This is a short cut to thinking. This is turning charity into showmanship. What about the fact that one million female baby girls go "missing" in China every year due to the one-child per family limitations? What about the AIDs crisis in Africa?

The tsunami that occured in December was devastating. It is atrocious that so many lives were lost and that so many continue to live in utter despair. 233,000 was the last estimated death toll I heard. This is hard to comprehend for those of us who live in the West. But what I further can't get my head around is this:

13.7 Africans have died of AIDs (the death toll is hard to approximate due to the progression of the disease)

90% of all children born with AIDs will be in Africa

An African child will die of AIDs every 15 minutes

Yet there have been few (if any) office fund raisers for this cause. There has been no Q107 charity event to help get medical supplies to these poor kids. There has been nothing. Between Bush's oil-fueled war and immediate devastation in other parts of the world, one of the largest crisis in human history is largely being ignored. Beyond this you can look into the aftermath in Afghanistan...the control of Tibet...the poverty in Indian...etc. etc. etc. It is hard to know how to fix these problems. I sometimes don't know how to contribute to the greater good. But I find myself constantly questioning myself and others.

Where did those shoes come from that you're wearing?

How many animals did you eat today?

What happens to all of the chemicals that were sprayed on those carrots you're eating?

Do you recycle the lids from your Tim Horton's cups?

Why are you using an automatic starter on your car?

There are so many questions we can ask ourselves (and so many answers to make us feel guilty). I don't think the fate of the world rests on a natural disaster occuring. But my, oh my, wouldn't it be easier for us if that were the case?

You may be right Beats, it may take a natural disaster to set the planet right. I still do not understand why you would encourage this though. To me, that speaks volumes for the ignorance that we living in Canada have when it comes to the types of hardships others face. I find this kind of complacency is leading to one the greatest disasters.

If anyone is interested, check out www.warchild.ca. This is a great charity that helps children overcome the trauma caused by war. Not only do they provide the basic necessities of life, they help the children develop through the use of music and art. Creativity is one of the best ways to heal a heart.

Okay, so if we're getting into HST here I would have to recommend [color:"red"]The Rum Diary . By far the easiest Thompson read. Not true to his later style perhaps, but a quick read and a good intro to HST's written character.

Deb, I hear you about Fugitive Pieces. I didn't get through it until the 2nd or 3rd try. I always make sure I read at least 50 pages before I give up on a book. Although I believe that if you're not ready to read something or in the right place/mood/time for it, then you are best to just leave it. Books are very personal and are hard to force yourself into. Believe me, I tried with Henry Miller for years. Maybe pick it up in a year or so though, you may find it to be the right time then. Michaels is definitely a poet foremost, so her prose is very whimsical. I'm glad that you at least gave it a try. I think I'm going to go pick up Naked or Holidays on Ice at lunchtime. I'm reading I Am Charlotte Simmons right now and *gulp* I just don't think now's the right time for this book. I try and try to get into it. But I can't help feeling like I've left the house with my pants on backwards.

I think we're onto something here with this sliding pee scale. Hmmmm... ::

JROC...you're in TO right? The best advice I think any of us can give you is to get a library card. If you can't borrow any of these from friends, at least you won't have to spend a fortune.

Movie rental $3-6

New book $20+ (usually)

Yeah, I really wonder why people don't read anymore. Vintage book stores can only take you so far...but are a very good place to start.

is this as good as "Naked"?

I haven't read Naked yet? But a bookworm friend of mine said they are very similar. I really like Corduroy. At first I wasn't so into it because Sedaris portrays himself as a real bastard child. I was a little taken aback due to the fact that I related to him so well. That put me off. But I stuck with it. He's his usual cynical/hilarious/compassionate self by the end. I'm hoping this means that there's hope I may turn out all right one day. Some parts I laughed so hard I nearly peed.

Deb, you may really like Fugitive Pieces by Anne Michaels. She's a Canadian poet and this is her first novel. It's some of the most beautiful writing I've ever seen. She is going to be huge one day. My brother's a teacher and they have it in their library. You may want to check out yours. One of the first books I've read in a long time that brought a tear to my eye.

Call in sick? Man, call in well. No better way to confuse the hell out an employer on a Monday morning...

"No boss, I'm not gonna be able to make it in today...have you SEEN the sun shinin' out there? I feel way to good this morning to ruin my day by spending it at work."

I have tried this on occasion. It usually works. I think my boss figures that I'm still drunk. lol

Classy guitar for a classy guy!

