Damn.

Doug the Slug has died.

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A Fortified Potato Beverage

The Tayo is quite pleasant. It tastes like not much, with a bit of soy.

I wonder, if I continue to consume potato milk, will I become more tuned to the brain-wave of the potato? Will I be able to hear what they are thinking, sitting on the shelf in the cupboard? Will I actually be able to hear their screams as they cook?

Because I think that would be creepy and I’d have to go back to soy milk at that point.

PS: It’s COLD! Summer, summer, summer, summer, rain, COLD. Good thing I have many toques.

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Things you Can Buy at Superstore

over a weekend:

– hair dye,

– the (almost perfect) black cardigan sweater I have been seeking for months in, you know, clothing stores. Silly me,

– bread made of rye and flax and no wheat and no yeast, sold in a sensible half loaf size because who could eat a whole loaf of rye and flax bread?

– cheese made of goat’s milk. It tastes like creamy cheddar. Its name is Caprano and it will last 330 days! Saputo has never seen me eat cheese. Goat’s milk cheese is safe because it contains a far less evil dose of the offending protein casein than does cow milk.

– an attractive area rug (not purchased, but admired. Rugs! At Superstore!),

– muppet gloves

– duck slippers that quack when you press the duck head (also not purchased)(also come in cow, monkey, dog and cat)(but not goat. The world needs more things that make goat noises!) and, possibly best of all,

Tayo, the potato-based dairy free beverage! Potato milk! Potato milk!

Tomorrow, after my breakfast, I will let you know whether it really is the best thing since vodka. For cereal, anyway.

My hair was angry because I bleached it and then left it to fry in the open air. So I bought hair dye in my usual reddish brown shade ( Sarah’s new favourite hair dye has it just about right – there really are only five shades of hair dye; Red, orange, yellow, brown and black. Yet we stand, rooted in the hair dye isle, debating between Indian Poppy and Tahitian Sunset and Toasted Mustard Seed, willfully ignoring that they are all the same colour in different boxes. [We do ask to be sold this nonsense, really]) and took it home. And for the first time in one…two…10 years of hair-dying at home, never once with a single incident, never once even considering doing the bogus “sensitivity test” where you buy the hair dye one day, then wait 48 hours before actually dying your hair (HA! The biggest impulse buy in the world, bigger than crack cocaine, is hair dye. More addictive, too) I actually screwed up hair dye.

I mean: I have dyed my hair and the hair of other people while drunk and while singing along to The Beach Boys and while studying for Statistics midterms and with a bandaged finger that got put through a meat slicer and while engaging in philosophical discussions around issues of great import, such as The Adorable Boy and does he Love Us? and Why oh Why must the Adorable Boy not Love Us? and Do you Suppose the Adorable Boy will Love Us more or Less Come Tomorrow when He Sees Us with our Fabulous Vivacious Russian Roulette Red Hairdos? and while doing all of the above at the same time. Never have I screwed up.

So I emptied the contents of tube A into the bottle, as usual. But tube A was not, as I thought, the tube of magic colour that makes the bad smell in the bottle with the shaking using one gloved finger to cover the hole in the applicator lid, shake gently, pointing away from the face oh no, it was the tube of conditioner. I added conditioner to the developer liquid. I would like to blame the manufacturers for this, as the two tubes are quite similar, but I must also take some responsibility, as I am perhaps more of a true professional hair dy-or than anyone who works in the hair dye factory, making the tubes and filling them with goop.

I did not call 1-800-Clairol for help. I should have, because I was a) changing hair colours b) colouring over bleached hair and c) not paying attention, but I didn’t. I just added the colour tube as well and then I had a very full bottle of goop which went on my head like normal goop do and rinsed off like normal goop do, too.

So now you know, drunken girls who google with your red-tinged fingers. You CAN put it all on your head at once and nothing bad will happen. Probably.

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Saturday Morning Link

This funny man named Mike Daisey went to see a couple of bands in September. I so wish I could have been there.

I’m going to buy some cheese now. Not for me, though, for a wedding. Oh yes, I always give cheese as a wedding gift. Everyone gives waffle irons or gift cards to The Bay. Married people need cheese.

I have not had any cheese ANY! in 11 days. And you know, it’s not the no dairy that’s killing me, it’s the no dairy and no wheat. What the fucking else is there? Even if I was avoiding only cheese, at least I could still have pasta with vegetables. Or pasta with olive oil. Or pasta with tomato sauce. But rice noodles? They only taste good with certain vegetables (not artichoke hearts, in case you’re wondering). And you can’t have rice with tomato sauce. It’s just wrong. I actually mixed chick peas and corn the other day, put the mess on some corn chips & baked it. Ha ha! I’m eating nachos!

The strike ended temporarily (maybe we’ll get to strike again around Christmas! Hooray! Who could scowl at a picketer wearing a santa hat?) and yesterday we all went stunned back to work and stared at our desks and each other for 8 hours and then went home. I was dressed to picket, as was my co-worker, so it was fabulous that we got to shake hands with a bunch of Head Honchos, including the boss of our boss. Smash the state with sneakers. Aw yeah.

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Tightrope Monkey!

Every day is an opportunity to learn. Today I learned how tasty a Pumpkin Spice Latte can be, even though it is from Starbucks and Starbucks is Evil

Versus

Good. I have always equated unions with good. Watching them over the years with their signs and sticks and chanting and cups of coffee and lawn chairs I have always supported them in my head because they are Good and For the People. Even when I was in elementary school and our teachers did “work to rule” and there was no choir that year and no field trips, part of me knew it was important and that I should at least enjoy the days off.

This week I have learned that unions are made up of people, regular ones, not shiny ones. Some nice, some mean, some talkative, some silent. Ergo, much like the hodgepodge of people not in unions, some union people are not Good. It surprised me. No, it really did. Ah, my simple mind with its non-algebraic equations. How I treasure its creamy centre.

Behold: some union people are not For the People (FtP) at all but only For the Union People (FtUP). And, far from wanting the Non-Union People Who Help Pay Our Wages (NUPWHPOW) to understand and respect the Union People (UP), these Bad Union People (BUP) do things that make the Non-Union People want to set the Union People on Fire.

And I do not blame them. I felt like a bad UP for agreeing with the NUPWHPOWs but on further reflection, I have realized that it is not about Good or Bad, but about how you behave in order to achieve your goals. While the goal may be common, the method is unique to the individual and no amount of calling me Sister will change that. I use respectful communication to get the things I want. Other people use other methods.

There is much complexity involved in getting a monkey to walk a tightrope.

Also, this story cracks me up.

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