2022
from chris lloyd to pm@pm.gc.ca
date Feb 1, 2022, 9:44 PM subject 21 – 470 – 0102
Dear Justin,
I went into the 2-22 and got a big chunk done on the plastering but oh boy, is my body giving me some aches and pains! I’ve been out of practice, I suppose, from being up and down ladders and scraping, sanding and dragging large trowels of plaster over walls. I’ve finished 2 coats on all 5 landings, and even did a third on 3 landings, so I’ll be about ready to start priming tomorrow. I was early getting the kids today because the school called and said Rose had been vomiting. When I arrived at the school to get her the secretary realized she had called for the wrong Rose. Oops. Gave me some time to buy bread and finally deal with my prescription, which is up for its annual renewal. Took Sol for his second vaccine, and the rest of the night was supper and dishes. I’ll take Rose for her second dose tomorrow morning, she’ll miss a bit of class but that’s not problem. I’ll pick up some more plaster and the primer tomorrow, I guess I’ll take my car and see if my hotel parking lucky charm continues to work. Ok it’s an early night for me I am exhausted, need to go to bed.
—
- ° Chris Lloyd
- ° 514 295-3048
- ° chris lloyd projects
from chris lloyd to pm@pm.gc.ca
date Feb 2, 2022, 8:08 PM subject 22 – 674 – 0202
Dear Justin,
Turned off my snooze and slept in until 7:20 this morning. Somehow managed to get Sol off to school in time, came back for Rose and we made it to her vaccination appointment right on time. Dropped her off to school and then hit up Home Despot for some primer for the walls at the 2-22. Set my mind to zone-out mode and hunkered down to a few hours of unpleasant sanding and plastering, sweeping and washing walls, managing even to put a coat of primer on 2 walls. Three more to go, then the colour. I don’t have the paint code yet and there is no rush, although now that my EI has run out it might be nice to get paid for this gig sooner than later. Jess and I are driving to NB this weekend to look at Darren’s old house. Jake – suddenly we have a real estate agent? – took a video walk-through for us today, and it is helpful to see the difference between the one he made a few years ago. I hadn’t realized how large the wood shed is, or even that the structure Darren had built over his kiln is still standing. The current or previous owners unfortunately not only painted the interior walls vibrant green and orange but they pretty much ruined the faded grey wood exterior boards by painting them a primary blue – I think I told you this already. The blue is not a deal-breaker. At this point I’m not sure what would be a deal-breaker. The bank? There are ways around banks, maybe the mob or some motorcycle gang would lend us money. Anyway, I picked Rose up right after school to take her to Miniso on Ste-Catherine, as she is obsessed with all things Japanese or Korean. I bought her a cute mug and a sickly-sweet drink, as well as a toothbrush and some toasted seaweed snacks and shrimp puffs. Rose really wants to work, to earn her own money to buy candy, but she is still so young and sooooo scatterbrained. I need to read bedtime stories and then take a shower, there is plaster dust in my hair which makes it crunchy and gross, and my skin has dried out and I smell bad. I wonder what the #FluTruxKlan truckers smell like at this point? I hear those rigs have everything on them: microwaves, beds, fridges, gaming consoles, dishwashers, toilets, sinks, recliners, tapestries, area rugs, sectionals, recessed lighting, carpet, teapots, cushions, live plants, you name it they’ve got it. They could be camped out on your front steps forever.
—
- ° Chris Lloyd
- ° 514 295-3048
- ° chris lloyd projects
from chris lloyd to pm@pm.gc.ca
date Feb 3, 2022, 10:26 PM subject 23 – 574 – 0302
Dear Justin,
Another day at work, another fistful of dollars. Finished the sanding, which is by far my favourite part of the process. All that fine drywall plaster dust falling everywhere. I could have used the dust collector, but I would have had to daisy-chain multiple extension cords to bring power into the stairwell, and lugging the machine and hoses up and down those stairs was not appealing to me. There wasn’t really that much sanding, after all. Finished the primer coats today too. I also managed to find flights for the kids to NB for March Break, my mom gave me Air Miles so the two flights, plus an “unaccompanied minor” fee was just over $500, holy smokes travel is expensive, as it should be. My Ex will pay half. I also booked Jessica and I into a cheap motel for Saturday night, go Expedia! Also printed off birthday cards for Sol, his party is at my house a week from Saturday. Already that kid is almost 9 years old! He wants a Pro controller for his birthday but they are $80. I’ve been researching some of the knockoff or third party brands and they seem iffy, not the greatest reviews, poor D-pad functionality, but then some Youtuber found a decent one, even Amiibo compatible, but then it is not available on Amazon, which I hate buying things from but sometimes you can’t avoid it, so maybe I’ll look into it more next week, after we are back from possibly maybe buying a house.
