Canadian girl out and aboot

So I spent most of the morning hanging out with [Bad username or site: @ livejournal.com], before getting ready to take off. It would take me about an hour to get to the Harbourfront, so I left early and then wandered up Bay street and looked at Nathan Phillips square and part of Queen St West before getting on the streetcar to get to Harbourfront. It might be the time of year, but I didn't see a lot of trees and green in Toronto. I also think it's weird that people bike in the downtown area without helmets. Seems that helmet wearing is law in Vancouver, but not in TO. I find it odd.

Finally, I got down to Harbourfront, where I took pics of some of the waterfront. It was okay, but not as interesting as the Harbour in Vancouver. I was more excited to see some of the areas where they have the International Festival of Authors. After getting lost, I managed to find my way to the Pearl Harbourfront restaurant. I thought this was kind of a dumb name, until I got there and realized that we were having Chinese food! My comfort food! Deliciousness! There were a bunch of poets there and so I sat next to two very nice women and we ended up chatting all during the dinner and I had a good time meeting some of the poets and the judge. Most of the poets were teachers or publicists or media types of some sort, which was pretty interesting to me.

After we were done eating, we wandered over to Harbourfront in a group. One thing that was weird was that most of the other writers said I "looked familiar" and asked if they had read with me before. Because I live in Edmonton and not Ontario, I was doubtful and had to negate them. It was kind of funny. There were a few people from Guelph, Hamilton and Windsor, but the majority of people were actually from TO.

We were ushered into the Harbourfront room, and then 2 of us went backstage to use the greenroom bathroom and pick up some things. I got to sign the archive book, which was signed by all the authors that had gone to Harbourfront. So I got to sign a few pages after Sherman Alexie. (I squealed with excitement internally)

Since I didn't know anyone in the audience (my friend was going to come but her neighbour/friend had a heart attack), I felt really awkward, so I was hiding backstage until the actual event. We read in alphabetical order, so I was 8th. I think I did a good reading, and a lot of people told me that they enjoyed my work. It was a very eclectic evening and there was a lot of different work read. People were nice and I ended up chatting to another poet and her friend in the line for the bar. However, after the entire event, we had to stand around to sign books, and I just ended up feeling very awkward because most people seemed to know a lot of other people, since they were from TO, and I am not. Still, it was interesting and I met a lot of neat people and it was fun to read in another city. They still didn't tell us who "WON" but said a short list would be announced in the next couple of days. Last year they picked 6 poets to come back and perform, so it will be neat if I get picked. I'm not going to think about it any more though.

So to sum up- great reading, awkward standing around after. This is my weak point. I'm really good one on one or in small group situations, but I tend to feel a little awkward at parties or in large groups because I never know who to talk to.

So I spent New Year's at my friend Mari's. We had grand plans to get to several parties but we never got there in time. Mari had received a creme brulee set from her bf's mom, so she ended up making us creme brulee. It was my first time having creme brulee. I'm not sure how that happened. The creme brulee set even came with a little blow torch so Mari's bf torched the creme brulee, while her roommate Stephanie stood by with the fire extinguisher. For those of you playing along at home, all these events actually went down at Todd Babiak's since Mari and Stephanie are housesitting for him while he is in France. In hopes of embarrassing him, I scoured Todd's bookcases looking for shameful items, but he doesn't seem to have any. He must hide them.

During this time, I tried bourbon, discovered that I don't like it and drank some Vampire wine instead. I'd seen the Vampire wine in the offsale here and was eager to try it. It's actually not bad. However, I don't think I could actually take it anywhere, as then I'd be the crazy goth girl who showed up with the vampire wine.

At midnight, I kissed Henry, Mari's Boston terrier. Then Mari and her bf went to the Artery to meet up with more peeps, and I went home to sleep.

The next day, I did a lot of nothing and watched a lot of Glee on DVD. Love! On Saturday, I did a bunch of errands then went down to the Black dog bar to see a free set done by a guy I know named Doug Hoyer . I met Doug at a bbq at my friend's and we always chat when we run into each other. His music is pretty cool; he's got great lyrics and wonderful melodies and some really catchy songs. I actually think his music could become quite popular if it fell into the right hands. Anyway, I met up with a few more people and then Doug and I chatted in between sets and at one point, he gave me a copy of a chapbook written by a few local poets/musicians.

