Draw’s Neighborhood

perhaps not so much bling

Our sixteenth century ancestors used the shortened term ring to describe a ring-necked pheasant as well as jewellery for their fingers. Let us hope that your true love realises that you have enough feathered gifts to stuff a doona and opts for the finger bling!

Pheasants are native of Asia, but were introduced to Europe, and later America, where they were released into the wild and thrived in the new habitat. According to many accounts Alexander the Great brought pheasant to Greece following his conquests in Asia. Later, the Romans, having conquered Greece and the surrounding areas, introduced the birds to Western Europe. Old legends, popular in the middle ages, tell of Jason and the Argonauts bringing back golden birds. It didn't take long for people to conclude that the ring-necked pheasants were a sub-species of these golden birds and from Roman times onward the eating of pheasants was reserved for royalty.

For those following it more religiously then the five golden rings represent The first Five Books of the Old Testament, known as the Torah, or the Pentateuch: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus,  Numbers, and Deuteronomy. The fifth day of Christmas, December 29^th  is also the feast of St. Thomas Becket.

So the tally for the fifth day of Christmas:

Five golden rings,

Four collie birds,

Three French hens,

Two turtle doves,

And a partridge in a pear tree.

That is a lot of bird action - hope you are not allergic! 

Via MSN, Esquire magazine is running an article on the lazy man's guide to last-minute shopping for a girlfriend. It's a guide to finding the right gift in the stores a guy is already in.  I always sigh when men's magazines give away bad ideas.  (Btw, Men's Health seems to be the most accurate when it comes to women tips).  So I am going to do my part for the men in my Vox neighborhood and improve upon Esquire's suggestions. :-)  I am a Taurus... to a 't'... which means I can be rather picky about gifts.

Esquire tip: At the Grocery Store: Option No. 1
Get a gift bag and some tissue paper (look near the tops of the aisles) and fill it with miniature candies, gossip magazines, and a best-selling book that wasn't written by Dan Brown.

Hapa tip:
Don't even think about "wrapping" your girlfriend's present in a gift bag. The message a gift bag sends is "LAZY". It's ok if the gift is a really weird shape, but try to avoid it. If you must, go get it wrapped at a store or something. A gift, when presented beautifully, makes the recipient feel special.

Now, the grocery store isn't the best place to find a gift. But if you're stuck with that, let's hope it's a Whole Foods or a Bristol Farms. Then you can purchase some gourmet treats, such as truffle oil, imported cheeses, olives, etc. Or, if they have sushi-grade fish, you could purchase all the stuff necessary to make sushi, and maybe a non-scented candle, and have a romantic sushi dinner for two at home.

Not all women love gossip mags, so if she doesn't, then it kind of sends a message of, "I think you're superficial, and what else do chicks like, anyway?". And if you're gonna get candles, get them at a fancy store. Those grocery store candles do not smell or look like a gift.

Esquire: At the Grocery Store: Option No. 2
Cake mix, with which you then bake her a cake.

Hapa tip:
See number 1. If you want to buy her a cake, go to a European bakery. One that uses really good ingredients. For example, one of those boutique-y cupcake places, St. Tropez bakery... something more expensive than Duncan Hines. However, if you want to make the cake (nice touch!), find a recipe on Cook's Illustrated, or some good cooking magazine, and do that. Doesn't have to be a cake, but try to do it from scratch and pick a recipe that doesn't look overly complicated if you haven't cooked much before.

Esquire: At the Drugstore: Option No. 1
Most drugstores sell products from the high-end cosmetics company La Roche-Posay. Get her the moisturizer, body balm, and face wash.

Hapa:
Take a look at what she already uses -- cosmetics are highly personal. Or, if she's got any beauty/fashion mags lying around, flip through them to see if any pages are dog-eared for stuff she wants to buy. I do buy plenty of my cosmetics stuff from drugstores,  but I would tend to buy Burts' Bees or various specific brands.

Esquire: At the Drugstore: Option No. 2
A gift bag filled with candy. Nothing fancy, the stuff she actually likes: candy.

Hapa:
Nah. Cupcakes. Or fancy chocolate (which cannot be purchased at a drug store). Another drug store option (if you must) would be a bunch of toiletries in travel size, in a travel bag -- if she travels. It's nice not to have a separate travel size of all your toiletries so you don't have to pack it each time. If she's into baths or relaxation, lavendar bath salts would be a pretty nice little gift, I think. Pack it up in a basket with a bottle of wine, an eye mask and some relaxing music.

Esquire: At the Hardware Store: Option No. 1
A flower (orchids are always nice) and a nice pot to transfer it to before you get home.

Hapa:
This is actually a good tip. It would be even better accompanied with a bottle of champagne!  Btw, Home Depot will transfer the plant to the pot in the store for you (for free).

At the Hardware Store: Option No. 2
If you don't already live together, consider the symbolism of having a key made for her. No gift packaging required.

Hapa:
Not too bad, but this only works when you're asking her to move in to your house. Not really a Christmas thing. If you need another hardware store idea, maybe a wreath or a fruit tree (planted). And if she digs power tools (there are a lot of crafty women around), that would be an awesome gift.

Esquire: At Kmart: Option No. 1
A picture frame, into which you insert a picture of the two of you.

Hapa:
Well you'd better not give her the gift receipt, because then she'll  know you shopped for her at Kmart. Actually, I'm cool with Kmart, but a picture of the two of you is a little on the cheesy side. We could improve this gift by doing a digital photo frame (also sold for cheap at Fry's Electronics), with some photos of the two of you, as well as photos of her and her friends and family. Then you score points for putting all the people she cares about (not just you) into the frame.

