fancy f***

normal...?

links

LINKS FOR EVERYBODY.

Hey, want to go to a pheromone party? Yeah, me neither.

Can you make yourself smarter? 

Tiny underground apartments in Beijing China.

Take the "no cry" challenge. (videos) I didn't even try when I saw there was one of a dog. 

Check out these "beautiful" masks.

Not just a jump, but levitation.

Obama 'slow jamming' on Jimmy Fallon,"The Barack-ness monster ain't buyin' it."

Multiple exposure photos of carousels.

I want this toaster. 

Why do dogs stick their heads out of car windows? (Thanks Lynsey)

My dad, a snake and a burning bush.

I re-watched Titanic so you don't have to. You're welcome. 

Picmonkey - like picnik only...you know...it still exists.

The prettiest sheet music you've ever seen I bet.

Susannah Conway has a huge list of links to people writing about creative joy here. 

On owning it. (Thanks Ashley)

Do you wear a camera? 

Your unplanned pregnancy is the ultimate conversation piece. (Thanks Dani)

Part three of Marcus Kuhn's Gypsy Gentleman series is out! (video)

The adventures of mister fly. LOL/Gross.

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On PROCRASTINATION and how to fight it.  

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Still-life photos of rotting food.

Kurt Vonnegut's 8 tips on how to write a great story. (thanks Caitlin)

My blog hero Gala Darling did a TED talk recently on Radical Self Love, check it out! 

Erin's photos of Vancouver Island (near where I live!) taken with my #1 choice of film camera, the Canon AE-1.

Photos of conjoined twins from Veracruz, Mexico.

Forgotten couples of the '90s. 

Why do online articles have a comments section? (Thanks Courtney) 

The 21 absolute worst things in the world. (Thanks Caitlin)

Cutting & self-harm: the stigma and the aftermath.

Postcrossing! (Thanks Rochelle)

What do you wish you'd known at 22?

Lighten up about lighting up. (Thanks Lynsey)

This is so true! I totally agree, they all look like the same person.

Adding monsters to thrift store paintings. (Thanks Kady)

This cover of Creep by Radiohead done by Carrie Manolakos made me cry! (video) (Thanks Rochelle)

I completely support the idea of positive reinforcement in the workplace. It's impossible to be inspired to work hard in a negative environment.

How to be Jeff Goldblum. 

Poignant, grim, awesome: pictures of nightclubs after everyone's left. (Thanks Nubby)

How to re-wire old lamps. Awesome for all that thrifting you bloggers do, no? (Thanks Sarah)

I love Fiona Apple and am so so happy she's back from wherever she had gone. Here's one article on her comeback that sounds rather familiar to me. (Thanks FMFY)

Cash Cab is being cancelled. NO I LOVE THAT SHOW.  It's like surprise Jeopardy.

Note to self: always take black and white photos of divers because it looks really creepy and surreal. 

The world's first lickable wallpaper. Ew?

Henri, the depressive French cat. (video) (Thanks Sarah Von)

5 steps to up your personal dignity quotient.  I need to work on number five.

And last but not least, this :

She scratched the wet tittle with her lunule, absentmindedly watching the crepuscular rays creep out of the morning rain clouds through the muntin, mouthing mondegreen with some radio tune stuck in her head. The sweet petrichor wafted to her desk from the asphalt. Musing what to write in her improving life skeuomorph next she played with the ferrule on her purlicue. She reminisced about this morning -- seeing that jiggling gynecomatia shirtless made her wamble and crinkle her philtrum. Yech, she thought as she brushed the feat out of face, and the rectal tenesmus out of her mind. Perhaps he is depressed and his dysania prevents him even touching his aglets. Maybe he was held down by the armscyes and his knees knocked out with a peen. No that can’t be right, she shook her head and closed her eyes until the phosphenes appeared and the paresthesia in her right leg disappated. Holding her arms akimbo, she decides that journal time is over and it’s time to go get her special shoes. Her Morton’s toe makes it impossible to get an accurate reading on a brannock device. Now she’s late, and she must cut a desire path before her apologies for being late become semantic satiation.

via Alexandro Benitz in the comments section in 25 everyday things you never knew had names. 

let's play a game

Suzy came up with this fun thing and then I did it.

rules: 

1) post your first ever facebook profile picture.

2) pick one photo {only one} from each consecutive year up to the present one. 

3) explain.

Here's my first ever profile picture. It was also my profile picture on MySpace at the time just to give you some context. I started my FB account in 2007. 

I think this picture was taken in like 2005-ish. I still lived in Calgary Alberta and was on a road trip to ... here, Vancouver island. This was supposed to be a picture of me with some beach in the background but then that guy just happened to walk into the shot and it looks pretty cool, right? 

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2007  - This is me at the Pyramid of the Sun in Teotihuacan. (It's an amazing ruinous city near Mexico City.) I went there with a group of friends from my school in Xalapa one weekend, it was so hot out! We climbed to the top together and took busses and the metro back to our hostel. It was one of a hundred really great adventures I had while I was in Mexico.

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2008 - For some reason we were yelling "SOCIAL" and then drinking. All night long. This was taken at on of my favorite friends' wedding. I was in the bridal party, and she was the awesomest bride ever. We all wore chuck taylors and drank pilsner beers. Her cousin came out to a lot of people that night I think, and we re-enacted a photo that was taken years before of me with a bunch of cowboys. It's hard to explain but that photo became quite the 'thing' over the years because I had purple dreadlocks and they were wearing tshirts with sleeves cut off and cowboy hats.

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2009 - This picture is kind of hard to explain. My mom turned 50 in 2009, and we all flew in to surprise her and have an awesome birthday party for her. Everybody could make it except my one brother, who was in England at the time. As a joke and because we missed him so much, my sister and I found a totally dorky photo of him from high school and had it blown up to life-size, and then we took pictures of him doing all sorts of things throughout the night. 

