Ever notice how it's the little things in life that amuse us so much? More to the point, ever notice how it's the silly little idiocies in life that amuse us more than anything else? Well, this is not as much ''the little blog that could'' as it is ''the blog that enjoys going up the down escalator in your local mall.'' Will it have anything of real importance? No, probably not. But enjoy the ride never the less!

 
The Urge?

This morning, whilst visiting my one set of grandparents in Oshawa, I found myself in dire need of shampoo for my morning shower. This is a frequent occurence; I often don't bother bringing shampoo with me when I travel. Mainly because my bottle of shampoo is an enormous green 1-litre bottle. And why bother lugging your own shampoo when you can pillage the shampoo bottles of those you're visiting?

Today's shampoo-for-the-pillaging happened to be of the Herbal Essence brand. I stepped into the shower. I used the shampoo. No trio of large, buffed, cute guys in black shirts & pants appeared to give me a scalp massage. Right now I'm feeling both overwhelmingly relieved and strangely disappointed. All those Herbal Essence commercials have always made me think that I can summon a trio of guys to do my bidding by simply popping open a cap of shampoo, and their inherent lack of appearance leads me to think that somehow those commercials were misleading.

On the other hand, there's no way all four of us could have fit into that cramped shower stall. Plus, they'd all see me naked. If anyone other than Mel's going to see me naked, they had better pay up. To paraphrase Shinobu Tezuka: "Even a ghost (or in this case, three guys created for a shampoo ad) shouldn't get a free show from me."

Today's Lesson: it is a bad idea to let a Shih-tzu near the television set when a dog show is being shown. Unless, of course, you like not being able to hear anything over the incessant, frenzied barking.



posted by Phillip at 7:03 AM

 
Not-So-Shameless Product Plug

For those of you who don't know (and shame on you for being oblivious!), I am getting married in the nearer-than-it-felt-a-month-ago future. Subsequently many a plans are being hatched to ensure a short ceremony, an enjoyable reception, and fairly soundproof walls for the Royal York hotel room Mel and I are planning to spend our honeymoon in. There are of course many small and at times irking details that must be sorted out in the meantime.

It seems quite fitting that the first time I do any sort of international importing (and use my new credit card for my first ever online purchase) would be for the wedding. My love of Anime and manga aside, I've never been one to run around trying to grab something simply because it's exotic and hard to find on this continent. I am quite content with the selections I find around me, thank you very much.

However, there's been one notable exception, and that revolves around the wedding ring. I am very pleased to have my wedding band in my possession now. It took only two weeks of waiting from the initial order to holding it in my hot little hands. It's a beautiful sterling silver band with the Hebraic script of the famous lovers' lines from the Song of Solomon: I Am My Beloved's And She Is Mine. On the interior of the band Mel's and my name, and the date of the wedding has been inscribed.

And all I had to do was custom order it from Jerusalem, Israel.

I admit a great deal of nervousness was had during the ordering process. Without any idea of knowing how it would look until I received it, there was a lot of profuse sweating and extra showers. Well...it was either over the wait, or else all the humidity. Yet when the ring arrived yesterday, I couldn't have been grinning any bigger. The wedding ring looks even more fantastic than I was hoping for. The quality and the courtesy that the craftsmen of "Porat Jewellery" in Israel showed me has been amazing, hence the reason I am so intent on plugging their webpage.

So here it is: http://www.porat-jewelry.com/

It is well worth your time to see what they have to offer, especially those of you who may be interested in jewellery with Hebraic inscriptions. You will not be disappointed. Oh, and for those curious, my wedding ring is respectively the G-55 model found on the 'wedding rings' page.

In other news, it suddenly occurred to me that the link I have in my last bit of nowhere should have been given a post all to itself and been entitled, "Dingos Ate Your Webpage!" Which would have been quite accurate...so long as you replace the dingos with monsters.

Today's Lesson: just because the building you happen to be in while visiting Toronto for an hour or so has a sign that says: Notice, filming for the movie Resident Evil: Apocalypse is being done on this site doesn't automatically mean you'll stumble across some zombies waiting in the wings.


posted by Phillip at 5:22 PM

 
Rhymes with "Bubonic"

After having spent the last few nights biking home after completing the evening shifts at work, I have observed one of the many quirks that driver seem to acquire. Namely living in deathly terror of pedal-bikers. Now I understand that those of us on bikes have much to worry about cars. After all, if it came to a jousting match, would you be placing your money on the guy with 16 gears and a small fibre-glass helmet, or the large metal behemoth that may mistake running you down for a speedbump?

Yet for as much as bikers should (and I say should, since I have seen how kamikaze Toronto's bike couriers are) remain wary of the large motor vehicles flying past them, it is still amusing to see the great lengths drivers will take to avoid a bike as they pass it. The road I bike down has no special bike line, so for the most part, I bike either on the outer white line, or as close to the sidewalk curb as I can without scratching my pedals on the cement.

The cars, on the other hand, will frantically veer aside from me. Even when they're in the middle of the laneway, there's a safe half-car-length between me and their side mirror. Yet the drivers seem terrified that this distance is too close for comfort, and so they hug the yellow line as close as possible. There I am, biking along, and cars that were travelling in straight line curve wildly around me like their car and my bike were two strong magnets of like polarities.

Admittedly, this makes me feel a little rejected and lonely. Don't they like me? Don't the drivers of those cars feel that they can share the road with me? It's somewhat alienating to have all the traffic on the road try to squeeze as far across the road as possible from you. I half wonder if I've somehow contracted the Black Plague, but it comes and goes only when I'm on my bike, and everyone else but me knows this.

Perhaps it's my body odour. Perhaps not, since I'm revelling in the "Axe effect"...though so far that has only managed to get me into precarious situations involving me, an elevator, and a herd of kids who, as it turned out, were all horribly allergic to my Axe deoderant spray.


Today's Discovery: http://silverhammer.sorayume.net/error.htm


posted by Phillip at 7:40 PM

 
Poignant Points to Ponder

Such as: if you chase your co-workers around the store with a roaring vaccum cleaner, does that make you mentally unbalanced?


posted by Phillip at 3:55 PM