I wish.

Click here to read the latest installment of I’m a Good Story. It’s a bit…er…scattered, but that’s okay because it’s perfectly reflective of how my life has been in the last month.

So. Yeah. I’m back in Vancouver after a really fun east coast tour of Montreal, North Hatley and Toronto. My grant’s done, I’m sorting out the next chapter of my life and things are interesting, which is basically another way of saying I’m suffering from severe anxiety. Who’s got a solution for that? Anyone?

Here are some highlights of my trip…

Had a hearty bro-down with my bud Adam Gollner. We talked all things writing. I totally needed that for my writerly soul.

Adam is such a committed writer, he has a bed in his office with a hospital computer rest thing so he can write any which way he pleases. That’s some serious stuff. My hero!

You know those days when you leave the house and you hope to run into someone you know, but not a crappy ex-boyfriend? That happened in Montreal. I randomly ran into Dan, who was getting drunk alone on Prince Arthur. It was great!

Poutine with a side of cheeseburger.

The French believe in The Secret too.

Hung out with Gerard, after a lengthy and hilarious email build up, which one day we may reveal to the world, if the world is lucky enough.

I always make a point of visiting Reema at her amazing cupcake shop. Not to be missed if you’re in Montreal.

Day of the wedding, I got to ride up with this little critter. She was awesome.

When we arrived at the property (which was so big and beautiful) I immediately went upstairs to change into my ceremony dress. These were the first people I saw upon arrival…the sunny and unflappable Jenna and the beautiful bride Laura.

Then I went downstairs and waited for the ceremony to start. I was lucky these guys were there or else I would have felt really uncomfortable and alone.

These guys played music while the bride and groom walked down the aisle.

The stunning bride’s maids. Boy, did they pull off that yellow.

And the bride. With Tom, who was there to tell us why Canadian films are more important now more than ever! (I stole that line from the MC, the bride’s brother. I love this family.)

I think I want to be an ordain.

After the ceremony, a bunch of people went to the dock to go swimming. Summer time wedding fun!

More importantly, Boosh arrived!

I changed into my Dace dress, which is the dress that keeps on giving.

Then  I got a bit tipsy and stopped taking photos. There guys were drinking without a glass. Commitment!

This guy ruled. He knew how to party, which was a good thing since I totally forgot.

Cut to the next day. No photos of the sweet cabin I stayed in, or the delicious breakfast I forced myself out of bed to go eat way too early. Here, however, is a picture of my dear, old friends Laura and Ronit.

Then I found myself in Toronto. Luckily with Jess Way. Eating Mother’s Dumplings.

My new awesome feather shirt. Feathers hold serious symbolism in my life. I see them EVERYWHERE. It’s great.

Then Jess and I met up with my dearest darling Atha at Ronnie’s.

Atha took this shot, looked at it in the screen and was like “Oh, that’s a great photo!”

I stayed at my folk’s place, which is my childhood home. There is so much I love about it. Like the carpet in my sister’s old room.

I absolutely love their basement. Where do I begin? The old advertisement of my mother? Marimekko pillows? Wallace and Gormit? The Gemini Awards? No…

The fucking wallpaper. Epic shit.

The weird installation stuffed animal art isn’t so bad. And my mum’s old modeling photos.

My mum feeds me well. She’s so good at that.

My folks in all their artsy cultured glory.

The Witch’s park in the backyard. Also known as my childhood haunts.

I was lucky enough to have lunch with Tom Alderman, my yoda, before I headed home.

And now I’m home. Figuring things out. Any pointers?

Click here to read the latest installment of I’m a Good Story. Click here for the latest episode of the People’s Program Project.

Sooooooo. It’s been quite the time.

The past few weeks have been mighty intense times. Dramatic statement? Yeah, probably. Not sure how else to put it. Man of war. I’m just coming out of a whirlwind of events and am just about to wrap my head around all of it but I can almost promise it will be written about eventually. Lots of ups and downs. Mostly ups.

So I’m just going to post pretty pics…

What I strive to be, all the time, everyday.

Went to Gabriola to hang out with Abby, Grampa and my dog on the beach.

Have you been to Gabriola? It’s really special.

Swamp heart pond.

It’s hard to take a bad photo of Abby.

I got a new camera and did a whole series with arbutus. I really love them. Probably ’cause I have eczema and I can relate.

I have a thing for magic.

Speaking of which, I had the most magical walk with Cesar aka my Filipino saviour.

We came across these girls. Dancing in high heels. Ces was all over it. Magic, right?

It was Ali’s birthday.

We went to the races!

The whole family was there.

It was mighty good times.

