over

Summer that is. There was supposedly a heat wave here while I was in LA but, as usual, by the time I got home it was back to thunder showers and downpours. We got some great weather during July but I spent that month trying to manage a difficult teaching schedule. I got to travel a bit for August but travel for weddings is not the same as travel for relaxation because, well, it's hectic and not super relaxing. I spent the last week or so finishing the unpacking I didn't get around to back in April when I actually moved. Also did a lot of painting in my apartment so it looks inviting and maybe even pretty rather than slummy. I have one accent wall painted "sliced avocado" colour now and it looks pretty damn good.

Got less than a month left of summer, in which time I still need to write a short paper, reformat my computer (and/or get a new one before this one blows up), and respond to a call for papers for a conference in Phoenix. My "free" wifi stolen from a neighbour disappeared after I got back from LA which sucked the big one. Luckily it magically came back today so I've been glued to my computer the whole day. Oh and of course, with the reappearance of my free wifi comes a problem with my cell phone. It's not dialing out. Great.

I don't think part of September is enough for me to recharge my batteries and mentally be ready for another grueling school year. But I don't have much choice.

I need more sun and more time to be ready for school.

August

I'm finally back in Seattle after spending most of the last three weeks out of town. It's been an awesome, though not terribly restful, three weeks. The first week I headed up to Vancouver by myself while K headed to Sac to see his mom as well as his niece and nephew who came up from San Diego to see him and their grandma. I had no idea that it was BC day long weekend so there was a lot of eating and more time to hang out with my friends than usual. One of my best friend's also had a nice banquet to celebrate his baby's one month birthday (moon yuet) which is a Chinese thing to mark a newborn making it to one month and effectively out of the woods so to speak since those early days are still sort of touch and go. My friend's brother was also in town from Fresno so it was cool for us to all hang out. I can never get enough of my Vancouver friends.

I headed back to Seattle the day before K and I took the train down to Eugene, OR for a wedding. The train ride was pretty relaxing. It was my first time meeting that group of friends and they were awesome and fun and smart and incredibly good lindy hoppers. It was exciting because it was also my first time taking what I've learned at lindy lessons to the dance floor and my first time watching K dance lindy. I've wanted to do this for a long time and I have finally found folks (and a bf) to dance with. Kinda sucks that they've got about 10 years of lindy experience on me since I just never had a circle of friends that was interested in all that. Part of the problem being I was a permanent fixture in the rave scene ten years ago. Oh well, better late than never, and this is something I can do even when I'm old like one couple that was ripping it up on the dance floor.

I just got back from 4 days in SoCal for a friend's wedding where I got to see many of my Bay Area friends including a couple who are moving to NYC. It was awesome to hang out like old times, including having a few too many drinks and going out late to eat. One lowlight of the trip was some raging drunk white dude who ran past us yelling "fucking gooks." I wish one of my friends wasn't so tired because he said he would have otherwise kicked his ass, and there were certainly more of us than there were of, well, him. Oh well. The rest of the weekend was a lot of fun and the wedding was a combination of good friends and open bar, which made it pretty entertaining.

Now that I'm back it's time to tackle my two summer credits, get some paint on my apartment's walls, and try to get some down time before madness starts again.

immigration

This would never happen in the United States.

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2008/08/12/immigration-experience.html

If it did I'd have a green card by now.

Greyhound

I've taken charter buses a few times that I can remember. Once from UBC to Big White for the annual CVC ski trip and another time from Chicago to Urbana. On that trip to Big White I remember one of the buses full of university students like me at the time slipped on that dangerous Coquihalla Highway and landed on its side. No one was hurt but that was freaky. My trip to Urbana was not eventful but I would say that it wasn't the most comfortable way to travel and the bus station in Chicago is less than pleasant. Everyone there looked down on their luck and generally miserable. Anyways, I think the most dramatic thing to happen on a chartered bus took place a little while ago in Manitoba:

Without any apparent provocation, Li allegedly began stabbing McLean, who had reportedly been dozing. Terrified passengers poured off the bus.

The accused then allegedly decapitated McLean and paraded around the bus with his head. Li is also accused of consuming parts of McLean's body during his subsequent four-hour standoff with police. More...