Greg Mills over at Bastard of Art & Commerce Oct 15, 2008 post

“You have received Good Karma from Anus”

All of this posturing and posing and pomp and ceremony– not to mention the 300 million dollar price tag– and nothing has changed. Sorry, one thing has changed, I think Harper is even more of an asshat now than I did when he called this election, especially given that it goes directly against the law that he himself pushed to implement regarding calling an early vote.

Maybe he was jealous of the American Presidential election getting everyone so damn fired up and excited. Maybe he felt like the fat kid sitting on the sideline tugging at his sweater vest and waiting to be picked. Or maybe, just maybe, he really and truly thought that the country would be too drunk on Thanksgiving turkey to think and would accidentally vote in a Conservative majority government. The parties swapped a few seats here and there leaving the Conservatives a slightly stronger minority, so essentially, Mr. Pissy pants Harper dissolving Parliament in hopes of a majority was a big fat waste of $300 million dollars and pissed off most Canadians. Voter turnout is at an all time low with only 13,832.972 of 23,401,064 registered voters actually showing up as we are collectively getting sick of this shit.

Harper is touting his victory as Canadians moving the country forward “with confidence” which I find kind of funny because I see the following totals a wee bit differently;

Conservatives 37.63% Liberals 26.24% BQ 9.97% NDP 18.20%

I read them to say something more like this;

“Don’t get too cocky sweater man, less than half of us like you.”

No excuses and no whining. Get off of your ass and vote today. If you don’t, you have no right to bitch about anything with regards to how this country is run. If you don’t use your voice now then you have relinquished your ability to use it later.

There are few things more frustrating than having a person lament the state of Canada and focus on all of the negatives only to find out that when someone actually was listening, they didn’t bother to get out and have their say.

VOTE!

(if you don’t, you’re an asshat!)

This is seriously the box that just keeps on giving…..

Part 3 of La Turkey extraordinaire is turkey pot pie. Homemade and all of 20 minutes to put it together and 25 minutes in the oven. (And yes, there is already soup building in a big pot on the stove.)

Oh yeah baby, just call me Betty fucking Crocker.

It’s almost noon on Holiday Monday and I have just crawled out of bed. The turkey hangover (or was it a wine hang over?) is starting to dissipate finally and as I look around my living room, I see one of everything rather than four. This is a  good sign.

So…..Turkey in a box. It looks rather unimpressive- all frozen and shrink wrapped with it’s attached pouch of condensed turkey gravy and loaded full of frozen cranberry stuffing. I do have to admit that I was skeptical, and after removing the plastic but leaving on the apparently magic netting, it did resemble a frozen alien fetus (albeit a rather large alien fetus) but I loves me a turkey dinner, so what the hell, we’ll give it a try. All you do is pop this little sucker in the over (frozen) for 5 hours, add 2 cups of water to the gravy and supply whatever veggies and booze that your little heart desires. We opted for 2 bottles of Vina Chocalain. (I will confess to drinking a couple Keith’s whilst cooking- though “cooking” in this instance meant opening the big box then enjoying the aroma of cooking turkey for four and a half hours then spending a mere 20 minutes making corn and mashed potatoes and gravy and opening a jumbo can of whole berry cranberry sauce- now that’s my kinda labor!)

The end result? Steve and I both gave “Turkey in a box” a huge double thumbs up. It was a turkey dinner to rival any with far less fuss & muss & mess, allowing for substantially more drinking time. If I had one of those big freezers in my nonexistent basement, it would be crammed full of Presidents Choice Turkey in a box. ($39.95 minus $5 off coupon) I think Gaelen Weston owes me a couple of them just for this post.

Handy dandy right from box to plate, leaving 50's era housewives everywhere horrified.

Stay tuned, this could be interesting.

Tomorrow Steve & I shall venture into uncharted territory.

That’s right folks………..

Turkey-in-a-box. (It’s even pre-stuffed)

I am of the opinion that people use the word friend far too lightly. I have many acquaintances- some of which consider me their friend, and I certainly mean no disrespect or lack of true affection by calling them that. It’s just that I don’t make friends easily, but when I do, it’s forever and one doesn’t become that randomly or without total trust and love. I am constantly astounded by the people that I hold dear in my life because lets be honest, I’m not the easiest person to be close to. I’m inflexible, honest to the point of brutality and rather unflinching about that fact. Despite who I am, I have a handful of people that would move heaven and earth for me should it ever be required and I know this to be a fact. No matter what. Over and above even that amazing fact, there is Susin.

Everyone (I would hope) has a best friend and mine is Susin. This is my little tribute to her because I  often forget the little gestures and now and then feel the need to thank her in my version of a grand way.

She is compassionate and kind and forgiving when I am often not, and yet she still gets me. She knows when I am in pain despite hiding it well and she knows when to kick my ass and tell me I’m being a bitch. She is the person who will let me be me in all it’s horrific glory and still love me at the end of the day. She holds my hand when I am scared and looks me straight in the eye. She trusts me without question to care for her son and knows that I would protect his life with my own if it was ever needed. Her family is my family and I love her husband and child as if we shared blood.

I can be hard and harsh but sometimes I break a little and she is the one I call because she will just hold the phone and let me cry. Because I am who I am it is easy for people to think that I am ok or not bruised by things, but she is the one that always knows. She makes me laugh until my stomach aches and tells the greatest stories about our childhood. I have known this amazing woman for a few shy of 30 years and I am a better person for it. During all of those years, she has seen me at my best and at my worst. She has held me tight through my deepest pain and shared my greatest triumphs, and I hers.

When people come and go and move ever forward, leaving the past behind, she is the one who always waits for me, no matter how long I take. Sometimes I am overwhelmed by her patience and her unconditional love for me. There are certainly times when I have not deserved it, and yet she is always there. I have moved to different towns, different cities and even different continents and she is still there because she loves me.

Susin is one of the few constants in my fucked up little world and everyday I am in wonder of that fact. I am still unsure as to what made her want to befriend that skinny sarcastic tomboy with the mismatched socks and the bad attitude with her feet propped defiantly on the desk for the first day of grade 5, but I am eternally grateful for her momentary lapse in judgment.

So, this is my tribute to my Susin because I love her beyond measure.

The grand community that is matthewgood.org is going through some changes and will no longer be as it currently is. It’s a phenomenal site with amazing contributors, members and topics, and those of you who were not a part of it as it was, surely missed a great ride.

UPDATE…… Our collective sad pouty faces have turned the tide. Though changes are afoot, our ability to blather on stays.