So my last 3 fortune cookies over the last year have been frighteningly accurate. My most recent one (while dining in Victoria) said that I was gonna make new friends soon. I disregarded it because I rarely make new friends and certainly aren't expecting to make some anytime soon. So yesterday Lenaia and Andrew came up from Vic to hang out for a few hours, so I took them to Englishman River Falls. Shot a whole roll of film, so I'll get those up ASAP. The falls were pretty sweet. We chilled by the river for a while talking about life, the cosmos, evolution, and all sorts of crazy cool shit. We also discussed how social we are. I'm pretty anti-social, whereas Andrew is the opposite. They gave me the push I needed to start being more open to strangers. I'm always nice and try to be warm and friendly, but I usually write people off so fast that I never really try to get to know them at all. We spotted some excellent cliffs for jumping off of during the summer right near a waterfall into deep, calm water. Work last night went quite well and I managed to strike up conversation with two people there. One girl I'd totally written off the night before actually had some useful info to share with me about another local spot for cliff-jumping. So last night's shift went well, which was good cuz today's the gap between last night's shift and this morning's shift was only 9 hours. So I was in a good mood this morning, and I started my first day training for prep cook. I got to talking to the guy and got pretty stoked. He's quitting soon to bike across Canada alone, he's already backpacked in New Zealand, and he's going to Nepal next winter. And he's the same age as me. So I picked his brain about the area around here, which led to him telling me about a crevasse on Little Mountain that you can climb around in and he offered to show me, so after work, we went up there. He tied a rope to a tree up top, and we took a trail down to the bottom. I've been to the cliff there many times, but being at the bottom is radically different and almost cooler in a way. The rock formations around the crevasse are really wild and I woulda taken pictures but I didn't have a new roll of film with me, so I'll do that another day. So from the bottom, we made out way into the crevasse which was pretty sweet. Picture a really tight cave, with no roof. My shoes have horrible grip though, so I wasn't super-confident and stayed perched on one ledge for a while once we got kind've high up. So he made his way over to me to find a route and I asked him what the squeeking sound was. He exclaims something along the lines of "HOLY SHIT" and books it over to the ledge I was trying to get too. After I'd safely retreated, he told me he'd been within a foot of a bat, and I was like 5 feet from it (but not in line of sight with it). It was really stubborn and didn't seem to care how much shit we threw at it, it wouldn't leave, so we finally swatted it with his pack, stunned it and it floated way down to the bottom. So I wedged myself between a ledger and the wall, and eventually we were 'outside' again, beside where he'd dangled the rope. We were no more than 50 feet up, but it was still pretty sketchy, and I sketchily (he's far more competent than I) made my way up the side of the cliff. He let me lead for the final ascent back to the top, but it required me once again supporting my own body weight on the rope. We're now about 80 feet up and just as I'm climbing the final pitch, I put my whole weight on the rope and the rope slips. I can't really get to technical, but basically the rope suddenly gave an extra foot of slack, and had I not held on for dear life, I'd more than likely be dead. It happened so fast I didn't even think, but the other guy was scared shitless cuz he prolly thought I'd let go and was about to fall on him. I got some nasty rope burn from it, which is pretty crazy considering my hands slid less than half a foot. So with my second rush of adrenaline, I reached the top, surveyed my wounds and cuts, and laid down catching my breath. As the adrenaline went away, my hands really started to hurt. By the way, it was raining too. So after some nervous chuckling, we went back down to the bottom, to get his rope unstuck and retrieve the rope bag he'd dropped. He climbed up to get the rope unstuck at one spot, and the bat had returned to it's original position where it had scared us in the first place. So yeah, exciting stuff. He's definitely got lots of knowledge of the area around here, so I've got a bunch of places to check out. Might go check out those caves at Horne Lake tomorrow. Anyways, I'm justifiably tired and my hands were sore to begin with, so I think I've had enough of this typing stuff. But yeah, looks like the fortune cookie was right again.....

Tales of the Trypt

Alright, so I'll start out with the trippiest things of the past few days. Tonight I went to call Kaitlyn and accidentally mixed up two numbers without knowing it....
"Mike's (something inaudible), you fuck 'em we stuff em"
"um..... I think I got the wrong number, is Kaitlyn there?"
"Who's this?"
"Dan"
"Motherfucker, what the fuck are you doing calling Kaitlyn?"
"COLTON??? What the fuck are you doing answering Kaitlyn's phone"
"Well the phone was doing a double ring, so our lines must be crossed"
Anyways, I refused to believe that their lines were crossed, but he managed to convince me. Weird goddamn coincidence though, except that I didn't actually dial Kaitlyn's number, but then again... I definitely didn't dial Colton's number. Small world.....

So I went to Victoria, and while me, Lindsay, Melissa, Andy, and Andrew are walking to the club where Lorin is playing at, Melissa tells me she saw me on Speaker's Corner on tv one day. Me and Lindsay proceed to trip out
(cue flashback)
One day when I was taking my TESOL course in Victoria back in October, we were walking around downtown and I decided to rant at Speaker's Corner. While I was standing there thinking of something to say. This cracked out (from what we could deduce, mostly from the fact that she was slightly frothing at the mouth) meth-girl comes outta nowhere and starts acting out some skit with me in front of the camera without realizing I hadn't deposited a dollar yet. Me and Lindsay are totally confused but after a minute, the girl totally changes gears and starts talking to us and she tells us she's lost and doesn't know where's she's going or what she wants. She's totally cracked out, but I decide to just ride it out and try to help. Now I'd be willing to guess that 95% of the people in downtown Victoria that day would've just gotten the hell out of there (or worse), so she's damn lucky she decided to approach me and Lindsay, and not someone else. She was talking very ambiguously and it was obvious she wasn't exactly level-headed, so I just told her to go somewhere in nature and get off the streets so she could sit down and figure out what she wanted. I suggested doing gown to the ocean. She proceeded to hold my hands and thank me and such and within 10 minutes of approaching us, she was gone again. Me and Lindsay still talk about that encounter. But here's the weird thing: to my knowledge, nobody inserted a loonie into the camera-box, so how I ended up on Speaker's Corner is a mystery to me. I'm gonna put on my detective hat and try to track down the footage and I'll see what turns up.

So after Melissa tells us this and me and Lindsay stop tripping out, some of our crew goes into a 7-11 while me and Lindsay are outside. While we're waiting, I spot a guy that I'd had an English course with in kamloops a year earlier. I trip out again but I didn't approach the guy because I didn't know his name and he wasn't too hip anyways, plus he wouldn't recognize me anyways with my hair so long. Not even a minute later, Lindsay recognizes a guy that she hadn't seen since grade 9 (from Salmon Arm). What the fuck is going on here?
And if that's not enough, during the Lorin show, me and Andrew recognized a guy that I met once in Golden, but I can't remember his last name. A few years older, first name John, tall, red hair, last name starts with an M.

So when we got to the club, there was house music playing all the way till Lorin came on, so it was tough to get into a good state of mind. But I did get to talk to him for a few minutes before his set. He's so friendly, we were totally chatting it up, but he didn't even realize it was me til I reminded him (we've met before, but as usual, my hair length keeps me incognito these days). Took me a while to really get stoked on his set, but after the first hour, I was getting into it, and then I heard some whole new shit that got me really into it. At one point, he blew the speakers, that was pretty rad, but he got them going again. For an encore he played an original (I think) drum n bass track of his that got me thrashing and flailing for the last few minutes. Overall, it was pretty good. Not insanely rad, but then again, I'm still new at this whole straight edge thing and it's not easy to be straight edge in a club. When i saw Lorin in November, I was on a little bit of acid, but it was also a really cool crowd, with good vibes. But this crowd totally lover Lorin too, people went nuts as usual. It was cool to be with friends for sure. We went to an after-party (a first for me, surprisingly), but it wasn't that great, kinda weird actually. I took a bunch of pics of the show, plus I got a roll coming back tomorrow hopefully so I'll be posting pics soon.

I had the most intense dream last night. It probably won't mean much if I describe it, but I think it took place over several days and had two different settings and like 3-4 twists. Still burned into my memory too. My dreams are getting more and more memorable and intense, I'm liking where this is going.

