We are hobos

moving

Originally uploaded by wooden apples.

It has reached a new low. Gabrielle asked if our ‘livingoom’ was some art installation I was working on, and if it would be okay if the organic cheese snack on the floor was moved. We have given up on having a bedroom because when your bed is just a pile of foamies and blankets you can sleep in whatever room you want, and you can watch tv in bed in the living room so that’s our new bedroom. We are disgusting and when I say we I mean the royal we. There is nothing left in my house except garbage, our ‘bed’ and the computer. It is constantly raining, therefor I spend all day on the computer until I can’t handle it anymore and then I go rent Carnivale from the video store. This is my life. I really hope I can shake this case of mono I seem to have come down with once we get to Montreal.
I think that maybe I am one of those people who needs to work, it’s a sad thought really. Working gives me something to do so I do not become a disgusting slob who spends all day reading craft blogs and renting HBO shows.
Shapes and Sizes are almost done recording, just two more days. I’m really excited after what I’ve heard. I hope they are too, they’ve put a lot of work into it. I have a medley of about 5 of the songs in my head so that should be a good sign I guess.
Three more sleeps to Montreal, I’m so excited and yet it still doesn’t feel like we’re actually moving, other than getting rid of all our stuff. When we get there I’m going to Chesky’s, then Polskie’s, then Patati Patata and then I plan on having a horribly amazing stomach ache. How grand it will be. Gabrielle and I went to the Jewish bakery for bagels this morning to prepare.

Soup Can, LameBus and the Science of Awesome

Good ol Shapes and Sizes are in the studio again recording their little hearts out, and so far what I’ve heard sounds fucking awesome. This of course means Ror’s not around too much these days but I’m very excited about the album coming together so I don’t really care.

Last weekend was amazing, Saturday was Sufjan and it was so good!! Better than at Richard’s, he just makes sense in a church. He seemed more comfortable there as well, telling little stories in between songs. They looked amazing in strange military outfits with kite wings attached and big feather masks and most of them were only wearing socks.

My Brightest Diamond is, for the record, crazy. She’s this tiny little woman in high hells and formal wear attempting to ‘rock out’ with this giant guitar. It’s maybe one of the strangest shows I’ve ever seen.

On Sunday evening Gabrielle was in need of some serious cheering up because the papers for her insurance on her van hadn’t come yet and so she couldn’t move it and it started to rain again which meant it’ was leaking (this has now been partially remedied). So to cheer up we decided to get stoned and go to a movie. Even Rory participated, which most of you will know is out of character. We went to see Shortbus to see what all the fuss was about, how good can watching Sook-Yin try to have an orgasm be? Not very. It was boring most of all and we agreed that it shouldn’t have tried to have had a plot and it should have had, as Rory put it ‘more fucking and orgies’. We were so disappointed that we snuck into another theater at the end to treat ourselves to a double bill. We’re we ever glad we did. Science of Sleep is the most fucking amazing movie I have seen in a very long time, it instantly made all of our ‘top movies to see again’ list. We all watched the entire movie which retarded smiles on our faces, maybe it was the pot maybe not.

We are moving in 10 days!!! Ack!!!
Yesterday Rory sold our bed which means that last night we slept on the fucking floor. It sucked a) because it’s a floor and b) because I was trashed from a work dinner thing. This morning the most amazing thing happened, as I was pulling my sore hung over self off the hardwood my boss called and said the workshop I was supposed to teach today was cancelled so I didn’t have to come to work. Amazing, I love it when things work out like that.
I’m am so fucking stoked to go Montreal but it still doesn’t feel real. I think even when we get there it’ll feel like we’re visiting. I’m so excited!!!!
PS: Those of you who have known me a real long time ( Caity, Alex and whoever else reads this) should know that Garry has been diagnosed with cancer but it is supposed to be very treatable. I just thought you should know.
xoxo Amy

Give thanks

givethanks

Originally uploaded by wooden apples.

Last weekend was really nice. Rory and I went back to Victoria for what will be the last time for a long time. It was strange being there with almost no one to visit with but it was nice at the same time, we didn’t feel like we had to get anything accomplished while we were there. We spent friday night and part of Saturday with my parents and then just hung out for the rest of Saturday until the evening when we went out to his folk’s place for dinner. We even managed to pick up his little sister on the way. This girl in incredible, she’s 14 and lives with her 21 year old sister (who has been away for three weeks) and she home schools herself.


Dinner was fun and the kids were crazy, they dragged Rory around the house buy his arms and climbed all over him like monkeys while he tried to play some fishing video game. Anyone who has yet to see Rory in this environment is really missing out. Alexa, his sister and Cole, his brother are already planning trips out to Montreal to visit.

