Greetings, earthlings!

I'm jumping ship! To Wordpress! Kobuta is moving to gokobuta.wordpress.com.

Because:

a.) I hate having kobuta05.blogspot.com. It still rankles that someone stole kobuta.blogspot.com from me in the 10 seconds I was experimenting with this blog's publishing settings.

b.) I got bored. Am done working at the church (6 month contract whizzed by in a giddy blur of free food, key sorting and Metafilter Mondays). Am currently blissfully on vacation until school starts in September.

I made a muxtape

Listen to it here.

Muxtape title: I LOVE THESE LONG TIME (Current favourites)

Tracks:
Paloalto - Breathe In
Tanya Chua - Drops of Jupiter
Happy End - Kaze Wo Atsumete
Better Than Ezra - Good
Asian Kung-Fu Generation - Loop And Loop
The Go! Team - Huddle Formation
Catherine Durand - Peu Importe
Mice Parade - Focus on A Roller Coaster
Frou Frou - Breathe In
Big Sugar - Diggin' A Hole
Tracy Chapman - Fast Car
Ambulance LTD - Stay Where You Are

Kaerimashita!

My trip was way too good; the reality of work and daily routine pale in comparision. It was amazing to see some Japan buddies again, I owe them for showing me around their home cities and giving me a place to stay! More soon, when I have time to sit down and blog freely (as opposed to writing furtively at work).

You have GOT to be kidding me

Just got an email from Queen's Alumni. Am screaming in my head at missing this & at the (Alanis style) irony of the situation:

Alexander McCall Smith Lecture and Book Signing

Honorary degree recipient Dr. Alexander McCall Smith will deliver a public lecture and sign books following Convocation on behalf of the Kingston Grandmother's Connection, a Kingston-based fundraising organization in support of African grandmothers raising their grandchildren who have been orphaned by HIV/AIDS.

Alexander McCall Smith is best known for The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series, set in Botswana, which has risen to the top of bestseller lists throughout the world. The fifth novel in the series, The Full Cupboard of Life, received the UK Saga Award for Wit. He is also the author of The Sunday Philosophy Club series. He has written more than 60 books, including specialist academic titles, short-story collections, and children's books.

Date: Thursday, June 5th at 5:30pm
Location: Chernoff Hall, 90 Bader Lane

I'm leaving for my trip tonight; a few days later, my favourite author will be lecturing & signing books at my alma mater, and I will be visiting his hometown of Edinburgh. The most interesting visitors to Queen's in my memory have been the Antiques Roadshow and Rick Mercer (okay, he's pretty interesting). But Alexander McCall Smith! I would have gone to Kingston for that one evening to attend that lecture. Argggggggh! Why why why why why?

I will drown my bitterness in crappy airline food and cheap red wine.

Jitensha!

I got a bike! Devinci Lifestyle in the dark blue colour. It's speedy and comfortable and actually appropriate for my height (unlike Mongo, my Japanese bike, which was made for, well, Japanese people). And, yes, I will think of a name for it...give me time.

For now, I have to buy a helmet (or perhaps even a hairmet) and some badass bike locks to protect my new baby.

Sad day

Harley, our beloved guinea pig, passed away a few days ago. I assume that she is now scarpering happily around rodent heaven. She can sleep, eat and popcorn unmolested by cats, dogs or vacuum heads.

Rest in peace Pig; your dander wreaked havoc on my eyes and sinuses but you were cute and squishy and made an excellent foot warmer. I'll miss you.

Curry Royal

Going to Ireland & Scotland! It's official, first a one week coach tour (Lord grant me patience) in Ireland, then a week on my own in Scotland. The tour is called Kerry Royal (which my mom mispronounces on a regular basis, see title of post), will be doing the Waterford-Blarney-Killarney Super Tourist route. Whatever, I intend to spend the whole time gorging on gut-busting Irish breakfasts, soaking in Guiness fumes and being a lazy pig while the bus trundles us around from place to place. I am the ideal tourist. I kid.

Then hopefully up to Belfast, then across to Edinburgh and Glasgow for the 2nd week. Hopefully will be able to see my ex-Nova peeps who live there now. Also, as a big Alexander McCall Smith fan, am interested to see if Edinburgh is at all like how he describes it. No Bruce please.

Other news:
- There is a whole family of foxes (foxen?) living next door! They have a den with 2 convenient exits, and regularly hop the fence to play in our yard. There are 6 or 7 babies (so cute that I could die) and a foxy mama who guards them while they try to eat each other. I'm not sure what my neighbours have planned for them, but they're sort of big for Animal Control to bundle in sacks and take away. Anyway, they are hilarious and beautiful and I love watching them, but it's not my yard they've dug up, so what I think doesn't matter.

- Damn you TTC! While I don't rely on it anymore to get to school/work, I used to and I will again soon, so I really feel for all those stranded commuters. It's one thing for service to be cancelled due to weather or emergency situations, but it stinks when it's because Bob Kinnear is being a prick. There are probably lots of TTC workers who didn't agree with the walk-off (35% I suppose), and the union has the right to strike for a better contract, but I've had too many experiences with jerk drivers and awful TTC service to be truly sympathetic. Anyway, my opinion doesn't matter but this space is for my ranting so there.

- I've been reading Cassandra Clare's Mortal Instruments series, and after reading the Very Secret Diaries and some of her other work, am rather disappointed. Many elements seem to be salvaged from her unpublished online stories, Gary Stu abounds, and some of the names just plain make me giggle (Infernal Conversion! Consarnit.) but it's picking up during the second book, so am hoping book 3 is better. Again, who cares about my opinion anyway?

- Have just finished two slices of extremely fudgy ice cream cake (my counsins' combined birthday dessert). Am now in mild pain and am starting to believe that ice cream cake is not as wonderful as I previously thought. But no one else is having this problem so maybe I am mistaken.

Conclusion: My opinion has no bearing on the actual functioning of the world. This is probably for the best since what I think often only makes sense to me E.g. Mushrooms -- in my eyes, they are disgustingly and freakishly uniform, and I hate to eat them unless they are cooked into an unrecognizable pulp. Aren't you glad I'm not the queen of everything?