Random Ramblings of a Very Tired Beth

Typing this out on my Palm Pilot on the bus on the way to a free screening of Cloverfield. Won't have time to write blog posting when I get home as I have to finish my lecture for tomorrow. My wicked cool lecture about the BC Nutrition Survey, about measurement and about dietary assessment. But I'm so very, very tired...

So, some random thoughts. A recent study found that 75% of people in the study who called themselves vegetarians ate animal flesh sometimes. wtf? They put new floors in the hallway to the caf at my work. The new floors muffle the sound significantly compared to the old floors. I'm thinking they put the new flooring in because my new boots are like the loudest things ever when I walk down the hall in them. My ski buddy busted her knee & is out for the season; now looking for people with whom to ski. Is it wrong that I'm not done my lecture, but I decided what I'm going to wear to my class tomorrow 5 days ago?

12 Bars of Christmas - the Sequel

So, I was wondering all day why no one commented on my engaging tale of the 12 Bars of Christmas. I get the comments on my blog emailed to me, so I didn't look at the blog itself - just didn't get any emailed comments. And just now when I went to write a new posting, I discovered that, although I finished writing the posting yesterday, I didn't actually click "publish." D'oh! Guess that kind of absentmindedness is a sign that perhaps one shouldn't go to 12 bars in one night. Anyway, here's the posting:

So, I have a confession to make. I did not successfully complete the 12 Bars of Christmas this year! *hangs head in shame*. I made it to all the bars. I sang all the verses of the 12 Days of Christmas at the appropriate times and in the appropriate locations, as per the rules of the 12 Bars. But I was not able to drink a drink at every bar! Well, I suppose I would have been able to, so I probably should say I was unwilling to given that my body was telling me that I needed a break after 8 drinks¹.

I think part of the problem as that I couldn't stick to the same game plan I had last year - which was to stick with a specific drink² for most bars, with the occasional shot when we got behind schedule and needed to get in and out of a bar really fast. Why couldn't I stick to that game plan, you ask? Because the 12 Bars got waaaaay too popular! Last year, we started out at Erika & Paul's place with something like 7 people and then ended up with about 30 by the last bar, as people joined us along the way. This year, we had somewhere around 30 people at the first bar!! By the end, we have no accurate count of participants as friends of friends had joined up and no one really knew who was with us and who were just randoms in the bar. But there had to be over 50 of us by the end. This resulted in two things: (a) we didn't get to meet as many new people, as you sort of had to stick with your little group in order to not get totally lost in the crowd, and (b) it's really hard to get a drink at a bar when 30-50 others are also all trying to get a drink in 30 mins³ - somehow always seemed to be the last people served and so had to take a few shots off the start because there wasn't enough time to drink an actual drink. I think this set a poor tone for the evening!

My night went something like this.

Bar #0 - Erika & Paul's place (UNOFFICIAL START) - Vodka & Sprite. I agreed to have a drink here. This was my first mistake!

Bar #1 - Las Margarita’s – OFFICIAL START - Jolly Rancher shot. I wanted a margarita here, but by the time we got to the bartender, it was pretty much time to leave, so we had to do a shot.

Bar #2 - Room 18 - Polar bear shot. Bar #2 was supposed to be Hell’s Kitchen⁵, makers of the best Amaretto sour at last year's 12 Bars. When Hell's Kitchen was called early in the day and asked if they would be open at 4 p.m., they replied "yes." Apparently "yes" means "no" at Hell's Kitchen, because when we go there, they weren't open. So we improvised and went to Room 18 instead. They didn't want to let us in at first, saying they couldn't handle 34 people with just one bartender. So we promised that we'd all get the exact same shot and be out in her hair in life 15 minutes, probably the fasted $300 that bar will ever make. So another unplanned shot for me, but a great photo opp!

Bartender at Room 18 makes 34 Polar bear shots.

Bar #3 - Brown’s - Amaretto sour. Finally! Although this one wasn't like any Amaretto sour I'd had before - it was brown rather than green. Weird.

