On the fringe

Our neighbourhood finally got fogged the other day. I haven't gotten a mosquito bite since Monday. Very nice. I had pretty much been isolating myself at 8 pm every night, so it's good to be able to enjoy the outdoors again. I don't think that Rob shut of the air conditioning the night of the fogging though, so...I might have inhaled a bit of it. Good news though is that not all of the bugs died, and there are still lots of dragonflies zipping about, gobbling up the last of the mozzies.

My Maclean's issue last week mentionned Winnipeg twice. There was a full page interview with the city's entomologist and a short mention of how Slurpees have the highest sales in Winnipeg. My roomate Brendon (I have to say nice things about him and cite him as necessary as he is now a reader of my blog and will make fun of me if I don't) was saying that Winnepeggers get very offended if you make fun of this sugary icy drink, and that they go so far as to call the 7-eleven "the Sev". Say, that IS funny. Mmm...the Slurpee: Cools you down in the summer when it's 30 degrees out, and warms you up in the winter when it's minus 40.

I got my hair cut. (Actually, I got them ALL cut. Sorry, this was a joke my high school Physics teacher would tell...geeky, I know.) It is the "messy, just left the beach and didn't have time to comb my hair" look. What's really funny, is that I had to buy a 16 dollar tube of gel in order to make my hair look messy. When what I really should do is not bother washing or combing it in the morning...that look is free. So, I'm happy with my haircut. It's pretty easy to maintain, and for a high-class salon (by Winnipeg standards) it was pretty cheap...only 38 bucks. I would probably pay about 50 or 60 in Toronto or Vancouver for that.

On Monday night I went to see Shawn Desman at a bar on the outskirts of Winnipeg. This was an amusing experience for several reasons. Firstly, I had to go through a metal detector! This was ridiculously surprising...but I guess I am in the "violent crimes" capital of Canada. What was funny was that I got to pass my purse on the outside of the detector. Geez...I could have easily packed heat! Second funny thing, was that there was an overwhelming number of girls aged 18-21, dressed in mini-mini skirts and tube tops. A lot of shrieking, and dirty glares if you tried to inch your way closer to the stage. Third, Shawn Desman himself. He didn't go on until 12:30 (well past my weeknight bedtime) and he only played 4 songs. What was really disappointing was that when the crowd chanted for more, he didn't comply. Not even with one more song. I thought this was really rude. Boo Shawn Desman...So, I was home by 1:15 which wasn't too bad seeing as I had to work the next day.

This week the Fringe Festival opened in Winnipeg. Brendon (once again only nice things to say) and I went to a show on Friday night. We were too cheap to purchase a program, and that probably would have made things more complicated, so we just perused the festival posters that were plastered on every surface (flat or not) around Market square (the Hub of Fringe activity). When choosing a play based on a poster you really have to make interpretations of the artwork on the poster in figuring out what the play is about. Long story short, we went to this play called Judgement thinking the guy on it was holding a dildo, but it turns out that he was actually holding a human thigh bone. The play was about 7 Russian soldiers that were held prisoner in a monastery in Poland with no food or water and ended up eating each other and going crazy. Hmmm...not exactly the light, humourous play that we were hoping for on a Friday night. Oh well, it was really good, and we were both pleased that our first fringing experience was a good one. I enjoy the randomness of not having a program...you never know what you are gonna get.

Yesterday I did absolutely nothing...and it was lovely. I watched cheesy TBS superstation movies, read, took the dog for a walk, hemmed my new pants, and ate crackers for lunch and dinner.

Oh and I am dogsitting again. Rob has gone to Florida for 2 1/2 weeks. So, Macy has been sleeping in my room and disturbing my sleep a bit. But she's cute and hard to yell at. Actually, this morning I was heading out for a rollerblade and she was looking at me so longingly, so I took her with me. We didn't go very far or for very long, only about 10 minutes around the block. But she kept up surprisingly well. Just imagine how fit she will be by the end of her training with me...Rob will hardly recognize her! She did get very tired though, and she just stopped in the middle of the road, her collar slipping over her head as I rolled on without her. This was her not-so-subtle signal to me that she had had enough. I think she has passed out somewhere downstairs, likely in a stream of air-conditioning.