I talk too much, and it's not because I have a lot of very important or interesting things to say; it's because I am still somewhat uncomfortable with silence.

I talk too much, and it's not because I have a lot of very important or interesting things to say...

I talk too much...

I really like the Cactus Club... historically, it's where I get my best ideas. Seriously. Many a dream has been born over edamame and maybe a spiked frapp.

Nothing particularly prolific tonight, just a good chat with Christina at the new South Surrey restaurant. Crowded as hell.

We made our way to Starbucks and were met with a usual crowd: Travis, Kim, Kieran, Tiny, Maggie, Kevin, etc. I was surprised and delighted when Jessica (always lovely, both inside and out) showed up and we had a nice little visit before Joe arrived as well! Woot! The man needs a nap, but, then, so do I.

Ahh.... once again, my plan to segue into my thoughts on "silence" have been thwarted by the number of words it has taken me to get around to saying that I'm becoming sick of my own voice. How deliciously ironic.

Maybe tomorrow??

It all comes full circle...

... and revolves around Starbucks, it seems. I planned to blog something a bit more serious this evening; stuff I've been devoting my reams of paper to. About pretending, about being real. Embracing silence. Being me. Trying to figure out what the hell I'm built to do here on this earth. Disappointment, rejection, growth. (Oooh, now aren't those some vague terms?) But that'll have to wait. STORY TIME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I was on my way to Jessica's and stopped to get gas at the Shell station. Got back in the car and it wouldn't start. Quel surprise, my car's a piece of ****. The kind gas station attendant helped me push it into a parking stall, where I called Megs to drive me to my house. See, my mom told me this evening to put my new BCAA card in my wallet, but did I listen? Of course not. Of COURSE not. So Megs and I tried to jump start it. Or rather, we asked the gas station attendant to help us. Cuz we're dumb. I said I was thinking of saying it was because we were women, but I realized that was a nasty thing to say about women... truly it's just my own dumbness.

Anyway. Car wouldn't start so back we went to my place and I called BCAA. We watched Friends then drove back to the Shell to wait for my Knight in Red and White Armour. I kept saying to her that it would probably be one of my regulars from Starbucks, because we share a parking lot with BCAA and the drivers often spend their on-call evenings sitting at our bar drinking espresso.

Sure enough, I saw the flashing lights, heard the honking, and Tiny (aka Robert) was there, pointing and laughing at me. Good ol' Tiny is one of our very regular regulars, and we have had many a conversation about the crappiness of my car. (Hey, at least I have a car! And it stays warm and has good tires and sometimes works!)

After some fussing, Tiny (who is a very large man, by the way) discovered that one of my battery leads had coroded in one spot and was no longer connected to the battery. He commented that I was a very lucky lady, and rummaged around in his tool kit, producing various metal sticks and cranks. A splash of my Dr. Pepper for acidity, some fiddling, some cutting and splicing, and some mechanical skill, and Tiny had my battery all spruced up! I love BCAA. And I love our regulars!

If I'd just gotten the dang thing towed to Canadian Tire, I'll bet it would have cost me a hundred bucks just for them to stand there and tell me what was wrong with it. Instead, this might cost me a personal grande, extra sweet hazelnut latte.

Sometimes the damn job just pays off.

[Edit: Travis says this was an incorrect representation of our conversation... so I've done my best to rectify it]

"Everyone is so happy to see you! It's like it's Trav-bucks! Except, actually, we've already kind of done up some designs for a logo for Sara-bucks..." - S

"What, is it, a fully-clothed Siren wearing a cross?" - T

There's a bit of a backstory here, a joke that revolves around me being a prudish, frigid Christian. The former is probably part irony, the latter part truth.

Another of my favorite Travis-comments was when I was in the Emmerton's wine cellar one night, and emerged to, "LOOK! SARA'S COMING OUT OF THE CLOSET!"

Travis is back at my Starbucks, on loan for two months until his new store opens up. Oh, I've missed him. I happily went to Tribeca at 5am this morning, knowing I'd get to work with the brat. 'Twas a good shift, indeed; spent most of it laughing. Now we just need to convince him to stay!

Tossing and turning at 3.30am, wondering why I hadn't been able to fall asleep yet, I realized that yesterday I had downed 12 shots of espresso during the day... now we can say it's up to 18 in a 24-hour period. While my brain was whirring through the night, I was struck by the fear. I need to get the lead out or I will be very displeased come April when everything is due.

