More Official Stitch of the Vancouver Olympics

Stitch Holding Tummy Solar Nodder
Originally uploaded by tikistitch

So, then, we continued down the street (in case you're going to be visiting Vancouver in the near future, I believe the specific street was Cambie, which, if you know Vancouver, is ABSOLUTELY NO HELP AT ALL, as it seems you can't go anywhere in the Vancouver metropolitan area without being more than 2 blocks from Cambie Street, it's like Omnipresent Street or something), and we came to ANOTHER shop that, typically, seemed to have been overrun by kawaii Olympic mascots.

HOWEVER, Mr. Tikistitch, who has a bloodhound's sense for the scent of Stitch collectibles, suggested we nose inward. We saw nothing at first, until I peered around a narrow corner and detected this Stitch solar nodder. As it happens, I have several of these cute items (they seem to issue one or two new ones every year), but NOT the one with Stitch holding his tummy, so SCORE!



I brought the item over to the register, and the sharp-eyed shop lady, looked at this, and my already bulging shopping bags, and inquired as to whether I liked this specific character. Suddenly, she was pulling little fuzzy blue genetic mutations out of every corner of the little shop.




The sparkly Stitch plush (one of Mr. Tiki's finds) is especially fun: the label says Sega, and it appears to be licensed, but you might notice the tag is for Winnie the Pooh, which is something I'd expect from a bootleg.

Oh, and the teensy paw pen is a story in itself. I used it to sign the credit card receipt, and then must have unthinkingly left it on the desk. We were halfway down the block when the shop owner came running up behind us with my pen! People in Canada are just so darned NICE.

SO IN CONCLUSION: Stitch is everywhere. Yes, EVEN CANADA.

Going for the Gold

Vancouver Olympic Mascots
Originally uploaded by tikistitch

So, you may be asking, Why the picture of the ultra-cute Vancouver Olympic mascots, Tiiiiikiiiiiiiiiii???? You said this blog was gonna be ALL STITCH ALL THE TIME, with none of those needless digressions about Jedi underpants and stuff like that there....

Well, listen closely, my young padawan learner, of the tale I shall tell. First off, these Olympic mascots have names, respectively, they are Muk Muk, Quatchi (who does not like to be confused with a Yeti) and Miga. AND Muk Muk, as it turns out, is not an Olympic mascot at all, but rather an OLYMPIC MASCOT SIDEKICK. Because, celebrity being what it is nowadays, evidently even Olympic mascots don't go anywhere without their posse.

We picked up these impossibly cute little spuds this weekend, in Vancouver, where we were, in fact, attending a number of Olympic events. AND HERE THE TALE TAKES A TURN! For the first event was a hockey match, where, in a vivid recall of the events of 1968, some Czech players were enjoying a peaceful early springtime until being overpowered by a bunch of Russians. But! Whilst on our somewhat circuitous route to the entrance of aforesaid Canada Hockey Place (yes, that's really what they called it. like "Canada Airport," only no joke), we wandered through a neighborhood where we noticed the signage sported quite a lot of kanji. Now, class, what does it mean when you are in The Land of Canada and you see signs translated NOT into Quebecois French but Chinese? EITHER ONE OF TWO THINGS: you have entered a casino parking lot, OR you are approaching CHINATOWN.

As it happened, it was the latter. And Chinatown means KEWL STUFF DUDE. So, we immediately proposed to Mr. Tikistitch a quick canvass of the surrounding neighborhood, once we'd finished witnessing a few peace-loving Eastern Europeans being battered into submission by a gang of former Soviets wielding hockey sticks.

To be continued....