spent the last couple of days in boston. lots of stuff has happened. we won jazzfest in montreal, i ate poutine (and i LIKED it!)--well, i didn't hate it...but if i had it available 24/7, i doubt i'd order it in restaurants. i took some pics of the stuff, but mostly, it just looks disgusting. i didn't think so while eating it...but the pics make it look like snotty boogers...eww.

other things that happened in montreal: i had my first kinder-surprise experience. the toy was a fake computer thingy that had a ball inside. ppl complain about the chocolate, but i think its pretty darn good. the canadian teams called a lot of fake fouls. and they travel like winter geese. whatever, we beat them squarely.

boston for the fourth was terrific. i saw a lot of fireworks in japan, but there's something about the fourth that lets you tap into the spirituality of them. like i felt so ensconced in the tradition and the goodwill of the event. maybe, too, being recently in canadia-land amped up my usually lukewarm patriotism. it is NOT ok for canadians to diss america. if you really hate us so much, stop taking our business. i mean really, set up a trade embargo or something. grow some balls; stand up to bush. instead, they're like this nagging mosquito. they require our blood to live, but they buzz incessantly about how much better they are (i think the claim is that they're much friendlier--except when they boo'ed a bunch of kids off an ice rink cuz they were from the US, right? and when they allow endangered baby seals to be clubbed to death, right? and let's face it, pot makes anyone friendlier--well, except meryl who gets paranoid). they're SO much better, in fact, that they need to sanction they're own culture thru cultural indoctrination and state regulation (i think radio stations are required by law to play a certain amount of music by canadian artists). everywhere you look, there's anti-US propaganda. we even saw a newspaper article crowing about how canadian donut shops sent krispee kreme packing back to the states (shame on them for trying to disrupt the proud canadian tradition of holy fried dough). whatever. i'm just tired of canadians criticizing US policy without knowing anything about us. they have no idea who george washington was, but they'll throw the war of 1812 in my face over and over again (apparently, canada won that war, even though they had yet to be GRANTED their independence in the wake of our hard-won independence). oh, and don't get them wrong, they're above fighting wars now...they're a loving ambassador of the peace now. sour fucking grapes, i say. they couldn't win a war against the UN. they couldn't win a war against the japanese peace force. wow, so much vitriol. i don't dislike canadians, but when they go on their anti-US tirades, i get nationalistic and fiesty. sorry.

back to the fireworks. the boston pops set the mood really well. there's nothing like good classical music to make your chest swell (except maybe boob jobs or indigestion). and i felt like such a little kid. so much awe and hope and glad, rolled into a ball and swallowed alongside the fried dough. and the best part? it's all man made. humans did that--made this beautiful technology that makes us happy. amidst all the controversy and the weaponry, at least technology made fireworks. if an ET were to find the remnants of our civilization, i hope they see our fireworks as a testiment to our lighter side. seriously, what's more benign. prosthetics? dentistry? medicine? these exist to keep us churning, so we can continue to be productive citizens of the world. i think fireworks are one of the few things that exist solely for happiness's sake (well, also maybe wood carving and chocolate dipping). yeah, so for the first time outside of ultimate and China, i felt like i belonged to something bigger.

this post is getting long. BUT, i hafta talk about the twinkie-dog. inspired by UHF (thanks dylan), we bought twinkies and easy cheese and sandwiched a hot dog betwixt and between. surprisingly good juxtaposition of salty and sweet. dunno if i'd do it again tho...i'm kinda morally opposed to eating twinkies. it's like killing an elephant or a tortoise. if it weren't for you, they'd last forever...

in other news, we:

• played 3 rounds of lasertag at good times emporium (i knocked out elvio's knee and it swelled up...apparently you're not supposed to run in those places for a good reason).
• got a large pizza for 4 bucks at the same good times emporium (we went earlier, left, and went back again).
• made magic sticks out of pvc pipes (they're gorgeous, and construction costs = $4...the real deal ranges from $25 to $50--depending on length and whether or not you're a "computer athlete").
• push started elvio's car (we had to push it up a huge hill and then push it back down because it wouldn't work in the parking lot--not for lack of effort on our part, we were thwarted by the speed bumps).
• restuffed bob (won by william the wonder from good times...but he was filled with that cheapo styrofoam crap, so we bought two pillows from goodwill and gutted them).