Was trying to get cutesy video of Gus acting like a nutter and licking Phaedra’s sock covered feet. Gus, I don’t know why, but she likes to lick things; soap, windows, floors, clothes [clean and dirty]. She’s a licker. You’d think because I like to take a lot of random photos that Gus would be used to the camera but she hates it. It is amusing to watch, she will be doing something cute, I will reach for the camera and she’ll stop, generally she’ll even leave the room. I have learned some tricks with still photos but if she doesn’t want her photo taken that’s it she leaves. No surprise that when I wanted to film her she stopped licking the feet and wanted nothing to do with any of it, she didn’t leave the room, there was TOO MUCH OVER ALL EXCITEMENT happening at that moment. Maybe she was feeling overwhelmed?

C.J had called us on Skype and I didn’t want to get him all excited so I didn’t mention he had caught us within an hour of Phaeds coming over incase she was late or it was one of those just checking in on me five minute chats. Worked out that the three of us were still gabbing away when she arrived. I snatched this video of Gus being Gus I guess, and four people speaking about spicy topics all at the same time. I’m not going to ruin it for you other than to say that Gus is the star and it is cool that Phaeds joined the conversation some of her spicier bits got cut though.

Last week a box arrived from Rhonda, she already spoils us both, although mostly me, rotten to the core. This year for Crimus she sent us a Wii. And with no irony attached to it at all, the Tiger Woods PGA Tour 09 game that comes with the wee golf club. Priceless, it was bought before the scandal the photo they picked of good ol’ Tiger for the 09 edition is creepier and more arrogant looking than normal, fucking awesome it’ll likely be his last one ever. We stopped buying the Tiger games before we ditched the PS2 and made the switch to XBox because EA kept making weird changes or what we like to call un-provements so if memory serves we stopped buying them after the 07 edition.  We are both really excited about trying it on the Wii though, it is obviously very different. If it is ANYTHING like the Wii Sports Golf, I will suck so bad it should make for some very amusing rounds. The Wii Golf destroyed my skillz score. I’m better at Wii Baseball, these games remind me of my horrible hand eye co-ordination and make me wonder how it is that I have actually become a decent golfer in real life. Almost ten years of practice now I guess.

I started this hanging my hanky out of my pocket thing in Bali and seem to be keeping it up back in my home country. I am not trying to be cool or make any kind of fashion statement, we only allow nose tissue in here if we are really sick and have fire nose and thus have both switched to hankies. I say that wearing a leather belt, it was a gift, so it shall not be denied the awesomeness that is the attached guitar belt buckle. Like my Browns boots I got em before I went as green as we can afford to go.

It is hard when you have Ninja knee high socks AND Unicorns to say that you’ve found a pair that are cooler BUT I did. These socks have red foxes on the feet and happy little mushrooms and little trees and if I ever got a chance to meet Neko Case I would wear them and be sure and show them to her.  It isn’t my fault that they also match the t-shirt I got the first of four times that I have seen her live being the Fox Confessor Brings the Flood tour, the only other group I have ever seen that many times is the local super star husband and wife pairing that make up Mojave [I have their t-shirt too].

Dr. Vegas is taking a huge liberty here in wearing the very naked Hunter S. Thompson’s frames that will be the aviators he is being made.  You will also have a hard time not noticing that this is the first time that Dr. Vegas has appeared without his mask in quit some time, in fact if memory serves the last time he was photographed without it was because he was pretending to be Woody Guthrie.  Adam and I were just saying that Dr. Vegas is on a journey of some sort right now. I wasn’t the only one changed forever by a trip to Bali.

“He hasn’t been completely the same since he got back” said [father] Mr. Adam Carlson just as this was going to print.

Gus was very into the Wii and watched us play a lot.

If you’ve ever wondered if I’m an energetic person even though I claim to be a hermit though I also claim to be a runner and doer of the yoga and a player of the golf, then this video is for you.