Monday night we were back in Vancouver and had vegan Thanksgiving with Gabrielle. Oh the yummy things we ate! My signature miso mushroom gravy, tempeh, both roasted and mashed yams and potatoes, broccoli, salad and I even whipped up an organic pumpkin (and banana) pie with homemade crust. All of this was made after work so we were pretty zonked.

Why Craigslist is my friend and vegetables give me super powers

cupcakes

Originally uploaded by wooden apples.

Not only have we sold almost all our furniture but we got cupcakes too. Rory posted our sequin bird wall hangings for $20 and these girls asked if they could trade us for baked goods. So of course we said yes because free homemade baked goods aren’t something you should turn down. These 17 year old kids were fucking adorable. They had pink hair (probably just one of them, I can’t remember), Metallica sweatshirts and these amazing Martha-Stewart-would-be-proud cupcakes. Not only were they beautiful but they may have been the best cupcakes I’ve ever had. I ate three in one day.
Gabrielle and I rent Go Further, the documentary where Woody from Cheers travels down the west coast in a bio-diesel bus with a raw food chef,a yoga instructor and then some buddies of his. They bike for eight hours a day and then do talks about organic living at Universities. Everyone of them looked so healthy that Gabrielle and I decided to eat raw for a week to see what happened. The eight hour bike rides seemed excessive. I’m on day three and so far so good. yesterday I was a little grouchy but I think I’m just not eating enough. I already notice that I have way more energy, this morning was the first time in a long time that I woke up and was just awake, not groggy at all. The whole raw thing is weird because you don’t realize how much you can’t eat. All your beans and grains have to be sprouted, and all you nuts have to be raw. I think by the end of this I’m never going to want to see another peanut in my life, they’re the cheapest nuts and I’m poor.

Last night we had a really lovely dinner with Leif and Ben some rad kids we’ve met here. Leif used to work at the little health food store we went to and she’s in a this crazy noise band, and Ben her boyfriend works at our little video store and also makes noise music. Ben reminded us of a stew made of Lee, JRC and Logan Laird, not a bad combo if you ask me. We made a yummy raw salad for me with grated beets, cashews, sprouted beans and lentils and other yummies, the rest of them had salmon too. I was glad that the only cooked thing was something I don’t eat anyways so I wasn’t craving it. I’ll let you know how it goes.

Start your day with a BANG!

Sorry I couldn’t help myself with the title. Rory made me wake up at 7 am to go watch Woodwards blow up, and as grouchy as I was I gotta tell you, watching building blow up is really fucking fun. We tried to watch it from the JC/DC recording studio which is right across the street but we got there too late and they’d already blocked off the roads. It’s probably just as well, there were a few flying bricks.

The only thing weirder than watching a building blow up first thing in the morning is doing so on East Hastings. It was a really weird combination of people all standing on a hill in that sketchy park. You had your awesome families who do things like drag their kids out of bed to watch an implosion, your arty students with their expensive cameras and your crank heads, whose turf we were trespassing on. Just as their warning sounds went off they had to stop and start again because some junkie on a bike came peddling out of there like it ain’t no thing. It was kind of hilarious, they have the whole area alarmed and this guy sets it off and then gets pissed at the cops for moving him out of the way, it was as if he was somehow oblivious to the whole thing.

Through the power of technology I tried to upload videos I put on youtube into my blog but it doesn’t seem to work with wordpress blogs. If anyone knows how to do this I would love for them to tell me. I tried cutting and pasting the information it told me to use but nothing showed up… Erik?
These links should work though.

– BOOM

– BOOM2

After the implosion it was crazy all of east Hastings turned into a big ball of dust, that shit even gets in your teeth, no one could breath and then all these fancy pantses pull out dust masks like they’re so much smarter than the rest of us, which they are.

Now it is 9:30 in the morning and I’ve still got a clothing swap to go to before work at 3:30. Nothing like a good implosion ( I love that word by the way) to get your day started right.

We’re living like college students

As I mentioned in my last post Craigslist is a very efficient way to get rid of your stuff…maybe a little too efficient. We now have no furniture in our living room and I really miss having a couch. We lay all these blankets on the floor to watch movies but it’s just not the same.

We did however embrace our lack of furniture on the weekend by throwing a little living room picnic. It was pretty lovely, Graeme and Gabrielle (whom Rory has taken to calling Gabs) were here and Rory made tacos…mmmm. We even lit candles for sexy mood lighting but somehow after our ever so civilized dinner we realized that we should embrace the lack of furniture in a different way, by being college losers. Rory and Graeme had themselves a real wank fest trying all ten of the guitar pedals that Graeme had with him and then we all lay down on our ‘couch’ and watched Jackass the Movie on television (yes we still have the television). The next morning Rory skateboarded to the rehearsal studio undeniably influenced by Johnny Knoxville.
Friday is Gabrielle’s birthday, just thought I’d let you know.

Gabrielle

metrotown

Originally uploaded by wooden apples.

