Tuesday, April 12
Ta-Ta For Now
Alright folks this is it. Bought me an 86 Hyundai Excel for $500 and I'm aiming to leave tomorrow, staying the night in Kamloops and hitting the hometown on Thursday. I thank you all for tuning in and I apologize for the decline in performance over the last while, but perhaps this won't be the end. If it's feasible, I'll try to update every so often with interesting stuff, like hikes and treks and trippy shit and hopefully pics too. Or maybe I'll forget all about the internet. Who knows. Anyways, if nothing else, enjoy the spring, seize the summer, and don't let yourself get too comfy. Remember, luxury breeds all sorts of nasty little afflictions. Peace out.....
Saturday, April 9
Well it's really tough to buy a vehicle when those who are selling it don't want to cooperate. Anyways, I've begun packing, but I don't know whether I'll have lots of room for anything I need to take (truck) or if I'll have to basically live out of the back seat (car). I came across a bunch of old memo pads last night. Really crazy memories getting resurrected. I got my last paycheck from White Spot. After the $150 in taxes, I still got $670, so that puts me ahead of my estimates, giving me some breathing room. Here's the last of the pictures I've scanned. I decided I can't leave my photos behind, so I'm bring a box of the best with me. I even found two more panoramas to put on the wall.
(this is a two-part post, half a day later....)
Fuck, well it doesn't look like I'm gonna find a truck, so I'm gonna have to just start searching for a beater car with some clearance and wicked fuel economy. By the way, if you ever wanna know how good of mileage your vehicle should be getting, check out www.fueleconomy.gov. It'll give you a number in mpg. 4 cyl trucks range from 20-25, and smaller cars range from 25-45. The Geo got like 50 though. I might just slap a muffler onto that thing to get me out of here.
These are pics from my final stop on that solo camping trip from about a month ago. This is Barkley Sound. I got a sweet panorama from it too. As you can see in the bottom right pic, the land mass on the right in the top right pic is actually a separate island and I think it's a Park too.
(this is a two-part post, half a day later....)
Fuck, well it doesn't look like I'm gonna find a truck, so I'm gonna have to just start searching for a beater car with some clearance and wicked fuel economy. By the way, if you ever wanna know how good of mileage your vehicle should be getting, check out www.fueleconomy.gov. It'll give you a number in mpg. 4 cyl trucks range from 20-25, and smaller cars range from 25-45. The Geo got like 50 though. I might just slap a muffler onto that thing to get me out of here.
These are pics from my final stop on that solo camping trip from about a month ago. This is Barkley Sound. I got a sweet panorama from it too. As you can see in the bottom right pic, the land mass on the right in the top right pic is actually a separate island and I think it's a Park too.
taken from informationclearinghouse.info
"The prison guards stand over their captives with electric cattle prods, stun guns, and dogs. Many of the prisoners have been ordered to strip naked. The guards are yelling abuse at them, ordering them to lie on the ground and crawl. 'Crawl, motherfuckers, crawl.'
If a prisoner doesn't drop to the ground fast enough, a guard kicks him or stamps on his back. There's a high-pitched scream from one man as a dog clamps its teeth onto his lower leg.
Another prisoner has a broken ankle. He can't crawl fast enough so a guard jabs a stun gun onto his buttocks. The jolt of electricity zaps through his naked flesh and genitals. For hours afterwards his whole body shakes.
Lines of men are now slithering across the floor of the cellblock while the guards stand over them shouting, prodding and kicking.
Second by second, their humiliation is captured on a video camera by one of the guards.
The images of abuse and brutality he records are horrifyingly familiar. These were exactly the kind of pictures from inside Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad that shocked the world this time last year.
And they are similar, too, to the images of brutality against Iraqi prisoners that this week led to the conviction of three British soldiers.
But there is a difference. These prisoners are not caught up in a war zone. They are Americans, and the video comes from inside a prison in Texas
"The prison guards stand over their captives with electric cattle prods, stun guns, and dogs. Many of the prisoners have been ordered to strip naked. The guards are yelling abuse at them, ordering them to lie on the ground and crawl. 'Crawl, motherfuckers, crawl.'
