In a (garden) state

So far I have only acquired two out of the seven things I want to bring home to friends in England. One of which made the checkout guy in Safeway say to me, with a slightly sarcastic smile on his face, "Mmm, nice." It's in a jar, it's basically made out of sugar, and it's white. Don't ask. I just hope all this shit gets through customs. Apologies in advance to anyone who doesn't get their presents.

Today, after not running for four days, I made myself feel guilty, and went jogging. For the first time, I did my usual course without stopping, and cut four minutes off my usual time. So now I have to extend the course, since being stuck at 3.5 miles is not good when you have to do 26 in three months' time. Oh, and I also got chased by a dog down the road which tried its best to bite me, and I had to fight it off with my feet, so I'm sure that counts for an extra minute of jogging time.

I also went to the local Salvation Army store to find 'hippie' clothes for this filming on Monday, and didn't really come back with much. I ended up with dark red cords, a bright orange top, and a see-through purple flowered shirt, which sounds horrible but I which actually really like in general, and will wear in everyday life if I can work out how to make it less see-through. Anyway, all this was $11, or £5, so hoorah for the thrift shop. Why is it you can never find a tie-dye t-shirt when you want one though? I guess I need to go to the hippie haven of Kitsilano, but I can't really be arsed for what will probably be 30 seconds on camera.

Talking of clothes, here are the promised pictures of my boots. Sorry for the fact that my camera is crap, so you don't get the full boot effect. I would have got someone else to take the photos, but there was only Denise, and I'm sure she had better things to do. And before anyone asks, I am wearing shorts, so no jokes and no rude postings about my legs please.



This evening Denise and I watched Garden State (me for the first time) and I loved it. Zack Braff's character is exactly the type of guy I fall for; funny, perhaps not conventionally attractive, outwardly confident whilst being completely insecure underneath, caring, likeable - and the most important thing (guaranteed to make me lose my heart), completely screwed up. I felt like I knew him, probably because bits of my past loves were evident in him. And then at the end of the film, I realised that I was Natalie Portman - the girl who seems to be the support that Zack Braff's character needs throughout the story, until we reach the end and she pleads with him at the airport to stay, showing how much she really cares for him, and trying not to let him see how upset she is by turning her face away. I've done that airport scene, and I've been that once strong and now utterly pathetic girl! I'm still waiting for Zack Braff's character to get off the plane and come back to me though, sadly....I guess if it can happen to them, maybe it can happen to me!