toot toot

Check out this video.

question: none for the time being.

mompoet - gotta go take a call

ps Thanx Dad!

wordless wednesday

tasty tuesday list of delicious

The Red Hot Chili Peppers tickets came in the mail. I profess not to worry about stuff, but I admit I was worried they wouldn't, that there had been a mistake or maybe someone stole them from my mailbox (!!!) but they came. We will have to carry oxygen for high altitudes, our seats are so far up in the stadium, but we'll be about eye level with the jumbo-tron, and the people-watching will be fabulous. I think I have worn out the new Peppers cd Stadium Arcadium, listening to it over and over. It is very good. I'm also listening to their music from the 80s and 90s and enjoying the progression. The concert's on September 14, so there's some more time to anticipate the fun.

Alex left his cell phone in his jeans pocket when he did his laundry (hey, that's delicious all by itself, my kids do their own laundry). Anyway, the phone went through a whole wash, rinse and spin cycle. Andy advised him to leave it to dry out for a week. Alex tried it last night. Guess what? It works!

I went to an Italian wedding shower on Sunday. My friend Kathy's son Robert is getting married this summer. Lucy, his fiancee, is Italian. I was maid of honour in an Italian wedding once, so I was prepared. The shower was at an Italian restaurant with 50 women. Everything was beautiful. I knew about the food part, so I ate only 1/2 of everything that was served to me, and made it through the meal while others who were uninitiated to Italian banquet eating dropped like stuffed flies around me. The food was delicious, but even more delicious? At our table there were six Marias! Maria, Maria, Maria, Maria, Maria and Maria...ahhhhh!

I saw the Da Vinci Code on Sunday evening with Alex and I actually liked it. It's been pretty much panned by the critics, but I decided to give it a try, and Alex was dying to see it so he could talk to his friends about it at school on Monday. If you watch it as a study of character and intention it's actually pretty good. What makes each person go? Oh! It was very good in that sense, or as good as a movie can be. As a thriller/mystery or compelling statement of a controversial theory, I'm not so sure, but I'm not much of a judge of such things. About people's stories I know, and it was good in that way. I also admire how Tom Hanks is okay with not looking beautiful. Good man.

Andy and I saw Fiona in The Wizard of Oz on Saturday. It was her "off cast" meaning she was playing a chorus part. The show is "double-cast" meaning each actor learns two parts, a main role and a chorus part. We'll see her playing the Cowardly Lion this coming Saturday. She is a star. We are so proud of her.

That's my delicious life so far.

question: what's good for you today?

mompoet - full of yummy

Garage Sale Impressions

Our townhouse complex had its annual garage sale this weekend. I unloaded a bit of junk, had a great visit with our old neighbour Neana who always comes back and sets up shop for the day with us. I spent only $2 (1 brand new propane tank for the barbeque and a brand new queen size bed comforter), and the potluck supper was great at the end of the day.

question: what's your best garage sale or thrift shop find lately?

mompoet - not a shopper but I love the weirdness of people buying each other's junk

I could get my "L" in real life

And now for an email from the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia after I tried the online practice "L" driver's test:

Congratulations on completing your practice knowledge test.

Here is your test summary:

You scored 88%. The passing score on the real test is 80%.

An analysis of your test results indicates that you need to focus

your study in the following subject areas in RoadSense for Drivers.

Chapter 3: Signs, Signals and Road Markings - Pg. 27; Chapter 5: See - Think - Do - Pg. 55;

Use your test notes to review the questions you answered and visit icbc.com to take the

practice knowledge test again.

The ICBC practice knowledge test is @: link here

Good luck!

**********************************************************************************************

Did you know that in setting insurance premiums, ICBC does not discriminate on the basis of age, sex or marital status?

question: why not try it?

mompoet - fair to middling driver, glad I don't have to start over again

Here's the Link for the Real Practice L Test

Can you get your L?

question: would we be able to get our licenses if we had to start all over?

mompoet - sharing the road

Trick Question Learner's Licence Driving Quiz

Alex and his 16 year old friends are speculating about the questions on the Learner's Licence Driver Quiz. They are positive that trick questions will be included. In their imaginations, it will look like this. Find out if you have what it takes to get your "L."

