pet peeve #3

People who think the above picture accurately represents Canadian weather all year round.

For those who are misinformed about the geography of Canada, it does not lie entirely within the Arctic Circle.  However, I will concede that Canadians don't feel the cold as much as others as is evidenced here by the hatless crazy man on a sled being pulled by a Caribou in what I can only imagine is -40 degree weather.

facing fear

All my life I've had insect phobia.  More generally a phobia regarding any kind of unidentified flying (or fast crawling) insect and more specifically about stinging wasps.  Up until I was 30 I used to run in the complete opposite direction any time one came within a metre of me.  I would replace that behaviour later with simply walking away and telling people "I know it's crazy but it's the only phobia I have".

Today I was strung by one of the son of a bitches.  And jesus christ did it hurt.  And the hurt kept on going for most of the day...til it stopped.  And, yeah now it's been almost 18 hours since I was strung, it really doesn't hurt more than a sunburn when you've stayed in the sun half an hour longer than you should have.

I now know two things: 1) I'm not allergic and 2) I'm a little less phobic.

p.s. As I was searching for the above photo I came across this website http://www.guardian.co.uk/theguardian/2009/aug/19/notes-and-queries-why-wasps-sting it's made me re-think wasps.

Update: that damn wasp sting took more than a month to heal!

plant update

Two tomatoes have arrived!

My little brain plant is about to bloom although the process looks a little pornographic.

This is the flower that is about to bloom and it should kind of look like a daisy.

The bastard plant has been growing like a weed!  I'm amazed at its development in the last month.

And the following plant has had an explosion of new little baby plants.

And finally, the same thing is happening to my aloe vera plant but it's causing it to tilt for one and two, there's a baby plant growing out of the side of the pot, not the plant.  Very strange.

All the other pants are thriving and I'm happy to say there have been no deaths since May!

UPDATE part 2

I came home today to find that one of my plants has bloomed!

pet peeve #2

Non native English speakers who tell me I speak English very well.

No shit.