Gillianic Tendencies

So, last night was the riot. 1994 all over again, except with lots more people and smartphones. Both times I was watching from the sidelines (then, on the street; now, from my balcony) but this time it was in my own backyard.

I caught a cold on Tuesday so I stayed home last night. I didn’t even see much of the game because I was in and out of sleep. Then I started getting text messages from friends asking if I was safe, so I looked outside.

There were several helicopters circling downtown into the early hours of the morning, shining spotlights on the streets and buildings. Later on I saw riot police on my street. Regular police too, shepherding people out of downtown. Sometime in the night somebody smashed in one of the windows to the Tim Horton’s downstairs.

At some point a neighbour on a balcony outside said something about tear gas, so I quickly shut all my windows. I’m not sure if we got the dilute remnants of tear gas or something less potent, but what little I got stung my eyes.

Some friends who live around here couldn’t get home last night. They said the bridges were blocked. So I was lucky I had never left my condo.

Now people are saying how Vancouver sucks and is full of thugs and doesn’t deserve a hockey team, etc. etc. As if it has anything to do with hockey; people don’t show up to outdoor events with bags of stones, lighting fluid and rags just to watch a sports game. It was planned, and we know it was planned. Some people need to find better hobbies. But don’t judge Vancouver on the actions of a small group of criminals; we’re what, 2 million people in the greater area? 3 million? Those rioters’ actions were severe, but their sample size makes them insignificant.

I’m going to end this by quoting my forever lesbian crush Kimli, whose post today inspired me to write this one:

Real Vancouverites are proud of the Canucks, regardless of last night’s game. Real Vancouverites cheered on their team, congratulated Boston for their win, and went home. They’re outside right now, helping the city clean up yesterday’s mess. They’re identifying people caught on film so the police can track down and punish. Last night was NOT an example of Vancouver – what you see in the hours, days, weeks to come will be the true display of what our city can do.

Amen.

It did scare the shit out of my cat, though that’s a bonus.

I seem to have a bunch of lingering problems at the moment:

• hay fever (?)
• tonsillitis
• laryngitis
• post nasal drip

I don’t really know if I have hay fever, but the symptoms seem to match up according to what the internets say. Except that the internets also say people don’t normally develop it after they turn 30. Aww, do I have to be slow at everything?

I lost my voice yesterday. I started to panic when I realized I wouldn’t be able to order a donut from Tim Hortons; I mean, I could pass the cashier a note, but I normally like to save that move for when I’m robbing banks. My voice is a bit better today so I managed to croak out a request for a smoothie just now (they’re not very good, but my throat demanded coldness), but I’m trying to save up my talking for when it really counts. And I don’t think my solo cheering for the Canucks tonight was a good idea in retrospect, but it was involuntary.

Today was my 3 month post-laser checkup with my ophthalmologist. It was nice that my commute has shrunk from 11 km to 2 blocks since my last visit; I’m not even sure why I put my pants on. Anyways, the bad news is that I don’t in fact have lasers installed in my eyes that make “pew pew!” noises. The good news is that I’m 20/20 in my left eye, 20/25 in my right. My eye doc says this is actually better than 20/20 in both eyes because it means I can postpone using reading glasses when I get old. That sounds like a bit of a cop out but it strokes my vanity so I’ll take it.

As per my usual habit, when my life is in flux I pretty much forget about this thing and focus on what’s happening in my personal meatspace. I’ve now moved 3 times in the last year and a half, and I do hope I won’t be moving again for years since I am in a friends-with-benefits relationship with a mortgage.

I moved into my new condo on Tuesday, and I love it so much that I would bore you with telling you how much. It makes all the years of living in really crappy buildings and saving up my money seem worth it now. I’m sure it will bore me eventually, but right now I’m really enjoying my view:

Suddenly friends downtown are wanting to do stuff with me, and friends in the suburbs now want to do stuff with me too. It’s like I’m now cool enough or something, even more than when I got an iPhone. Luckily I’ve always had a dream that one day I would be cool, and I don’t mind if it’s for shallow reasons.

I’m only half moved in at the moment; there’s still a mountain of boxes in my living room. Yet again I hurt myself during the move (this time my hands, previously my shoulders) and under workmates’ orders I’ve been trying not to work my hands too hard lest I give myself more RSI pain. I’m also missing:

• a sofa
• a dining table
• shelves
• and where the hell do I put the towels?

This suite is 516 sq ft, which means I’m losing over 100 sq ft from the last place, and 200 from the one before, and 600 from the one before that. I’ve been getting rid of furniture and stuff at each move, and luckily my remaining stuff, plus the eventual couch and table, should fit in fine, at least once I know where the towels go.

The in-suite washer/dryer have made my life so much better. No more hoarding quarters and loonies, no more dragging bags to the laundromat, or waiting for people to get their stuff out of the washers and dryers so you can use them. Someone recently told me that you can actually use loonies and quarters at stores to buy things! I had no idea they were so versatile.

The cat survived the move, with much whining and hiding in bathtubs.

She thinks the front-loading washing machine is a blockbuster movie. She ignores the 42″ TV, but watching clothes swish around in soapy water is where it’s at.

Oh, Tron Legacy comes out on DVD/bluray tomorrow! And Future Shop is a 10 minute walk away! So are places where they filmed the city scenes in the movie! Downtown is so awesome.