If a prisoner doesn't drop to the ground fast enough, a guard kicks him or stamps on his back. There's a high-pitched scream from one man as a dog clamps its teeth onto his lower leg.
Another prisoner has a broken ankle. He can't crawl fast enough so a guard jabs a stun gun onto his buttocks. The jolt of electricity zaps through his naked flesh and genitals. For hours afterwards his whole body shakes.
Lines of men are now slithering across the floor of the cellblock while the guards stand over them shouting, prodding and kicking.
Second by second, their humiliation is captured on a video camera by one of the guards.
The images of abuse and brutality he records are horrifyingly familiar. These were exactly the kind of pictures from inside Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad that shocked the world this time last year.
And they are similar, too, to the images of brutality against Iraqi prisoners that this week led to the conviction of three British soldiers.
But there is a difference. These prisoners are not caught up in a war zone. They are Americans, and the video comes from inside a prison in Texas
Friday, April 8
Alright, hopefully I'll be wrapping this up pretty soon. Been pretty busy trying to find a ride. My only option right now is a 6 cyl 4x4, but it's got everything i need, except the 2 extra cylinders. Only $850, but I'll have my dad check it out today to see if it's trek-worthy. As soon as I figure out a ride, I'm gonna go into packing mode. If I get a truck though, at least I'll be able to get all my stuff back to Golden pretty easily. Been kickin around some intersting ideas lately, but no real time to unravel them, so unless i find some time, this blog is in its dying hours. Been burning CDs like it was legal. Finally fought my way through the thicket and produced a 2 disc Anti-Flag, 2 disc Millencolin (3rd edition), 2 disc Pennywise, Offspring, Dead Prez, Ben Harper, Rage Against the Machine, and I've got a bunch more to do too, hopefully including Neil Young and some drum n bass as well. Almost done my Tibet book. Really an amazing read, everyone's heard the usual 'Free Tibet' slogan, but the fact that more people aren't aware of what actually went down there is bewildering. Basically take the holocaust, divide the scale by 5, multiply the length by 5, and you've got the genocide committed by the Chinese. The death camps, public beating sessions, brainwashing (think 1984), and lack of international lack of support.... I think my next book it gonna be the Tom Robbins I picked up (Even Cowgirls Get the Blues), then that Iron & Silk that was given to me, then maybe that Handbook toi a Higher Consciousness or something on Quantum Mechanics. Maybe when I'm in Golden, I'll try to have a weekly update on my treks and prevailing rants/theories. But then maybe no one would check it out since it wouldn't be updated much. We'll see. I still have some more pics to upload, but we'll so how this battle against the clock goes. Here's a crazy view of the Himalaya, Everest is right near the middle. This is only a fragment though, much is covered by clouds in the background. i think the whole range is like 2000km. Oh haha, I just realised I never got around to posting that pic of the monk self-immolating. During the incredibly painful suicide, he never moved a muscle or even flinched. How's this for juxtaposition?
Tuesday, April 5
If you've never checked out Wikipedia, it's an online encyclopedia, but unlike its counterparts, it's maintained by open source editing, which means that anyone with enough interest or knowledge is free to add to it. The two biggest advantages of this are that its extremely up-to-date (same day full account of Pope's death) and unlike typical written ecyclopedias, absoultely anything and everything can and probably will be included. I read EXTENSIVELY about graffiti last night and just learned about ball lightning. I usually research something everday and have yet to be disappointed. From Neil Young to Burning Man, Tibet to Atlantis, Shotokan Karate to Tantra. Knowledge rules....