On Jan 3rd, I went for my first ski this year, and skied around Hawrelak park. My goal is to ski all 9 of Edmonton's parks this year. I'm up to 3 so far. Then I had a slack afternoon and went for supper with [Bad username or site: @ livejournal.com], who has just moved to Alberta.

My week is going to pick up in a big way by tomorrow. Today is just another working from home day, but tomorrow I head out to a meeting of the Wild Rose Agricultural Producers (NOT TO BE CONFUSED WITH THE Wild Rose Alliance political party of conservatives, shudder.). The Wild Rose Agricultural Producers are a group of Alberta farmers who get together to discuss provincial issues affecting farmers. It should be a good meeting, and it's at the Fantasyland hotel in the West Edmonton Mall. I've been to a few conferences there; they have a good conference rate and decent food.

Then I'm going to the opening of the Winterlight festival . I've got a few friends involved with the festival and Mari is the festival blogger and social media coordinator. So that should be cool.

Last Friday, I volunteered at Litfest. I had to sell books for a seminar for magazine publishers, writers and editors. Basically, it was a session for my type of people, and I was just sitting in on the session.

Later that evening, my friend Becky and I went to see Moby. The event was way across town, and I don't drive much at night in Edmonton. Suffice it to say that Becky had to put up with me getting a bit lost on the way there and back.

The Edmonton Events centre is a little club attached to the mall. It's fairly intimate and there are multiple levels which allows you to see the stage from a number of vantage points. Becky had been there before to see M.I.A and knew the best place for us to stand. Since we are both short, we were able to stand on the stairs and see the stage quite well.

The crowd was quite a bit older. In fact, we were pretty much on the younger end of the spectrum, which was really nice.

Moby himself puts on a great show. I thought he would just dj, but he plays guitar and keys, sings and plays the bongos. His entire band was female except for the drummer. He had two female vocalists and a violinists on stage with him. The show as high energy and he played a lot of his old favourites. All in all, it was a great experience and I'd recommend seeing him live if you get the chance.

I must say that last weekend's wedding was wonderful. The wedding was the celebration of the marriage between two of my friends; Debi and Darrell. Debi and Darrell met in the offices of the Daily Herald Tribune, which is where I worked in Grande Prairie. They have always been one of those couples that made you happy to be around them. When I'm hanging out with them, I always feel included and appreciated by both of them. You can tell that they are truly in love, that they enjoy each other and that their lives are enriched because they are together. They are both friends of mine and so I was quite happy to attend their wedding.

Of course, no wedding would be complete without a wardrobe malfunction. I was blowdrying my hair when I reached for my wrap. It clunked across the floor. I turned it around and realized that the security tag was still attached. The wrap was purchased in Edmonton and I'd thrown away the receipt. AAAAHHH. So I rushed to the mall in my dress and purchased a new pashmina to wear at the wedding. I have to get the security tag removed from my dress today.

Anyway, the wedding part had a rather traditional church ceremony, but it still had lots of personal touches. Debi was escorted down the aisle by both of her parents and they proclaimed the couple, husband and wife, rather than "man and wife." Debi and both of her parents and many of the guests cried during the ceremony.

A couple hours later, we attended the reception. This was a lot of fun because it was a reunion for many Daily Herald Tribune staff and I got to see many Grande Prairie friends. Debi and Darrell really made the reception about them. They entered to the James Bond theme, had pictures of themselves on the table settings and instead of kissing during glass clinks, you had to display Oilers memorabilia or silver coins from the years that the Oilers won the Stanley cup. Debi is known for her sugar cookies, so she made these as favours for the wedding. It was really personal and special if you knew the couple. The speeches were great and you could tell that all the parents were very happy and supportive and that they were excited that their children had found such a great partner. Everything was extremely nice; the colours were fall colours and the bridesmaid dresses were simple and chocolate brown.

Chris, Debi's brother, was the master of ceremonies for the evening. At one point, he said that many people have wondered what the future holds for Debi and Darrell. He made Debi's mom and Darrell's dad stand up and embrace and proclaimed, "Debi and Darrell in thirty years." This was really funny because both of them do look A LOT like their parents. It was extremely cute.