C.J do check out the tunage in the Adam bowling videeeeo. Although seriously WTF, she is NOT growing on me AT ALL. We are really into iTunes Genius mixes right now, because I loaded the entire CD library onto the computer and C.J very generously gave us some CDs, Joanna Newsome shows up a lot, and it is never a good ending.

And get this, I’m going to backup all the music, soon.

Tis the season to look wrecked in photos.

On Monday when I was on my way to see my psychiatrist I walked down Thurlow on the way to the city centre skytrain station because it was pissing rain and although I generally walk over to see the shrink, not in THAT heavy of rain I don’t, anyway I noticed that Cupcakes had a radical Owl display and instantly thought of my girlfriend Tiana who I will FINALLY get to meet in 2011 when she and her husband and a wee Hurricane come to Vancouver and Brent (her husband) will kick my ass at Guitar Hero, bad, it’ll be awesome. I wanted to take a photo for her but didn’t have my camera. When I got home I twittered her to tell her that’d I had been thinking of her and had seen the stupendous window display. She asked me to take a photo for her and I said I prolly would.

There is a small back story here, Tiana likes cupcakes, and I had sent her a re-useable bag from the distributors of the cupcakes at least one year ago now, bit longer maybe.

Today I went out with the sole purpose to take this photo because I’m having the can’t get the fuck out of the house I’m a hermit blues again. Lovely. But I am still trying to make it out and it wasn’t raining for a split second so I thought fuck it, I’ll go get the photos.

I can’t wear my wellies anymore they are shot to shit I got them in 2003 before they were cool to everyone and their mother, granted here it doesn’t really matter everyone should have a decent pair if not even a stylish pair of wellies, I quite frankly want a pair of Hunter wellies to replace my shot pair. I wore my knee high boots instead I have black leggings on today so it worked and with my black you can call it a trench coat if you don’t know what a good one should like I didn’t have to worry about my ass. I get paranoid in my black leggings ever since this happened (link).

When I got home I found myself stuck in my boot, literally, these were tailored when I got them as I have chicken legs and so they have extra lining exposed and the zipper got caught in the lining WHICH in all the years I’ve had them I’m realizing I bought them in 2000, has never happened and so I ended up making VLogBlog Five as well for your viewing pleasure.

Ever since we started to make Sock Monkeys because we didn’t have money for gifts Christmas 2004 we are constantly pleasantly surprised at the level of love people have for them when they arrive in the mail or we hand one over by handmade hand. When people do things like take their monkeys travelling with them on extensive journeys, or enjoy taking loads of photos just because, and hang out with them regularly, take them on road trips and day trips, the list goes on and on – it blows our minds. Let’s just say that neither of us saw any of the joy that is making Sock Monkeys coming, it is beyond flattering for us and we love hearing people talk about their monkeys like they’re part of the family like the very first Monkey we ever made good ol’ Dr. Vegas complete with jealousy gimp mask and pinned on tail is part of our family. He’s more to us than just a router guard, but that job does keep him warm in the winter.

A few months ago our close friend Phaedra went on a European journey that is still going but for the sake of the story I will leave it at European journey. One of our best buddies C.J lives in England so before she left I said “hey if you get a chance you should go see C.J” She was headed to Italy but hey why not just throw it out there, plus they both have our Sock Monkeys. C.J and I talk over email multiple times a week so at some point I mentioned we had a friend heading over near his side of the pond. As luck would have it Phaedra ended up in London, C.J lives near London, low and behold soon there were plans for beers and a Monkey Meet-Up. Mr. Bate and lady friend to their Monkey, Lester P. Mason were also in the original meet up plans but they were unable to make it.

The four of them, Phaedra and Bobby along with C.J and Joe Pepper Jones met at a pub. Never in one trillion years would either of us EVER even have considered people actually meeting over having one of our Sock Monkeys, if that doesn’t make you feel good about yourself and what you are trying to put out into the world I don’t really know what would. We were both and still are flattered beyond belief that two people who didn’t know each other and had really only communicated through comment threads on some posts on this here blog, ended up drinking beers and having shits and giggles and making new awesome friends.I have been given permission by them both to use their photos in this post which was totally nice.