Esquire: Kmart: Option No. 2
A Wii.

Hapa:
That would actually be a pretty rad gift. I'd be stoked. You can get them for cheaper at Costco, though.

Esquire: At Kmart: Option No. 3
Several of the practical — and surprisingly attractive — Oxo Pop containers. Fill them — really fill them — with something she'll enjoy. Like candy. Or a note letting her know that her real gift is on the way.

Hapa:
I'd love this gift. However, if she's not into cooking, I wouldn't recommend it. But I really love those containers. Sometimes you can find these and other nice kitchen stuff for super cheap at T.J. Maxx, Marshall's and Ross.

Happy shopping!

 Asylum Street Spankers sing about our role model

You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch

Asylum Street Spankers

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Spring Garden Road is a lovely street with shops and coffee places and interesting side streets to explore. This is the window of Mills Brothers, an old family business that has been around for years and years. Recently it was sold and the new owners have done a bit of modernizing.The light is odd because it is actually sunlight reflecting off the buildings behind me spilling across the street and illuminating this scene. Quite cool really. On the far right just out of sight is a window with a charming display that has captivated the people in Halifax every December for 40 plus years!

Yes, it is Snow White. If you look at her closely, you can see her wee bosom rise and fall softly so you can tell she is just sleeping:) The dwarves have diamond tears.

Prize Draw! I will keep this wee announcement here on my blog until Dec 30th. BustaMove BIG PRIZE DRAW For a mere $10 you can help purchase a digital mammogram machine & be entered in our fabulous draw. Help make the boobs of Nova Scotian women merry! Prizes are continuing to be added:) Latest is tickets to a taping of This Hour Has 22 Minutes. Winner takes all. Only 20 tickets sold to date!!! Great odds!

December Views

Been meaning to update since morning. But I was caught up with some work and it was hard to upload photos from the office PC. I just came back from our short vacation yesterday and was all exhausted and the fact that I have to start work today is a frustrating but hey no need t o worry coz both bosses will be on leave from Wednesday, and I'll only see them again next Wednesday. Well not both of them coz the the bigger boss will be on leave till new year YEAH.
The vacation was pretty much what I expected, FUN!! And the fact that there are 3 of us now instead of 2 makes it even better. We call ourselves a TEAM lol. and the smallest member slept most of the time hahaha. I realised how much I miss spending time with Zahed. He's a such a great sport when it comes to holidays. He'd take me anywhere I want to go and do whatever that I want to do :)
The only downside about the resort is just that it was so far away from any of the nearest town. About 30mins drive.
The first night there, we had dinner at their Seafood & BBQ buffet. The food was super delicious. I loved their lamb kebab and th chocolate mousse is unforgetable :p. We went there on our second night with Zahed's mum and sis.

We headed to the town on the second day to meet up with Zahed's parents.They were there to attend a wedding. One of my MIL's step brother was getting married. Since we were there, we thought that it would be inappropriateto not attend the wedding. But we were there for merely 30mins coz laith could not stand the heat. Neither did I.

We only got the chance to go to the beach the next day.There was a warning sign about jelly fish, so Zahed was pretty dissapointed coz he didnt get to swim in the sea. So here are some photos coz im not good with words :p

i'll post more after this.need to restart the lappy.
Cya

As some may know, I design t-shirts on occasion, and sell them through the print-on-demand service MySoti (formerly known as Bountee). I don't churn out designs by the dozen and I only have five up for sale at the moment, but the ones I do have up seem to be gaining popularity recently.

I've posted about Squid Rocket before (which, to date, has the most sales), but over the last month I've thrown two new designs up, although they somehow managed to keep in the theme of unlikely beasties. Weird, huh?

"Yeti" features... well, a yeti (sasquatch, abominable snowman, bigfoot, wendigo, etc), who is ice fishing. The concept for this design I can't take all the credit for. I was in the mood to doodle but at a loss for what, so I asked a friend and she replied, "Draw a yeti ice fishing." So, I did, and ended up liking the sketch enough to finish it and slap it on a shirt.

"Innsmouth" is a tribute to the work of H.P. Lovecraft. It features my personal interpretation of a Deep One, as described in The Shadow over Innsmouth, but with an anime-esque twist. The text is a spoof on those touristy shirts you can find in almost any iconic town or city, this time promoting the seaside port town of Innsmouth, Massachusetts (entirely fictional and also featured in the aforementioned Lovecraft story). It's kind of a nice little joke for any Lovecraft fan, but you can still wear it out in public without people thinking it's especially bizarre or in bad taste.

When I first opened up a shop at MySoti, I didn't really think I should expect much out of it. I figured I might get a sale or two a year and when I finally decided to buy a shirt of my own design for myself or friends and family, the option would be there. Sure, there are fancier sites with cheaper shirts, like Threadless, but that's a situation where your design being printed for sale is determined by popular vote, so there's always a chance it won't ever happen. I know this from experience when I submitted Squid Rocket to Threadless and barely got 2.0/5 as a final score. Not enough to get printed. So, in a way, this is more convenient and a better option simply because I don't have to rely on popular opinion to ever get my designs on a shirt.

Originally published at stale coffee. You can comment here or there.

• 13:25 At Alamo South Alamo waiting to see The Slammin' Salmon, again, w/ Broken Lizard doing an intro. #

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It was someone here on Vox who turned me on to aussieBum a couple years ago (with the advert for the Flaunt line) - and what a nice deed that was as my mantoy looked particularly delish in those products.

Returning the favor: