more more Kanye

There's a good article in Entertainment Weekly, speculating why the Kanye story is eliciting an over-reaction from many people -- a lot of Twitterers calling him the N word and saying he should be killed, but also "the characterizations of Taylor Swift as a victim of some awful crime" (calling it an “attack” or a “violation” or an “assault,”). The article writer, and some other bloggers, think a lot of these comments are coming out of the Outrage Over Black Guy Raping White Woman vein in American history.

"if you inflate this relatively minor transgression into a four-alarm scandal of the type described in the previous paragraph, then maybe it’s worth considering whether you’re the one crossing a line."

From Sep 15 2009 05:14 PM "Kanye West and Taylor Swift: Why do people care so much about this story?" by Simon Vozick-Levinson

My rich feet

So today I bought three pairs of shoes, all of them wear-able to work. All of them Fancy Good for Feet and Durable Expensive. All from Ronsons, which specializes in quality and comfortable shoes.

I bought a pair of half-price brown "fashion sneakers." Kinda like these... I think they were Rockports.



And then I found a pair of Ecco boots with sneaker bottoms, to wear with skirts. I can't wear dress shoes, cause I can't wear bare feet in shoes, and I just hate nylons. With boots I can wear sports socks! I don't have a picture of these, but... it's the most money I've spent on a pair of shoes in my life. I was assured of their quality and durability. So I just closed my eyes, gritted my teeth and said: I'll take them. Any time you see me in them, you have to tell me how great they look, even if you hate them. And if you're ever short on cash, I recommend you steal them off my feet.


Then I asked the girl for "shoes that nurses wear" -- the best shoes for working on your feet! She recommended Dansko faux-clogs. They're really weird. They're podiatrist approved, with really high arches, which when you first wear them press on your arches and almost hurt. She said they're basically orthotics. And they're clogs, meaning the back-heel part of the shoe isn't there for support... it's just there so that if your dress code at work (like at mine) says you can't wear sandals / you have to wear closed shoes, these will pass muster. But your feet don't touch the back, which I'm not used to either. Anyway, she said wear them in the house (not outside) and if they're uncomfortable I can bring them back. Very strange, my ortho shoes!

my bento obsession

I bought my bento boxes today, from Daiso--it's a Japanese 2-dollar store, and the one is Richmond is the North American flagship store so it's two floors. They didn't sell nice Bentos, just cheap plastic ones ($2 - $3); but that's probably better since I don't know if I'll use them often enough.

This is one of them. The website doesn't
have the other one I bought. ('ll photograph them later.)

Buying cheap boxes allowed me to buy Bento-cessories!

Matching mini fork!

Cute-animal dividers!
(To keep foods separated.
Like the grass in sushi boxes.)

Little salt/pepper bottles.

And other stuff I don't see on the site. Now I just have to resist buying the Vegan Lunch Box or Vegan Lunch Box Around the World books. I just need ideas of cute little foods to stuff into my bentos, not new recipes!

And now I need to take the ferry ride over to Van Island, so that I have an excuse to pack myself a bento lunch.

* More insanely cute Bento lunches.

More Kanye

We watched Kanye on Jay Leno tonight. Actually, he seemed sincerely bummed. It sounded like this has actually led to a *soul searching.* He said something about having to come to terms with the fact that award shows didn't turn out to be what he always imagined they were like (before he made it, I guess). And also I THINK he was saying that since his mother died (in 2007) he's been working non-stop, and he hasn't processed his own pain, and his put that "hurt" on someone else who didn't deserve it.

The funny moment, for me.

Leno: When did you realize you'd made a mistake?
Kanye: When I handed the microphone back to her, and she didn't go on.

I mean, that just shows... he lives in an alternate reality, and really wasn't thinking what a HUGE moment this was for her.

Anyway. I think all this "boycott Kanye!" stuff is foolish. He's a great artist, and if he makes more great music then I'll buy it. It only *go off* someone if they're racist or something. Being foolish isn't enough.

Well, I look forward to working in some Kanye-esque type character into my next book!

Kanye! You are soooooooo crazy!

Kanye West continues to be my favourite iiiiinsaaaaaane artist. And I love how even in his apology to Taylor Swift, he's still trying to justify what he did. Heesa crazy! Poor girl. I kinda wish he'd done this to someone like P!nk, though, because she would have hauled off and hit him. As it was, that poor girl was just stunned.

He also gave a shout-out to Serena Williams for telling a ref "I'll fucking take this ball and shove it down your fucking throat" but I can only find that in Google history, and no longer on his blog. (His apology to Taylor has disappeared as well.)

2. kanYe West : Blog :

   14 Sep 2009 ... They did Serena wrong but thats ok you cant keep a good woman down but a ... SHOUT OUT TO SERENA! HeartlesSleeve | September 14, 2009 ...
   www.kanyeuniversecity.com/blog/?... - 7 hours ago - Similar -

getting myself rejected

From "Reasons Why Your Manuscript Got Rejected" at Inkygirl:

4. The writer seems like a difficult person to work with. Wendy always Googles an author’s name before offering a contract. She says she may be prompted to change her mind about signing up an author if they share too much information in their blog, if they tend to blog a lot about how hard writing is, if they blog about being rejected many times, if they publicly bash a book she’s worked on, or if they bash a colleague in the business who is her friend.

- shares too much information: Like the colour of underwear I'm wearing? Or the fact that I sometimes drool in my sleep on the side where my nerves are dead?

- how hard writing is: Writing is a breeze! Easy-peasy! No problemo! You hear me agents and editors? NO PROBLEMO. It must be easy, because James Patterson's just signed on to write 17 books in 3 years.

- about being rejected: I haven't had a rejection in years! (Okay well I haven't submitted something in years, but still.)

- publicly bash a book: Winnie the Pooh! What a terrible book. Who could write such trash??

Navel Gazing: The Books That Changed My Life - Bibletude

The Bibble (New International Version is my fave translation)

I attended a very Bible-centered church from about age 15 to 23, and so was exposed to all these great stories. There are a lot of movies and books in the western world that reference the Bible (in symbolism etc), so it's handy to have that Biblical literacy.

There are also some beautiful, beautiful passages, such as Paul's writings about love; or one of my Old Test faves "I've set before you life and death, blessing or cursing--therefore choose life." Friend Maewitch once asked me if this meant I believed there was something wrong/unnatural about death. Definitely not. Death is only the other side of the coin, after all. You really can't have one without the other. You can't even survive without killing things. But I believe we're genetically *programmed* to want to live, while we are alive. We're supposed to "rage against the dying of the light" as Dylan Thomas wrote.

And more importantly, I take this passage on a symbolic/moral level. We don't know why we're here, or whether there's a God, or any sort of *meaning* to this life--but I think all you can do is respond to life as you see it, as you're living it. And I think the most compassionate way to live that life is to make decisions that "choose life" so to speak--being kind to people, helping others, practicing compassion, caring about the life around you, whether it's the environment or animals. If you live this way, and then you die and that's all there was... well, won't you have lived a worthwhile life? Won't you have made life just a little bit more bearable for someone else? I think that's a pretty good goal.

And finally, I think the New Test has some practical, indisputable advice for living your life. Not in all those historical-specific details, or obscure prophecies, but at the heart of the message: love each other. Practice patience, kindness, goodness, etc.