Evil Panda Blues

Over the last few days, it has rained a lot in Victoria.

Sorry, that doesn't quite express it properly. It's rained so much that it reminds me of Tokyo in the fall, where there are puddles so big you know there must be at least half a dozen people missing in their depths. Our local grocery store (which we just found out is being shut down at the end of the month because the landowners want to tear down the building so they can delay making overly-expensive condos) had a moat around it on Saturday... today the puddle looked so big I'm sure it must be flooded inside.

However, unlike Ottawa in spring, I haven't been splashed by busses taking puddles at full speed yet! Relative victory!

On Saturday a scary man on a bus started verbally abusing my wife and kids with racist and sexist remarks. Upon being berated with "stupid Chinese... we should kill them all", my little one apparently turned to my older daughter and said in English: "We can speak English and French and Japanese but not Chinese. How do you kill a language?" Thank god for youthful ignorance.

Eventually the fool was taken off the bus by transit police, but it was a very unfortunate experience all around. There have been subtle moments where people treat my family differently because they are overtly trilingual, but this is the first time someone's been really mean about it. On the plus side, it was pouring bloody rain when he was kicked off the bus, and I bet he had a long way to walk. I'm petty and mean, I know.

All this is to say: I still don't have a good picture for the Panda book yet, and there are 16 pictures to make. If I don't get into the swing of things soon, I'm going to miss my deadline, and centipedes will come and devour my eyeballs. Or so I hear.

In my quest to overbook myself, I think I will commit to writing at least two outside-linking blog posts every day. To keep in practice while not causing myself bodily harm. I just have to find things to write about. Is there anything going on in the world these days?