I’ve been raped by a moneychanger. I thought CAD 1.62 for 1 euro was bad when I dropped Scott off at the airport. I thought CAD 1.74 for 1 euro was theft when I was leaving for Europe. I thought .68 at Schipol was incomprehensible so I didn’t even go there.

Today I paid CAD 1.86. There was no commission as my amount was large enough to qualify for “today’s special” and when I said ECHT! that’s a horrible rate! to the man, he said the US dollar was dragging ours down. I said we have NOTHING to do with that dollar, we’re rock fucking solid. He said don’t change small amounts, the fees will add up. I said DUDE THAT WASN’T A SMALL AMOUNT FOR ME. He said try living with euros all the time. Well but I don’t earn euros, I only earn dollars. And I suck for not buying a whack of euros a week ago, I’m thinking that the “July holiday season” has created an artificial shift in the rate.

OUCH.

FUCK YOU, MONEYCHANGERS!

So yeah back to the all-Currywürst-all-the-time in Berlin plan, babies. But that’s OK, I love teh Currywürst.

In other news, I went to the gallery where Stanley Donwood’s stuff is being exhibited before the moneychanging incident, and while the cheapest prints were already sold (the only ones I might have talked myself into buying), I did buy the book. And the artist was there, too, although I didn’t talk to him. I had seen him in the café across the canal from the gallery earlier and thought “Is that Stanley?” but I’m not one of those OCD Radiohead people (no, really, stop laughing: I’m not) and I really wasn’t sure what he looked like.

There are minotaurs there, kids, and there were some OKC-era prints, and I was sorely tempted, but in light of the later money reality check, it’s really just as well.

So I have the catalog of the exhibit (OKC and Kid A and Eraser and In Rainbows stuff; I don’t know that there was any HTTT stuff?) and I got an overpriced t-shirt (YOU USED TO BE ALRIGHT/WHAT HA_PPENED? or some variation on that typography, too lazy to look) (well it’s going to be available for the same number of dollars, but not until August, I am a SUCKER) and that’s the extent of my Radiohead buying for this album. I must insist.

But it’s all good.

Oh and when I was wandering the arty quarter there, I stopped in to this one place that was showing Alan Macdonald stuff. I’m not in that loop so I’ve never heard of the guy, but WOW, he does these neat mashup things with double-take sorts of images in classic styles (Rembrandt or Goya influenced, e.g.) and then words from pop songs, um one was from The Doors’ The End; another was The Sounds of Silence; the really cool one in the window that sucked me in I can’t remember. Perhaps a New Order song? While I suppose they might pall in time, seriously, if I had cash I would have grabbed a couple of them, most were already marked sold and I thought they were a bargain. I would love to be able to support an artist like that.

I’m in Amsterdam, saw first Radiohead gig of five this summer last night, may possibly survive jetlag, and promise to write more later, and possibly even post some pictures

Right now I’m off to a couple of museums and maybe a canal boat cruise, while the sun shines.

I have two pieces of good news!

1. My Main Distractor is coming to visit in TWO WEEKS! Wheee!

2. I feared I would not fit my gorgeous red linen dress these days, but in fact I’m a bit slimmer than the last time I wore it, even! Double-wheee!

Aside from that…my Europe trip is in just over three weeks, hmm, time to email Rodrigo again; and if you hadn’t heard, Obama won the nomination.

I guess that’s about it. Isn’t it enough?

I’ve been remiss. Soz.

Since I wrote last, there’s been a minor flea invasion (possibly, and in addition to spiders; I never met a flea that I was as allergic to as some of these bites; as well, there are the mosquitoes at the park. Why am I so irresistible to all these creatures?). The animals have all been redosed with their Advantage, and now just waiting for the insects to fuck off. It’s HOT out and I can’t wear shorts as I can’t shave my legs while they’re all bitten like this, unless I want a bloodbath.

What else? I had a hard and fast flu that knocked me on my ass for three days. I had a doctor’s appointment that reminded me how old I am (OH BOY MAMMOGRAM), and made some more calculations and preparations for my Europe trip. I really wish I could skip a haircut but that’s not possible.

At some point, possibly last weekend, I got the new Portishead album, Third, off iTunes. I’m not a huge Portishead fan…don’t hate ‘em, don’t love ‘em, liked what I’d heard well enough but was never motivated enough to get an album. This one, though, was getting such rapturous responses from so many of my tastemakers that I took the plunge. It’s whacked me over the head in a huge way, and I can’t recommend it enough. I don’t know whether it’s that good, or if it’s just fitting a particular niche in my head right now. Anyway c’est le saveur du mois.

Waiting, toes tapping impatiently, for my Main Distractor’s arrival, fingers and all other appendages crossed that he will easily attain his visa. It should be a case of rubber stamping, but as someone who’s crossed the 49th a few times, you just never can tell. We’re trying to find some good advice and info. There’s some out there, but there’s also a lot of utter shit! Some site with a very authoritative tone about Canada, mentioned that pastries and baked goods are available in large cities, but are very expensive. Um. OK. You definitely need that (incorrect, IMO) opinion in order to decide whether or not to emigrate to Canada. There are also hundreds of sites on the web that are just, I guess, link-farms. No content whatsoever, just a page of links and some kind of payment-per-click arrangement I suppose. People make money off this? I’m sure this is old hat to everyone else in the world, but I don’t normally surf aimlessly, I usually know where I’m going, and don’t tend to end up on these kinds of sites. I can’t imagine a) who creates these useless sites, and b) who clicks these useless links. What pride of ownership can there be, “Yeah, I am a webpreneur, I have a hundred link farms where idiots click through and I earn a few pennies each time!” Hey, I wanna be just like you!

It’s the junk mail of the internet, the paid programming, the wasted fucking bandwidth. It’s disheartening. As my man says, People are broken. This isn’t even that bad, but I don’t see the point. I like utility, and I like frivolity. This is neither, just wasted space on a server somewhere.

But anyway. Still alive!