Bar #4 - Kitsilano Restaurant – White wine. This is the place where we stop to eat. But it counts as a bar, so we have to drink their too. So I enjoyed a much too full glass of wine with my yam rolls, veggie tempura and teriyaki tofu. About halfway through the wine was when my brain took notice of the unnecessary amount of alcohol to which it was being subjected.

Bar #5 - Tatlow’s - Spiced rum & diet Coke⁶ - I don't think I have anything special to report about this bar.

Bar #6 - Darby’s - Amaretto sour! Yay! Darby's makes a tasty A.S. And it was green. Making for a very Christmasy photo of red and green drinks.

Casey shows off our Christmas coloured drinks -
Vodka cran + Amaretto sour.

Bar #7 - Nevermind - Spiced rum & diet Coke⁶ - Unlike it's sister restaurant, Hell's Kitchen, Nevermind was open. Unlike last year, where we convinced a #84 Express bus to pick us up and drive us to Nevermind despite the fact that Nevermind is not where the #84 bus is supposed to stop, this year we had to walk all the way to Nevermind. Which, by my calculations, is 872 blocks from Darby's.

Between bars #7 and #8 is where I officially decided to wuss out. My tummy was telling me that it was sufficiently stocked with alcoholic beverages at the moment and any further deliveries would be returned to sender. So, in the interest of not puking, I decided to skip the drinks at the next two bars.

Bar #8 - Gargoyles - No drink!

Bar #9 - The Fringe - No drink again!

Bar #10 & #11 - Coppertank - Spiced rum & diet Coke. We were supposed to go to Elwood’s for Bar #10, but they told us that brinigng 50ish people would put them over capacity, so they wouldn't let us in. So we decided that Coppertank could have more of our money and decided to stay there for an hour instead of the usual 30 mins, having two drinks (and sing two verses of the 12 Days of Christmas) instead of the usual 1. I felt better enough to have one drink, but decided that I didn't really need two.

Beth and Kalev tell us that we are at Bar #10.
Unfortunately, Coppertank counted as 2 bars, I forgot to take a "Bar #11" pic.

Bar #12 - Regal Beagle - Spiced rum and diet Coke. And thus ended the 12 Bars.

Bar #13 - Lola's - Spiced rum and diet Coke - In celebration of not having died, we went next door to Lola's to dance, and make fun of the other patrons fashion choices behind their backs.

Hooray for Bar #13. Go team!

You can view all the photos here.


¹In my defence, I would like to remind everyone that I'm somewhat on the small size. I don't think 115 lb people are meant to drink 13 drinks!
²In my case, Amaretto sour.
³And the 30 minutes includes travel time between bars. And, given that we were having a blizzard⁴, travel time was somewhat slower going than one would like.
⁴To my readers out east: "blizzard" in Vancouver vernacular means "it was snowing out."
⁵You may recall Hell's Kitchen as the location of my brief but celebrated career as a coat check girl.
⁶I think. If memory serves me, they didn't have Amaretto here so I had to improvise. But I could be misremembering - memory started to fuzzy for some unidentifiable reason.

You Must Have At Least $2.50 To Attack This Skytrain Rider

My thoughts on this article: Free rides approach end of the line on SkyTrain

There may be no more free rides for fare-evaders on the Lower Mainland's SkyTrain system now that B.C.'s transportation minister is pushing to have gates or turnstiles installed at all stations.

There is still no official plan is place, but Transportation Minister Kevin Falcon said Thursday a system could be up and running sometime in 2008.

There's no official plan in place, but it will be up and running sometime in the next 13 months. Why do I find this hard to believe? Hmm.... perhaps because even when they do have an official plan, projects routinely take years longer to complete than they are supposed to. Translink and UBC were supposed to have an underground bus loop at UBC finished like two years ago and they've only just started it this fall. Or I think they've started it. They put up a fence around the area at least.

Turnstiles would make the system safer by keeping those who don't pay out, said Falcon.

"Young women in particular feel much safer when they're in what's called a controlled area, an area which has controlled access through gates or turnstiles," said Falcon.

Awesome. Now I can only be attacked by someone who has $2.50 to get passed the turnstile. Because you know if someone has $2.50, they are good people.