Monday, April 4
As I compiled a Rage Against the Machine compilation today, i did some research into them. They're contribution certainly isn't limited to their music. The were involved with many grassroots movements, protests, and such. Aside from the fact that they were on a sub-label of Sony (Epic), they didn't compromise and stood up to those who tried to censor them.. At Lollapalooza (1993 I think), they appeared on stage for 15 minutes completely naked, mouths duct-taped, guitars blasting feedback, in protest of censorship movements (those folks that succeeded in having those warning stickers put on CDs). There are numerous other notable events as well. Regarding the following picture of Thich Quang Duc, which was the cover photo for RATM's self-titled debut, check out THIS LINK:
Tom Morello, the incredibly creative guitarist, had this to say about RATM being on Epic:
A lot of labels contacted us, and lots of them just didn't seem to understand what we wanted to do. They kept talking about the message of the music as a gimmick. They were interested in us just because there was a buzz... They saw us as the latest local rock band to be hyped. But Epic agreed to everything we asked--and they've followed through... we never saw a conflict as long as we maintained creative control. When you live in a capitalist society, the currency of the dissemination of information goes through capitalistic channels. Would Noam Chomskyobject to his works being sold at Barnes & Noble? No, because that's where people buy their books. We're not interested in preaching to just the converted. It's great to play abandoned squats run by anarchists, but it's also great to be able to reach people with a revolutionary message, people from Granada Hills to Stuttgart.
Tom Morello, the incredibly creative guitarist, had this to say about RATM being on Epic:
A lot of labels contacted us, and lots of them just didn't seem to understand what we wanted to do. They kept talking about the message of the music as a gimmick. They were interested in us just because there was a buzz... They saw us as the latest local rock band to be hyped. But Epic agreed to everything we asked--and they've followed through... we never saw a conflict as long as we maintained creative control. When you live in a capitalist society, the currency of the dissemination of information goes through capitalistic channels. Would Noam Chomskyobject to his works being sold at Barnes & Noble? No, because that's where people buy their books. We're not interested in preaching to just the converted. It's great to play abandoned squats run by anarchists, but it's also great to be able to reach people with a revolutionary message, people from Granada Hills to Stuttgart.
Post-humous Romantification
Regardless of your spiritual (or lack thereof) orietnation, I suggest you do some research Pope John Paul II and while your at it, find some info on Mother Theresa as well. Obviously disregard anything to romantic or biased. To be respectful, I'm not going to elaborate, I just suggest you all check into it.
Valenciennes
aka Icefall Brook, Mons Creek
This was the 18hr trek (including 2 hours of sleep) that me and Michelle went on, commencing at midnight of one of the darkest and foggiest nights I've ever seen. We drove for 4 hours and by miracle, ended up in the most amazing locale, which coincidentally, was our loosely-targeted destination. There's a good story to go along with it, but it doesn't lend itself very well to summarizing, like the Sullivan trek did. There pictures are blurry, unfocused, foggy, etc, yet I think they very nicely capture the surrealism of the trip. Waking up above the clouds/fog, surrounded by dusted peaks (first snow of the year too), was incredibly out of this world, yet down to earth at the same time, unnassisted by drugs. Also ranks in my top 3 memories of 2004. Take a look at each picture closely, zoomed in as much as possible. I'm still to this day, confused about which mountains are in these pictures. Any of the following are possibilites: Mons, Forbes, Ararat, St Julienne, Valenciennes, Arras, and Bush
This is where we slept and woke up. On the left, in the distance, covered by the fog, is the 1000ft deep canyon, with glacier-fed twin waterfalls.
Left - All the rock out here was black, it was very interesting and contrasted very uniquely with the green river (not pictured).
This was the 18hr trek (including 2 hours of sleep) that me and Michelle went on, commencing at midnight of one of the darkest and foggiest nights I've ever seen. We drove for 4 hours and by miracle, ended up in the most amazing locale, which coincidentally, was our loosely-targeted destination. There's a good story to go along with it, but it doesn't lend itself very well to summarizing, like the Sullivan trek did. There pictures are blurry, unfocused, foggy, etc, yet I think they very nicely capture the surrealism of the trip. Waking up above the clouds/fog, surrounded by dusted peaks (first snow of the year too), was incredibly out of this world, yet down to earth at the same time, unnassisted by drugs. Also ranks in my top 3 memories of 2004. Take a look at each picture closely, zoomed in as much as possible. I'm still to this day, confused about which mountains are in these pictures. Any of the following are possibilites: Mons, Forbes, Ararat, St Julienne, Valenciennes, Arras, and Bush
This is where we slept and woke up. On the left, in the distance, covered by the fog, is the 1000ft deep canyon, with glacier-fed twin waterfalls.