1. What is never allowed when you are not turning off your hazard lights?

parking beside a mailbox
turning left from a one way street to an unmarked divided restricted lane
eating fried chicken and applying mascara while singing "Row Row Row your Boat"


2. Backing up without looking over your shoulder is never not prohibited when:

you have a stiff neck
you have not neglected to forget to collapse your umbrella
your underwear is on backwards


3. If you hear but don't see or see but don't hear the absence of an emergency vehicle you must:

cease stopping and refrain from yielding until you see or hear something real
pray but not out loud unless you have brushed your teeth recently
call home on the cell phone and ask your mom if she hears or sees anything


4. Which is the most worstly prohibited driving mistake?

de-constigulating in a hubris zone
artriculating in a non-artriculating interflange
gorgloning at any time


5. If you drive over a cat, what is your best next move?

drive under a dog to make it even
whatever you do, don't tell the cat
apply for a class 4 licence so you can become a school bus driver when you graduate

Congratulations, you have survived the Learner's Licence Driving Quiz. Here's what your score means:
1-5 - You have neglected to fail at passing. Try again.
6-10 - Have you considered faresavers?
11-15 - Provisional "L" for bumper cars only.

And remember, everything I have told you is a lie.

how to get it out of your head

To remove an unwanted song from your head, sing O Canada! (preferably out loud, but you can use your judgement).

O Canada! is the sorbet (or, for my dad SHERBERRRRRRT) of songs. It cleanses your brain of any bad song that won't go away. Try it.

question: ring ring ring ring ring ring ring?

mompoet - bananaphone....O Canada!

in case wordless wednesday is just a bit too quiet for you

bananaphone

question: ring ring?

mompoet - repetition is for emphasis

wordless wednesday

sewing some more

One more night of Munchkin Stitchery before tomorrow's dress rehearsal. Actually, I'm sewing a sherbert-green dress, but they don't have a lot of female munchkin images on the internet. Oh well, you can see some of them in the background.

Question: Do you remember the song from this famous scene?

mompoet - (hint) We represent the......

breathing

I’m working on breathing
Breath has the power
To power my words
Give life to my thoughts
Transform awkward impulse to song

Singing teacher says
“Fill the belly. Support your notes. Breathe strong. Breathe control.”
But I can’t tell,
Will I ever find enough air
To express the breadth of
Whatever this is
Ballooning to bursting
Inside?

Or will I suffocate
Before I can expel the truth?
And upon collapsing
Reveal an emptiness that will
Rob all oxygen from the atmosphere
Deprive those I love the best
Of the breath they need
To sustain their own songs?

I’m floundering
Gasping
It should be wet here
Bottomless
Instead, I’m drowning in my car
Windows cranked tight
I saturate myself with sound
Race from one idea to another
Windows closed tight
But music leaks
Leaves a trail behind me

The music that fills my chest with something good for now
Numbs me to the knowledge
That most of these thoughts are harmful
Toxic if inhaled and held for too long
Music that leaks
Despite windows closed tight
Leaks like sweet marinade
Follow me
Follow me

Singing teacher says
“When you have learned the breathing
The song is the same
Going out
Coming in
It’s one fluid exchange”

It should be wet here
I’m driving in a snow globe without a bubble
My ears are full so I can’t tell
Are you there?
Bring me air
Resuscitate me
We will drive and drive and drive
Until
Like breath
We disappear.

mompoet - breathing

the porridge

This is the porridge recipe that I use. I was eating it when I broke my tooth, but I don't blame the porridge. It was my tooth's expiry date, no matter what I was eating.