—
- ° Chris Lloyd
- ° 514 295-3048
- ° chris lloyd projects
from chris lloyd to pm@pm.gc.ca
date Feb 5, 2022, 12:21 AM subject 24 – 793 – 0402
Dear Justin,
Just watched Encanto again, this time just with Jess – the first time was last weekend with the kids. It is really, really good. I think I cried the whole way through, since this time I knew what it was all about. We started the evening watching Crystal Fairy & the Magical Cactus!, which couldn’t be a more different vibe. Anyway it was overall a very pleasant evening, and work went well, I painted 2/5 of the walls and should finish the rest easily next week when we get back from our ROAD TRIP, which begins tomorrow. We’re heading Into the Unknown! (We’re not though, we know where we’re going, and we’ll listen to a lot of Disney songs while we’re going there).
—
- ° Chris Lloyd
- ° 514 295-3048
- ° chris lloyd projects
from chris lloyd to pm@pm.gc.ca
date Feb 7, 2022, 8:19 PM subject 25 ——— 0702
Dear Justin,
Please excuse my tardiness and also any potential swearing or ranting or mis-spellings, I am still in New Brunswick and more than halfway through a bottle of wine with the picture of Snoop Dog / Lion on it. It’s not half bad, actually.
Jess and I spent a good 2 hours visiting Darren’s old place in Central Greenwich and despite the obvious flaws and defects I think we will make an offer, maybe even tonight, maybe even by text, although our agent is back at the ER with a possible detached retina but like everyone else living under the auspices of Late Capitalism he seems to work at any and all hours of the day or night. Despite the disrepair the house has undergone since Darren sold it back in ‘18 – do you remember me telling you that my Ex and I had considered it back then? Did I even tell you? Crazy that she even seemed to seriously consider it at the time when she was already betrothed to S, but she wanted it all, after all (it’s her birthday today, should I wish her happy birthday? I’ve ignored it the past few years but I’m getting over my anger bit by bit, and I really only wish her well in life) – the house and property, large attached wood shed, the shack over the former kiln, and the creek, it’s all a perfect fit for us. For Jess and me. So now we just have to figure out how to pay for it and how to make it work. Also we have to re-paint the exterior cedar boards which the current owners, perhaps in a drug-fueled mania, partially painted a bright blue. Why would anyone ever paint cedar?
Sent with positive vibes from my super-duper hand-held computing device.
from chris lloyd to pm@pm.gc.ca
date Feb 10, 2022, 8:52 AM subject 26 – 643 – 1002
Dear Justin,
Holy moly, we’ve put in an offer on Darren’s old place! We were driving back to Montreal on Tuesday but we hit crazy blowing snow around la Pocatière, and really didn’t feel safe continuing. Lucky we found a motel room in a converted old folks home attached to a microbrewery called Baleine Endiablée in a tiny town called Rivière-Ouelle. We made an offer by text that night of 120. The next day we hit the road and filed and signed the paperwork to make it official, and the sellers came back to us with 138. Their asking price was 145, which is already down from the 160 they had paid less than a year ago. Do they know that the septic needs to be replaced? They say they just live to far from Fredericton and they can’t stand the commute, but they also ruined the exterior with that terrible blue paint job. Anyway we countered their counter with 125, they came back later in the day with their final price of 135, which was exactly our top-end stopping price, so we took it. Waiting on the paperwork now, waiting for coffee to be brewed strongly, waiting for Jess to get up (I’ll wake her up with tiny kisses, as I do most mornings we are together), waiting for a miracle (in terms of financing), waiting to get paid (for the 2-22 walls, which are waiting for me to finish painting them, which I will do today). So much of life can be about waiting for something, and then even when you are in the middle of doing something there is waiting. Waiting to die. What to do while you’re waiting, that’s the thing.
