Haley the Wannabe Library Cat

Ever since I met her, Halzebub yells at me when I get out of the shower. I assume she learned in childhood that shower = leaving the house for 9 hours.

But I've confused her! Because I don't always shower before work, and sometimes I shower the night before. However... she has adapted.

If I shower at night, she doesn't give me the Song & Dance. But if I shower in the day, or if she sees me standing at my cupboard door getting dressed, then she does. She's accurate about 90% of the time.

Meow! Meow! Meow! Meow!

I hold her, I sing Bob Marley songs to her, but nothing helps.

I'm not sure if she's mad that I'm leaving, or mad that I'm not taking her with me. I suspect she aspires to be the Dewey of my bookstore. A more aggressive version, taking swipes at booksellers if they're about to shelve the book in the wrong place. Attacking the children riding the plazmacars. Selling the discount card.

Oo what a pretty country I live in!

And I'm glad I've seen lots of it! Yellowknife, Vancouver, Nanaimo to Victoria (and all in between), Tofino, Penticton, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Montreal, the Gaspé, Ottawa, Toronto ...and towns there and about.

Rolf Hicker

REAL spring

Reader and Friend of the Blog "GMC" (alright... it's just my dad) writes that my spring counter is broken. This is because people foolishly use the Vernal Equinox as the beginning of spring. While this March in Quebec has been quite sunny and nice, it's usually just as crappy as February. So I set my spring countdown to the first of April. (An early April Fool's joke you might say. Ah ha ha ha.)

But we'll get a snowstorm fo shizzle in April. So really... spring starts After the Last Big Crappy Snowstorm.

A History of Me: In boots!

Fernando and I were shopping today, and we were talking about what I wanted for my birthday, when I spotted this from the corner of my eye, in the window of the home brew store:

When I was in grade 2 or 3, I think, our mother brought home 2 mugs just like this--one for me and for my brother. We loved them. We had a ritual every Friday night where we would watch The Dukes of Hazzard and have a bag of chips and a bottle of pop each, and this became The Favored Pop Mug. If you drank from it at the right angle, it splashed pop in your face... which was the whole fun, of course.

We are now the proud owner of two mug boots.

And the public offer is going out to Brother Pablo--if he wants one of the mugs, I'll give one to him. Otherwise, Fernando and I will sit on our little couch, with our little boots, and carry on the family tradition.

what to reeeeaaaad... the exciting conclusion!

Canada Reads is a "battle of the books" on CBC that started during my days at the bookstore, in 2002, but I've never set out to read one one of the winners.

This year Canada Reads came to a close at just the right time--when I'm cycling 'round to a Literary Mood. Because I was more interested in researching my writing, I didn't read a lot after finishing school last year. Only a couple months ago I got Back in the Mood, and I read:
- a serious mystery
- 2 romances
- 1 chick lit
- 1 *cozy* mystery
- 1 serious mystery

Which means now my mood is turning either to sci fi/fantasy, or literature. So I ordered me up a copy of the Canada Reads winner: The Book of Negroes by Lawrence Hill (45% off at indigo.ca !) Incidentally, it has a different name in the US and some other countries, because the word "negro," which is sort of mildly distasteful in Canada, has much more pejorative connotations elsewhere, and they were afraid black readers would disdain to even pick the book up. The title comes from an historical document the author found, detailing the African-Americans allowed passage up to Nova Scotia in the 18th century.

I expect to get through a lot of reading this month, as I'll be cat-sitting for a friend, and therefore commuting longer.

My parents had to put down their very sick little lovebird today. :-(

The History of Me: In Prince

I'm listening to a Kanye West song. I like the line: "I've been on ya, since Prince been on Appolonia..."

One of the things I like about *being around* black artists (I mean, listening to, reading interviews etc.) is that they talk about Prince. Living in Canada I've only known one big Prince fan, in Cegep.

Then there was that annoying guy in sec V who suddenly discovered that Prince was a great musician, and tried to inform ME that Prince plays 27 instruments, arrogantly assuming I didn't have any appreciation for Prince as a musician... when I had just given an oral presentation on the Utopia theme in Prince songs. (Sometimes Boys think they know more about music than girls. Like cars and football, or something. Hmph!)

And then there's Kevin Smith--who I don't think is a Prince fan. I think he's a Purple Rain fan. (And so he would probably appreciate why I was so thrilled when someone--Pablo or Fernando?--bought me my own cone-puppet. "You don't need them. You don't need anyone. All you need is ME.")

So it's fun when I'm looking at some Prince thing on youtube and other people from the US (maybe it's not about skin color... maybe this is an American--Canadian thing) say Oh cool! I remember when this song was on the radio all the time! My sister and I used to play this every day!! about some Prince song that I never even heard released on radio.

Man. Where were these people when I was 15?? South of the border I guess.

Mind you... my other fave groups were Bruce Cockburn, Kate Bush and Fleetwood Mac, which probably top a list somewhere of Music White People Like. (...Though Stevie Nicks' "Stand Back" is based on "Little Red Corvette" and Prince played the synths on it for her. AND Prince and Kate Bush have both played one song for each other, on each other's albums. ...Pretty sure there's no Prince-Cockburn connection, though. Well they're both top guitarists.)