Pride 2014 was ridiculous
as per usual, but even more so because of the presence of these fine people as well as the following:
- Whistles
- Road rockets
- Giant, walk-through colons
- Underwear Robyn dance parties
- Nip slips
- Hula hooping
- Leopard-print jean-looking tights & dress shoes
- Being spices (Oregano & Chili Flakes forever!)
- #hashtags
- Too many trips to the wine store
- Sunshine & sunburns
and so, so much more.
yr girl is a lucky lady.
Hip Hop (Mon)day - The Roots - What They Do
because yesterday was too jam-packed with Pride 2014 stuff for hip-hop, here's a lil somethin' to get you going on yr Monday instead.
xox
yr girl Shaner
I'm not the nicest girl
in fact, most people would call me a lot of other things instead and depending on the person, circumstance and words used I might be inclined to agree with them.
I don't pretend to be anything other than what I am.
I haven't blogged at length about my breakup because while it was okay to share the life that I shared with someone else, it's not nearly as nice to share yr life when they're not really a part of it anymore.
Besides, how do you frame the process of untangling two people who spent years stitching themselves together?
Should you, even?
I don't know. I've never done this before.
Breaking up is hard. It's the hardest thing that I've ever done.
It's so easy to get wrapped up in the public drama of breaking up but at the end of the day you're just two people who loved each other once
or might still love each other but can't make it work
or just don't love each other enough anymore
or whatever
who have to try and navigate the disgusting, awful, nasty, rotten, dirty business that is breaking up.
It's awful, and I know that it's far from over.
But I'll still be here at the end of it.
I hope you will, too.
xox
yr girl Shaner
She is like a lioness and wolf all alike and she bears mighty teeth
The title of this post is a line from the song 'Eurydice' by The Mariachi Ghost, who played an amazing (free!) show at Shannon's last Friday night.
Yes, their faces are all decorated à la Día de Muertos-style.
Yes, that's an amazingly talented dancer in the front.
Yes, you should definitely go see them.
(Obligatory food pr0n post from my brunch date with some lovely ladies on Saturday. Omg The Don's menu is amazing)
Saturday I went on the loveliest little date to Across the Board, the hippest new board game café in Winnipeg.
Not only is the decor super sharp (I love clean, white walls) but their board game selection is insane (and well-organized to boot)!
We managed to score a table right at the front by the big picture window, and as we were laying out our tiles for Forbidden Island Olaf (one of the owners) came up and introduced himself to us and took a few moments to chat about the game.
Naturally I had to throw down that I'd watched Wil Wheaton play it on Tabletop, so I think I earned myself some nerdy cred.
In the eve we caught The Xanadoods at Le Garage Café and watched the best cover of The Beastie Boy's "Intergalactic" ever. You should have been there.
Sunday was tons of rain, The Sopranos, and checking out The Grand Budapest Hotel at Grant Park Theatre.
Perfect. Weekend.
The Return of #HipHopSunday
slept in till noon today because I was up late learning to swing dance
made a huge breakfast skillet that I ate from a small bowl
put up some Christmas lights even though it's nearly June
watched it rain, watched the sun come out, watched it rain again
brought back #HipHopSunday
because it feels like the right time.
Winnipeg vs Wildlife?
It's no secret that I love this city. I go on at length about our potential, our charm, and the quality of the people who call Winnipeg "home." I truly believe that we are becoming a forward-thinking city filled with thoughtful, considerate, wonderful people.However, there are instances which make me seriously doubt my optimistic view of my hometown.
I'm referring to an organization called the "Urban Goose Working Group" (mentioned on CJOB yesterday) who have been seeking out and destroying the eggs of Canada Geese in the Kenaston area for at least the past couple of years. Their actions are apparently spurred by the "safety issue" caused by the geese and their goslings in the area.
I'd like to take a moment to lay out what is actually happening here, in case you missed it:
People are actively going out of their way to find and destroy Canada Goose eggs.
What's even worse is that this is an effort coordinated and supported by not only the City of Winnipeg, but the Province of Manitoba as well as the Government of Canada. So all levels of government not only condone, but actually encourage this utterly barbaric practice.
It is shameful and disgusting, and I am appalled that my local government feels that this is an appropriate step to take.
