1,2,3,4, immigration, facial scarring, sharks, and The Dude.

ONE:
I'm not really sure how big a deal this is in Canada right now, but there has been a lot of noise here in the States and especially in LA about the new US immigration bill that basically sets out to make illegal immigration illegal. The proposal basically is to not only make it easier for low skilled workers to come to the States to work legally, but to also give citizenship to millions of illegal immigrants who have already been here for a while, (which Dayna or I would never ever have a shot at by the way). If we wanted it. After the protest of about 1/2 million people in downtown LA over the weekend, on my way to work on Monday I saw about 40 latino highschool kids walking down the boulevard holding signs about the bill. All this week Mexican/Mexican-American highschool kids have been walking out of schools and onto freeways to protest and also replacing American (as in the America that is giving them a free education and health care, yes I said health care, which they wouldn't have a sniff at in Mexico), with Mexican flags outside their schools.

Dayna and I, who have just legally moved down here as skilled (I'd like to think so anyway) but technically one year temporary workers in the healthcare and IT industry, have had to spend literally months filling out forms, waited anxiously for legal documents in the mail, have driven down to the Mexican border no less than three times to wait hours in the sun outside the immigration office, and worst of all once before I got my California driver's license I was refused the right to purchase a lighter at a gas station! I guess it feels like right now it's almost impossible to move here legally, but it seems fairly easy to get by and receive citizenship once your come here illegally and use services other people pay for for a few years. Once you hop the border you're home free, which is not to be confused with "making a run for the border" which involves skipping 3rd year comp-sci classes at the U of M twice a week and driving to that Taco Bell near the Macs and the Liquid Lounge. Or is it the Lava Lounge? You know the one.

TWO:
If you don't personally know me, at least you may have discerned by now that I'm in my 20's, have learned to both read as well as write, and can tie my own laces (unless they're on my skates, which is a whole new ballgame). So then why on Monday did I test to see if then iron was hot by holding it close to my face and accidentally burning myself? I really wish I had a short witty answer for that. I think the real answer is that I'm a complete idiot.

It's the kind of thing that you sort of have to bring up and explain to people at the office. Either they know you ironed your own face, or they think you get in crazy knife fights on the weekend, which I do not. Apparently I iron shirts on the weekend. And my face.

THREE:
I bought a little book that lists most of the spots in California and Hawaii to surf. For each spot it shows where the break is, directions to get there, and info about conditions, best times to go, etc. One of the spots it described as "sharky" during the fall. I thought it seemed a bit casual to be talking about the fact that you may have your torso snapped in half by a 15 foot animal with about 9 rows of teeth as "sharky". Is this how real surfers talk about these things?

So how was surfing today?

Pretty good. Bit sharky. Still pretty good though.

Hot Dang!

FOUR:
It's really fun to go to showings of movies that have been out for a few years. The audience is completely in tune with the film because not only have they seen it before probably many times, but they like it enough to gather with others and see it again. We saw the Big Lebowski this week at a small theatre on Beverley. Aside from confirming my belief yet again that it has the best opening ten minutes of any movie ever, Van Nuys gets it's named dropped like it's, well, hot. After The Dude's car gets stolen it turns up in a parking lot in Van Nuys. In movies it seems like you could almost always replace the words "Van Nuys" with "A Poo And Pee Filled Poo Hole on the Edge of Town" and you would get the same effect desired by the writer. Anway, we missed this earlier this year which looks pretty fun.

We're coming back to Manitoba the last two weeks in July so, you know, get really excited for that.