So they fired the other dishwasher at White Spot, I've got 36 hours coming up this week. Guess I can't complain, but all but one shift is 7am-3pm (wretched) and one night I get off around 10 and have to work at 7 the next morning. 9 hours between. sweet, dude! Got my first paycheck. $280. Now I can finally afford all that cocaine I've always dreamed of...*sigh*.

Last but not least.... well actually, this is most likely the least important, but I made my first fruit smoothie tonight. Grapes, kiwi, frozen strawberries & blueberries, in cranberry juice. Delicious and nutritious!

ok, enough of me....

Well I've got no time for what I was gonna type, cuz I gotta leave now for Victoria, where I'll be groovin to some Bassnectar/Lorin beats. Back tomorrow, peace out....

Your Crane-style is no match for my Tiger-style

An article summarizing the 5 major fighting styles of the Shaolin (Tiger, Leopard, Crane, Snake, Dragon)

The Shotokan Karate I train in is mostly Tiger

ok, so I had this dream last night. Some girl calls me and I think it's Tasha and I'm talking about what I did yesterday, but then I realize it's not Tasha, it must be one of her friends, but one that I don't really know. So I'm trying to figure out what's going on, when suddenly (although I only realize this now in retrospect), it's not a girl, it's a guy that I'm talking to, and he had the wrong number. He thinks I'm some pro-skater and some other stuff. So I correct him and we chat for a bit, he lives in Calgary, etc. It was a really weird dream though, and I have the feeling that there was more to it or else it just lasted a long time. Something about Star Trek too (prompted by a Star Trek sample I heard on some song last night probably). I also had a dream where I was James Bond in a new Goldeneye videogame. Then I became lucid and was controlling things for a while, fighting with my own brain to keep from waking up, but also trying to have sex with some character. Then I woke up, or at least I thought I did. I realized it had been a wet dream, cuz my blue boxers had a nice little wet spot on them. But then when i got up this morning, I noticed I was wearing red boxers, with no sticky spots, so it must've been a false-awakening the first time. I gotta start to notice when that happens more often.

Sorry George, Chirac told me which hand you fist Condoleeza with

Checked out Horne Lake today, there's a quaint little dirt road community up there. Apparently there's caves too, but I didn't go to that side of the lake. I also went to Spider Lake Provincial Park. It was closed, but I walked the trail in and nobody at all was around, so it was really serene, so I laid on top of a picnic table for a while, enjoying the sun, which was really nice. So I'm going to Victoria on friday to see Lorin spin again, but this time I'll be there with some friends, so that should be a hoot and a half. I'm stoked I got out that mini-rant on philosophy last night, I've been wanting to say something about that for a while, but never got around to it. I shoulda made it longer though. It just bugs me when I'm in a social setting where the creative juices aren't flowing at all, so you're stuck to the most mundane of conversation topics. One thing I really dig about mushrooms (when they're not the cause of my temporary insanity, that is), is how with just a buddy or two, you can embark on the most wonderous of lengthy conversations, spanning so many diverse topics that the connection between each one is barely there, yet it flows so well. Abstract thoughts that would have no meaning were it not for the hard-fought-for vibe that allows for a transfer of ideas at break-neck speeds. However, that sort of situation is obviously quite rare. Sometimes, though, even when people mean well and try to engage in a higher-level exchange of ideas, their lack of familiarity with that particular field of that severely limits any possible progress. So many people, while still having something important to say, don't know how to say it. Now I'm not saying labels and pigeon-holing are the answer, but knowing the relevant terminology can save so much time. I remember getting shot down so bad on my first day of Political Science, when we were talking about definitions of stuff and long story short, I went off about something or other, and after I went on for a while, the guy beside be sums it all up with, 'i think he means 'ideology''. Knowing the lingo doesn't just save time though. It alters the whole dynamics of thigns. By understanding the meaning of subjectivity and objectivity, you are able to phrase your words without sounding like a goof. Simply being able to label someone else's train of thought doesn't necessarily solve everything, but it's like trying to explain to someone from Japan the basics of american automobiles. They may not have the exact same words for shit, but unless you've got the lexicon down, there's no chance of them knowing what the fuck you're talking about. I hope I'm not coming off as a snobby academic brat. I definitely don't look down on someone for not using the 'proper' words, that would be cheesedick of me. I get stoked about any sort of philosophical convo, unless it's just cliche. I dunno, maybe I'm attempting to describe something far too intangible. Or maybe I'm just not using the correct words. full circle....

"Modern Man Suffers from a Kind of Poverty of the Spirit" - Martin Luther King

So to stir up my evening, I checked out the community pool. It took me back to the days in Kamloops of going to the Canada Games pool. People-watching, steam room politics, interpersonal sauna dynamics. At one point, I was laying in the shallow pool and I could smell someone's perfume and it sent me through a gauntlet of half-formed associations from like 8-10 years ago. Fuck, the sense of smell is so strange and magnificent. I can't say I'm a fan of people wearing cologne/perfume, but it sure does ignite my imagination. I meditated in the steam room and did some chanting (for lack of a better word), just repeated the sound 'om' and 'au'. Definitely made me relax a lot and I think it will help my meditation tonight. I haven't been lasting much longer than 5 minutes lately and I know I'm missing out on something. I did some random road exploring afterwards, and found some weird landscapes, but it was fairly dark, so it's hard to say if they were actually as weird as I perceived. Found a house underneath the big powerlines, poor chumps. I talked to Michelle yesterday about the possibility of me living with her and Ashlee when they move to Victoria. I'd be strapped-as-hell for cash though if I were to move when they do, which is at the end of april. I'm gonna aim for it though.

Why don't people ever talk about philosophy? It's like no one's interested in talking about the perspectives regarding the bigger questions of existence. There doesn't seem to be an aversion to it like there is to politics, yet there's the common knowledge is very lacking when it comes to such fundamental things as altruism, determinism, dualism, existentialism, hedonism, individualism vs collectivism (I hope this one is familiar at least), and objectivism vs subjectivism. Even such simple and common things as pessimism vs optimism aren't discussed very often, and when they are, it's done oversimplistically. It's like we've all become a bunch of realists, rationalists, and atheists without realizing it. Although I don't get to talk one-on-one and face-to-face with people very often, I'm gonna attempt to try subtly inject some philosophy into the conversation without the other person realizing it. Then at the end, I'd be like, "by the way, we just discussed the relative merits of positivism and scholasticism." That would be sneaky of me. A real trickster I am, mwahahaha. Anyways, basically what I'm saying is I'd like to see more everyday discussion on the abstract and intangible, or perhaps I'm just an escapist at heart.

The highlights of the day so far have been wading through a river and arbitrarily opening a dictionary to the exact page of the word i was looking for. Apparently tomatoes, peppers, and avocados are all fruits, but from the definition I'm aware of (fruits have the seeds inside them), I don't understand how bananas qualify. Scandal? Perhaps....

No way, George! That's the hand you jerk Cheney off with

Star-Quake

10,000 trillion trillion trillion watts...

I got a roll of film back and this was the only pciture that turned out (which I don't remember taking and don't know what location it's at). I hate it when pictures don't turn out. I feel so cheated out of the moment that I thought I'd captured forever. There was a bunch of pics of me, Clayton, Clinton, and Charles at Little Qalicum falls, including one of my crossing some rapids on a log, in which falling would've spelled D-O-O-M. Oh well, better luck next time.

tidbit

Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, KFC, and A&W. Competitors? Nope, they're all owned by the same company (YUM! Brands)

Redefining Progress

I was gonna go to Karate today, but I couldn't get hold of the organizer. Rode my bike down to the public beach. I still can't get over the fact that I'm riding my bike in a shirt and shorts in February. Gloves would be nice though. Met some old lady whose goal each day was to walk from her car (about 20m away) to the bench I was sitting on. She seemed lively and happy though. Read my new Adbusters magazine for a while. On the ride back, I happened to take a slight detour through a parking so I could ride in sunlight. I smelled pot and noticed an older guy and young girl on the beach. Then I realized it was my dad and sis. HA!

Here's some important links I'd like you to check out. I think it's a step in the right direction. The left-wing movement has for far too long relied upon attacking the right-wing for its agenda instead of trying to advance its own agenda. So these are some of the new progressive ideas being tossed around.

Ecological Footprint Quiz - If everyone lived like me (about half as consuming as the average first-worlder), we'd still need 2.3 earths to live sustainably.