—
- ° Chris Lloyd
- ° 514 295-3048
- ° chris lloyd projects
from chris lloyd to pm@pm.gc.ca
date Feb 12, 2022, 9:52 PM subject 27 – 483 – 1202
Dear Justin,
A flurry of documents went everywhere last evening after we spoke with a mortgage broker who had lots of items for us to collect for her to pitch us at the mercy of the Big Banks, or possibly the B-grade banks, which might work in our favour anyway. By working in our favour I mean that they might actually consider lending to us at a slightly higher interest rate. Funny that having a bankruptcy on one’s credit history worries banks when it comes to mortgages. Can’t they just take your house away if you don’t pay back your mortgage? If someone runs up thousands in credit card debt on food and booze there is nothing left. They even expect you to get a credit card to help you build up credit. Isn’t that more of a risk? Maybe it is easier to default on mortgage payments than we are made out to believe.
Today was Sol’s birthday party, he had three friends come over and they did so many activities that now I am completely wiped. They played some video games, then some board games, then ate lunch (I made dumplings, which means I steamed frozen dumplings from Mademoiselle Dumpling), then opened gifts, then we went out and smashed a Darth Vader piñata, then we walked to the park and went sliding (although 3/4 of the boys mostly just wrestled in the snow), the temperature dropped quickly, I got cold just standing around, eventually we came back home, I made hot chocolate, served cake, Sol opened the gift from his mom, who had come by while we were out to collect Rose, and the kids watched some Olympics coverage, and chanted “Ca-na-da” over and over which drove me crazy. They probably sounded like many people at those freedom rallies, chanting for freedom, as if the virus can understand. It speaks volumes that so many people are willing to “disrupt the economy” – as in #shutdowncanada – but not for Indigenous rights, but for their own mild inconveniences over wearing masks or having to show a vaccine passport to buy their weed or wine. Sooooooooo selfish and privileged. Fuck KKKanada.
—
- ° Chris Lloyd
- ° 514 295-3048
- ° chris lloyd projects
from chris lloyd to pm@pm.gc.ca
date Feb 13, 2022, 10:32 PM
subject 28 – — – 1202 Dear Justin,
I’m sorry I referred to Canada as KKKanada yesterday. You know how worked up I can get sometimes. I know the police are just doing their job, keeping white folks protected, and are just confused when it is white folks on both sides. And I know not all the protesters are overt white supremacists, it’s a mix of folks who just want their privileges back. Imagine having the privilege to take weeks off work to drive your rig to Ottawa to honk your horns thereby driving other working folks crazy because you don’t want to take a vaccine to help protect the more vulnerable of society? Don’t these guys need to be driving their trucks to and from places? Are they all on EI or taking CRB? Maybe with fewer trucks on the road we’ll cut back on C02 emissions for once. Has everyone forgotten about the climate crisis?
Sandy and Nora nailed it on the head in their latest episode, the Left is losing the protest game big time. Calling for more policing isn’t a solution, those bullied boys in blue are doing exactly what they are supposed to be doing. We on the left need to be better at organizing. We should be blocking roads and rails and bridges. Is not having access to transport trucks or tractors a good enough excuse? I’m one of the few Lefties I know who is privileged enough to actually own a vehicle. My own privilege means I can and do just ignore this whole freedom-convoy mess. I even took the kids to see the latest Spider-Man movie this afternoon, in iMax no less. Talk about privilege! We’ll find out tomorrow if I’m privileged enough to qualify for a mortgage even with a bankruptcy stain on my credit history. Every institution in this country is designed to help people like me stay privileged. The least I can do is use my privilege to disavow my country. So I take it back, I’m not sorry, fuck KKKanada and fuck you and your stupid pipeline.
—
- ° Chris Lloyd
- ° 514 295-3048
- ° chris lloyd projects
from chris lloyd to pm@pm.gc.ca
date Feb 14, 2022, 9:20 PM subject 29 – 112 – 1402
Dear Justin,
Happy Valentine’s Day. Did you know that on this day in 1779 native Hawaiians stabbed British Captain James Cook right in his colonizing neck.
