Sexy + Smart = Scary » « Vancouver or bust!

It's a sign

Apparently God hates feminism. Or at least, God hates feminists talking about how God hates feminism. My talk last night was effectively canceled due to massive amounts of unseasonable snow in Vancouver. It wasn’t too horrible to drive in if you went slowly – more slush than the black ice Seattle got. But SFU is perched on top of a mountain, so they canceled afternoon classes. Which meant:

1. No buses were running to campus. Apparently some of my readers attempted to get to my talk, but couldn’t because of this issue. Sorry guys!
2. College students happily ran home to play in the snow/sleep/drink heavily early. Or to make sure they could get home at all with the snow. I don’t blame them; I probably would have done the same.
3. The office in charge of unlocking projectors refuses to unlock the one in the room I was speaking in since classes were officially canceled, so no PowerPoint for me and the hardcore students who still showed up to my talk.

Thankfully I wasn’t required to illustrate my talk through interpretive dance. Instead we went to a restaurant on campus to eat and drink. I ended up giving an informal version on my talk on someone’s laptop, but most of the night was spent educating me on everything Canadian. I think I have a vague grasp of Canadian politics now. Though of course, they could have been making everything up and I wouldn’t have been the wiser. Those wiley Canadians.

The rest of my talks should still be on, since what seemed to be a foot of snow magically melted overnight. Apparently God is totally cool with me poking fun at the Creation Museum, but not the Bible.

Sexy + Smart = Scary » « Vancouver or bust!

Comments

  2. Superhappyjen says

    I’d love to hear your take on Canadian Politics. Was it all so unbelievable? I mean, except for the Bloq Quebecois, our parties aren’t THAT ridiculous.

  5. Type12point says

    Our parties aren’t ridiculous at all… except y’know, in that way that all political parties are ridiculous… we just got four on the national scene instead of two (y’know, not counties the greens, commies, etc.)We got our right ring cronies (we call the Progressive Conservatives) and our centrist cronies (only we call them Liberals), except then we also have a kinda functioning left (the New Democrats) and a single-interest party built around a large minority (the Bloq). For yanks, you just have to imagine that the Dems broke into Diet and Regular and that the hispanic populations of Florida, Texas, California, etc., all lived in one state and had a national party to vote their interest.We also dont vote for a single executive. But the parliament thing… that’s a whole other post… or five.But I don’t know a darn thing about hockey, so can’t help there.

  6. Type12point says

    Also, if snow is hate, Canadians really did something to tick off the almighty. I personally think it was Celine Dion.

  7. Tylor Soyokaze says

    Hopefully your education in Canadian politics wasn’t just Harper/Conservative bashing which wouldn’t be surprising given the crowd. Given that Harper is father left than Obama and most people in Canada have a hard on for Obama it’s never made sense to me why Canadians hate Harper. The Dems and liberals in the States would orgasm every day to have someone as liberal as Harper in charge :p But in Canada, relative to the other parties, Harper and the Conservatives are definitely more right wing than any of them. Anyway, currently all the parties in Canada suck. I just wanted to counter balance the highly predictable and likely chance that you were taught the highly ignorant idea that only one particular party is really bad. To be honest, the best party with the best leader would probably be Gilles Duceppe and the Bloc Quebecois if it weren’t for their stupid idea of separation. Otherwise, I guarantee that party would probably get an easy majority :p

  10. BrianSchaan says

    I think the general dislike towards Harper is his insistence on reducing the transparency of government. Whether you agree or disagree with his policies, the way he and his party are conducting themselves is sleazy to the nth degree. I have to agree with you on Duceppe though; the man ran circles around the other leaders during the debates.

  11. Alea says

    Waaahh, I’m even more sad that I missed this now. I was going to be one of the first Canadians Jen interacted with! I could have edu-ma-cated someone on something! Gosh Darn it all.I previously believed that the Friday talk was the only one I could make, but I might be able to wrangle my way to the Sunday talk…

  13. says

    tl;dr You’re similar to the US government except way more people are appointed, you still have a Queen (lol wut), and even your most conservative party is more liberal than most of our politicians (sadface)

  15. says

    I think most people’s dislike of Harper come from his contempt for democracy and facts. Of all the things that Harper did, nothing made me angrier than the prorogations of parliament, using the senate to kill a bill, and scrapping the long-form census (and then ignoring a motion to reinstate it). Also, I agree about Duceppe. It’s really a shame that he’s a separatist. He’s clearly the best leader of all parties. As a Quebecker, I’m hoping he switches to provincial politic soon. He’d make a great premier if he doesn’t force a referendum.

  16. says

    Best way to remember things is such – The U.S was founded on Truth, Justice, and the Pursuit of Happiness. Canada was founded on the ideals of Peace, Order, and Good Government.If you want a read that illustrates even better how different we actually are, pick up Fire And Ice from Penguin books. Here’s a link:http://www.penguin.ca/nf/Book/…

  17. Joebiohorn says

    Fond memory (given enough elapsed time):. We moved from Portland to Vancouver in the winter of 1970/71 for a sabbatical at UBC (with David Suzuki before he became a TV personality) in what was billed as the storm of the century. Packed snow on the freeway all the way from seattle. Canadian customs sealed our U-haul trailer at the border (with most of our winter coats) because they did not have the personnel to deal with it. Thus motivated, we took the first available sublet, had the trailer inspected, and returned it across the border on still ice-packed roads a couple of days later. Great fun.

  18. says

    Technically called “Bloq Quebecois”…sounds a little less imposing than “the Bloq”, eh? (See what I did there with the “eh?”)As far as I know, the separatists have cooled their jets, at least for the time being. I haven’t heard any serious talk about it in years. Nowadays, Harper just uses it as a pejorative term whenever the other parties threaten to form a coalition – “look at them, they’re joining with separatists“. But I agree…if they do secede, they can go ahead and take the Habs with them. Well, they’ll have to change the name from “Montreal Canadiens” anyway :P

  23. says

    i adore Canada. my family owns land there, we used to vacation there in the summers when i was a girl. Canadians aren’t racist. it’s sort of shocking, if one is an American of color. they are even polite and friendly when they’re hassling you at the border! honestly, i’d be a Canadian citizen right now, if i could. i would even tolerate their silly politics which a dumbo like me struggles to understand. i would still drink wine from CA instead of canadian beer, tho. and eat real, and not “back” bacon. i have a touque.

  24. says

    Nah, at least Justin can sorta kinda sing. Kinda almost not really, but at least his “singing” doesn’t give me nightmares.Celine Dion sounds like a shrieking cat being slowly fed tail first through a rusty meat grinder that is trying to claw itself out by scraping an old dusty chalkboard. I swear I as damn close to blowing an ear drum with all that seemingly endless radio time devoted to that annoying “My Heart Will Go On” caterwauling we were forced to listen to, damn you CRTC and your Canadian Content legislation, during the whole Titanic thing.

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