Genuine Progress Indicator (GPI) - The prevailing measurement of economic progress is inherently flawed and obsolete. This site explains in laymen's terms why this is and what the proposed solution is. Seems technical, but it isn't a tough read.

True Cost Economics - Why should gas cost less than water and organic food cost more than its genetically-modified counterpart? Here's a short but informative article that gets the point across.

Media Carta - This site basically sums it all up nicely. It's not too extensive, so check out the 4-5 main pages on it and you'll have it all figured out.

Antipreneur - I was gonna buy some Blackspots (the shoe idea that started the whole thing), but my order got messed up and I was forced to buy some $20 pair from Wal-Mart in the meantime (I still hate myself for it). Anyways, Blackspot is well on it's way to becoming THE anti-brand, with all sorts of proposed branches like radio-stations, cafes, etc.

Corporate Crackdown - This is still in its early stages, but you get to vote on the worst corporation ever, which will lead to a massive campaign against it. For more info, try to watch The Corporation. Excellent movie, but I doubt it has very wide availability, but that's usually how it is.

So I'm washing the dishes and this mixing bowl shows up out of nowhere, with a bunch of apple-crisp dough still in it. I stare at it... glance around.... and before I even pause to think that it probably had eggs, milk, and butter in it.... I wolf it down. It was good, but I felt incredibly guily for eating food that I had no idea where it came from. I was just guessing on the apple-crisp thing. It's been beautiful weather for a while now, hopefully it lasts into my 3 days off. I found out there's karate provincials in Alberta that my club in Golden is going to, so I'm gonna try to go. The vouchers I was gonna use to fly to Mexico, would probably work to go to Calgary and back instead (since I'm not going to Mexico). There's a few obstacles, like getting time off work. The don't like me taking time off, but you know what? They give me less than 20 hours a week, if they don't like it, maybe they should treat their employees with respect. I asked around, but nobody there bothers to take time off. Some people are weird like that. They never consider doing something unless it's their day off, which works nicely if you only work during the week, but that' not how it goes at Whitespot. Anyways, I'm gonna continue digging for info, but I might start practicing everday again. CJ and her sister say I would do really good, so I really wanna go. Plus, flying over BC would be fuckin awesome.

Read this letter from a soldier currently in Iraq

I couldn't take the hype anymore, so I finally watched Napolean Dynamite. Seems more fit for a lengthy skit, like something you'd see on SNL or something. I didn't laugh very hard, but the characters were kinda funny I guess. It reminded me of what it's like to be a teenager with a crush on someone. High school was so bizarre....

I just got invited to go WWOOFing. Basically, you volunteer on an organic farm in exchange for accommodation and food. Sounds pretty rad. I found a place that eats vegan, has solar power, a pool, and teaches workshops on healing and yoga. Sounds right up my alley. I think I'll seriously consider it. There's farms all over the world too.

Found a trail down to the fish hatchery and laid on a log in the sun for a while, that was really nice. I found a nar nar stick that I'm gonna fix up into a walking stick that will double as a spear in case of a chance dinosaur encounter. Nature solves anything. Except when there's snow. I'm really glad I'm living here cuz Golden would be brutal right now. I think I've decided now that the two major reasons I was depressed living in Kamloops was a lack of physical activity and not getting outdoors enough.

So last night I accidentally sent two plates flying at work and the crash was apparently the loudest ever. I was stoked, I guess I'm part of the team now. EEP!

Forgot to mention that on the way down to Seattle, we saw nothing but Bush bumper stickers yet on the way back, we saw almost nothing but John Kerry stickers, and even a Nader sticker. Weird. My favorite sticker was 'SUBVERT THE DOMINANT PARADIGM'.

Seattle Was a Riot

From the top....

So me and Tasha picked up Clayton, Shawn (Snider), and Clinton at the ferry Sunday night. Monday morning, we raced to the ferry and barely made it, but it was a beautiful day, so it was awesome relaxing on the sun deck. We found our way thru Vancouver and arrived at the border without much time to waste, but we hadn't hit any obstacles yet. But of course, our good buddies at the Dept. of Homeland Security made sure to throw our schedule off a bit. We had stashed our remaining paraphernalia and pot in some bushes a few km before the border, so except for everyone but me being stoned, we didn't have anything to worry about. However, they decided to haul us into immigration for no apparent reason (presumably while they were simultaneously searching our car. They asked us a barrage of less-than-important questions, which was probably just used to start files on all of us since we were young. Questions like, "where do you work, what concert are you going to, have you been to the states before, have you ever been arrested (the only relevant question". So I had to explain to the guy how I had been put in the drunk tank for being too fucked up on mushrooms (without actually using the word of course), but there hadn't been any charges so he kept drilling me for details. Anyways, we admitted to having fruit with us (you can't take most fruit across the border), but they didn't seem to care, and luckily they didn't notice that 3 of us were wearing Anti-Flag shirts.
So 30 minutes later, we were back on the road, and I drove really fast to make up for lost time. We got to the venue in Seattle at 6:15 (we were aiming for 6), but the doors had just opened to the show, so me and Clayton went looking for tickets and it turns out, while they were sold out, they still had 50 tickets left at the door. So between scalpers and the door, we rounded up 5 tickets, thus enabling us too finally both relax and get very stoked at the same time. The venue wasn't huge, there was probably about 300 people inside. After the opening band finished, Alexisonfire came on. They only did 5 songs cuz they were using a backup bass played to cover for a band member that was very sick. Regardless, there were very enjoyable. The music was pretty good, but what made them totally cool was their demeanor. Very humble, but very appreciative of the crowd. The singer would kiss the heads of fans, and even crowd surfed during a song. They got a huge cheer afterwards, and I definitely have a ton of respect for them now. So I bid farewell to my crew as I made my way to the front for Tsunami Bomb. They were rockin and I wish I knew more of the words to their songs (I seem to have the funnest time when I know all the words to a band's songs), but everyone was lovin it and Agent M (the singer, female) was totally rad. During their set, I managed to move from the mosh pit into the front, where it was very very tight, but at least elbows weren't flying at you. I did know all the words to "Say it if you mean it" and "20 Going On...", so I definitely was getting pretty worked up. After they finished, there was definitely a bit of tension as everyone was trying to be as close to the stage as possible for Rise Against. Things became so tight that you literally couldn't scratch your own as. I had my crotch involuntarily placed right in the ass of the guy in front of me, but at least he was the only one between me and the stage, so I was in a good place. In claustrophobic situations like that, your options are too freak out and get out of the crowd, or just go with the flow, so I gave up trying to reposition myself and started making homo-erotic jokes with my new best friend. Girls were grabbing my butt and rubbing my hair too. Anticipation was high and after a few chants, Rise Against finally came out. It turns out I was in a very good position, cuz I wasn't getting squished as much as everyone around me, and crowd surfers didn't seem to come near, but pretty soon, all hell broke loose, and I somehow got promoted to front row and things really started kickin ass. By the third song, it was so loud (between the band and everyone who knew the words), that I couldn't even tell if I'd lost my voice yet, cuz I couldn't hear myself screaming.
Lemme take this moment to point out a few things. First off, it was a really awesome crowd. Within a few songs, everyone was really watching out for each other, making sure no one was too squished and that no one got kicked in the head from crowd surfers. A tight bong had formed, a true camaraderie, if you will. This is the hallmark of a good punk show where a mosh pit transforms from pseudo-violence to a beacon of positive, although still thrashing, energy. Even though there was a bar, it was still all age, and since the drinking age is 21 down there, there really wasn't too many people drunk. Now this is a big thing for me, and it wouldn’t take too long to fully explain, but basically I get really thrown off when really drunk people are around. But everyone near me seemed sober, so things were going really smoothly (well as smoothly as they can go with that density of people).
Once I was at the very front, I could seriously lift both of my feet off the ground, it was so packed and I was pinned to the stage. But it wasn't too uncomfortable, in fact, it definitely added to the whole experience. Anyways, back to the show....
Rise Against was completely fucking awesome. They played for more than an hour, and they even did shout-outs to Canadians AND vegetarians. During one song, Tim (the singer) looked into my eyes when eh said the word 'revolution', that was sweet of him. Meanwhile, I'm rocking out harder than I've ever rocked out in my life, full body thrashing (even though I was trapped from the waist down), and screaming at the top of my lungs every single word I knew. Some songs were totally awesome cuz there's lines that are just made for everyone to YELL at once ("so push us down...... AND WE GET RIGHT BACK UP AGAIN"). So things were going flawlessly and after what the said was their last song they left, but we were chanting the name of the band for so long that even if they weren't planning on coming back up, they would have had to eventually. So Time comes back on stage alone to a massive cheer and says that since it's Valentine's Day, he's gonna do a song they don't usually do at live shows. It was already completely obvious he was going to sing 'Swing life away', but he went on to say he was dedicating the song to heartbreak, because it makes us who we are and stuff like that. So he started playing and even though it's a solo acoustic song, the energy was still as high as ever. I swear, every single person there knew the words, and everyone's voice was quite nicely in tune, so it was really fucking awesome. When he was done, and the applause died down, he said they were gonna do 3 more songs. They ended with "Black Masks & Gasoline" which was totally rad and although they didn't play Generation Lost, Tip the Scales, or Torches, that just gives me even more reason to see them again in April when they come to Van and Calgary. So as the crowds were dispersing, I got to shake Tim's hand, and I got handed half of their set list and I got autographs of everyone except Tim and they gave me to guitar picks too. As I started to stumble away, I noticed I was drenched in sweat from chest to knees, not a dry spot to be found in between. I felt high afterwards, like I was just floating and it took me quite a while to catch my breath. So I found the rest of my crew and we made our way towards the car and they had totally loved it too. I drove them around Seattle looking for a liquor store, and after more than an hour, we'd finally found a store and been followed by some cops. Once we got back at the hotel, I still felt elated and I treated myself to a bath as I contemplated the evening. I decided to have a few beer as a gesture of good will and we sat around talking for a while. After a while, it was just me Clinton and Clayton talking and we talked for about 4 hours. We had very good conversations about all sorts of shit and I was really stoked on it. We all had different perspectives, but we didn't argue at all. We talked about spirituality (which I've NEVER talked to them about), the merits of subtlety vs bluntness, and I even got to educate them on the foundations of quantum mechanics (what I know so far). We went to bed at 6am, and in the morning we went for breakfast, but on the way, we noticed Rise Against packing up their van at a nearby hotel. My voice was still totally gone, so all I managed was a cracking cheer and afterwards, I felt pretty stupid (having managed only a Neanderthal-esque holler), since they ended up eating at the same restaurant as us at the very next table! Well, it wasn't the whole band. A guitarist, and two stage helpers or maybe a manager. After the meal, I said a few quick words and managed to repent for my earlier embarrassment. So the drive back to the ferry was uneventful and after a cool sunset, were were on the ferry. The ferry was totally dead, so I made everyone play hide & seek with me. Then Shawn showed me a spot he'd found. You could go up a ladder and walk around on top of the ship (out of bounds of course), above the sun decks. We went to the front of the boat, and looked down on the waves, Titanic style, then we climbed up the mast a bit. It was pretty fuckin gnarly and I'm definitely gonna do that every time I'm on a night sailing. Too bad we didn't get any pictures though. Anyways, we got to my place, made and ate some curried veggies and cous-cous, then tasha and shawn fell asleep again, as me, Clayton, and Clinton, were left to talking again.
So yeah, that's about where the story ends. My expectations were blown away and I'm still in awe. Rocking out to Rise Against while driving is even more fun now and I still have the concert to look forward to in April as well.