It comes from a CBC radio breakfast contest a long time ago. It's very good:

ARTHUR'S PORRIDGE

4 cups wheat bran

3 cups rolled oats (largest flakes)

2 cups Triticale flakes

1 cup barley flakes

1 cup wheat flakes

2 cups cracked oats (Scotch Oats)

2 cups cracked wheat

1 cup whole barley (Pot Barley)

1 cup whole oats (Oat Groats)

1 1/2 cup flax seed (BROWN variety)

Mix thoroughly all grains in a large container. Fill plastic bags or wide-mouth jars with the porridge mix. I make a gigantic recipe (quadrupled or quintupled, and store the bags in the freezer).

TO PREPARE (per serving):

Boil one cup of water in a pot. Add a pinch of salt, a small handful of

raisins (dried cranberries are good too) and 1/3 to 1/2 cup of the porridge mix.

Stir a couple of times, put lid on pot, then immediately remove pot from high heat and place on another element at lowest heat and let this stand undisturbed for approximately five minutes.

This is good with brown sugar and milk or with my personal favourite: plain yogurt and home-made strawberry jam.

Thanks Mom, for digging up the recipe when I couldn't find my copy.

I hope you will try this recipe, and don't worry about your teeth. It's good for your teeth.

question: what did you have for breakfast this morning?

mompoet - breakfast matters

summer is soon

And I have passed through the portal of equinox funk to loving the light again. It always happens this way, but every year I dread the transition. phew. It's done. I even wore shorts yesterday, and I bought some new summery-salmon toe varnish. The Victoria Day long weekend begins tomorrow, and with it the official lounging in our carports season of neighbourly suburban drinking on the street while our children play hockey and ride bikes. It's one week to the giant garage sale and first mega-potluck of the outdoor eating-together season too. I've begun watering plants in the morning, and walking the dog without putting on a coat. Now I'm ready for summer. Bring me summer!

question: what's your favourite time of year?

mompoet - guess I better shave my legs, huh?

neighbour haiku

the oven was not
left on but you can call me
anytime to check

question: who has your keys?

mompoet - once my neighbour went inside my house and brought my bathing suit to the pool when I ripped a hole in the butt of the one I that I wore to the pool in the first place

wordless wednesday

ouch

I didn't mention this before, but I broke my tooth on Mother's Day. I was eating porridge (recipe to follow) and suddenly something was dreadfully wrong. After that everything I ate got jammed into a new rabbit hole that had somehow appeared between my two molars farthest back on the bottom right. ouch.

Wonderful, wonderful Dr. Bruce got me in Tuesday morning at 7:30am. Even after staying up late at the Poetry Slam Monday night, I sprang out of bed, ready to see an end to the discomfort. Well, actually I had this weird hypnogogic experience between the alarm clock and the feet on the floor which involved "Waking Up" (as an embodied state of consciousness - I think she was wearing pajamas and blue slippers) walking up a flight of stairs and seeing a hand-drawn poster that said "NO WAY!" in purple sparkly bubble letters, but I dismissed it and woke.

Turns out, I had a fearsome ragged chunk of broken-off tooth jammed deep into my gum between the two teeth since Sunday morning. Dr. Bruce showed it to me because he knows I like stuff like that. cool. No wonder it hurt when I chewed. ew.

Now I have a new filling and a new appreciation for salad, which I really wanted to eat on Monday, but I settled for squishy pasta because it didn't hurt so much. Also an appreciation for my fully functioning face after walking around for three hours with blubber cheek and manitou tongue - blubba goo goo (drool).