Life After God (Douglas Coupland)

Big Sur(Jack Kerouac)

Steppenwolf (Hermann Hesse)

The Subterraneans (Kerouac)

To Kill a Mockingbird (Harper Lee)

Dress Your Family in Corduroy & Denim (David Sedaris)

Hooking Up (Tom Wolfe)

Sex & Sunsets (Tim Sandlin)

Fugitive Pieces (Anne Michaels)

Stranger Music (Leonard Cohen)

I could go on forever. There are a lot of good reads that I didn't list because they are much longer books (The Foutainhead, A Man in Full) or some that are written in dialects (Trainspotting). When you can I'd recommend you check these ones out too.

It's nice to see someone wanting to read.

Oh yeah, almost forgot...

The Lorax by Dr. Seuss. Every child should have this read to them. If you didn't hear it when you were small, it's never too late. This is the best book you can buy for a little one you know.

Anything by Tom Robbins:

Skinny Legs & All

Jitterbug Perfume

Still Life with Woodpecker

are my favourites of him.

Also, a lot of the stuff SugarMegs listed is worth a peak (esp. Gatsby). The Catcher in the Rye is a good book to have read not only for the story, but for the pop-culturish aspect of it. Mark David Chapman had a copy of the book on him when he shot John Lennon.

Throwing out journals!?!?!? That sounds mad! Oh well, I'm sure you have your reasons. If you want to leave some memories behind, there's no point in toting them around with you. However, there's a great book that came from the exact journals you are referring to. Any Torontonians out there should appreciate this one (or may have read it already):

Down To This by Shaughnessy Bishop-Stall

It's a beautiful story, about life's not so beautiful things.

That's awesome! I just forwarded it to everyone in my address book.

What great encouragement to have some extra liquids on hand. Yeah, like I needed any encouragement. Have a good weekend everyone!

KM

Did anyone catch Bush's "Re-Oathening" speech with the Freedom vs. Liberty counter? That sh!t was hilarious. How can someone work the word "freedom" into a speech 21 times in 26 minutes? He's obviously a genius mastermind. ::

As if! The ONE NIGHT I miss it. Damn!!! Maybe I can find it in that handy Google video search that someone posted.

Yeah, we got there the night before too. Along with about a thousand other people. If you can't sleep in your wheels, you had better book a hotel NOW. Seriously, there won't be anything left. Not a bad lot party at the local Wal-Mart though. Ha!

We got in line right away and it only took an hour or so to get in. That part was pretty sweet.

I'm on the lacrosse bandwagon now. It's an awesome sport. PLUS, they play music through the entire game. Sweet! Okay, so it's a lot of cock rock type of stuff. But it mixes well with the half-cut fans getting all riled up.

Screw the NHL.

It took J and I about 18 hours last time. That was with only one driver though. So if you're taking turns it should be a few hours shorter. Don't really limit your timeline though...you never know what those jokers at the border may have planned.

It took us 36 hours to get back though. Booooo!!! No one in their right mind wants to drive that far after partying for a few days and battling the heat/rain/traffic, etc. Give yourself lots of time.

Oh, and we also stopped by the Jack Daniel's distillery in Lynchburg. :: That probably ate up a few daylight hours.

Make sure you bring LOTS of water and toilet paper. That place gets just plain sick. If it rains you'll be wading in water and raw sewage. Bring shoes you can get wet and lots of water to get clean. A shade tent is another must.

Well, he's already got Revolver eh? That's a damn good start. Let It Be...Naked, is so awesome. The original was good too, but the raw cuts are somehow more...I dunno...heartfelt. There are some really sweet songs on that album and it's nice to hear them more the way they would have sounded if the boys were just sitting around and playing it (not with Phil Spector over producing it to death). Across the Universe is a far nicer cut, in my opinion anyway.

As for what else, maybe you'll have to filter out some stuff and create his own mix. The Mean Mr. Mustard/Polythene Pam/She Came in Through the Bathroom Window medley from Abbey Road is especially good. There are some real gems on the John Lennon box set as well. Here are a few if you can find 'em online:

-Look at Me (one of the most beautiful songs ever...also on Royal Tenenbaum's soundtrack)

-Nobody Loves You When You're Down and Out

-Whatever Gets You Through the Night

-Scared

-How Do You Sleep

-John Sinclair

-What You Got

Actually, this entire box set is pretty sweet. For the most part, it's kinda mellow. There are some hilarious parodies and banter on it too though. All the listing can be found at

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/det...=samples#disc_1