(no subject)

Ingrid and company are STILL not here, and I'm beginning to become a bit concerned. It's a little grey out today, but hiking will probably be on for tonight.

I was reading "Outside" magazine the other day at Millie's. It's not bad. Apparently my dad is smarter than me, because he's got a subscription and has been reading it for years. There's one thing that bothers me about it; it's really male-oriented. There are some women, but not very many. Don't women go "Outside"?

Some of you are probably sick of the constant discussion of ethnic relations in this journal, but I just have to stay that the shirts representing different ethnicities at "Angrylittleasiangirl" are the cutest things I've seen in a while.

http://www.angrylittleasiangirl.com

I've got the bones...

Ingrid and company finally arrived at about 9:30 and Ingrid told me the real reason for the delay. Apparently the plane they were supposed to be flying on was being used by Bagabandi, President of Mongolia. Bagabandi decided at the last minute that he wanted to fly to Moscow. Due to the lack of planes, normal passengers get the shaft when the President wants something.

Anyway, it's cool to see Ingrid and we babbled happily at each other for a while. She was given a lot of green tea in South East Asia, and she's trying to pawn it off. I don't like green tea that much, but I reasoned that my friend who just moved to Canada from Thailand may appreciate the gift.

The guests are Ingrid's friends from Canada; Chris and her partner Peter. Peter is like a character from a movie. He's got mutton chops, big blue eyes and was wearing a stripey shirt. In his deep bass voice, he said to me, "So you're the sweet little girl from Saskatchewan. I'm from there too. I grew up in Swift Current." I then expected him to start singing Johnny Cash tunes.

So tomorrow, the four of us will be heading out to Terelj to go hiking. Ingrid and I have to start working very hard in the next couple weeks, so we will be going over some of the report at the campsite. Ingrid bought me a lovely handmade journal from Thailand. I love it.

I told Ingrid about the related CCA news I received from Kathleen. I learned that Lydia (supervisor from Indonesia) is busy planning her daughter's wedding and has 2 weeks to do it. Lydia has been in Indonesia for most of the year, and so this is really whirlwind. I really wish I could have met Manna. She's a surfer yogini traveller girl who studied to become a masseuse. She has lived in Mexico, Thailand, Canmore, and Tofino. I would have met Manna if it hadn't been for the the Bali bomb. When Manna heard about the bomb, she went to Hawaii to surf.(Writing this made me acknowlege some of the reasons why Lydia and I get along so well.)

So since I'm going to be pretty busy with work related stuff, I went shopping today and bought more small gifts for friends and relatives. I got bracelets, more teeny gers, sheep knuckle bones, and a bag for my brother's girlfriend. I also got sucked in and bought this really nice bag for myself. It's got a dragon on one side and a phoenix on the other.

[Unknown site tag]
Since I just read 2 really good books, I had a hard time with followup. I started this book "Sister Wolf", but it was all about werewolf/priest fantasies. Stupid characters and poor writing. Ick, gave it away.
Then I started "Facial justice" which was given to me by fellow bookcrosser Babak. It was this stupid science fiction book in which people were trapped and given surgery so they got these new faces. It was a total "1984" ripoff and the metaphor was just stupid. So I never finished.
Now I'm reading Mona Simpson's "A regular guy." I like the characters, the dialogue and the scenarios but there doesn't seem to be a lot of plot. I guess this book is just sort of like real life.

The bride wore blue stockings....

For an interesting article about Bluestockings and other women's bookstores, go here:

http://www.bitchmagazine.com/

(no subject)

So as I predicted, the days of slackdom are ending. I have a lot of revisions to do as Ingrid's going over the things I've written.

So much is happening in all my worlds right now, and it's really crazy.

I was somewhat disappointed to learn that Ingrid bought "A Fortune teller told me", as I'd planned to send her the book as a thank you gift.

My day was made better by this news: http://cbc.ca/stories/2003/07/07/botox_sweat030707

As I've mentioned before, I like to buy strange drinks while in Asia. Yesterday's drink- "Creamy soda", with the slogan "Enjoy the soft white feeling of creamy soda."

I'm bringing the can home. (it just tasted like regular cream soda by the way.)

(no subject)

Today's events included going hiking and getting lost in the woods with Henry and Andy. I was repeatedly complimented on my rank sense of humour, which unfortunately, I cannot surpress.

Babak gave me a copy of Neil Gaiman's "Stardust", which was excellent as it has fulfilled my potential reading lull.

I'm going to Terelj for a couple days, so there might not be much happening here for a while. Apparently Jen rode a camel there last weekend, so I should be able to fulfill one of my goals for this trip.

(no subject)

Okay, I lied. I have a couple more things to write about.

So Henry, Babak and the Aussie girls went on a trip up North. Their driver told them about "Mother rock". Apparently this rock looks like 2 breasts. The story is that the rock will help you produce children. Couples that want kids go there, and have sex in front of the rock. The driver said that he took a couple there, and they conceived. A week later, the driver got his girlfriend pregnant as well.

After telling this story, the driver asked Henry, Babak and co if they wanted to go to the Mother rock. Everyone in the car responded with a vehement, "NO!"

You know how I was talking about Peter? Well, it turns out that I'm kind of observant. He is actually a bluegrass singer, guitarist and bass player. He's won international bluegrass competitions.

Today Dorothy gave me one of the best compliments I've had in awhile. She said "Alexis has a lot of interesting stories to tell."

You know, I can't tell you how much that meant to me.