I started the weekly grind by waking up too early with anxiety filling my head. Buying a house is stressful. Getting the kids out of the house and to school on time can be stressful too, but it wasn’t this morning, probably because I was up so early. Being at work, trying to catch up on things, trying to get back into that groove, also filled me with stress. But mostly it’s the house stuff. For example we’ve been trying to figure out the whole insurance thing but all I get are quick and easy online estimates, and a quote I got from PC tonight was for $706 per month in premiums! WTSF? Oh wait I just tried another one and SE offers $56/month. Maybe PC meant per year? But it says per month…something is messed up. Maybe it’s not worth thinking or stressing about, and I should just get myself to bed early.
—
- ° Chris Lloyd
- ° 514 295-3048
- ° chris lloyd projects
from chris lloyd to pm@pm.gc.ca
date Feb 15, 2022, 11:52 PM subject 30 – 440 – 1502
Dear Justin,
A long day at work, partly trying to figure out this home insurance thing and why we can’t seem to get quotes lower than $235/month. Who knew that fire hydrants would play such a role in whether or not we can afford to own our own home. Anyway I have a pile of documents to send off to our mortgage broker, who still seems to think we can qualify without needing a co-signer. Apparently although the consumer proposal on my credit rating is a big red flag, my actual score is not so bad – just over 700. How did that happen? Maybe that Refresh Financial loan is working its’ magic. Anyway I am tired and still need to send off some files, or Wetransfer them or something. Why are banks such dicks? They rake in literal billions of dollars in profits, it’s gross and obscene.
—
- ° Chris Lloyd
- ° 514 295-3048
- ° chris lloyd projects
from chris lloyd to pm@pm.gc.ca
date Feb 17, 2022, 10:09 PM subject 31 – 382 – 1702
Dear Justin,
So no bank will lend us money, so the worries over the high cost of insuring the house are now moot, since the deal has collapsed. In a way we are both relieved, as it was going to be a big change. Jess has started taking her driving lessons and by this time next year should have her license, so she’d be ready to move then. And we’re circling back around our original plan, to find the right plot of land and build our own tiny homes, cottages, studios, glamping tents, whatever we want. And hopefully we can avoid the banks entirely. Fuck them and their obscene profits. How are they even allowed to make so much profit? Especially when they turn around and back the pipeline projects.
—
- ° Chris Lloyd
- ° 514 295-3048
- ° chris lloyd projects
from chris lloyd to pm@pm.gc.ca
date Feb 21, 2022, 10:36 PM subject 32 – 36 – 2102
Dear Justin,
First day of de-install went well. Had a good weekend, I think Jess and I feel quite lucky in a way that we didn’t get the financing. We’re far more excited to be looking for land and building our own cabins, tiny houses, studios, bunkies, all of it. To get away from it all, the cacophony of the city. Jess is getting excited to go out to events, so see people again, to have people over, but I’m not feeling it so much. Maybe because I’ve been at work so much, around people on the metro and at work already, but having guests over would be nice. According the War Measures (or emergency) Act, are we allowed to have a party even if you say not too? You’ve really gone to far on this. We tried to go to Baraoke this past weekend but all of Cleopatra’s was closed, even the strip club. The organizers hadn’t updated the Facebook group. We’re debating visiting Club L but it felt too rushed. All I want to do is find the right plot of land and buy a chain saw. But first: a couple more exhibitions to get finished and then we’ll have a nice long summer to figure it all out.
—
- ° Chris Lloyd
- ° 514 295-3048
- ° chris lloyd projects
from chris lloyd to pm@pm.gc.ca
date Feb 22, 2022, 10:47 PM subject 33 – 260 – 2202
Dear Justin,
Happy 2-22-22 day, whatever. Another day of work, another fistful or dollars. Also related to dollars, I am cancelling my order to CGC to grade 10 of my most valuable comics because figuring out how to deal with customs and insurance was breaking my head, and I found another company called CBCS with a Canadian location who charge 2/3 less than CGC for grading. Selling these comics off will be my way of earning some extra money this year for buying land and supplies, things like chain saws and more solar power arrays, seeds, lumber and what have you.