I guess if something about me is going to disintegrate, it's okay that it's my teeth, in minor ways like this.

question: what would you most want to chew if you had to stop chewing for a bit?

mompoet - I have a lovely bunch of broccoli and some nice chicken

the yellow brick road

It was a warm Sunday evening, so most of Port Moody was at Rocky Point Park after supper. We were there too, while some of the cast of The Wizard of Oz (May 26-June 4 at the Inlet Theatre) had publicity photos taken. Here's a sneak peek of the lion during makeup tests...trying not to scare herself...and how many people it takes to photograph a Tin Man, Scarecrow, Lion, Toto and Dorothy strolling down the pathway to Oz.

question: what did you do for Mother's Day?

mompoet - 83k mother's day

we got 'em

Myrna and I are going to see the Red Hot Chili Peppers in September. I'm so excited! I haven't been to a rock concert since I was about 25, and never in a big stadium. This is going to be so much fun!

question: do you attend cultural events with the blue rinse or the blue mohawk crowd?

mompoet - somewhere in between, I guess

move for health

Wednesday was International "Move for Health Day." It took on extreme importance in the province of British Columbia where we are being challenged to improve our communities' physical fitness by 20% in time for the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics. Well, I guess our province could start by feeding the ones who don't have enough food and providing treatment for the ones who are ill and houses for the ones who can't afford accommodation and compassionate care for the elders who built this beautiful province, but don't get me started... In the meantime, we will exercise (and also learn to read - but that's another challenge) so that we do not present the world (and network TV) with a province of illiterate fatsos in 2010. That gives me an idea. I'm going to pork up, black out a tooth, hang around Olympic venues in a sack dress and drool. Now won't that be a pretty pitcher? huh?

But anyway, in the meantime, we are exercising!!! Which is good for us for sure, regardless of what happens with the really big issues.

At the gym where I work out, our cycle class joined the seniors and elementary school students in a health walk Wednesday. About 300 people turned out. It was sunshiney, friendly and fun. We were cheered on by volunteers from the high school, and served treats upon our return. It really was very nice. Later we found out that of all the "Move for Health Day" events on Wednesday, ours was the biggest of those sponsored by the city. Hurray for the Cameron exercise people!

These pictures give you an idea of what it looked like.

question: is it okay to enjoy little triumphs before the big problems are tackled?

mompoet - vowing to be 20% more something by 2010

don't you love when tulips

do this?

question: well, don't you?

mompoet - Is it just me, or does the world look like a Dr. Seuss illustration right now?

Alice in Wonderland Yesterday

On Thursday I drove to Richmond with a friend (90 minutes to get there in rush hour, and 2 of us navigating to find Richmond City Hall), jumped and shouted and played all day in a "train the trainer" course (it was fun), got shushed along with 29 other playful adults by some Richmond City Hall people who informed us they were meeting with a delegation from Denmark in the next room (shhhh!!! play silently!!!), walked in a formal garden, lost my shoe, found my shoe, drove home (90 minutes again - this time I unravelled the route in reverse order and direction, no problem) cooked spaghetti, ate spaghetti, sewed a munchkin dress, did algebra, studied for a learner's license, fell down a dark rabbit hole of sleep.

question: what about your day?

mompoet - coming back out through the looking glass to Friday morning

wordless wednesday

also very tasty

I got my Mother's Day present a few days early. Andy and the kids went out and got me Stadium Arcadium, the Red Hot Chili Peppers' new cd. I couldn't listen to it last night because of too many people doing homework in too many rooms, too late into the evening. Now it's early morning and I'm having music for breakfast. How tasty to wake up this morning and think, "I have something new to enjoy."

The band is coming to Vancouver in September. I think I'll go see them.

Black bandana sweet Louisiana
Robbin' a bank in the state of Indiana

question: what did you think about when you woke up this morning?

mompoet - yum yum yum

tasty tuesday

a trio of non-nutrional tasties:

clean socks
you have no new messages
nordic poles (and not just because of the pun)

yum yum yum

question: what's tasty for you today?

mompoet - heading for the beeg marshmallow of slumber (also tasty)

what the heck is "snakes on a plane?"

• a suspense movie starring Samuel Jackson?
  
• a make-your-own cult film, spawning parodies even prior to its release?
  
• a slang expression - metaphor based on the movie premise?
• one more topic on which to build a blog?

