I'm listening to the birds singing the praises of a coming storm; the horizon is thick with dark clouds and the low rumble of distant thunder or freight trains or garbage trucks. My tummy is full of vegan French toast (coconut and cinnamon, a malloreigh original recipe) and my heart is full of hope.

Amanda and I stayed up til the sun woke up.
I'm home alone this weekend. My sweet, sweet I-don't-know-what-to-call-her roommate/bestfriend/crush is sinking her feet into wet sand and throwing herself to the wind, the sun, the sky and the ocean on one of the larger Gulf Islands in celebration of her first solstice on the west coast; here, we feel the earth beneath us, we sing to it and it sings to us. I hope she's having an amazing time. I'm not going; I need self-exploration this weekend and when I am with her I am so caught up in her passion and delighted by her that I forget about myself.

[before] and [after] last night's queer dance party - I nuzzled with a sweet giraffe over the taste of cinna-mint.

Tonight my fixed-gear silver, orange and pink Peugeot bicycle and I go on our very first road trip together to Portland, Oregon. I've never been but I've been meaning to go for so long. I'm excited. I'm not going with anyone I really know so I'll be spending a lot of time on my own and that's exactly how I want it.

I must remember to bring...
. My camera
. My notebook and a good pen
. Dahl and injera for the road
. Extra hair elastics because they seem to slide right out of my braids

My ladies and I have been hanging out constantly. I love it. We'll make group dinners and go for bike rides and hold hands and lie on the grass and drink (or not) and go to the beach. We've been joined at the hip lately.
I love having best friends.

I spent so many years of my life without close friends. It's only recently (within the last couple years) that I've developed close, comfortable friendships with anyone. I had to learn how, and these things take time even when they're easy.
I am happy. I can't deny it.
But I find that, when I'm alone, I catch myself slipping into melancholy. My thoughts drift and suddenly I find it difficult to move, to breathe, to think. (Another reason I've been watching The L Word.)

Still, this is my coming out summer. This is my summer of fun, of being single, carefree, happy. This is my summer of adventure.
I think I let her convince me to skip work on Friday and go on a bike trip to one of the islands. I think I don't even care. I am infatuated with our chemistry. Our swift movements through traffic, crossing paths, catching one another's tailwinds - our matched smiles - our brilliant ideas.

Someone ask me out on a date. Some sweet, adventurous tomboy with a crooked smile and charming eyes. I'll romance you. We'll stay up til the birds start singing, til the sun wakes up if you dare.
- Thanks to Starla, I now have a totally bad-ass shaved patch on the left side of my head. This shaved patch was a long time coming.
- Due to my semi-shaved head, I no longer look even remotely responsible or mature. Win.
- My road rash from the naked rainy bike crash is healing, but the gouge in my elbow is still pussing and yellow. I can't really put any pressure on my left arm. It's rather lame, but I suspect I'll survive.
- Tonight I'm looking at two new places to live. Wish me luck that they're both beautiful and willing to have my skidly self living within their walls. I mean, not that it's up to the house.
- Oh yeah, I'm moving because my roommate ran away and I have three amazing friends who want to build a vegan collective household with me. Bike workshop, vegan supper sharing, and positivity - oh my.
- I might be going to Portland in a couple weeks! Squee. If you live in Portland I will probably not be able to hang out since I'm going for only two days and for a very specific reason, but I can try! DONUTS! FOOD FIGHT! VEGAN STUFF EVERYWHERE!
Here are some pictures of the above items and of my last few days.

haircut! road rash!

dressing up!

i take pictures!

i drink wine! i eat! so does she!
In unrelated news, I've caught the girl crazy bug. I cannot even tell you how many crushes I have right now! There are just so many cute girls in this city. If you live in a city with a short supply of cute lesbians, move to Vancouver. Or don't. More for me! (Note to self: cute girls are not like candy. Wait, yes they are.)
Wait til you guys see my sweet road rash. I actually haven't managed to take a good photo of it yet, but... but I will! I've been doing a self-portrait-a-day project this month and today's was of my amazing bruises. (I went on the World Naked Bike Ride yesterday in the pouring rain after drinking whiskey and took a sharp corner.)
I have to say that the best part of my wipeout was getting to tell the story so many times. By the end of the night last night I had totally mastered the sound effects and everything. I think being a good storyteller is an amazing skill that more people need to have. Probably not my self-indulgent type of storytelling, mind you.
Speaking of self-portraits, here's one. Happy June, lovers.
Anyway, I owe y'all some love, but I'm drinking organic fair-trade coffee with hemp milk and listening to Her Space Holiday and being generally extremely happy so I'll sign off for now with the following:
Ride a bike!
Save the world.
Also, this is my new bike. I'll write about it in more detail later.

