Nativity, with chicken

Nativity, with chicken, originally uploaded by squiddity of toronto.

"After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, chickens from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, 'Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him'." (Matthew 2:1-12, NPV [New Poultry Version])

Seen outside a house on my mom's block here in Ottawa. To those of you who celebrate it, a very merry Christmas!

Our nation's friendly capital

Satisfied customer, originally uploaded by squiddity of toronto.

Finishing up my Christmas shopping today, I came across this scene in the Byward Market just outside the Bay. Apparently this "Free Hugs" thing is a worldwide internet meme that started in Australia, so not an Ottawa thing, specifically. But Ottawa seems to have, erm, embraced the idea. Lots of people paused to hug the huggers during the minute or two that I watched.

Less appreciated was the guy on Rideau Street in front of the entrance to the Rideau Centre mall, who was wearing an elf hat and playing Christmas carols very badly, and very loudly, and seemingly interminably, on a slide trombone, cheerfully undeterred by people at the bus stop across the street screaming "SHUT THE FUCK UP!" at him.

Goats from the past

The Three Billy Goats Gruff, originally uploaded by squiddity of toronto.

Here I am in Ottawa, blogging from my mom's computer. When I was a kid, my mom made dozens of these papier-mache-head puppets. We lived in a small town, and she would put on puppet shows at the library sometimes. These are the Three Billy Goats Gruff, in case you couldn't guess. She made them about 25 years ago. Sometimes in the show, my brother would play the troll under the bridge. (Heh heh heh.) The goats are currently on display in my mom's living room.

It's still mild and green and snowless here. In Ottawa! This just seems wrong. But it is nice to be able to walk around without getting frostbite.

A festive flock of Elvises

Elvii at Ed's, originally uploaded by squiddity of toronto.

Elvii?

Seen at Honest Ed's.

Happy holidays! I might post from Ottawa over the next week. Or not.

Not procrastinating

Just taking breaks from grading tests, which is such an onerous job. Today, I wandered into Perola's with Alison to check out the impressive selection of dulce de leche and real Latin American hot chocolate. She pointed out the above sign, which we think should be taken generally: You shouldn't let your kids play with beans. They'll just wind up having a contest to see who can stuff the most beans up their nose.

And Wednesday night I was at the Comics Jam holiday get-together at the Artful Dodger pub, watching this meticulously detailed fairytale cityscape flow from the pen of the amazingly talented Alan Bunce:

I need to start going to the Jams again in the new year, I miss drinking and doodling.

This week on Hipster Boys Say the Darndest Things

(Magpie Cafe, around 11:30 on a Friday night. I'm in the women's washroom; 2 hipster boys are waiting out in the hall to use the men's.)

HB1: Well, you know, people like to talk. It's easy to talk.
HB2: They just talk and talk and never shut up, man, it's like all they do.
HB1: Words flow as easily as my urine.
HB2: That's a good analogy, actually.

(This was followed by a long discussion of the difference between metaphor and simile.)

The Kraken wakes

Or, at least, rolls over and mutters something in its sleep.

Sorry about the unscheduled month-long blog hiatus. It's been a busy term. Grading and essay-writing are dragging on, and I just haven't been getting out much. I will be back, though! More squidness soon!

Interesting news tidbit: One of my photos appears on Rolling Stone's Rock and Roll Blog today, illustrating a story on "annoying rock cliches". It's a pic from the Arch Enemy show I went to with Bill last year. I don't find the devil horns particularly annoying or tired, but I might feel differently if I'd been to more than one metal show in my life. Briefly today, my photo was the first thing you saw if you went to the Rollingstone.com frontpage, which is just not somewhere I ever would have expected a photo of mine to be. Rock on!