Nar Nar

Fuck yeah:
Anti-Flag - Seattle Was a Riot
Rise Against - The First Drop, & Swing Life Away
Tsunami Bomb - Being Alright

cheese

So the guys are on there way, everything was going well, then I stumble upon a small detail: the concert is sold out. The guys aren't gonna call me until they're already on the ferry (they're gonna stay here tonight). So with a sea of uncertainty ahead, I'm trying to figure out our options. We could hope to find someone scalping tickets at the door, or try the guilt-trip ("please, we drove 12 hrs from our igloos in Canada to see big American punk show"). There's otehr complications to, but I won't bother you with all the details. Instead, don't expect a substantial update until possible Tuesday. Maybe I'll give a situation report at some point, but we'll see. Here's what I'd look like right now if I was NOT taking my own advice and going with the flow.

I think I should clarify two things. First, i didn't take any of those pics of Icefall Brook or the Cummins Valley, I just found them using my superior search engine skills. I do have a pics that I took of Icefall Brook, but it was really foggy and dark when I took them. I'll track them down at some point and post them. Also when we went there, we drove the whole way in my Geo, which although not quite as humble, it's still quite an amazing feat, since we got that rickety bucket through 100km of logging roads and up that final hill.
Second, the comment I made about Baraka comparing factory farming to city dwelling was probably a little careless on my part. I was picturing the kind of cit dwelling that you see in the picture below.


Clayton, Clinton, and Snider are on there way down here as I'm typing this, and they're gonna walk onto the ferry and stay the night with me or Tasha, unless we decide to go camping tonight. Tomorrow's the big day, though. Stoked....

Rise Against - Blood Red, White & Blue
Tsunami Bomb - Russian Roulette

a world beyond words

I just watched Baraka again. It's quite an escape, I could feel it transport me to all the 24 different countries it was filmed in (even though I could only name a handful). I went on the internet after and found a bunch of similarly themed movies that I'm gonna try and download one by one, so I'll reccomend them as I see them (if I can find them). If you haven't seen Baraka yet, check it out, it's probably unlike any movie you've ever seen. I've seen about 4 others like it and I'd watch them all again if given the chance. I noticed something this time I watched it (about the 4th-5th time). There's a back-and-forth scene juxtoposing factory farm chickens, and city-dwellers and I think it was very subtle yet insightful. I guess you had to be there....

In other news, the Seattle trip hit a major pothole today, but despite being the only optimist left, we managed to get things back on track. Lots of variables though, but I think it's gonna work out. I'm gonna start getting really stoked.

Icefall Brook and Cummins

In celebration of 1000 site hits (even though 200 are probably from me alone), I decided to take the easy way out and find some cool pics off the net. I've been searching for pics of these two places for a really long time. Click on each one for a close-up.

At the top of the switchbacks (left of center) is where me and Michelle ended our 4hr trek in the dark. We drove out of Golden at midnight. Icefall Brook is the name of the area I believe, although I refer to it as the Vallenciennes.

The previous pic was taken from this glacier. This is what we woke up to in the morning, minus the close-up, but adding the first traces of snow of the season



This it the first waterfall of the Cummins Valley, which would be the final destination of the proposed trek next summer.

Looking down the valley towards Kinbasket Lake from the same position as the pic above

An aerial shot of what we'd be hiking through. I didn't know there were meadows. Looks a lot easier, although I guess you'd have to commit to one side of the river or the other

On on the bridges between Kinbasket Lake and Golden. It's a pretty good drop from there.

Histrionic Pessimism

histrionic - adj - an attitude of melodramatic despair

I've put of this rant because I could not find a suitable word to sum it up, but I think 'histrionic' comes closest. Other helper words, not meant as synonyms, but as modifiers, would be melodramatic, pessimistic, victim mentality, defeatist, and overemotional. Perhaps an example would help clarify the attitude in question.

You're with a friend when their car breaks down. They flip out, become philosophical and start whining about how life is out to get him/her, bust out the 'poor-me' routine, or maybe even start to cry because they won't have the money to fix whatever is wrong and now they'll have to move back to Golden. They seem to suddenly decide as if that moment, out of all possible ones, is the best time to look at the bigger picture, and of course, they don't stop to consider the bias coming from the current situation. Later on, they realize it was just a blown fuse in the car and they, hopefully, feel quite foolish.

However, it doesn't have to be something as trivial as a broken down car. People still seem to allow their emotions to get the best of them under traumatizing situations too. I mean, I'm not including situations concerning death, someone being paralyzed, etc, because these are different, much more permanent changes. Crying is quite an acceptable reaction to many situations, but when it's accompanied by this drivel about how 'this kind of stuff always happens', it's just kinda silly. I've learned by now from experience that tough times, bad trips, or situations involving big changes are NOT the time to be evaluating your life.