Here are some of my recent google searches:
standard shipping container sizes buy a used shipping container why the emergency act is fascist how to rob a bank
best way to trim a beard —
- ° Chris Lloyd
- ° 514 295-3048
- ° chris lloyd projects
from chris lloyd to pm@pm.gc.ca
date Feb 24, 2022, 10:07 PM subject 34 – 231 – 2402
Dear Justin,
Jessica got the Canada Council creation grant she applied for last year! We found out last night. I bought wine in anticipation, and we celebrated with karaoke. Somehow I ended up falling asleep as we were watching What, that earlier comedy special by Bo Burnham.
So Russia has finally invaded Ukraine. What’s your next move? Having already called in the War Measures Act, or Emergency Act, or Marshall Law, to round up the few hundred protestors holding Ottawa hostage, what to do for an encore? Conscription?
Too bad you can’t use the Emergency Act to make sure all First Nations communities – including Iqaluit – have clean drinking water. Or to ensure those at the most risk are protected from the pandemic, like providing access to shelter, food, etc.
I’m nervous and excited to take the kids to the airport tomorrow. I also miss them. I hope they have a fun week with their grandparents.
We watched more off-grid cabin-building videos tonight, and now about to play some N64, safe and sound, no bombs outside, just the heavy machinery removing snow and ice from the roads.
—
- ° Chris Lloyd
- ° 514 295-3048
- ° chris lloyd projects
from chris lloyd to pm@pm.gc.ca
date Feb 25, 2022, 10:15 PM subject 35 – 296 – 2502
Dear Justin,
What a stressful day. Not because of the invasion of Ukraine, which is of course very stressful for those directly impacted, and almost makes one wonder if women were in charge across the board would these border or territorial disputes ever escalate in this matter? Also, why is there even a NATO since the end of the cold war? Hasn’t it just muddled around pushing its’ pudgy fingers into areas it is not wanted? I don’t really have a strong opinion one way or the other, and have a very, very limited knowledge of eastern European geopolitics, but essentially as a pacifist I don’t believe in armies or the assholes that lead them. And are sanctions going to help the situation or just hurt people who are just trying to make a living? Abolish billionaires, and all heads of state, too.
I was stressed because today I took the kids to the airport for their flight to NB, and there was a nasty snowstorm all day. The kids didn’t seem too nervous, and the check-in process was super easy. I had to wait at the airport until the flight left at 1:35, then after I picked up masonite from Villeneuves and was almost back at Vox I got a text notification that their flight had actually been delayed an hour. And my parents texted me and in Saint John the flight had been listed as arrived, when clearly it hadn’t, and then it dropped off the board entirely. I didn’t get any further notifications, but the flight did land and the kids are safe n sound with my folks for the week.
Jess and I continue our research into off-grid cabins. She’s also studying her driving manual, and I’m researching comics to sell. What a wild Friday night!
—
- ° Chris Lloyd
- ° 514 295-3048
- ° chris lloyd projects
from chris lloyd to pm@pm.gc.ca
date Feb 28, 2022, 7:58 AM subject 36 – — – 2702
Dear Justin,
You won’t believe it, but I finally fixed the trunk door on Erica yesterday. I had ordered the lifts a couple months ago but just haven’t gotten around to it until now. I’ve been getting more and more worried that the broom handle I’ve been using to prop the door up will slip or break and the weight of that door falling could probably cripple me. So I parked at the underground parking at Place des Arts to warm the car up, and managed to unscrew the rusty bolts holding the old arms in place, and managed to get the new ones on. And they fit, and they work! I was a bit sceptical since I had ordered them on Amazon for like $50 for the pair. Anyway, Jess and I have had a great little weekend together, sleeping in, eating together, and spending time in the afternoons working on our own things. I went in to Vox today to work on that shelf and light box for Anahita, and most of the rest of my free time has been spent trying to tabulate the market value of all my comics. To do this I go through eBay one comic at a time, checking for recent sales to try to get a ballpark. It’s a good way to catch key issues, like with the first Black Cat, Madame Web, Moon Knight and of course Carnage. Did I ever mention that I have a straight run of ASM from issue 184 – 360, and then again from 362 – 497, and somehow missed issue 361 which is the first full appearance of Carnage and is worth something like $300.
—
- ° Chris Lloyd
- ° 514 295-3048
- ° chris lloyd projects
DEAR PM 