Beers, Beatles, and Human Centipedes

Since Zack's excursion, the Wii has been severely neglected, and in fact has not been touched since Zack's going away party. So we here at 433 thought it be fun to invite some of our very best friends over, dust off our subpar gaming machine, drink some beer, and play some Bealtes Rock Band.



Also on the agenda was to watch the movie trailer for the Human Centipede. Here were some of the reaction caught on camera:


What is disturbing is that Zak looks like he is liking it... but in that disturbing kind of way. Quite disturbing.


Jon looks hungry. Hungry for human centipede. Hungry to be apart of a human centipede? Maybe.


Luchan does not look hungry, but only disturbed.

All in all, it was a good night of dinner, beers, and video games. Zack, you were sorely missed.

Tale of the Giant Cetipede

In the past, there have been stories of centipede sightings here at 433. Some take place in the bathroom, while others take place during the night while in bed. I cannot imagine anything worse than being awoken from the purgatory of sleep to feel a hairy centipede rapidly crawling across your bare chest, perhaps ensnaring itself in a tuft of chest hair before barrelling towards the dark recesses of your bed. After hearing such tales, you start thinking of other possibilities like, maybe, centipedes crawling into your mouth to lay eggs under your skin, or feeding off of the food stuck in your teeth, all while enjoying a pleasent night's sleep.



Last night, after getting home from a Blue Jays game, I went into the bathroom to discover the largest goddamn centipede living behind the door. Probably living off of moths and spiders that also tend to cohabit the home, it reacted to my girly scream by scampering towards the hallway.


Initially I tried to kill it by throwing Zack's size 13 boot at it. After missing several times due to a combination of my lame throwing skills and its impressive agility and speed, I stabbed it with a toilet plunger. Above is the result of the conquered beast.


This photo shows the scope and size of how large this centipede was.



That is what my face looks like when pumped full of adrenaline. I was filled with emotions.


I am the Ultimate Warrior!!!! "__________!!!!" (<-- enter war cry here)


And as we do with any disgusting insect, we flushed it down the toilet.

After experiencing this horrific creature, I can see why one would buy a futon to keep themselves elevated off the ground while sleeping after having one crawl on their bare sleeping body at night, ZACK. Dear god, I just gave myself the chills.

Shave Your Beard In My Sink

When you live with someone long enough, you tend to find the habits of your fellow cohabitants the bane of your existence. Some of them may be warranted, while most are often signs that you should start looking for another place to live. One said habit is that of 433's Isaac and his habit of leaving hair clippings on and around the bathroom sink after shaving his beard. Although this habit is not a blip on my radar, it is for our dearest Zack. So after finding them in the bathroom today (evidence of Isaac getting ready for a wedding), I thought I should post them in case Zack missed seeing them:


The culprit.


The evidence (Upper right base of sink)


Bits of the good stuff (Upper left portion of the sink)

Now the question is ,"How long will they live there for?" Only time will tell.

*That's What She Said

For over two years 433 has induced many scrapes, bruises, cracks, and in one case holes, that have needed repairing for years. Well, last week Isaac took it upon himself to put on his Mr. Fix-it cap and do some repairs, including one hole that needed filling*.



Here we see the hallway leading to our bike room. For years the walls of this hallway have endured scrapes, bumps, and more scrapes from the hundreds and hundreds of bikes that have been leaned up against, and gone in and out of it*. Well last week Isaac filled in the numerous cracks* scrapes and scuffs that have sullied these walls for years.



3 Years ago, a past resident of 433 thought it a good idea to install a shelving unit in the kitchen. And install he did, and in the process created a bocce ball sized hole in the shared living room wall. The solution: To hang a 3 by 3 framed picture of birds made of fabric over it... until last week. Isaac took out his trowel and plugged that hole up good*. Oh yeah he did!



A final coat needs to be applied, but for the most part, the living room looks twice as large now that the hole has been filled thanks to Isaac's handy work. 433 is finally starting to heal it's wounds. Now if only we could do something about the mold problem...

