Shannon Larratt is Zentastic

Sorry for the non-posting yesterday, both here and elsewhere. My old friend and one of my favorite people Emrys came up to Toronto to have his face branded by Blair (it looks great, and really “natural” — as in it flows with his face and looks like “it should be there”). At Passage (where it was done) I saw (and embarassingly didn't recognize her even though I've known her for, oh, five years) Liz who tattoos there, as well as Matt who pierces there (and has a bunch of pictures in today's update).

I feel like my conversation style when I'm in a social situation is about half way in between “wow, that guy sure talks incessantly, usually about himself” and “wow, that was an awkward silence” — but not the “about right” middle point you'd expect… More of both at the same time I think. Well, so far people seem to forgive me for it so I'm not stressing it too much. But yeah, if I made anyone feel awkward I apologize.

As I said, the branding went really well and I assume you'll see pictures on their pages and/or BME soon. We videotaped it as well for possible inclusion with the DVD that comes with Blair's book. Afterwards it was off for Ethiopian food with Phil, Tom, and Badur joining us… I broke vegan edge (it's a very dull edge for me) and had some kitfo with Emrys. I don't mind it completely raw, but it's also nice when very lightly cooked… Unfortunately they cooked it far more than I think is appropriate for kitfo, but I guess we read as gringos incapable of handling the real deal?

I noticed a Nicaraguan restaurant across the street so I think I'm putting that on my list of unknown cuisines to check out… Other than that, I got a call from another old friend today who I've never met in person but said they feel like they know me (oh, you know me anyway!) from how personal my blog is… So now I'm all paranoid about my sophomoric writing because there's a growing list of people who I respect, and if I had my way, would like to impress on some level, that I know read this.

Well, tomorrow I'll have to write up my entry “proving” (my standards for proof are only slightly higher than my standards for maintaining veganism) that God's hand really has been shaping our nature since the start of life on the planet… but don't worry, my definition of “God” is pretty easy to understand and doesn't require you to believe in some variation on a particularly spiteful Santa Claus. But for today, I'll get you an image update in a few hours, do some writing on other blogs still, but mostly I'm going to watch Survivor with Jon, Michael (who needs to get a chef tattoo so he can join IAM), and Saira.