Left - All the rock out here was black, it was very interesting and contrasted very uniquely with the green river (not pictured).
Sunday, April 3
No more Spite Whot. Last shift and it was the tamest shift ever. I got caught slacking and reading the paper, haha. I tried being bitter and not really giving a shit, but I realised that's kinda gay. I'm sure I won't look back on it so bitterly, and it made me hold back when I said good bye to people, so I wish I'd been more cheery about it. So now it's down to the crunch. Pack up, pick up my check, and find/buy a vehicle.
So Canada has slightly less land mass than Europe and 1/25th the population. Whoa.
So Canada has slightly less land mass than Europe and 1/25th the population. Whoa.
Checked out a Toyota 4x4 yesterday. My criteria right now, besides good condition (except body), is anything 4x4, 4 cyl, under $1500. Realistically, a 4x4 truck with a back seat is what I need, but he gas guzzlage really turns me off. Even the best truck would probably only get about half the mileage of the Geo. Last shift at the Spot tonight. I'm almost done my book on Tibet and the section right now is an in-depth interview with the Dalai Lama, and its very insightful. I've come up with some interesting ideas regarding links between Buddhism, Subjectivism, and Quantum Mechanics that really helps me put things in perspective, but I'd be no good at explaning it yet. It has to do with the Buddhist maxim "Form is Emptiness". I did some more research on Dharamsala, India and what I'm finding seems really encouraging but there's plenty more to look into. I might've mentioned this already, but Jeff Moss from Golden sent me a book that's supposed to be really awesome, called Iron & Silk, dealing with the martial arts author's travels in China, but other than that, I don't know what to expect.
Ok, here's a selection of pics from my 4 day adventure in the Sullivan with Kelly. We drove the Geo to the farthest possible point, at about 182km from Golden. We arrived in the dark and woke up in the morning to realise we had camped between 3 waterfalls and a 100ft deep canyon. We hiked up the road a little further to the very end where there was a cutblock and got a sweet view of the upper valley, which is totally void of trees, it lookslike one big slide path. No grass, just rock. Mt Columbia, the 2nd highest in the Canadian Rockies and the highest in Alberta was just out of sight I think. Also, there was Apex Glacier, likely the only glacier that still extends below tree level in the Rockies. I have a bunch of photos that form a panorama, but there's no way of posting them, so you'll just have to go check it out yourself. We started backtracking, intending to end up in the Valenciennes by nightfall, but we got sidetracked when we found a MASSIVE gorge. Think Canyon Creek, but more of a drop off and possibly deeper. It was insane, the river was SOOOO far down below us. We pushed some boulders off and listened to a 45-second-long chain reaction that resonated through the valley. All was going very excellent, and then the Geo died. Long story short, we camped for the night, and started the 25km hike back to Sullivan Bay in the warm, with a little help from our friend, Ellis Dee. Within 2 hours, some guy driving up the valley with his kid, picked us up, and took us back to the bay camp. We hadn't seen the lower valley during the day, so we just relaxed in the back of the truck for the wicked views. Watrerfalls and bald eagles galore. Back at the bay, we set up camp for a two nights and two days, until Charles' uncle and friend headed back into town and we caught a ride with them. We had plenty of food and drugs, so the whole trip was absolutely awesome. When went back out to get the Geo, I rfound out that it was only a blown fuse under the hood. Annoying, but also a blessing, cuz it was definitely in my top 3 memories of 2004. Apparently, the bridges are being pulled out there, so sometime this year, or maybe already, it will no longer be possible to drive into the Sullivan. Sad, but at least it'll have time to recover from logging and forest fires.