On that note, time to get to it. :)

I was cleaning out Craptop (my old laptop) the other day and I came across one of my very favorite random Internet finds of all time. Too good to pass up, too good to delete. In fact, I may be laughing right now. Actually, I definitely am. I can’t quite remember where they came from, but that they were part of an American-produced document on tips for anti-terrorism. Some meathead added her/his own captions and the rest is history.

Oh, and by the way, if I get snipered by the American government for posting these, well, we’ll know that we aren’t supposed to do such things.

Bon Appetit!


A degree in chemistry can help you fight off terrorists.


A one-inch thick piece of plywood should be sufficient protection from chemical weapons.


After exposure to radiation it is important to consider that you may have mutated to gigantic dimensions: watch your head.
In the event of emergency, find a 3-story, 10-foot-high building. The midgets inside will be sure to help you. Remember, just follow the enormous red arrow protruding from your crotch.


Be on the lookout for terrorists with pinkeye and leprosy. Also, they tend to rub their hands together manically.


Bribe terrorists to leave you alone with American consumer devices.


Bush’s hometown is no great loss.


Do not drive a station wagon if a power pole is protruding from the hood.


Hurricanes, animal corpses and the biohazard symbol have a lot in common. Think about it.


If a door is closed, karate chop it open.


If you are sprayed with an unknown substance, stand and think about it instead of seeing a doctor.


If you are trapped under falling debris, conserve oxygen by not farting.


If you have set yourself on fire, do not run.


If you hear the Backstreet Boys, Michael Bolton or Yanni on the radio, cower in the corner or run like hell.


If you lose a contact lens during a chemical attack, do not stop to look for it.


If you see a nuclear explosion on the horizon, pull to the side of the road, take some pictures, and wait for the blast to hit you.


If you spot a terrorist arrow, pin it against the wall with your shoulder


If you spot terrorism, blow your anti-terrorism whistle. If you are Vin Diesel, yell really loud.


If you've become a radiation mutant with a deformed hand, remember to close the window. No one wants to see that shit.


If your lungs and stomach start talking, stand with your arms akimbo until they stop.


Michael Jackson is a terrorist. If you spot this smooth criminal with dead, dead eyes, run the f**k away.


Terrorists may try to contaminate your laundry detergent. Smell clothing to ensure it's fresh and clean.


Terrorists usually have terrible indigestion from eating our food. Don't use the restroom after they do! In case of flames bursting out around door, do NOT leave it shut. Always open flaming doors.


The proper way to eliminate smallpox is to wash with soap, water and at least one(1) armless hand.


Try to absorb as much of the radiation as possible with your groin region. After 5 minutes and 12 seconds, however, you may become sterile
Stand in radiation for exactly 5 minutes and 12 seconds a day for a healthy, glowing complexion.


Use your flashlight to lift the walls right off you!

I have to work at 5am tomorrow. This is very gross.

Can't Stop Laughing!

I just got invited to go see a pole dancing competition (Miss Pole Dance Canada, to be precise). Ooooh I find that so highly amusing.

Despite the added drama, and despite the all-too-often unrequitedness, sometimes it's just fun to have a little crush on someone.

It doesn't happen to me very often, and it usually passes quickly. Kinda fun, nonetheless! :)

In other news... I have this whole week off school - woot!

Neutrality? Humanity?

Here's something I've been thinking about like, non-stop for the last couple of days.

The scenario: A relief organization is allowed access to prisoners (and for the sake of argument let's say these prisoners are civilians, not combatants) in a war-zone and discovers that there is gross mistreatment of those prisoners.

Does the relief organization keep quiet and help as much as they can while on the inside, thus retaining their status as a neutral third party? Or do they come forth with the information, pretty much guaranteeing that they will no longer be allowed access in the future, and hope that the international community will respond with something other than complete inaction?

Be Mine...

Tomorrow is Valentine's Day. A highly overrated "holiday", but cute nonetheless. In honour of such a festivus, I give you

Sara's Valentine's Mix: Love Songs, Anti-Love Songs, and Songs That I Just Plain Love

Featuring: Peter Gabriel, Miles Davis, Sarah McLachlan, The Perishers, Nat King Cole, Ella Fitzgerald, The Bens, and some other gems. Keep in mind that I have paid big bucks for the vast majority of this music, so you needn't feel too too guilty.

Now, will you be my valentime?