The oven started on fire a few hours before this picture was taken, and Ryan, the amazing hero action man he is put it out. Have you ever seen what a room looks like after you use a fire extinguisher? There was white powder EVERYWHERE. And just as we all came back inside to survey the mess, a bagpiper my step-dad had hired to play for my mom walked into the backyard and started to play. We all burst out laughing and went outside to enjoy the show, and left the mess for later.

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2010 - Cuba! Need I say more? Okay, I will. My sister took this rare photo of me relaxing beside a pool. That is very atypical Nova behaviour but I really did enjoy it.

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2011 - This picture always makes me laugh, it's me as a grub! Ryan took this of me when we were at the zoo in Seattle just over a year ago. We went because his son wanted to see a concert and we planned a weekend around it. You can take a ferry from downtown Victoria to downtown Seattle in just a few hours. It was a quick trip but really fun.

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2012 - So far getting my knees tattooed might be the thing I'm most proud of  this year. I was super scared to do it, and I really do think doing stuff that scares you, or putting yourself outside your comfort zone is important in growing as a person.

a real live castle

Kolina and the bus.

Whoa dudes, a gal I know in real life from her patronage of the tattoo shop has kindly offered to share this bus horror story with the world. Lucky you! Meet Kolina:

Here is her story:

I work directly downtown and take a bus that often picks of partiers and drunkards, so I'm used to the occasional, "Oh dear god, really?" moment. However, what I experienced nary two moons ago on my bus was something for the record books.

I was waiting for my bus after work when two shabby, obviously hammered young ladies zoomed past me screaming bloody murder. One was chasing the other and calling her name repetitively. As if that wasn't irritating enough, they stopped and sat down directly next to me despite the fact that there was plenty of room left on the bench to sit so that they weren't practically on my lap. I gave a glare and a scoot and then noticed the smell. They absolutely reeked of wine, beer, and probably the sewer they had been spawned in.

Lovely bus buddy number one was wearing what appeared to be a child's pyjama bottoms and a white tank top stained with what I could only imagine was the alcohol that was now seeping through her system. She kept reeling and seemed to be having trouble focussing her bleary eyeballs. Her name was Jessica. I knew this because her friend kept shout-slurring it at her, trying to keep her conscious. Lovely bus buddy number two was considerably more sober, but still sloppy. Like I said, she just kept shouting Jessica's name as the latter flopped about on the bench as I cringed. Considering her condition, I figured it was possible that Jessica would woof her cookies at some point. When the bus came, I made an effort to get on first so I could hide near the front of the bus next to some kind old woman and avoid the carnage. Unfortunately the bus was full, as it often is, and I ended up having to sit at the back.

The drunks followed me. Of course.

At the back of Victoria buses, the seats sometimes face each other, as if you're sitting at a diner with people you would never want to share a table with. Beside is a last bench at the back of the bus which is partially blocked in at the ends by the side facing seats. This is relevant to later, I promise. I sat in one of the side facing seats and Jessica and Drunky #2 sat across from me and slightly left. Jessica continued to reel, her friend continued to shout at her. Four stops away, I was looking at other passengers and making a, "This isn't going to end well, is it?" face. I was putting my hand on the bar beside me, about to stand and go inform the driver that he had a ticking time bomb in his care, when it happened.

 In slow motion (I swear it was slow motion), Jessica put both her hands over her mouth. I said, out loud, "OH FUCK" and then there was vomit everywhere. It came out between her fingers in a continuous five second spray. Despite the fact that I was completely disgusted, I had to admire that it was quite the display of vomit prowess.

If I had been six inches closer and slightly more to the left I would have had her wine tainted vomit in my lap. As luck would have it (if we can involve luck in this situation), I wasn't, so I just got a light spray of stomach juices on the hem of my pants. The reaction was immediate. The bus pulled to a stop and there was a mass exodus from the area I was sitting in. A girl that was pinned between the side facing seats and the very back simply looked on in horror and covered her mouth. Before I made my escape (it was every man and woman for them selves at that point), I shouted, "JUST JUMP THE BARF." Vomit Titanic.

And then, sweet sweet fresh air. Unfortunately Jessica, now covered in her own chunks, and her friend followed in a trail of shame and beer stench. Jessica flopped into the grass and just sat there while her friend screamed, "Oh my GAWD, oh my GAWD, Jessica! Are you ok?" as if her bellows would help the fact that myself and a few other passengers were now covered in a mist of puke.

I couldn't handle the stench radiating from my new barf friends - I bolted. I called my mother and begged her to talk about anything but sick until I reached the stop a few blocks away.

A few horrified text messages and Facebook statuses later, I caught the next fresh smelling bus and was revelling in the peace and non-vomit quiet when, six stops from home, Jessica and her friend tried to board my bus. Again. Luckily for me and everyone else in the transit world, the driver was smart enough to notice that they were reeking of vomit and couldn't find their "TRANSFERRRRRZZZZZZZzzzzz." He barred them from riding and I nearly hugged him. As it was, when he reached my stop I thanked him and gave him a short break down of the horror film I had been a part of that evening. "No way!" he shouted. "No way!" "Yes way, my friend," I replied. "Yes way."

And then, guns blazing, I took off into the night, ready to fight my next transit battle.

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Yeah hahahaha that's the bus. Thank you Kolina for sharing your story. If you want to see more of her, she literally JUST started a blog, so go here and check it out.

If you have a public transit story you'd like to share, please do. You can email it to me at novaisawesome at gmail dot com. :)

Turner's

This building is so sad. It's gorgeous, with so much character, and the current owners are just letting it fall apart.