For the record, the nose beeping game and the squishy nose game are two entirely independent games that Ailish and I used to play.

The squishy nose game involved squishing our noses together as hard as we could, and then Ailish would announce that she had won. Occasionally, I’d try to claim I had won, but Ailish would give me a sad sort of look that said, “Look, Chris, you just don’t understand this game.”

The nose beeping game was slightly more fair, in that I at least had a chance of winning. I would touch Ailish’s nose and she would say, “honk.” She would touch my nose and I would say, “beep.” Most of the time, it was just a check to see if the other person was paying attention. But sometimes, we’d get a bit competitive and alternate nose beeping as quickly as we could, Ailish honking and me beeping. It’s surprisingly difficult. You have to pay attention to make sure you are saying the correct phrase while your partner is responding with the corresponding phrase. Inevitably, one person will eventually screw up, at which point we would fall over laughing.

They were both very silly games, and we enjoyed them immensely.

Last night, I went to see Death Cab for Cutie with Dane. I had bought the tickets for Ailish’s birthday, one week before she died. She (and Dane, and several other people) had tickets to see Death Cab the last time they came to Edmonton in 2006, but due to problems with timing, Ailish missed the band. Several times, she had mentioned how disappointed she was, so I knew she would enjoy the tickets.

The concert was at the Shaw Conference Centre. Unfortunately, the sound was pretty craptacular. Even at the best of times, the Shaw isn’t known for its acoustics. Combine that with bad sound mixing and many of the songs may as well have been in latin for all I could make out. Still, the band was enthusiastic and I rather like many of the songs.

Of course, I absolutely balled when they played You Are a Tourist, as it was one of the songs we played at Ailish’s funeral. Still, I am very glad I went. I’m sure Ailish would have loved the show (and the beer area sectioned off at the back for over 18’s).