Okay, I'm back with more detail. It's my first fixed gear, I converted it myself from a touring bike that I am going to convert it BACK to in a few days as I have also purchased a really beautiful silver Peugeot that'll make a hot fixie.
Okay, and now I am going to sell my cruiser 'cos there's a girl who needs it more than I do. Bye-bye Frankie with your "I (heart} Vegetarian Girls" sticker.
From last entry...
Q. Do you wear glasses or contacts? Do you know your prescription, if you do?
Yes! I am pretty blind. Left eye: -7.75. Right eye: -6.50. I also have astigmatism in my left eye. It bothers me and makes me feel useless. I would be fucked without technology and that sucks. I am also too blind to get laser eye surgery with current technology. Here is me with my glasses, in early 2005 when I got this new pair:

Q. What is one very common skill that you don't know how to do?
I can't whistle! No joke. I do occasionally let a low sound out of my mouth for impact when miming crashes (or a bad joke crashing to the earth).
So as I was telling Peacemaker in his journal, I went to a Bike Prom in Victoria the other week and performed with The Brakes. It was hot but I got way too smashed and thus I don't remember much, but here is a photo.

Boy am I ever dorky...
Oh yeah, and I got my tattoo coloured by Gerry Kramer. He came to Vancouver and I got to visit a top-secret amazing tattoo shop to get it done which was a pleasure. Sadly I missed the midnight bike ride later that night because I was SO bushed from an afternoon of being scraped at with a needle.


(Click image for full view)
Okay, now if you aren't TOO overloaded with the Mal, here are some random things.
I can almost put my foot behind my head and I can definitely rest it on the side of my head but I can't touch my toes. Weird, because I have short legs.
I am wearing 60spf sunscreen on my tattoo right now, but none on the rest of my body. I will have a funny tan perhaps.
I washed ALL the dishes before I left for work today because I am nice like that.
I need to leave work before 5:30pm so I can make it to the pet store to buy my cat INNOVA brand food. I pamper him. ^_^
Q. How much money do you spend on transportation in a month - cabs, car, insurance, gas, bus, bike, etc.?
Q. What do you usually have for breakfast on a work/school day? How about on a day off?
Well, I answered my weekday breakfast last post... muesli with nuts and coconut in rice milk or coconut/banana/cocoa/oatmeal smoothies. This morning, though, I had this organic peanut butter granola that I picked up on a whim yesterday... yum! With basmati rice milk which has a bit more rice flavour than the usual subtle rice milk I get.
On a day off I am a huge fan of a big tofu scramble with lots of veggies (broccoli, zucchini and peppers are my favourites). I flavour it with an assortment of spices depending on my mood. I've also had lentil and mushroom scrambles that are amazing. It's a pretty light breakfast - doesn't weigh you down like pancakes - and so much fun to make. With organic, fair-trade coffee. Black as my soul and twice as bitter!
I stopped sweetening my coffee about a year ago when Linds and I attempted (and failed) the Master Cleanse. I made it two days in, but when I quit I promised to myself that I'd eat macrobiotic for the rest of the month and I'd cut out refined sugar. To this day I very rarely eat sugar. Maybe once a week I will have something with sugar in it.
I used to have a HUGE sweet tooth and I would eat sweet things and candy all the time, even packets of sugar. I am a much more stable and levelheaded person now that I am not always on sugar highs!
Q. How many times a week do you eat at a restaurant or get takeout? How many of those are breakfast, lunch or dinner?
Way too many... the answers to this question confirmed it for me. I eat out way more than most people! I am very lucky to live in a city with many varied and healthy vegan options. I eat breakfast out generally once a week, lunch three to four times, and supper four to six times. I am really really bad for spending money on restaurant food.
It's so difficult in a city where there's excellent sushi on every street and there are five or more vegan-friendly restaurants within walking distance of my house - and that's not counting the ones within biking distance. I wish I cooked more often but I have a lot of trouble putting that much effort in if it's just for me. I'd much rather meet a friend for supper out.
Q. What is one really weird thing that you dislike that most people don't dislike?
I don't really dislike much of anything, but my least favourite vegetable is carrots! I used to love them but lately can only stomach them when they're really well prepared, seasoned well and are in a dish in a small ratio to the other items. I will eat them but I prefer not to.
As far as non-food items go, I don't like wearing long sleeves. Unless they go down almost to the ends of my hands.

Linds

Super old photo of me I found on a thought-it-was-lost memory card. This is from a few days after I shaved my head...