"Still Life"

Trying to get better at this close-up stuff. :p :p

Speaking of beverage receptacles - I'm going to see Jars of Clay... and the BEST part about the whole thing is that I just found out that BURLAP TO CASHMERE is opening for them! Jars of Clay I quite like and I've heard they put on a good show. Burlap to Cashmere I LOVE, and I can't believe how well that worked out! What a pleasant surprise. *Is surprised and delighted*

John is building a robot right now... and I'm sitting here, acting as his muse. Which explains why the robot is not currently working...

Sitting on my couch just now. Kell has informed me that I'm chaperoning her birthday party. Some sort of party bus.

Kelly [to me]: You're gonna get drunk, right? No offense but I like you better when you're drunk.

Uhmmm?

Heh heh heh...

A lovely Saturday

Ahhh evening plans fell through twice tonight. A lovely concert featuring local talent postponed, and then plans for Pan's Labyrinth didn't quite... pan out (oh yes I went there; do you see how clever I am?). Apparently Ashlee's friend having serious back pain and needing to go to the hospital is more important than seeing a film that will be playing tomorrow, the day after that, the day after that, etc. :p

Today was great though. Slept in til like, 9.30, went to Great West, did some reading for pleasure, had dinner with friends (who had bussed all the way to WR for aforementioned concert... oopsies!). The only thing I didn't get to was my beach romp. Wait a tick.... beach romp...

*Decides to be spontaneous and leaves for the beach immediately*

Apples? Try paper dolls.

Today we got our research assignments back in English 344 (The Arthur of Medieval English) and someone *points to self* got an A+. Before you call me a braggart, let me explain why. There are these Gawain and the Green Knight paper dolls that I found while randomly searching in the abyss that we call the Interweb. Downloaded them, printed them off, and handed them in to Teacher (who, by the way, rocks my socks with her awesomeness), and she was so excited that she announced in class that everyone could go and get their own. So, your lesson for today is that teachers don't want apples, they want paper dolls.

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Last night was a delicious turn of events. It was so dead at work we were nearly asleep on our feet! I was channelling Trevor for a few hours, trying to use my psychic powers to get him to come to the store so I can chat with him about this fundraiser, but to no avail. Then Sally and John showed up, and I figured that maybe the lines had been crossed? It was perfect because I was already grumbling about having to take the bus this morning, and they offered to wait for us to close up so we could all go to Van for the evening.

And THEN, when we were in a cleaning frenzy, Trev showed up, meaning maybe I AM psychic afterall! So I got to work with Jonathan and Katelyn (always a good thing), and then three of my favorite people showed up to make my evening. It was good times, I tell ya. I left in very high and excitable spirits.

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I work tonight and then I am very pleased to have ALL DAY TOMORROW OFF. I think I will sleep until at least 10, then go the beach and spend some time with the old journal. Keeping in mind I intend to get two papers written this weekend and have to do sound on Sunday, I should probably do some work as well, but still. Some things you just can't put off. Like slacking off and procrastinating.

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Adieu, adieu.

Ahh, four-year-olds

My friend Shannon made this and I couldn't resist! Too cute.

JUST ONE MORE THING THEN I PROMISE I'LL DO MY HOMEWORK

Yes! The Hülk and team just arrived. They are so entertaining.

I'm at Starbucks, by the way; this (the congregation of middle-aged bodybuilders) is not happening at my house. The dog kept trying to hypnotize me, so I migrated down the street. I needed an inspirational hug from Terry anyway :p.

Ok now seriously... if I blog again before this paper is emailed in, someone has to come and punch me in the face, mmkay?

As you can probably tell from the increasingly frequent blogging, I have a paper due in a few hours :p.

Here's a nice story about a little something I like to call integrity:

Yesterday I had a meeting with all of the other customer care specialists (a fancy way of saying we get to be keeners and think of new ways to make customers feel special and appreciated, so that we can justify charging 45 dollars for a drink :p) out at the Starbucks on 72nd and Scott Road. A bit of a drive, but no worries. I showed up and went to the meeting room, only to discover that it was full of store managers. Ahem. Kind of embarrassing.

A few quick phone calls to my store revealed that my manager had accidentally given me the wrong time for the meeting and I was now three hours early. She gave me the option of leaving, but I stuck around; a tiny bit frustrating, but I had my computer with me and got some homework done.

Just before 2pm (when the meeting actually started), there was my manager, straight off of work, on the other side of town, with a M.U.G. Award and a Starbucks giftcard, apologizing profusely for her mistake and thanking me sincerely for sticking around for the meeting.

