Gingerbread Latte
Aqui esta mi historia de triunfa, de victoria en la vida mia:
Also known as the story of: flash a smile, get an embargoed commodity.
I went to starbuck tonight.
it is october 31st we all know
what happens on oct. 31st at starbucks you may ask? nothing, but it is before nov.1st, which is when the gingerbread latte's first appear. Now last year, i had to wait FOUR terrible, angst-ridden days till i could taste that sweet mercy of caffinated glory. But not this year. this year i got it EARLY! the first gingerbread latte tha Matcalfe starbucks (the number one starbucks in the greater ottawa area) made of the season went to a lil' red head who gave a wink and a smile and pleaded for her sustanence. It was fantastic! everything i hoped it would be and more. They guy at the till looked a little skeptical (he was new). But the barista (assistant manager) looked at me, gave me a wink, i smiled, and i knew that we were on the same path of destiny. Amazing what a little smile can get you these days. that and that fact that i pointed out that last year's latte was four days late and that i knew they had the latte stuff on the premise because they had to start serving it at FOUR AM TOMORROW! "Can't argue with that," they told me. My friend just shook his head in amazement at the lengths i would go, but lets be serious folks, this is the harbinger of a renewed and glorious celebratory season, and the much needed relief of a ridiculous day following a ridiculous weekend that was preceded by a ridiculously horrid week. I went to the gym today and almost started using the pads on the walls in lieu of their non-existent punching bags. i needed to get some aggression out (and out it came), but to soothe me after, nothing could do it- i thought to myself- until the gb appeared in beautifully scrawled black letters on my paper cup. Oh little mercies that make life sweet.
On the road to montreal last weekend. We spent most of the day just bummin' around the city...but including some time in vieux montreal, where i got to see my dear cousin Lindsey!
an old street in old montreal, go team.
And here is the Cathedral of Notre Dame, (which, incidentally, i didnt actually bother going into...been there, done that!)
but its a pretty building none the less ( if i werent so tired, i would probably comment on the great church buildings and how they charge money for visitors to see their insides, and the debate on art as worship versus starving children in africa- but i am tired, and i dont care to comment, you may if you wish.)
Kevan and Mark, as we prepare to enter chinatown... looking as ecstatic as ever guys.
Jenna and I...and one eighth of mark lott...thanks bud.
ok. one more thing! Drum roll please:
Christmas is COMING!! As of Nov. 1st, you may officially enjoy (a little) holiday cheer with your first gingerbread latte of the season (make sure you ease into it, dont go "hog-wild" for the first month, remember you have all of november and december to build up and get yourself in shape!). Sweet mercy i flippin' cant contain myself and this store just got the ball rolling. Look out Korea!
well, with that, may you and your loved ones have a blessed holiday season. from all of us here at CPAC to all of yours, merry christmas, joyeux noel.
"You explain this world to me with an image. I realise then that you have been reduced to poetry: I shall never know. have I the time to become indignant? You have already changed theories...
... So that science that was to teach me everything ends up in a hypothesis, that lucidity founders in metaphor, that uncertainty is resolved in a work of art...
...What need i of so many efforts? The soft lines of these hills and the hand of evening on this troubled heart teach me much more."
- Albert Camus
2pts parents, 0 me
Dedicated to my parents and those powers that be, propagating "community living."
Ok, i have come to realise something and it is a bit difficult for me to say, so bear with me.
Maybe, just maybe- its possible, that there are a few things about which my parents have been right all along. wah-ho! i know, shocking discovery, but i feel that there are a few things they should know that i have come to see from their perspective.
First, Mom, you are right, i am unpleasant before 10am. But i want you to know, its not just you that does this to me- I cast those disparaging and malicious glances at EVERYONE in the morning. But seriously, one should ask, who plays modest mouse or franz ferdinand at 7:50 am??(those are rock bands mom) and
does anyone else think its a honestly a good idea to walk constantly back and forth for no other reason but to unload the dishwasher while simple peasants like me are just trying to make their way over to the coffee maker? why must there be a traffic jam in an industrial kitchen ONLY at that time of the day? that one time of day when everything seems so dark and painful, yet at the same time, paradoxically, sharp and glaring, like someone is stabbing all your senses with a light more piercing than razor blades. this is just the beginning of what mornings are like for me, people.
Now do you understand?
Dad. I need to tell you something. This is really hard for me, but i finally see the truth after all these years: It really IS annoying when the toilet paper roll comes under, not over. i am so sorry for all those years where i secretly changed it back on you all the time. i now see the folly of my ways.
also, what is with people who leave ONE piece of toilet paper on the roll when a perfectly full one is ALWAYS sitting on the back of the toilet? Were your arms broken when you were sitting there contemplating the lack of cleansing cloth? More pertinent, what were you doing in there, that you would thus injure yourself, becuase you certainly appeared to be in good health in all of your limbs when you entered the latrine.
the most shocking and disconcerting part of all this is, that if my parents were right on things so basic and fundamental as toilet roll placement, could they be right on all that other stuff too?
prepping for the jump of a life time, everyone but kev went bungee jumping- dont worry mom, i was the official photographer- safe on the ground- for the event
can you spot the mike on a bungee??
you have no idea how many times i took this shot, and we finally went with the first one...
"hey guys, do we have any bags?"
my favourite house in ottawa
straight hair and a willow!
entering my room at the chateau laurier- i will be a loyal guest there from now on.
first beaver tails of the season!!- Miriam's was amazing, try a maple-score, its not on the menu, but they'll make it for you!!
le chat and le war memorial
beauty from ashes
its pretty late and i am exhausted and should be in bed, but truthfully, considering all the things that
could motivate me to write tonight, its the fact that I just turned Daniel powter on and I really like the cd, so i don't want to quit while a good song is on. lets see how fast i can type, if i can keep up with him you might get something good tonight.
so i just got back from the "constant Gardner." Its one of those movies where everyone stays in their seats long after the credits have told you who's-who among the key grips and then silently files out. pretty powerful stuff. i caught myself as i left thinking, well at least its fiction. can you imagine? but the thing is, its not fiction, not all of it. last week i went to a meeting put on by STAND canada (students taking action now in darfur..i think anyways go here:
http://www.cfjs.ca/darfur/ and that will tell you more) and david kilgour and it was about what is (NOT) being done for the genocide. one scene in the movie is set in southern sudan and the movie is not at all about the genocide, but it includes a scene where there is a raid on this village anyway- not because they had to, it had nothing to do with the plot- but because crap like that happens, stuff that has nothing to do with the plot of your life or mine, but that happens and we cant just pretend it doesn't or that it is just fiction.
i know that there is a lot of talk that goes around, it seems so hard to get involved, but why? what will it take? there are very minor things that we each could be doing, that if we each together were doing it would make a diff, but only a few do it, so it does squat.
i know this is all very well and good, for me to talk, but i will invariably always fall short myself. so dont think i am condemning anyone, but i guess if we just get the words out of our mouth, if only to the very few people reading this its the starting step right?
hey but there is grace in the midst. things have been devastaed in Guatemala, a country a few of you recognise as being close to my heart. hurricane stan did some serious damage- over 1900 dead and over 200,000 houses gone. this all happened this week- did you know? but i just got an email from a friend who is a missionary down there and the giving hearts of the people there within guatemala, who are giving out of NOTHING amazes and humbles me. It was truly an encouraging email. God makes tons out of nothing- diamonds from ashes eh.
welp, daniel is winding down and so am i. just some late night food for thought, i will try and make the next one sooner and not so down.
