brandy in a dixie cup

tonight, i rode my bike to pick up dinner from chao phraya, at cambie and 7th. i ordered from home and rode out along the 10th ave. bike route, turning north at cambie. i felt really clever at first, getting across town and picking up dinner using my own motive power. then i was unhappy, because i know that i'm gradually turning into one of those bike people. i guess it's a phase that every one in vancouver has to go through at some point. i hope i don't get sanctimonious about bikes. please stop me if i do.

on thursday, i plan to go out to zulu to buy all of their used leonard cohen albums. i want to find dear heather, songs of love and hate, recent songs, and new skin for the old ceremony. i'd buy anything, though. every time that i think i've got everything that i could possibly ever want to listen to, i go and find something new. i love leonard cohen. i think i love him because he is broke now; i'm listening to everything through the lens of 'now he's 70 years old, and he has no retirement savings'. it was that news that prompted me to track down his songs. i love joan of arc; it might be his best song, aside from jazz police, which never fails to make me happy.

i've got four books on the go right now:

luna, by sharon butala, which is the middle novel in her major trilogy. it is about women living in a small saskatchewan town.

the power game: how washington works, by hedrick smith. it is a large text from 1988 detailing the channels of power and influence in washington d.c., particularily within the reagan administrations.

the 1200 days: a shattered dream, by lorne kavic and garry nixon. it is a detailed autopsy of dave barrett's ndp government of 1972-75.

fights of our lives: elections, leadership, and the making of canada, by john duffy, liberal strategist/talking head. it thoroughly details the strategy and outcome of five critical federal election campaigns, as chosen by duffy: 1896(laurier v. tupper), 1925-6(king v. meighen), 1957-58(diefenbaker v. st. laurent), 1979-80(trudeau v. clark, what a matchup!) and 1988(mulroney v. turner).