One of the waterfalls we woke up near
Another waterfall we woke up near
A waterfall we spotted as we we were escorted back to camp
The view from our campsite back at Sullivan Bay on Kinbasket Lake
Ok, here's a selection of pics from my 4 day adventure in the Sullivan with Kelly. We drove the Geo to the farthest possible point, at about 182km from Golden. We arrived in the dark and woke up in the morning to realise we had camped between 3 waterfalls and a 100ft deep canyon. We hiked up the road a little further to the very end where there was a cutblock and got a sweet view of the upper valley, which is totally void of trees, it lookslike one big slide path. No grass, just rock. Mt Columbia, the 2nd highest in the Canadian Rockies and the highest in Alberta was just out of sight I think. Also, there was Apex Glacier, likely the only glacier that still extends below tree level in the Rockies. I have a bunch of photos that form a panorama, but there's no way of posting them, so you'll just have to go check it out yourself. We started backtracking, intending to end up in the Valenciennes by nightfall, but we got sidetracked when we found a MASSIVE gorge. Think Canyon Creek, but more of a drop off and possibly deeper. It was insane, the river was SOOOO far down below us. We pushed some boulders off and listened to a 45-second-long chain reaction that resonated through the valley. All was going very excellent, and then the Geo died. Long story short, we camped for the night, and started the 25km hike back to Sullivan Bay in the warm, with a little help from our friend, Ellis Dee. Within 2 hours, some guy driving up the valley with his kid, picked us up, and took us back to the bay camp. We hadn't seen the lower valley during the day, so we just relaxed in the back of the truck for the wicked views. Watrerfalls and bald eagles galore. Back at the bay, we set up camp for a two nights and two days, until Charles' uncle and friend headed back into town and we caught a ride with them. We had plenty of food and drugs, so the whole trip was absolutely awesome. When went back out to get the Geo, I rfound out that it was only a blown fuse under the hood. Annoying, but also a blessing, cuz it was definitely in my top 3 memories of 2004. Apparently, the bridges are being pulled out there, so sometime this year, or maybe already, it will no longer be possible to drive into the Sullivan. Sad, but at least it'll have time to recover from logging and forest fires.
One of the waterfalls we woke up near
Another waterfall we woke up near
A waterfall we spotted as we we were escorted back to camp
The view from our campsite back at Sullivan Bay on Kinbasket Lake
Friday, April 1
So I went jalopy-huntin today. On the way, me and my dad had an intersting discussion, mostly about the media. He talked about how when he was in Vietnam, nobody over there had any idea of teh opposition to the war, and he only found out when a buddy mailed him a magazine and it slipped through the army censorship (they open all the letters). He's well aware of how media shapes the dominant paradigm and everything like that. Yet he still watches CNN and doesn't read. At least he takes it with a grain of salt. He brought up how inhumane it was to let Terry Shiavo starve/dehydrate to death. He did raise a good point there. I still can't believe how her husband (or was it ex-husband?) was getting death threats for trying to let his wife die. Death threats from Pro-Lifers. Fuck right off. It's a family affair, mind your own fuckin business. Anyways, I scoped out an '88 Subaru Chaser today. One owner, very well maintained, great interior, only negative was rusted fenders, which I could care less about. Not AWD or 4x4, but definitely a step up from the Geo, and he was only asking $950, plus he said he'd go lower for sure. So that's an excellent deal, cuz I bet that thing could go for $1500. I'm gonna look at a Subaru Justy tomorrow, but I think it'll be in way worse condition, but it might be more well-suited for my needs. smaller, probably higher, 4x4 (and thus, prolly AWD). We'll see though. Definitely feeling much more optimistic today. Might go and check out a GMC Tracker too jsut out of curiousity (out of my price range - $1000). I don't think I'll get another Geo/Sprint/Firefly/Suzuki. A Subaru probably fits my checklist best.
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