I've had plenty of nights when either due to a large dose of mushrooms or a family crisis, I was sure that things would never be the same again and that I'd be just as upset the next morning, but of course, when the next morning arrived, I never seemed to be nearly as worked up. It's as if at the moment of crisis, there's some unseen force that compels us to blow things out of proportion and act like it's Judgment Day or something.

I think there's a lot to be said for making an effort to stay cool in situations like the aforementioned. By maintaining a level-headed grip on the situation, we allow ourselves the best opportunity to come up with solutions, and we also prevent ourselves from feeling foolish later if we realize that things weren’t really that bad and we'd gone hysterical.

Now I'm not saying we should become numb to the world around us, just that we should put a higher priority on maintaining our composure in times of adversity. I've been stranded 25km from the nearest possible person, blown a flat tire going 160km/hr in the dark, been pulled over by the cops while smoking dope, and the first two actually made the experience more enjoyable because of the crisis and in the third, nothing bad happened in the end. Now of course, these examples aren't meant to be truly traumatic, but then again, they could've been, if I/we hadn't kept our cool and just gone with the flow. The only constant is change, and resisting this only leads to more suffering. Go with the flow and try looking on the brighter side. Oh yeah, and getting stranded out there (more than 3 hours from town, too) was definitely among my top 3 best memories of 2004.

Slipknot - Vermilion pt 2

An 18yr old girl was found on some island in the Indian Ocean, having survived 45 days on wild fruit after the tsunami hit.
Link

The Mystery of 'MOH CK'

Found a cool map site. Loads quickly, and has some topographical stuff to. I got it centered on BC here.

So I went back up to the gated community today (Little Qualicum River Village) to apply for a construction job. Since it's an even nicer day than yesterday, I went up to the highest spot I'd gotten to yesterday to admire the view again. This time though, I decided to follow some footprints on a hunch (remember that the reason I had come here yesterday was to search for the radio tower). I was only in shorts and shoes, but it wasn't cold, and there was only an inch or two of snow at most. Five minutes up the trail, I come across a road. It appeared to be exactly what I'd been searching for, yet I couldn't figure out where it came from. So I follow this road and the footprints up to a fork in the road. A sign indicates that to the right is 'MOH CK'. I've now determined that MOH must stand for Ministry of Highways (old name from way back when), but the CK has me perplexed. mount CoKely is in the vicinity. Cameron laKe is even closer. Maybe just CreeK. I dunno. Anyways, so the footprints went left and I followed them a little ways to a false summit where there was a little lake about the size of a soccer field and a half, with a little island in the middle. I followed the road around the lake, and the footprints went off down some other trail, but I followed the road, since the radio tower was now in view and I figured there must be a way to get up to it nearby. The road looped around the lake and rejoined that MOH CK fork, but then it just ended (although late, I realised there was another road that took off from it). From this dead end though, there was a wide trail that a golf cart would fit nicely on, with footprins going up it. I figured if this wasn't it, it would at least get me close enough to bushwack to the tower. So now I'm in the woods, walking this trail, trying not to be too on edge, from all the sounds of snow/water falling around me (snow was melting off the trees). The trail spiraled up the hump that the tower was on and led me right to it. SUCCESS. After two days, a hunch and about 2km later, I had finally completed my objective. The view was outstanding, as I was now at least 200m above where my car was and was at the highest point within a few kms. I could clearly see both Courtney and Nanaimo on either side of me, which are about 200km apart and I could see even more of the coast mountains, since they weren't blocked as much by Texada Island. I was mad stoked and spent about 30 min there. I climbed up the tower a bit, but there wasn't really a ladder, it didn't go too high, and it was windy too. I decided to practive my karate on top of the building. That was cool. It's weird doing it with shoes on though. I had hoped that I'd be able to see down the back side of this hill/mtn/ridge and see Cameron Lake, but the tower didn't appear to be high enough to allow a glimpse. Quite pleased with myself for following my gut feelings, I started making my way back down the trail, when I noticed a smaller trail take off going down around the backside of the hill. I decided it might've been an alternate route back down to that lake at the false summit, so I started following it. It went past a few ponds, but after about 200m, I figured it probably wasn't gonna help me, so I was JUST about to turn around, when I noticed some light coming through the trees, so I broke trail through the woods and came out on top of a rock outcropping, that dropped away VERY steeply, verging on a cliff. Below me and in front of me was a magnificent view of Cameron Lake, at least 300m below. So that basically put me in a groovin' mood. I would've stayed longer to soak it all in, but the sun was going down, so I hurried back to my car. As I was driving down this road, a truck was blocking my way and so they started driving when I got to them. When they stoped at a wide part of the road, I decided to talk to them. They didn't live there, so I told them what I'd found and I wondered out loud how to drive to that road that I'd walked up. Oddly enough, the guy knew how and told me where to go. So I drove to the spot he said, which I'd already been to yesterday looking for a such a road, but I didn't spot anything this time either. Just as I was turning around, I decided to try this one road. Now this is a subdivision (outside of the LQR village) being made in its early stages and every little road, which there was no shortage of, had lot numbers over them, so I dismissed them all. But this one road seemed to look ever so slightly different, because it had some gravel on it, not just dirt. Even though it had a lot number just like all the rest, I decided to give it a try. Lo and behold, the road forked and there was a sign with good ol' 'MOH CK' on it. Too fuckin weird. So now I know how to drive straight to the lake, and I can even go further down the fork that I didn't notice till I was hiking back down to the car. So if I hadn't been looking for this radio tower yesterday, I wouldn't have noticed that they might be hiring for construction. So I came back today, and if I hadn't been applying for construction (even though I already have a job), I wouldn't have came back at all. Now if it wasn't a flawlessly clear day, I wouldn't have bothered going back up to check out the view. Luckily though, all of these key pieces fell into place, and I found that trail, which despite the snow and its forks, I managed to find both the tower overlooking the ocean, a cliff overlooking the lake, AND the trail kept going along the ridge from there, so there's certainly more to discover. In addition, if I hadn't talked to that guy in the truck, and followed a hunch on that road, I wouldn't have found where that road started.

There are no coincidences, only different levels of awareness....


Read 'The Celestine Prophecy'

Well I was gonna post a rant last night, but it got deleted so I had to redo it, so it should be ready by tonight, and I've got another one lined up to. However, it's a beautifully clear day, so I'm gonna go waterfallin'.

Oh and last night I said that the gated community I found was on 250 acres, but it's actually almost 600. Also, it wasn't just gated, there was a security booth you had to stop at, but no one was manning it, so I just went in. Oh yeah, and apparently the summit of Everest is the height that jets fly at. yowza!

Mattersville

So in an attempt to spice things up, I went exploring today, by car. There's a radio tower on top of a big hill that I've been skoping out for a while, and thanks to mapquest.ca, I discovered a possible access route. So I drove down this road, expecting it to be a logging road, but it was paved the whole way and led to really big gated community (like 250 acres I think) that is still under construction. So I made my way through it and up some more switchbacking roads, and got really close to the tower, but not quite there, so that mission will have to wait till another day. However, the houses up there (which mysteriously, aren't visible from anywhere else), have the most amazing views I've seen on the island so far. Some of these houses have views of Courtney to Nanaimo, Lasqueti Island, Texada Island, Hornby Island, Denmon Island, and the coast mountains. I tried to take some pics, but the camera I had didn't work. It was really fucking awesome though,a nd it wasn't even that clear of a day. I don't do the whole jealousy scene much, but I seriously envy those fuckers. I'm gonna call the construction manager tomorrow and try to get a job there. It's less than a 20 min drive from my place. Overall, it was a very succesful exploration, and I think it might've helped me climb out of this rut a bit.

NOFX - Mattersville

Slipping away....

Well I haven't meditated lately, barely been getting exercise, not read as much, had nothing interesting to post, and my convos with people have been lacking, plus I've accidentally consumed eggs, milk, and even ham in the past two days. I'm not sure if this is because I've started working, cuz of family drama, or if it's maybe something more subtle that I'm missing. I think I'm lacking motivation too, although work hasn't been a problem yet. It's tough to complain about 3hr shifts. However, my dreams have certainly been interesting lately. Well if this continues much longer, I'll force myself to snap out of it. If I'm feeling awake enough, I'll meditate later. I'd mention something about losing my mojo, but I really hate cheesedick pop culture references.

