It’s not quite ‘bucket list’, more like ‘bucket expectations’.

My hometown was founded on coal mining in the mid-1800's; many of the mines were gassy and prone to explosion. One of the mine tunnels ran under a lake; legend has it that an explosion in that tunnel partially drained the lake, creating a new, smaller lake about 300 metres away. The explosion also killed a bunch of…

I didn’t sink the boat because I knew that being trapped on a boat with my parents was preferable to being marooned with them.

In 2008, my mother spent $5,800 (Canadian) on a weeklong houseboat rental at Sproat Lake as a 20th-wedding anniversary present for my husband. Included: our two young children, and my parents - a package deal from hell. Also: neither my husband or I were consulted about this - we were told the reservation was…

The prepared food and boxed lunches in Japanese convenience stores are delicious and cheap - I thoroughly recommend them! But - don't carry any of that delicious food in Nara Deer Park - the deer are small and cute and ravenous - they travel in packs and they will mug you if they suspect you have food. 

Okay, so Japan is lovely, but Japan in August is hellishly hot - any sightseeing on foot will have you tottering from one drink vending machine to the next, sweat dripping from parts of your body that you didn’t even know had sweat glands.

I once convinced a friend that I didn’t exist.

I was an elementary school student in Fort Langley from 1977-78. At the time, it was a pretty rural area - I remember a visiting public health nurse asking, nervously, if we had running water in our homes. The schools featured in the Langley Music Project were pretty rural, too - that whole area started getting built…

“When vaccine fascistsbring up statistics about measles and how dangerous it is, they are always using worldwide figures, reflecting how fast any contagious illness can turn vicious in a place where children are malnourished or the water is dirty or there are no hospitals.”

“plenty of people in Canada and the UK also carry supplemental insurance so they don’t die before their so called “free doctor” gets around to seeing them, though.”

It’s not “Pumping the breaks” - “Pumping the brakes”, like a car’s brakes. 

“Hopefully they don’t kill the entire private insurance companies and some of us who want different care can still do so through that path like much of Canada, UK and Germany do.”

If you find it hilarious “how quickly left-wing women deny other women their basic humanity”... you’re gonna bust a gut when you find how quickly right-wing women want to deny ALL women reproductive choice, health care and, in the case of refugees, the right to ever see their children again.

Eh, it’s just normal and fun to wear big logos in Japan. American brands are popular, and if you can’t afford American labels, you buy a Japanese brand that has American place-name logos. I still have a BOSTON sweatshirt from Japan that was designed and made by people who probably could not find Boston on a map. 

AMANDA PALMER - she just seems like she’d be so dramatic and exhausting and not as smart as she’s so desperately trying to seem - AND she’s married/ partnered-with/succubus-to Neil Gaiman. I used to love his writing until I found out a) that they were together b) that he dresses in all black down to his underwear and…

Also, the parameters defining ‘obesity’ and 'overweight' were tightened in 1998 - meaning that the number of people in each category jumped by about 25% without anyone getting fatter in real life. 

I was a chubby kid, and my mom refused to buy me jeans because I was too ‘chunky’. Jeans existed in my size, but Mom insisted on buying me polyester pants, flared at the bottom, (It was the 70's) and light blue. Always light blue - maybe it was the only colour the local store stocked? Maybe my mom had a big crate of…

“Naruto, Japan”? You might want to change that to Narita.

‘You yes you’ was a proud Stein voter - they still haven’t gotten their cookie and pat on the head so they’re trying to sink the 2018 vote as well.

‘You yes you’ would ABSOLUTELY prefer to see a Democrat lose - before the 2016 election, they were hectoring everyone at Jezebel about Stein being the ONLY moral choice. After Trump won, they shifted to the “This is all the Democrats’ fault” camp. They went underground when the full horror of Trump’s presidency…