The Hillside Doppelgangers

For the past 3 years I have attended the Hillside music festival in Guelph, Ontario, and despite the terrible weather that seems to loom every year, there always seems to be a magical moment that makes you realize why you keep coming back. This year that moment came Sunday afternoon. After 2 days of some good, but mostly okay performances, a band called Zeus made their way onto the stage. Harboring much buzz amongst festival goers, their had been an air of anticipation amongst the audience while doing their sound check. Yet despite all of this, I, along with my companions could not get over the fact that one of the band members looked identical to Zack circa 2008.
Checklist
Tall and lanky: check; Gross beard: check; ponytail: double check.


vs.


But the fun didn't stop there. I also stumbled across my own doppelganger circa 2008/2009.
Checklist
Asian: check; buzzed head: check; thick framed glasses: check; subtle hipster semblance: check; all white cast of friends and girlfriend: double check.


vs.


Zeus went on to steal the show that day, making me, and others like me, realize why we keep showing up to these things. Despite the rain, the humidity, the long line-ups to pee, the uncomfortable run-ins with distant acquaintances, and bouts of dehydration, its the moments where you see someone who looks exactly like you and those you know that make you realize that its all worth it.


(Above) Zack, Vocals, keys, and guitar for Zeus.

Butterfly Collection

Today Isaac and I have been doing a little summer cleaning that has been severely neglected for 2 years. The dreaded kitchen pantry. Recently 433 has been experiencing an ebb and flow of a rather pesky moth problem that originated in the pantry in the spring. We thought we have taken care of the problem by setting moth traps to eradicate the population, and had done so for a short period, however have recently discovered that they were not only back, but breeding in our food stuffs. ALL of our food stuffs, from our flour to our black pepper. How can a creature spawn in a bag of black pepper? Simply unnecessary. Really.


Here we see a selection of our butterfly collection. These specific ones were caught in our pantry. This is about 1 months worth of moth trapping, and mind you, this is only 1 of 3 moth traps set in our lovely kitchen.


Here is a selection of food stuffs that we pulled out of our moth breeding ground.


Here is a selection of spices we pulled out of our pantry. Many of them discarded due to moth copulation and nesting within the bagged content.


Also found within the tainted goods was a strange person's pills. Does anyone know a Johanna Vipari? Well, if you do, tell her she left her pills in our moth sex den we call our pantry. Hopefully she is alive and well without her pills.


One and a half hours, and 4 garbage bags full of moth diseased contents later our pantry was beautiful. Organized, spacious, bonerific.


And suddenly the sun set, and our kitchen was peaceful. Isaac and I stood in aw and cried.


We then rewarded ourselves with a beer on our front porch and an awkward conversation with our landlord Mark.

A Recipe For An Epic Poo

If you know anything about 433, then you know how important it is for those who live there to not only have great bowel movements, but to have them frequently. For a week now I has been working hard at a summer camp taking care of kids and eating camp "food." These foods include heavily processed frozen goods that can be microwaved and/or quickly warmed in the oven in mass quantities, served with "vegetables" (ketchup) and fruit juice (orange drink or purple stuff). I have recently learned that there is nothing worse than a luke-warm soggy breaded chicken burger patty on a stale, partially frozen whole wheat hamburger bun, served with under-ovened frozen potato wedges. So after a bout of chronic constipation, I was relieved to find that I was pooing, not only frequently, but epically this past weekend... That is until I realized that I was having to go more frequently than I wanted, and the consistency was also... not so ideal.


During my slow recovery, I decided to make my own food for the week to ensure that this would not happen again. Menu item #1, The Breakfast Cookie: Incredibly high in fibre, healthy, low in fat, good source of carbohydrates.


Recipe: Whole wheat flour, brown sugar, apple sauce, flax seed, egg whites, almond slivers, wheat germ, prune puree, raisins.

Happy pooping.