MMM, TASTES LIKE NOSTALGIA
Remember this blog in which I reminisced about the cheesy garlic bread that I used to get at Pizza Hut when I was a kid/teen?
I forgot to follow that up with a review of this bread, since you can still get it up here in Canada (according to my mom, it’s no longer on the menu in the States – at least in Moscow).
My review? IT’S FREAKING GREAT
How good does that look? And it tastes exactly like I remember it.
So if you ever used to get this at Pizza Hut and you’re ever up in Canada, try it again? It’ll give you a big nostalgia hit.
AAAAAAAAA GOOD JOB, CANADA
We did it! We didn’t screw it up!
(Source)
Looks like there will be a minority Liberal government.
This election was heavily, heavily influenced by Trump. So thanks, Trumpster Dumpster, you kept Canada Liberal!
I really like Carney; I hope he does great things for this country.
Edit: more fun tweets:
(Source)
(Source)
(Freaking Alberta, man)
Election: Canadian Edition
The much-anticipated 2025 Federal Election is HERE! Let’s do it.
Ugh, god, this thing is invoking just as much anxiety as the little electoral college counter that CTV had for the last several US presidential elections.
I’m too nervous to actually blog about any of this today; we’ll see what the final results are later tonight, but until then, I’m going to try to not puke.
Trumpster Dumpster vs. Canada
This is a really good overview of the Canadian attitudes and thoughts on the upcoming election, the influence of Trump, and the thoughts about America in general. Please watch it, my American friends, so you get an idea of what’s going on up north.
It really has been a huge, palpable surge of patriotism over the past few months. Canada is very different than the US when it comes to overt, visible displays of patriotism. But there is a lot of blatant national pride right now. Flags everywhere, the “elbows up” thing, etc. It’s really, really interesting.
Want to see the most Canadian news article ever?
“French-Language Leaders’ Debate Moved to Avoid Conflict with Habs Game”
Can’t let politics distract from hockey!
I also love that this isn’t the first time something like this has happened.
K that’s all.
Fromage A Trois
What up, POSERS??
I’m back in Moscow for a stint. Did a marathon this morning and then went to WinCo.
The tariffs are already starting to hit grocery prices, huh? Prices at WinCo were, in general, much higher than I remember from last year.
The one exception? Dairy.
Consider this bag of cheese:
How much do you think this little buddy cost?
$1.98.
$1.98.
At absolute minimum, a bag of cheese this size in Calgary would cost like $5.95.
Insanity.
Anyway.
Guess Who VOTED?
ME!
We’re doing early voting because I’m going to be in the ‘Scow on the actual voting day.
But I hope my vote makes a difference!
Calling
A federal election has been called! Will Carney prevail? Will Poilievre (whose name I still can’t pronounce correctly) win it for the Conservatives??
WHO KNOWS
It’s exciting and scary. But mostly scary.
At least I get to vote this time.
It’s Tariff-ic!
(No it’s not)
(And I’m not sure if that joke will land because now that I look at the title it just looks like I can’t spell “terrific”)
(Whatev who cares)
I mentioned this back when the first wave of crazy tariffs were implemented, but now there’s a CNN article on it so I figured I’d mention it again.
All the Orange Dumpster Fire is doing is uniting Canada – specifically, uniting it against the US.
Products made in (or at least packaged in) Canada are being highlighted in grocery stores.
People are being encouraged (more than usual) to buy local.
And Trudeau, knowing he’s stepping down very soon, has just stopped giving any shits and is overtly showing his frustration over this ridiculous situation.
More:
(Source)
(Source)
(Source. This is actually in Calgary)
“WELL THIS SUCKS”
There is absolutely no reason why this is so hilarious to me, but it is.
The mosquitoes in Manitoba, hahaha.
And off we go!
It’s tariff time and the responses are pretty much what you’d expect up here.
The US-Canada relationship is going to be damaged for a long, long time. That’s so freaking sad.
Edit: this little mini film popped up in my YouTube feed this afternoon. It originally aired during the 2010 Vancouver Olympics talking about the close relationship between the two countries. Watching it now made me cry.
United Canada
I don’t know how much of this you all are seeing down in the States, but all this crap about Trump and his stupid-ass tariffs has really united Canadians. There’s a huge country-wide push to buy Canadian (or just not buy American) and there’s a very vocal agreement across all provinces and territories that there’s no way in hell we want to become Trump’s stupid “51st state.” Stores are going out of their way to clearly label products that are made in Canada, sales of Canadian flags are skyrocketing, Canadians are cancelling vacation plans to the US and/or selling any US property they own, and there’s even been a strong pushback against the UCP because of their lack of response to Trump’s nonsense.
I’ve lived here for (a total of) about thirteen years and this is the first time I’ve ever seen anything like this.
Help, I’ve fallen down the Wikipedia hole of brutalist architecture in Canada and I can’t get out
Brutalist architecture emerged as an architectural style in the UK in the 1950s and is characterized by structures that showcase raw building material (like unpainted concrete, steel, and timber), monochrome colors, and angular shapes. I stumbled upon this style when looking up Edmonton’s equivalent of Calgary’s Central Library.
