Sunday, July 28th

[updated list of summer plans, otherwise nothing has changed ]

Last evening, 6pm

[note to self: running at 6 pm is too early in this heat]

Saturday, July 20th

The water machine was out of order. The kind that uses reverse-osmosis to give you bacteria free, tasty water. I was slightly peeved. It's hot, and our tap-water is not that grand. I glanced at the outrageously expensive organic vegetables (which is the other reason I shop there) and decided not to buy anything. This timing of events means that I missed out on a big event. By less than a minute I think.

The liquor store just down the street was robbed. It happened right before I got there, I was the last customer they let in. I didn't know there was a robbery at first. I did notice when I walked in that all the customers lined up at the cash were talking to each other, which in itself is unusual. They were chattering actually, a high-pitched kind of hum which should have tipped me off. At first I thought there had been a car accident outside or something. So I walked casually down the aisles looking for a bottle of decent, cheap white wine. As I got near Italy, I overheard a clerk on the phone. She was talking to the police. "Hi, this is the liquor store on W 18th Ave, we were just robbed." Brief pause. "Just now, a few minutes ago." So then I became interested. This was fascinating stuff.

She, the clerk, said that another customer (a woman) told her she saw this guy with a gun, and apparently this clerk then sauntered right by the guy (sauntering was not the word she used, but it describes the effect) towards the phone. But he was very quick. He got to one of the cash registers, took out the gun, and got all the money. They got his license plate number. (Odds are, he stole the car). When I purchased my wine -- a moderately priced pinot blanc made by a local winery -- I asked the clerk (a guy) about how often it happens. He said fairly often, but not really at this liquor store.

They let me out of the store (it now being locked and closed until further notice) and as I walked down the street the cops drove by.

Then I really absorbed what happened. A guy with a gun. The other customers are probably chugging back their beers, their wine, their g and t's telling this story right now.

Yesterday

[I've taped the entire first season of Buffy. Thus begins the great research project...]

The gym I go to is part of a community centre inside a huge park where lots of summer activity occurs -- baseball (4 diamonds), ultimate, plain ol' frisbee, water sports, swings, see saws, monkey bars, -- in short the a park that has remained the same for 50 years or so (except for the size of the trees). It gives off a glowing, nostalgic feeling as you walk through. There's even an ice-cream truck that drives by, circling around and around.

It plays "Fur Elise". This is I know, because it's the one song I learned as a kid that I can still trickle out on the piano.

And there are sunbathers.

One girl I noticed because she was wearing a bikini but had her head wrapped up like a mummy in white cloth. She was lying prone and from the neck up was completed swatched in this fabric. The rest of her body, minus the bikini was baking away (she looked red -- she was white). It was definitely odd looking.

I wondered what the end result would be. Will her face be pale and etheral, and the rest of her skin eventually "tanning" to golden perfection? Will she be happy in her duo-tone shell? Or disappointed? Will her significant other smile? Will she be pretty? Que sera sera.

Recently

[Got to see Anyanka in the episode when she makes her original appearance as a truly magnificent vengeance demon. Now why I wonder did they turn her character into a loveable ditz à la Lucille Ball or Phoebe? I guess she's back to her former self now though, although there's been no real evidence.]

I've temporarily regressed into old habits. Those of the shy, meek, non-assertive ilk. These last few days it seems that each encounter makes me feel about 11 years old. Pre-pubescent. I never stuttered, but I might start.

It started with the business cards I had printed. They didn't turn out right and although I did assert myself and speak up about them, I didn't get a satisfactory response, ie: changes or reduced price, and instead I walked away paying in full for something I wasn't happy with .... grrr.

Is it a kind of amnesia that's affecting my resilience? Or the beginning of summer -- being more of a flashback thing (end of school and all that jazz) -- or is it because I'm not running enough?

Less recently

[Xander saves the world. Is this because he's the only "true" human on the show? Or that the quality of their writing has slipped... True, it was a blockbuster show. But too schmatlzy. Still, I've upgraded to cable. Excuse: World Cup. Actual: Buffy airs every night at 11pm. So I can catch up and figure out what makes the show tick and write a scintillatingly brilliant thesis which I'll publish on the web and all the doors will open for me. ]