Random thoughts and stories

Here’s a story from Saturday night that I feel moved to share:

Heather and I went to see “Wimbledon” on Saturday night. It’s a romantic comedy starring Kirsten Dunst and some British guy who’s name I can’t remember. By the way – I highly recommend the movie.

Anyways, Heather was sick this week. We asked for a large popcorn and she was adamant that we ask for an extra bag to split the popcorn so that her germs would get nowhere near me. How nice, I thought. So, the conversation with the ditzy vendor (think California Valley Girl) went as follows:

“Hi. We’d like a large popcorn, but could we have an extra bag so we can split it between the two of us because I’m sick.”

“I can’t give you an extra bag, but I can give you the large popcorn combo – you get a chocolate bar and a large drink.”

Okay – now, we asked for a bag, not for the combo.

(After some discussion) “Okay, we’ll take the combo, but can’t we have an extra bag.”

“No. We don’t give them out. You’ll have to take the bags from the candy bin.”

Now, those bags are the size of my hand.

“Are you really sure we can’t get an extra bag?”

“I’ll ask someone.” She asks someone. “No, I can’t. We have to count the bags at the end of the evening. I can give you a box.”

Do you seriously think they count the bags at the end of the night? IT’S A FREAKING BAG! Seriously people. There’ve got to be other things in the world to worry about than 1 missing bag. Needless to say I took the box and ate my popcorn out of it – and it wasn’t one of those cool kids boxes they put popcorn in. It was a box they use to pile people’s multiple bags of popcorn in. It was a funny site. But the vendor gal won; she got us to get a combo instead of just popcorn. Sneaky Valley girl.

Another story…

While getting the mail the other day, I came across a pamphlet entitled “Prepare now for an earthquake in British Columbia.” Now, I’ve been desperately trying to forget that this possibility exists on the West Coast, but I picked the pamphlet up and decided to read it. On the first page, it says, “When an earthquake occurs, your first warning may be a swaying sensation, a sudden noise or roar. Next, vibration, quickly followed by roling – up, down, sideways, rotating. It will be scary!” No, really? Scary? I’d think it’d be a great roller coaster ride, even though I hate roller coasters. But the next sentence comforted me: “The earth won’t open up and swallow you.” This is GREAT news! But I was again thrown back into worry by the next sentence: “You can’t prevent an earthquake.” Now, this was earth-shattering for me. I can’t prevent an earthquake. I can’t use my superhuman strength to burrow down below the earth’s crust to the San Andreas fault and just hold those plates together. That has just shocked me to my core (I hope the sarcasm is coming out). Other than those statements, the pamphlet made a lot of sense. Hopefully I am now semi-prepared for an earthquake. But I really hope I never experience one, or I may just head back over those mountains to the east and stay on the flat Prairie, where the only earth movement is during spring seeding. Works for me.

This team may be bound for glory, this team…

Yeah Riders! I must say that I was surprised to see the Riders leading by 2 touchdowns when I tuned into the game in the late 3rd quarter. I had just been wandering around Stanley Park – which has palm trees! – looking out across English Bay towards Vancouver Island and seeing the Rose Gardens in the beautiful fall Vancouver weather. It is gorgeous here when you juxtapose the blue ocean against the rich reds, oranges and yellows of the changing leaves. And the maple trees – their leaves are about twice the size of my hand. Unbelievable. I do wonder if it’s all fake though – if the mountains are just a painted backdrop like on “The Truman Show”. The beauty here just seems too good to be true.

Anyways, back to the game…

Matt Dominguez is my hero. He should be everyone’s hero. I know – we were playing Ottawa – but hey, they’ve won 5 games – as many as we had before we beat them. I really wish we weren’t playing Montreal next week, as we’re now tied with Winnipeg and 1 game behind Edmonton. The Riders will have to make a huge effort next week. Interestingly, in the pre-game notes on Riderville.com, they had this quote printed: “In life, you’ll have your back up against the wall many times. You might as well get used to it.” I’ve honestly never looked at the pre-game notes before, so I wonder if they have a new quote for each game. The quote suited the game, and the Riders responded. It’s about time. But I’m not on the Grey Cup “glory train” just yet. We’ll have to win the remaining 4 games for any chance of that happening. And for the record, I am surprised, but not completely shocked that the Bombers traded Khari Jones to the Stamps at this point in the year. Yes, the Bombers’ defence does need some shoring up, but is Kevin Glenn really ready to lead a team? Only time will tell…

Tonight we made our weekly trip to Safeway and stocked up on food for the week. Heather and I are getting along very well. At this point she says she’ll come with me to Saturday’s Lions vs. Bombers game at BC Place. I told her we could do it to “ring” in my birthday. I might have to cheer for the Lions though – I don’t want Winnipeg to get ahead of us if we lose Sunday. But on the other hand, I don’t really want to cheer for the Lions. Oh, the decisions we must make…

And on that note, I must go transcribe my voice lesson from last Thursday, and work on that Italian I’ve been putting off…