In case you're doubting this all, check the trailer (but please note the date on which it was posted).

question: haven't we got anything better to do?

mompoet - marvelling at the weirdness of fads, reptiles and marketing

ps - My son told this joke at his birthday supper on Saturday:

Have you seen the new movie, "Constipation?"
No
That's okay, it hasn't come out yet.

words

Words

When I was 18 years old in university, I was smart, ambitious and hard-working, I got permission to take fourth year history courses in the beginning of my second year. I felt tremendously excited about this. I’d also got a promise of directed studies work from one of my favourite profs. I was going to get my degree in social history, find out the true stories of real people and how they understand each other, and take care of each other. I was going to max out my credits and fill up my curious brain with lifelong learning. I was on top of the world.

Right away, first week, the prof (who would become another of my favourites) told us we would each have to do a one-hour presentation within the next 6 weeks, effectively researching and teaching each other the curriculum. I can’t tell you how nervous this made me. Me, a silly little fresh-out-of-highschool girl, teach those big blustery history-heads and mature students too? I resolved to do my best, and signed up for one of the later slots, hoping to get a handle by watching and listening to my peers. The next week I walked into seminar early. Only one other student in the room, a big, smart guy I’ll call Stewart, who called the prof by his first name and seemed to have an educated opinion about everything. Older too. Musta been 25 or 26. My superior in every way. I asked him, “howzit goin’?” When he did the same I told him I was nervous about the presentation, and already working on the reading to be sure to do a good job.

“Don’t worry,” he said. “You’re a good-looking young girl. You’ll get a good mark, doesn’t matter what you say.”

The 98% I got on my presentation 3 weeks later, and my A in the course are thanks in no small part to Stewart, who made me so damn angry I forgot about being scared and got down to presenting his arrogant ass right out the 5^th floor window just so I could watch it splat on the quadrangle below.

Words have a way of doing that, spurring us on to action or stopping us dead in your tracks – depends I guess on how we’re feeling at the time. I can tell you I will never forget those words, or their implication. Or the effect they will have on me, forever.

Fast forward a year to the night my highschool girlfriends got together to plan a wedding shower for a friend. We’d been thick as thieves from grade 8 to grade 12, then went our separate ways after graduation, for the most part. Joining up again was fun. So much had happened since we’d last sat down. Then my friend arrived. I’ll call her Thelma. Dressed to the nines. I blurted out, “Thelma, I can’t believe it! You look GREAT!” Damn words…truth is, Thelma dressed pretty trashy through highschool, so much so that some of the kids made fun of her behind her back, and I was glad to see her looking like she liked her self a bit better than before, but there was nothing I could say to undo the damage. The rest of the evening was painfully awkward. I left early with teeth-clenched hugs and hollow “See you soons,” echoing in my ears.

Words slip out so easily, betraying our secrets, twisting our intentions. They’re permanent, indelible and in-correctible. I listen to conversations looping, edit my contribution after the fact, but done is done, even when I wish I could retract them like backwards music, swallow them back and just stay mum. But it’s too late.

Now one good friend is angry with another good friend. Mad enough not to speak to her for weeks. All over some words not properly heard and responded to in what might have been comic but turned out to be a tragically inappropriate manner. One small hurt sparks a reaction of volcanic proportions and the words splash out like burning magma, scarring as they fall on limbs already battered by the hardness of life. It’s next to impossible to forgive the one who deals the crushing blow, even if it was just a stupid comment delivered to exactly the wrong person at exactly the wrong time.

I believe it is in our nature to talk first and think later. Were we to stifle this impulse we would probably never know each other, hatch earth-changing ideas, love authentically or make art. We have to talk and talking is an inexact science.

All that remains is forgiveness and the charitable assumption of benefit of the doubt. Curiosity too.