In other news, i got a ticket today for not having my license on me. Right on....

Barely relevant:
Josh Martinez - Deep End

I just got a call from a convenience store that was looking to hire a full-time cashier, but then she told me she wants someone that's gonna stick around for more than 4 months, as if she was reading my mind. So I just laughed and told her the truth. oh well....

Clayton called too, and there appears to be complications in the Seattle road trip plan, but we're gonna press on and make it work somehow.

I've decided that I have a huge grudge against small dogs. They're such mouthy litle fuckers, yapping there faces off at bigger dogs, and the only reason they're still able to yap, is cuz my dog knows I'd beat his face in if he started chasing them, My dog chased on yesterday though, cuz he thought this dog was a rabbit. It was hilarious, the owner was freaking out, and the dog was seriously screaming its face off. You know you're dog is too small when you have to carry it when you go for a walk.

My Tibet book is fascinating so far. Right now, it's talking about their medical system. They have cures for diseases that western medicine considers incurable. You have to study for 11 years to be able to be a doctor and the tests sound really crazy. Like 2 full days reciting random memorized passages. Their main diagonsis tool is to check your pulse. They can tell all sorts of stuff. What disease you have, how long you've had it, and sometimes, how long you have left to live. Sounds much more graceful and in-depth than the western counterpart.

Work was a lot better tonight. Seems like everyone there is really nice and it felt like we were one cohesive team. No one seemed stressed out at all, so it was cool. Still feel tired and a little braindead though, so I'm gonna have to continue this nasty little streak of not having anything meaningful to say.

Well I just worked for my first 3 and a half hours. Three hour shifts are kinda lame. 30 bucks, w00t! Feel kinda braindead. Moving on....

I had to go to Victoria Sunday for a family thing, but the highway was closed coming back, cuz of snow, so I stayed at Andy Gondek & Lindsay Black. We ate dinner at a wicked all-you-can-eat Indian buffet with Andrew Thornley, that was so good. Had a really good talk with Lindsay this morning before I left. She's really awesome. We don't seem to disagree on anything and she's got lots to say. I'm thinking that I might move down there in a few months, when Michelle does, but I'll see what happens. Anyways, I'm too burnt out to talk about anything else, so it looks like it's gonna be 2 straight days with a substantial update. Neat....

I'm just taking a break from watching "What the bleep do we know" again, and I'd thought I'd share some quotes with you that I stumbled upon. It's weird, there must be some hostility towards quotes coming from somewhere, cuz I always seem to feel guilty for looking at quotes. Then I try to rationalize as to why that might be and I get all sorts of answers, but I just can't pinpoint a reason. Whatever, I like these ones. On a side note, I'd like to mention that I haven't really felt a big change since I went vegan about a month ago, except for what I'm about to mention. It wasn't like i was really eliminating that much. The only animal products I was still using at the time was about 15% of the cheese I used to eat, the occasional egg, parmesan, and a bit of butter every few days, plus desserts. So it wasn't as huge as a step as it would be for some people, but I'm still stoked on it and will continue on this path. I would like to note however, that I've had a cold for a week, but it's remained dormant almost the whole time. My throat felt swollen last night, but other than that, most days I don't even know I'm sick, and other days I just cough up some shit in the morning. The rest of my family (meat-eaters) got the full effects of the cold and while we've been sick the same length of time, I've definintely gotten lucky, which I'm gonna thank my new diet for. Drew mentioned to me once that he felt that dairy products greatly magnified a cold he once had. Getting sick has actually been kinda fun, cuz I get to try my best to fight it off by eating ridiculous amounts of onions, garlic, and spicy foods. As a side note, after an in-depth conversation with a beekeeper buddy, I've decided that there is absolutely nothing wrong whatsoever with eating honey, and as long as it's unpasteurized, it certainly won't affect my health adversely and in fact, the rawer the honey, the more nutrients it retains. Pollen is incredibly nutritious. I think Jolene was taking pollen as a multi-vitamin substitute last year (correct me if I'm wrong). But yeah, quotations. Sometimes I enjoy reading who's quote it is just as much as the quote itsef:

Our scientific power has outrun our spiritual power. We have guided missiles and misguided men.
- Martin Luther King, Jr.

You cannot see anything that you do not first contemplate as a reality.
- Ramtha

The whole history of science has been the gradual realization that events do not happen in an arbitrary manner, but that they reflect a certain underlying order, which may or may not be divinely inspired.
- Stephen W. Hawking

When I despair, I remember that all through history the ways of truth and love have always won. There have been tyrants, and murderers, and for a time they can seem invincible, but in the end they always fall. Think of it - always.
- Mahatma Gandhi

If quantum mechanics hasn't profoundly shocked you, you haven't understood it yet.
- Niels Bohr

If those who lead you say to you, "See, the Kingdom is in the sky," then the birds of the sky will precede you. If they say to you, "It is in the sea," then the fish will precede you. Rather, the Kingdom is inside of you, and it is outside of you. When you come to know yourselves, then you will become known, and you will realize that it is you who are the sons of the living Father. But if you will not know yourselves, you dwell in poverty and it is you who are that poverty.
-Jesus

The greatest discovery of my generation is that a human being can alter his life by altering his attitudes.
- William James

The state of least excitation of consciousness is the field of all possibilities.
- Maharishi Mahesh Yogi

The birth of a man is the birth of his sorrow. The longer he lives, the more stupid he becomes, because his anxiety to avoid unavoidable death becomes more and more acute. What bitterness! He lives for what is always out of reach! His thirst for survival in the future makes him incapable of living in the present.
- Chang-Tzu

All speech, action, and behavior are fluctuations of consciousness. All life emerges from, and is sustained in, consciousness. The whole universe is the expression of consciousness. The reality of the universe is one unbounded ocean of consciousness in motion.
- Maharishi Mahesh Yogi

I have yet to meet a single person from our culture, no matter what his or her educational background, IQ, and specific training, who had powerful transpersonal experiences and continues to subscribe to the materialistic monism of Western science.
- Albert Einstein

In the century now dawning, spirituality, visionary consciousness, and the ability to build and mend human relationships will be more important for the fate and safety of this nation than our capacity to forcefully subdue an enemy. Creating the world we want is a much more subtle but more powerful mode of operation than destroying the one we don't want.
- Marianne Williamson

He who joyfully marches in rank and file has already earned my contempt. He has been given a large brain by mistake, since for him the spinal cord would suffice.
- Albert Einstein

Cease from practice based on intellectual understanding, pursuing words, and following after speech, and learn the backward step that turns your light inward to illuminate your self. Body and mind of themselves will drop away, and your original face will be manifest.
- Dogen

regaining consciousness

Fuck, I totally spaced out for a bit and forgot what was supposed to be the bulk of that last post. The other stuff was just supposed to be slightly relevant preamble. I found a pretty decent (although pretty bare-bones) summary of Buddhism that I thought I'd share. I found what appears to be an online copy of "The Tibetan Book of the Dead", which is quite high up on my 'to read' list. Obviously it's about death, but it is in no way related to The Book of Shadows, despite the similarity in name. No spells or nothing, from what I understand, it's about the Buddhist philosophies surrounding the topic of death, from a Tibetan perspective. I think I'll be pretty stoked after reading it, but then again, this may or may not be an actual copy, I'm still reading the introduction. Anyways....


The basic teachings of the Buddha (the so-called Four Noble Truths) begin with a recognition of the discomforts and frustrations of normal human existence. It is taught that the source of this frustration and distress does not rest in the nature of the world or in the mysterious intentions of a divine being, but rather in the intellectual and emotional confusions of human individuals themselves. Buddhism maintains that the suffering experienced in life can be completely uprooted and eliminated by clearing away these confusions, and prescribes specific methods for the successful accomplishment of this goal. Basic Buddhist practice, therefore, consists of following a disciplined path of intellectual and spiritual development requiring the radical examination of one's existential situation and profound and persistent changes in one's attitudes, behavior, and psychological orientation. The ideal Buddhist practitioner adheres to a strict moral code, trains rigorously in meditation, and endeavors tirelessly to develop compassion and insight.

