Gotta Love It

It is one of the more delicious ironies of the Canadian west coast that Surrey - brunt of the lower mainland low-brow joke - is home to a literary event described by published, successful, international authors as the premier conference in the Pacific Northwest, and Vancouver - residence of urban "elite" for whom anything east of main street is the hinterlands - is home to the Molson Indy.

Surrey International Writers' Conference rocks!

What's That Ringing In My Ears?

I remember being in elementary school looking at a fire alarm pull station and thinking, "it would be so cool to give that thing a yank!" I didn't, but even after thirty years I'd look at a fire alarm and think that same thought. It's out of my system now, but not because I've finally grown out of it.

Fittingly enough, it happened at school. I pulled the alarm and watched a hundred odd people stream onto the street. The building manager and a couple of security dudes saw me do it; I gave them a thumbs up and a grin as I walked out the door.

Those of you who know me are probably waiting for the other shoe to drop. I'll let it go before the rest of you try to collect on a "Crime Stoppers" tip.

I used to work in the building and got to know the building manager. On my way into an evening class I noticed him standing in the lobby and said, "Hi."
"Hi, what are you doing here?", he replied.
"Taking a class."
"I wouldn't bother going up, you'll just be coming back down again."
"Huh?"
"Fire drill."
Groan. Then the smart ass in me said, "Well, if you need a volunteer to pull the alarm ….."
"Be back here in 2 minutes".

I was, along with a kid from elementary school.

Go figure

Went to the store the other day and bought a card and a tin of chilli. Yah, yah, I should be makin' my own chilli, but we digress. As the cashier rang in the items I realized the card cost more than the chilli. It's amazing when you think of it. A small piece of stiff paper with some coloured ink cost more than a metal can filled with a processed mixture of (hopefully) meat, kidney beans, tomato and labelled with a piece of paper every bit as colourful as the card. Let's not even consider the relative cost of shipping.

Like I said in the beginning, go figure.