i am grateful for January 30, 2008
my parents
bohemian burgers from the whip gallery
the beginning of the end of my rut
sarah and saturday night (good clean fun)
joists, uppers and shiny brown hair January 30, 2008
Renovation News: Dave The Contractor is cute! He also: teaches tae kwan do,
drives an immaculately clean truck, has shiny brown hair and sounds like he
knows what he’s talking about. (I suppose that isn’t in the order of importance,
but then again it REALLY IS the shiniest hair i’ve ever seen!).
Good News:
- he has soundproofed other places, the last one being a yoga studio
- if his quote comes in where it sounds it will i can afford it
- i may not have to repaint all of my freshly-painted walls (just retouch the top;
knock knock on wood)
- he will smooth finish my ceiling for no extra cost (because he “can’t bear to
not have those clean lines”!! I CAN’T EITHER!!)
- he isn’t scary in anyway; in fact he went out of his way to make me feel
comfortable and even adjusted his handshake to ensure mine was firmer
than his (take note men)
- HE IS A CAT PERSON!
BAD NEWS:
- i will have to move out for a week - to my parent’s place, with my fraidy
cat and my fraidy self
- i’ll have to move all my furniture out and small stuff to storage
- he has to remove the uppers in my kitchen! i don’t know why this upsets
me so much but it does. i love them! they are so nicely / creepily organized
and i don’t know, secured to my wall like they’re supposed to be!!
- i’m still afraid (asbestosbugsdryrot knock knock)
Too Good To Be True? January 22, 2008
let me preface this post by knocking on wood a million times!
I HAVE FOUND A CONTRACTOR (knock knock) who can soundproof my ceiling;
yay Dave! If you’re wondering why this is so monumental you don’t live in Vancouver
- the city where developers offer construction workers perks like concierge and
driving services and hot, gourmet meals as incentives to crank out 40-storey towers
like they’re 2-floor tilt-up’s.
Dave knows what he’s talking about, he has done this before, and get this: his prices
are REASONABLE. His inital quote is less than HALF what Rip-Off Rob wanted to
charge me - AND his approach is far more comprehensive as he will remove and
replace the existing ceiling. (Finally - no more popcorn!!).
Now, onto the next unknown to worry about: what disasters-to-be are lurking
in my 30-year old ceiling: dry rot, asbestos or worse…
BUGS???
KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK
I Am Grateful For January 21, 2008
- michelle
- ice cream made with real milk!****
- my new duvet / nights floating in vanilla egyptian cotton
- daylight at 5 p.m.
**** know why “modified milk ingredients” is kinda vague?
if it said “oil/sugar/butter mix” would you buy it? notice: no milk!
Can’t We All Just Get Along (TAKE OFF YOUR EFFING SHOES) January 19, 2008
there is nothing more Vancouver than owning a condo. as single-family living
increasingly becomes a million-dollar pipe dream, a quick glance out any
downtown window reveals the result: a skyline full of lookalike towers with
condo upon condo, strangers stacked in concrete cocoons - a city planner’s
ultimate high density, walkable, mixed-use dream.
condo living isn’t all fun and games. first there’s the cost: expect to pay
$1000 a square foot for presale concrete construction (yes, that means
$600k for 600 sq ft)! Living in a gleaming tower can feel very antiseptic
and uniform but I think that bias may come from working in the industry;
when you deal in “units” (Plan B, with balcony, teak upgrade package
facing NorthWest on the 23rd floor) it’s tough to imagine them as HOME.
I live in a small condo in a 30-year old, 3-floor wood frame building on a
leafy green street. Gas fireplace, mountain and city view, real neighbours,
no small yappy dogs with small yappy owners, 5 minutes from downtown,
10 from work, firmly situated in something my realtor knowingly called
“a pocket”.
It is PERFECT except for one, big cow of a thing: my HUGE COW of an
upstairs neighbour. WHO WEARS SHOES…ON HARDWOOD… ALL DAY
AND NIGHT. i am ALL FOR high density - i love my footprint, walking to
get groceries and drunken stumbling home from dinner. and i am ALL for
giving a little to get along - i wear socks on my hardwood and even put my
heels on OUTSIDE my front door instead of click click clicking my downstairs
neighbour to death. I am a reasonabl(y neurotic) person!
I’ve tried everything from apologetic knocks on the door, to discreet notes
slipped under doors to involving my totally impotent council: NOTHING.
I’m not doing details - they do scary things to my blood pressure and i’m
already seeing white dots. Suffice to say I will be shelling out several
thousand dollars to soundproof my ceiling.
More than anything it is a terrible waste of a first reno: no crushed glass
backsplash. No stainless steel countertops or soaker tub with gunmetal
porcelain surround. NO: thousands of dollars, a week as a refugee with my
traumatized kitten - and after all of that it will look exactly the same as it
does now: LIKE A CEILING.
…(but the cow’s chances of survival, and mine of staying out of jail, increase
exponentially)…she is SO LUCKY i am a vegetarian.
Ottawa Flashback - Moments? January 9, 2008
another one!
mundane as ever: walking on the path westward between my old place and craig henry towards greenbank listening to nine inch nails (head like a hole) on my walkman - WALKMAN.
this really happened - and i remember when it happened that i thought something strange was happening. This was 1992: tight black jeans, just learning that what i felt was angst, jacket unzipped because when you’re 13 and The Cool People don’t get cold you’d rather get frostbite than button up. Mixed tapes with enter sandman, the low end theory and black sheep.
I’m just realizing NOW that maybe these flashbacks are all about moments. Not moments, MOMENTS. maybe the ones you remember are special for a reason - bookmarks in life where you should be learning something or making an important choice. maybe remembering them 26 years later and feeling them again is telling me my instincts; were at 13, and are at 29 - right.
maybe maybe maybe i should have done up my coat. my astrologer told me saturn is returning and, of course, after trying to deny it i realize she is right AGAIN. big changes are in store; i’ve been trying to pacify the need for change by sporadic, small edits.
time for a complete rewrite. i know i sound crazy - but, like always, crazy feels SO DAMNED RIGHT.
i am grateful for January 5, 2008
yes, i am alive and will continue writing here soon.
first i must vanquish a SERIOUS case of post-holidaze hangover perma-grouchiness. until then i’m focusing on the small things to keep from killing my upstairs neighbour and/ or selling my place and running away to africa to dig wells.
so yeah - I AM GRATEFUL FOR:
- breyer’s heavenly hash
- the documentary channel
- living 5 minutes from work
- not being a journalist
- berry
- dirt (the show, not the thing)