"Generally, thugs, punks, whatever they may be, [who] don't pay to go cause trouble for other people," he said.

Damn thugs and punks. And don't even get me started on ne'er do wells.

Falcon said the new plan is to have a company install the barriers for a share of the revenue.

Great. So now the overburdened, underfunded public transit system will be giving up some of the money to a private company to put in turnstiles. And/or they will jack up the cost of using public transit to make up the difference of what they have to give to the private company.

Oh yes, and speaking of Skytrain, go to Mayor Sam Sullivan's website to vote on if you think the Skytrain should be extended to UBC campus!

Wicked cool pic taken from the Skytrain by this guy, from here. Hooray for Creative Commons licenses!

Blog Action Day

Although my previous post was, at least in part, about the environment it was not actually intended as part of Blog Action Day. I actually didn't know about Blog Action Day until Darren mentioned it in the comments on that post.

In his post, Darren asked "what is your big eco-sin?" Like most of his commenters, I try to be good to the environment:

• I don't own a car - I take the bus to work and for most of my transportation around the city, and I joined the car co-op for getting to hockey games
  
• even when I do take a co-op car, I usually try to do multiple things on a given trip (such as go to the grocery store after my hockey game) in order to minimize the number of car trips I take
  
• I'm a vegetarian and I don't wear leather
• I use a travel mug¹ to avoid using paper cups and I bring my own Tupperwear container to the cafeteria to avoid using Styrofoam containers
• I bring my own bag to the grocery store so I don't have to take plastic ones
• I recycle anything that can be recycled²
• I turn the lights out in the bathroom, the kitchen and the photocopy room at work when I leave them³
• I use the back of old printouts as note paper before I recycle them
• I don't buy anything new if I can get it used instead and buy almost all of my clothes in consignment & thrift stores
  
• I rarely fly anywhere⁴

But I do have one big eco-sin. I leave my computer on. All the time. 24/7. Even when I'm at work all day, my computer at home is on. And the main reason I do this is a rather ridiculous one - when I come home, I like there to be messages waiting for me. Even though I haven't had my landline and it's accompanying answering machine for months now, my natural inclination when I walk in the door is to look for the little flashing red light telling me that someone cared enough to call me! And since I don't have that anymore, my msn serves that purpose. With my computer on, people can msn me all day long and when I get home, I have messages waiting for me. OK, now that I write that down, I see it's silly. Starting tomorrow, I'm shutting my computers off when I leave.

On a related note: why, since the librarians have been on strike for four months, were all the lights on in the local library branch when I walked by there tonight?

¹A friend of mine said that he feels if he can't have his act together enough to bring his travel mug with him, then he feels that he doesn't deserve a coffee. I think this is a good philosophy
²and in light of the 4 month garbage strike that has, mercifully, just ended, this is a real sacrifice as I can barely fit in my kitchen because I have so much recycling piled up in there!
³and have noticed that some of my co-workers have started following my example
⁴Although, truth be told, this has more to do with my lack of money (thanks, $70,000 of student loans!) than with a conscience choice to fly less

Your Mom

Overheard at a bus stop this morning, after several buses went by, none of which were the bus that these kids wanted:

Kid #1: I think we missed our bus.
Kid #2: *You* missed the bus.
Kid #1: Your *mom* missed the bus.

Your mom. There's really no comeback to that.

A Night of Firsts

So last night I took my first trip in a Car Co-op Car to my first hockey game on my new team. Oh yes, did I mention that I joined the Car Co-op? And that I joined a new hockey team? Perhaps I should back up a few steps.

A few weeks ago, I joined the Car Co-op. It's actually called the Co-operative Auto Network (or CAN), but I just call it the Car Co-op because, well, it's a car co-op¹. The deal with the co-op is that you put down a $500 (refundable) deposit to become a member and then you co-operatively own the cars, along with all the other members. The cars are spread out over the city and you book them online when you want to use them - first come, first served. You pay depending on how much time you have the car and how many kilometers you drive. It's much cheaper than buying a car and since I discovered that I can't afford even a measly $21,000 (after all the fees & taxes), plus insurance, for my beloved Smart Car², this is the only way for me to get my hands on some wheels.