Now I’m in Montreal. Hanging with the Boosh.

And these two lovely people. In Jew talk, we’d call them menches. (This was taken no less than an hour ago.)

You know what I absolutely love about Montreal?

Le Metro.

Time for bed.

Click here to read the latest installment of I’m a Good Story. Click here for the latest episode of the People’s Program Project.

The above photo is dedicated to that fine, young man I met on Friday. That’s about all the effort I’ve got.

Here’s a bunch of photos and attempts of witty commentary of some decent to good times that have been inspiring me lately…

I went to the wiener dog races for the second year in a row…

…with these two fine looking cats…

…wiener, wiener, wiener…

…wiener, wiener, wiener…

…WIENERS!

I hope when I grow up, I turn into this lady.

I spent a lovely afternoon somewhat recently with my two lovely friends and a lovely spread, courtesy of Olivia Mowatt, rad mom extrodinaire.

Did you know that Louise Burns is a major babe? Here’s proof.

Olivia levitated for a bit.

Group shot, which consists of 80% ME!

Ayma and I were in LA……where lots of interesting things happened…

…Matt loves me…can’t you tell?…

…I was trying to make this shot kind of like an upskirt…

Matt threw us a party, that mostly consisted of the Amazing Alphabet People’s Coalition and friends…

…and Nathan (and his roommate Levi, not pictured.)

It turned into a dance party, naturally.

The next night we got to see my friends Wolf Parade perform. I’d never seen them live so it was a real treat. It was the final show of their North American tour.

It had been a long, long time since I was last backstage at a show. How times have changed.

Hi Ayma! Just how big was it?

Speaking of Ayma…I love her. Can’t wait to do more writing. Look out world. Here we come!

I came home to my best friend Chris, who’s staying with me. He leaves me reminders of this fact throughout my apartment.

I think that’s about it. Well, it’s not, my life is waaaay more interesting than a blog entry but that’s all I got for now. I’ll leave you with a video I’m really feeling. I love the story, the costumers, the set design and her boobs.

Phew. It’s taken a while to put that one podcast together. But it’s worth the wait. On this episode we have two stories. The first one is about one friend’s encounter with her loud amorous neighbours and their pesky equally loud pet. It got me thinking about what the etiquette is for dealing with loud neighbour sex. I had a year of dealing with that shit, which inspired this story, but I chose to move out, rather than face the problem directly. It was the worst. Have you had to deal with loud neighbour sex? If so, let me know how.

The second story is a chat I did with notorious Vancouver street artist, Devitt Brown, aka the Dark. I originally interviewed him for Dazed and Confused but we got off topic and started talking about the time he got arrested…and how he wasn’t sorry for what he did.

Anyhow, enjoy! I plan on taking my Edirol on all my trips in the next month so hopefully I’ll collect some good stories from my adventures.

PS That house was once lived in by my friend Zoe Verkuylen, then it burnt down and turned into an art project. I have spent a lot of time inside that art project, watching America’s Next Top Model.

So the above is a composite of what my summer has consisted of thus far. A whole lot of sitting in parks with dogs, doing a whole lot of nothing. And it’s not that I don’t have anything to do. I have shitloads of work that needs doing. But I just don’t have it in me at the moment. It will all get done but for now, I just want to be bored. (Photo by Abby Campbell, the dog on the left’s mama.)

A few things of note. Remember my husband from this video? Well, he has a show on CBC Radio this summer called This is That, and it’s very funny. Margaret Atwood is a fan (she tweeted about it) as well as the National Post. Kind of like As It Happens meets Punk’d.

Rain City Chronicles had a great meeting this morning. Things are coming together quite nicely. In case you didn’t know, our next event will be at the Anza Club on Friday, Sept. 24th as part of Olio. The theme is…drum roll…SURPRISES! That’s the theme. Surprises. Kind of like Punk’d.

My dearest Louise Burns has posted new music that you should listen to right now.

Remember I told you about my friend Murray’s film Carts of Darkness, which you can watch online for free? Well, it’s been voted as best NFB film online. Holy crap. eh? It even beat the Log Driver’s Waltz! Wha?! I’m massively impressed. You should watch it. It’s profound and inspiring.

I’m doing a bunch of travelling in the next little while. Might be heading to a sweet destination within BC in the next few weeks, then LA, then Montreal, then North Hatley, then Toronto. So mentally preparing for that.

Things that have made me happy as of late…

Light summer lunches.

Two pound Pomeranians, that squeak.

Dutchie being taken for a walk by Olive, the half Boston half Wiener.

This part of my job.

Real time with Ali Liebert.

And Rukiya Bernard and Malikah!

The park is calling me. I’m out.