There are multiple options which could serve as much more humane alternatives: we could install caution signs to notify motorists that this is a high traffic area for geese, put up snow fencing to deter the geese, we could slow the fuck down as we barrel along in our SUVs to go to the outlet mall, we could do as many countries in Europe have done and build wildlife bridges over highways to facilitate exactly the sort of issues that we're running into, or we could stop the insanity that is urban sprawl and stop building on the nesting grounds that these birds have been using for countless generations.
Because that's the thing: citizens are complaining about the inconvenience that the geese are causing them, though they chose to move to a newly-developed (and in many cases, totally unnecessary) suburban wasteland and now they have to interact and deal with (gasp! Horror!) wildlife that has been there long before our shovels broke the soil.
Here in Winnipeg we're trying to paint ourselves as a forward-thinking city, and while I know for a fact that there are many people in Winnipeg who truly are, we can't make a statement like that while continuing to completely disregard our wildlife simply for the sake of our own creature comforts.
It speaks volumes about the rampant levels of self-entitlement in our society, and it's time that the City of Winnipeg and our Provincial and Federal governments started acting a like the "responsible governments" that they claim to be.
With this in mind, I urge you to write to your City Councillor, your MLA, and your MP and ask them to stop supporting this awful practice.
This weekend was happy, then it was sad
which is basically how all of my days have been for the past few weeks. A roller coaster of elation and fun and then sad sad sad then good again.
Life takes some adjusting to, sometimes.
But we push ever forward (it's not like we have any choice).
Anyway.
Went for dinner at Billabong after work and had passable mussels and decent calamari and not the greatest selection of beer which led to a singular beer with dinner and then the decision to toss back a couple of road rockets with a handsome man in a back alley seemed only natural.
I managed to make it in time for my community gardening orientation which I was scared about going to because, y'know, road rockets, but there was a dude who was clearly super wasted and kept getting flak from the dude running the orientation so I felt better.
Now I'm spending time in my apartment for the first time in over two weeks which I expected to stress me out and make me feel sad but it hasn't. It's been nice to be in my own home and totally alone and sipping Brazillionaire tea from DavidsTea and to cuddle with my main kitty, Toulouse.
Even if he does ruin all my good wesside photos.
I just want back in your head
is a line from a song by Tegan & Sara off ‘The Con’ which was released in 2007 during which time I was crazy for a boy who lived in a bad neighbourhood and drove a silly silver car and used to make comic book jokes that always went over my head.
One day after driving around for a while we went to a park and, because it was fashionable at the time, I was wearing this ridiculous ankle-length hippie-style skirt which faded from white to sky blue at the bottom but was totally brown by the end of this story.
Which is that we decided to roll down a giant hill together.
Which, like all bad ideas, seemed like a good idea at the time.
Turns out at the bottom of the hill the grass wasn't nearly as soft and dry as the grass at the top of the hill.
Turns out that, in fact, the grass at the bottom of the hill had a secret layer of mud which
naturally
yr girl rolled straight into like a pro.
Completely covered in mud, white/blue hippie skirt totally ruined.
Of course he managed to totally miss the giant mud puddle and was totally fine
which annoyed me to no end until he walked over to me and picked me up, totally covering his clothes in mud as well
and carried me back to the car.
As we drove back to his place while our fingers played along to the piano in this song on the dashboard and
later, once we were clean, on his headboard.
Can't speak, so tired
but damn was last night worth it.
After cycling home (!!!) after work, I hit up Brian Bowman's mayoral campaign launch after work which was amazing. It was so cool to see so many like-minded people come together and get excited about creating a positive change for my city
(which you guys know that I love & adore).
I'm honestly so excited to see a candidate who feels so passionately about making my city a better place. I feel disheartened with municipal politics pretty frequently because I don't see any long-term vision or planning being done, and it was refreshing to hear someone speak who seems to care about the same issues as I (and, apparently, many more people) do.
Later on in the eve was Abstract Artform's show with Animal Nation at Le Garage Café which I'm glad I caught because those boys are talented as f.
Also Abstract happens to be one of the sweetest guys ever and it was lovely to get to see him for the first time in ages (also: I forgive you for your awkward tweet!)
Proof yr girl was there (in the front row, 'natch):
It's almost time for the long weekend -just one more day! Here's what I have planned:
Wine
Poetry
Nachos
RuPaul's Drag Race
Laughs
Grrlfrienns
Hearts
Biking like a mofo
Gardening
ADVENTURES
Can't wait!
