Did you know that the house Canucks Place is in used to be the headquarters for the Vancouver KKK?
There were KKK in Vancouver?
Maybe it was just two guys.
Who sat around all day.
Maybe they liked the outfits.
Not everyone can pull off long white sheets.
“What do you want for dinner?” “Anything but spaghetti.”
Shannon and I are still watching Downton Abbey. I tried to think of why, but fell short of a way to explain myself. We started watching the show because it was so damned critically acclaimed, but then we discovered that it, well, kind of sucks.
So why were we still watching it? For reasons I’ve tried to explain, we realized that it is the best show for us to watch together. (Watching alone is just masochistic nonsense.) With the help of this handy Venn Diagram, I will try to get to the bottom of this.
(Also, this diagram is by no means a comprehensive list of all the shows we’ve indeed watched together. It barely scratches the surface, actually.)
In the end, I think Shannon and I just watch television shows together so we can frivolously enjoy things like this: See Bates from Downton Abbey Wearing a Flannel Shirt and Holding a Baby.
(As a disclaimer, this is titled “Shows Shannon and Ashleigh Have Watched Together” not to exclude other Commune-ists, but simply because it was the two of us that have watched Downton Abbey, and, at Adam’s insistence, this blog needed more posts. Also, we’ve lived together the longest, so have thus watched the most shows together.)
It went something like this:
(photos courtesy of Dr. Roommate’s iPhone)
"Thumbs up for turkey dinner!"
"There is so much joy in this room right now. I love you all. No, really. I do. Honestly. Why don't you trust me? See: I'm making a happy face and everything."
"I am marginally less excited than the rest of you... since I've been cooking the turkey all freakin' day."
"I am just here for the food."
"WOOOO! I've been drinking since ten a.m.!"
Hey, a commune blog post!
Thumbs up.
Douglas, The Commune Christmas Tree. He’s a happy little fellow with a red star.
The Commune Bloggers are missing in action.
The last few entries were written by me, which is alarming to say the least, and a litmus test of the general blogospheric activity of the six of us as a whole. I offer the following excuses:
1. It is getting cold, and we are busy finding blankets.
2. I am doing one in five call at the hospital, which is significant when you consider the trend of contribution.
3. Deadwood and Oz have taken up a lot of recent downtime.
4. Cats, both missing borrowed cats and noisy borrowed cats and noisy foster cats and bat-shit crazy foster cats. Related post to follow.
5. The computers are in the north side of the house, and there was a guy in the alley with a gun.
It’s probably mostly that last one.
I’ve also been MIA due to writing about pirates in space and step-siblings in love.
That and people with guns in the alley.
And missing cats. Can’t forget the missing cat.
Oh, and trying to find my sleeping bag.
And work. Work is busy. And it sucks.
I’ve also been watching a lot of BBC dramas. That shit takes up time. You need to invest.
And…
Well.
I guess you also can’t underestimate General Laziness.
Proof positive of the presence of the Lorna in the form of birthday celebrations, before she heads off to Jesus Camp. We will miss you!
Look, it comes with a label.
Cake Meets Lame.
Even Dairy Queen Knows the Truth
“I bet you we can’t build a bench.” – Ashleigh Rajala.
Looks like you’re wrong, Rajala.
A trip to Home Depot (we’re going to Home Depot!) by the two original commune-ists resulted, following an aimless wander that in the purchase of the following items:
Potting Soil is Unrelated
You can probably make a bench with this right?
So I didn’t go to Home Depot with exact measurements. Who needs that? (People building benches, apparently. But it’s okay; DIY-friend dropped off a saw.)
So Ashleigh’s “drill” was actually an electric screwdriver. DIY-friend had a drill too.
So I don’t strictly speaking know how to apply woodstain. That’s what Pie Face and Ashleigh are for.
So I couldn’t find the level. Sanding is a perfectly legitimate way to even out bench legs.
Lo and Behold…..
BENCH!
Just don’t look too close.
yay! bench! you did it! i see sawdust – the saw worked okay, then?
The saw worked perfectly! Thank you so much!
Nice bench! Is there another reason, other than the dare, as to why you made it? Or is Ashleigh sporting a right index finger ‘stache now?
She refuses to bet for staches… Yet.
We don’t have enough chairs, so I made it to replace two chairs upstairs so that we can move them downstairs.
There’s an interesting pattern of behaviour that has established itself amongst Lower Commune residents.
It seems to start like this:
Subject A arrives home following a bad day at work.
A bad mood is inevitable.
Occasionally this bad mood is compounded by a) Mondays, b) other monthly occurrences, c) personal baggage, d) nasty surprises, or e) all of the above*
Subject A’s bad mood is characterized by such symptoms as a furrowed brow, lack of reapplication of makeup or other negligence of personal hygiene, donning of pyjama pants within five minutes of reentering house, and, especially the frequent emission of a noise best likened to the intolerable drone of a dozen lazy hornets (henceforth “bitching“).
Subject A usually engages in this behaviour at some length, while Subject B nods politely but basically (and wisely) ignores Subject A.
It seems to end like this:
Subject B, unable to tolerate the bitching any longer, says these words: “Do you want a beer?”
Subject A always replies with “Yes, please. Thank god.”
And the Lower Commune is in harmony once more.
*i.e. Today.
I’m out of beer.
Apologies.
Gorram it Lower Communists, spread the beer love to the Upper Floor!
Morning conversation between three communists:
I told her to buy TP. You can never have too much TP.
I’m pretty sure there’s some maximum holding capacity for TP. Like when you can’t move.
The worst thing, is when you run out of toilet paper.
I have an emergency roll just in case.
I have tissues.
Once, in Salzberg, I had to use a receipt.
My father used to use a Sears catalogue when he ran out of toilet paper.
What a great discussion about TP.
Another interesting thing about toilet paper….
They have nice toilet paper in England, you know. It’s like… four ply.
They don’t have toilet paper in public washrooms in Japan you know.
Arrrrrgh.
We are six adults who live in a single house in East Vancouver. Not the cool, trendy part of East Vancouver either (although lets face it, it’s getting trendier). Most of us live paycheque to paycheque (or by the grace of student loans and lines of credit).
During a game of Apples to Apples a couple of nights ago, we realized that despite our current living conditions, we actually have (as the title suggests), almost 6 bachelor’s degrees, three diplomas, two certificates, one master’s degree, and half a professional degree between us.
Or more specifically:
Step right up, play the game of match the starving twenty-something to the degrees!
…
thaler, 
The Other Shannon, and 
diy-friend are discussing. 
N.B. A more elaborate critique/rant on the absurdity of Downton Abbey is pending.