Recently, I heard a friend say something to another friend that made my heart quicken. An insensitive remark at a bad time. Something so truly out of character I could not believe it. So I used my words. Unable to muster the courage in the moment, I phoned the next day. I chose my words carefully…”You are my friend, so I must ask…Last night I heard you say….” I mustered curiosity and trust to ask a friend about his words, and learned that he too was wishing for a rewind button, and also that he had spoken after to the one he must have hurt. Clarified intention, recognized transgression, made amends.

Words are like that. We all screw up and toss them carelessly like daggers or mud clots. When they hit their mark it doesn’t matter how we chase them, own them, take them back. They are their own echoes, with limited edit-ability. Their harm is permanent regardless of what we meant to say (or not say). All that matters how they were heard.

question - what's that you said?

mompoet - listening with an open heart

Stadium Arcadium

Red Hot Chili Peppers new double cd will be out on Tuesday. You can see the video of their new single, "Dani California" here.

question: how many of those concerts did you see?

mompoet - that's what I want for mother's day, by the way

2 good shews

Van Slam Finals was wonderful wonderful wonderful last night. That was good show #1. The performances were all stellar with 8 great semi-finalists. Alas, only 4 can be chosen to form our Vancouver team, going to Nationals in August. The winners are Patrick Swan, Magpie Ulysses, RC Weslowski and Nora (not sure about Nora's last name but we'll all know it soon). Sonya Renee, the feature was awesome on stage and warm and gracious in person during the show. Graham's roast was so good I think we might have convinced him to stay. The volunteers were so good I pretty much could have left after the first half hour and things would have gone along just fine. I love volunteers.

Saturday afternoon my parents gave me their tickets to No Great Mischief because they have the flu, so I took Alex, who celebrates his 16th birthday today, to see the show. It was a beautiful production, rich in emotion, language like poetry, full of music, mystery, family lore and powerful drama and only 6 chairs for props/scenery. I roared with laughter and cried 3 or 4 times. Alex thinks it's fascinating when I cry. He stops watching the play and watches me. Oh well. He liked the show pretty much, then we came home and had a big supper, with his uncle and the grandma who isn't sick.

I am full up with words and sounds and images and thoughts (and birthday cake).

Happy happy days!

question: have you been up to any great mischief?

mompoet - saturated

van slam finals tonight

Tonight, Vancouver's top-ranked slam poets will compete. The winners will make us this year's Vancouver team, representing our slam community at the Nationals in Austin Texas in August. They'll also go to Toronto in October for the Canadian Festival of Spoken Word.

If you're in the area and you'd like to attend, here's the info:

Friday May 5
Doors at 8, show at 9
$10-$15 sliding scale admission
Feature: Sonya Renee
WISE Hall - Victoria and Adanac in Vancouver
Next door to the Vancouver East Cultural Centre
Arrive early, we will sell every seat

It's also a tribute night for our host, Graham Olds, who will move to Vancouver Island soon. In between the competition and the feature we'll be saying nice things about Graham and giving him presents and stuff. (note to self - pack tissues)

question: is a slam host roast technically vegan?

mompoet - it's all gentler than it sounds

reflection upon making 8 dozen chocolate chip cookies before leaving for work this morning

Is chocolate really poisonous for dogs?
Or is this really an urban myth, made up by a vindictive cat?

question: if I put the cookies in a box with a lid inside the cupboard, will the dog be able to get them?

mompoet - putting the cookies on top of the fridge (luckily the cat is not interested)

for carol

question: can you guess which one?

mompoet - don't get me started about exfoliation...

ps - wanna see the "before?"

wordless wednesday

My perfect job

My perfect job is Surrogate mum.
Take The Perfect Job Generator today!
Created with Rum and Monkey's Name Generator Generator.

question: what's your perfect job?

mompoet - closed due to renovations

after visiting the aesthetician - a haiku

twelve dollars later
i've got an eyebrow cowlick
pass the hair gel please

question: did you ever grow a unibrow?

mompoet - uni-que and cow-licky

this is my city