Post Industrial Brambles

One of my favourite experiences last year was visiting the Death Valley desert. There is something so amazing about the desert, a sense of bravado, a touch of daring do. It absolutely astounds me that things can survive, and even thrive, in this environment. I loved the desert because, even though it seems so bare, you can sense the strong presence of life.

Chris took this picture in August ’04:

Evidently, I was right to think this. Due to huge amounts of rain in California this year, the deserts in the area have been flooded with wild flower blooms whose seeds have been accumulating for years.

One of many pretty pictures from www.desertusa.com:

I wish I could go and see it myself, but alas, all I have is the Internet. This site has the nicest pictures I could find. And there is a nice little Quicktime 360 shot here.

* This reference is so obvious all I’ll say is that you’ve probably heard it on CHOM or some other commercial radio station.

This year was a bit trying on the house plants. The dirt I bought was not the optimal kind and I’ve made some bad potting desicions. That’ll teach me. I still got some nice blooms though. Yay!

I’ve been raised with certain distrust towards country music. Even today I really just don’t get it. It tends to have simple whiny melodies, dumb lyrics and to not even mention the fashion. So when I listened to one of the albums Chris got me for xmass, The Tigers have Spoken by Neko Case, I was appalled that it was country.

I try to be open minded and I have a rule that I must listen to an album until I irrevocably and definitively decide that I don’t like it and would rather listen to CFRA (an outrageously bad radio station in Ottawa) than to listen to it. So I have been listening to ‘The Tigers have Spoken” over the last week and despite its handicap for being a country music album, it is quite good. It took me a few listens to get over the lyrics. Only in country music would you talk about how you want your jerk ex-boyfriend to come back with a straight face. She has about three songs on this topic and tries out different strategies such as telling him how his new girlfriend is evil, getting a dress maker to make her a very pretty dress and even putting a spell on the guy. It completely eludes her that even if he comes back, she is still stuck with a third rate bum who is liable to ditch her as soon as the spell wears off. Once you get over rolling your eyes at the lyrics it is quite an enjoyable album though.

One in five pregnancies end in miscarriages and unfortunately I got to experience this first hand. Chris and I were quite upset but we’re slowly coming to terms with this. A number of my friends have had bad pregnancies only to go on and have beautiful healthy kids later on.

It will take a few months to recover, but we shall try again when the time is right. Even though this whole thing didn’t end right, I really appreciated all the congratulations and well-wishing notes we got from all of you. It is great to know that our friends are excited for us and that some even think we’ll be cool parents. I quite hope that we will indeed. When we get around to it, if nothing else, this weekend’s events will make it so much more precious.

I glanced over the article on slashdot talking about a the campaign to uncancel Star Trek: Enterprise. My initial response was a ‘eh whatever’. It is an enjoyable show and all, but if that’s the best cause you have to rally and donate money to than that is sad. It reminds me of the “Save the 300 m stretch of beach from the baby seal invasion” protest we witnessed while in San Diego last summer. The article referenced above has an interesting twist though. The major donation was received from commercial space flight industry with explanation that the show provides role models for future scientist and engineers. This is something I feel more sympathy for.

What I don’t understand about Enterprise cancellation is the following; the last season was awful. The script stunk, characters were undeveloped, concepts boring and the only thing remotely interesting was how much beer one would have to drink per show given that one took a sip for every suggestive camera angle and two sips per each shower scene. Yet the show did not get cancelled then. This season they actually got their act together, every episode was watchable and not a single shower scene occurred. But it got cancelled. I guess that just goes to show the stupidity of the common man. In any case I don’t think they’ll get the money to uncancel the show. At least it is in good company with all the other cancelled shows I enjoyed such as Wonderfalls, Dead Like Me, and I bet you in a few months Numb3rs and the House. At least it will stop me from watching too much TV.