New Wheels!

Hubby picked me up from work today and we went to Bicyclitis where we each got a new (to us) bike! Yay! I got a very 80s mountain bike -- a Kuwahara Parkway -- and Hubby got an manly looking red number complete with shocks on the front forks.

It was short a pannier rack so I grabbed one of those too (and installed it this evening, despite having to scrounge for longer bolts than were supplied). Kiddo has a bike too -- we found one at Value Village last Friday -- so today Hubby also picked up (and added) training wheels and a big sproingy safety flag. We also went to Sports Traders to grab a rack for the van (to hold all three bikes) and new locks.

After adjusting things, I went for a quick loop around the block. Oh, how I missed that feeling! I hope to bike to work tomorrow; I expect it will take me about half an hour. I'll let you know.

Me and Zombie McGee

This exercise was prompted by a friend's Facebook status -- she posted the line, "Zombie's just another word for nothing left to lose" and I immediately thought, "I could re-write that whole song." I told her so and now, here's my first attempt (with apologies to Kris Kristofferson, Fred Foster and Janis Joplin)...

I met him down in Baton Rouge, lookin for some brains,
His skin almost the colour of my jeans.
Zombie thumbed a diesel down, ate the driver’s brains,
Then rode us all the way to New Orleans.
Took my harpoon out of my dirty red bandana
And was blowin sad while Zombie sang the blues,
With them windshield wipers slappin time and
Zombie clappin hands we finally sang up every song
That Zombie knew.

Zombie’s just another word for nothin left to lose,
And nothin aint worth nothin but its free,
Feelin dead was easy, Lord, when Zombie sang the blues,
And buddy, that was good enough for me,
Good enough for me and my Zombie McGee.

From the coal mines of Kentucky to the California sun,
Zombie ate hitchhikers young and old,
Standin right beside me through everythin I done,
And every night his body felt so cold.
The somewhere near Salinas, Lord, I cut his head off clean,
He was lookin for more brains and eying mine,
Well I’d trade all my tomorrows for a single yesterday,
Wishin' Zombie’s body was alive.

Zombie’s just another word for nothin left to lose,
And nothin aint worth nothin but its free,
Feelin dead was easy, Lord, when Zombie sang the blues,
And buddy, that was good enough for me,
Good enough for me and my Zombie McGee.

La la la, la la la la, la la la, la la la la
La la la la la Zombie McGee.
La la la la la, la la la la la
La la la la la, Zombie McGee, la.

La La la, la la la la la la,
La La la la la la la la la, ain't no blood in my Zombie McGee yeah.
Na na na na na na na na, na na na na na na na na na na na
Hey now Zombie now, Zombie McGee, yeah.

Lord, I'm calling my lover, calling my man,
I said I'm calling my lover just a dead old man,
C'mon, hey now Zombie yeah, hey now Zombie McGee, yeah,
Lordy Lordy Lordy Lordy Lordy Lordy Lordy Lord
Hey, hey, hey, Zombie McGee, Lord!

Yeah! Whew!
Lordy Lordy Lordy Lordy Lordy Lordy Lordy Lord
Hey, hey, hey, Zombie McGee.

home today...

Took a sick day. Just a basic head/chest cold again but I am too foggy to focus at work and with all the swine flu panic, my coworkers were giving me pretty wide berth yesterday. Instead, I am reading through newsfeeds... and playing games on Facebook... and watching Donnie Darko (we bought The Director's Cut last weekend).

A couple of stories that amused me:

• Ferris Bueller's Criminal Day Off: a discussion of felonies and other misdemeanors committed by Ferris and his friends.
• Will real pirates kill fun pirates? Are the Somali troublemakers going to put an end to Talk Like a Pirate Day?
• Make jam, not cream cheese. Costing out of various staples, home-made versus store-bought.
  

It's the first time in a long time that I've seen Donnie Darko. I remember being really impressed by it but there was so much I'd forgotten. It's an odd film... but our collection is full of odd, haunting, similar-feeling films: Final Destination, Butterfly Effect, Waking Life, and of course Southland Tales, another Richard Kelly film. There are aspects of the typical teen outcast film but those are largely overshadowed by meditations on philosophy, time travel, the existence of god, literary theory, good versus evil, human nature, and redemption. Yeah, there's a lot of layers in that movie.

most bizarre auction ever....

From a Video...I Hope
Originally uploaded by Paulscheer

Recently a bunch of items from Michael Jackson's Neverland Ranch were auctioned off.... among them, this bust.

W. T. F. ??

If you can handle the weirdness, coloured by whatever lawsuits and tabloid reports you've heard over the past decade or so.... I highly recommend watching the whole slideshow.

exhausted

Our trip up-Island netted no free lawn ornaments but Micro-She (the GPS) did get us into one gargantuan argument (just fantastic as we had both Kiddo and my Mother in the van with us) as it sent us on a long trip along Shawnigan Lake road for no good reason and then tried to send us all the way around the lake -- another 20 km!! In fact, Hubby decided at only the last minute not to throw it out the window at high speed. Aside from that useless detour, the day was enjoyable. And we did get lawn ornaments at JYSK ($7 each; just a little over the $5 ceiling Hubby was hoping for).

At home, I tidied and vacuumed the basement, did lots of laundry, and started the cleaning upstairs. Today was more cleaning, tidying, furniture moving and all that. Hubby's birthday party went well, but in the midst of dinner I realized I hadn't bought or made him a cake (oops -- I made up for it by going out to grab Dairy Queen sundaes later). There were lots of kids around though most were old enough not to be underfoot. We had the decks cleared and ready for people but it ended up being cool enough that most wanted to eat indoors. Otherwise, I think everyone mostly enjoyed themselves.

This week I don't think there is anything major on our books... which is good. I plan to settle in to garden planning and planting (I picked up some great pamphlets which include lots of info on companion gardening), and maybe get back to some crafting or writing.