Recall that the Central Library looks like this:
Beautiful, huh? But not brutalist (it’s modernist). Compare it to this thing, Edmonton’s Stanley Milner Library:
I’m pretty sure that’s a tank. Or a cruise ship? Whatever it is, it’s an example of brutalist architecture.
And now I’ve found the Wiki page all about buildings in Canada with this architecture style and I have feelings.
THE BUILDINGS HAVE EYES
(Allan I. Carswell Astronomical Observatory)
Why does a center for the arts look like a place where you’d go to get lobotomized?
(Confederation Centre of the Arts)
Why does an apartment complex look like a place you’d go to live after you get lobotomized at the center for the arts?
(The Crossways)
What in the MC Escher fever dream is this?
(Habitat 67)
Edit: OH JESUS CHRIST IT’S HUGE
LOBOTOMY SCHOOOOOOOOOOL
(Stephen Leacock Collegiate Institute)
“Build a standard-looking hotel”
“Okay.”
“Now put an alien spaceship on top.”
“…What?”
“Alien spaceship. Just throw it up there. Fuck it.”
“Bu—”
“DO YOU WANT TO GET LOBOTOMIZED?? ‘CAUSE I KNOW A GUY!!!”
(Westin Harbour Castle Hotel)
King Coin
IT’S US ELECTION HELLFEST 2024!!!!!!
R U READY??????
(Nobody is.)
Anyway.
Completely unrelated, but check this out:
It’s the first money I’ve seen up here that has King Charles on it instead of Queen Elizabeth. Wild!
I voted…as a Canadian!
As an official member of the Alberta NDP (New Democratic Party), I was able to vote for their new party leader. This was my first official voting event as a Canadian!
And of course I voted for Nenshi.
Exciting! We should know the results soon after voting closes in a few days.
I’m freaking JASON BOURNE
Got my very first Canadian passport today! Now I can go back to the States and not have an issue getting back up to Canada.
Fun fact: I am a citizen of about 80% of North America, area-wise!
Coming to Canada? WANT TASTIES??
Four of them are in Calgary. I don’t know where Eight, D.O.P., and Major Tom are, but the River Café is on Prince’s Island Park. I use their year-round public bathroom sometimes, haha.
As for the Vancouver ones, I feel like I’ve heard of Published on Main (and probably walked by it if it’s actually on Main St.), but I’ve never heard of the other ones.
It’s too bad I’m so picky about food, otherwise I’d probably enjoy exploring those four Calgary restaurants.
Flaaaaaaags!
Any video that combines legit flag critique and legit humor gets an A+ from me.
Nunavut’s flag is cool. But I actively hate BC’s flag. It…it bugs me.
I AM CANADIAN!
Yes, you read that right! I took my Citizenship Oath this afternoon and am now officially a Canadian citizen.
The citizenship ceremony took place entirely on Zoom, which was an interesting experience, because there were about 80 other people/families in the meeting in total. I don’t know if everyone was from Alberta or if they were all scattered around, but the judge that performed the ceremony was in Montreal, so who knows!
The whole thing took about two and a half hours; most of the time was spent waiting for the clerk to do one-on-one meetings with everyone, during which we had to cut up our Permanent Resident cards on camera. Then we all came together, said the Oath, sang the national anthem, and became Canadians.
(I had to pledge my allegiance to King Charles and all his successors, which was pretty wild.)
So no longer do I live in a foreign country. Canada is my country!
TWO THINGS TODAY
First: Nate’s surgery went well! He and his mom got back around 5 or so this evening and he’s doing a lot better than either of the previous two surgeries already.
Second: I got an email from IRCC Canada giving me a notice to take my citizenship oath! It will be over Zoom on Thursday, November 30.
That’s wild. I’ll be an official Canadian citizen in a few weeks!
Pass!
Awwww yeah!
I’m pretty sure I know which question I missed because I overthought it, haha.
Now the next step is to wait for them to contact me (they have to review my test and the recording of me taking it to be sure I wasn’t cheating, haha) so that I can take my official oath.
Super exciting!
Well, hell.
So you know how I sent in my application for Canadian citizenship back at the end of July? And how we all figured the process would take like six months minimum so that I’d have some time to study up for the Citizenship Test before I got called in to take it?
I got called in to take it.
I have until October 23rd to take it, specifically.
Have I studied at all? No.
Do I have time to study at all? No.
Is this the worst possible semester for this test to happen? Yes.
But I want citizenship, so I’ll have to GIT ‘ER DONE somehow.
Oof.
Guess what I did today?
I APPLIED FOR CANADIAN CITIZENSHIP!
I’m finally eligible and I finally got around to filling out the application, so now it’s on its way and I get to see how long this whole process takes now.
At least it was easier (and cheaper) than permanent residency.
SCREW IT, GONNA BE CANADIAN
Hi.
So I’ve been eligible to apply for Canadian citizenship for quite some time now, but obviously haven’t done it yet. I hope to do it soon, though! I was initially going to apply online since they allow people to do that now, but every time I try to create an account it says their system is down.
Every. Single. Time.
So I’m like screw this, let’s do the paper application. It’s a lot less convenient and makes me worry that I’m going to very easily forget to submit something, but I had to do a paper application for permanent residence that was a LOT more involved than the paperwork for citizenship, and that went through fine.
The fee for the citizenship application is also quite a bit less than the fee for the permanent residence application, so there’s that.
Eigenblogger 