The wedding was also fun because the event was small, which allowed Debi and Darrell to spend a lot of time actually talking with the guests at their wedding. All in all, a lovely event. I got home a little after midnight and my feet weren't even sore from dancing even though I was wearing high heels.

I had great shoes and a fantastic dress and got a lot of compliments on how I looked, which was also fun. :)

I realized a couple days ago that I have a slight feeling of inadequacy because I was never an English major. As a result, I have not studied Shakespeare or read many of the classics. This has informed my reading habits for the past few years, as I have tried to read more classics. I also got my Shakespeare on this summer by seeing three plays, which is probably a bit of a record for me.

Last night Mari and I went to go see the local production of Titus Andronicus. I don't think I've ever had a year where I saw this many Shakespeare plays before.

If you're familiar with Titus, you might not that this play is pretty much a gore-fest. It was one of Shakespeare's first hits, and it's basically his "Reservoir Dogs." It's definitely not my favourite play, but it's worth seeing for the sheer campiness. The body count is around 14.

I won't give away the whole plot, but I will relay some of the funnier moments from the night. There came a point in the evening when the audience just started laughing because the gore was so over the top, like a bad horror movie. As one woman was entering the stage after a vile attack, a happy little ice cream truck entered the park. The juxtaposition of the vile scene on stage and the ice cream truck's happy music made me laugh. I also laughed as some poor family, complete with children, left the park in horror. One poor kid, who was about 10 years old, was even covering his ears.

At one point, when someone got their hand cut off, I couldn't control myself and said loudly, "They're putting the hand in the baggie?" By this point, the cut off limbs were deliberately fake and the whole thing was just ridiculous. When one man brought in a box that was to contain severed heads,a man in the audience behind us said, "Heads up," and I couldn't stop laughing.

After intermission, we ran into someone Mari knew, so we sat on the grass with him. I don't know what was happening on that side of the stage, but people were abnormally flatulent. At one moment, a woman eating popcorn actually RAISED her butt cheek off a picnic bench in order to break wind. She let out a particularly loud and exuberant fart. The three of us looked at each other to make sure that we'd all really seen what we saw before we burst out laughing. It was seriously bizarre. After that, some guy giving his gf a back rub also broke wind a few times. I don't know what it was about that particular play, or the area where we were sitting but holy crap, people just kept on farting until the play was over.

Not much to report lately. I had a pleasant Canada day at my friend Amanda's house. We sat in the backyard around her fire and drank wine and in my case, cider. Then a group went off to see the fireworks and a few of us stayed behind to watch the fire.

I got a free ticket to see "The Comedy of Errors" and ended up going by myself. I've decided that I don't really LOVE Shakespeare. I like some of it, but really, it's not my favourite thing. I just feel that I should learn about it as it is so historically significant. That said, I've definitely got a hankering to go see "Antony and Cleopatra" in Saskatoon when I go.

I finished watching Season 1 of "True Blood". I love it, especially all the sexuality of the show, but I sometimes wish it wasn't so gory.

My weekend was rather quiet. I'm still catching up on work, and didn't have much to do over the weekend. On Monday night, I drove out to Barrhead to stay overnight so I could catch a bus and go to Athabasca. Athabasca is a gorgeous area that I haven't really explored.

Yesterday I went on a tour of a farm called Big Coulee Farms. The man who owns it pasture raises all his animals, including turkeys, pigs and chickens. It was a pretty interesting operation. I ended up getting home pretty late. I was supposed to go out of town again today, but there's a thunderstorm warning. I don't mind rain, but I'm not driving 3 hours to stand outside in a thunderstorm.

Thursday night, Amanda and I went to a downtown church to see a Joel Plaskett show. He was absolutely amazing, and it was a great concert. I need to get some of his albums now. It was good stuff.

Friday, I stayed home all day since Dad and Fergus were arriving. I sat on the couch reading. Once he arrived, Dad and I went to MEC, where Dad astounded me by only shopping there for half an hour, which is a record for him. Seriously, I was outside with a book while he was shopping, and was startled to see him so soon.