I think my fascination with Hipstermatica is dying.

I’ve been meaning to post links to things that are awesome. But I’ve been waaaay too busy eating chocolate.

My writing partner Ayma did this when she was 13, when she was still a wee little friendly Yukonite forest animal. Look how cute she is! I full on laughed out loud at the end.

I forgot how much I love the Deadly Snakes. This song is speaking to me these days.
(I get to see Andre and his lovely wife Kai this summer at an epic wedding!)

07 Let it All Go

I think I forgot to mention that I wrote this a few weeks ago. Someone told me it was on the cover of the Metro. I guess that’s exciting.

Check this out…

Special right?

Another thing that’s awesome that’s not really a link? Being complimented. I’ve had some really nice compliments lately. Some of my favourites?

One of my editors called me beguiling. (I had to look it up.)

Someone else (whose bones I totally want to jump) called me intriguing. (That fed the ego.)

And a sort of stranger called my writing “next level shit.”

My favourite compliment of my life: I was an usher in university and Rafi was performing at the venue where I worked. I had this hairband that had flowers on it so it looked like I was wearing a ring of daisies in my hair. I was wearing it the night of Rafi. This one little girl, who was probably six, just stared at me in awe. Her teacher later came up to me and told me the girl had asked her if I was a princess. I’ll never forget that.

Makes a girl feel special! Seriously, keep ‘em coming.

What’s the best compliment you’ve ever received?

Hey! Check out my latest project. Click here now!

Lots of valleys as of late. So let’s focus on the things that make me peak.

This…

Because it makes me  feel like summer, even though that feeling is fleeting these days.

Old people holding hands…

Never gets old.

Louise Burns!

She’s my Buddha babe.

This movie, which says a lot ’cause I have little patience for movies.

This song. It’s currently number one on my Top 25 most played on iTunes. That link is of a sexy, coked up version of the original.

Oh. And this person…That right there is my Jesus. I worship him. It’s his birthday today, so I took the day off to celebrate. HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHRIS JACOT! I’ll call you for the ninth time later!

Woke up smiling after having an intriguing and delightful encounter the night before. More to come on that one, hopefully one day soon.

Caught up on errands, which felt good. Ate a Vietnamese sub downtown.

Came home and fell asleep next to Dutchie, on the couch. This is Dutchie. Jealous?

Then took her to the park for an awesome park session, where we ran into some new friends.

Then Louise came over and we ate magical food at Chutney Villa. They pour the coffee in such an entertaining way. It’s worth the whole visit.

Then we watched the sky for a bit.

Then we went to this show , Free Life Center, on the rooftop of Lifetime and it was magic. They built a cabin and filled it with their art and played magical music by candlelight. Ben Frey and Jenna Rogers were also there and we all laughed a bunch.

I bought a piece from Mark Warren Jacques that I titled summer snowflake. It’s so beautiful. He wrote me a personal message on the back that made me smile.

Being with Louise is always magic.

Me squinting my eyes ’cause they’re all red and puffy from makeup. Anyone recommend really good eye makeup/makeup remover for the hyper sensitive?

I came home and watched Mad Men. Today my eyes are bothering me but I got my dog a carrying case for public transport so things are pretty balanced out. Going to meet Ayma at Sushiyama, which automatically makes everything better.

Hey, you should visit  I’m a Good Story. It’s my new thing.

So, I’m back from Ontario, which, for lack of a better way to describe it, was a dream come true trip. It was work related but barely felt that way. Two and a half days of wining and dining and writing. A whole shit load fun. Really a dream come true. Volkswagen will always have a special place in my heart as a result. You can read about it here and here and here. Here are some other shots of my favourite parts of the trip.

This.

My hotel room at the Cosmopolitan was amazing.

Seeing my Dad for exactly three minutes before he went off to party.

Getting a sweet manicure at the fancy spa.

This.

This, until I puked in my mouth.

And flying first class. That was a real treat. Now I have to figure out a way to live like this all the time.

My mum left yesterday. I was sad to see her leave. I think this was the first visit where we didn’t fight once. Just really decent mother/daughter time. It was special.

We went to the aquarium, which was chockfulla little people. What are they doing there? Getting educated or something?

Cuuuuute.

This is the final product of my attempt in trying to teach my mum how to take artsy shots. Close enough.

This is my artsy shot. Octopus!

And a photo of me and Dutchie and my blue nails, just ’cause.

Had a lovely day with my new friend Olivia yesterday. We sat around on her comfy couch, then sat around on her lovely deck, then sat around in a park. Perfect day off.

Now it’s back to the grind, which is all right, since my work isn’t too grindy.