Philosophically speaking, the confusions that function as the source of worldly suffering operate more precisely as innate misapprehensions with respect to the status of the individual self and of the surrounding world. This innate sense of self and other, including inanimate objects, involves the seemingly natural tendency to view things as solidly concrete, as more or less substantial and permanent. This means that ordinary people have a subtle sense of things as being constant through time, changeless and secure. Buddhism maintains that this perspective is profoundly mistaken. In reality, everything is changing, nothing is as it was even a moment before. Existence is forever in flux. As a consequence of the misperception of the truth of change and impermanence, human beings become mired in a cycle of pain and disappointment. Moreover, the false view of permanence engenders strong attachments and aversions, which in turn generate a host of destructive emotions such as jealousy, pride, and selfishness, all born of the fear of losing what is valued and of gaining what is scorned. This enduring round of pain and disruptive emotion is called samsara, and the ultimate goal of Buddhist practice is to liberate oneself from its negative bonds. Liberation from the cycle of samsara is achieved in part by readjusting one's fundamental perspectives, by developing the correct view of impermanence.

fields, side-streams, and of course, the Dalai Lama

I went for a run with my mom this morning that turned into a 2hr+ exploration of a network of trails leading down to the river. Found an empty field that must've been very old cuz the trees planted there (evenly spaced) were of pretty decent size. I crossed 2 side-streams to get to an island in the middle of the river and found some nice flat ground that I'd like to camp at one of these days. I even found an old lean-to that someone had made. I really wish I had a hammock, so I didn't have to bother with a tent. Some day. I managed to get to the island and back, all without falling in the river. Pretty cool trails. I got my orientation at White Spot and I officially start on Monday. Curious from the book on Tibet I'm reading (which is pretty wild itself), I've been doing some research on the internet and I've discovered that it IS in fact possible to teach English in Tibet, although I'm not sure how many opportunities there actually are. However, in Dharamsala, India, where the Dalai Lama lives in exile with 10,000 other refugees (not sure about the total population though), there appears to be some decent volunteer opportunities. It doesn't even appear that their is a program fee (to volunteer with the agency in Tibet, it's like $2,500), plus living there apparently costs less than $500/month. There seems to be quite a few teaching positions that don't require previous experience, so I'm gonna look into it. I think if it's feasible, I would very much like to do this. A plane ticket to India runs up to $2000, plus I'd need money to live for a few months. So my two current options are volunteer teaching in Bali or Dharamsala. I'm also getting ready to inquire at local elementary schools to see if it would be possible to help out in ESL classrooms (if any exist), because this would help me finish my course and would give me confidence and experience. Anyways, that's all for now, stay tuned for my upcoming rant on the education system...

Oh, btw, here's a map locating Bali(in the red circle) and Dharamsala

D.A.R.E. to think for yourself....

My sister comes home and tells me she just smoked this drug, which shall remain nameless (it's not well known anyways). Anyways, quick summary, it's probably the most powerful hallucinogen in the world and gets you totally fucked for less than 10 minutes, and you probabaly won't remember what happened, some people lose all contact with reality. It's dangerous. Not to be fucked around with. Could cause seizures, people could easily hurt themselves, and you could honestly never be the same again. I've watched someone screech their face off, thinking we were pushing him off a non-existent cliff and then faint. So these kids my sister's hanging out with are letting people smoke it, including 13yr olds. Clearly they don't know what they're messing with and all I can hope is that they don't know how to smoke it properly, so that people don't get as high as they could. It's definitely not a social drug. You do it with one person, whom you trust with your life, in a very controlled setting, not with 6 people in the forest like my sister. Anyways, I just needed to vent. Don't get me wrong, used correctly, it can be a wonderfully insightful drug, but clearly these kids are just out for a new high. Well I guess there's nothing I can do except beg you all never to try some drug, no matter how mellow it seems (effects ALWAYS vary), without having done excessive research first.

sweet redemption

haha, just I I posted that last one, I called my boss, and he bought my excuse, told me I have a job, didn't ask me to commit to any length of time, AND granted me the 13-15th off to go see Rise Against.... I mean, umm.... my sister's wedding. heh heh.....

mmm mmm mold

So the boss from Whitespot calls me to come in within an hour and just as I walk out the door 45 min later, I realise there's no vehicle for me to use. So I shit my pants and decide that I'm gonna have to drive my uninsured, incredibly loud and heat-score Geo. I get in, turn the key, and the battery's dead. But here's the fun part, there's mold growing everywhere. Absolutely disgusting. I probably took 3 years off my life just sitting in there trying to start the damn thing. So yeah, the whole dishwashing job is probably not gonna happen, I guess...

Rock Bottom

Perhaps I had chosen a controversial that hits too close to home for some. As a peace offering, I'd like to talk about something that won't offend anyone, even G.W. himself....

When things go bad, we seem to envision ourselves in a downward spiral, imagining that things will only get worse. We fear that the worst is yet to come and of course, it's hard to resist these thoughts and stand strong. usually, when people use the term 'rock bottom', they're referring to the lowest point in someone's situation, after which things get better. It has been said that serious alcoholics have no chance of quitting on their own until they lose it all. Well I'd like to paint a prettier picture of our friend 'rock bottom' and try to inject some more optimism into the phrase. When we hit rock bottom, we may have lost our job, lost a friend, been dumped, or lost a lot of money, or in some cases, all of the above. Rock bottom, however, is a turning point, because for a point in someone's life to be labelled as such in retrospect, it means things are going to get better from there. If we've truly lost it all, improvement of circumstances is inevitable. Nobody stays at rock bottom, it's a very particular point. An hour or maybe even a day, but no longer. When your house is burning down in front of you, do you try to start building a new frame before the flames have died out? Of course not, only after we've lost it all, can we start to rebuild. Rock bottom is a time of reflection and hope. It's a time for a decision, "where do things go from here?". Great perspective can be found at such a time. It's tabula rasa, a blank slatte, and the future is once again, ours to create . Now that things have played out and the influence of bad decisions/events/people has taken it's toll, we are once again able to determine the course of our life. It's a time to for fresh starts and new beginnings. Rebuilding the foundation from scratch. This time, however, we've learned something. We're wiser and more experienced. Our ambitions and aspirations may once again flow freely. Rock bottom isn't something to be feared, in a way, it's something to look forward to. The rare chance to start over.

Craig's Brother - Potential

microphone feedback

I recognize the controversy in last night's post and I'd appreciate it if anyone who had the time could leave a comment (or at least read the comments so far) and let me know what you think, in as many or as few words as you'd like. This isn't a concept I've expressed very often and I certainly anticipated negative reactions towards it, but I'd like to hear your thoughts either way. I'm not gonna reply to anymore individual comments, so don't worry that I'm gonna jump on anyone, and feel free to leave the comment anonymously too. I'd just like to know where people stand on this. Maybe I'll try to elaborate my thoughts more, or clarify some more things, but I'll play it by ear.

No Work and All Play makes Dan a much more interesting person

So I had an interview at Whitespot today for a dishwashing position that I'll probably get. I like how he made it sound like such a vital job. Buddy, it's bottom of the barrel, entry-level, and minimum wage, you're not fooling me. He wants me to commit to a minimum amount of months there, I told him I'm not a slave. I'll offer him 4 months, but we'll see what happens. Got me thinking a lot though. Totally re-evaluating my plans for this year, but more on that is it develops.