I wore this outfit to a dinner party and one of the hosts told me I looked like _____________ from BladeRunner... go!
Q. Do you wear glasses or contacts? Do you know your prescription, if you do?
Q. What is one very common skill that you don't know how to do?
Q. Do you ride a bike? Tell me about it! Does it have a name?
I have two bikes - soon to be four if I have my way. My first, very reliable and oldest bike is named Frankie. Frankie is a brown ladies cruiser ("Free Spirit"). Steel rims, steel frame, heavy as fuck. Ten speeds but I only use four. I also only use 2 of my six softnesses of sketching pencil. I don't need that many variations. Frankie rattles a bit but I've done quite a bit of work on it (not a him or a her, an it) and I love it dearly.

(The sticker on the down tube says "I <3 Vegetarian Girls")

My second bike is tentatively called Isabelle. She's a bright red, super-shiny Raleigh road bike, also heavy as a bitch. White grip tape - so pretty - but there's ALWAYS something wrong with this bike. I've done SO much work on it and it's never been in perfect condition. Argh, I just want to sell it. Right now my roomie is riding it.
This spring I'm planning on building a little road bike for myself, light frame, MAYBE fixed gear but more likely a five speed freewheel. I also want a li'l minibike for bombing around on and for events and such.
Q. What is your morning routine?
My alarm clock goes off at 8:02am. I hit snooze three times. It's almost 8:30 at this point. I've snuggled with my cat a bit by now. I get up, choose some underpants, do my thing in the bathroom. My cellphone alarm goes off at 8:35am; if I'm still in bed, I get up, and on weekends it wakes me up so I can go about my day. At around 9am I make breakfast, do anything I need to do that morning, then get on my bike and head to work.
If it's grey out I'm usually in bed til at least 8:45 and sometimes 9:15; I don't have to leave the house til 9:30. I can't use the computer in the morning or else I am late for work. It's hilarious.
For breakfast I usually have a bowl of muesli with rice milk, shredded coconut and any extra nuts or dried fruits that I have around. If I have frozen bananas and some extra time I make a smoothie with some warm oatmeal, frozen banana, coconut milk, shredded coconut and cocoa. Amazing...

This is from Februaryish.
I also have a new profile picture...

From a few weeks ago. My hair's gettin' long...
Q. What do you usually have for breakfast on a work/school day? How about on a day off?
Q. How many times a week do you eat at a restaurant or get takeout? How many of those are breakfast, lunch or dinner?
Q. What is one really weird thing that you dislike that most people don't dislike?
Q. What was the best part of your day today? How about yesterday? What about tomorrow?
Today has barely started - I'm still in bed - but I must admit that yesterday I saw Cocorosie at Richard's on Richards and they absolutely blew me away. The two openers were also too fantastic. Tez was a beatboxer with some seriously mad skills. Busdriver was some amazing high-energy hip-hop that reminded me of Mr Applebonbon on stage.
And then Cocorosie... I have to admit I think I'm in love with Bianca Casady aka Red Bone Slim vs Itself. I think it was the best show I've ever been to. I found myself a little pocket in the crowd where I had some room and I swayed and moved to the music, drowned in it and in the energy. Everyone just HUSHED and listened. So few people moved, so few flashes went off. It was over all too soon.
They closed with Werewolf and I almost cried! AMAZING. If you haven't heard the new album, The Adventures of Ghosthorse and Stillborn, go listen to it! There's a couple songs here: http://myspace.com/cocorosie
Anyway, today I'm going to hang out with Linds and our friend Amanda and maybe Nikala if she ever gets her cute butt out of bed. We're going out for a yummy vegetarian brunch and then coffee and bookstore browsing... it's raining which ruins our plans of going to the beach but I don't mind too much. I'm feeling far too sublime to be bothered by the weather. Spring rain is beautiful.
I'm also going to see The Bouncing Souls tonight and I'm stoked. I'll have to grab a 40oz or maybe justy refill my flask so I can have a teenaged good time.
Tomorrow it'll be back to work... a day of updating and fixing the Black Spot Shoes website interspersed with errands to the post office and Kinkos so I can get some much-needed things done in my life. I still haven't done my taxes. Can you believe? I'm a shitty adult.
Q. Who is your favourite person in the whole world to be around right NOW?
I'm between people-infatuations right now, but I'm becoming closer to many people that I already cared about, so there's more than one person that I'll jump at any chance to spend time with... my best pal in Vancouver, Jonny B, is moving back to Calgary on Tuesday (tear!) so I keep trying to convince him to spend as much time with me as he can... and there's my lovely roommate Martine as well. Here are some photos of both of them from Friday night - we had a Mad Tea Party!
Martine

Jonny'n'me

And the lovely Miss Linds and Amanda as mentioned above...


Q. Do you ride a bike? Tell me about it! Does it have a name?
Q. What is your morning routine?
Q. What was the best part of your day today? How about yesterday? What about tomorrow?

(by Linds)

Q. Who is your favourite person in the whole world to be around right NOW?