And I need wheels because I just joined a new hockey team, but they play out in Coquitlam. Coq, for those of you who aren't from around these parts, is a 45 minute drive³ from my house. And it appears that I'm the only person on the team who isn't from Coq, so there is no chance to car pool. So I needed some wheels. Hence the Car Co-op.

Plus, having access to wheels makes the idea of getting a ski pass this winter feasible. I've lived in this city far too long without having a ski pass!

But back to the hockey. My new team is awesome! Everyone is so nice and so friendly! And with lots of team spirit! They've been playing together for awhile (only me and one other person are new to the team this year) and there is just an overall positive vibe to the team. I was worried before the game, since I hadn't played in sooooo long, but it all comes back to you, just like riding a bike. Take short shifts, skate hard, stand in front of the net, wait for good player to pass to you & shovel the puck in the net³... or tie up the defenceman in front of the net to give one of the good players a clear shot. I was playing right wing last night (on my former team, I was a centre) and I quite liked it. I still have to get used to the position and where I'm supposed to be under different circumstances, but positioning has always been my strong point, so I'm sure I'll pick it up quickly. [OK, so this is weird. I just looked on the Canucks website to see who is a right winger (and thus, who I should be watching now that pre-season is under way) and, apparently all of our forwards are either centres or left wingers, other than new kid Ryan Shannon. What the f is up with that? Also, Ryan Shannon - get a haircut, you hippie!]

So, yeah, Car Coop - great. New hockey team - great. If you want to join the Co-op, tell them that I referred you and I'll get $20. And you know how much I like getting stuff for free!

¹I'm a little embarrassed to admit this, but it was only a few years ago when I actually learned what a co-op is. Before that, I just knew the Co-op as the place where my dad bought feed for his chickens.

²thanks $850 a month in student loan payments!

³Or a 372 hour bus ride. Give or take.

⁴One of these days, I really do need to learn how to actually shoot the puck.

Bus Girl

There's something really strange about wearing clubbing clothes outside of the clubbing district. Like while waiting, in actual daylight, at a bus stop in the sleepy neighborhood in which one lives. And whilst on said bus, once it arrives.

And when you are fond of the type of outlandish footwear that I am, doubly so.

Perhaps the people on this bus with me don't realize that I can see their glares.

Another problem with being a bus girl who lives in a sleepy old person neighborhood who therefore needs to take relatively long bus trips to get to dinner and clubbing venues has to do with the limited purse size that one can reasonably take to a club. Ordinarily when I'm on a bus, say going to work or shopping or meeting a friend for coffee, I take a big canvas bag with me. Said bag will stow such things as my lunch, travel mug and importantly, a book. I do almost all of my reading on the bus. I've trained myself to read books on the bus. But I can't very well bring a big ole canvas bag to a club, now can I? And club purses are minuscule. It's an unspoken rule of clubbing, like that the skankiest girl in the bar will inevitably be the one wearing the white Daisy Duke shorts with stiletto heels¹. My club purse will hold my camera & Treo², but not much else. I can't even fit my wallet into my club purse - I just take the necessary cards³ and some cash. Oh yes, and my iPod and a lipstick. These are all tiny items, especially in comparison to a book.

So what's a girl to do to keep herself occupied on the bus? Write a blog entry on her Treo, of course! On her Treo's wee little keyboard. Boy, she sure wishes that she had this spiffy fold out keyboard that would allow her to type on a full-sized keyboard on her Treo, but yet will fold up so small that it will fit even in her tiniest of club purses. She really hopes that Santa will bring her one for Christmas.

Hint hint.

¹For the record, I don't even *own* a pair of white Daisy Duke shorts.

²my still *nameless* Treo, by the way.

³driver's license, Care Card⁴, credit & debit cards

⁴Clarification for my Ontarian readers, this is the BC equivalent of an OHIP card. For my American readers, we have this thing in Canada called universal health care - you carry around a card and the government pays your medical bills. You should try it out. I always bring my CareCard with me. Being superstitious, I feel it is a talisman against my becoming sick or injured and thus *needing* to have my CareCard with me.