Gabrielle has, as of late, become somewhat of a roommate to Rory and I. To clarify, she doesn’t actually live with us but instead lives in her van, which is often parked on our street. It’s been really nice actually, I forgot what it’s like to have friends that you hang out with all the time. Mainly we rent a lot of tv on dvd and there’s usually beer involved and something yummy that Rory has made for dinner. We have so far watched the whole first and third season of Arrested Development (we skipped the second because it kept being rented but I think we’ll go back). This has quickly become one of my most favorite shows ever, how is it so funny? Also we watched Weeds which we voted good but not great and have just started Curb Your Enthusiasm which Gabrielle has never seen.
Watching television will become somewhat more difficult now seeing as today we sold and got rid of our couch. It’s weird to think that we’ll just sit on the floor for the next month but whatevs. It you ever need to sell anything put it on Craigslist, we put up four things today and yesterday and they’re all gone. By tomorrow we will have made over $300 for our ‘buying new stuff in Montreal’ fund.

Crafternoon tea

P1010014

Originally uploaded by wooden apples.

I decided it was about time I did some thing useful, and what is more useful than a crochet bunny with no legs? Not much. It was nice to know I could still crochet although not very well as you can see. I can’t be bothered with patterns so I just sort of whipped him up, that’s perhaps why he’s (do you like that I’ve apparently decided that this bunny in a jaunty pink sweater is a boy) is so crappy looking. I do kind of enjoy the fact that he’s really just a ball with some arms and a head.
In other news we are officially moving to Montreal and I am so happy. If you are unfamiliar with why I am eager to leave Vancouver simply read back a few entries and you’ll understand. I simply don’t want to be left behind in a city that I didn’t choose to live in. I am extremely happy that Shapes and Sizes are doing well, however for yours truly that means I’ll be flying solo a lot more. I’m pretty okay with being alone, as much as anyone whose been living with someone for 4 and a half years, I just like the option of hanging out with my good friends in a city I actually really love. The band will be away for three weeks in December and then are perhaps touring with the Castanets to SXSW in February, most likely touring their new album in the States and Canada in the spring as well as touring their current album in Europe for three weeks. Call me crazy I just want some company.

M Ward, The Silver Jews and other lovely things

carli

Originally uploaded by wooden apples.

This has been a musical week. Shapes and Sizes played at The Lamplighter last Thursday, I’d actually never been there before. Carli came so it was really fun even though I came right from work and wanted to nap on the beer soaked carpet. On Saturday night we went to see M Ward which was absolutely amazing. I think I had one of those grins on my face the whole time, you know the ones, where you catch yourself smiling at a happy part in a shmultzy movie. Anyways it was so good, I’m not sure what I was expecting but it way surpassed that. I would say it was one of my favorite shows of the year, up there with Destroyer. Then last night Shapes and Sizes opened for The Silver Jews at Richard’s. We found out at the show that they had actually chose them to play with in Vancouver out of all the bands that applied, how’s that for a compliment. They also got hilariously ugly Silver Jews trucker hats, bonus.
The only other thing of interest this week was that we went to Stanley park on Sunday, I hadn’t been since I was about six or so. Let me tell you that train ride is the worst $5 I ever spent (or rather Rory ever spent). I think I hate people too much to enjoy something like that. You’re stuck on a very slow moving vehicle filled with babies and people who like to give a running commentary about everything there is to look at. It was actually kind of welfare there were fake bears and moose and these little shacks with pervy gnomes hiding around them. I think we were at the park for about an hour and spent over twenty bucks on two train passes (it’s only 15 mins), two veggie dogs and one popsicle.
I think we were had by the city of Vancouver.

Home again home again jiggedy jig

Ror is home, for a few days now but I haven’t updated, and I am pleased as punch. As you all witnessed this city did a real number on me while they were away. I’m sorry you had to witness that, I was somewhat of a train wreck. I haven’t experienced loneliness like that in a long time. It’s one thing to feel alone because someone special has gone away but it’s a whole new story, and a terrible one at that, to actually be alone in a city were the one person you know is always working. Regardless my pouting is over, thank you all for your pity and comments, Elif I am so into express packaging baked goods, depression or no depression.
We went to Victoria on the weekend, it feels like I’ve been saying that a lot lately. Shapes and Sizes played with Kickball, awesome kids from Olympia we met in LA last winter, and The Good Good from Brooklyn. The show was at Big Fernwood which was kind of hilarious, it was like taking a million steps back, but in the best possible way. Andy Reynolds opened which was lovely, he added a line to one of his songs about Ali’s Flickr account.
A big news update will be coming, one most of you already know about but I’ll write about it later when it’s more official and less stressful. For now I’ll leave you with a mushy photo of Ror and I so you can think about how much you love both of us.

I think I’m going to make more of those cookies today, they were just so tasty.