We checked out a Cajun restaurant that I wanted to try before taking Fergus for a walk. Fergus is doing pretty well in his new environment. In fact, it's nice to have him around, but I need to make sure that he doesn't bark or act up.

Dad and I also went to Ikea to get me a new bookcase. Unfortunately, I need someone to help me anchor it to the wall and that is proving to be a bit of a problem...

Last night I decided to go meet up with some friends at a pub. My friend has formed a group called BADASS (Bikes across Downtown and Selective South), and we go for Pintrides, which involve biking to pubs for drinks. I attended the second half of the ride, and met up for drinks.) It was good. I've really been getting out more, which is awesome.

I've been up, down and all over the place. Today one of the phone jacks in my apartment decided to die, which means that I have one jack to cover phone and Internet. I'm checking my messages and am mostly relying on my cell. I'll be in this situation until Wednesday. Fortunately, I've already told my parents how they can get hold of me, and I guess they are the most important people to notify.

Last night I went to see the Weakerthans and the Constantines. It was my first time at Winspear Centre, and I really loved the venue. It has a huge pipe organ and round seating and it's truly fabulous. I did not enjoy the Constantines at all, but the Weakerthans were fabulous. This was my first time seeing them and they were great- excellent act, good sound and tight music. I was smiling the whole concert. Unfortunately I don't think my friends knew what to expect and I'm not sure if they enjoyed them that much. Oh well.

Today I spent most of the day just doing errands, then went to check out one of the events at the Edmonton Poetry Festival tonight. The PO FEST runs all weekend, and it's a great time. I attended it in September and had a fantastic time, met lots of great people and got exposed to a lot of new work. Tonight I attended a reading in a bookstore. The first section was pretty good, but the second reading was amazing. Edmonton based poet Titi Sonuga read. I heard her read in September and completely fell in love with her work. She's originally from Nigeria and basically performs spoken word. Her parents came to see her read for the first time. She read a poem about how they had left Nigeria and the sacrifices they had made. She started crying, and they started crying, and a few of us who were in the audience started crying. It was incredibly moving and powerful.

Following this, aboriginal poet Greg Scofield read some really powerful pieces. After this amazing reading, I went across the street to chat with some friends who were at another reading, then walked home.

While waiting for the 99 bus today, I happened to notice a very familiar looking and stunning Native woman. I thought, "That looks a lot like Eden Robinson . I stood behind her and noticed that a small tag on her bag was actually labelled with her name. She is gorgeous. She has lush black hair, nice skin and wonderfully huge eyes. She had two big red bags and was wearing a flowered skirt. I stood near her on the bus, but couldn't think of anything to say as it was very early in the morning. What was stranger, was that I had her newest book "Blood sports" in my bag. I thought about telling her this, but decided that it sounded too much like, "My cat's breath smells like cat food." So instead, I said nothing to her, even though she got off at the same stop. I wanted to say something, but couldn't think of anything good and then had to run and catch my connecting bus.

(I started the book when I got to work. The second chapter is set in Grandview Park on Commercial Drive. The characters go to Turks and then to the park. She describes it perfectly. It's a different experience for me to read something set so close to where I live.)

This week, I felt like the luckiest girl in the world because I e-mailed Thomas King , and Lawrence Hill for research purposes and they both wrote back to me. I love Thomas King and was so excited about his e-mail that I bounced on B*'s bed with excitement and jostled him while he was still waking up.
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The Colouring Book launch was a great success. We packed the joint, and had to turn people away. There was a huge line in front of the club of people waiting to get in, which was awesome. I read some of my own poems and a poem by Marie Annharte Baker called "raced out to write this up". I was quite nervous about reading that one because I've never read a piece by someone else and I wanted to do it justice. It was a long and fast piece, and I managed to rock the mike. Everyone gave performances from the heart, which was cool. If I had one complaint, I would say that we should have cut our show down a little length wise. However, the books look amazing, and Gabe and the book designer gave us prints of the cover as thank you presents. I think I might get mine framed.

We're planning a launch in Victoria in March. I haven't decided yet if I'm going to go yet.

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Still feeling a bit tired from the weird sinus thing. I burnt myself out after the launch and ended up spending Sunday on my couch. Fortunately, some wise soul had decided to program a "What not to wear marathon" for all the non-Superbowl watchers. Bliss.