Free-loaders seem to be the scapegoats of society. Folks seem much more concerned about their tax dollars going to those on welfare, than they seem to care about their tax dollars subsidizing corporate conglomerates. I'm not sure if it's an underlying sense of jealousy or if it's just based the old-fashioned value of hard-work that makes everyone so resentful towards people that are unemployed. I hear friends telling me to get a job more often than I hear it from my parents. It's as if being thrifty is suddenly taboo. To sum up everyone's feelings, I don't like to work. Most people just suck it up and continue the 9-5, but it's just not that simple for me. I refuse to succomb to the miserable routine of 40 hour weeks, month after month, year after year. Scares the shit outta me, to be honest. I guess I'm fortunate that I haven't had to work, since I have a family to stay with and such, but then again, I do owe $13,000 in student loans, so it's not like I'm getting off scratch-free for my habits. How much of our lives do we work? Too fucking much I'll tell you that. And for what? Are we contributing to the greater good, are we learning anything that is of any value outside of our 8hr shifts? Work is mindless. Karl Marx made some very valuable observations when he noted that the Industrial Revolution alienated workers. No longer does someone start and end a project. Restaurants, grocery stores, mills, so many thigns are just assembly lines with a different background attached. We don't even know where these products come from or how they're made. We're expendable. The working class is a step above slavery. Meaningless and mindless are the key words here. If we have to work to survive, why can't we work on something that actually has some relevance to us. If we have to work 8 hours to put food on our plates and a roof over our heads, then I'd rather spend 4 hours in the garden and 4 hours building a hut to live in. Hands-on labor is supposed to be therapeutic, not numbing. Instead of working for ourselves, we've traded it all in for a complex system where everything is supposedly convenient. We shouldn't have to work 8 hours a day. How much freedom do we really have within the curent system? Yes, the illusion of choice. Coke or Pepsi, cigarettes or alcohol, paper or plastic, cash or debit, Ford of Chevy, radio or TV, the puppet on the left or the puppet on the right. We don't make choices, they're narrowed down, watered down, and laid out before us and we simply point our finger. We so rarely determine the course of our lives anymore, we simply choose from the scraps of what's offered to us. Well I won't stand for it. I don't want some fuckwad drone packaging my salad mix, i'll grow it myself. If I had the resources, which i will someday if I ever settle down somewhere, I intend to have a hydroponics veggie grow op, fresh organics all winter long. I wanna build my own house too, and not out of plastic, fuck that's so ugly. We work for money, and we use that money to buy stuff we need, so why don't we cut out the middle man and work for ourselves. I'm not against labor or work, I'm against alienating labor that I have no influence on. I want my voice to be heard. I want my possessions to reflect me. If I can't make it, I shouldn't own it. Of course, this is still mostly theory, but I'm working my way there. Aside from perceived health benefits, the reason I don't eat meat is because I could never kill and animal, so I don't think I've earned the right to eat them. Paying someone else to hide the darker side of being a carnivore is a horribly cowardly thing to do. I made my own salad dressing, hummus, nut butter, and granola this week. I refuse to be tied down. Paying bills each month keeps us in chains. We're not free to do as we please. I believe in simplicity. I believe in DIY. Do your own research, make your own food, build your own house. I wanna see the world, I want to expand my horizons, I want to live as fullly as possible. I'm not gonna wait till I'm retired, and I'm not gonna lie to myself and tell myself I'll do it in a few years. I want life NOW. It's always seemed absurd to me how people can use work as an excuse not to partake in some activity. I mean it makes sense, but look at the bigger picture here. We weren't born to work. We've been tricked. Now I'm as willing as the next person to get sweaty and lend a helping hand, but not day after day, week after week, for a measly paycheck. So I'm playing the game strategically. I don't have freiends here, so living with my parents isn't such a bad thing (well, most of the time). Now I am gonna have to submit and get a job, but if I haven't left the country by Hallowe'en, I consider myself to be an insult to my own potential. I'm going to travel and yes I'm going to work. But I think there's a lot more gained by teaching english to children, than pumping some gas for some honky in a business suit. In fact, I'm probably gonna volunteer teach in Bali, to start with. I think we all need to raise our standards for living life and lower our material dependance. The more you buy, the more you need to work. The longer you work, the harder it will ever be to quit. The system is devised to reel you in. Dishwasher to cook, cook to manager. It's tempting, but it so limiting. I don't wanna be promoted, I don't wanna make an extra $1.25.hr, I wanna get the fuck out of here. I don't want a place to call home, the Earth is my home and I intend to check out every floor and every room. Perhaps this is my most scattered and unfocused rant to date. It was an intimidating topic and I hope I haven't stirred to much rage to be directed at me. Or maybe that's exactly what I want. We need to wake up and realise that the odds of us existing in this universe are so unbeliveably insignifacntly tiny, that it's nothing short of a miracle that you are breathing this very instant. I think we owe it to ourselves and existence itself to make things a little more interesting. We need to disassemble our routine, barter off the pieces, and start investing in living in the now instead of the past and the future. Life has been patiently waiting for us to grab it and passionately kiss it, but it won't be waiting forever. Act now, the clock is ticking.....

I'm guessing nobody constantly scans my posts for comments that people leve, so I thought I'd share these two with you.

"I knew a kid named Dan Richardson and he had a retarded brother who wrote his own music. Dan was the dumbest person I ever knew, until I read your blog. Shut up." -anonymous

my favorite comment so far. priceless....

Here's Drew's, although he's much less informative and articulate as the above fellow:
"Climate change is due to enhanced greenhouse effect. The globe is warming because of too much greenhouse gases. The most abundant and effective gases are: Carbon dioxide (CO2), water vapour (H2O), methane (CH4), and nitrous oxide (N2O). These gases absorb heat well because of the relatively high number of atoms in the molecules. With more atoms per molecule the molecules vibrate easily; so when the suns energy hits these molecules they begin to vibrate trapping the heat temporarily. The same thing happens when the reflected energy from the earth contacts these molecules, they absorb energy then release it. Basically the energy bounces around from molecule to molecule keeping the atmosphere warm. And apparently the atmosphere is where we get most of our heat (granted it is still indirectly from the sun). The atmosphere radiates heat to the earth simply because and only when it is warmer than the earth. If we will accept that as true then more greenhouse gases = more trapped heat. With more people and less plantation on the planet we are getting more and more CO2. With more cows on the planet we are getting more and more methane. If you never thought of cows polluting before go to Chilliwack and take a few deep breaths. I’m guessing that the methane is especially bad because of having 5 atoms per molecule there’s more to vibrate and trap heat. How about that… yet another reason to stop eating meat. This explanation of global warming doesn’t prove that we are experiencing it, but if what I read and reported is true global warming either started or it will.I’m not sure about all this because I did just read it on a website, and as everyone reading this blog knows any old fool can put anything on the internet. Aha … aha … aha. I also have a very limited knowledge of chemistry and an even smaller understanding of thermodynamics. So basically I really don’t know if global warming is happening or not, but the explanation of it sounds good and I don’t understand why “The Man” would invent a reason for everyone to eat less cow, chop less trees, and breed less."

Well that molecular info is interesting and good to know, but I was told that CO2 is only like 2% of the air, plus water vapor holds much more heat. The question is whether humans actually affect this balance in a significant way. Volcanos release insane amount of CO2 I believe. We've been told the temperature is already rising, but until there's real proof that isn't based on some computer scenario, I don't think I'll accept it. I don't think it's 'The Man' that invented the reason, I think it's scientists who want more money and base their livelihoods on the profitability of global warming research

chaos

Well the 4th big fire in the past year is now burning in the very middle of Qualicum Beach. All the past fires have been in prominent areas too, suspiciously. It started in one store and is now working it's way up the building, involving 2-3 other stores in the 4 hours it's been burning and it's not getting smaller. No one was hurt. Five engines all with multiples hoses each. There's hundreds of people watching, television cameras, people on rooftops, an enjoyable family moment for all. It's quite the spectacle. I mean, if you like mobs of people, flames, and billowing. Huge plume of smoke. Anyways I just wanted to say how stoked I get when stuff like this happens. Not the tragedy or any of that, but just the fact that it breaks routine, and is something totally out of the ordinary (well, except for this town). It's a social situation without established rules. It really makes you feel in the moment to be watching an inferno or whatever the disaster might be. Now I'm not saying I'm happy that disasters happen, like the tsunami, but it's definitely fascinating. I'm gonna do some research into volunteer stuff. If I can find an organization to get me there, and maybe some free meals, I'd be ready to leave in 24hr's notice. Something so new and rare, yet involving so many people. Amid the devastation, there's something beautiful about these sorts of human events. The creativity and compassion bred by adversity is a marvel to behold. Real human emotion, unrehearsed reaction, spontaneous teamwork. In summary.... Pure Anarchy....

oops

I just realised that I gave a faulty link a few weeks ago. It was for a charter airline that has crazy deals if you dig enough. I said it was www.sunvacations.ca but it actually www.sunholidays.ca
Cancun for 230 bucks, roundtrip, it's worth checking out....

On a side not, I've noticed that in my dreams, whenever I trry to run as fast as I can, it doesn't seem like I can go any faster than a fast jog, no matter how much I will myself to go faster. Doesn't matter if it's a foot race or being chased by dinosaurs. Anyone else experience that?