Not my integrity we're talking about here, it's hers. It's sooo easy to try to blame someone else, especially when you're in a position of authority. We all do it, and we probably do it often. But she went above and beyond to make up for a small mistake that wasn't intentional, and that didn't even cause much of a problem. It's a tribute to her exceptional character and her stellar skills as a manager. I've said a number of times that she is one of the best things to happen to this store, and I stand by that statement.

OK, back to this Hardin character. It's been one of the more difficult papers to write, simply because I want to resort to name-calling. SO badly!! Hehe.

The most glorious piece of music ever written.

This may very well be the coolest thing ever. Ever.



Click to enlarge and to get lost in its high levels of scrumtrillescence...

QUICK! Staring contest... You win... You always do...

Thanks to David for originally putting this on his blog... it has provided many minutes of hearty laughter from this camp.

Goulet!

I'm writing a paper this evening on a piece by Garrett Hardin. It's thrown me into a bit of a frenzy, because myself and Hardin obviously see (or saw, in his case; he is no longer with us) the world very differently. Or perhaps more importantly I think his argument just sucks. The main metaphor he applies is too much an oversimplification, the paper is riddle with falacious logic and claims and he defines his own terms, ofetn citing himself as his own source.

I'm trying very hard to pick through his argument bit by bit, but I'm letting passion get in the way of getting methodical. If you were to walk past my room at any given moment you might hear something l ike, "BASTARD!" or "It's a good thing you're already dead!" or, "were you eating special brownies when you wrote this????"

But, I prattle.

I've been thinking a lot about what I want from this life, and what I have the potential to give. I guess nearing the end of an undergrad degree will do that to you, especially when priorities have changed so much in the last year especially...

Anyhoo.

Debating whether or not to set up shop at Ye Olde Starbucks, my home away from home.

Enjoy Mr. Goulet!

Yes, it's true :O

5 Years and Still Goin' Strong ;)

I looked at the date just now and realized that it's been 5 years since my baptism. Whoa. I still remember Mike Richardson trying to drown me in front of 1100 or so witnesses, but I fought back, oh I fought back. Then I proceeded to try to drown HIM.

Ehm.. Just kidding. I kid. Tee-hee.

Well Happy Anniversary, Jesus, my beautiful and perfect Savior. Thanks for putting up with me and loving me despite all of my antics.

I love You and I can't imagine my life without You.

Plummegranate

On last minute plans:

I got a call yesterday afternoon at about 3pm. It was Stef, calling from Saskatchewan. The conversation went something like this:

Stef: SO! I'm sitting here with my credit card in my hand and WestJet has some seat sales going on... I was thinking about coming out tonight.
Sara: !!!!!!!!!!
Stef: Should I do it?
Sara: YES.

This went on for several minutes, and then at 11:30pm--politely excusing myself from a group hanging out at John's-- I was at YVR picking her up to bring her back, where the other houseguests were shocked and excited that I came back bearing the gift of one of their best friends. It was diabolical and delightful.

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On reflecting:

Since October I've gotten back into journalling on paper (thumbs up!). I prefer it I think, and it explains why the blog has turned into mostly fluff hehehe. There's something about putting my thoughts down, pen on paper, scratching away, engaged in the physical act of writing, that appeals to me.

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On blogging for accountability:

Tonight's plans --> working 5.30-10.30 and then WRITING A PAPER. Mark my words. I WILL have a draft done before I go to sleep. Gosh darnit!

Briefly...

What accent would you expect an actor/actress to have if they were playing a character from:

a) France
b) Austria
c) Britain
d) Denmark

????

If you answered "British" to all four, you'd be correct, at least according to Hollywood, it seems. I am always just a teensy bit disappointed when I watch a film set in Austria and the American actors bring on the British.... I just don't understand. Not to say that it's a deal-breaker or anything... but I think maybe Kiersten Dunst and/or Sophia Coppola had the right idea in Marie Antoinette, keeping Dunst's Yankee accent. If she wasn't going to aim for Austro-German diction, at least she was real about it.

Just a tiny pet peeve of mine.

I have a weird shift at work tonight. 4-8. Not much trouble to be gotten into in four hours, and it'll probably be slow. Maybe I'll practice my British accent in case someone wants me to star in a film set in 1970 Japan ;).

Woot!

Congratulations! You have been accepted to participate in UBC International Relations Students Association's National Foreign Policy Conference 2007 on Failing, Failed, and Fragile States from March 8 th to March 10th 2007. This is going to be an exciting opportunity for you to network with students and speakers from across the country and across different disciplines and on behalf of the Conference Committee, we look forward to seeing you in March!

Ooooh!

I'm looking forward to this.