Sometimes, as a writer, I get the urge to write about scary things. There’s all kinds of scary things we both know and don’t know about–plenty for me to easily plumb in my writings for the next several years. Other times I see something that makes me think, “What the fuck do I know about true horror?” Then I cover my eyes with my hands, curl into a ball and weep quietly for 15 hours.

Yeah. Sleep well, all.

So, what’s new this week? More writing, more research (should that be “Mo’ Writin’ Mo’ Reserch”?) and Mrs. C is off in delightful Calgary getting drunk with her co-workers.

There’s really not a lot to report on other than that (I mean, I could tell you about all the research I’ve done on volcanic phenomena, but I’m pretty sure you don’t wanna know), so I’ll just post a couple of links:

PlanetQuest: New Worlds Atlas: How awesome is it that you can check out every single planet that NASA knows about, zooming in and getting info on them in a 3-D model? Also, how awesome are belly-dancing punk-y astromoners? The answer to both questions is a not surprising “super-awesome.”

Philip Straub: I think he is one of my new favourite artists. Check out all of his stuff, but take special care to flip through his “Concepts” section. This is my new desktop wallpaper. “Hey, Philip. That was my mind. And you blew it. Thanks so much. No, really, thanks.”

And, finally, I’d like to say that this never stops being funny. Ever:

“Sy Hoyven…den…sen.” Brilliant.

1) One of the best books I bought last year is Will You Still Love Me If I Wet The Bed? by Liz Prince. I swear, every time I pick it up I don’t put it down until I’ve read it end to end again. I also don’t stop chortling to myself until it’s done. The reason it’s so compelling (and funny), though, is that anyone who’s ever been in a relationship founded on doing incredibly nerdy and embarrassing things with their partner while no one else is looking (and sometimes even if they are) will see themselves reflected over and over again in its pages. And let me assure you from personal experience that it’s amazingly cathartic and satisfying to realise there’s other people like you out there… people who say dorky things while they surreptitiously grope their partner’s privates. Yes, both a cheap and side-splitting read—if you say no to that then you’re no fun and I don’t want to know you.

2) I got interviewed for an upcoming issue of Vancouver Magazine on the grounds that I’m an Asian hipster. Anyone who knows me will find that hilarious. I do.

3) While checking the stats on theg33k.com, I discovered that one of the search strings that led to it was “g33k = infinite beauty”. This is not only incredibly awesome, it’s also true.

I’m being less communicative lately because I’ve been writing. That’s a good thing. No, in fact, that’s a great thing. It’s really nice not only to have a concrete project to work, but to be doing it with one of my oldest friends. I know I keep teasing you with these extremely vague hints about this thing I’m doing, but you’d better get used to it—it’s still another three weeks and counting ’til launch.

Personal:
- Woke up this morning with Mrs. C back in town for the first time in several days. Took our time getting up and finally got our asses out the door and down the street for some pho and Vietnamese iced coffee. I’m sensing the start of a new winter tradition. Seriously, if you need a weekend pick-me-up on those grey Vancouver Sundays, coffee with condensed milk and a big bowl of steaming hot soup will do you just right.
- After that we went to T&T and bought Asian junk food (green tea chocolates! who knew?!) and Chinese New Year decorations. Now a magnificently gaudy golden fish filled with candy graces our coffee table. I have no idea what we’re going to do with it after the New Year’s rung in. What do you do with a giant plastic gold koi? Oh, we also got little drip coffee filters so we can make our own Vietnamese coffees without having to go up the street. So we can get wired in our own home. Ahhhhh.

Books:
- I usually really like the Culture Shock series. It’s a series of travel guides that’s pretty much only concerned with the culture, customs and etiquette of the various countries in question. And usually they’re pretty unbiased and even-handed—great for research and getting a feel for a place if you’ve never been. I’ve got to say though, the guy who wrote Culture Shock: China not only has his head lodged WAAAAAAAY up the Communist Party’s ass (please, please stop kissing Zhu Rongji’s backside—I understand you think the sun shines out of it, but honestly it’s getting tired) but he has some pretty odd conceptions about Asian history in general. Like the passage about Chinese Buddhism where he states: “From China, it passed over the eastern Seas to barbarous Japan where it civilised the unruly islanders and became known as Zen.” Riiiiiiiiiiight. So Chinese Buddhism is responsible for civilising the barbarous Japanese, huh? I’m glad there’s no bias in there. And I’m sure the Japanese would have nothing to say about your trite assessment of their culture.

Music:
-I had an awesome time the other night when my friend Billy came back to town. We went out for dinner (ohhhhh, minibrew beer) and drinks (ohhhhhh, single-malt scotch) and then wandered over to Pub 340 to watch her play a quasi-impromptu set. Billy and I go back several years—she played my 30th birthday party, which was totally the only way to get old—and I hadn’t seen her since she moved out east from Vancouver, so it was awesome to catch up. In addition, that night I also got to meet Devon (who was quite cool) and see Rio Bent, who are FUCKING AWESOME. Seriously, when you can rock that hard for a crowd of 30 people… wow. Anyway, yeah, Billy is one of the hardest working punks in show business, so be her friend on Myspace and watch her video:

Obituaries:
-Ian Richardson died this week. This will probably mean something to you if you watched a lot of BBC dramas and Shakespearean productions; it certainly means something to me. He is right up there in my esteem with Ian McKellen, maybe even a little higher thanks to his amazing performance as the one of the most Machiavellian bastards ever to hit the small screen—Francis Urquhart—in the House of Cards trilogy for Masterpiece Theatre. His Richard III was nothing to sniff at either. And, yes… *cough* … he was the Grey Poupon man. He will be missed.

It’s been a little more than a week since I last checked in, but here’s some of what’s been up with me.

Personal:
- I woke up at 7am yesterday morning, when the alarm went off. I dutifully got up and started puttering around the house half-asleep, dimly aware in the back of my mind that something was not entirely right, but unable to put my finger on it. After about ten minutes I figured out that it was, in fact, my day off and the alarm was for my wife. I went back to bed and slept restlessly for another couple of hours. That sucks.

Books:
- I’ve ploughed through a whole pile of graphic novels lately and I’ll be posting another installment of the books I’ve read pretty soon to catch up with the backlog.

Music:
- I saw Polysics last Friday and they were everything I’d hoped they’d be and more. Seriously, I haven’t had that much fun at a show in ages. Probably years. I could go off for pages telling you why they’re amazing, but in the interests of saving myself 1000 words, I’m just going to post a picture that my friend Brian did of Hiroyuki, the lead singer:

I Love My Friends, Cont.:
- Lisa surprised me after All-You-Can-Eat-Sushi on Friday night with another late Christmas present–two cases of Squirt brought up from the States. Man, I love Squirt and I love my friends. They are both good to me.

Writing:
- This is what’s been taking up the lion’s share of my time. I’ve been working on something original, neat and fun. It’s the science-fiction project that I hinted at a few entries back and it’s starting to coalesce into something tangible. There should be something concrete to show the world within the next month and I’m chomping at the bit to get it there. Right, back to work on it.

As a final note, though: