toronto earthquake

Toronto experienced an earthquake yesterday shortly before 4 pm! And I missed it. :( I was out in the mall getting a birthday card for Ruth and didn't notice anything. Apparently it was about 5.2 on the Richter scale.

Did some recording stuff on flute for Karen Linsley and Lloyd Landa at Umbrella Studios this afternoon. From what I've heard so far, it's going to be a great album! Freddy Brown was also there doing bass tracks, and a fellow named Ben Grossman added a bodhran track to one of the songs.

allisonblather

Allison dropped by last night. Found out about on the Word on the Street Festival from her...an annual literacy street festival that takes place a couple blocks from my place. Went there this afternoon, bought a hot dog, browsed the booths. Ran into my sister Ruth!! She had a book signing at the Annick Press booth.

Working today. Forgot to mention a little while back...Inklings has over 40,000 subscribers, woohoo! :-)

Katy and Ju have a new website: http://www.filk.de/jukaty.
Great new domain name!! :-)

ALLISONBLATHER WRITTEN YESTERDAY:

"Debbie says I'm supposed to write something wonky, cute and charming like she manages to come up with everyday, you know, something about chocolate chili or biking or adorable Sara phrases or my favorite jelly belly flavour or how to tie together a kimono. But instead I'll describe Deb's office to you all. She has a strange purple spider hanging above her computer. Her mouse pad has Ghirardelli chocolate all over it, she has a bouquet of wheat on one side and a holograph of the Enterprise on the wall. Two posters of Patrick Stewart on the wall, big surprise, eh? Beckett's painting of the last UT CD cover over the door. A cluttered in/out box. And, hey!, the candy cane reindeer I gave her last Christmas :). An empty Fruitopia can... Oh oh, Deb is threatening to scan terrible photos of me on the top of the page (like that one last week!) if I don't behave, so I better go now."

DEBBIE'S COMMENTS:

I did not tell her to come with up with something "wonky, cute and charming"! I just threatened her with Horrible Things if she didn't do a guest Blather for me. :-) And that wasn't a horrible photo of you, Allison, that was a WONKY, CUTE AND CHARMING photo! As is today's, of course. >:-)

My Ghirardelli mousepad was a kind gift from Paul & Beckett. The strange purple spider is a very CUTE strange purple spider that I picked up at a craft show, fashioned from wood and wire. The bouquet of wheat used to be a lot more bountiful-looking, but I keep accidentally knocking my pencil holder (which also serves as my wheat bouquet holder) off my desk. :-) One Patrick Stewart is a "Learn To Read" poster I got from one of the libraries in which Urban Tapestry performed a children's concert. The other Patrick Stewart poster was a gift from Paul Kwinn (thanks Paul!). The candy cane reindeer was indeed from Allison, after I unfeelingly cannibalized the REAL candy cane reindeer she gave me a couple of Christmases ago.

Officemusic: Ookla the Mok's SUPER SECRET.

urban legend

Site of the Day:
http://opaldata.com/the_end/index.html.
Thanks to my pal Reid for the URL. It's Reid's birthday today, by the way. Feel free to send him birthday greetings!

Last night, David and I went to see Urban Legend at the Manulife Center. Fun horror flick, pretty much what I expected. :-) And I jumped, squealed, gasped at all the places the director wanted me to, I'm sure. I was pleased that they managed to fit the Mikey/poprocks urban legend into the movie.

Jeff's coming home tonight! He's been away for four days on a business trip. During that time, I've let the appearance of our apartment "relax" a bit (I'm the slob, he's the neat freak :-)), so I spent an hour this morning neatening up.

Going to my friend Cathy's for dinner.

little debbie

Miserable weather yesterday, bad road conditions...Jodi and I ended up arriving at practice an hour late. We talked over the repertoire for our library concert next month. Before we went back to Allison's, we dropped by Dominion's and I found a whole Little Debbie display! I had never seen any Little Debbie pastries before, but had heard about them from Rand and others. I bought a package of them to share with Allison and Jodi and practice, but we ended up forgetting about them. (really! I didn't forget on purpose!) Anyway, I've already eaten two of them; I am so weak. I also ate the chocolate CD that Scott and Amanda gave me in spite of my vows to keep it on display for as long as possible.

Gradually catching up in my email. This month, as an experiment, I kept every outgoing message...that's how I know that I've written over 1600 email messages this month. Egads. That's an average of 53 messages a day, assuming I write every day.

Going out for sushi with Jeff tonight. Working on press kits all day tomorrow (I need these for next week, though I'm not allowed to say why until Wednesday), which sadly means I will be unable to attend the local filk with Allison and Jodi. :-( Never really worked on a press kit before; it's sort of embarrassing, really. I mean, what you're really doing is putting together a package that says, "Hey lookit me! I'm great!!"

Eek, late, gotta go. Have a great weekend, everyone!

more urban legends

Had my semi-annual dental check-up today. Though I'm not as horrified by dentist appointments as I was when I was a kid (and as far as dentists go, my dentist is pretty cool), they're still not my favourite way to spend the day. I also have never figured out how to properly answer questions when my mouth is full of equipment.

Example:

DENTIST: So, how is the writing going?

ME: mdphglr

DENTIST: That's great! How many subscribers does your newsletter have now?

ME: kmmphlgrbub

DENTIST: Wow, over 40,000? Congratulations!

etc.

After my appointment (and my teeth newly-cleaned), of course, I was overcome by a terrible craving for chocolate and went to The Town Dump a few stores down to buy a Dipped Flakey. The Town Dump is a great retro candy/toy store very similar to Sugar Mountain. As I was paying for my purchase, a couple of teenage girls came up to the counter. I am not exaggerating the following conversation:

GIRL: Is it true that you can die if you eat pop rocks and soda at the same time?

OWNER: You mean like Mikey?

GIRL: Yes, like Mikey!!! (gets excited, giggles to her friends) Okay, I want to buy this package of pop rocks and this root beer.

OWNER: I think it has to be Coke.

GIRL: Oh really? (goes to get a Coke instead)

OWNER (to me, quietly): You wouldn't believe how much Coke and pop rocks I've sold since that Urban Legend movie came out.

GIRL (coming back): Okay, got it. I'm going to do this now.

OWNER: No, don't do it HERE! The last time someone had pop rocks and Coke, it took me weeks to clean up the mess after their heads exploded.

GIRL (squealing in delight): Cool! I'm suing you if my head explodes.

OWNER (voice fading as I walk out of the store after buying my Dipped Flakey): You can't sue me. You'll have to sue the people who made that Urban Legend movie...

I want to start an Urban Legend, don't you? And I think there are enough of you out there to help perpetuate whatever Urban Legend we come up with. First of all, though, we have to all agree on the essential elements of an Urban Legend. Some folks from the urban legend newsgroup came up with the following elements:

• "An urban legend:
  
  
  
  • appears mysteriously and spreads spontaneously in varying forms
    
  • contains elements of humor or horror (the horror often "punishes" someone who flouts society's
    conventions).
    
  • makes good storytelling.
    does NOT have to be false, although most are. ULs often have a basis in fact, but it's their life after-the-fact
    (particularly in reference to the second and third points) that gives them particular interest."
    
  
  

Some reference websites:

• The AFU and Urban Legends Archive
  
• This Can't Be True...Can It?
  
• Urban Legends and Folklore
  

Also, it would be nice for us to come up with an urban legend that had something to do with the Internet. Any ideas? Elements that you think should be included? Post your suggestions in the blatherchat.