On the road againnnnnn........

Leaving early tomorrow on trek from Surrey to Santa Paula and thence to friend's wedding in San Diego. It's a 20-hour drive to SP, and I'd love to do the whole thing in one go, but that's hardly likely. And so a question elbows it way rudely to the forefront of my thoughts: do I know anyone in southern Oregon/northern California who'd just love to pull out the sofa for a friend for a night??? Don't think so. The tragedy of it all is that even the crappiest hotel in Willows, CA, charges $53.99 for a bed. Like, who'd actually WANT to stay in Willows? Have you seen the place? The least they could do is try to make their hotel prices appealing. That's two tanks of gas, thank you very much, and I'm on a (heckuva) budget. So perhaps I'll just be downing far-beyond-healthy-limits amounts of gas station coffee, putting the pedal to the metal (heh), and plowing on through to surprise the ex-roommates at 4 in the morning.
It's a good thing I like driving.
Wish me luck.

Blog-linking

LMAO!!!!!!! http://thebigyellowhouse.blogspot.com/2005/07/context-is-everything.html#comments

Canadian champs win wife-carrying contest

MARQUETTE, Mich. (AP) - A championship couple from Canada trotted off with first-place honours in the wife-carrying contest at the Finn Grand Fest 2005 in upper Michigan on the weekend.
Markus Raty and Dorothy Kazula of Toronto claimed victory with a time of 33.28 seconds, the Mining Journal of Marquette reported. They raced "Estonian-style," where the woman hangs upside-down with her legs around the man's shoulders and her arms around his waist.
Other styles include the popular piggyback carry and the wrestling-inspired over-the-shoulder fireman's carry.
Friday's race at the upper Michigan festival probably wasn't as intense as the Wife-Carrying World Championships in Sonkajarvi, Finland, in July where the Canadian pair placed 21st in a field of almost 50 teams.
But the 60-metre obstacle course at Northern Michigan University still featured tires and a kiddie pool to run through, plus a hazardous bale of hay to jump.
Raty and Kazula, winners of the last two Canadian Finn Grand Fest competition, said they didn't plan to compete in Friday's race.
"I'm still kind of nursing a sore hamstring," Raty said. "But I have, like, 14 relatives here."
According to legend, wife-carrying originated in Finland in the 19th century, when a man would run into a nearby village, pick up a wife he deemed satisfactory, and carry her back to his home.
The first "modern" wife-carrying events started in Finland as a joke. The idea took off and now there are contests around the world.

Late, but never too late

I should have posted about this a while ago.
The brother of a very dear friend and sometime roommate of mine was killed in an accident at work three weeks ago, and today she sent me this photo of him. I would like to ask all of you to keep Joe Pedry, as well as his wife, daughter, and unborn son, in your prayers. Thank you.

Update

The good news - my dad doesn't have a brain tumor. The bad? He's depressed. Can't say I blame him...

Sam, the Ugliest Dog

For three consecutive years now, this - thing - from Santa Barbara has won the "Ugliest Dog" contest. At least we know they're not cheating...

The reader might be interested to know that Sam's a Chinese Crested (they're supposed to be hairless, but not this ugly) and has a line of warts and blackheads down his snout, and a hernia or something on his bum.

Today

Dad thinks he has a brain tumor, Mom's decided it's really manic depression and he should take that lithium Tante Huguette spoke so well of back home in Quebec last week, and my oldest brother got engaged but it's all cool because we really like Amy.

Another Newspaper Clipping

This is what happens when the icebreaker ship finds a barren, permanently ice-bound rock wayyyy the heck up north, in an area of ambiguous boundaries. The leaders of Canada and Denmark get in a snit over whose barren ice-bound rock it is, the non-leaders wonder why anyone really cares, and Dan Murphy draws up another zinger.

If my dad had gone to college, this would be him on a date:

"Unemployed, in Greenland!!!" - Princess Bride

Yep, that's me. Except that it's Canada, not Greenland.

They say necessity is the mother of invention. So, what does a 20 - something girl do on a Sunday night when she has the house to herself, no money, and nobody to hang out with? Easy. She downloads music, burns herself a good CD, cracks open a beer or two, and has a one-person dance party. My feet are killing me now, but really, why dance in shoes when you could go barefoot? Also, Fleetwood Mac's "Everywhere" is pretty much my favourite dance song ever. And DAMN... if only I didn't have to be alone to dance like this...

All the same, I miss people. Ten days or so until I throw a duffel bag in the car and drive to California for the wedding. (There is a God.) See you all soon.


2 hours later: Realize that admitting to - nay, further, blogging about - forementioned dance party, was caused by consumption of forementioned beer. Also realize that feet are not simply sore, they are blistered. But it was worth it.