About a month ago, I noticed something sprouting in my worm composter (again, more on this later). Upon closer inspection, I discovered that some of the kabocha (a japanese squash variety) seeds I had discarded had germinated before the worms could get to them. I rescued three of the seedlings from the composter and potted them without any clue as to what to do with them. Growing herbs and tomatoes indoors is one thing, growing squash is quite another.

I considered joining the gorilla-gardening movement and planting them beside our building, but didn't like the prospect of them getting mowed or peed on by passing dogs. Then my friend Andrew mentioned that he had scored a sweet garden plot in his neighborhood and he was excited about adopting the baby kabochas.

So, I brought the seedlings to work as it seemed likely that Andrew would be downtown in the next week or so to pick them up. They sat on my desk for a few days. I left for San Francisco. My coworkers watered them. They stayed on my desk for another week. I continued to water them but was convinced that they wouldn't last much longer without being transplanted. Today, two and a half weeks later, Andrew was able to come pick them up. They were still alive. My kabocha squash have been adopted.

Seeing as Andrew was downtown to pick up the squash, we decided to meet up at the Vancouver Art Gallery when I was done work. The main exhibition, 'How Soon is Now' was quite interesting and featured a room full of band instruments where people could jam. The room was quite small and lacked ventilation altogether. It was reminiscent of a sauna. But Andrew was excited about jamming and, despite my complete and utter lack of any musical talent, I joined him. We jammed. He was decent. I was terrible. But it was fun.

At one point while I was drumming (pathetically), I became conscious of the sore throat I've been fighting all week. I've done some  research and I'm pretty sure it's not the swine flu (which I keep referring to as the porcine flu - it has a nicer ring to it). But sitting there in the stuffy and hot music 'studio' at the VAG I couldn't help but think that if anyone carrying the swine flu had been in the room previously, I was sure to get it. I proposed that, if we were to start a band (which I assure you we're not), our band name should be 'Incubator for the Swine Flu'.